by Jessie Wise

This language arts book for early elementary aged students is written by one of the authors of the popular "The Well Trained Mind." As the description on the back cover reads, "A complete grammar and writing text for those first two all-important years of study...uses copywork, narration, dictation, picture study, and other classical techniques to develop the young student's language ability."

I have used this with my oldest child during her second grade year, and my second child during his first grade year. Because we have enjoyed this book so much and have found it to be so helpful, I plan to use it for his second grade year next year and with my third child when she reaches first and second grade as well. Each lesson is scripted to direct the teacher/parent. Some lessons are simply oral exercises and others involve writing or memorizing. We really enjoyed sitting down to work out of this book TOGETHER, as opposed to using a workbook that the student did on their own. We often sat down on the couch together during the lesson and as we talked about parts of speech or worked on poem memorization with my middle child, my oldest received a review lesson and my youngest a preview!