Does Rod and Staff English have enough writing

[txchick]

instruction in it on its own?

 

per suggestions for a complete english program I took a look at the milestones ministries website and info on R&S English.

 

It looks like I would have to start my 9th grader in book 7. It says books 7 and 8 introduce new concepts that are only "reviewed" with no instruction on those...

 

 

So that would mean. basically, 4 years of English ....or maybe 3 condensed...sigh.

 

So would the writing instruction make it worth it? I really need help teaching this subject...is why I want a thorough tm...any suggestions?

 

How hard is it to teach using the TM...for me(nothing but basic grammar knowledge myself).

[Christine]

Does Rod and Staff English have enough writing instruction in it on its own?

 

For this specific question, I want to send you to this thread (where it was previously discussed:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47933

 

per suggestions for a complete english program I took a look at the milestones ministries website and info on R&S English.

 

It looks like I would have to start my 9th grader in book 7. It says books 7 and 8 introduce new concepts that are only "reviewed" with no instruction on those...

 

So that would mean. basically, 4 years of English ....or maybe 3 condensed...sigh.

 

So would the writing instruction make it worth it? I really need help teaching this subject...is why I want a thorough tm...any suggestions?

 

How hard is it to teach using the TM...for me(nothing but basic grammar knowledge myself).

 

I would say that Rod & Staff (and I'm a fan of them) is excellent for teaching. . .

 

If you take the writing instruction and use it in all your subjects, then it would probably be quite good.

 

I would not recommend thinking it's good by itself -- because if you only use the writing in your "English class" and don't carry over to other classes, then you won't get near enough writing.

 

At this stage of the game, my kids do R & S independently. I have the TM for me, but they generally read the lesson and do the work themselves. They've been doing it a number of years though (4).

 

When I was using the TM for teaching, I found it very easy to use.

 

Just thinking aloud here. . .(after re-reading your post).

 

R & S is great for the mechanics (grammar) and the understanding of *why* certain things are written in certain ways. "Proper English", as my children would say.

 

Yet, if your child writes sentences and paragraphs essentially well, then R & S may not be the "writing program" for you. (Especially in 9th grade.)

 

If you are specifically looking for better writing from him, you may want to check out IEW, or a different "writing" program.

[Gwen in VA]

I am a mix-and-match homeschooler -- I like the writing assignments that R&S has, but I don't think they are enough for a complete writing course, so I also use (depending on the child and the year) IEW or WriteShop or something else.

[Laura K (NC)]

but it is not sufficient for writing. The 7th and 8th grade books are probably sufficient for high school grammar, but they are definitely not sufficient for writing. In fact, I don't think they are sufficient for 7th and 8th grade writing, either.