Rod & Staff grammar users (past & present)

[jejily]

S/O from another thread...

 

I see many of you use R&S for grammar. What do you like about it? Do your children moan and groan when it comes out?

 

If you aren't using it anymore, why not?

 

DS will be in 6th grade next year. That will be our second full year of homeschooling. This year we are using Easy Grammar, and like it OK, but I am intrigued by R&S based on all the rave reviews it gets here. We also use IEW for writing, BTW.

 

TIA for your feedback!

[JudoMom]

This is our first year with it, and I'm really impressed. The material is presented in a logical matter and it's very thorough. There is a lot of practice, but if your student understands the material you can skip a lot or do it orally, so it's easy to modify for our needs. If I can't teach the lesson to my boys (my older 2 are both in level 3), they can read the lesson and understand it. I like to teach the lessons, though, because the TM has review questions so it helps them not to forget past material.

 

Mine aren't exactly thrilled when it comes out, but they do it without complaint. And the other night (after he was in bed) my oldest wrote me a note in secret code. He labeled the subject and predicate, and he diagrammed it, so I think it's sticking.

 

When we started, I thought we might only do a year to get a basic foundation. It's working so well that I just bought grade 4 for them next year.

Edited January 23, 2009 by JudoMom

[Harriet Vane]

This program is:

 

--Thorough. I think they cover every grammatical nuance possible, but also do a good job emphasizing what is important.

 

--Simple explanations that provide enough understanding but without a lot of unnecessary text.

 

--Good writing structure instruction. These lessons focus more on actual structure--there is a good framework or skeleton presented.

 

--Tons of review.

 

--One lesson can be accomplished in 15-30 minutes a day. Dd often gets two done in a half hour.

 

--Diagramming really does help a person understand grammar.

[Avila]

Former user here. I used it with my then 2nd grader, and we used 2nd and 3rd grade in one year.

 

Pros: Really good, clear and thorough presentation of the material

 

Cons: A lot of writing to complete the exercises, a fairly "pastoral" bent

 

It turns out that while that DD loves English, she also loves workbooks. This child would spend an hour on her cursive handwriting book but complained about all the writing in R&S. I did try the little workbook they sell and doing some of the exercises orally, but we found that awkward and ended up using Seton English, which is similiar but Catholic and in workbook form.

 

We were also a little annoyed at the whole ruralness of it, but we could have gotten past that.

 

I think it is a great program -- advanced in content, but easy to understand, and very economical -- but I would hesitate to recommend it for kids who are reluctant writers.

 

Shelly

DDs 9, 7 and 5 in our third year homeschooling

[Melanie]

My son has used books 4-7, my daughter books 4-6, and I love it! I've never had to teach a lesson. Everything they need to know is in the student book, so I only have to teach something if they have questions, which is very rare. We do most of the exercises orally, but they've always done the writing exercises and the diagramming on paper. I haven't found the workbooks to be necessary.

 

The kids don't LOVE it, but they don't whine about it because the lessons go so quickly.

 

This year my 7th grader started Classical Writing Homer for Older Beginners, so I've been having him skip the writing exercises in R&S. I still make him read the lesson, though.

[Rhondabee]

What I *really, really* like:

There is constant review. (we need this! ~ymmv)

 

The writing lessons are sprinkled thru-out, so I do not have to plan for them.

 

The writing lessons can easily be used cross-curricularly, and do not take "extra" time in addition to writing about history, science or literature.

 

Do my kids moan? Sometimes. But, they would moan at times no matter what we used for grammar. They are fond of telling me they will never LIKE school (esp. on Friday after a week when nothing has gone very well - LOL!)

 

Honestly, I cannot say that my kids just fly through it. My oldest didn't start R&S until 6th grade, and 6th and 7th grade (especially 7th) were very challenging. This year we are doing R&S 8, and he *is* constantly saying, "Why couldn't they have just explained it like that LAST year? It's so much easier this way!" But, I think the truth is that it only *seems* easier because he is revisiting what we sweated through last year.

 

My 5th grader also has had lots of lessons this year that review concepts he has already mastered, and on those days he sometimes completes the lesson without me. So, I'm not saying it isn't possible.

 

hth,

Rhonda

[swellmomma]

I like how thorough it is, yet simple for the children to understand. I really like the oral review that is scripted at the start of each lesson, my kids need that but I would forget what things to ask them without that script. I get a little bit of complaining, but they do that no matter what the subject is when I teach something new, but over all they enjoy it and are learning a lot from it. I make them write out all answers and they still get through them quickly, which is nice too. DD even got up early one day last week jsut to do her grammar as a surprise for me, she said it was the easiest/fastest subject to do before I woke up. We are using book 3 right now, and have 4 lined up for next year.

[hsingscrapper]

This may be a good program if you start it from the beginning but we got 4th grade for free and started using it and then I found out the hard way that it isn't, in my opinion, a good choice for a child coming from public school.

 

He was struggling with what a noun and a verb are and trying to remember them. Diagramming sentences seemed out of order for what he needed. We switched to A Beka Language A and he's doing much better with it. I'm a firm believer in making sure a student understands the parts of speech before trying to daigram/dissect a sentence.

 

That's just my opinion, though.

 

Happy Homeschooling,

 

Heidi

[Beach Mom]

We are using R&S (6) for the first time this year after years of Shurley English. The moaning about grammar has ceased since our switch. Shurley was too much review for her.

 

The R&S lessons are well scripted with a bit of review at the beginning of each lesson. I go over the lesson with her and then we do some of the exercises orally. We do only a smattering of the exercises, there are tons to choose from in each lesson. If she does well on the selected exercises we move on, if not there are plenty to use for reinforcement. Then she does a few from the workbook. I did purchase the workbook because it minimized the rewriting of sentences and sped up the lesson a bit. If you did most of the exercises and no workbook it would be lots of written work which would cause moaning at our house. The extra few $s for the workbook bought lots of goodwill from DD.

 

There are writing lessons throughout the book. We do use an additional writing program (IEW American History theme).

 

It took some review to figure out which level to place her in. I will be moving my DS to R&S next year. He is finishing Shurley 2 and has a good command of his parts of speech and sentence structure. I am considering skipping Shurley 1 and 2 with my youngest and just starting him with R&S as his first grammar book.

[mom2a&z]

This is our first year of homeschooling and both my kids are using R&S Grammar. My ds is in grade 3 and is finding it easy. He doesn't like writing, so we do some of the exercises orally and he loves the worksheets. My dd is in grade 5 and it has been more challenging. She came from a public school where grammar wasn't emphasized, so it is more work for her but she is getting the material. She has a learning disability in reading comprehension so she can't read the book and then do the lesson on her own. The teacher's manual makes it very easy for me to teach the lessons.

We will definitely be using R&S next year.

Now in our house, we have the grammar police (the kids) so we have to be on our toes. :tongue_smilie:

[JudoMom]

This may be a good program if you start it from the beginning but we got 4th grade for free and started using it and then I found out the hard way that it isn't, in my opinion, a good choice for a child coming from public school.

 

He was struggling with what a noun and a verb are and trying to remember them. Diagramming sentences seemed out of order for what he needed. We switched to A Beka Language A and he's doing much better with it. I'm a firm believer in making sure a student understands the parts of speech before trying to daigram/dissect a sentence.

 

That's just my opinion, though.

 

Happy Homeschooling,

 

Heidi

 

The 3rd grade doesn't make any assumptions about prior grammar, so I would recommend starting there if there is little/no grammar knowledge.

[mamaof2andtwins]

We are former users. I started in book 5 with my then 5th grader who had very little grammar experience. It was painful. If a child has no grammar they need to start in the 3rd grade book. I learned the hard way. Grammar and Englis are not my son's strengths, so I had to do A LOT of teaching. Writing out the exercises was very painful for my son. I have 3 other children, so I could not just do this orally with him.

 

My oldest daughter started in the 3rd grade book and did fine with it. She was okay with writing out the exercises. I also used the 3rd grade book with my twins who are the youngest, but we did it orally. I had more time by then.

 

So, if you have a struggling learners, start in 3rd grade. If you have someone with no grammar experience start in 3rd grade. If you have a child that would struggle to write out the exercises and you cannot for whatever reason do it orally, pick something else. It is a very traditional English program like I remember using in grade school except I did not learn diagramming.

 

We switched to CLE after doing R&S for 2 years. We are much happier with the spiral approach and the workbook style.

 

Jennie

[chiguirre]

We're using R&S 2 and I've pleasantly surprised at how doable it's been for us. It's very incremental and ds hasn't gotten lost. I do wish there were worksheets for 2nd grade, but that's not a big deal given that grammar is "gravy" for us this year. Next year they'll be essential to us being able to do R&S.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

S/O from another thread...

 

I see many of you use R&S for grammar. What do you like about it? Do your children moan and groan when it comes out?

 

If you aren't using it anymore, why not?

 

DS will be in 6th grade next year. That will be our second full year of homeschooling. This year we are using Easy Grammar, and like it OK, but I am intrigued by R&S based on all the rave reviews it gets here. We also use IEW for writing, BTW.

 

TIA for your feedback!

 

I'm not using it anymore because we finished R&S 8 in dd's last year of home school, and that's the last book of theirs that I would consider using.

 

My dd did every piece of R&S, every question, every exercise, every day for three years (books 6-8). We did the lesson together, went over the current memory work (lists of helping verbs, prepositions, definitions, etc) for about two minutes, did the class practice together (alternating, then doing any diagramming together with me writing and her "directing"), then she did the daily work and the review on paper.

 

The only things I ever left out were some writing exercises if we were doing another program (we usually were) and in the 8th grade I transferred some of the review work into another section of her day as a fill-in-the-blank exercise. Oh, and we never did the word mixup stuff that was not typical to our speech such as "let" vs. "leave."

 

She may have moaned a bit at first, but after awhile it was like brushing teeth -- not terribly exciting, but necessary and just not really a big deal in the grand scheme of life.

 

She's in 10th grade now and still thanks me periodically (when she watches her fellow Latin students struggling sometimes unsuccessfully with grammatical concepts and when she breezes through that part of her English classes) for giving her R&S grammar. She doesn't even say, "Thank you for making me do R&S." She says "Thank you for giving me R&S."

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

This may be a good program if you start it from the beginning but we got 4th grade for free and started using it and then I found out the hard way that it isn't, in my opinion, a good choice for a child coming from public school.

 

He was struggling with what a noun and a verb are and trying to remember them. Diagramming sentences seemed out of order for what he needed. We switched to A Beka Language A and he's doing much better with it. I'm a firm believer in making sure a student understands the parts of speech before trying to daigram/dissect a sentence.

 

That's just my opinion, though.

 

Happy Homeschooling,

 

Heidi

 

I think that's a very good point. I worked through the Winston Grammar Basic program with my dd before she plunged into R&S 6.

[usetoschool]

Very thorough but just not a good fit for us because there was just to much - to much reading, writing, and review. We kind of prefer what I guess is called the mastery method of doing stuff. Also, I don't mind using books that include other's beliefs if it is a good program, and this is, but for us there was to much of the culture and morals in every single sentence. Also, to much textbookiness in general about the whole program. It is a great program, just not for us. We have used it off and on for several years in different grades but finally just put it away for good. As a result I have a complete set of teacher's editions that I am not sure what to do with.

[KristineinKS]

This may be a good program if you start it from the beginning but we got 4th grade for free and started using it and then I found out the hard way that it isn't, in my opinion, a good choice for a child coming from public school.

 

I could not agree more and really wish I had known this before we purchased it. My kids are in 4th & 6th, fresh out of public school & are really struggling with R&S. Despite the fact that there's a lot of review - they don't know or remember so many of the things that they're supposed to (basic parts of speech, for example) so they *HATE* the program. Just a few minutes ago they were begging me to buy something else & I have no clue if I should stick it out, or look for something that makes English more enjoyable. I always loved English in school, but find myself dreading it these days.

 

Kristine

[Peri]

I use R&S for grammar and I do like it because it is thorough. You had better believe that a child will definately know what a verb is when they are through with the verb section. Same thing with nouns. It also incorperates how to write formaly.

[Spy Car]

I don't want to side-track the thread, but when people talk about Rod and Staff grammar am I correct in assuming they are referring to the "Building Christian English Series"?

 

Bill

[Colleen in NS]

I could not agree more and really wish I had known this before we purchased it. My kids are in 4th & 6th, fresh out of public school & are really struggling with R&S. Despite the fact that there's a lot of review - they don't know or remember so many of the things that they're supposed to (basic parts of speech, for example) so they *HATE* the program. Just a few minutes ago they were begging me to buy something else & I have no clue if I should stick it out, or look for something that makes English more enjoyable. I always loved English in school, but find myself dreading it these days.

 

Kristine

 

Ds started R&S in 3rd grade with book 3. What really helped him to understand what was going on in the book was the fact that he had memorized the definitions of the parts of speech beforehand. And definition of a sentence, and a few other definitions in the back of First Language Lessons 1 and 2. If you can get hold of a copy of FLL 1 and 2 at the library or from another homeschooler, maybe try having your kids memorize the definitions in the back of the book. Then hopefully R&S will go much better.

[Colleen in NS]

I don't want to side-track the thread, but when people talk about Rod and Staff grammar am I correct in assuming they are referring to the "Building Christian English Series"?

 

Bill

yes

[Spy Car]

yes

 

Thank you :001_smile:

[Annie Laurie]

My oldest was in PS until 4th grade, and then he was unschooled for quite awhile. I tried SL's Grammar Ace when he was in 7th, thinking it looked fun and gentle- it was awful, he was confused because the explanations were so unclear and it jumped all over the place. So we just started with R&S 6 last year when he was in 8th grade. It has been perfect. This year we tried Warriners and got swamped after awhile and went back to R&S, which is so clear and easy to use. Ds was relieved to have R&S back, the review and explanations are perfect for him. (For me too, I didn't learn much formal grammar in school).

 

I really like the no-frills approach to grammar and plan to use it with all of my kids unless it doesn't click for someone. They'll start grammar a little eariler than him so that they can work on other things in high school, but it has been just what we needed to get oldest ds "caught up".

[Peri]

I don't want to side-track the thread, but when people talk about Rod and Staff grammar am I correct in assuming they are referring to the "Building Christian English Series"?

 

Bill

 

Yes, and being that I'm muslim I expected to have to explain a lot of things to my dd. What I found, though was that it maybe had only about 10% religious reffrence (maybe even less than that) and that it really didn't contradict much with what our beliefs are. So I didn't find it to be a problem at all. If you don't want your child to take in the religious refferences then you could simply say that its related to a story and that's all.

[sweetbaby]

We have used it for two years and we love it for the same reasons already mentioned. As for the writing, we do a lot of exercises orally so it never has been a problem. I love that composition is included also and that it's mastery. The Biblical sentences have never been an issue here. My dc actually love them. No all are biblical. Some pertain to farm life, home life, etc.

[WTMindy]

Well, my kids don't jump up and down at how fun it is, but they do it, and I think it is a very thorough program. They have learned a ton from it. I don't really care if they love it or not. :-)

[Rhondabee]

Having started hs'ing half-way thru 5th grade because my ds couldn't recite basic math facts and didn't know how to write a sentence, I know a little bit about what I speak. Part of my first post was trying to warn the OP that R&S is very demanding. Depending on your dc and his experience, it is not necessarily the walk in the park, completely mom-free experience that some here have.

 

And, I agree that ABeka's 5th grade book (which we did in half a year in 5th grade), did help my ds learn the parts of speech very well. I think it was a great thing, and that it did help "pave the way" for R&S-6.

 

But, having said that, I think if you are going to start doing *anything* and you know there are gaps in learning (From public school or whatever), then you simply have to give yourself permission to slow down and extend each lesson until it's mastered. And, you as the teacher have to be willing to extend the practice and drill for your student beyond what the curriculum provides. You have to give yourself permission to put the book aside, if needed, and review and drill and work on whatever is causing problems. The book is merely a resource - you are the teacher.

 

Reflecting back on all the silly songs and accents and games and internet extras and daily review I infused into the ABeka, I think it's safe to say *I* taught my ds his parts of speech that 5th grade year. The particular publisher just happened to be Abeka, but really *any* grammar book would have worked.

 

With echoes of Ria dancing in my head~

Edited January 23, 2009 by Rhondabee

[MIch elle]

I don't want to side-track the thread, but when people talk about Rod and Staff grammar am I correct in assuming they are referring to the "Building Christian English Series"?

 

Bill

 

:lol: :D

[Mary in GA]

We have used R&S starting with level 3, and we are now in level 6. Dd doesn't love it, but she likes it pretty well. She's not one to beg to do anything school related. We do most lessons orally, but any diagramming work is done on paper or on the board. I have learned a lot from this program. Certainly it is more technical than any grammar I ever had in school. The explanations are simple and clear. We will continue with it at least through level 8.

 

Mary

[JenniferB]

We started out the year with FLL3 for my 4th grade daughter without any formal English or grammar training. After a few months using FLL3 I decided it had too much oral practice, and not enough written practice for my daughter. She is a struggling writer, and after avoiding writing for 4 years, I decided it wasn't helping her at all to avoid it. So, I switched to R&S English 4. It has a great balance of oral drill and written practice. It's difficult, but it's going great, and I'm seeing progress in all areas of language mechanics and writing ability. I highly recommend it for a proficient writer or a reluctant writer. For a student who does not struggle in writing, you could still do writing as a separate subject. For a struggling writer it's just the right amount of work to get them writing.

 

My daughter doesn't get excited to do her English lessons, but does them willingly, and a bit reluctantly when there's more writing in the assignment.

 

Recently I've asked her to limit her time on her lessons to 1/2 hour of good quality work, instead of rushing to get it all done, and doing a poor job. Yesterday she turned in a beautiful paper with less mistakes, nice writing, and she got 90% of it done in 1/2 hour.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

I think I refer to it as such because I used it (with very little exception) for grammar. :-)

 

And also as cultural study, of course.

[jejily]

Thank you, everyone, for all this great information! I have been out of the house all day, and have just now had a chance to read through this.

 

I *think* my son has a fairly decent grasp on grammar right now, but I wonder what you all mean by "having a good grasp on grammar." We have been doing Easy Grammar this year (and the last quarter of his 4th grade year, which is when we started hs'ing). He could identify most parts of speech -- preposition, verb, noun, adjective, adverb, infinitive, etc. -- at least, so long as we are in that unit. EG doesn't have daily review of previous concepts, just a cumulative review at the end of each unit (although the student often has to apply previously-learned concepts while doing exercises for the new concepts). I will say that neither of us knows how to diagram a sentence. I knew a long, long time ago, but couldn't do it now to save my life.

 

So... do you think he could switch to R&S English 6 coming out of EG5? (The R&S "grammar" reference threw me, too, when I went to Google it; but most people here seem to refer to it as such, so I did the same in my topic heading.) I can't imagine starting him back in R&S 3 or 4. I wonder if there's a placement test of some sort...

 

Is this a good fit with IEW? We'll be doing the Medieval History writing lessons next year, for the most part. I have never seen an R&S book, so I can't really comprehend all that you are talking about, with the workbooks, the writing, etc. I gather there are a lot of writing assignments, but some of you skip those because you feel the writing is covered sufficiently in IEW, is this correct?

Edited January 23, 2009 by jejily

[Cami in UT]

So... do you think he could switch to R&S English 6 coming out of EG5? I can't imagine starting him back in R&S 3 or 4. I wonder if there's a placement test of some sort...

 

Is this a good fit with IEW? We'll be doing the Medieval History writing lessons next year, for the most part. I have never seen an R&S book, so I can't really comprehend all that you are talking about, with the workbooks, the writing, etc. I gather there are a lot of writing assignments, but some of you skip those because you feel the writing is covered sufficiently in IEW, is this correct?

 

I would go with R&S 5 and not 6. That is the general recommendation, if you read around. It will teach the diagramming that you had a question on. And even if it is a little easy for him, it is always good to err on the easy side than the hard side.

 

My ds10 is in R&S 5 this year and doing IEW Ancient History writing. They go together very well. There is a lot of writing in grammar lessons, which I make ds10 only do half of the exercises. Then there are writing lessons that cover things like outlining, paragraphs, letters, and such. We just skip the "writing lessons" of R&S, they are marked clearly as writing lessons. Because of that we only have to do grammar 3 times a week to finish in one school year. He gets a new IEW lesson once a week. It is plenty for him writing wise.

 

Just had another thought, if it bothers you that be a "year behind" do R&S 5 every day without doing the writing lessons then you would be somewhere in 6 by the end of the year. And could probably catch up without making it feel really like you were trying to catch up.

 

I don't plan on changing next year at all. He is writing easier and making a lot of progress this year. HTH

Edited January 23, 2009 by Cami in UT

[Chris in VA]

R&S is rigorous, and we like it that way! One thing for us, tho, was that we felt the second grade book had too much repetition. Maybe that's why SWB says start in 3rd grade...The more I homeschool, the more I see the wisdom in her recommendations.

We started our 9th grader (at the time) in the 6th grade book, as I wanted him to be a little more familiar with grammar terms before starting Henle Latin. It was a lot of bang for the buck, that's for sure. I would venture to say the grade 6 is about equal to most public school 9th or 10th grade English classes, as far as the grammar itself goes.

[jejily]

Thanks again, everyone, for your responses to my questions. I think y'all have sold me on this!

[djkapp]

I started my 5th and 6th grade boys in r&s 5 last year. We had used Easy Grammar and Daily Grams, but I felt that they were ready for a more structured, thorough treatment of the subject. I have been very pleased with the program. We completed book 5 in a little less than 7 months and jumped directly into book 6. I started by going through each lesson with them, but now I assigned the lesson, and they read it themselves. (We're really working on the independent learning process). I've seen tremendous improvement in their understanding of language and the ease with which they can take apart and put together sentences. After the success, the boys have had. I started my 9th and 10th grade daughters in Book 8 for a solid grammar review, and both of them have told me that they are feeling much more confident of their understanding and comprehension of the subject.

 

Regarding complaining--- while grammar is definitely not a favorite subject, this program is concise, contains plenty of practice, and is presented in reasonable increments so it does seem too tedious or too overwhelming. Because generally, the children never have to spend more than 20 minutes per lesson, they don't find it oppresive.

 

Yvonne

[Kathy in NC]

R&S is probably my favorite grammar program we've used. (We've used A BEKA, Shurley, R&S, Winston, and now Christian Light Education.) However, my dd fought me tooth and nail every day. (And we did most everything orally, so it wasn't the writing.) This was so unlike her, that we swithched back to ABEKA the next year. When I finally was able to figure out what she didn't like about R&S.....It was the color of the book! Go figure! If I'd known that, I could have put a book cover on it! We're happily doing CLE now. She loves the workbook format and the consistent review. I feel it is just as thorough as Rod and Staff.

[Omma]

My almost 9 ds is doing R & S English 3 right now, and it is going well. However, I would've had a mutiny on my hands if I hadn't of taken about 5 months and worked through R & S English 2 first. He really needed it and he knew he needed it, so it worked out well for us to do it that way. I had bought both levels ahead of time so that I could place him in the correct starting level for him. If anyone is unsure which level to use, I'd try to get ahold of 2 years at once and see which level is best suited for your child. Of course, it was easier for me to do this, as I have a 1st grader and I knew I could use level 2 with her (if not for my ds). :)

 

Brenda

[jojomojo]

This may be a good program if you start it from the beginning but we got 4th grade for free and started using it and then I found out the hard way that it isn't, in my opinion, a good choice for a child coming from public school.

 

We are former users. I started in book 5 with my then 5th grader who had very little grammar experience. It was painful. If a child has no grammar they need to start in the 3rd grade book. I learned the hard way. Grammar and Englis are not my son's strengths, so I had to do A LOT of teaching. Writing out the exercises was very painful for my son. I have 3 other children, so I could not just do this orally with him.

 

...

 

So, if you have a struggling learners, start in 3rd grade. If you have someone with no grammar experience start in 3rd grade. If you have a child that would struggle to write out the exercises and you cannot for whatever reason do it orally, pick something else. It is a very traditional English program like I remember using in grade school except I did not learn diagramming.

 

 

I pulled my dd out of ps in 4th last year and tried out Shurley 4 and R&S 5 (because it was almost time for 5th grade by that time). We didn't really start R&S 5 until 5th and it was a BATTLE. She didn't have her parts of speech down. So we switched to R&S 4 for 5th grade WITH "The Eight Parts of Speech" workbook R&S puts out and she's doing great.

 

I could not agree more and really wish I had known this before we purchased it. My kids are in 4th & 6th, fresh out of public school & are really struggling with R&S. Despite the fact that there's a lot of review - they don't know or remember so many of the things that they're supposed to (basic parts of speech, for example) so they *HATE* the program. Just a few minutes ago they were begging me to buy something else & I have no clue if I should stick it out, or look for something that makes English more enjoyable. I always loved English in school, but find myself dreading it these days.

 

 

Definitely look into "The Eight Parts of Speech" workbook along with R&S 4 (not sure what level you are doing). If you don't mind having them on different levels, R&S 3 for the 4th grader, and R&S 4 w/parts of speech workbook for the 6th grader would probably be a good fit :) R&S 3 for the 6th grader would probably be fine too (that would put him in R&S8 in 11th if you kept with it).

[Stacy in NJ]

You can't throw a child into 6th grade grammar w/o sufficient background anymore than you would throw them into 6th grade math without having done math the previous 5 years. My new student this year should be a 5th grader but I backed him up to R&S 3. Once we got the basics down I as able to move him up to the 4th book pretty quickly.

 

Your problem isn't Rod and Staff, it is the level you jumped into.

 

My kids aren't overly enthusiastic about it but they are fine with it, do well and my new student actually asks to do it. My oldest likes that he can be pretty independent about it now. I cut down on the amount of drill my oldest does but J needs all of the exercises and review.

 

:iagree:

 

I wouldn't put a student with little grammar into their "grade" level R&S book. The books build gently on each other. If you're starting a 4th, 5th or 6th grader in R&S back up a grade level or even two. I'm pretty sure that SWB recommends that high schoolers with little grammar experience back all the way up to the 5th or 6th grade book.