Rod & Staff English users... stop after book 7 or book 8?

[ereks mom]

What does book 8 add to what is covered in book 7?

[Grace is Sufficient]

Book 8 contains a lot of review of earlier material, of course. You could certainly go through it at a fast pace, skipping sections that have been mastered. It does introduce a few concepts that I don't think Book 6 has, for example the loose, balanced, or periodic sentence structure. The associated exercises have the potential to improve writing skill.

 

HTH

[Grace is Sufficient]

My kids go through Book 8 in two years... 9th and 10th grade (and they don't do everything in it, either.) That way it doesn't replace other needed literature and composition study, but just works as a continual light review and strengthening in addition to the rest.

[74Heaven]

My two dtrs (now 9th/11th) went thru only Book 7 over 2 years, alongside IEW & a Literature book club. They did Book Grade 7 when they were in 7/8th (dtr 2) & 9/10th (dtr 1). However, we did continue some grammar with BJU Gr 11 English (1 semester). I had trouble choosing the correct BJU high school level as ea dtr has excellent grammar skills, but diff. writing weaknesses. I finally went with Gr 11 BJU primarily because I wanted the American Literature that is 2nd semester and I had to choose Gr 11 English to get that.

Lisaj

[Beth in Central TX]

I'm working through R&S grammar 8 in preparation for next year. Here is a list of the new concepts:

 

Dashes

Parentheses

Brackets

Retained objects

Dangling participles

Relative Adverbs

 

Forty-four of the 124 lessons deal with composition. Persuasive arguments are introduced.

 

I've been focusing on diagramming since it's my weakest area, and I found that there's a lot of diagramming in their 8th grade grammar book.

 

HTH!

[SusanAR]

We stopped after completing book 8 and had a huge celebration :lurk5:

 

 

Susan

[Laura K (NC)]

Two of my boys will complete book 8 before high school, the third boy will complete it halfway through the 9th grade year.

 

I think writing and vocabulary and literature take so much time in high school, to put a heavy emphasis on grammar earlier saves valuable time later on. In high school we're not doing a grammar program at all, but as my kids write papers I address grammar issues as they come up in practice. So far, I've not seen any significant lapses in my son's usage, and I attribute that to the reinforcement that book 8 gave him in 8th grade.

[LisaNY]

I stop after book 8. More than enough grammar, IMO. :001_smile:

[MomsintheGarden]

Maybe I'm guilty of grammar torture, but I made my oldest two children do the 9th & 10th grade books. They seem relatively unaffected, except for a slight twitching when they see a diagram.:) Both did a lot of IEW writing, so I didn't have them do many of the R&S writing assignments. I did require them to read through those lessons, though.

 

My son didn't enjoy the 9th & 10th grade books. He could have gotten an As on his tests, but he didn't pay enough attention to directions and details on the tests, which are quite tricky.

 

My daughter, who plans to minor in English, liked the 9th/10th books. She is very rule- and detail-oriented, so they were a good fit. She feels she is prepared for any grammar issue, and that they were great for getting ready for standardized testing and the PSAT.

 

I can't tell you what's new in the 9th/10th books after 8th. All I did was grade their tests.

 

And yes, I will probably have my younger children do those books, too.

 

Garden Mom

(I'm feeling better now that I have come out of the closet about my grammar torture.)

Edited November 6, 2008 by MomsintheGarden
Spelling

[Denise in NE]

I have one dd who has completed RS through the 8th grade text, and one who will complete the 8th grade text this year. (I will insert here that, while we did do some of the composition assignments, our main focus for this was IEW).

 

My 10th grade dd is now on her second Analytical Grammar High School Reinforcement book. Each book contains 18 short lessons so I assign one lesson to be completed over a 2 week period. Each lesson contains exercises in grammar usage and punctuation - along with some challenging diagramming (which she loves to do). It is enough to keep grammar "fresh" while she focuses on composition.

 

Even though 10th grade dd was glad to finish the RS books, she knows how beneficial they were to her - especially after a grueling year of Speech class at our local coop. I would recommend staying the course through the 8th grade text.

 

BTW I did purchase the RS 9/10th grade books; but I decided, after looking them over, that they were overkill.

[Denise in PA]

My two teenagers continue to study Rod and Staff Grammar. I find that my eleventh grade son needs grammar reinforcement so the 9th and 10th grade book is on his docket for studying. My ninth grade daughter is also studying the R &S series.