5th Grade Language Dilemma

Here’s my dilemma.  I have three different Language Arts programs I could use next year when Isaac is in 5th grade, and I don’t know which to choose…or whether to use 2 or 3 of them at once.

Last year, we began using Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 1 (Sandi Queen).  I used it 3x a week, and we did not finish it.  I like this program a lot, as it’s Charlotte Mason style.  Because I liked it, I went ahead and ordered book 2 for this year.  Of course I’ve ended up trying to finish book 1 this year, and we’re due to complete it in a few weeks. 

I can tell you why we didn’t finish it.  I blame the copywork.  I think copywork is a great idea, but I feel this program gives students too much at a time, well at least students like my son.  After studying a painting (which I love), students move on to copywork…several lessons in a row...several days with LOTS of writing.  Then you have several regular language lessons before you have another picture and several more days of copywork.  This may work well for some students, but for Isaac it became drudgery because, well…he absolutely DETESTS copywork.  He’s painstakingly slow at it and gets very frustrated when he makes a mistake.  I personally would have preferred very short amounts of copywork to be spread throughout the book more often instead of long amounts over several days.  It would have worked much better with Isaac.  This year, I ditched the copywork sections so we could get through the book.

We will continue on with Language Lessons 2 in a few weeks, but we won’t be able to finish it this year, even if I skip copywork, or shorten it.  So one option is to continue using it next year until we finish.  However, I have 2 other options, and I don’t know what to do.

When we were back in the US this past summer/early fall, another homeschool mother blessed me with several books she had finished using.  Included were the two books you see pictured above:  Simply Grammar: An Illustrated Primer (Karen Andreola), which is another program based on Charlotte Mason, and Learning Language Arts Through Literature (Debbie Strayer and Susan Simpson), which happens to be a 5th grade book.  Simply  Grammar could probably be used in any grade, so I could wait on it...I think.  Learning Language Arts Through Literature has longer lessons, so I’m not sure that Isaac will enjoy it at all, even though he loves to read.  If I continue with Language Lessons 2 next year, I could start but wouldn’t complete either Learning Language Arts or Simply Grammar next year.  I do like the idea of Learning Language Arts, and I have nearly all the books required.  I’m just not sure how Isaac will like it.

So…my question for all my readers is:  Have any of you used any of the above books?  I would love to hear your feedback on these programs…positives, negatives, etc.  I’ve even considered taking parts of all the programs and rotating through them for the next few years.  What do you think?