Tiffini, a new CQLA User, recently posted the following testimony on the CQLA User Group:

I have two children doing Pre-A (dd - 7, ds - 7) and one child doing
A (dd - 10). Every day, they would argue over who got to go first
with LA. My husband would ask for a report in the evening and the
words my son would use was "great", "amazing", "wonderful",
and "fun"! Again, he is the one I was most worried about because of
how much he resists change and he had begged me not to change the LA
program we had been using (although it was quite boring to him).

My 10 yo dd would wait for her turn and say, "When is it my turn for
the fun-ness?"

I did the four day week schedule and told them after finishing on
Thursday that they could take the day off of LA for Friday. I truly
thought they would be happy about that because we spent a lot of
time on it daily this week. My son said, "But I WANT to do LA
tomorrow, Mom!" Wow!! My 7 yo dd was very disappointed as well.

I am amazed that all three of my children are enjoying this so much
since they are all so different from each other. Proof to me that
this works for all learning styles. I thought for sure one of them
would not like it.

I can not believe the finished product that my 10 yo dd produced
this week. I never knew you could learn this much about writing in
such a short period of time. The book asked her to do 3 paragraphs,
but since it was our first week, I just had her do one as I thought
the passage was pretty difficult to begin with. We spent a lot of
time working on it this week, so I thought she would be pretty worn
out. However, after she gleefully typed up her final copy of the
paragraph she composed, she asked, "Can I do all three paragraphs
next week?"

Yes, I know this all sounds made up, but it's true! The only
downside to me was the amount of time it took. I worked individually
with all three all week and it took a lot of time. But I really do
think that it is worth it and I can already see that once we get the
hang of it, it will not be nearly as time-intensive. My 10 yo will
be doing much of it independently before too long.

Well, if you're still reading, I hope you are encouraged! We sure
are! One last thing - this has been an incredibly difficult week on
a personal front with several situations that have been going on and
I didn't know if we could do this, but my kids' amazing attitudes
kept me going. What a gift!

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Question: How can I learn to be a better CQLA teacher?

First of all, I want to encourage you that once you "learn the ropes," you will always have the same format, the same order, the same style of lessons, etc. in all CQLA’s for all levels! Thus, trying to stick with it during the learning curve can be very valuable for home schooling moms. I will enumerate some answers below.

• If you want an overview of the entire program, I recommend that you get the Teacher’s Guide with accompanying cd/cassette. This now-nearly 300 page book will teach you everything you need to know about using CQLA. However, it is much more than a “CQLA-How to” book. It is a grammar handbook and writing handbook, as well. Even if you do not use CQLA, this TG is a book you can use in all of your language arts teaching. Besides the CQLA helps (overview charts, Scope and Sequence, how to use CQLA, etc.), it also contains a Master Checklist Challenge, all Grammar Cards in alphabetical order, and many “how to” chapters, such as how to do a Key Word Outline, how to do the Checklist Challenge, how to cite sources in reports, and much more.
• If you want to learn more about what a weekly lesson should look like, you may want to order the CQLA demonstration video from Training for Triumph for $15.00. It shows me teaching two of my Level B students one entire weekly lesson (in a very fast forty-five minutes!). With the video, you get the weekly lesson that correlates, so you can follow along with me and my students. I think just seeing it in action helps tremendously and answers so many of the beginning questions (including "Which passage?").
• We have a three-tape cassette series entitled The Almost Three R’s in which I describe how to teach spelling, grammar, and composition. This cassette series is available for $12.00 and comes in a three-cavity cassette holder. It is unrelated to CQLA in that it does not reference the program, but many of the concepts CQLA ascribes to are elaborated on in it.
• We are developing all day language arts workshops in which I describe how to use CQLA, give Moms a “Grammar 101” lesson, teach editing and revising strategies, and have editing/revising sessions with small groups. This workshop will be appropriate for CQLA and non-CQLA users, so you would be able to bring friends along who are not using CQLA too. Contact us to set up a workshop in your area.

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We are growing! Our curriculum, Character Quality Language Arts, is taking off! We are excited about its growth, but still in the "too overwhelmed with work" stage of it all. We have nearly two hundred hours  a week going into the curriculum alone (not including our kids who are taking orders, filling orders, making tapes, etc. and my husband who is doing what he can in every area--including working twenty hours of paper routes above his regular job to make enough money to pay the seven typesetters and key punchers). I am working forty plus hours  a week on the revising and editing, then we have seven key punchers and typesetters putting in the edits and revisions and editing them.

Anyway, we are implementing representatives for CQLA--people who can take it to curriculum fairs, conventions, support group meetings, and living room workshops. It is the perfect time to become a CQLA rep—The Old Schoolhouse, Timberdoodle, Cathy Duffy’s website, etc. are all doing the work for you! All you have to do is tell friends, “Yes, I sell that curriculum.” And wahla! If you would like to get in on the spring homeschool sales of CQLA—at your state convention, your local support group, your own website, or just to friends—contact us to find out more about our no-risk representative program—and get your CQLA at extremely reduced prices.

You can find out more by contacting Ray via phone or email--trainingfortriumph@mchsi.com or 260-597-7415.

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Hello! I am blogging again! It is a miracle. Two days in a row I was able to log in, find my place, push the right buttons, etc! Anyway, I am excited about that.

We are busy here with our family ministry, Training for Triumph. The Old Schoolhouse magazine just had an article about us and our anchor product, a complete language arts program called Character Quality Language Arts. That has provided some traffic, and then, of cxourse, there is traffic simply because it is mid-August, and those who do not have their curriculum in place are trying our free online samples for a month, ordering, etc.

Well, I will write more about TFT and what we are about--and desire to be about--as time permits. I have been editing curriculum all day (revisions for CQLA), and now I have to get our monthly e-newsletter done and sent out today. Email us at trainingfortriumphhomeschool.com if you would like to receive it!

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