Confused with Lang.Arts and Grammar Intro

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  • May 13, 2012 at 11:15 pm
    mrsmccardell
    Participant

    Hi, I just attended my first home school convention and have a couple questions relating to Language Arts and Grammar.  They are new to me so my questions may sound stupid.

    Are Language Arts and Grammar the same thing?  Or is Grammar just a piece of Language Arts?

    There were 2 things I liked when I was there but I wasn’t sure if they were covering the same topics as one another:  LLTAL and Pathway Readers (and workbooks).

    I’m going to use a program called ABeCeDarian to teach Phonics due to special needs in our house.  I need something after that but I don’t know what I would look for as the next step.  Do you understand what I am asking?  I have ages 5.5, 4.5 and 14 mos at home so I am not in a rush.  I’m just trying to learn and understand the big picture of the next few years to some degree.

    Please let me know if I need to clarify exactly what I mean.  I’m a little confused myself if you can’t tell already!  Thanks for your input.  I loved the conference and am amazed at all the boxed packages…tempting, but not right for us at this point.

    May 13, 2012 at 11:17 pm
    mrsmccardell
    Participant

    I forgot to mention that some of the material mentioned above seemed to be for younger children when I thought CM suggested to start these things later.  I think that is making me wonder if they are covering other topics I should be made aware of.  Thanks.

    May 13, 2012 at 11:31 pm
    lgeurink
    Member

    Someone else who knows more feel free to correct me here, but language arts as a school subject generally includes spelling, vocab, phonics, literature, writing, grammer etc.  Things that have to do with using language.   Most of those topics are covered in the SCM guide with the recommended ages listed.  If you click on the specific subject (like grammer) they describe how Charlotte Mason taught them and why they were taught at certain ages.  This is honestly the easiest website for me (a computer idiot!) to navigate so you should be able to get the specifics there and come ask any more questions that arise here on the forum.  I used Pathways Readers only in 2nd grade, we got the workbooks b/c they were very inexpensive but I felt like too much work for one lessson so I broke each three page section of workbook exercises into three parts to use the same workbook with all three kids if that makes sense.  We liked the stories a lot. 

    I know starting out things seem really crazy because the options are truly endless!  Your questions are not stupid at all and things will make more sense as you get going.  Best of luck and welcome!

    May 14, 2012 at 4:44 am
    MamaSnow
    Participant

    Yes, lgeurink is right – grammar is just one piece of “language arts”, and the specific piece that CM didn’t recommend until starting later. Some people like to do a gentle intro to grammar/mechanics younger using various resources (I think English for the Thoughtful Child is the one reccommended here, although there are other similar programs out there), but it’s not necessary unless you want to. The other aspects of ‘language arts’ are narration, spelling, writing (both the mechanics of learning how to write and then later writing papers), reading (both how-to and enjoying/studying literature), etc. There are a plethora of materials one can use to teach the various aspect of language arts so don’t feel bad for being confused. I only have a minute at the moment, but not too long ago I blogged about how we take a (mostly) CM approach to language arts with my first grader – might help you figure out where to go with your little ones once they get past that initial learning how to read/learning letter formation stage.

    http://snowfallacademy.blogspot.fr/2012/04/how-we-do-language-arts-part-1.html

    Blessings,

    Jen

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