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Hi!

I'm thinking ahead to next year and wanted to see if my plan is viable...

My older two are doing Beyond together this year. We're using different materials for math and L.A. right now, but I'd like to move more toward lining up with what the HOD guides schedule. Next year I'm planning on combining them in Bigger.

My 9 year old (3rd grader) is a little behind in math and L.A., so this year he is doing A Beka Language 2. My 6 year old (1st grader) is doing A Beka Language 1.

I'm thinking of combining them in Grammar next year in Bigger by doing R&S 2 with both of them. I know this would be a little easy for my 9 year old, but I think it's doable and here's why: he is still catching up in some areas, so I'd rather not speed ahead beyond his capabilities. Also, I've heard that HOD recommends just getting through R&S levels 7 & 8 by highschool. (We could do this by just doing full speed each year for both of my older two children.)

So here's my question... Does it really matter if my son is "behind" in the R& S levels, as long as we get through enough eventually?

Thanks for any advice you can give me!

EDITED TO ADD: The reason my son is behind is that he has some vision issues that we were not aware of until about 1 1/2 years ago. He has done vision therapy to correct the problems and has made great strides! He went from The Cat in the Hat being a struggle last year, to being able to read (and enjoy!) Twenty One Balloons on his own. He still struggles with writing (occasional reversals that he recognizes immediately, sloppy handwriting,etc.), although that's getting much better. Thankfully, he has many strengths! People usually assume that he works above grade level because his great vocabulary and knowledge of many areas. He also loves working with electronics and wires his own working models using parts from old items we've allowed him to take apart. (I just didn't want to paint too bleak a picture of his overall! ) If any of you have advice about anything else regarding him, I'm all ears!

My 2 cents in an answer to your question is "no". I don't think it matters at all now "where" he is in grammar right now. He is still so young and has several years to build from where he is at now. Also, I think that you will find, now that he is reading so well, that he will pick up SO MUCH grammar naturally just through reading.

You have a good plan in place....you are on top of things....I don't think you have a thing to worry about.

My ds almost 9 sounds JUST LIKE your son!!!! I felt like you were describing our Reece!!

HTH!

I think you will be fine placing him in R&S 2 if that's what you decide. My dd in 5th grade is just near the beginning of level 4 (around lesson 12, I think). You may find there are some things you could skip if your ds already knows the material, in level 2, so that would speed it up a bit as well. We have done that here and there. My ds in 7th grade is just about a third of the way through level 5 and will be on track to finish level 6 by the end of 8th grade or before. It's a great program and I wouldn't worry about levels so much as making sure he learns what he needs to know by the time he gets to high school. HTH

striving2Bprov31 wrote:My 2 cents in an answer to your question is "no". I don't think it matters at all now "where" he is in grammar right now. He is still so young and has several years to build from where he is at now. Also, I think that you will find, now that he is reading so well, that he will pick up SO MUCH grammar naturally just through reading.

You have a good plan in place....you are on top of things....I don't think you have a thing to worry about.

My ds almost 9 sounds JUST LIKE your son!!!! I felt like you were describing our Reece!!

HTH!

Thanks, Liz! It's neat that our sons are so similar. Sometimes it easy to think my son is the only one who struggles in these areas.

inHistiming wrote:I think you will be fine placing him in R&S 2 if that's what you decide. My dd in 5th grade is just near the beginning of level 4 (around lesson 12, I think). You may find there are some things you could skip if your ds already knows the material, in level 2, so that would speed it up a bit as well. We have done that here and there. My ds in 7th grade is just about a third of the way through level 5 and will be on track to finish level 6 by the end of 8th grade or before. It's a great program and I wouldn't worry about levels so much as making sure he learns what he needs to know by the time he gets to high school. HTH

I think if I was just placing my son, I might use R&S 3, but since I'd like to keep my two oldest together, I'm thinking R&S 3 would be too advanced for my daughter who will be in 2nd grade next year. I guess it would be possible to do level 2 with my 2nd grader and level 3 with my 4th grader. My concern there is that I might not have enough time to fit that in my schedule. Can anyone give me an estimate of how long R&S levels 2 and 3 would each take each day? One advantage of keeping them separate is that I'd get some more one-on-one time with each of them. It's just hard to fit it all in, since I'll also have a 5 year old and a 2 year old.

Any other thoughts or suggestions are very welcome!!

In my opinion, I think R & S 2 is fine for your 9 year old. My son is 9 (will be 10 in Feb.) and is on 3rd grade level. I just moved him up to R&S 3 about a month or so ago. It was a little to easy for him, so I moved him up. But, especially with boys, I wouldn't push the grammar too much. What I do with my son is I go through it with him mostly orally and he just tells me the answers, without writing all of it down. I do make him write some of it, but he likes it MUCH better not having to write it all. That might be a thought for you as well. LA is something I have to sit with my son and do with him. Otherwise, it is a real struggle and stress for him to do. But I have found that when we do it together, he likes it much more.

Just my thoughts for you!

tnahid wrote:In my opinion, I think R & S 2 is fine for your 9 year old. My son is 9 (will be 10 in Feb.) and is on 3rd grade level. I just moved him up to R&S 3 about a month or so ago. It was a little to easy for him, so I moved him up. But, especially with boys, I wouldn't push the grammar too much. What I do with my son is I go through it with him mostly orally and he just tells me the answers, without writing all of it down. I do make him write some of it, but he likes it MUCH better not having to write it all. That might be a thought for you as well. LA is something I have to sit with my son and do with him. Otherwise, it is a real struggle and stress for him to do. But I have found that when we do it together, he likes it much more.

Just my thoughts for you!

Thanks, Tina, for your thoughts!

I think the only difference is that I'm thinking about next year, when my son will be 10 and in 4th grade. On one hand, I'm not particularly worried about him doing the grammar by a certain time, just that he eventually gets all that he needs. On the other hand, I don't want to do a disservice to him by teaching him at too low a level. I guess another way to look at it is this: Are there any real negatives in having him in a level of grammar that may be a little too easy for him?

Carrie or Julie, if you happen to read this, would you be willing to let me know what you think?

Thanks, everyone, for helping me!

I don't know about level 3, and we are just at the beginning of level 2, but it hasn't taken us more than 15 minutes to do a lesson yet. And I have 3 younger ones who interrupt all the time. We do a large part of it orally and I have her write one part after we've gone over it orally.

I would not hesitate to do two different levels at this point.... but like I said, we are just getting going with level 2

Heart_Mom,

Sorry I am just getting to this now. We had a bit of a bump in the road as my second oldest son broke his foot in two places sledding this past week, so I'm a bit behind (and feeling the strain of having my usually quite independent 6th grader need me to help him get around and get everything!) God is so good though as He watched over my son to make sure he only broke his foot and not his neck.

Anyway, enough of the drama. As far as your kiddos go, I agree that it would work well to combine them within Rod and Staff English 2 next year. Some of it may be redundant with the ABeka he's done, but in the long run Rod and Staff covers so much more than grammar that it is well worth a bit of repeat to be able to do Rod and Staff for the long haul. Plus, it makes sense to combine your kiddos who are close in English level to have one less presentation each day every year. As a back up plan, you could always bump your older child up in grammar if needed.

Rod and staff English 2 is only a two page spread taking 10-15 min. daily. We do most orally and assign one part to be done on paper. Rod and Staff 3 is a 2-3 page spread. We do the oral review daily first and then the lesson. It takes 15 min. We do most orally and assign one part on paper at this level too. The lessons do get much longer in the higher levels though, so combining within a level is a good option in looking to the future when the lessons are longer.

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie wrote:Heart_Mom,

Sorry I am just getting to this now. We had a bit of a bump in the road as my second oldest son broke his foot in two places sledding this past week, so I'm a bit behind (and feeling the strain of having my usually quite independent 6th grader need me to help him get around and get everything!) God is so good though as He watched over my son to make sure he only broke his foot and not his neck.

Anyway, enough of the drama. As far as your kiddos go, I agree that it would work well to combine them within Rod and Staff English 2 next year. Some of it may be redundant with the ABeka he's done, but in the long run Rod and Staff covers so much more than grammar that it is well worth a bit of repeat to be able to do Rod and Staff for the long haul. Plus, it makes sense to combine your kiddos who are close in English level to have one less presentation each day every year. As a back up plan, you could always bump your older child up in grammar if needed.

Rod and staff English 2 is only a two page spread taking 10-15 min. daily. We do most orally and assign one part to be done on paper. Rod and Staff 3 is a 2-3 page spread. We do the oral review daily first and then the lesson. It takes 15 min. We do most orally and assign one part on paper at this level too. The lessons do get much longer in the higher levels though, so combining within a level is a good option in looking to the future when the lessons are longer.

Blessings,
Carrie

Hi, Carrie!

I'm so sorry to hear that your son broke his foot. OUCH! But I'm rejoicing with you that it wasn't worse. It must be hard to have an older child suddenly need you to do everything again!

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions! I do like the idea of keeping my older two together, so I think R&S 2 will be the way to go next year. I might actually start it a little bit at the end of this year, to get a head start. It's totally okay with me if some of it is a little redundant. My son sometimes needs review anyway.

Thanks for all you do!

I'm praying for your son's quick recovery (and your strength!).

Carrie wrote:Heart_Mom,

Sorry I am just getting to this now. We had a bit of a bump in the road as my second oldest son broke his foot in two places sledding this past week, so I'm a bit behind (and feeling the strain of having my usually quite independent 6th grader need me to help him get around and get everything!) God is so good though as He watched over my son to make sure he only broke his foot and not his neck.

Anyway, enough of the drama. As far as your kiddos go, I agree that it would work well to combine them within Rod and Staff English 2 next year. Some of it may be redundant with the ABeka he's done, but in the long run Rod and Staff covers so much more than grammar that it is well worth a bit of repeat to be able to do Rod and Staff for the long haul. Plus, it makes sense to combine your kiddos who are close in English level to have one less presentation each day every year. As a back up plan, you could always bump your older child up in grammar if needed.

Rod and staff English 2 is only a two page spread taking 10-15 min. daily. We do most orally and assign one part to be done on paper. Rod and Staff 3 is a 2-3 page spread. We do the oral review daily first and then the lesson. It takes 15 min. We do most orally and assign one part on paper at this level too. The lessons do get much longer in the higher levels though, so combining within a level is a good option in looking to the future when the lessons are longer.

Blessings,
Carrie

Hi Again, Carrie (and others who might be willing to give their opinion)!
***Edited a second time to add: I wrote the below post at a time when my four children were around me asking me questions, so it's not very, shall we say, concise! I hope to post a better thought out question in the near future, so I totally understand if you would rather wait to reply! So here's what I originally wrote....

I've been thinking about grammar more, and I would like to run something by you if that's okay.

I would like to move more and more toward doing what the guides say to use for Language. (For my younger children, I'll be able to do that from the get-go! ) Anyway, right now I'm using A Beka Language 2 with my 9 year old son, and I'm honestly not terribly impressed with it. I'm thinking of switching to having him do Beyond's poetry copywork and the Day 5 Language Arts activity instead of A Beka. Then I'm thinking that would prepare him well for doing R&S level 2 in the Bigger guide as written next year (like you recommended upthread).

Here's my question: in your opinion, is that going to give him "enough" language? In other words, is copying the whole poem, and also the Bible memory passage each week going to give him at least as much "meat" as the A Beka workbook would? I'm thinking it definitely would. (He's also doing Cheerful Cursive.) It's certainly at least as much physical writing as what's in the A Beka workbook. One other option would be to start R&S English 2 now with my older two, but I'm thinking that might be too much for my 1st grader, unless she did most of it orally. Any suggestions?

There's part of me that wants to just jump to Bigger right now with my oldest two, but I think that might not be the best idea. I know that Beyond prepares them for Bigger, and it could be too much for my 6 year old daughter right now. (She's doing fantastically in Beyond right now! ) Also, I know think Bigger will be good for my son next year with the extensions. What do you think?

I guess I'm just struggling with insecurity that I'm giving my son enough, but I know that if I push ahead before he's ready, it's only going to be a detriment to him. He can copy sentences very well, but he's still not really able to write on his own without LOTS of help with me on spelling. He's slowly improving, though!

EDITED TO ADD: I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but I thought I'd mention that we just finished Unit 15 today. My plan, at least at this point, is to keep my oldest two together, doing a new guide each year, with my oldest doing the extensions. (So that's Bigger for grades 4th & 2nd, Preparing for grades 5th & 3rd, etc., etc.)

Let me try to make this clearer. I'm seeing a few options here and not sure what's best...

1. Stick with A Beka Language 2 for this year, then do R&S 2 with Bigger in the Fall (I don't think this is best.)
2. Move to Copywork from Beyond instead of the A Beka workbook
3. Start R&S Engish 2 now
4. Start Bigger soon with my oldest two.

I think option 2 is the best, but I'm curious what you think...

Thank you for listening to my rambling email! (It's so hard to make these choices that make such an impact on my children's learning!)

I hope your son is improving!