We recently tried using Language Lessons for a Living Education 1 by MasterBooks. If you’re on the lookout for a language arts curriculum, read on and see if this could be a good fit for your family!
Language Lessons for a Living Education
“Language Lessons for a Living Education” is a language arts curriculum set from MasterBooks. MasterBooks is a Christian curriculum publisher. We also use their Science curriculum called “Life: For Beginners” (review here!)
For this article, I am reviewing their book 1, which will be referred to as LLLE1 from here on. It is geared towards first-graders, but of course, this will really depend on your child’s individual reading and writing skills.
LLLE1 tackles phonics, phonetic sounds, writing and basic grammar concepts.
Having a “Charlotte Mason Influence”
Language Lessons for a Living Education mentions the following in their product description:
Written with a Charlotte Mason influence but designed for modern homeschoolers (source)
There are definitely Charlotte Mason influences that they incorporated in this curriculum. These include the use of beautiful artworks, poems and scripture passages, as well as the practice of picture study. These are all found in the lessons.
Note that Charlotte Mason believed that children will learn how to read, spell, write and use proper grammar by reading great living books. This is not really the approach of LLLE. Instead, language arts here is taught through activities and lessons on phonics, grammar rules and spelling, and not only through living books.
If you prefer a textbook/workbook for teaching your child phonics and grammar, read on!
The Lessons
Language Lessons for a Living Education provides a rotation of various lessons and activities, which include:
- Stories (supplemental books included in the set)
- Reading practice: sight words, independent reading
- Phonics
- Grammar
- Worksheets
- Dictionary activity
Sharing with you sample pages below so you can get a feel of the material:
What I like about the material is that it’s all-in-one already; there’s no separate Teacher’s Guide and separate workbook. I also appreciate having a script written for me already.
If your child enjoys doing worksheets like these, then you’ll be happy to know that there are plenty of interactive activities included in the lessons.
Dictionary Activitty
One of the cute activities included in LLLE1 is “Create Your Own Dictionary,” which my son surprisingly enjoys a lot! You basically choose a word, write words that are related to it and you make a simple drawing.
Supplementary Books
Language Lessons for a Living Education includes 3 books that will be used throughout the curriculum. All 3 books are related to the Bible story of Noah’s Ark.
Personal Experience
Background
A quick background on my son before we proceed so you can get a more accurate picture of how we used it:
- My son was 5.5 when we started. Kindergarten.
- He has already finished All About Reading 1 prior.
- He’s a strong reader already by the time he turned 5 years old.
- The phonics lessons from AAR perhaps helped but in the middle of his AAR lessons, he was already reading more complex words and sentences than what the curriculum expected from him.
- My theory is he learned how to read by reading a lot of books (because one day everything just “clicked” in his brain.)
Using Language Lessons for a Living Education 1
When I ordered Language Lessons for a Living Education, Luke wasn’t reading yet. But because shipping books take such a long time from the US to the Philippines, by the time it arrived, Luke was already reading long sentences fluently! So eep!! It really isn’t the material’s fault, obviously, but he no longer needed a lot of the lessons.
However, it’s really not my style to “skip” lessons. Even if I think he already knows it, just to be sure, we still go through everything. I skip some activities which he has already mastered, but we still go through all the lessons.
But because he already knows how to read, he breezes through the material easily. We finish 5 days worth of lessons in a day. Eep! Haha (So I told him not to write on some of the activities anymore so that I can still use it with his little brother next time!)
Of course, our experience may not be the same as yours so please read further for my recommendations:
Overall Recommendation
I would recommend Language Lessons for a Living Education 1 if:
- Your child is learning how to read
- The way you want to teach your child how to read is by teaching him phonics rules
- You are looking for an easy-to-use material that covers both phonics and grammar already!
Most of the worksheets that the child will be doing follow a more traditional approach. There are activities where you need to identify the illustration and fill in the letters, for example, which are common in school tests for that age.
So if you plan on sending your children to school next time, it may also be a good fit.
—
Disclaimer: MasterBooks provided me with a copy of “Language Lessons for a Living Education 1” for review. However, all opinions are unbiased and completely my own.
—
RELATED POSTS:
- Kindergarten Curriculum Picks for Luke (2020-2021)
- Curriculum Reviews (link to all our reviews)
- Blending Classical Education + Charlotte Mason Style
- How We Homeschool: 5 Years Old (Level K)