Total Language Plus - a Review

This year our family began using a Language Arts program called Total Language Plus. In the previous years we have used other programs that were mostly worksheets and found that our girls were getting a little bored with those. So this year I researched some new options and through the recommendation of a friend came across Total Language Plus.

Total Language Plus is a family owned and operated company that was created by Barbara Blakey and her husband. It was born out of their desire to create an integrated Language Arts program for their own children, who they were homeschooling at the time. Instead of giving their children a separate book for spelling, grammar, vocabulary, etc, they created a user friendly curriculum that included all of those components in one spot.

When purchasing Total Language Plus for your child there are basically just two things you'll need. The first is a book, the second is a student guide that goes along with the book. The books that have been chosen by TLP are outstanding literature based books and many are award winners.

The best way to get started with TLP is to check out their website, and take a look through the titles that are offered. For each grade level there are several different choices, giving you {and your child} some different options depending on what you think might interest them most. The books and study guides are offered for children from 3rd grade all the way through 12th grade - but you could easily use one novel for more than one grade level, simply by adapting the work load for each child depending on their abilities/age.

Each year your child will complete approximately 3-4 books / study guides. They will spend anywhere from 7-11 weeks on each book. This gives them lots of time to read and comprehend each book and to use the book to incorporate all of the elements of language arts learning.

This year, for example, we chose the following books for our fifth grader:
Charlotte's Web
The Cricket in Times Square
Caddie Woodlawn
The Wheel on the School

For our third grader we chose the following books:
The Courage of Sarah Noble
The Sign of the Beaver
The Whipping Boy

These are the books with their study guides.

What I love about TLP is that it's all-inclusive for Language Arts. The study guide provides everything your child will need to study each novel they read. In the front of the book is this handy planning grid. It shows you what your child needs to do each day for each area of Language Arts [spelling, vocab, reading, grammar, etc]. For the most part, it follows a 5 day school week plan, which of course you can adapt in any way you choose.

So for example, on Monday they would do Grammar A, Vocab A, Spelling A, Dictation A, etc. It's very easy for the student to know what is expected of them each day.

Since Caddie Woodlawn has 7 units, we could finish this book in about 7 weeks, so long as we did a 5 day school week every week. There are times we miss days or take days off though so sometimes a book will stretch out for a couple more weeks than it suggests.

One of our favorite things about TLP are the Writing/ Enrichment ideas which are found at the beginning of each new unit. These are fun ways to really incorporate the story into your own life. They offer suggestions such as 'take a canoe ride, try eating succotash, go to a Native American museum, etc' - all of these ideas help the child get a little more familiar with what is going on in the story.

We have found that some of the spelling words are a bit tricky, but the great thing is that they do a lot of practice at reinforcing the words and their meanings. For example, on this page the students match the spelling word with a list of it's synonyms. We have also played flashcard fish and flashcard spoons, all of which help drill the meaning of these words into our memory. [I'm including myself because I've learned some new words and meanings right alongside my girls this year!]

I also love how the Word of God is included in the studies too. Although the novels aren't necessarily Christian stories, they do have good moral concepts and are reinforced with scripture through dictation.

I asked my girls what they like or dislike about this Language program. My oldest, who LOVES Language Arts says she likes it all because it makes learning Language Arts fun and she especially likes the fun activities like doing crosswords and word ladders and such. She said she doesn't like that the novels are sometimes too long. ;)

My youngest does not enjoy Language Arts much at all, no matter what program is being used, but she did say she enjoys the enrichment projects and drawings. She does not enjoy writing stories and said the spelling words are a bit hard. You will notice in one of the pictures below that she doodles all over her page. ;) This is just not her favorite subject but overall she has done really well this year. Sometimes I will allow her to answer me orally instead of writing out her answers and she enjoys that a lot more.

These are some of the fun activities included:
Coded Words

Word Searches

Ball Toss

Crossword puzzles

Overall we have been very happy that we made the change to TLP. The only things you will want to buy on your own to go with the product are some flash cards, a blank notebook for each student and the typical school supplies of pencils, markers, erasers, etc.

The cost varies by each book / unit study, but on average each student guide is about $20.95 and each novel is about $5 to $8. I have found MANY of the novels at my local used book shop though, so if you want to save yourself a couple bucks, you could look for them elsewhere. You will want to order one study guide per student, but the novels are obviously reusable.

The only thing I would recommend that TLP change about their product is that they add some color to their workbook pages or maybe even some illustrations. Everything is black and white and full of words, but no pictures .... which to a child might seem a bit boring and dull. Otherwise I am very happy with the product and the price.

If you're interested in learning more about TLP please visit their website at:

TOTAL LANGUAGE PLUS.

*Disclaimer, I did not receive anything in the way of product or compensation for this post, I simply wanted to share a bit about what curriculum we use and what I like about it.*