jail warden Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 Which did you choose and why. If you decided to go with GWG, did you think it was as thorough as R&S. If you chose R&S, was GWG even a consideration. TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 My ds9 cried at the thought of R&S every day b/c he had to copy every thing from the text. Someone recommended GWG and I took a chance. Now, grammar is his favorite subject! :D The workbook, fill-in-the-blank approach really appeals to him. Now, with my dd11...R&S is fine. She doesn't mind the writing and copying from a text. For younger grades R&S, we do mostly oral (level 2 and 3). As for thoroughness...I find GWG just as thorough as R&S just w/out the writing exercises. You would use a separate writing curriculum if you chose GWG. HTH. For us...only difference was text vs. workbook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2legomaniacs Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 I cannot give you a comparison but I am thoroughly impressed with R&S. Ds doesn't care for it. But he does not like to write anything. He is in book 4 and doing well. We do a lot orally. We talk it out a lot too. I am just really impressed with the quality of this text. I'll tell you, I am learning (relearning) a lot myself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jail warden Posted March 20, 2008 Author Share Posted March 20, 2008 Did they not have this before? Does this make any difference for you or was there still more writing? I can't seem to see what the worksheets are like. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 I only knew of the worksheets. If R&S does have workbooks (not just worksheets) I might re-evaluate. BUT, for now, GWG is a good "fit" for ds9. As for retention...not sure. He struggles with grammar anyway. Dd11 also has hit a "wall" in R&S 5. Higher level diagramming has tripped her up so we've slowed way down and I'm doing more actual teaching than before. I read the other thread that you started about R&S3 and it convicted me that I had to be way more involved in actually teaching grammar than just giving them the book and letting them go. Thanks for the tip about the workbook. I'll check it out b/c if that is the case...I won't have to purchase GWG 5 b/c I already have R&S5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIN Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 I only knew of the worksheets. They are listed as worksheets. What are the worksheets? What would the difference be between worksheets and I workbook? I'm trying to make the same decision as jail warden! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 There are only worksheets, which we have and don't use. They are supplemental only and there isn't a worksheet for every lesson. Just selected lessons. I suppose you could use them in place of the text for the selected lessons and copy out the rest? I have the R&S 5 worksheets...suppose I should look into using them! Still, they are not the same as a workbook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2legomaniacs Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 They are listed as worksheets. What are the worksheets? What would the difference be between worksheets and I workbook? I'm trying to make the same decision as jail warden! The text has an oral part, a written part, and a review part for each daily lesson. The worksheets are not for every single lesson. I just got my order for grade 5. Here are the worksheet pages for the lessons: 1 (2 worksheets), 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 23, etc. They are usually one page of extra stuff to help solidify the concept if extra review is needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIN Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 Would you (or someone!) be able to tell me what, exactly, a lesson looks like? What does the student need to write out, for instance? What are you doing orally? I can't figure out how to diagram orally, LOL! Do you feel your student, even at 3rd grade, is retaining what they are learning? I'm currently using GWG and I'm not sure my son is retaining much. But, he does use proper grammar in speech and writing and does know how to use puncutation marks, capitals, and make a complete sentence. So, maybe he is learning it? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jail warden Posted March 21, 2008 Author Share Posted March 21, 2008 :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2legomaniacs Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 I don't do everything orally. I have him write the diagramming on paper or on a white board sometimes. The exercises vary in length but I will try to give an example of a typical lesson from his 4th grade text. And I will also show an example of a worksheet. http://www.rodandstaff.info/samples/4/english/ This link will show you sample pages from grade 4 English text. How I usually do this with my 4th grader is as follows: In the teacher's manual is a daily oral review. Just a handful of questions to review definitions and such regularly. Then I read the lesson in the book and we talk a bit about it. We do the Oral Drill. (if it has diagramming, he will pull out his white board and write on there, ow we do it orally) Written lesson: I usually have him write out the work for one lesson a week. It just falls that way sometimes. Most of them, we do orally so we can discuss as we go along. I do feel he is retaining well enough. Using this, I feel, is helping to build that foundation so in the next phase, when he is beginning to have more expectations with writing and such, he will have a nice grammatical foundation to start with. Ok, the worksheets: if you scroll down to the bottom of the linked page, there are samples of the worksheets as well. All you have to do is click on each page to view it larger. Hth: I will be signing off for the night very soon but will be back on tomorrow. If you have any questions, feel free. I hope this has been helpful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jail warden Posted March 21, 2008 Author Share Posted March 21, 2008 Thanks so much for all of this! I really think I'm leaning this way, but I'm a bit worried!:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2abcd Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 jailwarden, for your kids 8 and under I would recommend GWG. I've used both. I think GWG is a nice way to start. If I were using R&S again (and I might because I think it covers more in the older levels), I would use it orally and cut out a lot. R&S for the younger years (depending on the child... maybe through age 10-13) needs to be done with Mom. GWG can be done very independently. R&S was tough for dd to take because of the cultural differences and the occassional King James language. The copying got old for her and it just wasn't a good fit. I'm happy with what she learned and I didn't mind the book, but I would adapt more if I used it again. We took a year off and used a Steck-Vaughn workbook (a very old one which I liked a lot, btw;o) so dd went from R&S 4 to GWG5. I think GWG5 is actually not as advanced as R&S 4. I didn't actually compare them since I sold my R&S. GWG is definitely more palatable for the kids. If you want to do R&S 3 orally with your kids, that's easy enough to do. R&S 4 requires more copying on the part of the child (not enough worksheets to cover the content.) I would recommend GWG for 8 and under. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS in MD Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 We've used R&S English 3,4,5,6 and starting 7 in the fall. I'm so impressed with how much dds are learning, retaining and just how thorough a program R&S is. Yes, it does require some mom time to teach. Here is what I do with my 2nd dd how is just finishing up R&S English 5- 1)We do the Oral Review together (anything she misses, rarely this happens, we quickly review) 2)Dd reads lesson to me. I point out important concepts. 3)Dd does the Oral Drill w/me (if she incorrectly answers any questions I'll assign more written practice problems) 4)If there is a worksheet associated with the lesson, dd does the worksheet, otherwise dd does about half the written practice problems orally and remainder written. If there is diagraming involved she can use her white board. 5)Before dd starts any written work, we orally go over the Review & Practice (again just for re-inforcement). On average it takes us about 25-30 minutes together, then dd is off on her own completing either the worksheet or written practice problems I've assigned. We do use another writing program. Now, my older dd finished R&S English Book 6 last week. She is pretty much independently working in the book. She reads the lesson from the Teachers Manual, does the Class practice (in the lower books this is called Oral Drill) own her own, tells me of any errors she encounters, proceeds with either the worksheet or Written practice (I assign) and she does the Review and practice on her own as well. I correct there work daily, so to keep tabs on if they are not understanding concepts. The tests help with this also. I've never used GWG, but have looked at the website often. But, since R&S has been working so well for us, I decided to stick with it. HTHs. Also, if you call Rod & Staff they'll send you samples of an entire grade. They're very helpful with answering questions and send stuff very timely. Their number 606-522-4348 . Also, their spring textbook sale is going on till 4/15. IF you order by 3/31 they'll give you free shipping on orders over $25 (no pressure! :-) ) Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jail warden Posted March 22, 2008 Author Share Posted March 22, 2008 :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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