Please compare/contrast LLATL, Total Language Plus, and Stobaugh

[Christy B]

At some point, I'll stop beginning every post with the announcement that

MY DD IS COMING HOME FOR HIGH SCHOOL!!!!


Okay, that's out of the way. I'm happy to be planning high school.

Dd will be in 9th grade next year. We have used mostly a combination of Abeka and Rod and Staff grammar. We kind of alternated years. One year we dropped grammar altogether because she was learning so much grammar in Latin.

This year she is using Abeka grade 8 and doing great, but it's in a classroom setting. She is also doing ZERO writing, which is a mixed blessing (it's her weak area, so it's nice not to have the pressure -- but, it's her weak area, so she needs to write!)

Anyhoo -- I would LOVE an integrated grammar, literature, composition, etc program. I've read reviews for LLATL, TLP, and Stobaugh. They all sound good. I kind of get the impression that LLATL is more "gentle"; TLP is fairly moderate in intensity; and Stobaugh is pretty hard core. The writing component of Stobaugh scares me -- it sounds great, but, if it doesn't have step by step, hold your hand instruction, it will be totally overwhelming to dd.

What say you? Also, any other programs that integrate all of the "Language Arts" components?

[Christy B]

bump

[Grace is Sufficient]

I didn't comment because I have no experience with the other two... but I do not recommend Stobough's work, especially if you need good writing instruction. He gives almost no help on how to write the essays, as I recall.

Does it have to be all-in-one? I found Put That in Writing to be extremely helpful in terms of writing instruction; others say that IEW has benfitted their students. Perhaps you could pair a writing curriculum with a lit analysis course?

HTH

[Mary in GA]

Hi,
I have very limited experience with the curricula you're looking at, but I very much agree that Stobaugh would be very hard to use. It's a program I have wanted to like, but just could not make work. I have LLATL Gold, but I only used it briefly as a supplement. I thought the assignments and writing instruction were pretty good, howewer I understand that the upper level high school LLATL differs from the others in format. I do not have any high school level TLP guides, just jr high level. My problem with these guides is they move through the book so slowly, and my dd can't stand that. (Can you tell I've been something of a curriculum junkie?)

To stir your pot some more, I've seen many posters here say they like Lightning Literature from Hewitt. (I have one level of this as well, but never used it.) It meets your requirement of all-inclusive LA. Decisions, decisions!

Mary

[Christy B]

Oh, wow, I am definitely crossing Stobaugh off the list. Dd needs LOTS of hand-holding in her writing.

Lightning Lit is certainly worth a look. And I already know that dd likes the IEW approach to writing (I personally don't care for it, but anything that helps her write is something I'm willing to consider). And I have bookmarked Put That In Writing on my laptop -- totally forgot about that!

I think I blocked all of my high school information out of my head when she went to school and now I can't remember anything that I had researched!