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My ds will be in 4th grade next year. Right now he is using CLE 3 light units for LA. I noticed in Preparing, it says to begin with English 3, as English 4 is quite a bit more advanced than English 3. It says to do this unless "your child has previously used an advanced program for English". I am not sure if CLE is advanced but it seems quite similar to Rod and Staff other than that it is in workbook format. Does anyone know? I appreciate your feedback!!

I don't think that CLE LA is "advanced" per say; however, I do think it is on par with R&S and your ds may be able to go right into R&S 4. My degree is in English and I have used both R&S and CLE LA. My older son did CLE LA 3 and went straight into R&S 4 (at the age of 10). What I noticed as the biggest difference in the two programs is that R&S lays out the basics of grammar in the same order, year after year. It is in a logical sequence and is not overwhelming - nor is it really all that spiral. To me, CLE was "all over the place" with its spiral approach to Grammar. My son was very confused and did not have a firm foundation after using CLE for LA. However, at his age (5th grade when he started R&S 4), I thought it was necessary to start in R&S 4. I found that R&S 4 was really the "transition" book anyway and it well-prepared him to go on to R&S 5 this year. He excels tremendously in Grammar now. Hope this helps!

I have used both of these programs. I also think that they are "on par" with one another. Yes, I think you could go from CLE 3 to R & S 4.

Great! Thank you ladies!!