Christian Light verses Rod & Staff

[Blessed with seven]

Hi,

 

I have a question...I want to do CLE Math. I am trying to decide between CLE and Rod and Staff for the other subjects. I already have a phonics program I am using but...would love to do Science and LA etc...just not sure which way to go.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Kim

[G5052]

CLE is student-directed and is largely done independently with all of the student work right there; R&S is a classroom program that many homeschoolers use. Having used both here and there, I find CLE easier on me, but my children work well independently and I still monitor what they do every day. If you don't check their work daily, they will skip things and persist with errors that are harder to correct later. With R&S, you are more involved and thus have a better handle on where they are.

 

Next year one of mine is going to use CLE math, reading, social studies, and science. We've used CLE for math and reading for several years, and next year will be our first to try the social studies and science. We are still neoclassical homeschoolers and have other resources on the list, but the social studies and science will cover some basics that I want done along the way. Both of those subjects are fast overviews of many topics and should not be considered as in-depth as some resources. I also much prefer the Sunrise editions for both layout and content, and some of the science and social studies programs have not been converted to that and are basically reworked Alpha Omega materials.

 

HTH!

[mamaof2andtwins]

I have used both CLE and R&S.

 

R&S is generally textbooks and needs more teacher attention than CLE especially if you have a child that struggles with reading a lesson and applying the information. My son always wanted to do his math and English orally, but with three other children I just didn't have that much time. My daughter who is a bit more of an independent learner was able to do a lot of the R&S on her own. R&S is more traditional and mastery based than CLE. In R&S math, if for some reason, you don't get to the last 2-3 chapters of a math book, your student will never cover certain topics. The same is true in English.

 

CLE is a worktext format. All of it is consumable. We prefer this format. I know some argue that it is more expensive, but if it makes the work more palatable for the children and myself, then it is a good thing for us. The CLE curriculum is spiral in both math and language arts. Actually, I think that the reading is a bit spiral also. So, your child will eventually hit all the concepts. I find CLE to be more student user friendly without compromising quality or depth.

 

I really only use the Sunrise Editions as the old non-Sunrise CLE is not as user friendly. Also, I found the high school science (not the Apologia) to be weak in content. Over the years, I have found other science and history that I prefer.

 

Jennie

[suzf242]

I don't have any experience with CLE, but I can say that I have not found R&S teacher intensive for my dd6. She does the reading and math almost entirely independently. I only get involved if she has a question. I'm sure this completely depends on the child, though.

 

 

Take care,

Suzanne

[jelbe5]

I have just recently ordered CLE math, LA and Reading for my younger dd. I have read so many good things about these subjects here on these boards. I used some R&S materials with my older dd, but had her copy the math and English assignments onto notebook paper. With CLE the student does all the work right in the workbooks. There is something to be said about that. The materials are also very affordable. The LA program is "all in one" which I like.

 

I think both programs are excellent and foster independence in the student. They are both simple, yet "back to basics" programs. I don't think you can go wrong with either!

[mom4him]

I used some R&S materials with my older dd, but had her copy the math and English assignments onto notebook paper. With CLE the student does all the work right in the workbooks.

 

 

I have a good hs friend that shared R&S books are so affordable that she just lets her student work in the textbook. That is what I am going to do next year with Math from. The textbooks from R&S are cheaper or as cheap as many workbooks that I have purchased.

We are using R&S now for English and Reading/phonics and we have the workbooks or with the Eng. my dd does some orally and some in a notebook.

Just a thought.

[mamaof2andtwins]

Here is another thought. I have been able to resell almost all of my R&S math and English. However, if they had been written in I would not be able to resell them.

 

In addition, it just goes against my grain to fathom writing in a textbook. Plus this really only work if a person just has one child. I have four.

 

I know people do write in the R&S books. There was a long discussion about this on the email loop. Ultimately it is personal preference, but I would just throw those thoughts out there as well.

 

We also had copying issue which is why we went to CLE for math, but I think after using both programs that CLE is a stronger math program than R&S especially when our children will be going on to algebra in high school. CLE gives a better foundation in algebra than R&S.

 

Jennie

[Mom0012]

Here is another thought. I have been able to resell almost all of my R&S math and English. However, if they had been written in I would not be able to resell them.

 

In addition, it just goes against my grain to fathom writing in a textbook. Plus this really only work if a person just has one child. I have four.

 

I know people do write in the R&S books. There was a long discussion about this on the email loop. Ultimately it is personal preference, but I would just throw those thoughts out there as well.

 

Jennie

 

I am using R&S Math for my son and CLE Language arts for my daughter. It is actually considerably cheaper to let my son write in the Rod and staff math textbook than to buy all the CLE workbooks. So, yes, I won't be able to resell it, but I wouldn't be able to resell the CLE workbooks either and they cost $30+ versus $12 for the R&S student text.

 

My daughter is only finishing up the first CLE workbook, so I'm not ready to say whether I love it or not yet. She is only 7 and this is her first experience using a workbook where all the instructions are directed at her, so she asks me for help quite often at this point. I can see that once she gets used to this, she will be able to do the work almost completely independently.

 

I do feel a little guilty using the program because I'm not convinced yet that it is as good a choice as some others out there. But, as I said, we're only working our way through the first lightunit. Lately, I've heard lots of rave reviews about it, but I haven't been able to determine if people love it because it is completely independent or if it's because it's such a great program. I'll admit I picked it so that my daughter could work independently, hoping that the positive feedback wasn't entirely based on the independence feature. I figured this would be a good time to try CLE since my daughter is very young and I really don't think formal grammar is necessary until 3rd grade.

 

My biggest concern is that my daughter might fill in all the blanks correctly, but then immediately forget everything she has done in the workbook. Time will tell, I guess. Then again, I've heard people say that after doing FLL for a year or two, their child didn't remember anything after a summer break. FLL is what we were using before CLE and it felt "richer" and "deeper" to me and I liked how it applied what we were learning directly to my student's life.

 

Just my opinion.

Lisa

Edited April 4, 2009 by LisaTheresa

[mamaof2andtwins]

Lisa,

 

I wanted to mention that when my older children went through the first lightunit of CLE language arts I felt as though I might have made a mistake. The kids responded to it okay, but I think I might have let go of the oversight too much. It is very possible that kids will leave things undone if they are not checked. My son did this for a week and then failed his quiz. Needless to say I was not a happy mom. His dad made him finish all his lessons on a Saturday morning. It took him two hours.

 

My experience with CLE is that children do retain what they are taught, and I think that is because the curriculum is spiral. The information keeps resurfacing. Also, CLE is very good at asking for the same information in a variety of ways to make the children think.

 

In the early grades of CLE the language arts is a bit brief. I actually don't really like the 200 level, but that is where one of my twins placed. So, she is working her way through it. Her twin sister is in the 300 level of language arts, and I like that much better. The only level of language arts I have not used is 400. I have been very pleased with levels 500-800. My oldest daughter who actually does very well in language arts has struggled a little more in the 700 books because that is where they delve heavily into phrases and clauses.

 

I agree with you. We don't do much grammar before 3rd grade, but my twins were in 4th grade this year. We did FLL, but we dropped it before finishing all of the second grade level.

 

Jennie

[Mom0012]

Jennie -

 

Thank you for sharing that. It does make me feel better about it. My daughter has actually scored 100% on both of her quizzes so far, but this method of learning kind of reminds me of what I did in school and I never retained anything. I learned things to do well on a test or complete an assignment and then it went right out of my brain.

 

All that to say, I am so glad to hear that you do feel that the kids retain the information with CLE. Perhaps the spiral method will make all the difference for her. I'm thinking this particular child of mine should be able to do well with anything, and she enjoys workbooks, so I really wanted to use CLE.

 

Thanks again! I am encouraged.

Lisa