Adventures...: queen's or PLL

I'm down to making my final selections for next year. We've just ordered our math materials for both kids, Developmental Math, which is self-teaching for children who can read, and I'm excited about that. Z took a placement test and afterwards said, "Thank you Mom that we don't have to keep doing that math we've been doing!" And we have a few more Ambleside Online books to order.

I've figured most everything out EXCEPT language arts. I'm slowly becoming convinced of Charlotte Mason's method of waiting until a child is a little older to study grammar, and of developing composition skills through narrations from good literature along with daily copywork (which is also good for spelling.) But I don't quite trust myself as a teacher to get all these parts done well. Also, since we're not sure how long we're going to homeschool (we're taking it one year at a time), I don't want the kids to be far off from where kids in public school would be. All of this leads me to want to follow some sort of curriculum that plans it out for me. At first I favored LLATL, and it actually looks quite good, but recently I realized that it would just add too much to an already full schedule. So I've been looking at Queen's Language Lessons for the Very Young, and also Primary Language Lessons, by Emma Serl. I know that I want to use Queen's at L's level (Language Lessons for Little Ones Volume 2), but for Z, I think I'm leaning more toward PLL. Here are some differences: Queen's is consumable and costs $20. It looks like a lot of fun, but I'm not crazy about the space given for copywork (for now I'm wanting to use HWT lined paper to keep letter sizes even). So it's pricey to have to buy every year. PLL is non-consumable, and the newer colorized version (it's a Catholic version, but I think we can work around that if need be) is similarly priced and lasts two years. It's an old text, from 1911 or something like that, so it has an old-timey feel, but I feel more confident that the poems and copywork will be good quality literature. And it looks a bit more challenging, but not as fun. It's hard not being able to peruse them. I think it'll be fine either way, and that if I decide to try the other one the following year, it will be ok and not break the bank.

What I'm most excited about with this style of Language program is curling up on the couch with L and his own special book (he likes when things are special just for him!) and reading poetry and looking at art and discussing them together. And with Z, I know that she loves this kind of thing and she'll get lot's of practice composing (whether orally or written) her thoughts. I know I write about this stuff a lot, but I just love it! It's fun to make plans and think about all the special times we'll have together.

On a different note, here are some pics from Z's recent Japanese dance practice. She's learning a new dance with the "middle" aged girls (they are around 7-9). S loves to watch the dancing, and she's even learning some of the moves at home. It's pretty cute!