Schoolhouse Crew Review for Essentials 2nd Edition

       

A while back I reviewed Logic of English for the TOS Crew with my daughter with learning disabilities and I was very happy with the results. I received  Essentials 2nd Edition and the Optional Essentials Reader Set for this review. I was very excited to review and use this with my son.

 

Essentials 2nd Edition includes:

Essentials Teacher's Guide, 2nd ed., Volume 1

Essentials Student Workbook, 2nd ed., Volume 1

Spelling Journal

Basic Phonogram Flash Cards

Spelling Rule Flash Cards

Advanced Phonogram Flash Cards

Grammar Flash Cards

Morpheme Flash Cards, Set 1

Phonogram Game Cards Cursive or Manuscript

Phonogram Game Tiles

Phonogram and Spelling Rule Quick Reference

Spelling Analysis Card

I also received an Optional Essentials Reader Set which includes: The Essentials Reader, Companion Teacher’s Guide, and the Companion Student Activity Book as a digital PDF download.

Essentials 2nd Edition is for ages 7 to adults, and struggling readers and spellers. I love that The Logic of English uses multi-sensory approach in teaching concepts with games and flashcards. This is a complete language arts curriculum that includes three levels of for your students. Level A-B-C is for three years of teaching that build upon each other. The workbooks are consumable and you will need to purchase one for each student.

Essentials 2nd Edition Volume 1 teaches reading, phonics, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, spelling, and writing all in one program. Volume 2 will be available in 2017.

This is not an open and go curriculum. It requires one on one teaching to make this work. At first it seems completely overwhelming when you open up the box and see all the components inside. Don’t fret as it takes a bit of organizing of the cards. I recommend a box to hold the cards in. Also, you will need baggies and rubber bands or metal clips. I like to use a hole punch with my cards and put them on metal rings. This is an easy way to keep them together. (Which at this point I haven’t done this with my cards. I will at some point.) You use the cards a lot and you need to be able to locate them before the lessons begin. The cards are essential to the lessons and they make the lessons easy to comprehend and fun.

Teacher’s Guide you will need to set down with and familiarize yourself with the process before teaching your student. This is a hardback book with 632 pages. English has never been a subject that I am comfortable with teaching. The Teacher’s Guide is scripted so you don’t have to worry about missing anything. Each lesson is laid out for a week schedule. It has 15 lesson units with 5 units in each lesson. It’s also flexible enough to make it fit your homeschool. The lessons are clearly marked at which level you are teaching. You catch on real quick once you start teaching. It's really an easy program to use.

The Student Workbook is a soft bound consumable workbook with 315 pages. The workbook includes all the activities and games for each lesson.

Flash Cards are all printed on a heavy cardstock and coated for handling often. All of the flashcards are helpful for learning throughout the lessons. There are several sets of flashcards so I am not going to cover each set.

Spelling Journal is for students to add there spelling vocabulary. It is organized by first sound, then by spelling.

Quick Reference Chart is a quick reference guide to phonogram and spelling rules.

Essentials Reader is a nice edition to go along with learning as it’s controlled for certain sounds during the lessons. The Companion Teacher’s Guide, and the Companion Student Activity Book are helpful using with the reader. The Companion Student Activity Book my son enjoyed the varies activities. 

How did I use Essentials 2nd Edition in my Homeschool?

I started my son in Level C after giving him the placement test. We worked through the lessons 5-days a week. Some units we went through faster than others. This was completely different than with my daughter as we had to pace her slowly when I used it with her a few years ago.

We spent around an hour or less everyday with everything. There are so many components to this homeschool language arts curriculum. It's hard to explain everything in detail. This is a complete program that is very effective with teaching language arts. I love the way phonemes are taught it makes reading and spelling so much easier than traditional programs.

My son liked the games. He's at that age that school just takes way too long and her would rather be playing than learning language arts. Overall, he told me, "Mom it's not bad and it's kinda of fun." That says a lot for me. We had no tears.

I highly recommend Logic of English. I haven’t tried any of their other products but, other Crew Members are reviewing other products from Logic of English.

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