Too late for Rod and Staff?

[islandmama]

Hello. I have a 10th grader, just came out of ps last year, and a 9th grader that has been hs'ing for 4 years... Right now they are finishing up Easy Grammar Plus and I was wondering if they would be able to still do some Rod and Staff English...or is it too late? Oh, and they are using Writing Strands 5. I want to make sure we cover whatever they missed over the years. Is this advisable? And if so, what level should I start them at? Would the diagramming be too difficult to jump into at this point? Any other recommendations? Will Easy Grammar be enough to do well on SAT's??? Sorry, so many questions! Thanks!

Anita in CA
hs'ing mom to dd2, dd7, ds11, dd13, ds16

[Michelle in MO]

(and we use Abeka) but I would say that most likely Rod & Staff is probably more rigorous than Easy Grammar. Depending on what exposure your 10th grade son has had to grammar, you could start him with an earlier grade of R&S. I would try to check out a website for samples of R&S grammar before placing him. R&S is very rigorous, and their 9th/10th grade book covers more grammar than many English majors in college encounter. I'll see if I can locate a website to link to you that would have samples.

[Michelle in MO]

Try this one:

http://www.rodstaff.com/cgi-bin/ras/perlshop.cgi?ACTION=thispage&thispage=english.html&ORDER_ID=219707839

This at least gives an idea of the scope & sequence. I'll see if I can find a page with samples.

[Michelle in MO]

Here's the link:

http://www.rodandstaff.info/samples/english/

It looks like if you click on a particular book, it will show you some sample pages. HTH!

:)

[MIch elle]

is where I would suggest you start the series. Jumping in at 7 or 8 would be too difficult imho.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Hello. I have a 10th grader, just came out of ps last year, and a 9th grader that has been hs'ing for 4 years... Right now they are finishing up Easy Grammar Plus and I was wondering if they would be able to still do some Rod and Staff English...or is it too late? Oh, and they are using Writing Strands 5. I want to make sure we cover whatever they missed over the years. Is this advisable? And if so, what level should I start them at? Would the diagramming be too difficult to jump into at this point? Any other recommendations? Will Easy Grammar be enough to do well on SAT's??? Sorry, so many questions! Thanks!

Anita in CA
hs'ing mom to dd2, dd7, ds11, dd13, ds16

If it were me, I'd do Books 7 and 8. (And I in no way think these are equivalent to "grade" 7 and 8. I learned more grammar in book 6 than I did in all my hs years.)

Books 7 and 8 ramp up more quickly and assume more background, but with your kids' ages, I don't think it would be an issue.

I'd have them memorize -- that is, read aloud every day -- the grey (??) boxes with the rules for the chapters. Do the class practice together with them, have them complete the written work, then the reviews. Some find this overkill, but we considered it essential to mastery. With two years to go, you need to have this nailed down. About 35 mins of work daily on average. Like brushing teeth -- routine and not terribly exciting, but awfully good for you.

I'm awfully opinionated about R&S because of the amazing and over-arching cross-curricular results we had, though, so have a huge grain of salt handy. YMMV. ;)

[islandmama]

I think I'll buy both the 6th and 7th (I have an ds11 who will use them too) and determine where I think they would be placed best...