NatashaBrady Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Has anyone made the successful transition from FLL 4 to R&S 5? If you've done this, how'd it go? Did you feel like your child was adequately prepared for R&S 5 after FLL 4? Thank you for any insight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waa510 Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Yes, we have. I did the lessons orally (even the written practice) and then any diagramming was done on the white board (similar to what we did in FLL) for a couple weeks. Trying to keep the routine of the lesson vaguely familiar was helpful but it really wasn't too bad. Now, a lot of R&S was review in the beginning but I liked that b/c Dd was able to focus on the transition instead of the material *and* new book. I recall that the religious sentences really jarred her (I told her it wasn't secular beforehand but she was still shocked) and I even tried to switch to Hake b/c Dd hated the religious bent so much. We went back to R&S b/c the instruction can't be beat, IMO. She's adjusted now and appreciates familiarity with the Biblical names/stories. All this to say, I'm the kind of hser who likes to find a series and run with it forever. I hate switching. Dd is a creature of habit too so it probably wouldn't be a blip on the radar for most kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethel Mertz Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 SWB is finishing Advanced Language Lessons (the sequel to FLL) soon - in case that makes any difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane Elliot Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 I've done that transition with five of my kids. It goes very well. Before FLL was published, I used R&S 3 and 4 with my older kids. One thing I especially appreciate about FLL is that it has kids memorize a list of prepositions. That has made a huge difference for my kids who used FLL before R&S 5. So, in effect, the transition from FLL4 to R&S 5 has been easier and more seamless for my younger kids than the transition from R&S 4 to R&S 5 was for my older kids. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Oh yeah. A jump from any level of FLL to the next level of R&S would go well. Their levels are very comparable in content covered. You can do the lessons orally with diagrams on a whiteboard if you want to keep it feeling like FLL, and/or work on transitioning them over to written work. There are a lot of options to choose from with R&S. The TM has an oral quiz of old concepts, a scripted presentation for the new concept, and a full answer key. The student book has the concept taught before the exercises, a set of oral/class drill exercises, written drill exercises, and review exercises. The workbook offers even more practice for 1/3-1/2 of the lessons for the kids who may need it. Choose whichever parts work best for you and yours. If my kids were doing the lesson orally I had them do every single exercise in their book, and rather than just telling me which verb goes in the blank I had them read the whole sentence aloud. If they were going to write the exercise I still covered the enough of the oral drill section with them to make sure they grasped the new concept. Fwiw, R&S 5 and even 6 are NOT that hard, in spite of their reputation. They start at the beginning with nouns and verbs and work up from there. (We jumped from FLL after level 2 though, which also has you memorize the most common prepositions. The student book they couldn't use without the TM scripting drove mine batty.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NatashaBrady Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Thank you! My dd did Rod and Staff 2 then FLL 3 and will be finishing up FLL 4, so I'm trying to figure out what to do next. The transition from Rod and Staff TO FLL was seamless so I was wondering if it worked the other way around too since I have heard Rod and Staff 5 is much harder. Dd has also done our mother tongue concurrently because that's what they do at co-op and she gets homework each week. So I'm thinking she will be adequately prepared for Rod and staff 5. When does advanced language lessons come out? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NatashaBrady Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 One more question..did you use a separate writing program or just what is in Rod and staff? She is coming from IEW, which she could continue but I'm not opposed to switching either. She might be bored of IEW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 One more question..did you use a separate writing program or just what is in Rod and staff? She is coming from IEW, which she could continue but I'm not opposed to switching either. She might be bored of IEW. I switched DS2 from FLL 4 to R&S 5 and it was seamless for him. Well, for me it involved learning a different program, but it was NBD. I do most of R&S orally and I pick and chose what we want to do. With DS1, I went from FLL 1-4 to GWG 5. I tossed GWG b/c i was just to simplistic and ds hated it after FLL. Then in 6th grade I picked up with R&S 6 and it was still easy peasy. I personally use WWS for middle grades composition. I do not like the writing assignments or the writing instruction in R&S. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgiaH Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 While we love Rod & Staff Grammar(with parts of MCT and BJU :huh:!), we also prefer WWS for writing instruction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NatashaBrady Posted March 21, 2016 Author Share Posted March 21, 2016 Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 (edited) . Edited September 23, 2023 by SilverMoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethel Mertz Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 When does advanced language lessons come out? I can't remember. Why don't you email Peace Hill Press (soon to be called Well Trained Mind Press) and ask them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane Elliot Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Like others here I prefer WWS, but most of my kids haven't been quite ready for it in 5th grade. When that's the case, we do the writing exercises in R&S 5, continue with narrations and dictations, and hold off WWS until 6th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 My older boy didn't use WWS in 5th b/c it wasn't available, but we knew it was coming. We spent 5th grade with him working through WWE 4 and also doing lots and lots of one point outlines in history. I would pick out a 4 or 5 paragraph section of his history reading and have him pick out the main topic in each paragraph. We did that about twice a week, in addition to all the narrations and dictations in WWE 4. It prepared him well for WWS 1 in year 6. We used the K12 text book History Odyssey for outlining. With my younger boy, I took a chance and enrolled him in Expository writing 1 as a 5th grader at WTMA. I took a chance that he was going to be able to do the work. I figured if it was a disaster I could easily move him down to the lower level, and it is easier to move down than jump up. To my surprise he has done very, very well in expository writing 1. I honestly did not expect that to be the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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