mommagruber Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I'm ready for an entire curriculum change! Ugh! I have a 7th grade ds, 6th dd, 3rd ds and 2nd dd. Am thinking of using rod & staff as base curriculum for everyone (supplement with living books, etc) with exception of art - using Artistic pursuits. I would love any feedback, thoughts or reviews. TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaHappy Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 For all subjects? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommagruber Posted December 14, 2011 Author Share Posted December 14, 2011 Yes, all subjects is what I'm leaning towards. We currently use mus (children don't like it very well and I end up doing the teaching rather than watching the DVDs, which is fine with me, but I think the DVD is the point in mus. :0) Climbing to good English, we like it okay. Wordly wise (2 out of the 4 like it, but don't seem to retain much) AIG science Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommagruber Posted December 14, 2011 Author Share Posted December 14, 2011 It is also very affordable, which I need with 5 children and reusable...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanne in MN Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 We've only used R&S for grammar and as good and solid as it is, the continuous religious/farm/home/garden/brother this/sister that in all the sentance examples and assignments get old. I don't think I could handle the same mentality in every subject. I don't have any experience with the rest of the subjects and I'm probably too eclectic to stick with one curriculum provider to give you an objective point of view anyway. Good luck with your decision! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m0mmaBuck Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 We've only used R&S for grammar and as good and solid as it is, the continuous religious/farm/home/garden/brother this/sister that in all the sentance examples and assignments get old. I don't think I could handle the same mentality in every subject. I don't have any experience with the rest of the subjects and I'm probably too eclectic to stick with one curriculum provider to give you an objective point of view anyway. Good luck with your decision! :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 We tried it one year for second grade - it was incredibly boring to do all subjects from R&S. We stuck with parts (grammar, phonics, math) and switched for other subjects. It was not only boring for my daughter - it was boring for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarreymere Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 It works for us. We use Pathways readers instead of the R&S reading. We think the Mennonite culture portrayed in the curriculum is cute. Right now we are using R&S English, Social Studies, Science, Spelling, and Music. When we finish this MM level we will transition to R&S Math as well. We have kept SOTW and Adventure Tales of America as well as WWE for now since we haven't finished what we have. DD8 likes R&S since she can do so much independently. I make her a schedule of what work I expect to be completed that week and she enjoys crossing things off and moving to the next thing. This is a big change for us from something like AAS2, which we liked but was very teacher intensive. I can see maybe supplementing science and heavily editing some of the social studies, but I still think the curriculum is a good bargain. We are readers, and tend to read a lot of other books for enjoyment, so it isn't like the poor kids aren't exposed to a lot of pretty pictures, but I can see where it may be a concern for some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5 Hikers Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 We tried all R&S for 2nd grade. The Science is very light. The Social Studies felt more Canadian based than American to me. I wondered why it included so much on Canada. Not that Canada's not an interesting country but we live in America so I would like them to learn about it. I liked the English, Spelling, and Bible a lot. The readers are good. The math is a solid program. They do defefinitely require use of the TM, you won''t understand the math without it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaHappy Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I haven't used that much, but what I have used I really, really like. Currently using English 2 and the grade 1 reading/phonics. I love both! I just ordered the grade 1 math set, I like the looks of it. I'm seriously thinking about using more R&S materials next year. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 We love R&S for the core subjects: Math, English, Spelling, Phonics. I also use the music workbooks, but supplement heavily. They teach some music theory, but no composers, styles of music, etc. So I have another book I use as a spine for that. I have used the entire 1st grade R&S curric. I love it for 1st graders learning to read and write (or even for those who can read and write already, as there is just so much good stuff in the program) but I haven't used the reading after 1st when we switch to real books ala WTM. I have only used the 2nd grade science, and it gets a big thumbs down from me. I use it only as a supplement to other studies w/my 2nd grader, not as her entire curric. I haven't purchased any other grades of science. I don't use the social studies. I am not interested in their mennonite views or social studies in general. But I have used math K-5th at this point. We will stick it through til 8th and switch to Alg. I will also use the spelling and english all the way through. And I love the thoroughness and no nonsense of the phonics for 1st and 2nd as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 oh, I thought of another. We use the penmanship. I am on the fence on this one. I bought it because it is an old fashioned cursive style that is ornate and pretty IMO. But I have some issues with my dd's writing. Somehow when she does her cursive it doesn't translate as well as theirs. They make the lowercase p's almost or as tall as the lowercase t's. I think it looks weird, but I can't talk her out of doing it, since that is how she has learned. I also think her lowercase b's don't close enough to tell what they are half the time, but she refuses to make them look a little rounder, because she will pull out her penmanship book and show me that she is making them like they do. But in all, her writing can be very pretty and ornate, which is what I wanted. The p's and b's are not a huge deal in the long run. I just didn't notice that I didn't like it when we started. I didn't like the 1st grade writing that went with the 1st grade reading. There were two to choose from. I chose the one that matched the reading. It ended up having a lot of tracing. I have read that that is not a good way to teach writing, so I regretted that purchase. So if I had to do it again, I would have more thoroughly researched and chosen a different handwriting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Yes, all subjects is what I'm leaning towards. We currently use mus (children don't like it very well and I end up doing the teaching rather than watching the DVDs, which is fine with me, but I think the DVD is the point in mus. :0) Climbing to good English, we like it okay. Wordly wise (2 out of the 4 like it, but don't seem to retain much) AIG science Well, English, spelling, math and science are pretty good, albeit on the dry side (especially for English). If you generally use materials from Christian publishers, R&S's emphasis on Christian values, use of Bible verses, etc., shouldn't be a problem for you. I haven't used the Bible Nurture and Reader series materials because I don't use vocabulary-controlled basal readers. However, some people use them because of their Bible content as sort of a Bible study instead of readers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keyjoh62080 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 SUPER booooring for all subjects. Math and English are great and all that we could handle from R & S. We couldn't stomach the Social Studies/History & Science. They were incredibly dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stm4him Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I really like the Math, but we are planning to use it as a supplement for Saxon. MP recommends their Math so I am sure it is complete all by itself. The English is great! The Science and Social Studies are great in 2nd grade, probably the Science is fine in all the grades. The Social Studies has a very pacifist view to it beyond 2nd grade, but I think it is ok to introduce this view and explain your own positions where you may disagree. I would consider supplementing with more history vs. social studies. I personally don't like their approach to phonics and spelling, however I do like the Bible Nurture readers themselves. I'm sure the comprehension activities are fine. I prefer a Spalding/Orton-Gillingham approach for spelling and phonics. You might want to consider looking at Memoria Press packages. They use some R & S and they format their guides similarly using simple, uncluttered pages with nice illustrations. HTH! stm4him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 What I might use depending on the child: Math - all grades English - all grades Reading - my last two were late readers and though I love the books, we did not use them to learn to read. We kept the books for reading practice (grades 1-3). Social Studies - grades 3-5. I did not like the layout of grade 6 (Latin geography first half, history second half). The later grades contain more Mennonite history than we are interested in. Science - grades 3-6. Grade 7 is newer but does not flow as nicely as the younger grades. One thing to consider - the books take up a LOT of space. We don't have a school room and so I have student books and teacher's manuals stashed all over the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I have only used R&S for English. I think it is a great program and very solid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medieval Mom Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 We're using the third grade English, Spelling, Science, Penmanship, and Music. Ds loves them all :) I guess what's dry and boring to some is interesting to others! ;) Check out the reviews on HomeschoolReviews.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeaCookiesBears Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 :iagree: dd12 loves vintage style things and loves rod&staff English but I do think if I did everything Rod&staff she would go crazy. The jury is still out w/dd5 but as it stand I think it would be a good match for her at this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommagruber Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 Thank you all so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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