We tried Climbing to Good English last year and went back to Rod and Staff. I do remember that Rod and Staff has workbooks four and up. I might need to look into that again. Thanks!

My oldest son has gone through Rod and Staff Grammar and now AG with success. My second son(4th grade) has been absorbing the content well. However, the format of writing the assignments on a separate piece of paper is not working well. His handwriting is poor, and he is not very accurate in this format. I am looking for a thorough grammar program that uses worksheets for practice. I don't need writing to be a part as we are doing IEW. My preference is that the grammar have a modern feel. Colored/Attractive worksheets would be a plus. Any suggestions? Thanks! Lisa

Great organization! Where did you get the individual containers for the cards?

Thanks for all the input. I think it might be good to try the I See Sam readers. It sounds like there is a lot of built in repetition. The book on dyslexia may be useful as well. I do just want to keep it fun. She is starting K next fall. I just want to give her a little jump start since I think things will take her a little longer than most kids might. She already knows the letter names for the most part. So, I think while we're reading, I'll just focus on the sounds vs the letter names. But, at this point, I think I just need to jump in and see what happens!

Thanks for the replies. I looked over the I see sam readers. I know HOP will not be repetitive enough for DD. It wasn't for my 2nd DS, and that is why we added BOB. Is the I see sam more than just readers? Is there some sort of teacher's manual. How does the program work? DD already knows her letters. I think the recall think is more of a word finding issue. But, she already knows her letters and sounds. But, maybe I should just focus on sounds. I don't know that she has dyslexia. But, I do think she has some sort of learning issues. I have started to look at dyslexia materials since she does have some warning signs. I think her handwriting is okay only because she is so visual. I think she may have some issues going forward since she has some weakness. Any other thoughts or suggestions would be welcome, too!

Hi, I have a newly 5yr old DD who has a history of speech delay. Her SLP's believe that it is/was apraxia. Her articulation has improved greatly over the past year and a half. She his now at the 25th % for articulation. She has a mild expressive language delay that we're currently working on. She knows most of her letter sounds, and I would like to start reading instruction. The problem is for her is that she also has some memory recall issues. Her slp likens it to not being able to find the word or concept from the file system in her mind. She is very visual and really enjoys drawing and art. Her handwriting is good for her age. Problems I have encountered in going over letters and sounds is that she will sometimes misname a letter or sound that she seems to have down for a while. I would like to find a program that takes into consideration her strengths and weaknesses. I have taught two older children to read. The oldest was easy to teach. He picked up reading quickly. The second needed a little more effort. I used hooked on phonics with both. I also used BOB books and starfall with the second. I am thinking that my third will need something more targeted to her needs. Any suggestions would be appreciated! TIA!

My DD is now 3 and is now in public school speech therapy. She was in EI (birth to 3) speech from 20 mos. on. In my state, prior to three, they are concerned with language development as opposed to speech articulation. Even if a child said, " ah wah dah guh dah a dah" for "I want to go to the store", he or she may not qualify since they have the language - the understanding of the words in their head. But, call your local EI and get an eval to see what they think. My DD had an expressive language and an expressive speech delay. Her language delay is really mild now as it is now more a function of her speech delay. Meaning, her articulation is so poor that she can not even begin to say what she is thinking in some instances. Having said all this, it is a challenge to do articulation exercises with a two year old. Lots of language exposure - reading, conversing, and modeling are good. Here are some techniques we are currently using. One is called recasting. http://members.tripod.com/Caroline_Bowen/tx-/mod-recast-with-example.pdf I was advised to recast just one word of sentence my DD tells me. It gives her just that one word to focus on. For example, if she said, "buh bahbah a beh" (put baby to bed). I might just say bed. If I do that, my DD usually will say the word back better than she said it previously. We do that a couple of times. Also, in ST, we are working on speech sounds. We are working on "p" sounds both at the beginning and end of words. So, we've been working on words like mop, nap, pie, pool, etc. Hope all this helps! LilMama

I think copywork of short sentences can be appropriate for a K aged student at the end of the school year. I am not sure if creative journaling is appropriate for K aged children. One idea in Classical Education is that a child needs to be filled up with a certain level of knowledge and life experience before they can reasonably create and express. Not that creative expression is out of the realm of children that age. I see that in my on children's pretend play and artwork. LilMama

bump I'm interested in an answer, too, as I have one who is turning seven and will do SOTW 2 next year!

We prefer R&S in our house. I tried Shurley with my older DS. He liked the jingles. They were great. They teach sentence classification through a question and answer flow. I didn't like that the sentence structure was the same throughout the book. I am sure there was a reason behind this. It just had a strange feel. In the Rod and Staff 2nd grade book, the student learns about sentences, pronouns, nouns, verbs, and adjective. There is no diagramming in this level. However, the student may need to find a part of speech in sentences that don't fit a cookie cutter format. HTH! LilMama

Thanks, Louise, for your reply. That's exactly what I was hoping, but it's nice to hear that your experience lives up to it. I know, there was something weird with my bumps the other day. I tried once, it didn't work. I tried again, it didn't work. But, I guess it did - just later! I actually purchased phonics of drawing and supplies from RR last night(along with some handwriting curriculum - my preK DS loves handwriting). I am planning to do this with my boys this summer. They'll be 5 and 7, so I hope they'll benefit from it as my as your DD! Thanks! LilMama

I like R&S reading. I am doing level 2 with my almost 7 yr old. We do the workbooks orally and trade off reading paragraphs out loud. I like the questions in the workbook. I think it will train DS to really focus on elements of passages he's reading. Plus, DS's knowledge of the Bible is fantastic as a result of these lessons. I think that reading comprehension, etc can be accomplished through narrations. However, my DS will not retell back a story. But, he will answer questions in a workbook. I think the open-endedness causes him to freeze. We also do free reading of other books. I ordered a lot of sonlight readers off of ebay. Plus, DH picks up library. So, that is our reading for enjoyment and read alouds. HTH!

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Hi, I am planning to add a structured art program to our curriculum. Would the above make a good combo? I was thinking of starting with the POD then bringing in AP. The main concerns I've heard with AP is that it lacks nuts and bolts teaching. My primary interest in art right now is drawing instruction. I think it might help in other classes. For example, if I want my DS's to draw a flower, I want them to feel comfortable in knowing how to start in making a reasonable representation. Thanks! LilMama