Level C
For this level, you will need the teacher's guide, student workbook, word cards and appendixes, and the McGuffey's Revised Second Eclectic Reader. The word cards and phonics practice sheet are available on this website. The digital product contains the teacher's guide, student workbook, word cards, and phonics practice sheet. We know you will love our program! That is why we offer the first four weeks free of charge!
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McGuffey's Revised Eclectic Second Reader:
The McGuffey’s section usually covers two lessons per week. Lessons involve reading the selection and answering comprehension questions or coloring word cards to coordinate with the parts of speech. One day is spent studying the picture and reading the words and the selection. The next day is for coloring word cards and reviewing parts of speech. Nouns are red, pronouns are pink, adjectives are orange, verbs are green, adverbs are yellow, prepositions are blue, conjunctions are purple, and interjections are black. In addition to the word card activities, here are some other ideas for utilizing them…
1. Draw a diagram on a poster board and have your student practice diagramming sentences. (Diagramming will be covered in the next level, but you can have your student get a head start.)
2. Have your student match adjective cards with noun cards and adverb cards with verb cards.
3. Put one color of cards in alphabetical order.
4. Define any words that your student may not know the meaning of.
5. Have your student randomly choose a word out of the box and try to come up with rhyming words.
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Word Mastery
This level continues to teach reading with Mrs. Akin’s Word Mastery. Each lesson contains a short word list for your student to study and practice writing in the Phonics Practice Sheets. It is important to understand that these are not spelling tests. Don’t hesitate to help your child spell the words if necessary. This process should not be frustrating. To better understand our technique, here is a direct quote from Mrs. Akin’s Word Mastery:
“No diacritical marks are to be used. Pupils are taught to determine the sound of the vowel by its position in the word and by its associate letters. When pupils learn to read by means of diacritical marks their reading for the first year or more must be largely confined to the reader from which they are taught. The method presented in this book gives the pupil immediate mastery of a word taught and the words of its family, regardless of where he may find them. Diacritical marks should not be taught until pupils are sufficiently advanced to use the dictionary.
Pupils should be taxed with the fewest possible rules. In this course only those are used which are simplest and most necessary for word-recognition. Do not require pupils to memorize them; frequent application of the principles involved will insure a thorough knowledge of them.”
We love the natural approach that Mrs. Akin uses to teach reading and have kept with her original style of teaching. Diacritical marks and phonetic rules are introduced along with spelling lessons in Level D.
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Handwriting/ Copywork
This level has a weekly memory verse to copy and memorize. The other three days of the week have quotes from famous people. The authors of these quotes come from many different walks of life and have many different world views. Although none of the quotes have the authority of scripture, we’ve tried to find quotes that will build character, spark your student’s interest, and possibly engage them in conversation. Some of these quotes are even humorous. Cursive handwriting is recommended; but this is at the teacher’s discretion.
Grammar
Grammar lessons are somewhat simpler than the previous year, because your student is expected to work more independently this year. Grammar is based on Speaking and Writing Book One by William H. Maxwell. This little book is a gem. It not only gives a firm foundation in simple grammar concepts, but also teaches the art of speaking clearly and eloquently. You will find that the McGuffey’s word cards and the grammar lessons complement each other well.
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Biblical Approach
This program contains constant references to Bible stories, and is designed to teach outstanding character at every turn. Eclectic Foundations will not replace your current Bible curriculum, but isn’t it nice to have a language arts program that won’t work against your values? That cannot be said about many secular programs.
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Teacher Friendly
This program is designed to cover four days a week for 36 weeks. It really is an open-and-go program! There is no prep work involved! Everything is laid out for you so you can focus your time on teaching and bonding with your children.
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"Okay so I may have not always been the kind of person to follow the rules and in Language Arts there are several to learn and follow. That said you can probably guess that I piece together my Language Arts Curriculum for my Kiddos. And you would be correct, except with Kaden. With him I need something all in one, easy to use and as stress-free for him as possible. Enter this NEW REVIEW.... Eclectic Foundations Language Arts Level C from Eclectic Foundations. Right off the bat I swoon over the fact that we are talking about one spiral bound Workbook for Kaden and one Teacher's Guide for me and that's it. And it covers Spelling, Grammar, Composition, Handwriting, Memory Work, Phonics, Poetry, Reading and Comprehension. Normally that's a lot of researching and a lot of books to tote around and that's overwhelming for a Kiddo with Special Needs.
We have recently started leaning more towards a Charlotte Mason type homeschool for Kaden and this fits nicely into the rhythm we are trying to create for him. But, I can also see how even with my other two this would have worked out nicely too. It's easily divided up into 144 lessons to be spread out into 4 day weeks. We ended up doing only 3 days a week, but on Wednesdays Kaden did 2 lessons to stay on track.
So, Eclectic Foundations uses the McGuffey's Readers, we have used these before so we were familiar with them. When you order you will notice they do not sell copies of these books on their website. They can be downloaded for Free on your Kindle or printed for Free online. The lessons are very short, we need that for him. I also noticed that for both My Guide and Kaden's Workbook things are black and white and real simple. Nothing flashy and overwhelming....the richness comes from the actual stories, words and lessons. That is a major thing for Kaden, he gets easily overwhelmed when there are unnecessary pictures and flare. Also, the font and text size is large and clear. Lot's of open space to relax and allow creativity to step in.
I noticed right away he felt comfortable and fell right into a rhythm...never not understanding what was needed from him. There are a lot of things to remember in Language Arts, so the simplicity and hardiness of this program was wonderful for us. For us a lesson took maybe 20 minutes. Normally he would Read and or do the activity like working on the words for his word box. He doesn't like to color and one of the activities to do is to color code the words to go along with the parts of speech. We compromised and he just colored the first letter of each word and he cut them all out. Cutting is very hard on his hands, he is still working on this motor skill daily. When it comes to the Phonics portion I never had him do this portion. He reads extremely well and can spell words I have to think twice about. I chose this Level based on his Grammar skills, Memory work, Handwriting needs, along with the thrill of having him study Poetry.
Some of our Favorite areas was the way I was instructed to teach Kaden Grammar. So many different ways, honestly he said this isn't like learning at all. I'll give you an example...one lesson he was given a short story that I was to read to him. And I needed to put thought and feeling into it. Then the next day he was to dictate as much of it to me as possible. He was shocked at how much he could remember. He also loved the dictation of The Spider. It was so cute....it took awhile his hands hurt when he writes. So, we are working on neat work without the pain. :) He also liked using the colored cards during Grammar time, these were used multiple ways too. Something I valued a lot with this program was the quality of the writing pieces chosen throughout it. Copy Work filled with quotes from Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Confucius, Theodore Roosevelt, George Eliot, Aristotle....I mean I could go on and on. And lets not forget about the Memory Verse Work.....I appreciated the verses chosen for my boy to read, learn and press deep within his heart.
What did I think about Eclectic Foundations Language Arts Level C? I Loved it, I will use it until we can't anymore. Right now for us in this Season of Life we need this for our Language Arts program. If you have a Kiddo that struggles with Sensory overload or just needs a simple text to be able to focus this is for you. If you are looking to streamline your curriculum or looking for an all in one kind of thing, this is perfect for you. If you want your child to learn from rich texts and be able to recall words of Wisdom and valuable passages from the Bible....this may be perfect for you."
Sheila~ Four Violet Reviews