quick grammar question

[Bramble]

My son is 9 and using R&S 2 with Bigger. He hadn't had much exposure to grammar prior to this. He is doing great w/ R&S 2. I am looking ahead a bit and wondering if I should skip to 4 next year? I consider him fourth grade now and if he does R&S 3 as a 5th grader, how will he finish 6 in 8th grade? Thanks for any insight.

[pjdobro]

I wouldn't skip R&S3. I think there are a lot of new things introduced in it like diagramming. I've only done R&S2 and we're about 1/2 way through R&S3. The level of difficulty is stepped up quite a bit from 2 to 3 and I'm guessing it probably steps up a little more in 4. You are on track to finish 6 by 8th grade if you do one guide a year. I know it is scheduled at 1/2 pace in some of the later guides so that would have you not finishing if you went 1/2 pace as suggested. I'm thinking it would be better to either increase the pace a bit now doing 2 lessons a day in R&S2 and possibly in R&S3 or just continue at a lesson a day, one level each year pace from now until 8th grade. Perhaps someone who has done all of the levels can advise you as to another plan that might work for you, but with my limited exposure to R&S, I wouldn't suggest skipping any levels.

[Bramble]

Thanks. Yes, I'd like to do 1/2 pace where recommended. I guess the reason I thought it would be okay to skip 3 is that Carrie recommends in her catalog "Older students who have had some grammar instruction can begin with English 3 or 4." 4 is recommended for grades 4 or 5 and he will be "5th grade." Maybe my line of thinking is completely off and I appreciate you sharing yours! I did just today borrow 3 and the TM of 4 from a friend, so I will take a look and see. Hoping, too, that others will share their opinions!

Thanks again! I appreciate your time.

[pjdobro]

That is really great that you can look through 3 and 4. That way you can see how much is repeating, if you would be missing something, etc. Since I haven't done 4 yet, I have no idea how much repeating is done. I do know that 2 introduces things that are built upon in 3 and also introduces some new things. I'm guessing 4 might do the same. Hopefully you can figure that out by looking and some others will jump in and share their experiences with the older guides.

[Bramble]

bump

[inHistiming]

We did not begin R&S until my oldest was in 5th grade. Since he had not done any diagraming prior to that I decided to start him in level 3. We ended up doing 2 lessons some days and skipping some that he already knew.....and beginning level 4 toward the end of his 5th grade year. I would recommend doing something like that rather than skipping it altogether. Now, he is in level 5 in 7th grade. We are going through it one lesson a day, 4 days a week, instead of half-pace since he's so 'old,' but we are set to complete level 6 by the end of 8th grade. HTH

[Carrie]

Bramble,

The ladies are already giving you such great advice, so I'll just pop-in to agree. I wouldn't skip English 3, but rather double up some if needed (since the lessons are shorter). If desired, you could do English 2 at a bit quicker pace too, however I wouldn't be in too big of hurry to just get through the lessons as they are so well-written and have so much in them. The jump from English 2 to English 4 is very significant, so I think you'd be better off with English 3 as a bridge. If needed you could always do English 4 full-speed when you get there, if desired to catch up later (since this is scheduled at half-speed in CTC/RTR). Anyway, just a thought.

Blessings,
Carrie