I am using LOE with my 9 yo 4th grader. We actually started it last year when she was 8 and in 3rd and will be finished soon and moving to the advanced lists. I love the program but I don’t use every part of it. I use it for spelling only. I wanted to use the Spalding method to teach spelling. The manual for teaching the Spalding Method is called The Writing Road to Reading. I purchased both the 4th and the 6th editions and read each book from cover to cover but it was still difficult for me to wrap my head around the whole idea and even more difficult for me to apply it in our homeschool. Many do use WRTR as is but I needed an open and go curriculum, something laid out for me to follow. After researching my options and asking for advice on various homeschool forums LOE seemed the closest to what I wanted and needed. So, if you are looking for something similar to WRTR or that uses the Spalding Method for spelling, LOE might work for you.
I find the program very easy to use and not time consuming at all. Each lesson is divided into 3 parts, phonograms, spelling dictation and analysis, and grammar (the grammar part includes grammar, vocabulary, dictation, and composition). We do about 15 minutes per day of the phonogram and spelling portions simply picking up the next day where we left off. If an activity in the grammar section looks interesting or I think it might help to reinforce something my dd is learning elsewhere I will have her do a page or activity. I thought I might use all of LOE but I found I prefer other ways of teaching grammar, vocabulary, and composition. It’s a lot to pay for JUST the spelling portion but it works for us and I plan to use it with several more children.
The phonogram and spelling lessons are simple and easy to implement. I teach the phonograms in the order presented in the teacher’s manual, introducing new ones and reviewing those previously learned. We go over them with flashcards or I dictate them to my dd and she writes them in the workbook. I introduce new spelling rules, review previously learned ones and, finally, I dictate the spelling words to her using the method outlined in the teacher’s manual. She marks the phonograms and indicates the corresponding spelling rules for each word. That’s about it.
The workbook is thick and cumbersome and filled with various exercises and some games but many of them are marked as optional reinforcement activities. They are there only if you need them. I think the spelling portions could be done using just a notebook and the phonogram and spelling rule cards just as WRTR does and I may use it that way with the rest of my children. Although, if your child needs the optional activites or you do the grammar portions, the workbook would be necessary.
As for comparing the program to AAS, I used AAS briefly before LOE. It was not a good fit me or my dd. It seemed to move at too slow a pace and all the tiles and the huge white board drove us crazy. I know many homeschoolers love it and I think it is a great program but it wasn’t for us.
I am also using LOE Foundations with my 1st grader to teach her to read. LOE Foundations begins with phonemic awareness then teaches the phonograms just like Essentials does using a Spalding-like method but at a beginning reader’s level and a slower pace.
HTH!
