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With the amount of information give in the first lessons of R&S 2, my 9 yo son does not understand the difference between a sentence and a phrase. How can I help him?

Well, a phrase is not a complete thought....

...the boy..

or

...went to church...

Neither of those is complete...the first doesn't tell what the boy did, the second doesn't tell who or what went to church. So maybe just using something like that as an example and comparing it to the complete sentence would help? Then maybe he could see the difference...

Talk to him in phrases for a few minutes then talk to him in complete sentences for a few minutes. See if he can HEAR the difference.
Then I would write a few phrases then directly below I would have him make it a complete sentence so he can SEE it.
Maybe by combining auditory and visual learning it will "click" for him.
HTH
Also, there is a lot of review in the first unit of R&S 2 (we're on lesson 16) so he'll get to see that concept many more times.

There is a lot of review in R & S English, and R & S English 2 is meant to be an "introduction" to most topics. I would just be sure to keep doing the complete lesson each day, but keep moving on, it will click given time. My dc both had the same type of start to it. Retention comes with time, and quite a bit of it for grammar - HTH.

In Christ,
Julie

my dd2 had a tough time today with Jesus wept. it was tricky! but she got it in the end.

Can he read the material on his own? I would see if when he reads it for himself if he figures it out vrs oral.
some times the visual understanding is better than the auditory.

how bout a game where if it is a sentence he is to do the action but if it is a phrase he doesn't have to.
one leg.
Stand on one leg.

Kick the ball.
the ball.

and do it in a way that he can't figure out what too do if it is a phrase.

Edit: for grammar eep!

It's just so frustrating for him to "guess" the answers as he really has no idea. He has a 50/50 chance of getting it right basically. This happened last year when we were using Queen's and discussing parts of speech and subject/predicate. I did what mamayi suggested the other day and he seemed to be getting that. Hopefully it will get better as we progress through the book.

I explained it by saying that a "phrase" sounds a lot like "baby talk". If you have a toddler in your house, you can point to him/her as an example. Babies say, "Mommy juice". That is a phrase. Say to your student, "What if I came up to you and said, 'Mommy juice'? What would you do? You probably wouldn't know what to do OR say because I just spoke to you in a phrase. Phrases don't make sense. So, when we read these examples, and they don't make sense or if they sound like baby talk, they are phrases."

Also...VERY IMPORTANT...REQUIRE your child to ANSWER you in COMPLETE SENTENCES. I know this sounds nitpicky, but it is NOT It really makes a MARKED differences in their understanding of language.

When you say, "Did you take out the trash?" Don't let them get away with JUST saying, "Yes". They should learn to say, "Yes, I did take out the trash." At fist you may have to provide them with the complete sentence they need to use with which to answer you back, but they will quickly get the hang of it!

Mrs Randolph you are so right about complete sentences!