Rod & Staff English users.......questions for you!

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We are going into our second year homeschooling come Fall and I've decided to switch both kids from Easy Grammar to Rod & Staff English for grammar next school year. I have a rising 7th grader who will do R&S 6 and a rising 4th grader with dyslexia who I am planning to use R&S 3. I'm trying to figure out scheduling, etc & have Questions!

 

1) How long generally do you find the lessons take?

2) Do you do the lessons 5x per week or less?

3) Should I buy the worksheets, etc. (I have the TM&student text)?

4) How do you all "do" the lessons and/or what have you found to work best with your kids?

5) For those with upper elementary/middleschool kids, how far in R&S do you plan to go before switching to another program or not doing anymore "formal" grammar program?

6) Who uses the composition portion, and do you like it? Or do most of you skip it and only use the grammar part?

 

Thanks for any advice/input!

 

Paula

[SilverMoon]

1) How long generally do you find the lessons take?

15-25 minutes

2) Do you do the lessons 5x per week or less?

You'll finish the book early if you do that. There are enough lessons to last the school year if you do 4 a week.

3) Should I buy the worksheets, etc. (I have the TM&student text)?

That's up to you. They're just extra practice for 1/3-1/2 of the lessons; they're not vital by any means.

4) How do you all "do" the lessons and/or what have you found to work best with your kids?

Depends on the age and/or skill of the child. There is an oral quiz in the TE, oral/class practice, and written practice followed by a review section for every lesson. Not every kid needs all of that, but even my brightest kids do every bit of it for some concepts. I take it on a case by case basis.

5) For those with upper elementary/middleschool kids, how far in R&S do you plan to go before switching to another program or not doing anymore "formal" grammar program?

I plan on finishing the entire series, unless the writing in the upper grades gets to be too thick to combine with the Classical Writing I'm more committed to. The higher levels focus more on writing and less on grammar.

6) Who uses the composition portion, and do you like it? Or do most of you skip it and only use the grammar part?

Mine use the composition lessons, and I've been happy with them. They apply them to their writing they have to do anyway for history and such, but I don't make extra assignments just to practice the R&S writing skills since we're also doing Classical Writing.

[Clear Creek]

My experience is based on grades 4 and below.

 

1) How long generally do you find the lessons take?

10-20 minutes on average, 30 minutes at most (this includes all oral class time and written work)

2) Do you do the lessons 5x per week or less?

We do the lessons daily, so 5x per week. I have seen schedules that stretch them out in order to make the book last longer, but we would rather just be done with the book in 130 days. :D

3) Should I buy the worksheets, etc. (I have the TM&student text)?

I like the worksheets; I use them to replace the written portion of the lesson (which means less writing for my children). There isn't one for each lesson, but there is usually one for each new concept.

4) How do you all "do" the lessons and/or what have you found to work best with your kids?

We always do the oral review (in the TM) first; since the course is mastery based (each chapter just covers one topic in-depth), this helps the children not forget what was covered in the earlier chapters. We read through the lesson as written in the student book, do the oral drill, and then I assign any parts of the written practice and review that I think my child needs to work on and any worksheets for that lesson.

5) For those with upper elementary/middleschool kids, how far in R&S do you plan to go before switching to another program or not doing anymore "formal" grammar program?

I have 5th grade sitting on my shelf for next year; I plan on using the program all the way through (or until I think they know enough and it would not be the wisest use of our time to spend the required time on it).

6) Who uses the composition portion, and do you like it? Or do most of you skip it and only use the grammar part?

I use the composition lessons. I feel that it is valuable instruction and it really helps my children's writing. I am not the best at assigning more of the same types of writing across the curriculum and throughout the year (even though I fully intend to!), so we supplement with another writing curriculum. I don't feel that it is overkill, we just don't do an assignments in the writing curriculum on the days that we have composition lessons in R&S.

 

[brill123]

Good topic.Now want to start same topic for Pathway readers and CGE...;)

[MrsMe]

Good topic.Now want to start same topic for Pathway readers and CGE...;)

 

LOL me too! But I don't think they talk much.:tongue_smilie:

 

On the other hand, we are doing Pathway Readers 5 and we love it! It takes 20-30 min tops. The stories give for great discussion.

[romeacademy]

I've only used grades 3 and 4 (then got dissatisfied, then came back for younger kids).

 

1) How long generally do you find the lessons take?

We do lessons orally, so usually 15-20 minutes.

 

2) Do you do the lessons 5x per week or less?

3-4 days per week, because I skip most of the writing.

 

3) Should I buy the worksheets, etc. (I have the TM&student text)?

I have the worksheets and use those to replace the written lessons.

 

4) How do you all "do" the lessons and/or what have you found to work best with your kids?

I start with the oral review in the TM, read through the lesson with dc, have them do the lessons in the student book orally, then have them do any worksheets that are available.

 

5) For those with upper elementary/middleschool kids, how far in R&S do you plan to go before switching to another program or not doing anymore "formal" grammar program?

So far only through Grade 4, using Grade 5 for next year. Not sure how far we'll go.

 

6) Who uses the composition portion, and do you like it? Or do most of you skip it and only use the grammar part?

I skip composition and use IEW, although we do sometimes at least talk through the ideas (recently one lesson was on choosing stronger verbs).

[raceNzanesmom]

1) How long generally do you find the lessons take?

15-20 minutes, most done orally in the lower grades, a bit longer in the upper grades.

2) Do you do the lessons 5x per week or less?

Usually only 4 days, sometimes 3.

3) Should I buy the worksheets, etc. (I have the TM&student text)?

I bought them, didn't need them.

4) How do you all "do" the lessons and/or what have you found to work best with your kids?

We do most orally. I leave a few for them to do on their own, esp review.

5) For those with upper elementary/middleschool kids, how far in R&S do you plan to go before switching to another program or not doing anymore "formal" grammar program?

We finished level 8 in 11th grade- but hadn't started it until 8th grade. For my younger ds, it'll be whenever level 8 is finished.

6) Who uses the composition portion, and do you like it? Or do most of you skip it and only use the grammar part?

We did, but also added some things like Hands on Essays, etc.

 

Thanks for any advice/input!

You're welcome!

[Janasjots]

1) How long generally do you find the lessons take?

About 15-30 min. if my kids don't complete the entire written practice.

2) Do you do the lessons 5x per week or less?

We shoot for 5 days a week with quick lessons so that we have wiggle room for sick days. We also use ISHA's Daily Grams because they are great daily review of mechanics, sentence combining, etc. that keeps those skills sharp. It's only about 5 min. per day. If you do that, you can pretty much ax the last chapter or two of R&S's book. I prefer to have the daily skill practice on that skill set than the two chapters at the end of the book.

3) Should I buy the worksheets, etc. (I have the TM&student text)?

I bought them with the 3rd grade and they were helpful but not essential. They're only helpful if you're thinking you may struggle with some concepts. They were great for my daughter with learning difficulties and for my son when first introduced to the concepts at the 3rd grade level. We haven't used them past that.

4) How do you all "do" the lessons and/or what have you found to work best with your kids?

For 3rd grade and 4th grade, I sat with my children and read the lesson out loud, worked through the oral drill to make sure they understood the lesson, then had them selectively do the written practice. By selectively I mean that there are many times parts to the written practice that are exactly the same as the oral drill. Since I was only working with two students and not a full classroom, I had a very good idea if they had already grasped the subject. If they got it, they didn't need do waste time on the written practice. If they needed a little more practice or it was something like diagramming, they did the written portion. If your student struggles to remember proper sentence form like capitals, punctuation, etc. the written practice of copying sentences will solve that so you may want to have them write things out even if it seems unnecessary.

Now that they are 5th and 6th grade, they read the lesson on their own and let me know when they are ready for the oral drill. We see how much they understand and I assign the written practice based on their understanding. They have worked through two years of R7S already and their understanding is solid so it goes pretty quickly.

5) For those with upper elementary/middleschool kids, how far in R&S do you plan to go before switching to another program or not doing anymore "formal" grammar program?

At this point I am planning on finishing the 8th grade book and looking into the 9th/10th book. From the internet it looks to focus mostly on review of grammar and teaching composition skills. I would like to focus our composition time on another program so we won't be doing that book most likely.

6) Who uses the composition portion, and do you like it? Or do most of you skip it and only use the grammar part?

We pick and choose. It's a good, solid basis for logical thinking in composition. We skim over the parts about friendly letter format, book reports, etc. but the sections on paragraph order of importance, order of time, etc. are pretty helpful, especially if you've got one of those kids that just writes and writes without stopping. We are combining the writing with IEW this year and next year will probably be moving into Classical Composition. So yes, we do read through it and work some of the oral exercises but don't labor over the assignments. We take the concepts and put them into our history or science projects and apply the lesson there. Some of the R&S writing assignments are the "Why do I have to write about that silly subject" kind of topics.

[MamaBear]

:lurk5:

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Awesome response! You guys rock! I have a really good idea know going into this, and can schedule it accordingly. I'm going to peruse through the books this summer so that I'll be ready for Fall to get rolling on it.

 

Thanks again for the great and thoughtful posts on this to help this newbie;)

 

Paula

[Cosmos]

1) How long generally do you find the lessons take?

15-25 minutes

1) How long generally do you find the lessons take?

10-20 minutes on average, 30 minutes at most (this includes all oral class time and written work)

1) How long generally do you find the lessons take?

We do lessons orally, so usually 15-20 minutes.

 

1) How long generally do you find the lessons take?

15-20 minutes, most done orally in the lower grades, a bit longer in the upper grades.

1) How long generally do you find the lessons take?

About 15-30 min. if my kids don't complete the entire written practice.

 

 

Wow, I'm surprised to read this. We'll be starting R&S soon, and I have allotted 45 minutes for a lesson. I'll certainly be pleased if it only takes half that time!

 

Do you read the whole lesson out loud or just highlight the main ideas? It seems like just reading the text and going over the examples would take 10-15 minutes. My ds is a slow writer, so I'm sure the written work will take longer for him than some.

 

I guess I'll find out soon. We'll be starting our first lesson on Friday.

[Kel & the Kids]

I'll post since it seems we do it a bit differently but enjoying it all the same. I'm finally learning Grammar and I'm excited about it! :tongue_smilie:

 

1) How long generally do you find the lessons take?

15 minutes tops for my students

 

2) Do you do the lessons 5x per week or less?

We started at 3x a week but have moved it up to 4 or 5 depending on our week.

 

3) Should I buy the worksheets, etc. (I have the TM&student text)?

I bought the worksheets for level's 3 and 5 but haven't used them. I do use the tests.

 

4) How do you all "do" the lessons and/or what have you found to work best with your kids?

My dc do the lesson on their own and I've gone through the text book and marked what numbers to do for each written portion, like "odds" for ex. Since I have 4 kids to use the books, I figured this was a good use of my time :001_smile: I mark their work everyday so I know if they are "getting it" or not. If not we do oral work the next day on whatever they need help with and the oral review portions at the end of the chapter.

 

This means I do not "teach" the lesson beforehand but I find they generally do not have problems more than 1x/week if that and then get a "tutoring" lesson. We do most of our subjects like this and it works well for us.

 

5) For those with upper elementary/middleschool kids, how far in R&S do you plan to go before switching to another program or not doing anymore "formal" grammar program?

 

My 6th Grader is in R&S 5 since we started late (he did 3 also). My 4th Grader is working in R&S 3, same reason. We'll probably go at least through R&S 7, but since I don't know Grammar I'll have to see! I've got plans to start my little girls on schedule with R&S 3 slow, skip 4 and move into 5 in grade 5ish.

 

6) Who uses the composition portion, and do you like it? Or do most of you skip it and only use the grammar part?

I just started doing this part but it seems very straightforward and easy-enough to do so we'll stick with it through 5 anyway.

 

Anyway, just a different idea of how to get it done! Blessings!

[Mommy22alyns]

1) How long generally do you find the lessons take? 15-20 minutes

 

 

2) Do you do the lessons 5x per week or less? 4x per week

 

3) Should I buy the worksheets, etc. (I have the TM&student text)? I have them and use them all the time.

 

4) How do you all "do" the lessons and/or what have you found to work best with your kids? I go through the oral review, read the lesson with DD, and tell her what sections I want her to do. We rarely do all of a lesson, but we do most of it.

 

 

 

5) For those with upper elementary/middleschool kids, how far in R&S do you plan to go before switching to another program or not doing anymore "formal" grammar program? I'll use it all the way or until I think she knows enough.

 

 

 

6) Who uses the composition portion, and do you like it? Or do most of you skip it and only use the grammar part? I use the composition part just for a little extra exposure & practice. We use WWE for most of our writing.