Logic of English, A review

Review: Logic of English, Essentials 2nd Ed. and Reader Set

3/29/2016

Even though I don't use the Essentials 2nd Edition with the Essential Reader Set by Logic of English the way it is officially meant to be used (at least according to the teacher's manual) it is one of my favourite language arts programs. Sight words, phonics, phonemes, spelling rules, morphemes, games, and fun ways to help struggling readers.. it's great! Let me tell you why.

First off, let me tell you what I received from Logic of English for this review. Introducing the Essentials 2nd Edition with the Essential Reader Set.

All the above and MORE! I also received the Essential Readers. It's a four part PDF download.. teacher's manual, student workbook and two different layouts of the reader that accompanies the lessons. I did add the teachers to the one file so I could more easily distinguish the teacher's manual from the other files.

How did we use it?
We did a little bit of work in the workbook. Not a whole lot of work as my lad IMMEDIATELY started to stress out about it, so I did what I do and I backed off, I know he'll learn the material, we'll just do it differently. :)

The point of Logic of English is to teach children to learn the sounds, and with the sounds, use them as ways to learn how to spell better. THIS is the hook for my lad. At age 10, he is strongly desiring this year to learn how to spell better. So we are learning to spell better and using this is a medium to learn spelling rules and breaking words into parts, which means learning the sounds and so forth.

So what we do is take four cards... spellings rules, phonograms, grammar and morphemes. Each week four cards that we read over and discuss. We'll talk about other words that sound the same, we do a spelling list based on the words written on the cards, we talk about how many words come from Latin and if you understand the BASE of a word, it helps you know how to spell it better If you sound out a word into it's parts and figure out what part you know how to spell.. before you know it you can spell the rest of the word if you understand the basic rules of how the parts fit together.

i cannot say HOW MUCH I love their cards. Love them. They work well for us. Focusing four cards is a lower key approach to helping a lad learn. I can read the book and rework how to do the lessons via question form throughout the week.

I do have to tell you about a part of the program that was a hit. AND I didn't expect it to be. The Essential reader. Drawing pictures, reading poems, making up silly quips, reading lists of words and listening to the sounds, breaking words into parts. This reader worked and I was amazed! Doing the cursive led my son to ask "mom, can you get me more capital letter cursive to do? I don't really understand those ones yet."

I have to tell you this.. it was FUN to see my lad so thoroughly enjoying himself with a language arts program that deals with sounds. He doesn't fight it, he's just simply queries "what am I doing today mom"?

I would now like to point out a couple of helpful products that are included.
This double sided quick reference chart spelling analysis card. A good way for my lad to remember how to work his way through an unknown word. (good for his mom too)

Tile cards for playing games, and quick reference chart. By the by... ziploc bags work wonderfully for storing the different flash cards and game pieces.

double sided, three page unit, with all the rules in one quick reference area.

Imagine playing your way through spelling words. That idea work for you? Works for my lad as well. :) He knows he's practicing sounds (which is hard) but he's learning to spell words... Which ... is good. :) So it works.

Even though I don't really use the Student workbook with my lad, I wanted to take a moment to show you a bit about the teacher's manual. You need one to do the other, and teacher's manual walks you through how to use the student manual AND for those who do things a tad differently, it teaches you how to do that too (if you read around it a little). :) What to say, what to expect, and how things should look after you are done teaching. It's great to have it all broken down for those times when I am unsure myself.

Is it harder perhaps to do things in a way varies from the teacher's manual? In some ways yes, but not really. The set up, the examples, the walk-throughs... even doing it differently, this is one of the finest spelling curricula that I have ever met. I like it!

Product Details:
Received: Homeschool Spelling/Reading Program
Title: Essentials 2nd Edition with the Essential Reader Set.
Vendor: Logic of English
Grade Range: varies, can teach three levels at once
Price: $198 for complete set.

This set contains vol. 1 materials, vol. 2 coming 2017.