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First Language Lessons are advertised as providing academic rigor with ease of instruction. The course uses classical techniques of memorization, dictation, and narration to develop your child's language ability in the important, foundational years of language study. The course includes workbooks, instructor guides, and an audio CD.
Website: First Language Lessons
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(13 Reviews)
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Contributor Reviews
Reviews are solely the opinions of the contributor.
Grades Used: K-2nd
I used First Language Lessons with only my youngest son and I wish it had been available when I was teaching my older sons. The lessons are short, but they cover a lot and the poetry dictation is superb! I truly believe I have seen the fruits of this program in my youngest son's speaking and grammar abilities. It also provided me with good one-on-one time with him while he and I memorized poetry together. I passed this book along to a dear fellow home schooling mom who was struggling with her young ones in the language area. I would highly recommend this book!
Cons: very, very dry
Grades Used: K and 3
I really love this curriculum. The lessons are short and to the point, which suits my Aspie perfectly. They are extremely repetitious which aggravates me, but seems to really work for my kids. I, personally, like the script because it keeps us on task and as we move forward, I know that I've asked the right questions at the right times.
Cons: I wish the books went past 4th grade.
Grades Used: 1st and 2nd
I loved the cozy feeling of sitting together on the couch and reading about grammar. My son loved learning the poems. He did really well with the repetition, learning parts of grammar better than his brother. I wish the program went through middle school!
Cons: Scripting gets to be a little much at times.
Grades Used: 1, 2, 3
I LOVE First Language Lessons 1 & 2. It's amazingly easy to use. The lessons are short and fun. I've used it with 2 children and plan to continue with the 3rd.
The 3rd grade book is excellent in the knowledge and skills it presents, but we all got annoyed with the scripting after a while. In some ways, I need it, to make sure everything is presented as it should be. Also, when they are learning things like sentence diagramming at such a young age, the lessons need to be repetitious because they don't understand it right away. It's not just grammar; it incorporates memorization, dictation and narration as well, which are critical skills.
Cons: Can be overly repetitious
Grades Used: 1-4
We started FLL with the 1st book and are now finishing up book 4. My now 9 year old has a very good grasp on grammar and diagramming because of this curriculum. While looking at other curriculums and trying to decided what to use for 5th grade (FLL only goes through 4th), my daughter remarked that she already knew everything the 5th grade books. FLL lays a very strong foundation. I like how it only takes a few minutes a day for grades 1-2 and they till learn so much! It does have lots of "Repeat...... 3 times." I just went over it until we had it. No need to beat a dead horse. It is excellent for an auditory learner. My son learned all the pronouns, prepositions, and helping verbs just by being in the sames room while I was doing it with my daughter.
Cons: none
Grades Used: 1-3
my child has dyslexia and this was the best grammer cuuriculum for her.The lessons are short but repititious,easy for me and fun for her.She not only learned the grammer lessons and memory work,I used her techniques of memory work to teach my child spelling.we are moving on to the next book this year!People said it couldn't be done.GREAT!!I love her curriculum.
Cons: can be repetitive
Grades Used: K-2
As I am homeschooling several children, I find First Language Lessons to be an easy yet thorough way to cover grammar with younger children. The lessons are simple and include optional exercises for application. If the student is more advanced, you can easily skip a lesson here and there to keep their interest. A great resource for busy, homeschooling moms!
Cons: very scripted, repetitive
Grades Used: K/1
I used First Language Lessons Grade 1 for the end of my son's K year and the first part of his 1st grade year. Overall I really like the program. It's easy to use with young children as there is no writing in Grade 1 and minimal writing in Grade 2. My son memorizes well so he easily memorized all the definitions given. For children who do not need a lot of repetition this may be overkill though. It is also high parent involvement. These are two things that prompted me to switch my son to something else. The repetition drove him nuts and he is a child that wants to work more on his own. We used this along side Writing With Ease One and it was a very nice fit. We just skipped the narrations in the Language Lessons. Now I think she's rewritten Grades 1 and 2 to compliment Writing with Ease more. I will certainly use this again with my youngest son next year when he's ready to start grammar.
Grades Used: 3rd
I will use it again next year.
Cons: overly repetative for advanced students
Grades Used: K-1
We have used this as a supplement to our language arts activities this year, and generally have found it to be fun and helpful. I like that it is a gentle way to introduce memorization work, and we have enjoyed its quick pace and ease of use.
An advanced student might find it repetitious, but it certainly solidifies definitions and concepts! Though writing is not required until a little ways into the lessons, a younger child who is not fluent in handwriting might be frustrated. However, it is easy to adapt some of those lessons to your child's skill level.
Cons: need to supplement to complete lessons
Grades Used: 2nd and 3rd
I enjoyed this very much-my kids responded well. The lessons were short but sweet-good reviews from previously learned lessons.
I was able to do both my boys together-loved the poems to memorize.
For younger children, I love this grammar book! I started using it with my 3rd child, and he loves grammar now. I am also now using it with my younger children. It's easy to pick up where you left off, no prep work,lessons are often short, and it guides parents on what to say and how to present material. There is memory work, dictation, copy work, narration, and parts of speech included. I use this now for my middle elementary children too, at their level. Those tend to be a bit more involved, but still easy to use. And I also use the companion Writing With Ease. I am very impressed with this grammar for lower-middle elementary grades.
Very simple to use, I almost feel like I am not teaching enough when just using this, but my five-year-old is learning it quite easily. And I am pretty sure that there aren't many (if any) kindergarteners learning parts of speech in public school.