Wonder Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 DD9 will be finishing up Rod & Staff 4 this year. While we've liked it okay, I've wanted to have a bit more time to focus on writing with her. Lately she has done R&S mostly independently, but needs some help on some completely new topics. I'm considering using Easy Grammar next year. Would I jump into Easy Grammar 5 from R&S 4? And, if I do go this route, would I be able to jump back into R&S 6, after completing Easy Grammar 5? Or would we need to do R&S5 following EG5? I'd love to hear any thoughts on this, especially if you've had a similar experience. Any comparisons between these two programs would be greatly appreciated. I'd also love to hear opinions about the importance (or non-importance) of learning sentence diagramming. The only other Grammar I've considered is Abeka. My DD likes the colorful layout and look of it, but I'm wondering if there's not enough instruction? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonder Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 Anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 I'll take a shot at answering your question and hopefully a bump will help garner more responses too. I don't have specific knowledge of R&S grammar, but my personal experience is that most standard grammar programs repeat very much year to year. I generally wouldn't see a problem with moving from one standard program to another and just staying at grade level. Also, I am realizing that, for most students, grammar instruction isn't necessarily needed each and every year. I believe I have heard that R&S grammar picks up in intensity quite a bit in the middle school years, not sure if that is level 6 or 7, though. My opinion after using Easy Grammar 4 with my DS is that a student can be nearly independent with Easy Grammar as long as you check their work after every lesson. That is, all or nearly all of the pertinent instruction most students would need is in the EG student workbook rather than being confined to the TM. Easy Grammar does have a simple layout and is not colorful, with just plain black and white pages, if that's important to you. BTW, I really like Hake Grammar for its thorough, clear, concise instruction, written to the student, and it only takes my DS about 15 minutes to do a lesson. If the spiral review is too much, it is easy to adjust. Again, though, Hake is not colorful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 DD9 will be finishing up Rod & Staff 4 this year. While we've liked it okay, I've wanted to have a bit more time to focus on writing with her. Lately she has done R&S mostly independently, but needs some help on some completely new topics. I'm considering using Easy Grammar next year. Would I jump into Easy Grammar 5 from R&S 4? And, if I do go this route, would I be able to jump back into R&S 6, after completing Easy Grammar 5? Or would we need to do R&S5 following EG5? I'd love to hear any thoughts on this, especially if you've had a similar experience. Any comparisons between these two programs would be greatly appreciated. I'd also love to hear opinions about the importance (or non-importance) of learning sentence diagramming. The only other Grammar I've considered is Abeka. My DD likes the colorful layout and look of it, but I'm wondering if there's not enough instruction? Thanks! If you want only grammar, then you don't want ABeka. Easy Grammar doesn't assume prior grammar knowledge, so yes, I'd say your dd could easily go into Easy Grammar 5. And then she should be able to go back to R&s. You know, of course, that there really is a great deal of writing in R&S's English series, especially if the dc are required to do their assignments in writing and not orally. The instruction and assignments *really* pick up with the 7th grade text. And all of the other topics that are covered make R&S English quite comprehensive. Oh, and FTR, I don't think diagramming is that important at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonder Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 TarynB, how much writing instruction is there in Hake Grammar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 TarynB, how much writing instruction is there in Hake Grammar? There is some writing instruction, not a lot, and we don't use it. The writing lessons are not integrated into the main textbook. The textbook contains the grammar lessons, and there's a separate workbook that contains the writing lessons plus some extra grammar practice pages. My son's Hake 7 textbook is 110 grammar lessons (including spiral review) over about 665 pages. The workbook has 31 writing lessons over about 80 pages. (BTW, both books are paperback and the pages are printed on thin paper, so they probably wouldn't be durable enough to be non-consumable and passed down, for most families. This is probably my only complaint about Hake. I allow my DS to write in the textbook.) ETA: You can see samples and tables of contents at the Hake Grammar link in my sig if you're interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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