Opinions on R&S Grammar and HOD question

[parias1126]

I just purchased HOD Bigger yesterday. I am very excited to start it in the next 6 weeks or so. We have always used R&S Spelling and I love it because it gets done quick and my dc are retaining it. They get 100% on every spelling test. They are not so much liking it anymore though because it is extremely repetitive every week and they have asked me to switch. I looked at R&S Grammar yesterday at the homeschool convention while at the HOD table. It looked okay, but we have used GWG for the last 2 years which we do like. Is R&S really that much better? My DS would probably love it since HOD suggests doing a lot of it orally (or at least that's what was suggested to me yesterday if I had purchased it). If you use R&S English, do you do a lot of it orally for the lower levels? How long does a lesson take you? Is it repetitive like their spelling curriculum?

 

Also, as far as HOD goes, they suggested using Level 2 for my DS who will be in 3rd grade. Aren't they grade levels? I was told it was very advanced, but advanced as comparing to what? The public school? If my children were in the public school in 2nd grade, they probably wouldn't had learned what an adverb or direct object was and they surely wouldn't already know how to diagram sentences in 3rd grade. My DD going into 4th has been diagramming this year. My DS would be learning it next year if I stuck with GWG. They don't teach it in R&S English 2.

 

Help me out here? I know I am to the point of rambling now, but I am not sure if I should go with R&S Grammar at grade level or start with level 2 as suggested (if I choose to use this program). If I don't and I choose to go with something else other than GWG next year, then what other programs teach diagramming sentences and are complete and full grammar programs?

Edited March 18, 2012 by parias1126

[boscopup]

Also, as far as HOD goes, they suggested using Level 2 for my DS who will be in 3rd grade. Aren't they grade levels? I was told it was very advanced, but advanced as comparing to what? The public school? If my children were in the public school in 2nd grade, they probably wouldn't had learned what an adverb or direct object was and they surely wouldn't already know how to diagram sentences in 3rd grade. My DD going into 4th has been diagramming this year. My DS would be learning it next year if I stuck with GWG. They don't teach it in R&S English 2.

 

I would not use R&S English 2 for a 3rd grader. They are grade levels, and while the upper levels may be advanced, the lower levels are most definitely NOT. I used R&S English 2 for my first grader and found it too slow and easy. We switched to FLL, and even FLL1 seemed to move faster (and it's repetitive!). I tried again with R&S English 3, which was better than 2, but I was still having to combine lessons that really didn't need to be split up for my son. Granted, he's good at grammar - it comes easily to him. But this was the summer between 1st and 2nd grade, and the 3rd grade program was way too easy. We switched to FLL3, which has a little bit of writing, but not a ton (probably not as much as GWG has). It might be more to your son's liking, actually. It teaches diagramming, and it goes more in depth than R&S 3 does. It is a full grammar program (no writing instruction though - just grammar). My son is writing phobic, and he has enjoyed FLL3. The amount of writing is just enough to help get the grammar into their heads, but not so much to overwhelm. Also, the back and forth with mom really helps cement everything (just feel free to not repeat 3 times if it's not necessary!).

 

I think going from GWG2, that your DS is doing now, to R&S 2 would be a big step backward. He might end up bored out of his gourd if he's not having trouble with GWG2. If you did R&S, I'd suggest at least doing R&S 3, since he's in 3rd grade.

[parias1126]

I honestly didn't like the looks of R&S English, but have never used it so I figured I'd ask here. I knew I'd get some informative responses. My DS is finishing all 3 days of GWG2 in one day. That's how easy grammar is coming along for him. I looked at the table of contents of the R&S English and it looked as though he has already gone past that with GWG and the bit of FLL2 we did before I gave it up half way through (only because it became too much for me with 2 kids doing 2 grammar curriculums. I had thought about going back to FLL for 3rd grade because both kids really do like it. I'm glad I didn't purchase te R&S English.

[boscopup]

I honestly didn't like the looks of R&S English, but have never used it so I figured I'd ask here. I knew I'd get some informative responses. My DS is finishing all 3 days of GWG2 in one day. That's how easy grammar is coming along for him. I looked at the table of contents of the R&S English and it looked as though he has already gone past that with GWG and the bit of FLL2 we did before I gave it up half way through (only because it became too much for me with 2 kids doing 2 grammar curriculums. I had thought about going back to FLL for 3rd grade because both kids really do like it. I'm glad I didn't purchase te R&S English.

 

Yeah, if he's doing 3 GWG lessons in 1 day, R&S 2 would be waaaaaaaay too easy for him. :D

 

R&S definitely teaches grammar thoroughly, and for a kid that struggles with grammar, it breaks it down into easy, bite size steps. For a kid that picks up grammar easily, it's just too slow and boring (again, grades 2 and 3... not sure about the upper grades, as I haven't used them - supposedly it picks up).

[daybreaking]

We're using R&S 3 for our 3rd grader and it's a perfect fit. R&S 2 would have been much too easy. I dabbled in FLL a few years ago and it just wasn't a good fit for us. I've never tried GWG, so I can't compare, but I will say that my ds enjoys R&S. We do much of it orally and that works well for us. Although HOD doesn't recommend the worksheets, we use them. When a lesson has a worksheet, we do the whole lesson orally and then my ds does the whole worksheet written. If a lesson doesn't have a worksheet, we do about 2/3 orally and 1/3 written.

 

We also use R&S Spelling 3. I wont' say my ds jumps for joy with it, but I feel it's effective, so we're going to continue it, along with the dictation in Bigger (and AAS on the side, as I felt he needed the extra practice). From my understanding, R&S ups the ante as their spelling progresses, so even though it's easy now, I know it will be more challenging in future years.

[raceNzanesmom]

You can look online at samples of R&S English, or they'll send you samples. If he fits in 3, then by all means use it, or your own.

 

We use AAS because my ds needs it. It already has dictation. If/when he needs HOD dictation we'll add it.

 

That's one of the wonders of HOD. You can make it work for you and it doesn't really change the program.

[besroma]

We use R&S 3 here and love it. I have already purchased R&S 4 and like what I see. DD enjoys the lessons, is learning a lot, and works at her own pace, doing several lessons sometimes.

 

I do the oral drills with her. If she has a firm grasp of the topic, I assign less of the work in the text. We also use the workbooks, which I like a lot because sometimes that is all she needs to complete.

[Tarreymere]

I think that the difference between GWG and R&S English is that R&S English has the built in oral review every day. I've found that when I do the oral drill with my dd she retains the information much better than if she just filled out a worksheet or two. I also have her do most of the exercises in the lesson orally.

We left FLL for R&S, because dd didn't retain FLL as well as I had hoped. We tried R&S starting with R&S English 3, and it has really improved dd's retention. All that 'repeat three times' just didn't do it for her, but being asked direct questions on the oral reviews in R&S did. She didn't want to get the answers wrong when I asked her.

 

Oh and the lesson doesn't take long. Fifteen minutes or less if you do it orally with a little writing. Sometimes it seems so short we end up doing two lessons so that it takes at least fifteen minutes.

[parias1126]

I think that the difference between GWG and R&S English is that R&S English has the built in oral review every day. I've found that when I do the oral drill with my dd she retains the information much better than if she just filled out a worksheet or two. I also have her do most of the exercises in the lesson orally.

We left FLL for R&S, because dd didn't retain FLL as well as I had hoped. We tried R&S starting with R&S English 3, and it has really improved dd's retention. All that 'repeat three times' just didn't do it for her, but being asked direct questions on the oral reviews in R&S did. She didn't want to get the answers wrong when I asked her.

 

Oh and the lesson doesn't take long. Fifteen minutes or less if you do it orally with a little writing. Sometimes it seems so short we end up doing two lessons so that it takes at least fifteen minutes.

Thank you for this post. I'm going to their site to take a closer look at it. I guess it's between FLL3 and R&S now. Hopefully, I can decide soon.