RS vs FLL?

[allm52]

jumping in with a long-time lurker question...

 

thoughts on Rod & Staff vs First Language Lessons for grammer?

 

for 2nd & 4th grades.

[ALB]

I'm not really any help since we just did FLL 1 and then switched to R&S for 2. I found FLL a bit too simple for us (but that was book 1, so probably not a good comparison). I like that we can do R&S orally, or that I can assign however much writing I want to for each lesson. It does have a very strong Bible emphasis, and I can easily see how that would bother anyone who prefers to school secularly.

[boscopup]

I didn't care for R&S 2. I thought it was incredibly slow (keep in mind that my oldest is an accelerated learner and gets grammar easily). We did one unit of R&S 2, then switched to FLL1, which actually moved a BIT faster (but was still very repetitive), then we went to FLL2. It was much better than FLL1 and more advanced than R&S 2. We did half of that, then tried R&S 3, which was better than 2, but I was still having to combine some lessons (I think R&S would be excellent for an ESL student). After one unit of that, we went to FLL3 and enjoyed that. We also started throwing in KISS Grammar, which I LOVE. I'm now using some R&S 3 again for writing practice mostly. The grammar itself is still easy for my son, but it's giving him practice with correcting sentences, filling in a word or phrase with original thinking (original writing terrifies him), and using proper punctuation for quotes and such. I assign a handful of exercises to write. Using R&S orally seemed useless for us, but writing the exercises is useful. It's kind of like copywork for him, except that he has to think about it a bit (with normal copywork, he doesn't have to think, and he never copies anything incorrectly).

 

FLL goes a bit deeper in topics in levels 2 and 3 compared to the same levels of R&S. You can jump in at grade level in either program. A lot of people don't like R&S 2. Seriously, it was 6 weeks of sentences vs. phrases (which took my son ONE lesson to understand). Likewise, FLL1 was 45 lessons of common vs. proper nouns (again, took one lesson to understand). YMMV, of course! As I said, this is a child that gets grammar easily. My child that likely won't get it easily (still uses strange word order and incorrect noun/verb agreement at age 5.5) isn't doing grammar yet, and R&S may be really good for him, including R&S 2.

[Tess in the Burbs]

We did FLL 1&2. We got Rod & Staff 2 and 3 the next year b/c FLL 3 wasn't out yet. My kids hated it. R&S 2 was super slow and my dd was bored out of her mind. We tried the MCT stuff but while fun to read they just didn't learn it enough to apply it.

 

So then we did a year of a grammar workbook from the bookstore. They loved that, lol :001_huh: And Then we only did Daily Grams for a year to focus on writing.

 

This year I had them go back to FLL 3. They liked it. However, both have chosen to go to R&S next year. :001_huh::001_huh::001_huh:

 

Dd will do 4 and ds 5. Ds was willing to do FLL 4 but it's easier if both do something from the same publisher. If I have to read it aloud they both need to do it, lol :lol:

 

But We have done both. I like each or different reasons. I have learned some things this year with FLL 3. I do not like having to read the script to teach it. My kids would prefer to have a lesson and do the work on their own pace. So we will go back to R&S but do a lot orally and minimize the writing portion. My ds hates writing out all the sentences in some sections, so we do adjust how much work to do based on what he knows.

 

I will say jumping around in grammar hasn't been an issue for us either. Having not used anything more than a year lately worried me but they know grammar pretty well thank goodness! :D

[SilverMoon]

Both. :001_smile: My rising second grader will use FLL, and my rising fourth grader will use R&S. The fourth grader will have finished FLL 1-3 before beginning R&S 4.

 

I prefer the snuggle-on-the-couch book (FLL) for little ones, and one more level of doing the lesson primarily orally (3) gets them off to a great start. By 4 they're ready for more work, and not having their hand held every itty-bitty baby step of the way.

[allm52]

thanks for the input - will have to ponder.

 

the rising 4th picked up all of the basics on the first lesson of each and doesn't need 45 lessons of each; however, the rising 2nd does need the repetition! lol.