Wayfarers + ELTL: STILL My Picks for our Charlotte Mason-Inspired Homeschool
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Curriculum Pick: ELTL Language Arts
Grade 5
River will continue with English Lessons Through Literature by Barefoot Ragamuffin — this will be our third year? Our fourth?
I still love this curriculum. Each lesson includes a chapter from a classic novel (like the Secret Garden), followed by a short grammar lesson. Next, River reads me a poem and I read either her a fable — unless it’s picture study day and we look at a painting instead. This work is followed by short writing exercises, sentence diagramming (using two sentences from the day’s chapter reading), copywork, and often a dictation. I just love how easy the lessons are and how much they cover.
This year, River will also be starting Reading Lessons Through Literature by Barefoot Ragamuffin, which we will use as a spelling curriculum. This simple, straightforward curriculum teaches students the 75 phonograms and the 30 rules that explain 98% of English words. It’s based on the Orton-Gillingham method (which both Logic of English and All About Spelling are based on as well).
Finally, River will be using Brave Writer’s Partnership Writing for writing projects throughout the year. I don’t think she needs an additional writing curriculum, but I know she’ll love doing it.
Grade 1
Harbour will be using the exact same Reading Lessons Through Literature book as her older sister but at a much slower pace — for her age, it’s more about reading than spelling. We tried out Logic of English and All About Reading, but she just doesn’t have the attention span for their longer lessons. RLTL is quick and easy, and she seems to enjoy it.
Reading Lessons Through Literature goes hand in hand with Handwriting Lessons Through Literature, which we are using to very, very slowly learn cursive. I’m not pushing it. I’m trying not to focus on just paper writing, but instead we’re using lots of forms of practice — writing in the air, “painting” the letters on a chalkboard with water, using these Montessori-style sandpaper cards from Logic of English, and the Montessorium app on my phone. I’m also encouraging a lot of drawing and colouring to work on dexterity skills.
As a “Grade 1” student, Harbour is supposed to join River and me for the literature read-alouds scheduled in Wayfarers, but I don’t think they’ll interest her yet. Instead, we’re going to read the books listed in Barefoot Ragamuffin’s free Pathways program during morning time.
Finally, for writing, we’re using Jot It Down! by Brave Writer, which is just the most delightful little writing program that you can use with kids before they’re even writing themselves. For each of the 10 projects, the parent acts as a scribe and writes down the student’s words for them. In addition to the writing projects, the curriculum recommends activities like poetry tea times, art gallery visits, nature walks and memorization. It all looks like so much fun that even River was a bit envious — that’s the reason I ended up buying Partnership Writing for her.
Pre-School
Forest and I will continue reading his favourite books 47 times each day. I can only pray that he finds something other than Usborne’s My Body (Very First Words) book before I lose. My. Mind.
Jump Ahead: Our Curriculum Pick for 2017/2018
Introduction
Math: Beast Academy and RightStart
Language Arts: Barefoot Ragamuffin and Brave Writer curriculums
History: Wayfarers: Ancient History
Geography: Wayfarers: Ancient History
Science: Science in the Ancient World
Bible: Episcopal Children’s Curriculum
Foreign Languages: Speaking French with Miss Mason and François and Latin for Children
Miscellaneous: Wayfarers: Ancient History
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