What pace should she take R&S at

[Mumkins]

So I posted early about having my will be 5th grade DD start R&S 4 in the fall. My plan was to be a lot farther into R&S 3 than we are. We're nearing the end of the first unit. We started with 2 this year. I had to put her back 2 grades in math too, so we've been doubling up math lessons. Once we hit July, she'll have the summer to do just one lesson a day. Then we'll start doubling up in the fall again and should be on grade level to start fall 2012. So now with English, I'm not sure how to handle this. She's not getting diagramming. And from what I've read, R&S focuses on diagramming for years to come. I'm not sure I ever did it in school. Anyway, I'm not sure if I should double up lessons, drop to one over summer and keep doubled until we catch up to where she should be for book 4 in the guide next year. Or if I should go 1 lesson at a day, though the summer, school year doing 1 or 2 on day 5 and next summer and eventually we'll catch up. I know it's recommended to finish book 6 by the end of grade 8. We could do one book a year, but I also know in older guides, you're suppose to go half pace.

Any ideas?

[pjdobro]

I think it is more important for her to understand the concepts than get through the books. I haven't done R&S 4 yet so it's possible that they will touch on some of the same concepts again. If that is the case, then you could possibly continue at a quick pace ahead in R&S3, but I would be hesitant to go too fast until she is understanding the parts of speech and how to diagram them. Can you explain what she isn't getting? Does she understand the basic parts of speech, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs? Diagramming is really just a picture (or diagram ) of the sentence. So if you can figure out what the parts of speech are then, it's just a matter of putting them in the picture at the correct place. The wonderful thing about diagramming is that it is always the same. The subject, the verb, etc. are always placed in the same way. So I guess the key to it is to be able to figure out what the subject, verb, etc. is. Anyway, back to your original question, I think I would take it at the pace that she is able to understand. I'm sure everyone will need a break in the summer so I don't know if I would continue over the summer or not. It might be nice to take at least a little bit of a break then pick back up where you left off. I would just try to continue on at a reasonable pace and re-evaluate later. It's possible that you can continue on at one lesson a day even when it is scheduled at 1/2 pace in the later guides if you find that need. I think your idea of doing grammar on the 5th day is a good one. That will get you more than 20% farther in each book. Which guide will your dd be doing in the fall?

[Mumkins]

She did fine with R&S 2, nouns, verbs and all that. But she keeps forgetting what the subject and predicate is. She forgets which goes on which side. As well getting stuck on the part where 'you' is assumed, but not written. If it's not there, she just picks another word and writes it down. We're going to do Preparing.

[annaz]

Mumkins, I feel your pain. If it makes you feel any better, we're in R&S 3 as well and have ordered CTC for next year. DD is 10 and is currently in 4th (5th next fall). And FWIW, we're finishing up Math 3.

We have oodles to go in R&S 3 so I have the same quandry you do. We came from BJU 4 and hit a wierd glitch and it frightened me, since I'd assume that crazyiness continued to be the norm. So dd chose to do R&S instead when I gave her the option. Hence, we went backward since she had brain freeze with pronouns. So we're on Pronoun units.

As not to hijack, but I worry that we'll be doing full levels during all the HOD years, instead of half a speed where it is shown to do so in HOD and get burned out. I too, don't know whether to do the following:
* to hit on only whats needed in 3 to start with 4 in the fall
* to do 3 over the summer,
* or just plug along.

Portions of 3 we can skip, like dictionary skills since we do that in other subjects and have covered it. But I worry where we're supposed to do half pace and we'd be doing full pace.

So I'm with you.....and subscribing to your post.

[pjdobro]

I looked ahead a bit and I think you all will be ok especially if you do a grammar lesson on your 5th day. It looks like grammar is scheduled 1/2 pace in CTC and RTR but then in Rev2Rev it depends on which level you are using as to how it is scheduled. So if you reach Rev2Rev and are in R&S5, you'll do it full-speed. If you are in 6 then 1/2 speed. So surely it wouldn't be that bad to being doing 5 at full-speed while doing Rev2Rev or Carrie wouldn't have made it an option in the guide.

So Mumkins for you if you just continue R&S3 at one lesson per day this year and when you do Preparing then start R&S4 when you have finished 3, I don't think you are going to be far behind at all and may even catch up to be ready to start 5 at 1/2 pace in CTC. When you start CTC you could do whichever level that you are doing 1/2 pace and just add in that one extra lesson each week on day 5. With doing that I think by the time you finish RTR, you'll be caught up and reading to go 1/2 pace with 6 in Rev2Rev and Modern Times.

Annaz, for you if you can manage to do the rest of R&S3 (the parts you feel your dd needs) and start 4 this year perhaps adding a lesson the 5th day of the week, you'll probably be able to finish 1/2 of 4 this year and be on schedule to do the second 1/2 of 4 with RTR then go with the full-speed schedule in Rev2Rev and Modern Times.

I would imagine that the important thing here is to keep progressing steadily ahead. Hopefully Julie, Carrie, or someone who has done all of these levels will be able to ease your minds a bit and also let you know where you can more easily speed up and when it is more critical to slow down.

Mumkins I wanted to add too that I think the mistakes that your dd is making with diagramming will probably go away with time. It sounds like she just hasn't practiced it enough to be really familiar and confident with it. My dd was that way at first too. It sounds like you are still early on with the diagramming. I think by the time you have done it more, she'll get the hang of it.

[raceNzanesmom]

I don't know if this would help at all, I only have a 1st grader that isn't even doing English yet, but... could you make her some type of help chart to have with her while she works? We use file folders and it works really well. He can have the folder open while he's working for reminders on things. We have a math and a reading/handwriting one. I got the idea here: http://www.teachingheart.net/minioffice.html Perhaps one that shows the parts of speech, a diagram sample, etc would help.

[Mumkins]

Thank you pjdobro, you're right.

That's a good idea raceNzanesmom.