Help with LA programs!

[sahmoffour]

I feel like I've been beating my head against a wall! I'm getting ready to start my first year of HSing with my kids, who will be going into Gr.1 & Gr.3. I have all my curriculum picked out except an LA course for my Gr.3er. For Gr.1, I was just planning on doing ETC, reading BOB books, and Canadian Handwriting A since she is not reading yet. Once she's reading I may add in a spelling/grammar/writing program.

For my Gr.3er though, I have no clue! I believe strongly in the 3R's, and want the kids to get a great base in reading/writing/math. I'm looking for secular curriculum, and it seems like all the great LA programs are religious based. I would prefer an all-in-one program since this is my first year. Many people have told me to just read books and do lots of narration/dictation/copywork, but that seems unbelievably boring to me! Any suggestions? Or even suggestions on piecing together a curriculum myself? I was thinking of doing Canadian Handwriting C, Easy Grammar Gr.3, and I'm unsure about writing, spelling, and vocab.

Edited to add: What about McRuffy? A couple people have suggested it to me, but it doesn't seem to be very popular and I'm unsure of using something that's not tried-and-true.

[MissRubyandKen]

My kids don't think copywork, narration, and dictation are boring at all. Its actually a part of schooling they enjoy. We're using Writing With Ease Level 1 workbook. Everything is all laid out for you for the year. The lessons only take about 15 minutes a day. You could also easily have your son do copywork on separate lined paper and reuse the book for your daughter once she is reading and writing well. And yes to reading. Whatever he would enjoy best, picture books read aloud or chapter books read aloud or to himself.

For Spelling we're using Sequential Spelling. This is cheap at about $11.00 per level and is non-consumable! You could reuse this for your dd as well. Again the lessons only take about 15 minutes a day and my kids LOVE it. Seriously, lol.

For Grammar its up to you whether you want to go gentle this year or not. I would. I recommend a mostly oral approach like Primary Language Lessons, First Language Lessons, or Simply Grammar. You can skip any copywork and/or memory work if you wish. Also google books has free books if you don't mind reading off the computer, just search language lessons. Again this approach is non-consumable. If you're looking for something more concrete and consumable I'd recommend using just the Daily Grams book. This has 180 single page lessons that review quite alot of ground, but should be short and sweet.

[mom2ponygirl]

I would highly recommend books by Michael Clay Thompson from www.rfwp.com The Grammar Island level would be best for a 3rd grader. These books would cover grammar, vocabulary, and poetics. You could also look at the book What if the Wolf Were an Octupus? for literature from the same site. All you would need then is spelling!

[elizawill]

my daughter will be 9 in the fall & going into grade 3. we plan to use daily grams, writing with ease, writing strands and/or "just write", and all about spelling.

hth.

[meetoo]

I just wanted to chime in about Mcruffy. I started the year with the math and LA. We ended up needing to drop the LA because it was just to hard for my DD. My dd was coming out of a PS K that did guided reading, and McRuffy K was a little advanced in phonics IMO. There was just not enough review of the K concepts my DD was not introduced to. I did notice that they now have the last half of K available to buy. That is really where my DD should have placed and most likely would have worked perfect for us. I do kinda of wish we stuck with it anyway though..... It seemed to cover everything to me. It had spelling, grammar, poetry, phonics, reading comp, penmanship....If you want to be 100% aligned with PS you might need to add more writing. We were only using grade one though. The older grades probably have more composition....
McRuffy is incredibly easy for the teacher to use!! It's lightly scripted, comes with everything you need, has clear objectives, etc. It also tries to add in fun games and activities to the lessons. It is very open and go. The LA just isn't going to work for my DD so I'm not going to try it again, be we are going with the math and science next year. It's fun, super easy to use and doesn't drown the kids in busy work. I honestly don't know why more people don't use it?

[sahmoffour]

I would for sure pick McRuffy if it would only go past Gr.4. I don't want to start on a program only to have to switch my older son in two years anyways. I'm really wishing I could find something for the long haul, but that looks like it might not happen! I had my mind made up to do LLATL, but it gets horrible reviews over at the WTM forums. It was on many people's "Curriculum I hated the most" lists. So it's back to square one and it's looking like I might have to piece together my own. I really wish I could find something that's all in one though, it would be such a time saver! A stress reliever as well as I know I'll always be stressing over not doing enough/doing too much if I have to figure out my own curriculum. I'm even willing to go with a religious curriculum at this point as long as it's not completely religious-based.

I was looking at the MCT site, but it confuses me. If I'm going to make a curriculum based off of his books what do I choose exactly? The books look a bit boring to me as well, but I guess I'm too used to PS curriculum and the fun, colorful workbooks that you can buy at stores. Maybe I need to change my way of thinking... Or just bite the bullet and give FLL and WWE a try for both kids. My son who's going into Gr.3 had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned 'noun' to him though, so I'm guessing I'd have to start them both off at book 1. I just wish I could find something that was just like McRuffy, but went further up than 4th grade. FLL and WWE worry me too because they stop at Gr.4-5 as well, and a lot of people suggestions R&S after but that looks a bit too religious-based for me.

[meetoo]

From what I understand the author of McRuffy is trying to get k-6th grade released. So it is possible that he would have out the grades you need in time. I think he was shooting for one grade a year....

[sahmoffour]

That's good to know! Maybe I will just give that one a shot, at least for one year until I get a better understanding of my kid's learning styles and what will work for us. Trying to piece it all together myself scares me!