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Please tell me more about R&S English


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I have never used R&S English - so can you please tell me a bit more about it?

 

If I was to start R&S with a 13 yr old child that is only 'average' in grammar...where should I start? (I don't want to send her back so far that she falls even more behind!)

 

She did very well with Growing With Grammar on the daily exercises - was not retaining it, so we switched to ACE this year. She does not like the way ACE explains things, and she is floundering.

 

I am looking at switching to either CLE or R&S. We have some experience with CLE, but I am looking for more info about R&S.

 

I have heard that books 7 & 8 of R&S are actually considered by some to be high-school level. Is this true? If so - could you use them and get H.S. credit for them?.... (worrying that would look bad on a transcript undecided.gif)

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I prefer CLE LA 7 over R&S E.7, after using both. But R&S E. includes figurative language and poetry which is NOT in CLE LA; it's in CLE reading which goes into greater depth than R&S E. does.

 

I highly recommend starting with R&S E.6 and making flash cards as you go to memorize all important terms (parts of speech, sentence parts, etc.). I also like the worksheets and use them instead of the written part of the lesson (when available).

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We started out using R&S English last year, and I've been very happy with it. DD11 is using Level 3, and DD9 is on Level 2 - this is because we only started educating classically just over a year ago, and they were very behind. For the most part, I go over the lessons with them orally - sometimes more than one lesson a day - and they do the Review lessons independently, in writing, which is what I'm aiming for them to do for all lessons when we get caught up. It's obviously very Christian, and uses Scripture references quite a bit. Before SWB wrote FLL, she recommended R&S as the best Grammar program available; IMO, it's also very reasonably priced.

 

As for where your dd would be placed - http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com says:

 

"If your child has basic knowledge in [the areas of grammar and composition], they will probably do fine in grades 2 through 5. From the feedback we've received, grades 6 and above don't provide as much review of the basics, and are more advanced than average. (While Rod and Staff only publishes the English series through 10th grade, it is equivalent to completing a high school grammar course.) For students switching in the upper grades, especially those weak in grammar, we usually recommend that they drop back a grade or two, sometimes back to the 5th grade text, which is a good foundation for the rest of the series. If you feel confident they are up to grade level then start there and see if they can manage it. If you find it too advanced, you can always save it for later while you drop back to an earlier grade."

 

I'm guessing that your 13yo is a 7th grader? I've heard that R&S English is reckoned to be about a grade level above average, so the average kid would probably do Level 6 in 7th grade. As the above advice says, it wouldn't hurt to get Level 6, and then if you find that she's struggling, get Level 5; you can always use Level 6 after. As the books are non-consumable and hardback, they're easy enough to sell on when you're done with them.

 

HTH! :001_smile:

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I have a 6th and a 7th using the 5th grade book right now. They had both come out of ps 2 years ago so they had just basic grammar knowledge. After we had been using the grade 5 book for about 12 weeks I started to wonder if I should have started with the 6th grade book. I even posted here about opinions on going up in level or skipping levels. My dds seemed to be moving through a lot of the material very quickly and I was concerned about wasting time when we were behind already.

 

After much deliberation and going through the 5th grade book one lesson at a time I came to the decision that we are going to complete the 5th grade book. There are many concepts that my dds grasped very quickly but there are many concepts that I know they have not touched on before and I don't want them to miss those. I think I was thinking it was too easy for them when really it was simply that the instruction is so thorough that they have no problems understanding the concept the first time and by the time they do 1/2 the written exercises they completely get it. We will be finishing the book before the end of the year then we will move onto the 6th grade book. Which, from advice I've received should NOT be skipped. If you just can't decide on a level you could always just order the test booklets (less than 3.00 I think) and use those to determine placement.

 

Keep in mind that these books only go up to 10th but from my research I've found that many users stop after the 8th grade book and feel that their dc have learned the equivalent of high school level material. I've looked at the 9th and 10th grade scope and sequence and they are pretty advanced. I'll try to find the thread that talked about this and post it for you. So, anyway if you do the 5th grade book in 7th but only go up to the 8th grade book you will be finished by 10th grade unless you are able to move through them quicker. At the pace we are on I predict being done with the 8th grade book by the end of 9th for my oldest.

 

Regarding the high school credit, I believe I read that you would just call it 9th grade or Freshman English, etc. You don't have to indicate that it is Rod and Staff 7th grade English.

 

Of all my curriculum purchases so far this has been my favorite and the one I plan to stick with for all of my dc. It is so flexible in how it is taught and used. My older dc seem to be language intuitive and so do most of the lesson on their own and their retention has been very good. However, if you have a dc that needs more instruction the tm is excellent to teach from. Each lesson gives you an objective for the lesson and a short oral review of past concepts to do with your dc then moves onto a scripted lesson. You can tweak this to suit your needs. There is more than enough practice and review. In addition you can purchase the workbooks which give pages for select lessons for additional practice if needed. A lot of users do the lessons all orally or only evens or odds. I have my dc do most of the written exercises. Surprisingly it has helped with their composition skills. I suppose having to write all of those well written sentences.:tongue_smilie: There is writing instruction included but I don't find it to be enough for the goals I have for my own dc but many people find them plenty when coupled with writing across the curriculum.

 

I can't think of anything else to tell you right now...oh, my dc have trouble pronouncing some of the biblical names so they just use "Joe" alot.:lol: If you have other questions I'll try to answer them!

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I would use the 5th book. Honestly, that book holds more grammar than I learned throughout my entire schooling. Be sure to use the worksheets and writing assignments, and all of the daily review questions. We did them all orally and when I skipped them we regretted it. Count on an average of 45 min - 60 min of daily grammar instruction.

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Thank you all VERY much!

 

I did buy one unit CLE Language Arts for her to try, and she says that she likes how it explains things, but I think I placed her too far ahead - so we'll need to re-think her placement test results. :001_huh:

She had used CLE back in 3rd grade, but at the time I didn't feel that the spelling portion suited her well, so we moved on to Growing With Grammar.

 

 

I really do want to look more seriously at R&S, though. I think i will look at the 5th grade level - even if it is review, I'd rather have her know it for sure vs keep floundering.

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