Missed R&S 5th grade english, would you go on to 6th?

[Katie.Louise]

My dd had to go to ps for 5th grade. She has used Rod & Staff english since 2nd grade. Should we go on to 6th grade this year, or should we go through 5th grade. Will she miss important info, or will it repeat in 6th?

Thanks so much,

Katie

[Guest]

bump. I think she would be fine going to 6th.

[MIch elle]

in the series. R&S English 5 & 6 are the 2 books in the series NOT to miss.

[Lolly]

She could go onto 6th. Yes, everything is repeated. However, everything is more complex. By not skipping 5, you would be almost certain to bypass any problems. Personally, I would not skip it.

[dalynnrmc]

I agree - Bk 5 is essential. I'm not sure about 6; I'd heard 5 and 7 were the major ones. I only know for sure about 5 though! But, if it was a concern, one of these three (or maybe 8?) could be skipped. Remember that 9 and 10 are each meant to take an entire two years and last through all of high school too, so those might could each just be shortened.

 

Nothing to worry about. :)

[Staci in MO]

I just finished teaching 4 & 6 this year, so they're fresh in my mind. There's quite a big jump between the two of them. I'd have her do 5 this year.

[Katie.Louise]

She didn't do any english this year in public school. At the beginning of the year, the teacher asked them some grammar question, I can't recall what it was, but my dd was the only one in the class that knew the answer. The teacher looked at class-helper and said, "Only one in the whole class." She was homeschooled up until then.

 

So, maybe I should do grade 5 and try to double up later to catch up.

 

Thanks to those who have responded. You have been very helpful.

 

I would love any other opinions, too.

 

Katie

[Beth in Central TX]

I've posted this comparison of R&S 5 & 6 before. Personally, I wouldn't skip it, but it's your call...

 

In comparing R&S 5 & 6:

 

-the lessons are longer in 6, and a smaller typeset is used

-there are more oral drill exercises, written exercises, and review exercises for each lesson in 6

-there are 139 lessons in 6, but only 119 in 5

-there are 82 worksheets for 6, but only 68 worksheets for 5

-there are 11 chapter tests & a final for 6, but only 10 chapter tests in 5

-5 talks about verb tenses & principal parts; 6 talks about transitive verbs & action verbs that aren't transitive

-5 talks about linking verbs with predicate nouns & adj; 6 talks about passive and active voice

-5 talks about nom, obj, & poss pronouns; 6 expands on this and talks about relative pronouns & relative clauses

-there's more diagramming in 6 including adjective clauses, adverbs of degree, and adverb clauses

-more advanced concepts in 6 include prepositional phrases as adjectives and adverbs, subordinating conjunctions, and avoiding misplaced phrases and clauses

 

HTH!

Edited June 11, 2009 by Beth in Central TX

[blessedwith7]

I wouldn't skip it, but I would double or triple up on some of the easier lessons to get through more quickly and then go on to the next book. Since 5th would still be fresh in her mind, you could also go through some of 6th pretty quickly. Since we do a lot of Rod and Staff orally, it isn't hard to do 2 or 3 lessons some days if we get a little behind and need to catch up.

[RedHen6]

You could try this: get the test booklet for grade 5, and have your child take the tests before she studies the material (or you could have her work through the chapter reviews). If she passes, skip that chapter, and take the next chapter's test. Even if she doesn't "pass" the test, you may find that she passes certain parts of the chapter, and you can skim over those.

 

My dd did R&S 5 in what would have been our 4th grade, then went to public school for 5th and part of 6th. I brought her home in March, and we basically had to start at the beginning of R&S 6--she hadn't progressed in public school. R&S is VERY thorough!!

[Katie.Louise]

I like the idea of using the tests to see if she knows it. Then we can move through it faster.

 

Thank you all!

Katie

[DebonLI]

R&S reviews everything.

[praisefor3]

I actually deliberately saved R&S 5 for 6th grade. He has been in R&S since 2nd grade and has done well. However, we were a little burned out and after seeing how intense R&S 5 was, I decided to go lighter this year with LLATL and to save R&S5 for 6th grade. Many people do not do grammar all the way til 12th so I thought we had plenty of time!

[mommix3]

:iagree: I would definately NOT skip 5. Have her take the tests and if she does well then move on. No since in reteaching if she knows it. She will probably be able to get through it pritty quickly and you will know that she's not missing anything.. :)

 

Angela

[teacalm]

I would not skip RS English 5. I have used RS English 2-7 (parts of it), with Maybe, just maybe, if I start a kid of mine when they're older. RS ENg. builds on the previous years lessons though, and unless you are prepared to spend longer time to fully understand the concept, it will not stick as much. Time well spent since ds can diagram his sentences like no other. Even if we don't do it for quite a while like when we tried Abeka Grammar where there's not much of diagramming compared to RS English.

[Angel]

Don't skip 5! It is foundational for the rest of the series. We tried skipping it with dd (who did BJUP 5 the year before) and is strong in English. Book 6 moves very quickly and assumes knowledge from book 5. We stopped before lesson 20 and went back to the 5th grade book.

 

Remember R&S English is very rigorous! An English teacher friend of mine looked over R&S 7 at the convention. I was freaking out that we hadn't made it through book 7. She took one look and said that some of those concepts were taught later in high school. Many people use R&S a grade (or *gasp* even two) behind. It's ok. It's a lot of English.

 

I will even step out on a limb and say don't give her the tests and skip. I would do the whole book...well, I would leave out the dictionary, bible, and other skills in the last chapter...but don't worry about being "behind."

[bearnpurple]

Isn't one of the best pros about homeschooling is not having to follow "grade levels"? That is what I like about it and after getting the results from our achievement tests.....I realize it was okay that not everything is on the right level.....they are still above where they need to be according to OH standards! YEAH!

[willowcreek]

Not the one to skip in my book either. I did use the tests to figure out what I could skip, and you can definitely skip the writing lessons IF you are using someting else for writing. My child had been in public school and then we pulled him out. I tried to skip an R&S book and it was frustrating. We backed up pretty quickly and got out of the grade-level mindset and went along fine.

[bunnytracks]

R&S english 6 is the first "formal" program that we ever used and I don't feel like we missed anything at all by not doing 5 or lower.

[Rhondabee]

My younger ds finished R&S-5 this year after R&S 3 and 4, and I felt like it was almost completely verbatim everything that was in R&S-4. Basically, a year-long holding pattern before hitting R&S-6. (Maybe the outlining was new? Don't remember.)

 

(I've completed R&S 6th-8th with my older ds, and IMNSHO 5th is to be sure kids know their parts of speech and the very basic parts of a sentence before they move into the 6th grade book. 6th lays the foundation for 7th, which is the really hard book. 8th was almost completely review of 7th, just adding in essays.)