Rod and Staff spelling?

[my4pickles]

I'll be homeschooling my sons (grades 4 and 7) who have been public schooled the entire time. They were never made to have correct spelling in school. So my question is should I start them out on their current grade level or drop below? I had thought about doing grade 3 for my 4th grader and grade 5 for my 7th grader to match their Rod and Staff English books. Do you think this would be a wise choice?

 

Thank you!

Vicky

[2_girls_mommy]

No, the spelling is MUCH easier than the English. The word lists are actually much easier than other programs. If they are decent spellers consider having them work a grade level ahead in the spelling. One of mine works on grade level that has trouble with spelling. The other works a level ahead and says it is still too easy (but I like the work she does with the words..)

[Adrienne_in_TX]

This sounds like just what we're going to do. My boys will be in 5th and 7th, except 5th grader should really probably be in 4th. He started 1st grade at 6, but was a preemie and would have been better off to wait a year. I don't want to give him the stigma of holding him back, so we're going to call it 5th but work at his ability level.

 

All that said, he's going to do RS 3 English and Spelling (since he's behind in LA skills) and 7th grade ds is going to do English 5, but will probably do Spelling on grade level (his LA is on/above grade level, but RS 5 is a significant program). I need to look at the spelling again to be sure.

[SilverMoon]

I'd put them in the grade level you think their average language arts grade level is. For the most part I agree with the previous poster, but if the 7th grader really needs some help with spelling rules I would drop him back to the 6 book. The 7 and 8 books are primarily root based vocabulary with a small side of phonetic spelling, where the 6 book is primarily phonetic spelling. You could plan to move through it faster if needed.