High School Grammar Plan

[The2youngs]

This next year, my eldest will rejoin us with HOD, having done through AO7/8. As such, we've not used R&S with him at all. I'm considering our grammar plan and wondering if I might get some input.

So far, he's had:
4th grade: Grammarland (learned all the parts of speech)
6th & 7th: Easy Grammar Plus (did it mostly independently and really took to it, understanding quite well)
8th: Our Mother Tongue (will complete in its entirety and again, understands quite well)

In the midst of it all, he's had loads of copywork, dictation, oral and written narrations, etc.

I already had Grammar of Poetry planned for next year before deciding to return to HOD with him, and given the amount of grammar he's already undertaken and understands, I can't help but feel like R&S7 might be overkill for him. At this point, I'm thinking I'll do Grammar of Poetry with him next year to give him that exposure and something different than the usual, but beyond that I'm wondering how much more grammar he really needs for high school. He's very bright, catches on quickly, writes well, and is college-bound (at this point, he's aiming for Commercial Music Production). Can someone give me some insight in to what the benefits of R&S8 are and/or what components of high school grammar he might still be lacking? Despite my solid PS education, he far surpassed my grammar skills years ago!

[Norrfam0506]

I don’t have any great thoughts on this since we aren’t quite to high school yet. We don’t use R&S though. For now, we are using IEW Fix it with both our girls. I kind of want to look up Grammar of Poetry now though.

[my3sons]

R & S English has more to offer than the average grammar program. I like that it teaches grammar for the purpose of improving all language arts skills - as in speaking properly, writing properly, spelling properly, communicating properly, etc. R & S English is difficult to replace because it covers so many areas so thoroughly.

Of course, it does an outstanding job of teaching grammar! However, it is also (in my opinion) a necessary counterpart to creative writing because it teaches clear, step-by-step writing skills that can be applied to any subject area. R & S English has taught our sons how to take notes from a speaker, how to create outlines, how to use outlines to write reports, how to write with unity and coherence, how to properly use dialogue in a story, how to use rhythm/rhyme/onomatopoeia/alliteration in poetry, how to use varied sentence structures and transitional words, how to organize writing chronologically or spatially, etc.

R & S English also teaches proper etiquette in regard to language arts skills. These lessons are lessons I can see my sons need, but I can also see me forgetting to teach them, if they weren't a part of R & S English. For example, R & S English includes lessons on how to introduce people properly to one another (i.e. introduce your Pastor first and then introduce your friend), how to answer the phone, how to write down a phone message to be shared, how to use courtesy in conversation, how to give directions orally, etc.

As far as levels, R & S English 5 is considered integral. If students have not done any diagramming or have not had much formal grammar instruction, this is a not-to-be-missed level. For high school, I'd rather see students do R & S English 6 or higher if possible. Below I'm including the Table of Contents for R & S English 5 and 6, so you can click on them to compare the two with your son in mind (the first link is for 5; the second link is for 6; bolded items indicate oral and written composition lessons):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1gacacl3snwq2 ... C.pdf?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7lr51gmiqq7fn ... F.pdf?dl=0

Hope this helps with your high school grammar plan!

In Christ,
Julie

[The2youngs]

Thanks for the reply, Julie. In reading through your response, I wonder if maybe I wasn't as clear as I thought I was being.

When I said that R&S7 would be overkill for him, I meant that he's already covered that material through his other grammar courses. He's had plenty of diagramming, so levels 5 & 6 would be considerable review for him.

I'm considering waiting until further along next year (continuing in my plan to use Grammar of Poetry) and then giving him the placement test that is available from Milestone Books to see if there are any concepts from level 7 that will still need to be covered and whether there's anything from 8 that he'll still need. I understand what you mean about there being more in R&S than just strictly grammar; however, with this particular child, much of what you've mentioned R&S also teaching, he's learned through...osmosis? Life? God-given abundance of awareness/perceptiveness? But, I do like that they include those facets that you mentioned, making sure our kiddos have life skills and not just "grammar knowledge". My others in line will definitely benefit from them!