Rod & Staff Grade 1

[engu]

We finished doing ABC Reading Eggs and we're now planning to start my 4 yr old daughter on Phonics Pathways and Reading Pathways (we're not homeschoolers...). I feel that she needs to read real books and I was hoping that the Rod and Staff books might help her continue her reading practice.

 

Has anyone tried Rod & Staff Bible Nurture Grade 1 series? Does it provide good phonics practice?

 

I'm concerned by what is written on the site: "It would assume a child would be about 6 years of age to begin the first grade program". My daughter is not a typical 6 year old, but she has developed enough reading skills to read the "Early reader books" from our library.

 

Also, what are your thoughts on their maths program?

[BikeBookBread]

Hi Engu! Welcome (I see you are a new poster...)

 

You might want to re-post this question over on the curriculum board. I know you'll get tons of great answers!

 

DD6 learned to read using Phonics Pathways. I have no experience with Rod & Staff, but PP has been adequate for the basics. I have Reading Pathways waiting, but haven't started using it yet.

[Ellie]

Although many people have used the first grade Bible Nurture and Reader materials and liked them, *I* did not. If you use everything, there is a significant sight-reading element--a couple of hundred words and phrases to memorize--that I just don't care for. The *phonics* portion is true phonics; it's the *reading* that is sight reading.

 

I would not recommend using it with a child younger than 6. If you think your dd is ready for additional instruction after Phonics Pathways, you could check out Spalding.

[Tidbits of Learning]

The reason that R&S recommends 6 yrs. old is that is when the Mennonites begin school. Their children begin school in first grade. They do not have kindergarten really.

There is a first grade readiness test that they sell that should tell you whether your child is ready to begin. It is not very expensive at all and can be found on rodandstaffbooks.com.

[Closeacademy]

I loved the first unit, the second was OK and then we dropped it. It moves very quickly. Probably too quickly for a preschooler. :001_smile:

[engu]

Thanks for your answers everyone. I might just stick to the early readers at the library, though a lot of them contain sight words.

[UpNorth]

I used R&S grade 1 with my son when he was 5 going on 6. I'm also going to be using it very soon to teach my 5 year old to read. In my opinion it is an excellent program.

 

As one person said above, R&S feels that children shouldn't be in school before they're 6, so they don't do Kindergarten. That means that the first bit of Grade 1 is basically what we would call "Kindergarten work". There is plenty of phonics instruction in Grade 1 but it is all in the flashcards, boardwork, teachers talks, and workbooks. Not in the readers! They are not like "Kit Likes to Sit", or "Big Pig on a Dig" if that's what you mean by phonics readers. The children learn their phonics "in class" in order to be able to learn to read the words in the readers, which are regular stories.

 

So, if you are looking for readers to supplement her public school program, I don't think the grade 1 books themselves would work. However, if you are looking to take a bit of time at home and really teach her to read, I would highly recommend getting the grade 1 reading set because it really works!

 

The Christian Liberty preschool and kindergarten readers are phonics books. They look pretty good! http://www.christianbook.com/christian-liberty-preschool-readers/sherry-kurz/pd/754877?item_code=WW&netp_id=683834&event=ESRCN&view=details

[Melissa in Australia]

I have used the Rod and staff set before. My daughter really loved them. I think to get the benefit you would have to use the readers, plus workbooks plus phonics books.

 

for my ds6, I am only using Rod and Staff phonics books, not the readers, just for extra practice. He is also doing Explode the code, OPGTTR and writing with ease.He is reading early readers from the library.

[Scuff]

As already said, the phonics is solid, the reading has a lot of sight reading at first. We use it all. But I don't start it until they have a littl phonics down already. I don't focus on the sight reading. We skim the first unit, since they are already reading some and pick it up towards the end of unit 1. It does move fast and has a bit of writing. Dd used it as K last year just fine, but I wouldn't use it for younger.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

We finished doing ABC Reading Eggs and we're now planning to start my 4 yr old daughter on Phonics Pathways and Reading Pathways (we're not homeschoolers...). I feel that she needs to read real books and I was hoping that the Rod and Staff books might help her continue her reading practice.

 

Has anyone tried Rod & Staff Bible Nurture Grade 1 series? Does it provide good phonics practice?

 

I'm concerned by what is written on the site: "It would assume a child would be about 6 years of age to begin the first grade program". My daughter is not a typical 6 year old, but she has developed enough reading skills to read the "Early reader books" from our library.

 

Also, what are your thoughts on their maths program?

 

 

 

Look at the Dorbooks website (the publisher of Phonics Pathways). The author has listed some excellent phonics readers that follow the same (or similar) sequence as the PP book. http://www.dorbooks.com