Christian Light Education really improved our second year of homeschooling for a variety of reasons. I picked it because it was inexpensive to try it out and it gave us the flexibility we needed.

We finished our first grade year with CLE and continued using it for second grade. The second grade level added quite a bit more that made the program even more thorough than I thought it was. In this post I hope to give you a very thorough description and honest review of the second grade program so that you can get a better idea of what it is.

If you’d rather watch the video version of this post, check it out on my YouTube channel HERE.

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Christian Light Education is published by Christian Light Publications

They are a Christian Mennonite company, and you can read all about their beliefs and practices here. I am a Christian, and although I do not practice some of the same things listed in the “what we believe” section for Christian Light Publications, I have never felt turned off by the curriculum because of this.

I actually didn’t even realize the difference in beliefs until I heard someone else tell me about it. Then certain things clicked – like the images in the workbook. It was hard for us to figure out what a few of the images were because we couldn’t relate to them. This happened two or three times and we moved right along.

The program does talk about God often and believing in Him and making good choices that please Him. It teaches good character and provides short readings for the kids, teaching about manners, kindness, and good study habits.

The Language Arts curriculum is broken up into 10 units.

This is one of the reasons I chose this curriculum to replace an old one in the middle of the year. You can buy individual units for less than $5. I loved this because I could buy a unit and test it out with my daughter without really breaking the bank or feeling like I wasted a workbook.

That’s exactly what we did. I started with one unit, and we kept going from there. There are also optional materials you can purchase, and you can check those out here. We have not used the optional items in our homeschool.

The lesson content is set up as a spiral review.

This means that a topic is introduced and practiced again and again throughout the year. You do not master a skill and move on. Instead you are working on a variety of skills every day and repeating them here and there throughout the program.

I personally love this set up, because it makes it harder to forget things. For example, we can learn and practice alphabetical order and 2 months later we end up practicing it again.

I also like this because every section in a lesson is just a few practice problems for each skill.

Beginning in Level 2, the Language Arts program includes handwriting, spelling, AND writing.

How nice to be able to have that all in one! This is not the case in their level one, so I was happily surprised when we figured this out.

The handwriting sections start off with manuscript writing. It is a very short section in the lesson (see the image above). Next, it moves into curves and lines to get ready for cursive writing. When you get to unit 3, cursive letters and words are introduced.

The writing program becomes part of the lessons beginning in unit 3, as well. (See image below.) It’s so nice that I do not have to rearrange days or routines in order to incorporate writing practice. The process is broken down in the unit and easy to follow.

Each student book is called a LightUnit.

A LightUnit comes with the lessons, 2 quizzes, a self-check, and a test. One lesson usually begins with a new language skill followed by phonics and grammar review. Next, there is a short penmanship section to practice handwriting and, lastly, spelling practice.

There are also a few enrichment activities included in each LightUnit. (I’ve never actually even looked at these.)

The lessons are very to-the-point without extra things.

If you are looking for a variety of art and nature and song and poetry throughout your lessons…well, this isn’t for you.

A lesson is 4-5 pages long. Although it sounds like a lot, every section averages 2-6 practice problems.

If you sit and complete a lesson exactly as it is in the workbook every day, week after week, you are going to get bored.

Wow…that came off really strong, but hear me out. You can make it what you want! Honestly, that statement stands for almost anything! Homeschool is about making adjustments for your family.

The set-up of the lessons provide a flexibility when you plan!

For example, let’s say the review section is something that really doesn’t need practice. Your child has mastered it and is confident…so skip it!

Or maybe you’re feeling crazy and want to add some movement. Come up with a scavenger hunt or an activity to help get through some of the questions. Change up your routine and have fun with it!

Or MAYBE your infant won’t stop crying and your 3 year old is having a melt down and it’s raining outside and you haven’t even cleaned up breakfast yet…let your child work on it independently! I LOVE love LOVE that there are days that she can just practice on her own. As a mom of four, it’s so important to have this flexibility!

However, with the lack of variety in the lessons, it does tend to bore us after a while. Every couple months, I step away from it for a week or two and dive into something different. I might read a book with my daughter or complete a mini-unit together. This helps us go back to it fresh and ready to continue.

I do NOT follow the lessons exactly as they are written.

On the topic of spelling, I started the year by skipping the spelling section in the workbook completely and just having her write the words each day. We made this fun, and I can share more about how we did it soon. Even with fun spelling practice, we eventually tired of it after a few months and started only doing the spelling practice section in the workbook. We do not do daily list writing anymore.

After Christmas, I quit giving the quizzes and self-checks. It was a wasted day of lessons! My daughter was completing lessons well and was not struggling through the skills. (If she were, I may have kept doing them for practice).

One day, I just completely forgot about giving the quiz, and it affected us in zero ways. So, I stopped! We work through the lessons, and I give the test at the end of the LightUnit, if I feel she’s ready.

We also skip the penmanship sections most days. I do this because we already have a handwriting curriculum that I love (A Reason For, Level T). Completing the penmanship was overkill to me, so we only do it if we want a super short handwriting day and skip our handwriting book.

My point in telling you all of this is don’t ever feel like you have to do EVERYTHING!! You have the freedom to choose in your homeschool. If it feels like too much, cut it out. If it’s not enough, add to it. Do what’s best for your kiddo. Because of the way these lessons are set up, this is easy for me to do.

Let’s focus on the Teacher Guide for a second.

The guide is very thorough. The answer keys are actually on the same page as the lesson guide, and I really like that. You don’t have to flip back and forth to check answers.

Each lesson in the guide starts with scripted review questions. Next, it moves into a script for teaching the new skill. It provides questions for discussion as well as an explanation for each section in the lesson.

If there is any prep, it explains it at the beginning of the lesson guide. It also gives you optional activities to do during a lesson.

When it is time for a spelling test, the list of words and sentences are provided.

When I first received the guide, I was extremely overwhelmed. It’s a lot. However, once I read through the explanations and figured out how it worked with the lesson, I felt much better. It’s one of those things where you kind of just need to jump in and try it out to see how it would work best for you.

The guide is very helpful, but once we got in a groove, I didn’t feel like we needed it as much. It would be hard to have the program without it though. I’m glad I have it to refer to, as needed.

I’m really happy with CLE, but I’m not 100% sure yet if we will continue for 3rd grade.

The truth is…I’m somewhat bored. I want to read more books! I want to dive into novels with my kids and explore new characters and places and events. We do read chapter books together, but I feel like I want more. I’m starting to look for something more literature based.

My decision is not final. I really do love the flexibility I have with this. It’s almost like I would love to do CLE for 6 weeks and a novel for 6 weeks and than back to CLE…and so on. And I could…

I just have a couple more things I want to research, so I’ll keep you posted.

Let’s look at the pros and cons here.

PROS:

• Inexpensive to try
• easy to follow
• includes spelling, handwriting, and writing beginning in 2nd level
• flexible
• can be completed independently (depending on child)
• Christian values

CONS:

• cut and dry
• not hands-on
• difference in beliefs
• can feel boring at times
• not much classic literature or fine arts (at least not in level 2)

I think this is all just proof that no ONE curriculum is going to be the perfect fit.

We get to make it what we want and add or take away as we please. Even when I was a classroom teacher, I was doing this with our textbooks for my students. The reason I bring that up is to point out that learning is not a one-size-fits-all matter.

My suggestion to you if you are considering trying Christian Light Education is to do what we did. Purchase one LightUnit. Look at the samples to get an idea of which one you should buy, based on your child’s abilities.

Then, try it out in your home! It’s the perfect way to figure out if it’s what you need for your language arts program.