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Would it be a big deal to use our own grammar? My 9 year old is using Easy Grammar 3 and enjoys it. Could someone give me the highlights of Preparing to Build: English Text.

Milestone Ministries has samples on their site....rodandstaffbooks.com (I think)...and that will give you a good idea of how the 2 compare.

Christy,

You can use whatever you want for Grammar along with Bigger...or for math. It's set up so that you can use whatever works for your family.

Here's a thread where Carrie explains why she chose to use Rod & Staff. http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=113

Kathleen

Melanie and Kathleen already gave you great advice! (By the way, it's nice to picture you two in my mind, Melanie and Kathleen! Carrie and I had a wonderful time meeting you and are reminded of how blessed we are to have you on this board!) I'd just say that if you're enjoying your grammar, it is easy to continue using it - just sub it in for that "box" in the teacher's guide. That being said, we have enjoyed R & S English and are finding it easy to do. It seems to "stick" well with my son, but if you've already found a great fit for grammar using something else, by all means, just keep on using it.

In Christ,
Julie

Christy,

The ladies gave you great advice. You can certainly keep on going with your own favorite grammar program. I would encourage you to do the copywork and writing lessons as laid out in "Preparing...." though.

One main difference is that Easy Grammar does not provide extra lessons in writing, but Rod and Staff does. This is not a huge barrier in "Preparing..." (as we include writing lessons in our guide twice a week) but if you stick with Easy Grammar, you'd want to add a writing program such as "Igniting Your Writing" as you head into the middle school years.

Blessings,
Carrie

I think I'm going to go w/ Rod & Staff so I don't have to add writing.

Christy,

Just so you know, the writing lessons in English 2 and English 3 are mainly toward the end of the books, so your children have the grammar knowledge necessary to carry out the writing assignments. But, once you get to English 4, the writing lessons are at the end of each unit, requiring more writing throughout the year and throughout the lessons.

Blessings,
Carrie

He already knows how to identify prep phrases, verb, nouns. He can diagram. I wonder if I should start him at a higher R & S level?

Rod and Staff advances pretty quickly. The first book Grade 2 is probably skippable, but I don't think I'd skip grade 3. I've used R&S with my older two and will again with my youngest--all the way through 8th grade. Keep in mind that this program was designed for the students to have all the grammar they need by 8th grade--and they go really, really deep into grammar and diagramming. So, while you may feel he's ahead now, by the time you get to the 4th and particularly 6th and up texts, you may wish you had delayed the sequence a bit in the beginning. You could use the beginning of the 3rd grade text as review--doing things orally or on a white board while advancing more quickly, but then slowing down as he comes upon things that he hasn't had. I definitely would not skip this volume as it really lays the foundation for the rest of the program. Just a few thoughts you may want to consider..... Hope you get as much out of the program as we have!