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We have used R&S English from the very beginning. My oldest was using it even before we found HOD. With my girls, we have always used the student textbook as a non-consumable text (as it is meant to be). My son (who is not quite 10, and dyslexic) did very well with R&S 2. We did it all orally, but he understood and retained the information. We are not quite half way through Level 3. He does the oral part just fine. However, when I assigned the written work (I was only assigning about 25% of it to be done independently), he just really struggled. He does all of his copywork great and with no complaints, all of his notebooking pages (even the ones with really long verses or passages to write) great with no complaints, math-great/no complaints....everything else with no complaint. But when it came to writing the English, he was really struggling. At first I thought it was a character issue (from past experience, dh has to have a "come to Jesus" meeting with this particular boy in regard to attitude/laziness in schoolwork about once a year --but after that he's all good for about another year ). But after speaking with ds and dh, I decided it's not as much a lazy thing as it is just plain hard. I think with copywork, he can easily transpose the material from one place to another. But with doing the English, he not only has to copy information from one place to the other, but also add to it (whether fill in the blank, or whatever). I think it may be just a bit much for him to process all at once.

So........for the last week, I have allowed him to write in the book . I feel like such a bad steward. I mean this is a hard back book for goodness sake . But he has thrived with doing it this way, so I think I am going to continue, at least for a season. This guy has come a very long way in the last 2 years with his reading and schoolwork in general. It is really amazing how much he has accomplished from where we started. He is now reading on grade level (a major accomplishment), just has a much better outlook where school is concerned. He can do a lot of things very well, but academics has been a struggle for him (where reading/writing was concerned), and we have had to work hard to keep him progressing while at the same time building his confidence. My dh had a hard time in school also, even had a 4th grade teacher tell him he would never amount to anything. This created a school career for dh that was less than desirable (but that's a whole other story!). Suffice it to say, we have been determined to help Noah in whatever way we can with the utmost care given to building his confidence. And today, he is a completely different child from the kid he was just a year ago where school is concerned. (Thankfully, his school troubles had not carried over into other areas of his life before we got to the root of the problem). Long story now made short: I think buying a new English book for my younger kids is well worth the price .

Well, this got way longer than I intended. It started out I was going to ask a simple question about whether or not I was being terrible for writing in our hard bound books for goodness sakes. As it turns out, after typing it out, I don't really have that question any more. I know what we are doing is OK . I guess I could delete my whole post now (But I will just leave it here in case someone else is in a similar situation and needs approval to do something the "wrong" way
Angie

Aww, Angie hugs to your son, you, and your husband! Your post turned into a beautiful story. So glad to hear that he has come so far. And, yes, what your doing is okay...actually more then okay.

edited to add: I think I might have my son do it the *wrong* way also. I will have to wait and see how it goes.

If it solves the problem then that sounds like you are doing great.

Angie,

I think this is fine. It has actally been suggested by several moms right here on this forum who do this very same thing. Plus, if you notice, the hardback books are about the same price many consumeable English workbooks from other companies, and you wouldn't think twice about writing in those!

Blessings,
Carrie

I think this was a good solution for ds! We actually do this for Singapore math. I let my dc write right on the Textbook pages. It works well! I just wanted to say that I applaud your effort to really think through the deeper concerns and really contemplate what is happening. Your reflection on what is truly going on has helped you maintain a good loving relationship with ds, helped your dh be part of the solution, and helped you be able to keep benefiting from the continuity of using an excellent English program. I'd say well done, Mom!

In Christ,
Julie

My DS[9] is doing R+s 2,and he struggles to write ,he can answer the questions,he can fill the blanks-but we have the same issue with being able to do it all.I let him write in the book.I figured the price was worth paying.