I know that although we may be TOG users, our individual philosophies might be different in other areas. I'm still trying to figure out our path for LA mainly. We're currently using Spelling Workout and I'm curious to know what you experiences have been with using TOG and how you've tackled spelling as a subject.

Writing Aids is on its way here (thanks to Share & Save!) and I'm looking to take a more gentle, integrated approach to LA if possible.

Thank you for any input!
Jessica

Spelling Power has always been my favorite. It takes a short amount of time each day(15 minutes). I don't do the activities. I also do not have my child write the rule out everyday. It's progressive and moves from level to level naturally and you only need the one book for k-12.

For LA for these younger years I keep it simple. We do phonics k-2, than Easy Grammar starting 2nd or 3rd. Than spelling power starting 3rd. TOG has great writing so I don't have to worry about supplementing that. TOG also has vocabulary words.Lots of reading practice and being read to is good for fluency and vocabulary.

We will be doing the Latin in 7th and 8th grade that is suggested by TOG. So for now I think this is enough. I don't want to add to much to TOG because TOG has so much great stuff I don't want to miss anything. So we do the basics and than have fun with TOG.


As a side not for penmaship we will copy something that we are reading or I have a few penmanship workbooks that I will assign a page for. As they get older and do more writing on their own I see less and less of a need for penmanship books. Sometimes we won't do anything for penmanship..it's sort of a side thing I don't worry about too much once they have learned to write their letters. They get practice with other things we do.

As far as integrated goes I am not sure if everything can be integrated. I have tried in the past to do a more CM approach but found it too challenging and frustrating. I found CM to be too natural and not enough MEAT. I did not feel confident in that learning style. I prefer to have some of the LA done in a nuts and bolts approach with Easy Grammar and Spelling Power. Writing, Vocabulary and Reading is integrated with TOG and that's great. The only additional reading is my kids picking out books they want to read or I will choose some from the book "Honey for a Childs Heart"

I found our solution, I'm waiting for Writing Aids to get here to confuse me all over again but here's what I have.

Spelling: Simply Spelling by Laurie Hicks (3-12 grades)
Writing: Writing Tales 1 (we want to follow the progymnasmata), possibly use Writing Aids although we might wait a little longer
Primary Language Lessons: for narrations, picture study, poetry, etc.

I'm really trying to balance academics with natural learning. TOG has been the perfect fit for us, I just have to figure out our writing path because we want our children to learn the progymnasmata because it complements logic and prepares a student to learn formal rhetoric.

Of course, it's all our fault for complicating matters. Lol.