Anyone use Rod and Staff reading Phonics/reading program

[michaeljenn]

I would love your opinions on this. I love the fact that they are reading bible stories while learning to read...

 

Opinions?? pro's con's?

[lotsofpumpkins]

I have used the 1st grade reading/phonics with two children so far. I've debated letting my 3rd child just learn to read with Phonics Pathways and Explode the Code (which he's already working on for Kindergarten), BUT, the more I consider the amazing progress my other children made with R&S, the more I think I might stick with it (I'd start my 3rd child in the R&S 1st grade books later on this school year after he turns 6). It does take quite a bit of time each day, but it is so thorough.

 

For 2nd grade, we use the phonics, but dropped the reading. My book-loving dd started to dread reading because the workbook had SO much work to do each day, some of which seemed like busywork (since R&S was written for the classroom).

 

I too love that they use the Bible stories to help teach reading. Although we are not using the reading workbooks for 2nd and up, I'm actually in the process of acquiring the 2nd and 3rd grade readers so that my dc can use them to practice reading AND learn Bible stories (we do some Bible learning all together, but it's often chaotic and I'm not sure how much they are actually getting!).

[5LittleMonkeys]

If you are speaking of the Bible Nurture series; I purchased grade 2 for this year but had to shelf it. I really love the stories and the lessons but the workbook was too time consuming for us. "Do this page before your read, read, do this page after you read." Way too much for my dd7 who is still doing phonics and not a fluent reader. We will be using it but we will have to wait until we are finished with our phonics program so that we will have the time to invest in it. I estimated that it would take about 45 min. to an hour each day to do all of the workbook and reading for one story. Even at that pace I don't think we could have gotten through all of the readers in one year. You could break it into 2 days per story but then you would probably only get through the first two books.

 

That being said, if you have a more fluent reader or have the time to invest it looks to be a great program.

[daybreaking]

We used Rod and Staff Phonics and Reading last year and loved it. It was the perfect fit for my ds. By the end of the 1st grade books, he was reading at a 4th grade level. We started the 2nd grade books in early spring. Ds has been flying through the phonics, but the reading takes a lot more time. We started by doing a half a lesson a day and that seemed to be just right for him, as each lesson has a lot of writing (4 workbook pages). I've found that as ds has adjusted, he's become a lot faster so for the upcoming school year, we're going to try doing a full lesson a day, but keeping in mind the option of slowing down, if necessary. (As another alternative, we might do some of the vocabulary work orally.) All in all, the R&S BNRS is a very thorough and well organized program. I'm amazed at all my ds has learned - I've even learned a lot myself! Even my dh has commented on how impressed he is with our ds's knowledge of Bible stories.

[Heidi]

I didn't like the reading part. They rely on learning sight words too much, in my opinion. We never did the reading worksheets.

However I do use the 1st grade phonics WBs with my dd4 and it's perfect. Not too much work at all and she is learning tons.

[michaeljenn]

Just wanted to say thanks.. I am going to give it a try:)

 

Jennifer

[momofjep]

We used the 2nd and 4th grade reading programs last year. I like them but I didn't push them to finish all of it in one year. The 3rd grader will finish the 2nd grade program this year, and I moved my oldest up to the 5th grade reading and 5th grade bible programs.

[Ellie]

Although I like R&S overall, I am not a big fan of the first grade Bible Nurture and Reader materials. The phonics portion is not bad, but the *reading* stuff is just plain ol' sight reading, and I don't do sight reading. It's also workbook-heavy: the teacher teaches, sends little Orkie to do his seatwork; she teaches some more, sends Orkie back to his desk; listens to Orkie read, teaches some more, sends Orkie back to his desk.

 

I used BNR one year when I taught in a little one-room school, because I thought having Orkie do seatwork at his desk would give me time to work with the other children, but the sight-reading...blech. Memorizing over 300 words and phrases...blech.

 

The TM is scripted, so it's good in that way. I know that many dc seem to learn to read just fine with it. I just think there are so many other good phonics-based products that it's just better to look at one of those instead of a sight-reading-based method.

[Scuff]

We've used both. For reading, I will agree that the first grade isn't necessary. 2nd grade starts in Genesis, so if they don't do 1st, they're not missing a chunk of the bible. DS started in 2nd. The girls both started in first, but I made sure they were blending well and had some phonics down before we started. The first couple units were really easy for them, then, and I didn't have to worry about the sight word part of it. For phonics, I think it's solid, though a bit workbooky (obviously) and I'm not sure all the dictionary pronounciation stuff is necessary. I hadn't found something else better, though, so we stuck with it.

[2_girls_mommy]

I have used R&S 1st grade reading and phonics once all of the way through, and am using it again now w/my current 6 yr old. For 2nd grade, we dropped the reading, but kept the phonics to finish up the program.

 

Pros: very thorough.

 

Con: very through, lots of workbook writing, time consuming

 

I like the Bible stories, and didn't mind the sight words because they are learning phonics as well. The readers tie in the phonics being studied using words with phonics rules they have learned. My dd6 likes the reader because she really feels like she is reading. While the phonics study is harder for her, we keep pecking away at it, and then she feels real satisfaction w/the reading program. She can pick up the book and read a page long story. So it works for us. The workbook work is really good in both the phonics and the reading IMO. My dd is learning so much.