What we currently using for English

In January this year I eagerly purchased our new English curriculum along with other books from Oikos Family ministries. We decided to use Learning Language Arts Through Literature which commonly known among homeschooling families as LATL. After doing a few lessons, about two months, we quickly realised this was not a good fit for us, especially for my daughter. I began once again to research other English curriculums. I loved the Abeka English which we had been doing for the last 3 years with T.C.E but unfortunately to source these books proved very costly with shipping.
I had previously done some research on The Good and The Beautiful (TGATB) Maths and English. I loved their singing timetables and purchased it for my daughter in 2019. The cost of postage was quite costly and they had not yet released the grade 5 year of their the Maths curriculum, only the English was available. I was not convinced that I should purchase the English but in hindsight I regret that decision.
This March I decided to go ahead and purchase the English curriculum for my daughter. We went on TGATB website and did the online assessment and purchased the book for her level. We have been using the books for about two months now and she really enjoys the beautiful workbook with colourful art drawings. This English curriculum also includes art lessons which she really enjoying. It includes grammar cards which we do daily to reinforce for example, what is a noun? What is an adjective? Besides English it also includes Geography cards which teaches her exactly where every country is located. The grammar and geography cards are a once off purchase for levels five to seven and do not need to be ordered again.

There is a daily spelling review at the beginning of each lesson as well as dictation of a few sentences. If any words are misspelled in these sentences they are added to the list of incorrect words and tested each week. There is also a reader of which my daughter is required to read a chapter each day and a recommended reader which I purchased online from Takealot. The workbook also comes with an answer key book for the parent to mark daily.

If you have access to a good printer, you could print this entire English course FREE off their website! Make sure you print in full colour as the art sections are amazing!
I chose not to purchase TGATB English for my son as he is in high school and I felt the LATL book was suitable for his age and grade.

Navigating this eclectic style of homeschooling has certainly come as a challenge for me as I prefer a more structured approach, but as I am discovering what curriculums are suitable and what does not work for our family, I am finding a new freedom. The beauty lies in the fact that you can create or design a learning environment that best suits your family’s unique needs, as well as allowing your kids to work on their level of understanding rather than specific grade.