Top 14 Homeschool Language Arts Comparison Review

welcome to home-school on my name is Rebecca homeschool mom of five young children and today I'm gonna be showing you inside over ten different language arts curriculums I have so much different curriculum to show you and I'm going to show you inside and show you the table of contents what it covers how it covers it who it's gonna be a good fit for who it might not be a good fit for and hopefully give you a good idea of what's out there for language arts for your family this year so the first one I want to talk to you about is my father's world my father's world is a Charlotte Mason inspired curriculum and they sell entire themes that cover all of your subjects and can be used for all of your kids which is really unique and can save on time as well as on money when you think of it big picture depending on how many kids you have they also have language lessons for today and writing skills for today available as well as spelling power and progeny press and different resources they use for their language arts curriculum okay so that is on top of already what is included in their language arts inside of their themes so this I'm gonna be showing you inside I want you to see kind of how it is done through these books here which are really affordable and then I also want to show you how their language arts is incorporated right inside a sample day of their theme I have Rome two Reformation in front of me and I'm gonna show you that one as well and show you what a sample week looks like so you can see how language arts is infused through Bible and through history and through science and through music and nature and all those different things so that you can get a better idea so this is the grade six language lessons that I'm showing you and you're gonna see they're gonna be reading fables at the end of reading that fable for example they do a summary a paragraph summary about it they do memorization there's poetry there's grammar there's picture studies there's all sorts of different things involved it even goes into some composition as well and so it's just a very Jen toll light language arts curriculum that you can use alongside really anything else that you are doing and I love love love the approach of this so let's take a look inside some of the days so you can see how it is laid out so they're doing reading aloud there's poetry picture studies I love the layout of this I love that the lessons are relatively short they're easy to do they're not too overwhelming and like I said this is the grade sixth level so I I think that for this level it is definitely not too much and it's just that reinforcement that they would be doing on a regular basis so I personally think language lessons for today is phenomenal and it's relatively inexpensive if you go over to their site and click on language arts you'll see them all listed there now let's take a look at writing skills for today we're gonna look inside the table of contents this is the level see I'm showing you and this is actually an adaptation of writing strands you may be more familiar with writing strands there is quite a bit of it out there and some different companies have also kind of put their spin on it so my father's world also has done the same thing they've kind of put their spin on writing strands so that is what this is and so you'll see the different units that are included and this is giving them really instructional how to write a letter how to write more interesting sentences and it will kind of walk them through the process so this is just writing and this will give you an idea let's take a look through some of the pages you can see my son was trying this out and again this is not too overwhelming and inside the room too Reformation inside the actual schedule they're not necessarily doing their writing every day either because you have to remember they're also doing writing inside the room too Reformation theme and there's some writing in language lessons for today so it's it is included in everything that they do it is not just limited to these books that you're gonna see listed underneath their language arts the other resource you're going to see listed under language arts inside that elementary category is spelling or spelling power is their recommended resource and it's included inside their Rome to Reformation schedule as well of just just 15 minutes a day spelling lesson so this is the other resource you're gonna see we can take a peek at the table of contents of this one as well so you'll see that it tells you how to place your student how you're gonna teach it how you're gonna reinforce it there's different skill building activities and proofreading and dictionary skills and all of the different tools that you're gonna need and worksheet activities are built within this so if I just do a quick kind of flip through give you an idea we can can see kind of kind of what it is it is definitely written to the adults and so you would have to kind of read this and understand what the approach is how you're going to do it where your child would fit within this and then teach from that so it's a little bit more teacher intensive but it looks like a great way of teaching spelling so this is their recommended resource for that and that gives you an idea of how they do spelling within their program so the last thing I want to show you is room two Reformation and I'm actually gonna do it close up I want to show you all the different books that are included in one of these kind of history themes now remember this isn't just history this is history its art its music and composers it is your read Aloud's and literature and everything it includes your science it includes your Bible it is such a comprehensive program so I'm going to show you all of those books and why it is priced the way that is priced and also how they incorporate language arts right inside of their themes so inside of this you can see that for science they are going to be doing the human body as well as space for this year this is adaptable for kids from grades two if they're doing it with older siblings all the way up to about grade eight and I want to take you to a sample week so we're gonna go to week 14 so here on the left you can see this a sample schedule and it is laid out with four days it has an adaptable fifth day you can add in there if you want to it uses English from the roots up again all of these things are totally optional for you of how much you want to include and how much you don't want to include that would kind of be some of your language arts as well it is Latin that they are teaching you some of the roots and Latin words so that is an additional resource you can use for spelling it just gives you spelling and if you were using the spelling resource then it would tell you what you need to do for that and you can see it separates up the English so that would be your language lessons and writing days are there as well so it tells you everything you need to do what you need to do what you need to read there is tons of read Aloud's included with the package so you're gonna be reading aloud to your kids you're gonna be doing arts you're gonna be doing science everything is listed here for you to do all you need to add is math and an independent reader for your child so if we look at the notes to the teacher you're gonna see it tells you what you need the photocopies and each day it gives you as a teacher how you're gonna teach this so specifically for the Bible that's really important because it's telling you what you need to teach what memory verses you need to do etc got lots of good discussion questions built into there as well it tells you each day is kind of broken up for you so you can see it's got different verses you're gonna be studying and it incorporates note booking all throughout so the note booking is where you're gonna start to see some of those language arts built right within not only is a very project phase not only is it very you know they're gonna be doing lots of reading and lots of discussion and lots of oral narration and memorization but on top of all that they also do note booking and that's where you're gonna start to see the language arts incorporated into these themes so for example it will tell them you're gonna read this and you're gonna write this about it here they're gonna summarize the information about what they are reading in their book so they're gonna read in the book draw a picture and they are going to write about it and add it to their notebook so that gives you an idea of how language arts is incorporated in write in on Wednesday you can see that they're gonna be making a woven mat which is just how you can get an idea of how kinesthetic and hands-on it is and there's lots of projects throughout as well and then it also has you know lots and lots of Bible included in there so let's take a look at some of the different books that are included inside the room too Reformation so you can see why it is so comprehensive [Music] [Music] all right so that's my father's world obviously a very quick little snapshot to give you an idea of how it works how it is taught and what it looks like inside but what I really want to talk to you about is who this is gonna work well for and who it isn't going to work well for this is going to be a fantastic program if you are looking for something you can teach with multiple kids it's going to work really well if you want something that's more Charlotte Mason inspired a little bit more gentle and less focused on heavy workbook you know reinforcement and drill based learning it's gonna work well for all different learning styles because it has hands-on because the auditory kids are gonna get to hear it because your visual kids are gonna get to see it so it works well for all learning styles and it works really well for blending your kids which can save you time instead of having to teach one-on-one for each of your kids for each of their subjects um whoo this isn't gonna work well for is anyone who's looking for secular curriculum obviously this is very Christian based if you're looking for a secular you're gonna wanna skip forward because I've got some different options for you there as well it is going to not probably work for you if you are in a very strict budget and can't afford this kind of price take the language lessons and writing skills for today are very affordable on their site by the way if you want to just add that to whatever you're doing they're like nineteen dollars but if you want to do this whole curriculum and the way that it teaches all your subjects together that Rome to Reformation package is about four hundred and forty dollars but keep in mind is really important to keep in mind that when you price out music study resources and art resources and you know science resources for each of your kids and Bible resources for each of your kids and history resources for each of your kids and language arts resources for each of your kids it usually works out to a whole lot more than that so that price tag seems big overall with any of these all-in-one curriculums I'm going to be showing you you're gonna see that you're gonna see that sticker shock but keep in mind that it is taking away the need for you to go and buy this times five or however many kids you have so it's just lots to think about when you're looking at this curriculum but if you do have a very limited budget then definitely budgets gonna play into that for you as well the last thing that I think would maybe be a detriment for you depending on your situation is if you have a very intense busy life or like I said are dealing with kids that are very very different age groups if you've got five-year-olds that you're trying to do kindergarten and phonics and and you know learning how to read and write at the same time as you've got high schoolers at the same time as you've got middle schoolers and you're trying to blend this in with some kids but still do stuff with the other end of the spectrum it's gonna be probably too much if you have a job and you work almost full-time and you need something that you can just start them on and they can do and you just get school done those are the situations that I think that my father's world would not work as well for because it is more parent led it is teacher intensive in the fact that you have to be the one teaching you have to be the one reading so it is not too time intensive you can see the days are actually very very gentle it's just reading and discussion and it's not too much built into it and of course all those activities are optional but it is something that you as a teacher will have to lead if you do not have the time for that or your family dynamics do not work for that then this may be something to consider when you're looking at my father's world so let's move on to some of the other programs that I have to show you today the next program I want to show you is life pack by Alpha Omega publishing now life pack you are going to get for each subjects a language arts for Bible or science for socials you're gonna get a teacher's guide as well as ten different unit booklets so they would do essentially one booklet per month per subject a lot of parents love this because they can just open and go this is definitely pretty much the opposite of my father's world where my father's world is very Charlotte Mason and explores hoary and incorporates all those amazing things this is traditional traditional school work where it is book work open go read write do what it says follow the instructions this is also very very independent where my father's world and some of the other curriculums I'm gonna be showing you today are more teacher lead and directed so this is one that you're just gonna kind of get them started once they're familiar with the way this works they can do them on their own so I want to show you inside these give you a glimpse I'm missing a few I have unit 4 through 10 I believe of this as well as the teacher guide but I want to show you how it is laid out so you can see what this looks like inside so let's take a look at the table of contents inside we're going to look this is unit 4 so I'm not gonna show you inside all of them I'm trying to keep this as short as possible which is going to be a challenge so here you can see that inside one of the kids booklets they have their different sections they're working on there's unit review built in and they're just kind of working through and following directions of what this booklet says that they need to do the table of contents inside the teacher's guide if we go to the curriculum overview that shows you for each grade so we can look here at grade 2 or you can see all the other ones what is going to be covered in their language arts for each grade in each unit so if you are considering this you're gonna want to take a screenshot of this so you can see and go and see what it would look like for your child's so it goes all the way to grade 12 and these are all the different things that are covered so if we skip forward it's got grading how to grade their lessons there's a weekly lesson planner and then it goes into the teacher notes so it actually will tell you you know what you need to be doing there's alternate tests that are in here as well and there's spelling tests that are in here and it gives you different materials that you need it gives you an answer key so all of that is right here inside of your teacher book now inside the unit just so you have an idea of how its laid out member this is the grade too obviously it's gonna get more in depth it's very bright it reminds me a lot of a Becca which I'm gonna be showing you as well but it's very simple workbook style fill in the blank write the correct word circle what you need to circle it's definitely very traditional in its approach so this does work well for families that are needing something that is laid out in a way like this that they can just give them their workbooks and have them go it also works well because you just have this one unit book for language arts that you can take with you it's not like you have to bring five different you know language arts books with you and read Aloud's and resources and then you'll see the unit test is built in there as well so that is life pack by alpha-omega it is not cheap depending on how many kids you have but it's definitely not crazy crazy expensive either it works well for kids that are more visual it works well for parents that need something that is more child's directed and lead and is open and go and independent from them so if that is you then this is gonna work well for you it is also Christian it is not gonna work well if you are secular and if you are looking for anything that is just the joy and love of learning and exploring the world around you or Charlotte Mason inspired I'm going to recommend finding something else than this because this is very very traditional it's gonna get the job done but it's not going to get it done in a way that is going to you know be out of the box and going to really explore good literature and all those different things that's not important included in this program so depending on your goals as a family I would look at that first what is your goal do you need something just to get it done or are you looking for something that's gonna really inspire that level of learning or give that rich Charlotte Mason or unschooling or unit study approach because this probably won't be a good fit in that case so take a look at it you can go to their website and learn a lot more and check out more samples but that is a life pack all right now we have a Becca but you're gonna see some similarities between alpha-omega as well as the Becca this is also Christian based okay all of their stuff is Christian based is not as infused throughout their program though I have heard of secular home schoolers using it and not you know finding that it's it's too in-your-face so that's something to keep in mind there are teachers resources to go along with this for the younger grades I never thought it was necessary for the older grades it can become a little bit easier for you for your marking and stuff like that but this is the language 3 so this is your grammar creative writing and your dictionary skills there's also spelling books and different things so this isn't everything for language arts there's there one-on-one kind of books are a lot more affordable but generally you would want to get the package set so that you could get you know all of your different things your spelling and your teachers guides and your handwriting and all of that as well so this is just gonna give you an idea of Abeka in general I'm not necessarily showing you everything because they did not send this to me this was one that I had purchased so this is the table of contents so we'll take a look inside again keep in mind this is a hundred percent gonna work well for families that are looking for something that's very very independent their kids can do on their own you're not looking for anything Charlotte Mason unit study or unschooling or any of that you're not looking for any anything that's going to require a whole lot of you you're looking for something that your kids can just do and get her done then this is gonna be a really good fit it's also really bright and colorful and it works well for visual learners often that do well with book work so the table of contents you can see some of the different things that are covered in the program and then we'll just do a little flip through of the book as well so you can see how it's laid out Abeka is definitely a little bit ahead in advance so I would recommend checking samples before you are purchasing because um because you may find that you need to do a year down if you're jumping into this somewhere in the middle if you're starting in kindergarten again even in kindergarten I have found that for a lot of families they can't start at that k5 when their kids are five they need to start at that k4 so it's gonna depend on where your child is at so keep that in mind when you're considering this because it is pretty intensive and they're older grades go really in depth into grammar so they're gonna do like a couple pages of this a day sometimes it's only one page a day depending on the level or the age but that gives you an idea of the way Abeka is laid out so I wanted to make sure to include that one for you guys so you can see what it looks like inside the next one I'm gonna show you is the good and the beautiful so this is one you'll probably have seen a lot of my own posts about it and those are a lot more personal why we're not using this so you can check that out I'll make sure to link it above but I am gonna show you inside of it anyways and you guys can make your own decisions and I wanted to make sure I included it as a comparison so this is this is written by somebody who is LDS so it is not necessarily Christian it incorporates lots of Christian values but that's just something to keep in mind when you're looking at this it's not secular for sure you're not gonna want to use this if you are a secular family it has God all throughout it so just keep that in mind depending on if you're looking for Christian and or secular so when we look inside this is probably more focused on like classical / traditional model of Education so if we look I'm gonna show you the table of contents here so you can see the way it's laid out this comes with a reader and it comes with some flashcards as well they're gonna be working through and there also is just like a teacher a little handbook but not necessarily a teacher's guide you're gonna need additional resources for a lot of their their things whether it's readers you're going to need to go and buy there's some there's some art supplies and stuff like that because it does have some Arts in there especially as the kids get older so if we move forward I'll give you kind of a flip through of it there spelling this those reading words they're gonna be reading through that's all kind of at the frontier and then their lessons are laid out now this is the level one but its laid out it's got poetry and it's got you know it's very in-depth very in-depth with your grammar it's got picture studies but it is still laid out more as something that is traditional / kind of classical it is not necessarily as as project-based it's not necessarily including you know the music studies and all of those other things as well so depending on your home school style those are just things to keep in mind so that is the course book the other thing to keep in mind is that it is teacher-led in all of the like level 3 down so depending on the age of your child that's teacher-led also you are going to be it recommends doing it for 45 minutes to an hour for their language arts they're supposed to do 5 minutes of their flashcards you're supposed to 5 minutes of their site words are supposed to 5 minutes of their spelling words they're supposed to do 20 minutes of their reading and then they're supposed to do about 20 minutes or so of their course book and then you just kind of stop at that point so that's the way that it's laid out right now and so it's something to keep in mind if you're looking for something that is is not as it doesn't take as long or is more adaptable to be used within the entire family there's lots of other considerations there so they also have a reader included with it that your kids will do so that gives you an idea of what is included with the good and the beautiful you all right the next one I'm going to show you is learning language arts through literature now this is a very interesting and unique program probably very set apart from almost everything else I'm going to show you today and that there's not really a whole lot that does it in this unit study kind of approach and I I could talk about it or I could just show you because you're gonna get to see very quickly how its laid out so you are going to be using literature books that you will get either on top of this and it tells you what those are and you are going to be learning your language arts every part of your language arts through there's handwriting there's grammar there spelling everything you're gonna be learning is comprehensive you're gonna be learning that through the reading through the literature component of the program which is really really unique everything is here that you need so in that way it's relatively affordable let's take a look at the table of contents here so you can see what they're doing so you can see basically they're reading these stories and these are the different ones that they are going to be doing throughout the year and then there's additional resources in the appendix so if we just do a little flip through you can get an idea of how it works so they're going to be doing some reading they're going to do copy work they're gonna focus on some spelling in that they're going to have a discussion about different nouns and proper nouns they're making lists so it is definitely still teacher-led another thing to keep in mind I'm going to show you the teachers guide as well so you can see how that is laid out there's handwriting spelling tests notes review activities and then you're on to another lesson with reading and different things so it incorporates everything through literature and I think that is a really unique way of teaching language arts so if you're looking for something that's all in one that's just kind of read this book and then here's the discussion and here's how to teach from that then you can see that this program is going to be a good fit there are also some there are some of the stories that are right inside the book so you'll read that story and then you'll have discussion questions on it and continue to work through your literature components which is super cool ok so inside the teacher book it really teaches you how to use the program and and why it's laid out the way it is and how it incorporates journal writing and handwriting and review and creative writing and all of that stuff the table of contents is here as well but it's very similar from the other one so we'll just flip through it but inside here it actually tells you now what you're going to do when you are teaching so you'll see it's kind of scripted there's teacher notes on the side but you can also see what the child is doing here so that you don't have to be flipping back and forth between your child's book and your own so this program is gonna work well if you need something that has you know the workbook component it's gonna work well if you need something that just has everything in one book you don't want to get grammar you don't want to get spelling you want everything in one this is going to work well it's gonna work well if you want to teach through literature because that is exactly the entire title and approach of this book and this curriculum so it goes all the way up it has everything there there's multiple levels available so I would recommend going and checking it out and considering this if you feel like that is going to be a good fit so the program is not necessarily secular but it doesn't have a lot of Christian approach in the way that it's taught it's mostly just literature that you're using there are some Bible stories throughout so depending on how you feel about that or not I've seen some mixed reviews some secular home schoolers have used it and thought it was fine and others absolutely not so something to keep in mind it's definitely a gentler approach so if you're looking for something that's more challenging or you are looking for something that is more like I said free and exploratory or Charlotte Mason inspired then this probably won't be a good fit for you it is relatively affordable so just different things to keep in mind when you're considering this your language arts curriculum the next one I'm going to show you is from Christian light education so these are their light units for language arts and I have to say we've been incredibly impressed with these we've actually been using them ourselves we were sent these from the company for free and we have been trying them out with my daughter at a reduced so she is in a higher grade level we've been trying a little bit of an easier one it's definitely more on the advanced side so she's been trying it out to see how it works for her she likes something that's more independent that she can do on her own to build her confidence and so because of that she is thriving using these and incorporates your spelling your grammar creative writing your handwriting everything all within one book and it is very similar to Alpha Omega where you have your light units they are called so there are ten of them so they're working through one a month it's not necessarily as bright it's very simple which i think is in some ways a benefit especially for visual learners though they like that stuff that sometimes it's a bit distracting to them so let's take a look inside and see obviously Christian light education it's incredibly Christian based so that's gonna be built into absolutely everything they do so I'm gonna show you inside a sample unit here's the table of contents this is the grade three version so she's already finished this one but you can see the different things that they are going to be doing and then we can do a little flip through so you can see it is done by her almost entirely independently she even marks it herself and then I just help her in marker tests for her so if you are needing something that can be done more independently then this is going to be probably something that is a good fit for you it's also obviously very traditional in its homeschool approach this is not Charlotte Mason it's not a unit study it is a traditional curriculum where you open and go and fill in the blank and underline but I think that this approach works really well for some kids and it is working very well for my daughter so so this gives you an idea of some of the different things that are included you can see how spelling is all throughout they have a spelling list and at the end of every week they have a spelling test the grammar is built right into it and then at the end there is a test that they do for this entire unit and then they are ready to move on so you'll see there's handwriting here at the back as they get on they start to use this cursive book which was sent with us so it actually includes includes cursive writing which I love and then there is a teacher's guide which has all of your answer keys and everything in it and it actually shows you the exact page so as well as how to grade and all of that different things so it is laid out very very well I'll show you inside here so you can see the entire year at a glance so 301 is the first unit 302 is the second so take a screenshot if you want to see this up close because I'm going to be moving faster than you can probably read all of them but you'll get to see all the different things that are included and it's just giving your kids a very simple way of open and go and go through their language arts so it teaches you how to use it how to score and then you can see there's little kind of lessons as well as you can see the student page and so it explains it and then they also you get to see what their answer should be and can mark it accordingly so I like the way it's laid out I think it's very very easy to use and I think that it works really well for families that need need something that can be done more independently so if you are looking for something that's Christian if you're looking for something that is you know fairly affordable if you're looking for something that can be done more independently then this is going to be probably a good fit for you it's not going to be a good fit for secular home schoolers it's not going to be a good fit if you are looking for something that is can either be blended or is more Charlotte Mason inspired or really any other home school style because it's not it also is not super kinesthetic so I have to make no to the fact that my kinesthetic daughter is the one who's using this and thriving so it's partly based on that it also is partly based on the fact that she just loves doing stuff independently and building her confidence and not having to necessarily have me help her with every little thing she likes to play school and stuff like that the next one I want to mention to you is brave writer now brave writer is something that could be done with the entire family it is something that you can do with all your kids at once which is incredibly unique there really isn't any other language arts program that does that but it's more of a lifestyle it's more Charlotte Mason inspired it's just this beautiful expression of making language arts a part of your everyday life rather than having to be a separate curriculum or way that you approach it so the way that it's laid out is this I'm gonna lay it out for you very very simply so you can have an idea there is the brave writer lifestyle which you're gonna learn in the writers jungle the writers jungle it is a training manual for parents that teaches you how kids learn what their different writing stages are how to identify your child's writing stage how to teach to that writing stage all the way through to high school and and how the brave writer lifestyle works so how you can teach writing through anything through any book that you read how you can teach language arts through through reading through movies through poetry through all of those so it brings in how to teach language arts as a way of your life and so that training manual for parents is called the writers jungle then you're gonna see that there are writing there's actually writing curriculum that's jotted down partnership writing a faltering ownership the great conversation eavesdropping on the great conversation those are their writing projects so that gives you ten different writing projects that you can use throughout the year so one writing project per month and it teaches you how to do that then you're gonna see that there's the writing mechanics portion of it and that is things like the wand quiver of arrows the arrow so those titles that you're gonna hear and be familiar with on the brave writer site those are going to give you a book you're gonna read with your kids and then they're gonna give you copy work passages and how to teach grammar and selling through copy work so it's gonna show you a copy work passage why this passage things are gonna no you're gonna point out various grammar and spelling components and then the kids are going to be copying that throughout the week and that is going to help them pay attention to you and focus on these different elements so through their writing projects they're also learning grammar and they're also learning spelling because they are revising and editing their own writing but they also get to revise and edit and and pay attention to and examples from good quality literature so that is kind of the approach of a brave writer now for a lot of families what what I love about it is that you can combine all of your kids I've had some families say that they just don't know where to start or how to do that because though they they love that you can confine your kids they they have some kids in this stage and some kids in this stage and some kids need this arrow when some kids need the wand and and so how can they read one book and teach all of their kids language arts so one of the exciting things that I am doing that I'm going to mention here is that I have put together a book club where I made a companion guide curriculum to go along with the arrow as well as a schedule that's easy to follow so you could and and incorporate a writing project and incorporate the brave writer lifestyle so it goes along with one another so you would purchase the arrow off of the brave writer website you're gonna need to get the book that goes along with what we're doing and then there's a schedule that says this day poetry tea time this day free write this day you're going to be doing copy work or teaching your grammar and then the kids books there's three different levels available so you can download depending on the age of your child so for example we'll start with the jotted down stage if we take a look inside there's a weekly planner there's how to teach copy work and there's adapted because in that inside the arrow some of that teaching depending if you have a five-year-old that's going to be too advanced so if you have a five-year-old let's focus on capital letters and so it has those adaptations it also has really traceable copy word passages which are easier for kids in the John at downstage so it's not so overwhelming it has their writing projects and it gives them a bunch of different things they can choose from so they get to make it their own and then at the end of the week they are going to be editing a passage rather than having to do any sort of dictation for that age and then they also do free writes and then it goes on to another week now inside of the partnership writing curriculum bundle it's the the copy work teaching is a little bit different you're going to be using a lot more of the arrow and the coffee work passages are different there's and obviously they're not doing tracing at this stage so you can see how that is laid out and there are some you know different teachings as well the writing projects are very similar that they get to choose from and then they do French style dictation instead of doing just the editing so that is the way it is laid out for the partnership writing stage so you would download whichever one you needed then there is the faltering ownership stage now this is written actually directly to the child's so at this point it's going to be different they're going to be using it themselves they get to read through and they actually are finding their own coffee work passages based on what they're learning which for this particular ginger pie one that we did was they were learning about dialogue and how to write dialogue and then they have some different kind of stories that they're working on and that's all built in to this one so it's different for each level depending so I've put together kind of this companion guide that shows you how the brave writer lifestyle works and it's a ton of fun because you get to do it as a family it's also a ton of fun because you get to do it with other families so you get emails you get weekly videos and at the end all the kids get to share the writing projects they've done so you get this kind of community atmosphere so if you're looking for something that is like really really really fun and has that accountability and will lay it all out for you in a way that is really out of the box from most other language arts curriculum then that maybe want to consider it's relatively affordable to just join in for a month 24.95 for the live month and then you need to grab the book which you can get at the library and the arrow which is usually around ten so that's something to think about when you get to do it with all of your kids then it makes it a very affordable language arts option so you can check that out all the links for this are going to be below so you can check in the description below all right the next one I want to show you is grammar galaxy now grammar galaxy is a little bit unique because they have this mission manual where they are going to be reading stories following these three kids these three children who are trying to save the galaxy and giving them different missions to help them save the galaxy things like saving spelling planet and different things like that so it incorporates all their language arts but in this really fun adventurous way and through stories which is kind of unique so inside the actual mission manual it is it is laid out in a way that is not too overwhelming so this is protostar this is volume 2 so if we take a look at the table of contents you can see some of the different things that they are going to be learning about throughout the year so you can see how it includes some composition towards the end it's including grammar it's including spelling and all of those things so lots of people use this as their sole language arts curriculum some people use this as a supplement it's gonna depend on your family as how you want to use this and what and how much language arts you want to do so at the beginning they get their mission they read their story and they receive a mission and then they work on a step a day so this shows you the includes you can see there's vocabulary words they're circling so it's not as much writing there's lots of circle the right answer and and gives them really basic okay we're gonna work on a book report so here's how we're gonna do it and so it's not too overwhelming for them this works really well for kids that are struggling or reluctant writers it works really well for kid that our disinterested in school and can be a way of making language arts more fun and out-of-the-box and even a bit surprising so if you're looking for something like that check it out it is still teacher lead but the lessons are short so it isn't something that's going to take up a ton of time and you're gonna need one per child so that is also something to keep in mind even if you do choose to blend your kids together each child is going to need their own mission manual and then you can have one of your stories that you would be doing as well so that is grammar galaxy you can go and check it out it's definitely has a bit of a Charlotte Mason Flair with the stories it also has it has a little bit of a traditional Flair with with the way it's laid out and it's very open and go so that works well for a lot of families as well it is relatively affordable and so it's not one of those you know crazy crazy crazy expensive ones that is super hands-on and it can get your kids involved no matter what their learning style it can gear and be targeted towards any learning styles so that works well as well the other thing to keep in mind is this is secular it is neutral it doesn't have God in it so if you're looking for a secular curriculum option for language arts then I wanted to make sure to include this you guys could see that there are options out there that are not Christian based because we've shown you a lot of Christian ones so far so grammar galaxy is secular and it is a fantastic program to check out for your language arts all right the next one I'm gonna show you is language lessons for living education from master books now language lessons for living education is also super open and go but it also incorporates some Charlotte Mason things like poetry and picture study and all of those different things as well so it works well in that capacity it comes with a Bible story reader that they're gonna be reading about a page a week and then what's really unique is it's got beautiful paintings they're gonna copy that and they get to draw it in a space they get to do copy work from within this book and they get to answer some questions so it brings in that narration and that copy work and some of those different Charlotte Mason things in there what is really unique about it though is that while it has the Charlotte Mason Flair and it's really just beautiful in its approach it is also short lessons that are not too overwhelming it's it's very in that way also Charlotte Mason cuz Charlotte Mason one of the principles was that you would do less and you would expect more from that less so rather than bogging our kids down with hours and hours and hours of work let's give them less work but let's expect greatness from them so this really fills that Charlotte made some philosophy of lessening the workload but then our kids are actually able to absorb that information so let's take a look at the scope and sequence so you can see some of the different things that are included in this so there's 36 weekly lessons it is laid out with five days a week so they're just gonna do a couple pages a day and there is no teachers guide for this so all of the teaching is built right into it there's little kind of notes for the teacher if there needs to be so let's take a look at some samples we're gonna and see so there's it starts off with some reading so again it's very story based it's also very biblical and very very Christian built into everything that they do so you're gonna read and the highlighted portions are ones that the children are going to read it's got a narration built in there's copy work there are sight words and they're gonna be doing memorization cards those are towards the back they're learning grammar it goes into spelling there's days of the week for this week here and then reading comprehension is where they're gonna use their stories from the Bible and they're going to read they're gonna copy and they're going to copy the picture and color it their spelling practice built-in as well and then you're on to another week so it brings in poetry it brings in picture studies and it brings in stories which is just I love I love I love I love it also brings in Psalms and as the kids get older when they're studying these Psalms it's getting them to analyze it is getting them to ask good questions about it and understand they highlight things they don't understand and ask you so I think it's very unique in the approach of it and I love how it can be done semi independently with just a little bit of direction from the teacher and it does not take a lot of time so that is language lessons for living education it is fantastic and it is probably the cheapest option that I'm going to be showing you today because their levels are incredibly affordable incredibly affordable so you'll want to go check those out that's on master books calm language lessons for a living education is an amazing language arts curriculum and it will cover everything that you need for language arts the next one I want to talk to you about is all about reading now all about reading is from a company called all about learning press which also has all about spelling so together with the two of those you're going to be getting pretty comprehensive language arts especially in the beginning years this is a fantastic program to take your kids from you know not reading it all to reading fluently so if you have a struggling read this works really really well and I wanted to make sure to include it I also guys it was just released in full color so you get to see that up close and see how beautiful it is inside but I want to explain a little bit about how this program works and who it's gonna work the best for so first let's take a look at the table of contents here in the teachers manual so you can see it's got a little bit of how to use it what to do and then it has your step by step lesson plan so these are all the letters it starts with making sure they understand they're their actual letter sounds and they're gonna be reading books and stories and it does recommend that you also are doing read aloud with them reading aloud poetry reading aloud books so there is there is a scope and sequence there is all of your lessons are laid out for you there and it teaches you step by step how to actually teach it and it's really cool because in the teachers manual itself you actually get to see the full color you know flashcards and everything that you should be using so let's flip through a little bit of the teachers manual so you can see how it works so it focuses on the five key components of reading phonological awareness phonics and decoding fluency vocabulary and comprehension it's a mastery based program so as your kids are reading even a story before they read they have a reading warm-up to make sure that they're familiar with the words that are going to be introduced in that story they also at the end you're gonna ask questions and make sure that they understand I think it's really important to note that they now have alerting they have an app that goes along with the program it is their letter tiles app so one of for me one of the frustrations when I use this way in the past was that it comes with all of these magnetic letter tiles and you add magnets to the backs of them and each child supposed to have a board or you use a big board and they build their words which is fantastic however they get lost all the time and so I love this letter tiles app is amazing because they can build all their words on there you can use it for all sorts of different subjects it's available on the App Store and it is highly worth it in my opinion I purchased that myself I loved it some so you can see kind of the layout of it how it teaches it's gonna tell you okay teach this flashcard you know they're gonna do this worksheet so in the beginning you have this map that this progress chart so they put stickers on as they go there's a read-aloud record and then it's just fun things so there's warm-ups that that's what you're gonna do before you read a story there's bingo games there's cut out and pasted and then there's practice sheets and your practice sheets those help with fluency so if you've got a child that is struggling with fluency that's where it kind of is all built into this program it's not just let's teach you how to read let's make sure you understand what you're reading and let's make sure that your reading is fluent it has these word flippers all throughout so these are kind of little staple books that you're gonna flip the first and see what that end blend sounds like with all the first consonants changed so it's just a fantastic fantastic program it's very engaging very fun the kids love it I'm using this right now with my kindergartner at a slower pace because she's a little bit behind but she is reading and she was nowhere near ready for that just a little while ago so the other thing that it includes gave you guys a good look at the inside here there's so many different pages on the other thing that it includes is let's just look at everything it includes here I'm just gonna show you up close so you get your teacher's guide you get your activity book for the students and of course all of your magnetic tiles that you can build you also get the the reading review box so that comes with all of your cards so phonogram cards and the sounds right so those are ones and you put them in ones they need to review once they've mastered and the ones for future lessons and then there's also their word cards so you can see the word cards that they need to review they've mastered and ones for future lessons and these really really really help them with fluency we're gonna go over them so many times that you've mastered them so when we read the story it is not daunting you don't have to sound everything out it's easy and so that even builds their confidence because when they go to actually read the story now it's like oh my goodness I can do this is easy I can read because you've done all the work beforehand with flashcards with worksheets with these fluency practice sheets that you're doing and these reading warm-ups so by the time you get to that story it's easy and that is a huge component of it because it builds that confidence the other thing that it comes with is three readers which now in full-color are just amazing and I'm going to show you inside these as well I want you to see what they start off with in volume one the very first one and then I want to show you where you end up all the way to Volume three so just a quick flip through you can see how beautiful the colors are you're starting with three letter words and you know very simple short stories can be read in a few minutes and so I just I love the pictures the stories are funny they make the kids laugh they love it they absolutely love it so this is volume 1 and then in volume 2 you can see that it's getting a little bit more challenging we're now getting into longer sentences that they're reading it's still kind of three to four letter words but we now have some sound blends that we've we've mastered and have learned at this point so all just in volume one you can see that already such an incredible growth sometimes this is all you see in one whole year of a level of language arts so if you are looking for something that's specifically targeted for reading this is fantastic so this is volume 2 and now if we take us over to volume 3 you're gonna see where it takes you towards the end so again it's still got the funny silly stories that are really engaging beautiful beautiful full-color pictures that really pull the kids in but now you're getting into almost an easy chapter book kind of thing still easy enough to read they're not super super long but it's getting into lots more writing and and a little bit more natural writing and so the kids are are able to read at a more advanced level so that is where it takes some beginning to end three letter words knowing their letters and sounds they need to know their letters and sounds before you start their alphabet letters and sounds before you start is generally a good idea otherwise you're going to want to start with their pre reading one so but this takes them from okay now that we know our letters and sounds we'll start to learn blends let's start to learn words how do they fit together and let's let's figure out you know these sound blends and the different sounds that these letters can make kind of thing so it is an amazing program whoo this is gonna work well for anybody who is looking for something that is really targeted to reading if you have a lots of language arts programs do not give that targeted reading instruction they'll say go read for 20 minutes but they do not give that phonics based teaching for a reading program if you are looking for a phonics based program for reading to really give your kids mastery and a strong start and reading this is gonna be a really good fit for you if you are looking for something that is great for kinesthetic or visual learners this is gonna be great for you it works also really well with auditory really if their target it's all of the learning styles because you know they're gonna hearing you teach and hearing those sounds and so it works well for really all learning styles but specifically if you have a kinesthetic learner there's a lot of programs that aren't geared for kinesthetic learners so I think that's a huge plus and something to keep in mind it also has been proven time and time again to be incredibly successful for kids with dyslexia or any sort of learning disabilities or challenges so that's another thing to keep in mind if you've got a struggling learner that this program can really help them see visualize and build those words and it's just proven to be hugely successful so those are all you know major pros I think of this program it's secular so it's you know it's gonna work for a secular or Christian depending on what you're looking for the stories are funny engaging and you know great quality so all of those things are huge pros with this program who this might not work for is anybody who just does not have the time it's teacher-led you're gonna have to sit down with your child and you're gonna have to teach it again keep in mind that anytime you teach a child to read it doesn't matter what program you use in the whole entire world you have to teach them so unfortunately that is just part of teaching your child to read however that being said you know there's online things there's apps there's different resources you can use that are a little bit take that pressure off you as a teacher so if you are working like I said if you're super busy you've got kids all different age and you do not have the time to really invest in teaching your child to read then you might need to look for something that is a little bit more independent so just keep that in mind this is teacher-led you're gonna need to sit with your child and it encourages read aloud so it's gonna encourage you to read aloud with your child for 20 minutes a day so for us that's no problem we do read aloud all the time and so they're always listening to that kind of stuff but if you are adding that in or you feel like you can't add that in just things to think about but that does make a huge difference with helping your kids learn to read is sometimes just hearing the English language it's really an amazing thing so so that's who I think it's gonna work well for and who it won't price-wise to get yourself started is a little bit more pricey it's it's I don't even know the exact price but I will link it below but it is a little bit more pricey to get started however once you have your cards once you have your your these things then it's a lot easier because now you're just getting your workbooks or teachers guides and your your books that you can again pass down to younger kids so just all things to keep in mind when you're considering this program for your family the next one that I'm going to show you is from winter promise now winter promise has similar to my father's world they have not just their language arts but they also have themes and their themes would incorporate your science or your history or your Bible and all of those other things and then you would add in your language arts and your math now their language arts are different however because they are their own resources these are not ones that have been adapted these are or just pulling from other resources these are actually their own resources so they have created different series where it is written by them it's very very unique so I'm going to be showing you in size stories two short chapters and the approach of it okay so the first thing you're gonna see is there is four of these stories two short chapters right in readers so inside here they're going to be doing their reading and they're gonna be doing any writing any copy work that they're doing throughout their their year so the reading in the beginning is going to be challenging so you're gonna have to do a little bit of it with them but it is a very you know bright and fun it's very bright and fun program and so you can see the way it is laid out here okay the next thing that is included is words I use when I write this is something that they're gonna be working on building kind of their own little dictionary and working on spelling they're also going to have a handwriting sets that has their handwriting pages in it this is one I have from a younger level but I wanted to make sure I showed you that there is a handwriting set included with it and then you have your actual guide which is sent from the company which I put into a binder here so it tells you how to use the program and it has a very easy schedule that you can follow and it is laid out on a four day schedule so you can see that here and you can see it is telling you exactly what resources you're using and what you need to be doing it also comes with a game set that I do not have here to show you but they're gonna be working on a game throughout the year and and doing different reading comprehension phonics handwriting all of that different kind of thing so it also will show you how you can adapt it with any of their themes because you could choose different themes and you know depending on which one you were using it would tell you what you would be doing for that and how that would integrate with this as well and then any of the other there's also some extra language activity worksheets that are in the back of the program so that is winter promise it is definitely on the higher end for language arts so that's something to keep in mind it is christian-based winter promise is christian-based for sure though their language arts itself it is not really so integrated that i don't think that that could be a huge problem depending on you know what you feel both as a secular home schooler on they have their their reading it's definite it's more teacher intensive it's something you need to sit and do with your child it also can be a little bit overwhelming you know doing the amount of reading that is required for this so I recommend breaking it up if you're doing with your child in that way you there's lots of adaptations a way that you can use this that you can adapt it to work with your family you would need one for each of your kids depending on their various levels and it is probably it's got some Charlotte Mason flair to it but I would say that it is definitely more traditional in its approach so if you are looking for something that is simple for you to follow and just read and do and follow the teacher guide then this could be a really good fit for you if you're looking for something that is either less intensive this probably isn't it less intensive is gonna be a language lessons for living education if you're looking for something that is more independent this isn't gonna be it you're gonna want to find something like Christian light education that they can just do on their own if you're looking for something that is just that that education that is just a feast of Education that Charlotte Mason philosophy then you might want to look at something like my father's world or you might want to you know look at some of these other ones like brave writer that are going to really be out of the box and are going to show you language arts in this just just broad range just different things to keep in mind it's going to depend on you on what you want is a family on your own dynamics and your own goals you need to keep in mind that this is more teacher intensive and more time intensive so just different things that you want to think about when you're considering language arts programs the next one I'm going to show you is moving beyond the page now moving beyond the page is incredibly unique where I've shown you some that are Charlotte Mason inspired and some that are more traditional this is definitely unit study approach which is incredibly unique it is project-based which works fantastic for kinesthetic learners it is hands-on it's interesting and it is literature based so they are going to be reading a book and then doing this literature study unit that goes along with the book they're reading so it's laid out where there are ten of these units so they have different units on different books okay so one on Helen Keller one on Sarah Plain and Tall so I'm going to show you just inside one of them so you can get a sample of how it's done and I'm gonna show you everything that is included so first let's take a look at what is included when you get a year of moving beyond the page language arts okay so as you can see there's obviously a ton of these units that you're going to be doing with your kids there is and that is all of your teacher is your guide your teacher lessons how to teach it is all inside here as well and then there are also your student pages now I feel like it's important to note that this is the physical version there is also an online version the online version all of this would be online and then you could print off as many copies as you need for multiple kids so depending on if you want to use it with multiple children or if you want to have it just as a physical for one child it's gonna depend on which version you're gonna want to look at the online is a little bit cheaper now this is definitely not as affordable as some of the other ones so that's something to keep in mind as well when you're looking at your budget it also can be purchased individually so you could purchase one get the book from the library and that's gonna be a much more affordable way of doing this program so it can be adapted to suit your family in that way and it can be blended with multiple kids so those are both things to consider when you're looking at this obviously when you're looking at that price point you have to you have to understand that there is so much included when you are getting that that that is why it is priced at the point that it is so you're getting all of these amazing literature books you're getting all of these guides and everything is sent to your door and you have everything that you need to do a year all right so let's take a look inside Sarah Plain and Tall so you can see how this is done so this is the 7:00 to 9:00 age range this actually goes along with their other programs so you can actually get their all-inclusive ones they also are gonna cover a ton of language arts inside those and they're organized by concepts which is really unique so they've got their social studies and their science and you would do those together and so you'd be working on these three of these different books a day that you would be doing so this is the tape of contents you can see what is covered so they're going to be reading in the book and then they're going to be doing the program so this tells you how to use it and the required books and materials there's a unit review sheet that you can use towards the end to help them review and then there's the lesson so the lesson kind of gives you as a parent an overview and then it tells you your activities these activities are going to be the sheets that we're gonna we're gonna point to next so this would be what you as a teacher would be following and then next you can see the activity pages that they would be doing so as very very unit based unit study base literature based it's like a big book literature study it's amazing so it also brings in when they're learning this language arts they are learning it from this story based that they're reading together with you which I just think is incredibly unique and amazing it's very hands-on it's very engaging it's it's very interesting they're doing narration they are really understanding what they're reading and that's all to go along with the book that you're going to be reading together and depending on how your child is reading they could be reading it themselves or you could be reading it to them so that gives you an idea of moving beyond the page language arts which is probably one of the most in-depth if you are looking for something that's in-depth that's gonna challenge your child without bogging them down I would say this is the best program if you are looking for something that caters to all learning styles that you can do with multiple aged children that is just a language arts I would say that this is probably the best option for you if you are looking for something that is unit study or literature study base then I would say that this would be a really good fit for you who this is not going to be a good fit for is if you are looking for something that is very very Christian based this is secular so it is not going to incorporate God or the Bible if you want something that incorporates God or the Bible you're gonna want to look at either language lessons for living education Christian light one of those other ones sunlight if you are looking for secular then you're gonna you're gonna want to stick with something like this I love how hands-on and project-based it is I love how you can do it together with multiple kids and I think that though it is teacher-led it can be done in a way that is actually saving you time depending on how many kids you're able to blend with doing it but that is the other thing to keep in mind is that yes it is teacher less so depending on your own family dynamics and how much time you have to do this could or could not be a good fit for your family so keep those things in mind when you're considering it keep in mind that it is per AC because of the amount of books you get with it but you can also adapt that just get the online units and get the books from the library so there's lots of ways to make it more affordable for your family so go check it out there's way more samples on their website all right the next one I want to show you is book shark now a book shark is actually it has the same parent company as sunlight so when I'm flipping through this you're gonna see a lot of similarities in the way the guide is set up and the way you see the instructors guide and the different lessons and how it is it is led and taught to the teacher and so when you're seeing those similarities now you know why it is the same parent company as sunlight now sunlight is christian-based and so inside the instructors guide it is very biblical in its approach it will tell you if there's things in a book that you may want to have discussion or leave out and so those kind of different things are in sunlight book shark is secular so that has secular books it has sometimes a little bit of different books that you're going to be reading and it is designed for secular families so if you are looking for something as an option that is not Christian based then book shark is definitely something to consider so book shark is incredibly literature based it is definitely more advanced I would say on the language arts side of things both book shark and sunlight are are pretty pretty in-depth for language arts they're going to cover everything you need to cover it doesn't in a really fantastic way it's a little bit more traditional in the approach but it's laid out for you and it is it's gonna cover all of your bases so let's take a look at what you would have this is the grade four version so or for ages 9 to 12 so for grammar they have the grammar ace and Schoolhouse Rock School House Rock is basically teaching you different facts through songs and through animated songs which the kids love so this is fantastic grammar ace let's take a look inside and the table of contents so you can see this is a grammar workbook there's 36 lessons so they're going to be doing a lesson a week and if we flip through to a lesson you can see that it gives you your teaching instructions what you're going to do different games you can play and all that different kind of stuff so everything is laid out for you there's also a student workbook that goes along with it and the student workbook is going to have the pages that the kids are supposed to be doing so when it's telling you that they should do this page this is where you're going to find it and they're going to be editing sentences and they're going to be placing a checkmark in the right column it's done in a way that isn't too much actual written work which i think is fantastic so if you're looking for just a fun engaging grammar this is a really great option and it is what they use for their grade for language arts the next thing they use is word Lea wise which is a daily vocab so if we look inside here there's an answer key but let's look at the table of contents so you can see all of the different lessons and then the way that it does it is it gives them a passage to read and then it gives them a list of questions so they're gonna answer each of the questions with a sentence and they're going to use the vocabulary word that is listed and try to use each word only once so that is inside the story they also have vocabulary extension activities they have word lists that they're studying they're using words in context determining meanings making connections and completing sentences so they're going to be doing one of those each day and then it would be time to read another passage so what I think is really unique about this is that they are learning they're learning vocabulary but they're learning it through context of reading passages so that is what they use for their vocabulary so you have your read aloud so you have your grammar you have your vocab and now you're gonna have your instructors guide so let's take a look at the language arts for for so it gives you lots of instructions as to how to use it but here is how a week is laid out so it has a four day week of what they are going to be doing it gives you optional if you're using worldly wordly wise this is what they would be doing in that it gives you readers that they're gonna be doing it gives you their grammar what they're doing inside grammar ace or whatever they're doing as well as handwriting and spelling you see is an optional resource they can use as well so you can take different notes and then it gives you your teachers directions so it tells you underneath each of those exactly what to do how to teach it for each day so it is really well laid out in that way they'll see here the LA there's an activity sheet so this is what the child's gonna be working through there's dictation there's mechanics practice personification so the actual grammar instruction and your la instruction is actually in your instructors guide so all of that is laid out for you here you don't necessarily need a whole lot of other resources because it's all included in your instructors guide so there's different notes for you and different instructions for you and days that the instruction is more in grammar ace or something it's just going to tell you to go ahead and do that lesson over there instead of having all the instruction here so that shows you a little bit of how it is laid out for book shark and if we flip through to the end that's going to give you a better idea of kind of where it takes them to towards the end so let's look at just a student activity sheet towards the end so you can see obviously the dictation is increasing and there is quite a bit more more that they are doing at that point and they're reading pretty much a chapter a day in their readers so these are actually not read Aloud's these are the readers that your children are going to be doing along with this program so it gives them what they're gonna be reading and then they've got their sheets all built in through here as well as these resources that are gonna use minimally throughout the year most of your language arts instruction is actually right here in your instructors guide so you just get to open and go this is gonna work really well for families that want something that has all of your readers and have chosen readers that are really just quality and fantastic so it's all done for you it's all sent to your door you can give these to your child and they can work on these a little bit more independently your instructors guide you are gonna have to do some of the teaching but once you've done that teaching you can give it to your child and say okay I want you to do this get them started and have them go ahead and work on it so it's laid out very very well for the parent in that way it is a fantastic program it works great for secular families if you're wanting something that doesn't have a lot of Christian stuff stuck in there if you're wanting something that's very secular and sets that apart then book shark is gonna be a great fit for you who this might not work for is if you want something that is not teacher-led at all if you want something that's entirely independent to your child then this may not be a good fit because you are gonna have to do a little bit of working around introducing concepts to your child and getting them started so just things to keep in mind that you know you want to make sure that you are thinking of before you go and make a big purchase l'm on something like this all right the last one that we're gonna be talking about today is sunlight now sunlight is a language arts curriculum they also have themes history themes that incorporate other things they also have science they really have absolutely everything from kindergarten to grade 12 available on their website they've got these instructor guides for everything you can blend it all together and it is an amazing program it is Christian based so that is something to keep in mind is that it is not secular and it is also literature based so you get your readers so this is the grade one this is the language arts one and this is the four day schedule that I have here so here are all the different readers that they are going to be doing in grade one and it comes with everything here so it comes with their readers it also comes with these and these and these cards okay so you're gonna be using those throughout the year so it has everything you need it's a little bit more hands-on especially this grade one level and I'm gonna show you inside I love that they have now done it in colored this used to be black and white as well but it looks like it is now in color and this is the first time I'm actually flipping through it so it gives you the table of contents here inside the instructors guide and the book list so these are the different things that are included and there's optional work tests that you could do along with it that are gonna be included in this instructors guide they explode the code and handwriting without tears so let's flip through it teaches you how to use it the approach recording your children's stories and then it has your schedule so at the top here you can see this got this cool new week overview at the top and you can put the date and then it has your schedule for the week so you can see day 1 2 3 & 4 here's the spelling words you're doing is much more hands-on and engaging write your letters big copy them really small mix it up they have a reading list that they're doing they're doing different activities and they have their I can read a book so that would be one of these ones that they would be doing along with it so it is laid out really really great it also has creative expression so that would be their writing their copy work their grammar all of that stuff and that's all going to be built right in here what I love about sunlight and book shark the fact that both of these companies incorporate all of that into this instructors guide there's not a whole lot of other things that you need everything is here from how to teach it to what to do to here's the sheet to give to your child so here's the spelling words your weekly overview and introducing your words as well as different activities you're gonna do and everything is laid out for you and taught to you as the teacher right here so once we get through our teacher stuff you're gonna see that they have their similar to book shark here is their week 1 activity sheet so they're gonna do this copy work they are gonna work on capitalization and they are going to be you know doing their different writing they're caught there's a secondary copy work there's some word cards so that is their sheets for that so now if we flip through we can see another sample week you can see there's a weekly overview how to teach everything is here and then when we flip through you can see the copy work passages there's grammar there's their writing expression they're matching vowels more copy work and then we're on to another week so everything is here it is very engaging it includes things like poetry it is you know really it can be quite hands-on it is teacher-led and so it's something that you are going to have to actually read through and you're going to have to prepare and you're going to have to talk and explain and teach to your child week 36 you're introducing the words same thing they are doing I can read a wordless they this is what the teaching looks like giving directions dictionaries a rubric they're gonna dictate a story and then here is their week 36 activity sheets so they're copy where chasm has increased quite a bit they're alphabetizing now they are doing a story starter and some more copy work at the end they have a certificate of at the end of the book there are the works cited they have you know answers to your discussion questions all of that kind of stuff is listed here at the end so and different resources are at the back there as well so I think this is fantastic I love they've done it in color this is actually the first time I've seen that maybe they've been doing that for a while but the last time I looked at sunlight it was all black and white so I think that is a great addition it's just a little bit brighter for at the parent I love that you can write the date rate in at the top take your notes I love the way it's laid out I think it is a fantastic program if you need a language arts curriculum that is laid out for you that you can just open and go that will tell you exactly what you need to do if you are worried that other things that are more gentle and Charlotte Mason that that's not enough and you want something that's really in-depth and that's gonna challenge your child and give them a strong foundation there's a lot of parents that are uncomfortable with language arts curriculum that is too gentle and so if that is you then this is gonna be a great fit because this is going to walk you through giving your kids a really really strong foundation in language arts from everything from their reading to their grammar to their spelling everything is included I love how it also it is quite engaging it works for all learning styles this is definitely not traditional it has a Charlotte Mason Flair but I can see all of the home school styles kind of in here so it's just it's a really good blend of everything that's gonna give that strong foundation it's Christian based and it is teacher led so who this is not gonna work for is if you do not want something that you have to sit and read with your kids or sit and then teach to your child's then this isn't gonna be a good fit you're gonna want something very traditional something like a Becca something like Christian light education one of those you can just open and go and give to them and they can go ahead and do on their own keep in mind that any of your younger grades you're gonna have to do some teaching that's just gonna happen you can't expect your child to read when they don't know how to so you're gonna need to keep that in mind this is the grade one so but all in all I think this is an amazing program I think that it can be done in not too much time I think that it is going to give you a really strong found a and is worth checking out and looking at their samples on their website so there you have it that is all of the language arts curriculum that I could find to show you today hopefully that gives you a really good idea of what is out there when you guys are looking at this video I know it's overwhelming this is overwhelming to me this is a lot of books and they all look really good I would like to have them all and I would like my kids to do them all but the reality is then they will hate me and I will probably hate myself because this is too much so when you are looking at language arts pay attention to mean these two main things you guys first of all you need to consider your own family dynamics I don't know how many times I've done this where I've purchased curriculum and it looks amazing and it's what I want in my head but it doesn't meet my reality my reality is I've got a baby my reality is I am pregnant and mourning sick or my reality is I've got you know a job that I'm working you have to pay attention to your reality do you have the time for something more teacher-led you have the time for something more out-of-the-box and fun or unit study or or do you need something more independent for your child's keep those things in mind get your kids to look through some of these what gets them excited what what do they want to do what gets you excited when you look through these which are the ones that just speak to you the most that you think oh my goodness that so look for the ones that excite you look for the ones that interests you do more research and see what you think is going to be a good fit for you if you want my personal recommendations on any of these please feel free to either post a comment below or send me an email and I would be happy to tell you my personal opinion because I have personal opinions on all of these and if you would like to you know just engage in more discussion please post your comments below I would love to hear your questions love to hear your insight love to hear your ideas if you have used some of these and have comments about them this is a great place to do that just help make this video even more helpful to other homeschool moms and so hopefully those things are gonna help any of the links that I've talked about today all of that is going to be included below so check those out and otherwise you guys I would love to have you subscribe to my channel if you like what you see I do have my other top 10 math comparison video that is up as well so if you want something like this math that's already there so go check it out and if there's other videos like this you want to see let me know I would love to hear it so I hope you have an amazing day and keep calm and homeschool on

Channel: Homeschool On

Views: 187,708

Rating: 4.7655172 out of 5

Keywords: homeschool, homeschooling, language arts, language arts comparison, the good and the beautiful, language lessons for a living education, sonlight, sonlight vs bookshark, bookshark, my fathers world, moving beyond the page

Id: grG2UdwOxf8

Length: 84min 53sec (5093 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 25 2019