Katiebug_1976 Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 My oldest dd will be in 8th grade next year, and I had a very scary light bulb moment just now. I'm afraid that she is not grounded enough in english/grammar/writing for highschool. Here is a little bit of history. We began homeschooling when she was in 4th grade. For the 1st 1 1/2 years we used Rod & Staff. It was very thorough, but I was sure that there was something else out there that was better. So over the next couple years we tried AOP lifepacs, Primary & Intermediate Language Lessons, CLP Applications of Grammar, and having not found "the perfect LA curriculum," we finally came back to R&S the last 1/2 of this year. But now I find myself looking at other curriculums and wondering if they would be better. I am torn on what to do this next year. I have heard many great things about CLE, but when I gave her the diagnostic test, it looks like they teach diagramming completely different than R&S. We have been working through the level 6 R&S book, so part of me says "don't switch again! Just continue w/ R&S level 7" while another part is asking if it will be enough to prepare her for highschool. Any advice as to whether to switch again, or just tough it out with R&S would be greatly appreciated. I feel so confused, pressured and inadequate at this moment. Have I messed up her education? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 If it were me, I would stick with R&S and not switch again. I found that switching only confuses the kiddo...are at least that is what happened to mine. We started with CLE, went back to 3rd grade and we plan to stick with CLE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 I don't think you have messed up! Don't panic! :) We've all had these moments. Rod and Staff is a great program and I think you will be fine going into 7 next year. She needs foundation for her writing. It doesn't all have to be done by 9th grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 I would stick with Rod and Staff. No one should have to learn diagramming TWICE, :D. Many people use it straight through, and I'd say it's certainly enough grammar. I'd likely do writing separately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irizarry4 Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 I just started homeschooling myself, so I am no expert on curricula. I am a Linguist, though. Based on the reviews posted here before, and what little I have seen of R&S samples, it seems a thorough program. I will likely use it with my children myself after they do some FLL and WWE. Your child will not be able to obtain employment as a professional sentence diagrammer. Believe me, I tried. ha, ha. The purpose of that is for the dc to be able to understand and parse the different parts of a sentence. I would take a closer look at her writing. Is she applying the grammar learned through R&S to her writing across the board? You do not learn about run on sentences so you can point them out in your daily life. You learn about them so you will avoid using them in your writing. As she enters the rhetoric stage, the goal is for your daughter to be able to produce elegant, cohesive language in her speech and her writing. So no, you have not messed up her education. You just have a sudden case of curriculitis. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Did she understand it and do well on the tests? If so stick with R&S E.; if not you MAY want to consider CLE LA. If you do R&S E. 6 and 7 your dc will have enough grammar for high school, my older ds did (he used R&S E.7 in gr. 8). My 12yob used R&S English 6 this year and it's been tough(he used R&S E.3-5). He'll be using CLE LA 7 in the fall. I have CLE LA 7 and I see that there are only small diagramming differences between CLE and R&S. We are switching because I think CLE LA will be easier than R&S English 7 for my ds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staci in MO Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Your child will not be able to obtain employment as a professional sentence diagrammer. Believe me, I tried. ha, ha. Ah, man! I'll have to cross that off my list of possible things to do when done homeschooling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebug_1976 Posted May 28, 2009 Author Share Posted May 28, 2009 I just started homeschooling myself, so I am no expert on curricula. I am a Linguist, though. Based on the reviews posted here before, and what little I have seen of R&S samples, it seems a thorough program. I will likely use it with my children myself after they do some FLL and WWE. Your child will not be able to obtain employment as a professional sentence diagrammer. Believe me, I tried. ha, ha. The purpose of that is for the dc to be able to understand and parse the different parts of a sentence. I would take a closer look at her writing. Is she applying the grammar learned through R&S to her writing across the board? You do not learn about run on sentences so you can point them out in your daily life. You learn about them so you will avoid using them in your writing. As she enters the rhetoric stage, the goal is for your daughter to be able to produce elegant, cohesive language in her speech and her writing. So no, you have not messed up her education. You just have a sudden case of curriculitis. :D My daughter writes beautifully. She has been writing her own stories since she was 6 or 7. I guess I have never looked at it that way, through her writing. Thinking back now, I can see that she is progressing nicely through her writing. Very rarely do I have to correct any grammatical errors in her parers. In fact, she was correcting some grammatical errors from some online writings of my DH's college classmates. I guess I just panicked because most of her writing is not assigned. It is "on her own for fun." We didn't "learn from a book" how to research & write a report, create an outline, write an essay etc. But mabye she is picking up more than I realized. Mabye it's me. Mabye I'm stressing because I didn't teach it to her from a book. Thank you for your thoughts. They have made me think, and breathe a little bit easier. Mabye she is doing just fine, and I'm the one falling apart. Ha!Ha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebug_1976 Posted May 28, 2009 Author Share Posted May 28, 2009 Did she understand it and do well on the tests? If so stick with R&S E.; if not you MAY want to consider CLE LA. If you do R&S E. 6 and 7 your dc will have enough grammar for high school, my older ds did (he used R&S E.7 in gr. 8). My 12yob used R&S English 6 this year and it's been tough(he used R&S E.3-5). He'll be using CLE LA 7 in the fall. I have CLE LA 7 and I see that there are only small diagramming differences between CLE and R&S. We are switching because I think CLE LA will be easier than R&S English 7 for my ds. She seems to be doing well, and understanding most of it. She scores well (usually no lower than 85%) on the tests. I'm starting to think that mabye it would be best for her just to stick w/ R&S instead of switching and not knowing if it will work out or not. It makes me feel better knowing that that your ds used level 7 in 8th grade, and it worked out for him. Thanks for the advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 If she is doing well with R&S English, then I most definitely would not switch her. It's considered to be one of the best out there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 She seems to be doing well, and understanding most of it. She scores well (usually no lower than 85%) on the tests. I'm starting to think that mabye it would be best for her just to stick w/ R&S instead of switching and not knowing if it will work out or not. It makes me feel better knowing that that your ds used level 7 in 8th grade, and it worked out for him. Thanks for the advice. My older ds did have grammar this year, 9th grade, in his English class, and R&S English 7 prepared him well. He had almost a repeat of everything in R&S E.7 without diagramming (they labeling parts of speech, etc.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebug_1976 Posted May 29, 2009 Author Share Posted May 29, 2009 Thank you all so much for your thoughts and advice. I feel much better now. I think my pregnancy hormones are really doing a number to my thinking process. I am going to stick with R&S for next year, do my best, and let God handle the rest. Thanks again for taking the time to listen to my panicking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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