Implementing R&S English??? Suggestions, please??

[diaperjoys]

We're beginning R&S English 3, and I'd love ideas for good ways to use it in a home school setting. It seems like all the questions & assignments are very worthwhile, but tends to be rather more than we can get through in a day.

 

How do you all do it??

[kwickimom]

We did most of it orally. I just had my dd read the lesson aloud from her student book and then we went over the key points and if needed did an example on the whiteboard. We would do all of the review questions orally (unless it was something like diagramming of course, then on the whiteboard) and then I would have her do SOME of the written. I would assign 2 or 3 of the written problems to do under each section given...if she got those right we were done. If she needed more help or practice I would assign a few more.

 

I read all the teachers notes from the TM beforehand and if I feel it is needed, I will read some of that to dd or do the example on the whiteboard, but not always.

 

I feel there is no reason to do it all if your child understands it, it just turns into busywork.

[raceNzanesmom]

We did most of it orally. I just had my dd read the lesson aloud from her student book and then we went over the key points and if needed did an example on the whiteboard. We would do all of the review questions orally (unless it was something like diagramming of course, then on the whiteboard) and then I would have her do SOME of the written. I would assign 2 or 3 of the written problems to do under each section given...if she got those right we were done. If she needed more help or practice I would assign a few more.

 

I read all the teachers notes from the TM beforehand and if I feel it is needed, I will read some of that to dd or do the example on the whiteboard, but not always.

 

I feel there is no reason to do it all if your child understands it, it just turns into busywork.

 

This is how we'll do it too.

 

With my now graduate, we did the review orally, then he usually did odd or even problems.

[Ellie]

I would probably not do the oral classtime in the TM, but just go briefly over the lesson in the student text, and any oral activities there. Then I'd assign some of the written seatwork, but not all. I wouldn't assign the worksheets.

 

Some of the reasons I would require dc to write their assignments instead of doing everthing orally are that I believe that the actual writing is important, not only to help dc internalize what they've studied but also because they have to actually put their pens/pencils on paper. They have to plan out what they're going to write, and work to make sure it's tidy and legible. It is writing practice, not only penmanship but *writing,* even if it's only sentences or nouns and verbs or phrases/clauses. It's valuable.

 

If I thought that my dc were not up to all the writing, I'd do something different with them altogether instead of poking at R&S orally.

[Daisy]

Grade 3?

 

I've done the first three lessons this week. Day 1, we just read it together and answers the review questions orally. Day 2, I wrote all the words on 3x5 cards in advance and had my son just put them in ABC order. I then transferred that concept to his spelling and had him put those words in ABC order. Quick and easy. Today, we just got out a children's dictionary and played around with it. Looking up the words and hunting for animals that started with aa and vegetables that started with zu, etc. None of those lessons took longer than 15 minutes.

 

I don't bother to have him do every single thing written out. I teach the concept, assess his understanding, and call it good.

[Mommy22alyns]

I've found the teacher's notes to be extra helpful this year. We go through the oral review and read the page. We're on Lesson 6, so she did the diagramming on the whiteboard and wrote 6 sentences. When she has worksheets, I generally do the book work orally and then have her do the worksheet.

[yvonne]

I've found the teacher's notes to be extra helpful this year. We go through the oral review and read the page. We're on Lesson 6, so she did the diagramming on the whiteboard and wrote 6 sentences. When she has worksheets, I generally do the book work orally and then have her do the worksheet.

 

:iagree: This is what we did, both times through. The teacher's manual was very useful. We always did the Oral Review at the beginning of the lesson. Then read the lesson, did the Oral Exercises, and did most of the Written Exercises together, orally. If there was anything that needed to be written to really benefit from it (diagramming, writing the plural forms of some nouns, writing the singular/plural possessive forms of nouns, etc.), my child wrote those out later on his/her own. We did about a fourth of the diagramming on white boards. Then, when there was a worksheet, my child did the worksheet in writing later, on his/her own. I also had them do the written Unit Tests.

 

We've done R&S 2-5 now, and we've had no problems whatsoever learning and retaining the information doing most of the lessons orally. They are also able to apply what they've learned in other subject areas. They do enough written work in other areas that doing all those, or even most of those, exercises would be overkill.

 

The one heads-up I'd give about R&S 3 is that all the writing lessons are in the last unit! By then, we are all getting tired and the year is almost over. When I did it the second time through with my daughter, I interspersed those writing lessons in with the earlier units. So we did Unit 1 and then did a few of the "writing" lessons. I think the first ones are mostly dictionary work. Then we did Unit 2 and a few more writing lessons. Etc. That way I could also have her practice those writing skills in other subject areas. Do not leave writing until the very end!

 

Hope that helps!

[boscopup]

When we were using it (the first 6 weeks of school this year), I just taught the lesson at the white board (looked at the TM and saw what we needed to go over). Sometimes I'd use silly sentences, like change the book sentence to something Star Wars related that is the same type of sentence. ;) We did the oral review that's in the TM (very important, IMO), did some of the oral exercises, and then I assigned some written seat work in the amount that I knew my son could handle without his hand falling off. If it was just writing a word, I might have him do the odds. If it was writing a whole sentence, I'd only have him do 2 or 3 (depending on sentence length). We did diagramming on the white board. He loves diagramming! :D

 

We didn't intersperse the writing unit throughout because my son wasn't ready for the writing portion. He would have been by the end of the year. But since I was using the program a grade level ahead with a reluctant writer, a typical 3rd grader could probably handle it interspersed. Grade 4 doesn't have that issue. It mixes the writing into everything.

[2_girls_mommy]

The one heads-up I'd give about R&S 3 is that all the writing lessons are in the last unit! By then, we are all getting tired and the year is almost over. When I did it the second time through with my daughter, I interspersed those writing lessons in with the earlier units. So we did Unit 1 and then did a few of the "writing" lessons. I think the first ones are mostly dictionary work. Then we did Unit 2 and a few more writing lessons. Etc. That way I could also have her practice those writing skills in other subject areas. Do not leave writing until the very end!

 

 

That is something to think about. We just finished R&S 3 last year, and I didn't like all of the writing at the very end either.

 

Ok, we have done R&S from the beginning. We always do the oral review from the TM. This is one of the best features of R&S. It really drill the concepts, and you don't have to plan that review and drill. It is right there for you to read off every day. The kids really memorize the helping verbs and all of the other stuff by going over it every day. I had a teacher that did this with us in school, but not until middle school. But I can still chant lists of helping verbs and other lists because of her. I love that my kids are getting the same thing.

 

Then we do the oral part of their book, then the writing. In R&S 3, I mostly had my dd do the odds or evens out of her book in writing. I too believe in having them write it out most days, but it is clearly more than most kids need to grasp it. So doing half works for us.

[musicmommy]

We do the oral review from the teacher's guide because I've found that it does help my boys focus on the subject at hand. It's nothing intense though. If they've forgotten something, I just remind them what it is.

 

Then we read through the lesson together. Although, I usually paraphrase quite a bit.

 

We'll do a couple of practice problems on the white board and then I'll assign their independent work. Usually, I will just assign odd or evens, but sometimes, I'll just say to do 5 (or some other random number). I generally check their work immediately so I catch a problem early on. If they are struggling with something, then I'll add the worksheet the next day.

 

We do skip several of the writing lessons because we use the writing with TOG and I don't need to over do in that area.

[SnMomof7]

We do it orally (level 2) or else it takes FOR-E-VER! And some on the white board too :).