Rod and Staff English question..advice

[michaeljenn]

If your children hated R&S Grammar, but was learning from it, would you allow them to quit using it and buy another curriculum?

 

I am not quite sure if they just hate grammar in general, or if it is all the writing they have to do on actual paper. I have looked at, and showed my children CLE, and they love the thought of a workbook. HOWEVER, my finances are tight this year, and I already have all of Rod and Staff from grades 2-8th.... sigh.... Anyway, just wanting your advice;) I don't want to be mean, but you know... sometimes you just have to do the work!

 

Thanks guys!!!

 

OH... this is for a soon to be 6th and 8th grader!!

[Beach Mom]

If it is just the writing that makes them not like it here are a couple of things that have worked at our house.

 

Have you tried doing most of it orally? I did 6 and 3 this year with my DC and we did many lessons out loud. They have shown good retention, but it is quite a bit of writing if all done on paper.

 

Another option would be to purchase the worksheets which retail for 2 or 3 dollars. You can use these in place of the written exercises for many of the lessons (there is not one for every lesson, but most). The sentences are written out so it is more fill in the blank then copying whole sentences. Same kind of work, much less writing needed to complete it. You would only have to invest a few dollars instead of money for a whole new grammar package.

 

Lastly, we vary how many of the exercises are required based on how much they seem to understand the lesson. This is a classroom based curriculum so the number of exercises needed for one or two kids is far less than the number written. We usually do odds or evens or specifically selected problems based upon the lesson.

 

Hope you find something that helps.

[m4given]

Another option would be to purchase the worksheets which retail for 2 or 3 dollars. You can use these in place of the written exercises for many of the lessons (there is not one for every lesson, but most). The sentences are written out so it is more fill in the blank then copying whole sentences. Same kind of work, much less writing needed to complete it. You would only have to invest a few dollars instead of money for a whole new grammar package.

 

Hope you find something that helps.

:iagree: I like everything Beach Mom said in her post.

 

This is what we did this year. The oldest is only in 3rd grade this year, but this option helps us. We primarily do the lessons orally. At times I have dd show me on scrap paper/sidewalk/chalk board that she understood the lesson. I then assign a worksheet page.

[SilverMoon]

I'd stick with R&S, but I'd let them do more lessons orally, and let them take shortcuts with the writing. Like the ones that want you to write an entire sentence, when having them just write the correct tense verb is sufficient. We put nearly all of the diagramming on a white board too. The little slate sized white boards are perfect.

 

The workbooks are pretty inexpensive, though they only have a worksheet for roughly half of the lessons. The copyright allows them to be reproduced/copied, but if you buy a few at once to reduce the shipping costs it would be far cheaper to just buy them.

 

I haven't let my kids out of curriculum just because they didn't like it. *shrug* I will try to accommodate and make it easier on the child's particular learning style/strengths to make it work better. On the other hand, we have had curriculum flops that were simply terrible fits. Those were pointless to keep using because the kid wasn't learning a thing.

[rwjx2khsmj]

My dd13 and dd11 asked to change to something else for next year and we are going with Analytical Grammar. I just can't see fighting for a year over a program that makes them miserable when there are others that can do the same job with less misery out there.

[ABQmom]

Who likes grammar lessons? They are a necessary evil in our house and Rod and Staff does the job. We do it all orally, and they take the tests at the end of the chapters. They do great. I do make them write in writing lessons, and they do diagram sentences on the white board to make it more fun. My kids always outdo themselves on the grammar portion of the IOWA test. If you asked them about Rod and Staff---they would say they hated it. But, they know grammar.

[LunaLee]

Ack...that's a rough one. I let ds switch to Hake/Saxon (never sure what to call it) after he saw it somewhere and asked to do that next year instead of R&S. He does fine with R&S and has excellent grammar skills, but in an effort to foster that whole independent learning, student responsibility thing I let him switch. At least for next year. I told him that we would try it for a year and see how it goes, but not to be surprised if we go back to R&S (6) for 7th grade. If it was any other program I probably would have said no, but I felt that the Saxon was a good substitute for R&S and ds would probably benefit from the spiral approach.

 

But on the other hand, if money was tight and I already had R&S I would probably have said no. As it is I only have the one to buy a new program for and I ended up selling my R&S to defer the cost.

[Geo]

Who likes grammar lessons? They are a necessary evil in our house and Rod and Staff does the job. We do it all orally, and they take the tests at the end of the chapters. They do great. I do make them write in writing lessons, and they do diagram sentences on the white board to make it more fun. My kids always outdo themselves on the grammar portion of the IOWA test. If you asked them about Rod and Staff---they would say they hated it. But, they know grammar.

 

 

We like grammar lessons...BECAUSE we do R&S orally. We only use paper or whiteboard when diagramming. Retention is great and there is never a battle because we are done in minutes. This doesn't include the composition though, we use a separate program for that.

Geo

Edited May 10, 2010 by Geo

[Sandy in Indy]

I agree with previous posters. Do less writing and stick with R&S. I honestly think grammar and algebra fall into the "not everything in life is fun" category. Sometimes you just need to plow through something. Call it a life lesson.

 

And generally, I only switch curriculum if I think they're not learning or mastering the material. I don't switch based on kids' preferences. JMHO.

[ChicoryChick]

If my children had to do all the writing in R&S they would hate it too. We use the worksheets, do some lessons orally and cut down on the amount of writing necessary like the others. I would try these things before switching to another program. :D

[Susie in MS]

I just can't see fighting for a year over a program that makes them miserable when there are others that can do the same job with less misery out there.

 

I agree with this. R&S is not the only good grammar out there and others are more enjoyable.

However, I would try doing it orally first, using a white board when needed. If that doesn't work then sell R&S to help pay for another program.