One more question...If you continue with R&S English,

[LillianinAL]

which I plan to do next year for 5th and 6th, do you use just R&S for your writing program or supplement with something else? I like Wordsmith, but I don't want to overload us. I'm not sure if it would be better to stick with the one program, or add to it, and if so, how to schedule both? Thanks, Lillian

[Colleen in NS]

which I plan to do next year for 5th and 6th, do you use just R&S for your writing program or supplement with something else? I like Wordsmith, but I don't want to overload us. I'm not sure if it would be better to stick with the one program, or add to it, and if so, how to schedule both? Thanks, Lillian

 

I'll be using R&S for 5th grade writing, and using outlining and narration skills in history, science, and literature reading. No other writing program.

[LillianinAL]

It's too bad we don't live closer! I'm planning for 6th, 5th, 3rd, 2nd, and PK. Whew! Thanks for your feedback, Lillian

[SheilaZ]

I didn't use a writing program for or 4th or 5th grade.

 

In 6th grade, my oldest was in a co-op and the only class offered in one of the time slots was IEW. So he did that. (I didn't seek out a IEW class. It was just how it worked out.)

 

I limited the writing assignements in R&S because he was already writing every day. But I did want to cover some styles that were not covered in IEW.

 

Next year, he will just use R&S with no other writing programs. At least that is the plan.:001_huh:

[Brindee]

I'll have one in the grade 5 book (and in 6th grade), and one in the grade 7 book (and in in 9th grade). I'm not adding any writing to the 6th grader, but may add some for my 9th grader, just for variety, and because he's in 9th not 7th.

[AllSmiles]

I like to add Classical Writing to the mix starting in 4th grade. I plan an 1 1/2 a day for grammar & writing.

[Melanie]

We've used R&S 4, 5, and 6 alone. Next year for book 7 we will add Classical Writing, but we will not do the R&S writing assignments.

[Rhondabee]

I tried adding Wordsmith to Rod & Staff this year, but my ds (7th) balked at it because it was "adding another subject". I tried to show him that it would basically be the same amount of work as we had been doing with R&S, but he likes having it all in one place, I guess. He's very much a "just the facts" kind of guy.

 

If he had been more open to the Wordsmith, I probably would have cut back on some of our cross-curricular writing because it is scheduled for 4 days a week. Or, I would have had him do more of the R&S orally. As it is, I'm glad we just stuck with R&S. There's so much good writing practice & reinforcement in even the regular lessons, and ds's history and science reports are coming much more fluidly now.

 

hth,

Rhonda

[anewday]

Just R&S and making sure we do the writing assignments. :)

 

We also have narration with history.

[Beth in Central TX]

I use R&S along with CW starting in the 3rd grade. We do most of R&S orally 4 days a week. CW is scheduled for 5 days a week, but depending on the length of the selection, my boys can sometimes get it done in 4 days. My oldest is working through R&S grammar 6, and my middle son is working through R&S grammar 5. They are both doing CW Homer A and Poetry for Beginners A. On a normal day, R&S along with CW takes about 45 minutes to an hour for both boys & both subjects combined; if there's a worksheet involved with diagramming or a long writing selection for the lesson, then maybe an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half. I find that the CW assignments get longer as we work through the week (and as we go through the year). This combination has been very successful for our homeschool. I'm pleased with the results I see in the work we do across the subjects along with the standarized testing scores.

 

HTH!

[LillianinAL]

I am more confident to stick "just" to R&S for now and add something else in later. Lillian