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AFthfulJrney
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I've decided on using R&S for English for my 3rd grader after seeing it at a homeschool used book sale and hearing some great reviews on it. However, after perusing the milestone books site, I'm now curious as to how well their spelling and math is for 3rd grade? Or simply in general? I was going to use A Reason for Spelling and Singapore, but now I'm curious about R&S. Anyone have any input?

 

Also, how is their reading program for a 1st grader? Am considering this as well.

 

Thank you!

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I've decided on using R&S for English for my 3rd grader after seeing it at a homeschool used book sale and hearing some great reviews on it. However, after perusing the milestone books site, I'm now curious as to how well their spelling and math is for 3rd grade? Or simply in general? I was going to use A Reason for Spelling and Singapore, but now I'm curious about R&S. Anyone have any input?

 

Also, how is their reading program for a 1st grader? Am considering this as well.

 

Thank you!

 

You can get free curriculum samples, a free catalog, and a free scope and sequence by calling the publisher at (606) 522-4348. :-)

 

I big pink puffy heart R&S arithmetic. The first three grade levels require you to actually teach (excellent, scripted oral "class time" in the excellent teacher manual), for about 10-15 minutes, then your dc does the seatwork. (Fourth grade and up does NOT require you to teach; there are oral teaching lessons in the TM, but it really just states what is in the student text.) People get weirded out because from third grade up, the student materials are textbooks, not workbooks, but it's not really all that bad. On the left-facing page is drill, on the right-facing, word problems and whatnot. Your dc does not need to copy the drill problems; you just have them fold their notebook paper on a line, and hold it on the page right under a row of problems and write only the answers. Easy peasy. The other problems need to be written out, but there is a variety, and there aren't that many. and it's good for the dc to have to write on actual paper for some things anyway. :-)

 

The second and third grade Spelling by Sound and Structure are very simple, only two pages for each lesson; I don't really think they're that important, but it couldn't hurt to do it if you really want something for spelling for that age. It really picks up with the fourth grade book; sixth through eighth are textbooks. I think it would compare well with A Reason for Spelling.

 

Although many people like Rod and Staff's Bible Nurture and Reader series, *I* cannot recommend the first grade materials because of its heavy emphasis on sight reading. You can do just the phonics stuff and leaving out the other, but really, if you're going to do that, you might as well use one of the other excellent phonics products.

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You can get free curriculum samples, a free catalog, and a free scope and sequence by calling the publisher at (606) 522-4348. :-)

 

I big pink puffy heart R&S arithmetic. The first three grade levels require you to actually teach (excellent, scripted oral "class time" in the excellent teacher manual), for about 10-15 minutes, then your dc does the seatwork. (Fourth grade and up does NOT require you to teach; there are oral teaching lessons in the TM, but it really just states what is in the student text.) People get weirded out because from third grade up, the student materials are textbooks, not workbooks, but it's not really all that bad. On the left-facing page is drill, on the right-facing, word problems and whatnot. Your dc does not need to copy the drill problems; you just have them fold their notebook paper on a line, and hold it on the page right under a row of problems and write only the answers. Easy peasy. The other problems need to be written out, but there is a variety, and there aren't that many. and it's good for the dc to have to write on actual paper for some things anyway. :-)

 

The second and third grade Spelling by Sound and Structure are very simple, only two pages for each lesson; I don't really think they're that important, but it couldn't hurt to do it if you really want something for spelling for that age. It really picks up with the fourth grade book; sixth through eighth are textbooks. I think it would compare well with A Reason for Spelling.

 

Although many people like Rod and Staff's Bible Nurture and Reader series, *I* cannot recommend the first grade materials because of its heavy emphasis on sight reading. You can do just the phonics stuff and leaving out the other, but really, if you're going to do that, you might as well use one of the other excellent phonics products.

Thank you so much for your very helpful response! We use the Pathway Readers for reading practice and my DD loves them, so I'm hoping their English is a good fit as well. It's always a little intimidating trying something new, but I figure if I like other products of theirs that I have tried, I'm sure I'll like the math and so on as well. I'm just really having a hard time choosing a spelling program for my daughter and finding a great way to teach my 6 yo DS how to read!

 

Thanks again for taking the time to respond! It's truly appreciated!

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I use the grammar and spelling and really love both.  I use the spelling a grade level ahead because the 2nd grade one was so easy.  My girls have handled it well, but all kids are different.  I agree that 6-8 spelling really kicks it up and teaches a lot of valuable things.

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I use the grammar and spelling and really love both. I use the spelling a grade level ahead because the 2nd grade one was so easy. My girls have handled it well, but all kids are different. I agree that 6-8 spelling really kicks it up and teaches a lot of valuable things.

Thank so much for your response.

 

So, since my DD is going into the 3rd grade, would I be better off ordering the 4th grade spelling books for her? She's already started to sound out and spell on her own, so something a little more challenging I think would be good for her!

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Although many people like Rod and Staff's Bible Nurture and Reader series, *I* cannot recommend the first grade materials because of its heavy emphasis on sight reading. You can do just the phonics stuff and leaving out the other, but really, if you're going to do that, you might as well use one of the other excellent phonics products.

Ellie, I was looking at their samples on-line yesterday and saw a lot of the sight reading, too. What do you think about the Pathways series? I was looking at that in comparison.

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I found the spelling late. My kids finished up AAS and were doing other spelling things.  I wish I had put them back in a lower level.  Instead we jumped in at level 5.  They did 6 too.  It's very deep into the word and their origins/sounds.  Don't feel like you have to rush ahead b/c of the word list.  What they do with the words is more in depth than just learning to spell the words.  

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Ellie, I was looking at their samples on-line yesterday and saw a lot of the sight reading, too. What do you think about the Pathways series? I was looking at that in comparison.

 

All of the Mennonite/Amish materials emphasize sight reading over phonics.

 

If you use the Pathway readers just for reading, without the workbooks, they are fine (until about 4th grade, maybe 5th?, when the readers begin emphasizing Anabaptist history). If you use the workbooks, then yes, there will be sight-reading stuff. If you follow the teacher guides, which most hsers don't, you're supposed to teach specific words first, usually without any phonics instruction, and do some activities with those words, then have the dc read the passage, then do the rest of the workbook activities. That is clear sight-reading methodology.

 

You could use the R&S readers from second grade on, and they'll be fine, because then they are stories from the Bible, and they teach skills such as drawing conclusions and making applications,  good reading habits, making assumptions, skimming, and so on. The upper-level readers teach those kinds of things, too. (This is all in the scope and sequence.) 

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I found the spelling late. My kids finished up AAS and were doing other spelling things. I wish I had put them back in a lower level. Instead we jumped in at level 5. They did 6 too. It's very deep into the word and their origins/sounds. Don't feel like you have to rush ahead b/c of the word list. What they do with the words is more in depth than just learning to spell the words.

So, would you recommend for my third grader whose never had any type of formal spelling, to start with her grade level?

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So, would you recommend for my third grader whose never had any type of formal spelling, to start with her grade level? 

I would recommend she start at grade level. :) I really like R&S Spelling and English. I do not have any experience with their other subjects.

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All of the Mennonite/Amish materials emphasize sight reading over phonics.

 

If you use the Pathway readers just for reading, without the workbooks, they are fine (until about 4th grade, maybe 5th?, when the readers begin emphasizing Anabaptist history). If you use the workbooks, then yes, there will be sight-reading stuff. If you follow the teacher guides, which most hsers don't, you're supposed to teach specific words first, usually without any phonics instruction, and do some activities with those words, then have the dc read the passage, then do the rest of the workbook activities. That is clear sight-reading methodology.

 

You could use the R&S readers from second grade on, and they'll be fine, because then they are stories from the Bible, and they teach skills such as drawing conclusions and making applications,  good reading habits, making assumptions, skimming, and so on. The upper-level readers teach those kinds of things, too. (This is all in the scope and sequence.) 

Thanks for your insight. I've got a 6 year old who definitely has some learning problems. She's got the hang of sounding out some CVC, but after a year of phonics instruction (we started with A Beka, but she gets nervous when put on the spot and prefers to work independently so we switched to Christian Liberty Press, but got kind of bogged down with that) she still doesn't know all her letters. So, I thought I'd start again and my sil raves about R&S's materials for younger kids (we have used their grammar series all the way up) so I thought I'd give that a shot.

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Thanks for your insight. I've got a 6 year old who definitely has some learning problems. She's got the hang of sounding out some CVC, but after a year of phonics instruction (we started with A Beka, but she gets nervous when put on the spot and prefers to work independently so we switched to Christian Liberty Press, but got kind of bogged down with that) she still doesn't know all her letters. So, I thought I'd start again and my sil raves about R&S's materials for younger kids (we have used their grammar series all the way up) so I thought I'd give that a shot.

 

Then I would *definitely* NOT do R&S.

 

OTOH, I'm not surprised that a child who is just 6 doesn't know all of her letters, so unless there are other things which lead you to believe that your dd has some "learning problems," I'd be reluctant to label her already.

 

My go-to recommendation for teaching children to read (and spell) is Spalding. 

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