• Home
  • About
  • Featured Reviews
  • Request a Review
  • Advertising
  • Subscribe

The Curriculum Choice

Making homeschool decisions easy

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • About
  • Blog
  • How To Homeschool
    • By Review Team
    • Encouragement
    • New to Homeschooling
    • Organization
  • Reviews by Grade
    • Elementary
    • High School
    • Middle School
    • Preschool
  • Reviews by Subject
    • Bible
    • Economics
    • Fine Arts
      • Art
      • Music
    • Foreign Language
    • Highschool
    • History & Geography
      • Geography
      • History
    • Home Economics
    • Language Arts
      • Grammar
      • Handwriting
      • Literature
      • Phonics
      • Reading
      • Spelling
      • Vocabulary
      • Writing
    • Logic
    • Math
    • Science & Technology
      • Science
      • Technology
        • Apps

in Charlotte Mason· Grammar· Handwriting· Language Arts· Literature· Phonics· Writing

Learning Language Arts Through Literature Curriculum Review

Finding a language arts curriculum is a lot like finding a good bathing suit –getting that perfect fit is really tough! Here’s a review of Learning Language Arts Through Literature to help you “try on” one more curriculum.

Learning Language Arts Through Literature (LLATL) is a gentle language arts program for grades 1-12, covering everything but vocabulary.

Learning Language Arts Through Literature

“Reading real books instead of basal stories makes reading more attractive to the student. This creates a deeper understanding and generates greater interest in grammar, writing mechanics, vocabulary, spelling, and other language skills. The goal of any language arts program should be to equip the student for a lifetime of communication through the written and spoken word.”

Learning Language Arts Through Literature (LLATL) is a gentle approach to language arts study that works best for homeschoolers who use a living books approach to learning

Learning Language Arts Through Literature Yellow Book

[I am basing this review on our use of LLATL Yellow (grade 3). Other levels may vary. You can see a review of the grey Learning Language Arts Through Literature here.]

The Literature part of LLATL is covered in two ways:

  1. Four novels are assigned through the year.
  2. Each weekly lesson begins with a literature passage (either poetry or prose).

Most lessons include copying the literature passage, learning a short (5-6 words) spelling list of a word family represented in the passage, writing the passage from dictation, and practicing cursive handwriting. The other activities vary and include basic language arts skills – alphabetizing, analogies, parts of speech, plurals, punctuation, etc. The writing tasks are few – just a handful of narrative, descriptive, or how-to topics throughout the year. The nitty-gritty of paragraph structure is not covered at all.

LLATL publishes a teacher’s book and a student book. I rarely used my teacher’s book because most of the student activities are clearly described in the student’s book. But there are a few exercises that say only “follow your teacher’s directions.” Actually, for this program you can use the teacher’s book only and have your child write on paper.

Find More Information and Help at the Common Sense Website

  • You can view the Scope and Sequence
  • See Sample Lessons
  • and Get Placement Tests

The big question about LLATL is, “Is this a COMPLETE language arts curriculum?”

Yes and no. Everything (except vocabulary) is touched on but not necessarily covered in depth. That’s probably why LLATL is considered a gentle curriculum. (I supplemented LLATL Yellow with additional grammar, spelling, writing assignments, extra readers, and vocabulary.)

The daily assignments are not long and can be completed in 10-15 minutes. And of course, reading only four books in a year is not enough. There is certainly an assumption that your children are reading other books besides the four titles included in this curriculum.

If you want something light that touches on lots of language arts topics while giving you time to select your own tangents, LLATL may be a good fit. If you want a rigorous program that includes all you need for language arts, LLATL may be a disappointment.

My Thoughts on Learning Language Arts Through Literature

Personally I think LLATL works best for those homeschoolers who already incorporate a lot of language arts across the curriculum. If you use a living books approach, your children are already reading a lot of good books. Similarly, if your children write about their history and science readings, then they don’t need extra writing assignments as part of a language arts program. Assuming that your children already do reading and writing tasks in other subjects, LLATL can be a nice “icing on the cake,” pulling together some topics you may otherwise miss or reviewing others that you did study.

More Homeschool Language Arts Options

The Ultimate Guide to Homeschool Language Arts from The Curriculum Choice includes full curriculum PLUS resources for reading, writing, spelling, grammar and handwriting!

The Ultimate Guide to Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum – Looking for a Homeschool Language Arts curriculum that suits your family’s needs? Need just a spelling or writing program? This list is sure to have what you are looking for! This list contains full homeschool language arts curricula, as well as resources for reading/literature, writing, spelling, grammar and handwriting.

~ Originally posted July 2009, Written by Jimmie, Charlotte Mason flavored mom of one.

Filed Under: Charlotte Mason, Grammar, Handwriting, Language Arts, Literature, Phonics, Writing Tagged With: jimmie, Language Arts, updated by Heidi C, Written by Jimmie

Previous Post: « Well Planned Day Student Planner Review
Next Post: Favorite Nature Books for Your Homeschool Nature Studies »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Makita says

    July 24, 2009 at 11:41 am

    I just picked up the red book (grade 2) for my DD. I’m looking forward to giving it a try this coming year. Thank you for the great review. 😀

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

We are a veteran group of home educators with a mission – to spread the word about our favorite curricula and help YOU make informed decisions for your homeschool. Meet the review authors and browse the homeschooling tips they share!

Subscribe For Free Choosing Homeschool Curriculum Guide

Success! Please check your email and confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Sponsors and Affiliates

Homeschoolinghomeschool

Our Sister Websites

 


Follow Curriculum Choice's board Homeschool Reviews by The Curriculum Choice on Pinterest.

Recent Comments

  • Heidi Ciravola on Psychology: A Christian Perspective
  • Heidi Ciravola on Magic Tree House Curriculum
  • Dawn on Psychology: A Christian Perspective
  • Terry on Magic Tree House Curriculum
  • Thara on How To Make An Overall Plan for The Year
  • Advertising
  • Disclosure Policy
  • Philosophies
  • Request a Review

Copyright © 2025 · The Curriculum Choice, a Southern Hodgepodge, L.L.C. site.