Yes!!! I love how comprehensive and interconnected LOE is! And yes, it is expensive but it saves you money in the long run because once you buy lessons 1-30, you don’t have to buy anything else for many years, and even if you finish Level C early, you can cycle back and do C again because there is probably nothing better than LOE.
Writing has been on my brain the last year! I’m so appreciate your channel because you talk about things I don’t see/hear others talking about. I always feel like I’m sitting down with a friend who is challenging my thinking in the best way possible.
That’s why I use LOE. It teaches English very well. It can be “boring” sometimes but it gets the job done. We can do exciting things with other subjects. Ha! Would like to see how you schedule LOE and sonlight language arts in your week. That’s something that I’ve been thinking about doing. Thanks for sharing
SO excited for you!! My 9yo is doing Essentials and is improving so much, especially in spelling!! What I love is that you could teach multiple kids together, but just doing different levels! So you could go through all of level A with your son and then when he’s ready to start unit 1 in level B, you could add in your daughter!! That’s my plan at least! We love Foundations too for my little guys- it’s so cool that they all have this shared language of the phonograms and spelling rules and they can play the games together! The more I use LOE, the more I whole-heartedly believe in it and love it!! Hopeful it works as well for your family!! ❤
We did all of Logic of English Foundations A-D. For some reason I'm struggling with Essentials and how to organize it. I would love too see a video of doing a lesson! That would be wonderful.
@@mindygasca4335 I haven't done anything extra so far but my son is definitely a reluctant writer. I'm going to use Writeshop Primary C next year, but I think the optional Essentials Reader may have writing. I initially thought it was extra practice for reading (which we don't need), but I may be wrong.
Have you thought about using Essentials online? This past year I had a 4th grader (in essentials b) a 2nd grader (in Foundations D) and a Kindergartener (in Foundations A). I found teaching all three levels were time consuming so I had the older two use the online lessons and just did a few things physically in the workbook. It saved time and I could teach my kindergartener while they used the online lessons and they really enjoyed the video components. :)
I’ve been struggling with where to go with my son for 2nd. We just finished LOE Foundations. The idea of following the skills he needs gave me a lightbulb moment and I think I know what I’m going to try!
We sound like the same person. 😂 Needing something that works multiple components together for ease of function because of younger siblings, and an older student struggling with spelling. The only difference is that I'm looking into LoE for the first time (for my 10 year old). I'm also looking at starting my 2nd 8 year old with him. I don't know that she's quite ready yet, but hopefully will be more confident in her reading by the time we start it. This was exactly the reciew I think I needed to watch. Thank you!
We have similar stories! We started with Abeka for 2nd and 3rd grade but once phonics was finished we switched AAR. That helped but AAS was not a good fit for my child. So I tried to use Evan Moor Spelling with Abeka's Handbook of Reading book for 4th and it failed. Now, thanks to you for sharing we are trying out LOE Essentials Online. So far its doing what its suppose to do but not my child's favorite.
Love hearing your thinking! We are definitely switching math for next year, but here we are doing all the last lessons of the old curriculum! 😅 I did finally decide my daughter didn't need to go over the end of year assessment with me, because it just wasn't going to be pertinent!
I appreciate your videos. Thank you! I am confused and torn and all the things about using LOE Essentials for Spelling which is hard because I have invested years and believe so much in its foundations. We have been using LOE since Foundations B in 1st grade. My oldest is reading great in Essentials C in 5th grade HOWEVER, can't spell. He's worked so hard at memorizing the rules and uses correctly majority of the time. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I almost feel like word lists are needed at some point. The rules are necessary for our language no doubt, but there are a number of phonograms that don't have a rule. I.e. "A" sounds can be ea, ai, a_e. Do you think I've missed something in the program? I feel like there's not enough practice with the weeks words. Do you do more? Any suggestions? I have tried a simple "copy, repeat, cover" activity or writing the word four times, but his copy work is misspelled.
This sounds exactly like my son, although we've only done All About Reading...VERY slowly. We are getting in to more "rules" (level 2) and I'm struggling.... I don't remember learning any of this - does anyone? It just becomes memorization! But then I know we'll need to do a spelling program soon and I'm absolutely dreading that! Great video, a good reminder to change it up when needed. 🤓
We’ve had such similar journeys. LOE, struggling reader not gaining fluency, switching to AAR. We did not do BJU but have a dyslexia tutor for one of my two kiddos on this journey, and she’s helped us modify AAR. And we use First Language Lessons. But I’m going to start into Essentials soon too. I’m overseas and getting all the materials is hard, so I am going to try Essentials online!
Personally, 9 or 10 feels really early for an intense language arts program. If you like Charlotte Mason, I believe she started (gentle) grammar lessons at 10, so until then I've focused more on fostering a love for reading, which in theory will make them want to read more, and they'll naturally pick up a lot of those "rules" as they go. Of course, every family should do what works for them! Just mentioning it as another perspective, especially for children who already struggle with reading--there's a risk an early push in all the things can make things go backwards if they're not ready.
I haven't used Logic of English yet, but it looks like you can take it at the pace you want/need to, which can definitely fit with a Charlotte Mason education. They have a suggested schedule of taking 2 years per book (or a fast-tracked schedule of one year per book). If you start in 3rd or 4th grade, Essentials could take you through 8th or 9th grade. There are probably curriculums out there that are "more CM", but I don't think that LoE couldn't fit in that style of education.
I would love to hear more about your approach to writing. I also have a 9yo and we are finishing LOE Foundation series in a few weeks. For next year, I am trying to decide between an all in one LA curriculum OR use Essentials for spelling/grammar/vocab and then figure out a writing program. As you know Foundations doesn't include a lot of writing, so I am thinking we need to do something structured for that. Is the Sonlight LA sufficient for that?
I really do need to make a video on how I combine SL and LOE ... for me and the way we use Sonlight, it works really well. We mainly use the readers and the writing aspects of the LA. BUT, it took me a bit before I was on board with how SL teaches writing! The diamond notes within Level 3 (or sold separately) were the game changer for me :)
I love how you said you're teaching based on your child's skills, not what or how the curriculum tells you to. I have a question regarding Spelling You See. Are the word chunks similar to how Logic of English teaches the phonograms?
I completely understand. I love Sonlight. I’ve used it from P 3/4 alway the way to Core J next year. However it’s come to the point I only use the HBL because math programs, spelling, language arts and grammar that work for my children aren’t an option with Sonlight.
I want to find out how your year went finishing up Logic of English. :) I'm prepping for my 9 year old to start 4th grade this fall and am very interested in LOE for him in order to combine all the language arts for simplicity, as well as making each part more cohesive for him. Which Essentials set did you start with your son, or did you start him from the beginning (1-7)? Did you have him take an assessment first?
Hi! It went really well and we are going to continue using it next year! You definitely need to start on Unit 1, but I do recommend taking the assessment to see if you need to start at Levels A, B, or C :) I do have a pretty detailed flip through of the curriculum on my channel which might help answer some questions!!
Its so much about what we bring in over what we remove. I keep a shipping list of wants/needs and find so many times that after several days wait i no longer need or want or that a friend has provided something on my list (hand me downs etc). Now....if i could convince my hubby.
Curious What kind of timeframe do you think you will take for Essentials? I want to use LOE Essentials but uneasy about the lack of structured grade levels… and it seems the first time through Essentials can take 1.5-2 years…
We have done LOE Foundations B-D, loved it. But ugh, for 3rd grade, I’m having trouble deciding between LOE Essentials, BJU Press, CLE, and Abeka! All totally different, I know! 😆😜. We need work on fluency and spelling. So difficult to choose!
I have been binging your videos lately just trying to decide second grade! My daughter has done the good and beautiful for pre-k and level 1 and also masterbooks LA level 1. She is able to read very well for her age, she's currently reading out loud to me the magic tree house series. Here and there she will have a word she doesn't know. When it comes to spelling though, she does struggle. I guess my question for you is, when you mentioned going by skills, and after phonics is over, moving on to whats next instead of following the curriculum. I guess that scares me is I feel there are so many rules and phonetic things we probably haven't covered and I am afraid to miss. Did you feel the phonetic rules sort of end after second grade?
I've never been very good at judging grade level - but my son finds them to be just right, a bit of a stretch but not too hard. He started level 3 after he turned 9!
Former elementary teacher here (giving my two cents), I would say that Sonlight readers are pretty much on grade level. I personally think there is quite a jump from 3rd to 4th grade. I think you can go up or down though very easily depending on your child and their reading abilities. 👍🏻
