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I am looking ahead to next year for my DD (1st grade age 6) who is completing the Beyond manual this spring. I plan to use Rod and Staff English for next year. My question is, do I need the teachers manual for that, or is it just duplicating the material in the Bigger manual? The catalog says it's optional, so do you find it's a nice thing to have, or just collecting dust on the shelf?

I am using Bigger this year with my dd and I did not buy the TM to go with R&S 2. We do it all orally and have not had any problems by not having it. HTH!

Thanks, that should save a few dollars!
I see you're using this with a 7 year old 2nd grader. That's what we'll be doing next year. How is it going for you since you're on the younger side of the age range?

I haven't done R&S English 2, but we are in level 3 and I do use the TM. It gives oral review questions every day that keep topics that we studied a while back fresh. I think it's been very valuable. In terms of the lesson, we don't need the TM much, but I love that oral review. I also like having the answers as it gets more challenging! Since the TMs are fairly easy to find used, I will continue to get them.

Another thing we do to save time and sanity is we do most of the work orally or on a whiteboard. I bought the worksheets (only $3) and we use those for the writing. That way, dd doesn't have to copy all the sentences and do as much writing. I feel like we do enough writing with all our other work, that doing R&S "as written" would just take too much time.

We are also doing R & S 2 this year and I actually bought the TM used, but really haven't needed it at all (I do have a English degree, so that may be why though ). I may get the TM for future levels b/c I have heard it gets more difficult.

I also am using Bigger with my 7 yo (will turn 8 this week) DS this year and did it in a 4 day week, rather than everyday. I switched to doing that about 2 weeks in and it has gone so much smoother for him. He is an advanced reader/learner too! The pace and amount of writing and work, etc. is definitely more difficult than Beyond and is really geared more to a 3rd grade level, but that's just my opinion. We will just finish the last 6 weeks or so of Bigger at the start of his 3rd grade year and then jump into Preparing! HTH!

We didn't use the TM for R & S English 2, but once you get to R & S English 3, you'll want it. The oral review starts in 3, and it's necessary at that point.

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks for this post, I needed to know this for next year. I'm using R&S 2 with no manual now.

Crystal,

You've already gotten some wonderful answers, so I'll just pop-in to say that we list the Rod and Staff English 2 Teacher's Manual as being optional (within Bigger Hearts) and list the manuals for English 3 as being recommended and 4 on up as being required.

Blessings,
Carrie

crlacey wrote:Thanks, that should save a few dollars!
I see you're using this with a 7 year old 2nd grader. That's what we'll be doing next year. How is it going for you since you're on the younger side of the age range?

Crystal,

I have not been on the board much this week so I missed your question. My dd is on the younger range for Bigger, but it is going very well. I am using the emerging reader's and it is a perfect fit for her this year. We are doing the program full speed and she is doing well with that. Sometimes the notebooking assignments have more writing than she is used to, so I just tweak it a bit. For example, last week she was supposed to copy a poem that had 3 stanzas for her history notebook, and I just had her copy one. I feel like she is learning a lot and is enjoying herself as well. HTH!

Gina