The "Ideal Curriculum" - English/Language Arts

A few weeks ago, someone posted a question asking what people's ideal language arts lineup would look like. Well, I liked the idea of writing out the ideal for, well, everything, but I started with English/language arts. You'll notice it loses specificity around eighth grade; someday I'll come back and flesh it out when I've played with actual upper level materials. :)

Because I feel that literature is best devoured and analyzed in a non-curricular format, I'm leaving literature and its study out of this plan. I also want to remark that, as always, there is no perfect plan for all students, but this is the plan I would most want to use, and wish my students would be ever so helpful as to adapt to its use. ;)

Ages Birth Through Five
• Pre-reading preparation as detailed in The Well-Trained Mind and The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading.
• Pre-writing preparation as detailed in The Well-Trained Mind.
• Kumon workbooks for tracing, cutting, and other motor skills.
• Handwriting Without Tears' prekindergarten materials and accompanying book, Get Set for School, as well as the kindergarten book, Letters and Numbers for Me.
• Phonics study using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading as a spine.
• Beginning poetry memorization, using Level One of IEW's Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization.

Kindergarten
• Conclude phonics study using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading.
• Handwriting Without Tears' first grade materials and book, My Printing Book, as well as continued copywork.
• Beginning spelling study using Spelling Workout A.
• Beginning grammar study using First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind Level 1
• Beginning composition skills using Writing With Ease Level 1.
• Cross-curricular composition through oral narrations of fiction and nonfiction picture books.
• Continued poetry memorization.

First Grade
• Handwriting Without Tears' second grade materials and book, Printing Power, as well as continued copywork.
• Continuing spelling study, using Spelling Workout B and Spelling Workout C.
• Continuing grammar study, using First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind Level 2.
• Continuing composition skills using Writing With Ease Level 2.
• Cross-curricular narrations.
• Continued poetry memorization.

Second Grade
• Cursive penmanship study.
• Spelling Workout C and Spelling Workout D.
• First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind Level 3.
• Writing With Ease Level 3.
• Cross-curricular narrations.
• Continued poetry memorization.

Third Grade
• Cursive penmanship study and practice.
• Spelling Workout E and Spelling Workout F.
• First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind Level 4.
• Writing With Ease Level 4.
• Cross-curricular narrations.
• Grammar Island, The Music of the Hemispheres, Practice Island, Building Language, and Sentence Island.
• Continued poetry memorization.

Fourth Grade
• Cursive penmanship copywork, perhaps moving into a study of calligraphy and beautiful penmanship.
• Beginning to learn to type on a keyboard or typewriter.
• Spelling Workout F and Spelling Workout G.
• Cross-curricular narrations and beginning outlining.
• Continued poetry memorization.
• Grammar Town, Building Poems, Caesar's English I, Paragraph Town, and Practice Town.

Fifth Grade
• Typing mastery.
• Study of calligraphy and beautiful penmanship.
• Spelling Workout H.
• Cross-curricular narrations and outlining.
• Continued poetry memorization.
• Grammar Voyage, A World of Poetry, Caesar's English II, Essay Voyage, and Practice Voyage.

Sixth Grade
• Continued typing practice to improve wpm.
• Cross-curricular outlines and compositions.
• Continued poetry memorization.
• Magic Lens I, Word Within the Word I, Poetry and Humanity, Academic Writing 1, and 4Practice 1.

Seventh Grade
• Continued typing practice to improve wpm.
• Cross-curricular outlines and compositions.
• Continued poetry memorization.
• Magic Lens II, Word Within the Word II, Poetry, Plato, and the Problem of Beauty, Academic Writing II, and 4Practice 2.

Eighth Grade
• Cross-curricular compositions.
• Beginning study of rhetoric.
• Continued poetry memorization.
• Magic Lens III, Word Within the Word III, Poetry, Plato, and the Problem of Truth, Academic Writing III, and 4Practice 3.

Ninth Grade
• Cross-curricular compositions.
• Continuing study of rhetoric.
• Continued poetry memorization.
• Participation in debate.
• Systematic grammar, usage, and mechanics review.

Tenth Grade
• Cross-curricular compositions.
• Continuing study of rhetoric.
• Continued poetry memorization.
• Participation in debate.
• Systematic grammar, usage, and mechanics review.

Eleventh Grade
• Cross-curricular compositions.
• Concluding study of rhetoric.
• Continued poetry memorization.
• Systematic grammar, usage, and mechanics review.

Twelfth Grade
• Cross-curricular compositions.
• Continued poetry memorization.
• Systematic grammar, usage, and mechanics review.