which english for PHFHG??

[ashley78]

My 2nd and 4th grade sons completed "Bigger" this past year. We are doing "Preparing" this year, and I'm not sure what to do about English?? My 4th grader finished Rod and Staff English 4 last year (I didn't really pay attention to the plans for English in the later guides so I didn't know that we wouldn't be finishing an entire book each year). Next year in "Creation to Christ" there is a writing supplement that goes with English 4 or 5. I'm really not sure where to go from here since he's already finished all of English 4, and he's supposed to be in 4 or 5 for 2 more years in CTC and RTR??? Should I just order English 5 and the writing supplement that is scheduled for CTC and do it this year?? If I do that will it leave me with the same problem for the next couple of years?? HELP!!

[chillin'inandover]

The reason that the pace slows down is due to the level of difficulty in R & S 4+ and the additional writing that is in the upper guides. The R & S is done 3 days a week in CTC rather than every day in the lower guides. If your dc understands the concept and is able to independently complete the assignments when writing is required just proceed at current pace. If concept is not understood just take a little longer. Each day of R & S should take about 15 minutes to complete that day's assignment, but if it is taking longer than your day will be longer than suggested and it may cause some frustration on your part or dc's part. Preparing has more independent work in history and science. There is more writing with written narration and poetry so this may take more of your available time and just naturally slow the pace of R & S. It may just be an indicator that your dc grasps this topic and that grammar just comes naturally, if this is the case enjoy the gift God has given! Some dc have difficulty with grammar and need a slower pace. Tammy

[ashley78]

Ok, so I understand why it slows down to make room and time for additional writing. But...since we've gone through English 4, do you think it would be best to do half of English 5 and the "Write with the Best" that is scheduled in CTC (I wouldn't have the guide to tell me the schedule since we'll be in PHFHG).Or...should I just do some of English 5 this year and some next year (which would still not put us on schedule with the guide). I don't want to hold him back, but I would like to keep the same schedule as the guide, but at this point I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that.

[LynnH]

The writing programs really work separate from Rod and Staff. The don't tie in except in the fact of making sure the workload is balanced. What I would do is do the writing in Preparing as written in the Poetry box and other boxes and then do Rod and Staff 5 only 3 days a week. The way it is scheduled in the CTC guide is that any writing assignments or end of chapter reviews are scheduled for 2 days and other lessons for 1. Then in CTC you can do the last half of Rod and Staff 5 and in RTR do the first half of 6. The writing skills learned in Preparing really pave the way for what is required in the next 2 guides.

[arstephia]

I don't know if this helps, but my dd did Preparing last year for 5th grade and did R&S 5th grade English because we had already completed R&S grades 2, 3 and 4 before we started HOD. It worked fine. This year for CTC she is doing the 6th grade English but we will only do R&S on the days a R&S lesson is assigned so it will be a slower pace. It just means the lessons don't line up with the HOD teacher guide, but we just go from one lesson to the next. It was not a big deal.

[chillin'inandover]

IMO I would do R & S 5 only on the days required in Preparing. Don't do any additional writing programs just as stated in Preparing guide. If as you are going through R & S 5 but dc has difficulty or you are expecting less work than required or helping dc when they need to be doing something independently than slow down to let dc grasp that level of grammar. If a lesson is taking more than 15 minutes do 1/2 the lesson. You will always be off the path of HOD guide for R & S but that's ok
and it is only the grammar portion. If you start to do other parts of upper guides say the writing you will miss out on all the work Carrie has put into coordinating the guide. Grammar and math are tailored to the dc that is one of the reasons why we home school. The charm of HOD is quick gentle lessons. Many years ago (2000) I learned a lesson from my now 19 yo dd. Being new to homeschool and wanting to prove that this was better I felt the need to have dc "do school" when ps children were in school ie 9-4 so my dc finished their schoolwork for the day and I would find more to do and Pleasing Patty would do the extra work until one day she came with heavy heart and said, "I just want to be done I have done enough today." I humbly admitted that she was right and I now accept that 1:1 instruction needs to only be in small increments of 5-15 minutes. We still have slips in our day and some days are frustrating but dd is successfully completing college classes and loves to read. This is the daughter who had summer school in ps for 2 years (what was I thinking!) for reading and math. Tammy

[ashley78]

Thank you all so very much. It is SOOOOO nice to get advise from those who've gone before us. I'll just have him work out of English 5 and slow it down so that he'll have half the book to complete next year along with the writing supplement. Thank you, thank you, and thank you