Grammar Placement

[WellsSchool]

We ordered CTC at a homeschool convention and originally had planned on using another grammar program. Now I am leaning toward R&S, but I need guidance in choosing the particular level.

I have two boys, ages 10 and 12. We don't really "do" grades, but they started "formal" schooling at age 6 so they'll be around the 5th and 7th grades next year. They haven't had a tremendous amount of grammar but can recognize nouns, verbs, adjectives, direct objects, indirect objects, predicate adjectives, and predicate nominatives. My eldest boy catches on really quickly but has a movement disorder so writing is difficult for him. My youngest struggles a bit more to catch on to things.

I see that in CTC, R&S English 4 and 5 is recommended, but it is considered advanced. I'm assuming I should use Level 4 for my youngest child. What should I use for my eldest? As I'm looking ahead to next year's suggested grammar in Resurrection to Reformation, I don't want him to be "behind" as he works toward high school work. Do the levels "build upon" one another or could he just jump in at a higher level but be expected to have less review and more work? If we choose a higher level for him, how would you recommend I schedule it since it is not listed in the teacher's guide?

Thank you for your advice!
Lori

[LynnH]

I would not do higher than level 5 with him if he hasn't had much grammar. Level 6 does build on 5 and it is challenging. Carrie's plans are that they finish level 6 by the end of 8th grade and do level 7 and 8 in high school. Are you going to continue in the guides from CTC on and count Rev to Rev and MTMM as high school? Those 2 guides have level 6 scheduled at half speed. If you did half speed level 5 this year and next then you could do level 6 in 1 year if you wanted, just going full speed instead of half speed. Or you could do level 5 full speed this year and then split level 6 over 2 years. That would give you 3 years to get through level 7 and 8. Or you could just do it as scheduled in the guides and do 7 and 8 one year a piece. That is probably what I would do just because it is easier to just stick with the guide. Hope that makes sense.

[WellsSchool]

Thank you for your reply. The game plan is to continue on with Heart of Dakota in the future, but this year is kind of like a "trial year" seeing how things work for us.

[my3sons]

I'd do 4 with the younger, and 5 with the older. LynnH already gave some great advice looking ahead. I'd probably just follow the schedule for these in CTC, and then re-evaluate pacing at the end of the year. We really are thankful for all of the skills R & S English covers so solidly, and we have been impressed with the carryover of skills into our dc's daily writing within all facets of HOD. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[WellsSchool]

I think I saw *somewhere* that Rod and Staff also has a workbook or worksheets to go along with each level (in addition to the hardcover student text and the teacher's manual as recommended in the HOD catalog). Both of my boys are "allergic" to pencils and writing (one has a movement disorder) and this year is going to be quite a change for them already. Would you recommend that I get this workbook to help ease the transition / burden? I've noted that several have said they do a portion of the lessons orally. Without having the benefit of "seeing" what is done orally, would the workbook actually create more written work than HOD suggests?

[4Hispraise]

Actually, HOD recommends doing most of the lesson orally. I think your kiddos would actually end up writing MORE with the workbook. Instead, just do the majority of the exercise orally, leaving only what they can handle for them to write. So, you can decide if they have already written too much for the day & have them write even less for grammar by doing more orally that day.

I can tell you that we wrote far more with our former grammar program than we do now. I think the key is that YOU decide how much of the lesson that you want them to write out. The rest is just completed orally.

HTH!

[WellsSchool]

The problem I seem to have is not knowing WHEN enough written work (or anything school related, really) is enough. If I get tears or complaints, I give up and stop a lesson. I fear that I'm just letting them off too easily and am rewarding laziness. I don't seem to have any instincts in this area. (When I think back to the earlier days of homeschooling, I'm shocked at how much they were capable of.) I don't want them to hate school, but there is value in hard work. Anything of value, typically takes work. This is the argument I constantly reiterate in my mind. Any suggestions?

[Kathleen]

When we do a lesson, we start with the oral review. (There are 5 questions listed in the Teacher's Guide daily.) Then we read through the lesson. Then we do the oral part together. This brings us to the written portion for the day. I skim over those sections quickly. If one of the sections for the day is diagramming or rewriting sentences, I'll usually choose that for the written part for Grant, and we'll do the other sections orally. I never choose the section where they're making a fill-in-the-blank choice for which word to use. Those are so easy to just do orally and there's no real benefit to writing them. If there are a couple sections that would be good to do on paper, I'll pick some of each for him to do.

The review sections are usually scheduled over 2 days. So, we'll do half the oral part the 1st day, and I'll have him do half the written work. Then we'll do the other half the oral work and the other half of the written the next day. I don't usually skip much of the written work on these days since he has 2 days to spread it over.

Does that help you at all? I'm guessing it will make more sense when you have the books in front of you. They're really straight forward.

Kathleen

[WellsSchool]

Thank you; this does help!

Lori