Rod & Staff English

[pamd]

I need to know from those of you who have used Rod & Staff English if a student can read and do the student book without a teacher's book. I guess what I am trying to say is can he learn this independently. Grade 5.

 

Thanks

[AHASRADA]

I have used both Grades 3 and 4 without a teacher's book. The material in the student book is very clear and straight-forward, and I don't think there is a great deal of instructional material in the teacher's book that is really necessary (it is created for teachers in a classroom).

 

The only vital info. in the teacher's book would be the answers to the exercises. If you are following along in the book with him, you should be able to figure them out. If you find it would be helpful to have an answer key, you could always purchase the teacher's book later on.

[Hsmomto4]

For book 5 or higher I would say yes, unless you are an English whiz. The book isn't really for lesson plans, but you will need the answers for the student work.

[songbirdie]

Yes, you can. The only thing to consider is if you want all the answers. It sounds easy to just find all the answers yourself, after all you do know how to do everything in the 5th grade English book. But. . .when I really got into it and had to diagram every sentence myself it really was simpler to just look in the teacher book and see very quickly if he got the right answer. Thankfully, we had the teacher book. But as far as doing the work independently without instruction from me from the teacher book, yes - that worked for us. We had grades 4, 5, and 6 R & S.

[pamd]

Thank you all for answer. I do have the teachers book but I just don't want to have to be there and read to him. I was wanting for him to be able to do his math and R&S English pretty much on his own. I will be readly available for any questions, but I really want him to take responsibility for his own education. I have really been there to much and he has become completely dependent on me and I want to have that time together. I don't just want to throw it at him and leave him alone. I don't mind reading along with him in my teachers book and asking the questions and have him answer. I just want him to take alittle more responsibility. Does that sound crazy. lol I guess I am trying to say our homeschool has not been good because I am a push over and he munipulates me really bad and calls me on almost every question and he knows the answer just for the attention. I feel he is getting to old and needs to be alittle more independent. I don't ever want to just hand him his work and say let me know when your done and we will go over the answers. I want to spend time with him. What to do?:001_huh:

[chepyl]

Thank you all for answer. I do have the teachers book but I just don't want to have to be there and read to him. I was wanting for him to be able to do his math and R&S English pretty much on his own. I will be readly available for any questions, but I really want him to take responsibility for his own education. I have really been there to much and he has become completely dependent on me and I want to have that time together. I don't just want to throw it at him and leave him alone. I don't mind reading along with him in my teachers book and asking the questions and have him answer. I just want him to take alittle more responsibility. Does that sound crazy. lol I guess I am trying to say our homeschool has not been good because I am a push over and he munipulates me really bad and calls me on almost every question and he knows the answer just for the attention. I feel he is getting to old and needs to be alittle more independent. I don't ever want to just hand him his work and say let me know when your done and we will go over the answers. I want to spend time with him. What to do?:001_huh:

 

You could read the lesson together, so the sample(s), and then leave him to do the rest and bring it to you to discuss when he is done.

[robsiew]

We use R&S very independently. My 10 y/o in Grade 5 reads the lesson from the book himself, answers the questions I mark for him to answer in his notebook and that's that. Once I correct it, we go over anything we need to... if there's nothing I say, "Great work!" and leave it at that.

 

My 9 y/o using R&S4 still needs me to read through the lesson with her and work sample problems. She's not quite as independent... but I don't teach the lesson from the TE... we just go over the lesson together in her student book.

 

I think turning over their entire education to them at 5th grade is not wise, but really.... 5th graders can do most things independently if trained to. My 5th grader does almost everything independently and we have an hour or so "meeting" a day to go over everything. I correct his work, we go over anything he has questions on or got wrong and I set him up for the next day's work. He is always welcome to come to me during the day if he needs something/has a question, but it is his responsibility to mainly work independently. He's learning a LOT by having to do this! I think it's all good! ;)

[Ellie]

The authors purposely wrote the English and math series so that children can read the texts on their own and do the work (first through third grade math excepted). The oral exercises and whatnot in the TM are optional, although of course having the answers is useful. :-)

[pamd]

Robyn,

Thanks I think that is what I am going to try and do. I really don't want to but I feel it is in his best interest to start being more independent in his learning and like you said I am here for any questions but I want him to try and start trying to figure things out before calling me. Thanks for all the responses. I am not comfortable but my dh thinks I really need to cut the apron strings as he puts it. He feels he plays me alot and he knows what he is doing even when he asks questions. I am naive enough to think oh my baby needs me and can't figure it out. lol

[5LittleMonkeys]

I have found that when my dc work mostly independently with this program it is still extremely beneficial to at least do the oral review each day (takes like 2 or 3 minutes). It helps cement some concepts and helps for you to make sure that your student is retaining the information.

[pamd]

Thanks everyone. I am going to try it this year. I appreciate all your imputs.:grouphug:

[Janasjots]

Thought I'd join you on the right board. :001_smile:

I would agree with Aimie. My kids do the reading on their own then bring the book to me for oral exercise before they do the written. I find it important for a couple of reasons. It really gives me a good idea of whether they've grasped the concept before they spend the time writing out wrong answers to everything. It saves them frustration of having to do everything again correctly. If they really get it without any problem on the oral section, I can eliminate written exercises, pick and choose parts from the review, or tailor it to where they are in a matter of seconds. Making sure they do the oral part first before I start cutting sections helps because there have been times when planning the week that I didn't anticipate any problems for them and would have cut quite a bit but they ended up struggling where I didn't think they would.

And as to having them be more responsible for their own work, I bought the teacher's manual this year because I think they're old enough to start grading their own work. So we'll see how that goes.

[ChrissySC]

Yes. The material needed to complete the exercises and practice are explained in the student text with examples that model the concept.

 

We do things a little bit differently. I have dd complete the oral exercises in her head or on scratch paper. She retrieves the teacher book and checks her answers. We complete all of the worksheets for grade as well as the tests. The actual proof of learning comes from these two booklets and not the practice or review in the books. While we complete exercises in the book for better understanding, we do not make any attempt to keep these papers. I consider it classwork for the purpose of learning and not evaluation.

[pamd]

Jana,

Thanks so much. From all the imputs that is exactly what I am going to try. I want to spend time with him that is one reason we homeschool. I also want to know what he is learning and grasping and where we need to work. Thanks again for all your help.

[2_girls_mommy]

You could read the lesson together, so the sample(s), and then leave him to do the rest and bring it to you to discuss when he is done.

 

This is how we do the English and math. We do the oral review and oral lessons from each book. Then dd does the writing and math exercises independently.

 

My dd is different though. She would prefer to do the exercises completely independently, and have me just hand her the book. But I want her education to be interactive and relational. So we compromise by doing the above.

 

BUT R&S is conducive to independent work. Probably 1 day a week I look over the lesson and see that is just review or completely self explanatory and hand it to her to do alone.

[Paintedlady]

We're using R&S English 5 this year and while I would love to have the kids use it independently, I think this year is more of a transition year where I'm going to do the lessons with them now, at the start of the year, and slowly move them into more independence as the year goes on.