Building Christian English

[My4arrows]

Has anyone used this? We would be beginning at the 2nd or 3rd grade level. We'd be switching from fll which I don't think is a good fit for us.

[ALB]

We have used levels 2 and 3 and parts of 4 after FLL for 1st.  Personally, I like it better than FLL.  It's good and thorough, with lots of built in review.  

 

You can also purchase worksheets and tests inexpensively.  The downside is that it would be a lot of writing if you required a kid to write out every single exercise.  I just chose the ones I thought were the most valuable for writing out and then we did the rest orally, or I'd assign odds or evens to be done.  Alternatively, you can assign the worksheets instead of the book exercises, which contain significantly less writing.  Be careful not to cut out too much of it though, since grammar is best learned through writing (IMO).

 

As far as levels go, 2nd and 3rd grades are pretty similar.  As far as I remember, 3rd covers basically the same topics, just a bit more in depth.  I would start a kid in either of those grades at grade level.  

 

 

[RosieCotton]

I am using both RS 2 and 3 right now with my boys, and it's extremely thorough.  Not to just echo the PP, but it really is. I am so happy to get out the books each day because they work.

They are learning more from it because they are writing things out daily. We liked FLL 1 and 2 but just needed more I guess or a different approach.

 

I also don't make them write out every exercise (you hear that alot here!) or it would be too much writing. I pick and choose as well.

 

Once they get into the flow of the pages, it is easy to assign daily --, just to keep them focused after you teach the new things.

Review is built in.

 

The teacher's manual is organized very well, and has good suggestions in it. Easy to follow.

 

I have RS 4 waiting to go in the fall for my oldest and looking to buy 5 as well.

 

I would highly recommend it.

We also sprinkle in Writing Strands 2 and 3 lessons here and there which is a nice add for writing assignments that are interesting to them.

[My4arrows]

Thanks for your thoughts. We enjoyed FLL 1&2 but it's just not clicking. I was going to buy 3 but decided to look for something different. This may just be what we need for next year. Seeing that 2&3 are similar I'm thinking I can start with grade 3 for my 3rd and 1st grader? My 1st grader is advanced and has gone through fll 1&2 with ODS.

[ALB]

Personally, I'm not sure I would do 3rd with a rising 1st grader.  You would have to tailor it quite a bit, making it much more teacher intensive on your part.  The later levels do get tougher, and usually even advanced kids are right at grade level rather than moving up a year in it.  

 

If you really want to do it that way, I guess you could just have the younger one do most of it orally, or using the worksheets instead of writing out the exercises, with the expectation of repeating the level for him/her next year.  I'm just doubtful it would work in the long run to work 2 grade levels ahead in R&S.

[MeAndTheBoys]

Thanks for your thoughts. We enjoyed FLL 1&2 but it's just not clicking. I was going to buy 3 but decided to look for something different. This may just be what we need for next year. Seeing that 2&3 are similar I'm thinking I can start with grade 3 for my 3rd and 1st grader? My 1st grader is advanced and has gone through fll 1&2 with ODS.

If you want to do them together, I would put them both in grade 2--it is much gentler.  Grade 3 repeats everything from Grade 2 at a faster pace and adds more.  We used Grade 2 when DS1 was in Kindergarten (but he was an old K-er--turned 6 in June) and it was a good fit.

 

We used R&S English for DS1 Levels 2-5, and for DS2 for Levels 3&4 (after FLL 1 & 2).  I like it a lot, but it is somewhat teacher-intensive.  We always did the oral reviews from the TM, then discussed the new lesson, did some of the exercises orally, then I had them do some on paper.  I had a toddler around the last year we used it, and it was getting hard to complete the "together" stuff, so we have used Christian Light Language Arts for the past two years--very similar scope and sequence, but set up for independent work.

 

We are going back to R&S next year for grades 6 & 7, and I will probably put my youngest into the Grade 3 book (I think I sold or donated my Grade 2, so he'll probably use CLE up until Grade 3).

 

I like to buy the worksheets--they don't cover everything in the text, but it usually covers about half--so that eliminates some of the necessary writing.

 

Very solid curriculum, easy to use.

 

B

[MeAndTheBoys]

Personally, I'm not sure I would do 3rd with a rising 1st grader.  You would have to tailor it quite a bit, making it much more teacher intensive on your part.  The later levels do get tougher, and usually even advanced kids are right at grade level rather than moving up a year in it.  

 

If you really want to do it that way, I guess you could just have the younger one do most of it orally, or using the worksheets instead of writing out the exercises, with the expectation of repeating the level for him/her next year.  I'm just doubtful it would work in the long run to work 2 grade levels ahead in R&S.

 

Yeah, adding to that--I mentioned my K-er did R&S English 2 and it was fine.  BUT.  Over the next three years, we took about a year and a half to complete each book--the rumor is that if you complete through Grade 8, you have completed everything that most students cover by the time they graduate from high school.  So there's no "shame" in being a year or even two "behind" in these books.  DS1 was in the Grade 5 book in 4th grade (but again--he's "old" for his grade, fall birthday).  He's going to do the Grade 7 book this fall in Grade 7, and I won't be pushing to finish it in one school year.

 

B

 

[My4arrows]

Personally, I'm not sure I would do 3rd with a rising 1st grader.  You would have to tailor it quite a bit, making it much more teacher intensive on your part.  The later levels do get tougher, and usually even advanced kids are right at grade level rather than moving up a year in it.  

 

If you really want to do it that way, I guess you could just have the younger one do most of it orally, or using the worksheets instead of writing out the exercises, with the expectation of repeating the level for him/her next year.  I'm just doubtful it would work in the long run to work 2 grade levels ahead in R&S.

 

Thanks for this insight.  I'm actually more worried about my 3rd grader keeping up since he is not a writer at all.  My 1st grader is one to often write on his own and at length.  He's also ahead of ODS in spelling, so I'll look into maybe beginning in the second grade book.  Or else we'll do the third, but take it slower.  I'm not in a huge rush to finish a book a year, but more based on their level/abilities.

[RosieCotton]

I think you might be surprised at what your 3rd grader can do with the Level 3 materials.

 

It is gentle, they see the same type of exercises over and over, they write a few, say a few out loud, and then after a few weeks they just know what to do with those tasks. The tests are super nice to have, and there are quizzes in the TM as well you can do to check understanding and reinforce.

 

Interested to hear how it works out!