heartofdakota.com

I was wondering about your experiences with Language Lessons for the Very Young and Preparing To Build. Thanks for your input!
Shannon

I have used both. I love LLFTVY, but I have gone ahead and started Preparing to Build again too. I used PTB with my oldest when he was in second grade and it burned him out. I was not using CM back then and didn't know how to tweek lessons to make them less arduous. So... I think the Queen's book is really nice and my 7 year old loves it, but with all the copy work and dictation we are using in Bigger I have found that I am going to back off of those lessons a little and add in the R& S book again. He often does two or more Queen's lessons so we may finish it by the end of BIgger anyway. I intend to do quite of bit of R&S orally too. I can't give up the lovely picture study and poetry though in Queen's. Can you tell I'm waffling?

Clear as mud, huh? I guess it depends on your philosophy and goals. Both are nice, but at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Shannon,

momontheprairie did a great job of comparing the two programs. I'll just pop-in to add that at HOD we recommend doing Rod and Staff English a grade below your child's current grade, so we would recommend a third grader do English 2.

We also recommend that parents plan for their child to complete Rod and Staff English 6 by the end of their child's 8th grade year. In that way, you can take two years to do either English 4 or 5, thus making sure you don't burn out on grammar instruction. I agree that doing 2/3 of Rod and Staff English orally or on a white board each day is a necessary step, and then assigning 1/3 to be done independently on paper works well.

Blessings,
Carrie

We did LL for the Very Young 1 and 2 and I much prefer R & S for actually teaching grammar.