Product Description
Exciting news! Coming mid-2025, Using Language Well and Spelling Wisdom will be combined into a new Using Language Well, 2nd Edition! While supplies last, the 1st edition books are available at a 20% discount. Read more about the new books →
Help your student grow in language arts skills through great literature!
Using Language Well, Book 1, is a Charlotte Mason language arts curriculum designed to be a companion to Spelling Wisdom, Book 1, which contains wonderful excerpts from great literature, worthy poetry, beautiful Scripture, and powerful quotations. Now you can use those same great literary passages to teach English usage, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and composition!
Pair Using Language Well, Book 1, with Spelling Wisdom, Book 1, to
- Give your student a rich literary approach to language arts in grades 3 and 4.
- Help your student discover for himself key points of English usage, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and elements of good writing.
- Keep interest and attention high through short lessons just twice a week.
- Confidently guide and evaluate your student’s progress in composition with the helpful tips and practical tools in the Teacher Guide & Answer Key.
Get the bundle!
Everything you need for spelling and language arts the Charlotte Mason way in one convenient bundle.
$76.85 Original price was: $76.85.$61.48Current price is: $61.48.Add to wishlist
What’s Covered in Book 1?
Book 1 is designed to last for two years. When your student completes Using Language Well, Book 1 (with Spelling Wisdom, Book 1), he will be able to
- identify each mark of punctuation in a sentence and explain why it is used there;
- alphabetize the months of the year;
- identify and define homonyms, synonyms, and antonyms;
- correctly spell irregular plural words;
- use a and an correctly;
- analyze contractions and compound words;
- detail prefixes, suffixes, and root words;
- identify types of sentences, syllables, and stanzas in a poem;
- and more! (See a complete list in the Placement Guide below.)
He will also have written from transcription (for grade 3) or dictation (for grade 4) hundreds of sentences from good literature.
You can adjust the length of the transcription or dictation passages from Spelling Wisdom to best fit your student. For third graders (completing Exercises 1–70), we recommend that you assign the whole passage to be transcribed and occasionally ask the student to spell two or three words from the passage from memory. For students in fourth grade (completing Exercises 71–140), we recommend that you assign up to the whole passage to be studied, then dictate one or two sentences.
The Teacher Guide
The Teacher Guide for Using Language Well, Book 1, provides clear answers to every question in the Student Book, but it also gives you so much more! You will find helpful and thorough explanations sprinkled throughout the lessons to encourage you in the Charlotte Mason way of doing language arts, plus a step-by-step plan to help your student grow in composition through his narrations. Guidance is given to help a student make the transition from oral narration to written narration in grade 4. All the practical tools you need to evaluate his writing are included.
Order one Using Language Well student book per student. The Using Language Well Teacher Guide and the corresponding Spelling Wisdom book are reusable.
The Using Language Well Series
All Using Language Well books build upon previous ones and include English, grammar, and writing points. Each book serves a unique role in the series.
Book 1—Basic Capitalization, Punctuation, and Usage
Contractions • Sentences • Plurals • Possessives • Synonyms, Antonyms, Homonyms • Capitalization • Punctuation • Alphabetizing • Prefixes and Suffixes
Book 2—Parts of Speech
Nouns • Pronouns • Adjectives • Verbs • Adverbs • Interjections • Articles • Conjunctions • Prepositions
Book 3—Sentence Analysis
Subjects • Predicates • Subject Complements • Verbals • Phrases • Clauses • Introduction to Poetry Analysis
Placing Your Student
Download the placement guide
Use the book topics listed above to help you determine which book to start with. For example, if your student already has a good grasp on basic capitalization and punctuation (covered in Book 1) but hasn’t yet studied parts of speech, start with Book 2. Complete two lessons per week, right along with Spelling Wisdom, and a book will last two years: Lessons 1–70 in the first year and Lessons 71–140 in the second.
The grade levels are not the final say, but if you’re curious, here is one way we envision the Using Language Well series being used through the grades:
- Grades 3 and 4—Book 1 (Lessons 1–70 incorporate transcription; Lessons 71–140 make the transition to prepared dictation.)
- Grades 5 and 6—Book 2
- Grades 7 and 8—Book 3
If your student has already completed a Spelling Wisdom book’s dictation exercises, you can still work through its corresponding Using Language Well lessons and either omit or review dictation portions as desired.
For example, let’s say you have already done the dictation exercises in Spelling Wisdom, Book 1, and are ready to start Book 2, but you think your student will benefit from studying the punctuation, capitalization, and English usage lessons in Using Language Well, Book 1. You could easily set aside the Spelling Wisdom, Book 2, for a few weeks and focus on working through the Using Language Well book you have missed. Most lessons take only a few minutes, so you could do several per week by leaving out the dictation portions you have already done. Once you have completed the lessons in Using Language Well, Book 1, you could pick back up and start doing the exercises of Spelling Wisdom, Book 2, along with the lessons in Using Language Well, Book 2.
