Shay Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 We completed the R&S 5th book successfully in 6th grade (5th was chosen because ds came home from public school in 6th with no grammar under his belt). My rising 7th grader will transition back into ps for high school (9th), so I have two years left to lay a solid grammar/composition foundation. I won't be able to get him ready, IMHO, unless I skip a level. Otherwise, I'll be sending him to high school with only R&S 7th being completed (perhaps this is fine.) I really, really appreciate the skill build-up in R&S instead of asking students to make leaps on things they haven't been prepped for. So, skipping a level makes me a bit nervous; however, since we started a level lower, I feel we will need to do that. With all of that said: If you needed to skip 6, 7, or 8, which would it be? Keep in mind that the last level would indeed be the last solid grammar/comp he would get before college. (I'm not interested in other programs, as R&S delivers everything I'm looking for in one book. I like it. Ds likes it.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 We skipped from 6 to 8. Chapter 2 was bumpy, and I started to doubt the decision. But after that it has been super-smooth. I had 7 on hand just in case, and we have not needed it. We only do the grammar - not the writing lessons. ETA: We did book 5 in 6th, book 6 in 7th, and book 8 in 8th. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shay Posted May 30, 2015 Author Share Posted May 30, 2015 That is very helpful, Penguin. I'm leaning toward skipping 6 because I want more writing lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 That is very helpful, Penguin. I'm leaning toward skipping 6 because I want more writing lessons. Ah, well perhaps my experience is of limited help since we only used the grammar. But my reasoning was the same; we "needed" to finish Book 8 by high school. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shay Posted May 30, 2015 Author Share Posted May 30, 2015 No, your experience is of great help. Mentioning that you bogged down in chapter two, but sailed through from there is great to know. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 We completed the R&S 5th book successfully in 6th grade (5th was chosen because ds came home from public school in 6th with no grammar under his belt). My rising 7th grader will transition back into ps for high school (9th), so I have two years left to lay a solid grammar/composition foundation. I won't be able to get him ready, IMHO, unless I skip a level. Otherwise, I'll be sending him to high school with only R&S 7th being completed (perhaps this is fine.) I really, really appreciate the skill build-up in R&S instead of asking students to make leaps on things they haven't been prepped for. So, skipping a level makes me a bit nervous; however, since we started a level lower, I feel we will need to do that. With all of that said: If you needed to skip 6, 7, or 8, which would it be? Keep in mind that the last level would indeed be the last solid grammar/comp he would get before college. (I'm not interested in other programs, as R&S delivers everything I'm looking for in one book. I like it. Ds likes it.). Yes, you will be able to get him ready even if you don't skip a level. Completion of "Building Securely" will give him far more grammar and composition instruction and usage than what his school peers will have had, I promise you. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Yes, you will be able to get him ready even if you don't skip a level. Completion of "Building Securely" will give him far more grammar and composition instruction and usage than what his school peers will have had, I promise you. ITA. I think that instruction in grammar and composition in PS is very, very slim. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clear Creek Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Memoria Press skips book 7 (they spread book 8 out over two years). If my kids only made it through book 7 though, I would be fine with that. It is way more grammar than I ever learned! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shay Posted May 30, 2015 Author Share Posted May 30, 2015 Yes, I know the shortcomings of ps grammar, and I consider these years as a golden opportunity to be sure he has a great base. Writing instruction in my ps is just as lacking (I have older dc). Therefore, I want to get ds through the writing component of R&S 8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Once again I find myself in the same position as you - a DD working below grade level in Rod and Staff because she came from a public school with little grammar instruction and even less mechanical instruction in writing. Rod and Staff 4 has much much more grammar instruction than was given in public school, and the higher levels of Rod and Staff have way more, as you know. The composition instruction is also better in that it taught mechanical details of writing, and it was incremental, so they could build on the previous skills. However, public school here requires so much more in terms of quantity output than most homeschool curricula. Not only that, but they have a very specific form of composition they require (they require the five paragraph essay), and by God you better be able to crank out that five paragraph essay really well, grammar and punctuation be damned. All this is to say, I am struggling with the same questions as of right now. I decided not to skip levels at all, and just plug and chug through the books sequentially and build her skills sequentially, even though it will mean she is "below grade level" according to Rod and Staff. What I do to speed up the process a bit is skip certain lessons. For example, we skip all the lessons on a Bible concordance (we won't use them), we skip all the lessons on writing up directions (she's really good at that and needs no further practice), we skip lessons on book reports (she's just not gonna be writing a book report ever again). On some lessons where she is really proficient, especially in the beginning of the book, we will do two lessons a day and only do every other example in those lessons, instead of the whole lesson. While I know this will not get her up to grade level, it will get her a little bit further than she would otherwise be, and she will still have a very solid foundation in grammar and writing mechanics. What I have also done is supplement Rod and Staff with an additional, on-grade-level writing curriculum, so that she'll be building writing skills that are on grade level while at the same time remediating her grammar and mechanical skills. I know a lot of people say don't worry about grade level, just meet her where she is. I do see the value in that. However, Mr. Reefgazer would not be happy if she fell below grade level on some skills while remediating other skills. I would guess for you this is really an important consideration, since your DS is going back to public school and will need to keep up with his peers. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shay Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 Update for future readers of this thread :) I opted to skip R&S 6 and go straight into 7th. We have been at it for 3 weeks and it is going just fine. This route was chosen because there is more writing instruction in the 7th book, and I don't want another writing program but want English and writing integrated. So far, so good :), and I will update if anything changes as we work through the text. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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