Can I use R&S English text as a workbook?

[Ruby Rose]

I see the main complaint about this program is the amount of writing and busy work. Is it possible to just let the student do the exercises in the book? I mean it's on $13. I'm looking at English 3.

[Ellie]

I wouldn't do it.

 

IMHO, there isn't any "busy work;" if the child doesn't need as much practice in something, it is assumed that the teacher will assign less work. Also, some of the assignments don't require as much writing as you might think at first glance; sometimes the instructions are to write just the correct pronunciation, or just the prepositional phrase, or to correctly capitalize any words but not write the whole sentence.

 

There just isn't room in the text to do the writing most assignments require.

 

Having to write on actual paper is profitable for penmanship practice, and all of the writing counts as writing, KWIM?

 

If I thought my child were not ready for the writing, I'd do something else altogether, rather than try to make the text into a workbook. My younger dd wouldn't have been ready for it, but my older dd would have. I used R&S English texts in my little school, and the 3rd grade children were able to do the assignments.

[SilverMoon]

You can do that in Rod and Staff's math 3 book, but there isn't really enough room in the English book. I just randomly flipped open to lesson 26. The first section wants them to write a few people nouns, place nouns and thing nouns. There's a picture beside it and no room to write those nouns. The next exercise is choosing nouns to complete sentences. There are lines to represent the missing word, but they're not big enough for my dd using this book to actually write the words on. The review section at the end has lists of words to alphabetize. Unless your 7yo can write as small as the text there's no way that one is fitting on the page either.

 

There's no busywork in that lesson, and the writing volume is easy for my 7yo. She's actually doing an average of two lessons a day from that book right now. (Her choice.)

 

Try putting the writing on a whiteboard if he's writing phobic. Whiteboards seem to have magical properties.

[KrissiK]

I agree with the previous posters, ther is physically no room in the book to write the answers. If yu don't want to do all the exercises written, then do some orally. We also do our diagramming on the white board, since my boys still have trouble with that.

[Ruby Rose]

Thank you!

[Mallory]

I agree that there isn't usually room to write in the book, occasionally there is a lesson with lots of "write the word" problems that I will photocopy and have the boys circle the answers. It doesn't work that often, but they really enjoy it when it does ;)

[boscopup]

You could get the worksheets if you wanted, though I think one benefit to R&S English IS the practice writing. Don't assign everything. I usually assign roughly half the exercises.