Rod & Staff English 3 for 2nd grade?

[island-mama]

I used First Language Lessons 1 with my daughter last year and did not love it. I want to change to a different program for her 2nd grade year. Rod & Staff looks very solid and I am interested in purchasing it, but don't know what level to start at. It seems that Grade 2 just reviews everything in FLL until Unit 4, halfway through the curriculum. I can't decide if it is worth getting grade 2 and just whisking through it until the material is new, or if i should get grade 3 and just take it slow. Has anybody switched from FLL to R&S and had any redundancy issues? Would R&S work to use above grade level? Any help would be great.

[Rhonda in TX]

I loved R&S 2. It was so gentle. I felt that it was perfect for a 2nd grader.

 

I can't compare it to FLL. We dropped it because my DD cried every time I pulled it out. I just wanted to put a plug in for R&S 2.

[HeidiKC]

I'm interested, too. I began R&S 2 with my son this summer and he'll be in 2nd grade. We're on about lesson 30 or so (out of 150) and so far it is super-simple for him. As in way too easy. I wouldn't say he's super advanced or anything, either.

 

We have not used FLL, so I can't speak to that. We do enjoy R&S 2, and since we were doing it in the summer and after school, I wanted it to be too easy rather than too hard, which is why I went with 2. But now I sort of wish I'd gotten 3, or else waited and got 3 next year. One of the main things I was concerned about was how much writing 3 might be - he hates to write, and since this is just extra on top of school I didn't want too much writing. I just wanted him to learn the grammar.

[raceNzanesmom]

R&S is going to continually build on itself. I'd stick with grade level, even when it seems easy. They'll learn what they need as they progress through the course, and, if you stick with it, will have a rock solid education in english when it's all done.

[chepyl]

My first grader is doing R&S 2, it is easy; but it is the basis for learning the more complicated grammar later. He needs to know how to identify the different types of sentences.

 

We are not doing all of the writing. We are doing most of the work out loud right now. We do separate handwriting, and that is one place the he struggles...he hates to write! He reads the lesson out loud to me, I ask him a few questions, we talk through the exercises. We write a few things.

 

It takes us less than 10 minutes to go through one lesson. I can reinforce these topics with our spelling dictation.

[Maisy]

I think it would depend on how mature your child is. If she is older for her grade, then maybe move ahead. If younger, stick with R&S2. We used FLL up through Level 4 and then moved to R&S 5, and then on to 6. My daughters are almost 2 years apart in age, but only one grade apart. I notice DD#2 is a little slower to master the same concepts at the same time as DD#1 did the year before (the younger having a late summer birthday, and the older having an early fall birthday).

 

All that to say, R&S gets noticeably more difficult about midway through grade 6. You might start thinking about what might be best for your DD in later years to help you determine where you should begin right now.

 

It's late. Did that make any sense?

[island-mama]

My daughter is actually a little ahead/young for her grade, but she has had no problems with grammar in the past. That said, most people seem to think that I should stick with grade level. Maybe I will get both and if we move ahead quickly I'll have the Grade 3 as well. I plan on doing much of it orally anyway, so I have a feeling that it won't take us long to get through it.

[HeidiKC]

All that to say, R&S gets noticeably more difficult about midway through grade 6. You might start thinking about what might be best for your DD in later years to help you determine where you should begin right now.

 

Very good point! My 5th grader did R&S 5 last year and it was great - not too easy at all and he's a very good student. Just from the looks of the R&S 6 book, I wouldn't want my 5th grader doing it. I think people are right - enjoy R&S 2 and build a good foundation. Even though it seems a bit easy, it doesn't seem like a waste of time because it takes about 10-15 minutes (we do most of it orally) and my son likes it that it seems easy. I can guarantee he would hate it if it seemed hard (maybe R&S 3?), and I know it does get harder and definitely doesn't seem too easy in 5th or 6th grade.

[boscopup]

I started with R&S 2 in first grade (2nd semester). It was way too easy. It spent 6 weeks learning what a phrase vs. a sentence is. My son didn't need to spend so long on that topic. One lesson would have been enough. We switched to FLL1, and it was also way too easy, but not as bad as R&S2! We zipped through it in 4 weeks, then started FLL2. We did about half of FLL2, which was still a bit easy, but not nearly as bad as FLL1. FLL2 actually moves around quite a bit and doesn't have so many lessons on just one topic. I would encourage you to look at FLL2 if your issue with FLL1 was the repetition about common vs. proper nouns. It really is different. FLL3 is even more different.

 

For the start of 2nd grade (back in June), we used R&S3. It *still* moved a bit slow sometimes, but was better than R&S2 by a long shot. I had to combine a couple lessons here and there that were on the same very simple topic. I was a bit bored by the program, so I've now switched us to FLL3, which I think we'll both like (we start Monday). Next year for 3rd grade, we'll use MCT Island, and that looks like it'd be a good fit since it goes through the grammar quickly at the beginning.

 

I'd recommend looking at the samples for FLL2 and FLL3 (you can do FLL3 without doing FLL2), just to make sure you're not being turned off FLL1 by the noun repetition that is only in FLL1. :) If you still think R&S would be better, I think R&S 3 is fine. If you get to a point where it's getting too difficult, you can always slow down or even drop grammar for a bit and come back when ready. I don't think which grade you choose now should necessarily affect which grade she uses in later grades. You can go at whatever speed you want. We did R&S 3 just 3 days a week, with the intention of slowing it down, but since we had to combine some lessons (to escape boredom), we were still on track to finish in a school year. :tongue_smilie:

 

I had a hard time selecting grammar for my son. The typical first and second grade programs ALL move slowly. Third grade programs start diagramming, and he was more than ready for that (and loves it).

[ChrissySC]

I would say it depends on how you will use it. If you intend a primarily oral lesson, then it is possible to use a portion of three. The parts of speech and types of sentences are worked with in this book. The foundation is more or less laid in book 2, IMO. Book 4 further develops parts of speech, and 5 will begin the writing portion.

 

If I were you, they are so inexpensive that I would buy book 3. Look at it. If it is too hard, get book 2. Shipping is fast too. You could look for used as well.

 

Reading level and comprehension will be a factor too.

[maryanne]

It depends on the child of course, but some children certainly can do R&S English 3 in the second grade. I started both my dc with R&S English 2 in the 1st grade and continued on 1 level each year. We did all of level 2 and about half of level 3 entirely orally. For the second half of 3 and the first half of 4 I made worksheets from the exercises that required the same thinking, but minimized the handwriting. (Yes, I know there are worksheets you can buy, but they did not work well for us--the spaces for writing were too small and cursive was introduced too early). Anyway, by midway through 4, ds's handwriting skills had caught up and he was able to continue on doing the odd Written and Review Exercises as written. He is now doing R&S English 7 as a 6th grader. Dd is now working her way through 4 as a 3rd grader.

 

So I would say that level 3 is definitely doable by some 2nd graders if you make allowances for handwriting skills (if needed). Also being ahead in grammar now doesn't mean you have to stay a year ahead until you finish grammar. You can always slow down and do half a book per year or take a year and do something else if the books eventually get too difficult working a grade ahead.

 

My advice would be to work at the level that fits best now and slow down later if it becomes necessary.

[island-mama]

My real issue with FLL is that I am realizing I hate fully scripted curriculum. Also, it progresses SO slowly. It is a very gentle introduction and my daughter learned plenty last year, but I found it to be repetitive. I also don't use the memorization or copywork portions since we use our own selections for these skills, so it seems pointless to order this. I would rather have straight English.

 

Thanks for all the advice! I think I may order both since I have a little guy coming up behind her anyway and we will need both at some point. This is my first time posting a question in the forum and I feel really grateful for the support!