Looking for language arts

[QueenAtHome]

I need some curriculum for my kids. I used Learning Language arts Through Literature last year with my oldest daughter. I am thinking of doing that again for my son and her this year.

I am not one for rote learning or fill in the blank work sheets. My oldest breezes through those sorta lessons and then a month later we learn that she only remembers a portion of what was learned.

Daughter is 10 and son is 8.

What have you used/do you use? What do you like or dislike about it?

 

[Infieri]

Having been homeschooled as a child, I am closely familiar with various curricular resources, and in this particular case I must highly recommend A Beka Book. Their line of Literature and Language coursework is particularly comprehensive, laying a firm foundation with the core concepts of the English language while exposing children to both classical and modern literary appreciation and criticism. The selection of literature covered within their textbooks is both grade-level appropriate and of distinguished compositional value. Questions asked within the text, while perhaps on the difficult side for students unaccustomed to critical reading, are well pondered and notably useful for stimulating positive discussion between the parent and child. The series avoids the mistake of testing on the basis of rote memory, instead placing heavy emphasis on thorough understanding of concepts without compromising a proper evaluation of technical literary knowledge.

If the A Beka Book literature series has one flaw, it is in its representation of poetic interpretation. While the curriculum will serve nearly unmatched in regards to proper comprehension of prose, it fails to give (in my humble opinion) a sufficient understanding of the finer elements of poetry and the process behind its development.
That aside, I wholeheartedly recommend A Beka Book as your choice for homeschool language and literature curriculum.