Carrie... what would you recommend for a four year English

[StillJulie]

plan if we're already in Rod & Staff 8 (completed Lesson 25) and we'll just be starting 9th grade this fall? One Rod & Staff lesson per week, spread over two days, to help stretch it out? Or is that too little? Two per week?

Any thoughts on what, if anything, to pick up for grammar content when we do finish Level 8?

[Carrie]

StillJulie,

What an interesting dilemma! First of all, you have done your job well in the English department, so take a moment to celebrate and feel great about that!

Next, I'll share that for me my high school goals for English include keeping the skills fresh and and in front of my child on a regular basis in order to carry over those skills to the child's written work. With this goal in mind, I'd work toward no less than one lesson per week of English 8 throughout high school until that text is complete. At that point, you could either get the English 8 workbook and just do a lesson a week out of there until the workbook is complete, or you could look at the English 9 text and begin no less than a lesson a week out of that text.

The English 9 text is more focused on various forms of writing, which will be already covered within the additional writing programs that we add to each HOD guide. So, there may be more overlap in using the English 9 text (which is why we don't plan to schedule English 9 or 10). I would, however, steer clear of switching to a different English text or program at that point, simply because I believe that Rod and Staff does the best job of covering all of skills that fall under the "English" umbrella; skills that are often missed (or grow rusty with disuse) otherwise. So, switching to a different program with a different scope and sequence could actually cause backward motion, instead of keeping the whole battery of English skills fresh.

Blessings,
Carrie

[StillJulie]

Thank you!

I've made so many "mistakes" with being overly ambitious with my first child. LOL

I think we'll go with 1-2 lessons per week with the English 8, and I will go ahead and buy the English 9 sometime (I know I've seen it cheaply at used curriculum sales, but was never sure if I should buy it) to use when we finish 8.