The Critical Thinking Co. - Language Smarts - Level E Review

There is just no way to make learning grammatical skills extra fun.  But it doesn't need to be overly complicated.  The Critical Thinking Co. has a great program called Language Smarts that helps teaching Grammar and Language Arts easy.  We recently had a chance to review the Language Smarts Level E for Grade 4.

The Language Smarts Level E can be used alone or as a supplement to go with the curriculum you are already using.  But it's not just parts of speech that is being taught.  There is are sections on vocabulary, reading comprehension, word relationships, and writing skills.  

This is a full-color workbook.  Each page has easy-to-follow explanations for each topic that is being taught.  There are also examples for visual learners.  It is written for the fourth grade level, but in typical Critical Thinking Co. style, it is also including introduction to fifth grade skills.

These are a few of the topics that are covered in Language Smarts Level E:

If you have multiple children you are working with, the pages are reproducible.  Which is great for our family.  We do Language Arts as a group, so I try to find the most cost efficient way of doing this as possible.  The cost of Language Smarts Level E is $42.00.  We reviewed the print copy, but you can also purchase this series as an e-book for the same cost.

One of the things that I really like about using the Critical Thinking Co. products, and Language Smarts Level E did not disappoint me, is that they keep the pages simple.  There are not a bunch of character pictures that can distract the kids from what is being learning.  But they do include puzzles that make kids think while they are working on their skills.  Makes it a lot more fun to learn about adverbs.

The examples are easy to understand.  Students can easily read the information on their own and work ahead on the pages.  So if one of the kids is struggling a bit on a new topic, I can spend a little time with them and the others can work more independently.   

There is plenty of room for the boys to write.  With their fine motor delay, their writing is rather large as they work at trying to make it more like everyone else.  Typical worksheets frustrate them because they don't know what to do when they run out of room to finish their sentences.  They haven't had an issue with any of the pages that we have worked through so far.

I really like the Reading and Writing section of the Language Smarts Level E program.  So many topics that the boys needed extra help with were in there and ready to go.  (Yep....no extra lesson planning for me!!)  Learning about literature, and how to plan a story have been a great addition.  So much information on how to develop characters, writing various story styles, and even a section on poetry.  There is also information on how to writing in first and second person.  

I cannot believe that I did not discover the Language Smart series before now.  I am very happy that we have had the chance to review it.  This will definitely continue to be in our schoolwork this year as we work our way through reviewing language arts skills with the older kids and introduce new topics for the younger kids.  

The Language Smarts Level E materials are very easy to use.  I highly recommend them as a stand-alone or with another language arts curriculum.  

Several members of the Homeschool Review Crew were given the opportunity to try various products from The Critical Thinking Co.  Take a few moments to read the post link below and see some more of the products that this company has to offer.  You will not be disappointed!