Name: CHEC Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-12T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-14T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Denver, CO

Tagged: English for the thoughtful child, formal language arts, Language arts, Primary Language Lessons

This topic has 18 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 10 months ago by Corie.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 19 total)

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July 15, 2012 at 10:01 pm
Anonymous
Inactive
Does anyone have thoughts on the pro and cons of PLL and English for the Thoughtful Child?
Also, what do you do for those science questions in PLL? Does my child need to read some books on the topic before we discuss it?
Thanks!
July 15, 2012 at 10:30 pm
4myboys
Participant
I’m planning to use PLL for my younger ds this coming year. I don’t think it’s necessary to make them “study” a topic ahead of time. You might like to take a read through the book ahead of time and make a list of topics to make a point of observing during your nature study time. If you don’t, I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s a good opportunity to have a discussion, look up info you/they don’t know together online or in an encyclopedia (that teaches them research skills) and look at pictures of the plant/animal/etc. You might spend time on future nature walks looking for those things, and asking your child to remind you or tell a younger sibbling of something that was learned.
July 15, 2012 at 10:41 pm
LDIMom
Participant
We have used only PLL, but I do love it. It works for our family. We do not study beforehand and if something isn’t working, we just skip that lesson. I can’t compare the two, because we’ve not used English for the TC.
July 15, 2012 at 11:00 pm
Renelle
Participant
We have used Primary Language Lessons and now Intermediate Language Lessons (Emma Serl’s) and it has always been a pick up and go thing. We’ve never done any preparation work. That’s why I like it so much, it’s low maintenance. We also skip any lessons we don’t feel we need to do.
Warmest wishes, Renelle
July 16, 2012 at 12:56 am
Anonymous
Inactive
That is basically what we did last year. I fgured that the main point was English and Grammar not so much the science content.
Do you do the dictation exercises eventhough dictation is not a CM reccomendation until age 10?
How do you keep a record of which lessons you did? I was thinking of photocopying the table of contents and just putting a date next to the ones that we did.
July 16, 2012 at 1:00 am
Anonymous
Inactive
Ha-ha! Speaking of English and Grammar, I spelled “figured” wrong and left out some punctuation. I have a few distractions at the moment!
July 16, 2012 at 2:18 am
LDIMom
Participant
Alicia, I use TOCs a lot to keep track. With PLL and ILL, I honestly just go in order and *gasp* dog-ear the page we are on … then we go to the next one. For lessons where I ask them to write it out (which is more often for my 12YO son who is still learning English and is using PLL), they have a spiral notebook. They just date it and put “PLL Lesson 31” or “ILL Lesson 15” for example.
If you wanted to keep a record, checking off on a copy of the TOC would work well if you ask me.
July 16, 2012 at 4:05 am
Kate Mom of 1
Participant
Going to piggyback on your thread here…Do you guys think a grammar curiculum like PLL or English for the TC is necessary? or is it something to add/use as we need it? My daughter is 8, going into 3rd grade, and is (according to public schools) right on or just below grade level in grammar and writing skills. Any thoughts?
July 16, 2012 at 4:12 am
Anonymous
Inactive
That sounds really easy! I am not familiar with TOC’s, however. Could you please explain?
July 16, 2012 at 4:32 am
MamaSnow
Participant
Kate Mom of 1 – As far as how “necessary” these are, I think that’s up to you. I know lots of people here love using these books, but after looking at them, I felt like they were redundant for us. We already read and occasionally memorize poems, do nature study and picture study, narrate what we’re reading, and occasionally talk about grammar/punctuation issues as they come up in her copywork or things she writes on her own. Personally, I prefer this as it is all integrated into our other subjects so it’s one less thing I have to add into our schedule, but she is still get exposure and practice to all the skills in these books. I feel comfortable continuing with what we are doing now, and we’ll do a more formal grammar curriculum once she hits around 5th grade or so, as per CM recommendations. On the other hand, if you like having these things laid out for you, or if you are new to CM methods and trying to figure out how to make it all work, I can see how these books would be really helpful. So I’d say take a look and see what you think, and go with your own intuition if you think it will help your dd with the skillls she is weak in or not.
HTH
Jen
July 16, 2012 at 4:32 am
Corie
Participant
TOC’s = Table of Contents. 🙂
July 16, 2012 at 4:35 am
Kate Mom of 1
Participant
Thanks Jen…We are brand new to homeschooling, not just CM. So I might look into it a little more and see if it’s something I think we/she needs. Or I could hold off and do more grammar focus next year or the year after.
July 16, 2012 at 11:12 pm
Anonymous
Inactive
Thanks for all the replies and information…..I had not really considered just skipping an official English/Grammar course for my younger elementary ones. As you said, we already do much of what is in these books. Something to think about I guess.
July 17, 2012 at 2:16 pm
artcmomto3
Participant
Hi, Alicia, we have the same name. 🙂 we just started English for the a thoughtful Child. I had also looked at PLL. A friend of mine did PLL last year and is doing EFTTT this year. She said the latter is a lttle meatier on grammar and such while PLL incorporates more picture study and other various elements. While I do talk about when to use a capital letter or period with copywork, I like that this lays out a gentle intro to writing in a structured way, but it is not over the top.
July 18, 2012 at 12:56 am
Anonymous
Inactive
VERY helpful! Thanks.
I actually have met only one or two people in my life with the same name as mine.
Blessings!