Using Language Well Book 5 Teacher Book (2nd Edition)

Students learn to compose clearly and effectively by engaging with short, yet excellent writing samples selected from time-honored authors. Familiar with Simply Charlotte Mason’s Spelling Wisdom? This newly updated English, grammar, and spelling program pulls passages from that course and also adds new content. The study passages come from literature, ESV Scripture (often the Psalms), quotations, and even nonfiction (such as speeches). Students learn by engaging with, imitating, and responding to these samples. Each consumable Student Book includes 72 lessons with space for answers, a Dictation Journal, and special fold-out reminders for “How to Study a Book” and “How to Mark a Sentence” (Levels 4-6). Each lesson provides the passage excerpt, the steps for that day’s assignments (which often include narration and dictation), and lines to write responses.

Lesson length varies by level. In most levels, students work through each lesson following multiple steps. The last two steps require marking and studying any unfamiliar words to prepare for the dictation or narration assignments. Occasionally, composition activities are offered for additional writing practice. The typical schedule is two lessons weekly, with a maximum of 20 minutes per lesson for your oldest student. However, weekly total lesson time will vary based on individual needs. For a complete language arts course, add reading/literature studies (and other skills, such as handwriting instruction, as your individual child needs).

Students may start in Level 1 if they can read and transcribe comfortably at a third to fourth grade reading level. We strongly recommend your student taking the placement test, which places your student based on their ability to respond to a handful of assignments. As you work through the various levels, lessons will become more complicated and include larger and more difficult passages. By Level 6, the expectation is that students are functioning at about an 8th grade level in reading and composing skills. Level 7 is a unique “polish your punctuation” course, designed to be used over 2 school years at a pace of one lesson per week. See each level’s description for specific content.

Teacher involvement is crucial, but your time commitment should diminish as your student progresses through the levels. Once you’re familiar with the lesson setup and the Charlotte Mason methods used, each course is fairly open-and-go. The Teacher Book provides the specific directions you’ll need to help your student strengthen narration, dictation, and composition skills. This book provides step-by-step instructions, answers, FAQs for using dictation and narration methods, punctuation helps, and rubrics for grading student writing.