Jennefer@SSA Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 Okay now I am really feeling like I want to pick up the pace with grammar. I don't want to risk waiting for AG and then that not being a good fit. Then we'll really be behind. I looked over the samples of R&S and at the GWG site. I own FLL3. We started it last year but it just went so fast for ds that he wasn't grasping much so we dropped it. I love the look of the R&S pages. It seems thorough and systematic but a little dry. GWG seems to be a secular version of R&S as far as I can tell. Is it considered as thorough as R&S? When threads come along that talk about rigorous grammar I rarely see FLL3 or 4 mentioned. What make R&S considered rigorous but not FLL as much? Or maybe it is and I'm just missing it???? Can you tell I am thinking out loud now?! All this to say I would love feedback on these 3 programs. I would especially love to know how R&S and/or GWG are different than FLL in their approaches. And if I started R&S with an older child (almost 9) where would I begin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 We use GWG. I looked at FLL, but it's too much for me to do one-on-one grammar with all my kids (and none of us do well with too much repetition). We really like GWG. To me it seems pretty rigorous. My 3rd grader is on the last quarter of the 3rd grade book and he's diagramming sentences such as, "The happy children played a fun game." He's currently working on adjectives and adverbs. GWG is very independent. In first grade and 2nd grade there is a lot of circling words, not too much writing. Lessons are short and my kids are able to do them in about 10 min. My 2nd grade dd is independent in her work and has been all year. The one thing I be sure to do though is go over each lesson with them one on one. I just make sure they've understood the content of the lesson. One thing I do like is that grammar, albeit important, does not have to take up a lot of time each day. We have too many other things to do! I'm really pleased with the amount of grammar they know and the program itself. I'm not totally sure how it stacks up to a lot of other programs as I only used Easy Grammar one year with ds before finding GWG. The one thing I have heard about GWG is that it repeats a lot from book to book. Since we are using it in the early grades I don't think that is a downside. I'm most likely going to start CW with my oldest ds next year. I will use GWG with him through the end of Aesop, but then most likely do the grammar suggested by CW after that so I'm not too worried about the repetition in the upper levels of GWG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 I can't really do any comparison's for you. However, my older dd is an aspie (I noticed that in your siggie) and she did very well with R&S for grammar. We did each lesson orally and anything that couldn't be translated into oral work we did on the whiteboard. We used Book 5, 6, and half of 7. That was PLENTY of grammar:D She had good retention. Personally, I think the R&S books are very thorough. My dd did the 5th book in 6th grade, and the 6th book in 7th & 8th grade and the first half of the 7th book in the first half of 9th grade and we were done. I would put your ds one book below grade level and then work at whatever pace fits him best. There is always something to be said for gaining confidence in an area, especially for our aspies ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 My dd9 doesn't like Rod and Staff 3 (she didn't have grammar last year in ps 3rd grade, so we went one level below), but boy, is she learning it. It's thorough, easy to teach (tells you just what to do, no guesswork), can be done partially orally (speeds it up) and is sweet/kind/value-oriented (kids are helpful, God is honored, etc.). LOVE it. I have dd write some of it, because she retains more then, but I don't have her write everything b/c I think it'd be discouraging. If we go thru the review (sort of a pre-lesson), the lesson itself and the exercises, it takes about 10-20 minutes, depending on the content. I sometimes give her the lesson, do some of it orally, then have her finish an exercise later, so we can go on to something else. I do the same thing with her Saxon math. This lets us break up the work a touch, helps her gain a little independence, and keeps us on track to finsih each subject in a timely way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBP Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 Just to muddy the water... have you considered Shurley? Because I wanted a program with diagramming, I switched to GWG after doing Shurley for three years. GWG is ok and is teaching the diagramming I wanted, but we still use the methods we learned in Shurley every single day. For some reason, it just seemed to "stick" better with my kids than GWG does. And I believe that AG uses parsing along with diagramming, so the parsing you'd learn in Shurley would be a good foundation if that's the direction you ultimately see yourself heading. And - to answer your actual question ;) - I don't have experience with R&S or FLL, but GWG is very, very easy to teach and use. A little busy-workish, sometimes, I think, but I do think the Student Manual is clearly written, and I really like having the workbook. I'm not jumping up and down about it, but it gets the job done. Hope something here helps :) SBP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rose_king Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 I can't tell you about any of the others, but I use R&S. I can tell you that I love it. My dd just turned 12. I will buy 7th grade next year. Hope this helps.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 Disclaimer: Just started FLL3 and are only 8 lessons into it, but so far, we both like it. I love the repetition and it is very simple to teach. Everything is scripted, which I love. I have ds7 doing FLL1 and we love this, as well. I have no experience with other programs, but I like how simple, repetitive and clear FLL1 and FLL3 are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsacco Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Have you looked into CLE for LA? Reason is that my dd couldn't DO R&S - it didn't click with her..... but CLE seems to be similar but in workbook format (has diagramming etc) and she likes the workbook - go figure... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjbeach Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 My 9yo Aspie guy actually likes FLL3. If you have it, give it more of a go. You may be shocked at what he remembers further down the line. It's pretty repetitive. My ds responds well to being spoon-fed small amounts repeatedly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennefer@SSA Posted February 12, 2010 Author Share Posted February 12, 2010 Thank you everyone. I wish I could just buy all these programs to look at them all side by side! I appreciate all the advice so far. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wfvneumann Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Look at MCT. It is very comprehensive, does it all in six years, and our ds loved it. When he was done with MCT, he had grammar for life, and no more was needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 We use FLL3 and I think the reason it's not mentioned as "rigorous" is because it's pretty gentle. Ds has a greater command of grammar than I did (I'm learning next to him) and he has learned things dd has yet to cover in ps (she's in middle school). I vote for FLL3, but that's because we've used FLL1&2 and I'm continually stunned by how much is taught in so little time and how well it's remembered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 My 9yo who is on the spectrum has used both FLL and R&S successfully. :) FLL is gentle, yet thorough. I'd think 3 would be a good fit, but I haven't seen 4. You might consider getting the song disk that goes with it to help with the memory work, since you'll skip 1/2. If you go with R&S I'd place her at grade level for 3 or 4. R&S is also pretty gentle in the grammar stage, but it steps up a notch in the 5 book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmamato3 Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 i have no experience with anything other than FLL 1/2 but in perusing the GWG samples online for first and second grade, it appears to me that it is a combo of grammar instruction with phonics/spelling exercises {a la ETC} and could be a nice combo if you're looking that's workbooky a bit more than FLL but still gentle. i have zero experience with R&S or CLE would anyone agree or disagree with me on my cursory glance and conclusion? :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennefer@SSA Posted February 12, 2010 Author Share Posted February 12, 2010 Look at MCT. It is very comprehensive, does it all in six years, and our ds loved it. When he was done with MCT, he had grammar for life, and no more was needed. Oh no! I have been working so hard to avoid all the MCT hoopla and it followed me here. :D Okay seriously fill me in...my understanding is that MCT is a complete program and you really need to do all facets of it to get the full benefit. Agree, disagree or other??? Can you do the grammar all alone and if so where would I start with a 9 yo with little to no formal grammar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennefer@SSA Posted February 12, 2010 Author Share Posted February 12, 2010 We use FLL3 and I think the reason it's not mentioned as "rigorous" is because it's pretty gentle. Ds has a greater command of grammar than I did (I'm learning next to him) and he has learned things dd has yet to cover in ps (she's in middle school). I vote for FLL3, but that's because we've used FLL1&2 and I'm continually stunned by how much is taught in so little time and how well it's remembered. That's good to know so thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.