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Have any of you used Rod and Staff English all the way through from Bigger to Missions to Marvels? I am interested in how you feel about it from year to year ... especially in the older years when it is suggested to begin half pace. With my older boys we have struggle to find a good English fit and did not start HOD in the beginning. My younger son has been HOD all the way and will begin Bigger so looking at both ... one that would use it all the way thru and 2 "newbies" at a older age who have used other things.

Thanks

Ive used levels 2-5 (partway through 5 now) with my oldest, and my next oldest is in 3. We love R&S! I thought it wasnt a fit and thought after levels 2&3 my oldest wasnt retaining anything at all....then as we finished up 3 and moved into 4 i realuzed she was nailing every single oral review question and that i could guide her easily with intelligent grammar conversation in her other work/writing. She is very capable and kniws her stuff now in level 5. We do it mostly orally, probably more than othets. Very little writing, sometimes none! It diesnt seem to be a fun program that draws kids in and doesnt have that "this is a great fit" feeling until you realize grammar just usually isnt fun no matter what program you use and this one works very well if you give it time! Plus the oral work and cuddle time to duscuss the lesson on the couch makes grammar much more tolerable here.

Our oldest used levels 6-8 for high school grades 9-11. He didn't come home until 7th and struggled big time in 7th and 8th with english. He hadn't been taught more than the very basics in public school and I didn't know what to use or how to really help him as a h/s newbie. We finally decided to give R&S a try after reading so much good stuff about it. I figured it couldn't hurt and, at least, it wasn't super expensive. The first few weeks were really rough with us being new to it, but once we found our groove (really working through every problem together until he started understanding more) it was so worth it. Now, as a college sophomore, he'll tell you it was his least favorite thing to do each day. However, he'd also tell you he learned a LOT and is thankful he used it. His writing skills greatly improved and his ACT scores in l/a were near the top.

My youngest is only in Bigger with R&S 2, but I'm guessing Carrie's schedule of slowing down is a good one. The upper levels of R&S are extremely thorough.

hth.

Thanks ladies !