Looking for Answers about Common Sense Press Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Grade 2, Red?

This is not a stand alone curriculum. It is a quick, thorough basic grammar course. If the student is in grade 5 or higher, it can be completed quickly and with good comprehension. This can save many years of grammar workbook exercises. Considering that the main point of grammar is to improve writing skills, completion of this program should eliminate many errors.

No, I didn't feel I needed to supplement. I do need to say that I did combine 5 days' work down into 3, typically, just for where my child was at. (It is much easier to do that than it is to try and s-p-r-e-a-d material out.) So, if the book was to cover more time, then, yes, I may have thought to supplement. I think it all depends on what the goals are for the student & for the year. Also, on the student's strengths & weaknesses. I chose the curriculum because it seemed to fit the teaching/curriculum objectives & my child's learning style.

That said, some of the topics did seem easy, like some of the initial book reading & such. However, it does progress in difficulty & intensity. The easy topics did help by providing time for more processing occur--to express the things she already knew. Explaining things that we know is much easier than just taking things in or just using what we know. The spelling rules, for example, are worded in ways that made it easier, I think, for the learner to remember them; very explicit. Reading is one thing, but spelling, somehow, can be another thing.

Assessments seemed easy...to me. The first few were rather easy for my child, too, but that's good. It helped to make them not-so-intimidating and scary. The other ones seemed easy. And for the most part, they were easy for my child--but not THAT easy. They did accomplish their objective.

Also, the seemingly easier work provided opportunity to focus on other things (like the meanings of the stories & such) rather than just on the mechanics of, say, reading. And it gave time to do creative work on the projects. My child likes those creative things. Plus, we need them to be able to be creative, and creativity takes time.

On a side note, we did find a good poetry book. (I scanned the material when we got it & saw that we needed it for some of the later lessons.) Soon after we got the book, we just started reading it for fun. I figured, "Why wait?" I want the learning to integrate into life & not be a separate compartment.

Back to the curriculum. It does provide some really good jumping points throughout, though, where one could easily expand the curriculum. (Some are even suggested.) The later lessons introduce researching topics. After my child finished the timeline for Abraham Lincoln, there was an assignment to research George Washington & share (in whatever format desired) what was discovered. She spent considerable time in research and learned quite a lot. (They research about 5 historical American folks in all.) We are in the last lesson of the book, and I am satisfied with where my child is at. She has become more confident in her work, too. We are looking forward to The Yellow Book, Grade 3.

I feel like I need a handwriting supplement. Besides that, it's really at the perfect level for us. My son gets it, he feels accomplished at the end of the daily lesson, and he's learning on pace.

The curriculum is enough to use as a Stand Alone phonics program. For Language I supplement with Spectrum series books. I use Explode the Code 1 and 1.5 to supplement because some pages in MCP are hard for delayed to students to understand. Although there are lots of pictures, sometimes the words are not in their vocabulary and thus they have to come for more help.

The "Readers" that you listed above come with the curriculum. The books that you listed above are a separate purchase (or borrowed from the library). They also have "story sheets" that you cut out of the student book for use with the lessons. While they do give you specific instruction as to which story to use, they don't tell you which category it comes from, so sometimes it takes a lot longer to track down today's story than it should.

The readers in the photo come with the program. The books needed can be checked out from your local library as you need them. You will need both the readers and the books. I don't know why they do not bundle the books in with the LLATL pack. It would make things easier for those who don't have a convenient library.

The six readers are books that your child reads to you for reading practice. The language arts is based on passages from the children's books that are listed. It is not necessary to read the children's books in order to use the program, however.

When we used LLATL Red, if my child showed an interest in the passage being used in his lesson I would borrow that book from the library so that we could read the story in its entirety. We didn't read all the books that are used in this program and we still had a fabulous year of learning. This is by far my favorite language arts curriculum.

The lesson can be taught in about 10 minutes on Mondays. That is it for teaching time for the week. Then, on each of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, the student completes an independent exercise (about 10 minutes) which they can check themselves or the parent can correct. Thursday's lesson involves a short writing assignment using the concepts learned. On Friday, there is a test. It is not a time consuming program.