LLATL (Part 2)

This is a follow up post of Part 1 of our LLATL (Learning Language Arts Through Literature) adventure. We absolutely love this curriculum.

The kids really enjoy doing the lapbook and all the cut and paste (Red book). Just a note on that, my son really dislike cutting and pasting, except if it is for his paper-crafts. However he really likes doing it in LLATL. They also love the  additional activities/projects. Such as the bingo game and making the imprint of a leave and obviously drawing. My daughter is very easy, she loves anything that has got to do with a scissor, glue, pencils.

Why I love it so much: It is fun, every day is mapped out what you need to do and when. Very easy to follow. Most important it is Christian based.  We will continue to use LLATL until our final year.

Here's some  pictures of what the lapbook looks like so far. We will be making more as we go along.

Various areas of the Lapbook

Leave prints after we read A Tree is Nice

Compound words

What the full lapbook looks like

Our lapbook is not the standard size lapbooks. It is almost twice the size than what people normally use.

Will do another post once our next lapbook is full.

Blessings

Maryna

LLATL (part 1)

We initially started our English portion of 'schooling' using Adventures in Phonics by Christian Liberty Press. For those who does not know, English is not our first language. 

Today we finally moved over to LLATL (Learning Language Arts through Literature) by Common Sense Press.

We started with the Red book.

The first two books in the program the blue and the red both comes as a set. This includes a teacher guide, student book and readers. There is also additional readers that you need purchase that form part of the literature studies in the book.

The kids absolutely love this book. The lessons are interesting and at this level still loads of cut and paste activities. This was only day one, they said it is not a boring book and so much fun. I have to admit this is our first time ever also taking on lapbooking.

working hard sorting words

 Even though this is only the start here you can see what they have got so far. I didn't use normal file folders, I  used larger card stock and folded it. The inside bottom is about A3 size.

See HERE for some samples of the LLATL books. The student and teacher book can also be purchased as e-books (so much cheaper). I bought the student book as an e-book. I have to admit that my printer did not co-operate so well while printing all those many many pages. I might buy the printed books for the next level.

Most people recommended that I try and get the additional readers from the library, unfortunately I only managed to find two and will need to purchase the rest.

If you wish to start using LLATL and don't know where to start, there is placements tests on their site. Happy learning.

Blessings

Maryna

Planning our weekly program

As homeschool moms we all have our way of doing things. Some have elaborate planning pages, files, excel sheets etc. Others simply pick up the parent/teacher guide and follow what you need to do next. And then there are those who just go as the day takes them. 

This is what we normally do:

We do two language programs, one for English and one for Afrikaans (our home language). 

Afrikaans: For our home language program which came in the form of worksheets and we have license to copy, so I would copy the unit that we are going to work on for the next week or two. This will mean that both my kids have the necessary worksheets to work on. We are doing main focus on spelling and learning grammar rules. For those who are curious, we use the Clever werkkaarte by Macmillan. For anyone wanting to do this, you have to be able to speak and read in Afrikaans to teach your kids the correct pronunciation of the words. My comment about these Clever worksheets: There is aprox 38 worksheets per unit and there are 12 unit/ sets. I initially was very sceptical due to the price mostly. We eventually got them and we just love them. My kids spelling improved drastically and even their reading picked up wonderfully.

 

English: We learn English as a first language and not a second language. We started very late with our English program, only seriously started this year, but the previous years we did do other work here and there. We are doing Adventures in Phonics by Christian Liberty press and are busy with the Level A book. We will be starting within the next few weeks with the readers that you have to buy with the first level.  My comment about AIP.  Love, love, love. I really like how every letter is introduced, beginning sounds, where it is in the middle. There is loads of review of the words, pictures of the words, fill in the missing sound etc. We also use a little book where they wright new words down. There is a flashcard set that you have to purchase additionally for level A. I have not really used that, I just write the words on a whiteboard and they say and act out what the word is. They love doing this. I am totally amazed how fast they pick up the words. You can preview this book HERE in google books.

Mathematics: We always start our day with Mathematics. Our reason for this is, the brain is still very awake and fresh and they can focus better. We use to do a South African program called Prac Math (in our home language). It is really a great program. But, yes I have a but. There is no good foundation and review per method. This means that within a month or so, they totally forget what they learned. So after much thought and research we moved over to the American program Math U See.  Every day we will just pick up where we left off the previous day. We are currently at Beta level. Even though my kids have done almost everything in the Beta series, they needed to learn the English terms and get to know how the program is presented. My comment about MUS: Initially I was very scared to use it as the program is in English. Wow, how surprised was I. My kids picked everything up so quickly and they absolutely love the method and working with the blocks. There is nothing negative I can say about MUS at this stage. The kids love it and I love it. I just wished we started using it a long time ago.

History, Geography, Science etc: We use Konos. I read through the character trait we are busy with and then select the activities we want to do for the week. I get the necessary reference books from the library. Our local library does not have any of the books they recommend, but I just get whatever else I can find on the subjects. I also do an internet search. I find pictures, videos and anything that will be helpful for us to cover that topic. Most important we use the Bible as our pillar. My comment about Konos: When we first started using it, I was very overwhelmed and confused. But after asking for some guidance I became calm. Now we tackle it one thing at a time. One should not look at the entire Volume (file) as a whole, but just look at the character you are working on now. Konos is fun and very hands-on. You can view my page Konos.

Art: As I am a very artistic person, we do crafts and arts whenever we feel like it. I use anything from ideas that pop up. Reference books, the internet and then the best resource ever, Pinterest.

Most of the days we do everything. We do not have set times that we work, but we normally do try and start by 8 or 9 in the morning and continue until we are done (with breaks in between). Art is the only thing we do not really do everyday, but in a sense we do, as everything creative is art :)

So no matter what methods you use enjoy it. There is no one size fits all. We all have our own ideas of what we want to do and what we want to accomplish.