heartofdakota.com

I'm wavering between them both for my 6th grade dd. My 3rd grade ds will be using Rod and Staff 2 for English. For those of you who use Rod and Staff could you tell me why you chose it over another? My dd really likes CLE better. She will not need the Spelling portion of CLE because we plan on using the recommended dictation with her instead this year. Thanks again!

playschool,

I find Rod and Staff to have thorough, systematic explanations that explain grammar in a way that makes sense. Rod and Staff takes the mystery out of grammar instruction for my boys. My boys also enjoy doing their grammar lesson by interacting with me, which makes sense since grammar is both an oral and a spoken discipline.

My boys also see the purpose behind grammar from doing it through Rod and Staff. Before our switch to Rod and Staff, my oldest didn't understand the reason he needed to learn grammar. Rod and Staff does a great job of pointing out the purposeful uses of knowing the various parts of grammar and links their instruction to writing instruction as well.

With that being said, if your daughter prefers CLE, you can easily use that instead of Rod and Staff for English. You will know your daughter best.

Blessings,
Carrie

Why did I choose Rod and Staff?

Because.....I LOVE IT! Oh my! It is so well thought out, so concise, so simplistic, and yet progresses quickly. Rod and Staff has daily review built into the teacher's manual. The lessons are short. There is oral and written work. When I'm in a pinch the boys can actually do the work without me and then check in with me to make sure they were on track. And as Carrie says, it makes grammar make sense. She did say that didn't she? It's a great program. We've dabbled with our share that merely felt like going through the motions, but we all LOVE Rod and Staff.

Right now I am trying to tie up some loose ends in my curriculum purchasing. We have almost everything purchased for next year except for LA for dd, math for ds, and writing for dd. Thanks for explaining why you chose Rod and Staff. I will take those things into consideration as I make my decision for dd's LA next year.

Well, I'm late to this post - but I LOVE R & S, so I'm still sharing my top 7 reasons for the love...

1. it's SO academically sound; it lays the groundwork for each student to be successful with grammar forever - even in high school or college
2. it integrates WRITING with GRAMMAR in a way that shows good grammar can be used to create excellent writing; I like that the 2 are not taught separately but grammar is instead taught with the purpose to create successful writers
3. it's Christian! no silly sentence examples where my child has to diagram sentences about parties, boyfriends/girlfriends and it doesn't glorify public schools - really look ahead when you're looking at grammar - middle school and high school texts are often extremely inappropriate in this area
4. it's short to do and can have the bulk of it done on the markerboard with retention still being sound
5. it keeps the lessons focused on writing and grammar, without throwing in a whole bunch of other skills I'm covering in another way well already (i.e. dictation, copywork, oral/written narration, etc.) which is again what keeps lessons SHORT
6. I never have to prepare to teach R & S and it's easy to teach several levels
7. once I've taught my short part, it's very independent

I know there are flashier programs - maybe more colorful with more bells and whistles, but I don't need a grammar program to be flashy. I need it to be solid, short, doable, and Christian. Now, history - science - I NEED those to be flashy, and thanks to HOD, they are! That's where I like the bling,but not so much in the grammar. That's why I love R & S!

In Christ,
Julie

By the way, we decided on Rod and Staff English 5 for my dd (6th grade). Thanks for the wisdom. I like the fact that the writing is integrated into the program as well. I also like the fact that it is non-consumable, making it possible to reuse on the other children. Thanks again!

I had another question about the LA. deltagal mentioned about review being built into the TM for R&S, can you use the R&S well without the TM? We only purchased the student text.

I bought the TM and student manual used for a really good price. I planned on pretty much just using the student book and having my dc do the oral part with me and the written part on her own. I was just going to use the TM basically so that I could easily correct her papers and in case I had any question about an answer the TM would be there to help me out. I would think that if you are good in grammar, your dc might be able to just use the student manual with you and go without the TM. If I were you, I'd post another whole new post about this so that you could get some responses from those who have been experienced using Rod and Staff. This will be our first year using Rod and Staff so I am not the best person to ask.

faroutback wrote:I had another question about the LA. deltagal mentioned about review being built into the TM for R&S, can you use the R&S well without the TM? We only purchased the student text.

Once dc reach R & S 3, the TM is necessary. It has 5 oral questions each day and that helps a lot with review, and retention too.

In Christ,
Julie