Well, I’m going to give my opinion but that is all it is….an opinion. This has been a very confusing year for me trying to decide what kind of curriculum we need. I have read every book out there, every website and blog, tried things recommended by this person and that person, and finally had to decide for myself. 🙂
I had to consider my strengths and weaknesses and how my children best respond to certain methods. I am not naturally good a language arts (my spelling is awful, I don’t remember much about grammar, and I was not introduced to many good books in my school years) So, trying to wing it with narration, dictation and copywork was too much for ME. I need something that tells ME what to look for in their writing, how to teach grammar, how to spell things correctly…LOL!
Also, my children love to write stories on their own. Just right now, for example, we are done with “school” and they are sitting at the kitchen table working on their “books”. In all of my reading about the CM method I have rread that they should not be writing for themselves until they have read enough good books, copied good sentences, and used dictation to help with grammar. I have also read that I should not let them write things that are incorrect (spelling, punctuation, etc.) because it will “stick” in their mind and they will always wonder which way is right. However, all of the CM suggestions for curriculum put off teaching grammar until the child is in 5th or sometimes even 7th grade. So, that was aproblem for us. My kids want to write. If I limited them to just copying and summarizing, I feel like I would be taking away the fun for them. I am not going to tell my child, “No, you may not write a book for fun! You must copy something that someone else who is much smarter than you has written first.”
However, I do not want them to write incorrectly for so long that it will be hard to fix later on. So……for my children, a good grammar/writing instruction program is needed at this point, in my opinion. We still do narration and copywork in addition to our “formal instruction”.
We do some worksheets and some oral lessons. I bought Christian Light but I do NOT use all of the exercises in every lesson. I mark out a lot of the review, we use something else for spelling, and I do not do the creative writing that is assigned either. I have seen improvement in their writing and usage since we started the grammar instruction. I am very careful not to overdo it with the workbooks. Using this instruction has been an encouragement to my children because they are learning things that they wanted to know how to do. I would not use things that made them hate learning. Also, I plan to use Rod & Staff next year so that we can do more orally and reuse the texts.
After saying all of that….I do not believe that you should change anything if it is working well for you. We had to find what works for us and that might be different for you and your children.
The bottom line: Use tools that you are comfortable using without smothering your children in facts and worksheets. Encourage their desire for learning and give them the instruction they need to accomplish that goal.
Just my opinion,
Amanda<!– / message –>