TOS Review - Logic of English

What Is It?

Logic of English is a curriculum company that is striving to make the very complicated english language a little easier to understand.  Logic of English gives the WHY behind the english language.  They do this through very well worded teacher guides and uses a wide variety of activities that will appeal to all the different learning styles that children have.

For this review, we were sent the Logic of English Essentials program, spelling rules flash cards, basic phonograms flash cards, two sets of game cards, as well as a download of the Phonics with Phonograms app for the IPad.  This program is recommended for children ages 8 to adult.

Essentials will teach your student to read, write, and spell correctly.  The manual offers multiple schedules for different ages and skill levels and has scripted lessons making it extremely user friendly.

How We Used It:

We got our package right as Josie finished up last year's spelling and reading programs.  I took a few days to look through it all and decided how we were going to use it and then we jumped in.

Like any review, it takes me a little extra effort to figure out where we should start.  Since the program is for kids that are a little older then Josie, I decided to go ahead and start at the beginning even if that meant we would be doing some reviewing.  I also decided to let her go at her own pace and not worry too much about whether or not we completed a lesson each week.

Each lesson is broken up into three sections.  The first section introduces the phonograms and really does a great job explaining all the details about them.  The second section introduced the week's spelling rules along with the spelling words.  And the last section introduced the grammar rule.  Each section builds on the others and incorporates what is learned into each part.

The chapters that we made it through during the review period were normal letter sounds (which she knows but practice never hurts) and the most commonly used letter teams.  I would read the lesson and use the flash cards that were recommended and she would complete each section of the workbook.  The lessons were very straight forward and easy to teach.  There is a lot of variation and review.  I felt like each lesson really taught her new information.

 I really liked the spelling sections.  Josie enjoys spelling and these lessons were very easy to teach.  Again, the lessons are scripted and follow the same steps for spelling tests in each chapter which made it easy on both of us.  I love how they made it ok to offer extra help.  I am not a great speller by any means, so learning these rules was very helpful to me.

The grammar sections that we covered taught normal parts of speech (nouns, adjectives, plurals).  We haven't covered any parts of speech so this was all new information.  The program did an excellent job of breaking it into little pieces so that it wasn't overwhelming.  Much like the spelling section, I learned a lot of the "why"s right along with Josie.

All of the lessons are scripted so if you're more comfortable having the lesson completely laid out for you, it's all there.  I loved that!

The Student Workbook had all the sheets that Josie needed.  This book is very thick and well made.  The pages are perforated, but are thick enough that I don't worry at all about the pages getting loose and falling out.  I love that all of her work for this program will be stored in one spot.

There is a lot of student writing as well.  Josie is working hard to get her handwriting where it needs to be and this was a great way to practice without just doing copywork.  Parts of the workbook, we did together, but there were a couple lessons in each section that she was able to do on her own.

The Spelling and Phonogram game book is excellent too.  This book is divided up into learning styles.  Josie learns really well through games and being active, so we tried out those extra activities.  They were really fun for her, but simple for me.  All the templates we needed for each game were right in the book.  I'm already looking forward to trying the tactile activities with Gabe this year as we start exploring letters and sounds.  This book could easily be adapted for all ages.

I used the app a few times a week to reinforce the phonograms, usually when we were in the car.

Even though Josie knows all her letter sounds and quite a few letter teams, I had her start on the first level.  The app very clearly states the letter sound and gives the student four choices to pick from.  The app gives all possible sounds for each letter, which I love.  Many of the apps that we have tried have given the basic sound but not all of them.

As the student progresses past each level, more sounds and letter teams are introduced.  Every once in awhile it throws in some from the starting levels.  The app is quick, simple, and effective.  I would compare this app to doing flash cards.  Josie liked playing it and I saw a noticeable difference in her memorization of the phonograms.

My Opinion:

Just from reading the introduction, I knew I was going to love this curriculum.

It covers so many topics and does so very well.  I loved that the lessons were scripted, making my job very easy.  I won't lie, I learned a lot during our lessons too.  I am very impressed with the entire package.

There were so many options for adding extra activities to the lessons.  This was a big bonus to me since Josie learns so well through games.  We have played Phonogram BINGO every week and she loves it. No matter what your child's learning style is, there are extra activities in the book that will work for them.

This curriculum is so complete.  It teaches grammar, spelling, phonics, reading, and writing skills.  On top of all that, it is easy to teach.  A year ago, I couldn't recite all of the phonograms and now I can easily do so.  Josie has learned a lot of the rules and reasons behind phonics in the past couple of weeks from this program.

I do feel like she is a little too young for the depth that this book goes into in future chapters.  I think the recommended age of 8 is probably very spot on.  My plan is to continue to use this but at a much slower pace then the schedules offered in the book.  We will do one lesson a week and just carry the remainder of the book over into second grade.

I love the app!  We have tried quite a few phonics apps to help get all the sounds and letter teams memorized and haven't found one that I liked.  This one was a winner.  The simple voice clearly stating all the sounds was great.  I'm a big fan of flashcards so this suited us very well.  I'm always onboard for getting some extra school in while we are on the go.  This app is a good one.

Product Details:

www.LogicofEnglish.com

Logic of English Essentials Manual - $95
Logic of English Essentials Workbook - $25
Spelling Rules Flash Cards - $15
Basic Phonograms Flash Cards - $18
Game Cards - $10
Phonics with Phonograms app - $2.99