Eclectic Foundations ~ REVIEW

 
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.

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