Rod and Staff

[phathui5]

In the 2008-09 thread, it seemed like a lot of people listed different Rod and Staff things in with their curriculum.

 

If you use it, why did you choose it? What did you like about it? Any dislikes?

 

Where do you buy it from?

[hsmamainva]

I love their English program!!

 

The grammar and writing instruction is excellent!! (*I* had to start going over the books myself before I could teach it -- starting with the 5th grade book!)

 

I also love the fact that, other than spelling and reading / literature, everything else they need for English instruction is in one re-usable text.

 

I purchase mine from Anabaptist Books. He has a website and sells both Rod & Staff and Christian Light textbooks.

 

(Otherwise, you can call Rod & Staff directly and order by phone or request their catalog to order through the mail).

[PollyOR]

I first started using their English texts, because they were recommended in TWTM. I loved the simplicity and how the student was being taught other subjects while learning grammar. So, when it came time to choose a new math program, I decided to give their math texts a try. I liked those so much that I've gradually added other Rod and Staff texts (reading, spelling, history, etc.).

 

I like to order directly from Rod and Staff. They have wonderful service and fast shipping.

 

I have also ordered from http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com . I have met the owners at our local convention and they also have great service. What I really appreciate about their website is you can look at sample pages of the books.

 

Our different religious beliefs are a slight draw back. I use it as an opportunity to discuss with my children why I believe what I do.

[Heather in OK]

We use their Math, Phonics and English.

 

One of the things that initially drew me to using it was the price. The only thing we have used as a consumable are the Phonics workbooks.

 

We've stayed with it simply because I've found it works really well for each of my dc (so far). I have one that understands new concepts very quickly so we don't need the repetition and can skip some things. My second dd needs the repetition so we haven't skipped anything.

 

I order from the Anabaptist Bookstore as well.

[Scuff]

I got the K books for DD and she loved them. So I decided to try them and bought the whole 2nd grade for my son this year. (we had been using a mismash of things that I switched a ton of times and hadn't settled on) I *love* some things.

 

Reading: I love that it's Bible based. He's getting a solid foundation in the Bible. It seems to be the right level of challenging. It's gotten easier as the year's gone on, and his reading has really taken off. The work mostly has a purpose, not repetetive busywork. Some of it is, and I let him skip sometimes, but most of it's useful to some degree.

 

English: I've heard it's very thurough. It's very gentle, which seems liek it'd be good for slow and fast learners. It's easy to tweek to speed up. Or with a slower child, it'd be a good pace. Either way, they *know* grammer when they're done.

 

Math: Ugh. Don't ask me, I find it incredibly boring. I don't care for the cute, unnecessary posters. DS likes putting bees on the poster, though, so what do I know :) It seems to move incredibly slow, though. But I've heard good things about it being thurough. I think it'll work well with DD, but with him I feel like it's holding him back and not pushing him to his full potential. On the positive side, he is learning his math facts.

 

SS- I don't do this. We do have the books, and he does them on his own when he wants to. Same with Science. He really likes the science book. It's about nature. It does tend to be regional.

 

All in all, we'll be keeping the reading and english. And the books are so cheap we get ss and science for fun extras. Math, who knows. HTH

[Cindy in WA]

Rod & Staff Math is my favorite math program. It is solid arithmetic that prepares well for high school and life. It has plenty of practice with lots of review. It works for strong, as well as, struggling learners. It works well within the age development of children. There is enough instruction without being too much.

HTH

Cindy

[Chris in CA]

:iagree:

as well as excellent TM's, we've used it from 1-7, starting 8 in the fall. Excellent prep for hs math

[sweetbaby]

We use it for the same reasons as everyone has already written. We use R&S' Math and English. I love the TM. It is very easy to use. I love the mastery approach of the math. It works out well with my dc. The English is very thorough and it's very affordable.

[Closeacademy]

If you use it, why did you choose it? What did you like about it? Any dislikes?

 

It is thorough. The math works great for my child who has a hard time with math. The phonics line up fairly well with SWR phonograms so I can get some review there without torturing my little ones by working through the lists when their penmanship skills are just not there yet. It is all also really inexpensive.

 

Where do you buy it from?

 

I buy it from Rod and Staff directly using the phone number. In the spring they have a sale.

[chiguirre]

We use R&S Math, Pathway readers and Climbing to Good English. I chose these programs because they worked for ds. I think the reason that these programs work so well for us is that they were designed for use in small school situations where the teacher may not have much experience. They have lots of teaching suggestions without being too scripted. They have enough practice for almost any child, but it's easy to skip some of it if a child doesn't need it. This is particularly true of Math 1 and 2 where you can add in extra worksheets or not.

 

The readers are amazingly well written considering the vocabulary limitations. They slowly add more words until a child is able to read something like Little Bear or Henry and Mudge. The workbooks are useful for phonics reinforcement and comprehension exercises without being overwhelming. Climbing to Good English adds in grammar skills for a complete LA package. This series has no religious content. The family in the stories is clearly Mennonite, but there are no bible stories and even less doctrine.

 

I buy my books from Rod and Staff books, but Rainbow Resource carries Pathway reading and CTGE.

[deeinfl]

We loved the Math 1 so much that we decided to use Math 2 for this next school year. It is thorough and so developmentally appropriate for a little one. I like that it's gentle, yet it's not overwhelming and I know that for some people it's slow, but there is a nice build up of skills leading into the 3rd and 4rth grade books. It is totally evened out by the fourth grade, I know, I have the books. :P It's a nice balance of mastery, with just a tiny touch of spiral.

 

This next school year we will also be using their 2nd grade spelling, and their second grade social studies as an introductory geography course. I am excited because I have heard really good things about Rod and Staff spelling.

 

What I love about Rod and Staff...gentle, thorough, reasonable, and written by people who have godly morals and values. So far, that works for me.

 

Unlike many on the board, I didn't like the English series. I use Ace for that and that works for me for now. I use an old Silver Burdett series for our writing assignments. I buy my R&S materials at rodandstaffbooks.com

 

Blessings!!!

 

Dee

[lvbeingmom]

I love the English books! For someone who was not all that good at it in my younger years, it works great. I am lucky to buy it used (that is if someone re-sells it back) from a local homeschool book store.

 

I am looking for a new math program, I think I will have a look at R&S.

 

Tami

[JAS]

I just switched my 5th and 2nd graders to R&S Math and English. In general, I use R&S because the TMs are very detailed and easy to follow, the concepts presented rapidly progress toward full understanding (I can see where they are headed and they get there without a lot of fanfare), the lessons aren't too long or too short, and the lessons are organized in such a way that it is easy for me to skip concepts that they already know. That was difficult for me to do with Saxon Math, which was one of the big reasons I switched.

 

English: For the 2nd grader, the lessons are just the right length and the topics interest her. Each lesson builds on the last without being excessively repetitive. My 5th grader likes R&S English because it has regular writing assignments. It also has oral exercises that can be done on the whiteboard, which she tunes into more than just me talking or paperwork. I love the fact that 5th graders learn to diagram sentences. It seemed so useless to me when I was in school, but now I see how much it helps you get your head around the structure of a sentence and the parts of speech.

 

Math: The 2nd grader loves the little pictures that the TM tells you draw on the board (lilies, bees, etc.). I chuckled when I read the other posting that mentioned this because I thought the dd would hate them, too. She eats it up. They have a couple of pages of worksheets front and back for each lesson. You can pare them down as needed but it is good to have them for extra practice in certain lessons. The lessons flow at about the right speed for her. They are very down to earth, basic skills. I get the sense that we are really making progress with this program. I did not get that sense with the last program. It's hard to describe, but it just seems more concrete. I haven't received the 5th grade editions yet, so I can't add anything about them.

 

I buy from http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com/. They have been timely and professional.