Hod with Another Grammar Program

[Homeschooling6]

Hi, Ladies,

I hope to start Preparing soon with my two middle boys. They are both currently using Shurley Grammar (minus the writing portion). I know HOD has R&S scheduled but I would like to continue with Shurley for this year and next. My only concern is writing. I know R&S has writing and I think (correct me if I'm wrong) HOD uses some of the writing portions and if so, will using Shurley make it harder to use HOD Preparing? Should I still purchase R&S and include those lessons that refer to R&S for writing?

Thank you,
Linda<><

[annaz]

I'm listening in on this one as well, because while R&S didn't work for us, it has a great unit on Dictionary skills, in addition to the writing.

I use BJU Grammar...it's certainly not blowing my skirt up due to the price, but it's "working", although I dislike the writing in it. So the price for what I use out of it, sort of grinds on me.

But, to get back to your question ...it can certainly be easy enough to use those lessons, due to the price, and since I already have it, I'd be apt to do so, but I'll be all ears to see if it's really needed in addition to what Carrie provides.

[Homeschooling6]

I'm listening in on this one as well, because while R&S didn't work for us, it has a great unit on Dictionary skills, in addition to the writing.

I use BJU Grammar...it's certainly not blowing my skirt up due to the price, but it's "working", although I dislike the writing in it. So the price for what I use out of it, sort of grinds on me.

But, to get back to your question ...it can certainly be easy enough to use those lessons, due to the price, and since I already have it, I'd be apt to do so, but I'll be all ears to see if it's really needed in addition to what Carrie provides.

Thank you Annaz. My boys are doing well with Shurley, so I don't really want to switch them and I'm thinking it will be okay because the guide does say "or use your own grammar" but I just wanted to make sure. I'll most likely purchase R&S anyway because I like to own what the program suggest, so if needed I can always take a peek . Like you mentioned the price of R&S is great!

With Ethan who is using Beyond, I'll have him use R&S 2nd (just ordered it today ).

I'm still all ears to what others have to say as well, please chime in

[Homeschooling6]

I'm still wondering what others have to say, so I'm giving my post a bump

[LynnH]

I used Growing with Grammar my first year with HOD when we were doing Preparing. GWG didn't have the writing component that R&S has so I added Igniting your Writing based on Carrie's recommendation to make sure he had enough writing instruction. I did end up switching my ds to R&S because he had zero retention with GWG. You can easily use your own grammar. I think the easiest way would be to add the writing lessons from Rod and Staff. If not you might want to add something like Igniting Your Writing when you do Preparing. In CTC and above they have their own writing programs that are balanced with the amount of writing in all the other boxes including Rod and Staff.

[golfmom]

We tried to use R&S last year with Beyond. Unfortunetly it bombed really really bad. Before that we had use Abeka and I think Madalyn was used to the workbook/spiral method. So this year we went with CLE. She has thrived with this. At first it bothered me that we were using something different but then I reminded myself that each child learns differently. Now, I think R&S will definetly will work for Haley. Different kid. Different learning style.

Anyhoo, way more info than you asked for. As far as writing goes this year we have been using Wordsmith Apprentice. It is a really fun program. The student "works" for the local paper and has to write all kind of things for it. From want ads to news stories. It's really helped Madalyn(who is not a natural writer) to be creative. It doesn't hurt that I let her draw pictures for every story. She loves to draw. A big plus for me is that is pretty much independent. So I think it's fine to use a different grammar program but,yes, I do think either you need R&S for the writing part or something else. That way their prepared for CTC.

I don't know if that helped but I love how with HOD you have the option to use whatever you think is best for each kid. Good luck deciding!