kkdnk
- Reviewed on Friday, October 30, 2009
- Grades Used: 1st, 4th, 5th
- Dates used: 2008-2009
We love, love, love Rod and Staff English! I wish I had know how great is was when my older children were in 1st grade. It is clomplete, well written, and includes great Bible references. I can't say enough great things about it. Great price as well! This is the happiest I've been with any of the English curriculums we have tried! I make the children ready the lesson out loud to me, which doesn't take long, we do the oral drill together, and then they do the written work on their own. We haven't used used the worksheets since the beginning as I feel they get enough practice from the excersises in the book. Awesome job Rod and Staff!
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Lisa Vann
- Reviewed on Thursday, August 13, 2009
- Grades Used: 5th
- Dates used: 08-09
I love this English program and so did my daughter. This was my first year using Rod and Staff, and I wish I had started each of my children with R&S from Kindergarten. It is so thorough and is explained in such an orderly manner that my daughter has actually retained what she knows rather than just learning for a test. I am so impressed with it that I am going continue on with it for every year hereafter for each of my "remaining" home schooled children.
The review questions at the beginning of each lesson were very helpful to my daughter. Also, I was thankful how planned out each lesson was for the parent to present to the student without a lot of prep-work required. This is the best English program I have ever used, and I have tried many after 9 years of homeschooling.
The teacher's manual is wonderful with everything laid out so well. All the answer keys to the tests and workbooks are put in an orderly manner in the back of the Teacher's book for you. I have used other popular big-name curriculums, and they have all had separate "keys" for each section of their programs, but R&S has figured out the very best manner in helping the parent/teacher without that unnecessary (and often costly) frustration of separate answer keys to keep up with.
As an added bonus the price of this~~even new~~is extremely low for the high benefits it provides. There are no drawbacks for us with this program other than I didn't "discover" Rod and Staff earlier than this. I can say that about few other programs I have ever tried. My daughter is looking forward to using this again this year, and so am I!
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Steph
- Reviewed on Saturday, May 09, 2009
- Grades Used: 2nd-5th
- Dates used: 2005-present
As a former English teacher, I searched high and low for a complete English program that was teacher-friendly and one that a student could understand and do independently if needed. I have been delighted with Rod and Staff English. The instruction for the student is very well done and explains things very well with adequate examples. I like the "oral" component as it gives me time to go over the lesson with my child without having to prepare a lot to teach it. We can do the oral drill to see if they get the material - we usually do the odds, and then they can do the written practice. I love the built-in review.
The diagramming work can become tedious, but we usually do half of them, and we do them on a dry erase board instead of paper- that has taken much of the frustration out.
One suggestion - for 5th grade (and I may have done this for 4th, I don't recall) I jumped back and did the capitalization and punctuation units earlier in the year instead of later as they have it. I wanted their writing to show those skills earlier. That helped their grammar/usage/mechanics in their writing assignments.
I give this a curriculum an A!!
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mjbucks1
- Reviewed on Friday, April 10, 2009
- Grades Used: 4th-6th
- Dates used: 2006-2009
We have been using Rod and Staff since my son started fourth grade. We started with First Language Lessons for K and first (which I do like). We then switched for LLATL for 2nd and third grade. I like the Red Book, but by the time we completed third grade, I did not feel that this program was thorough enough. I love Rod & Staff. This is a "no frills", very economical, and extremely thorough course. Your child will know grammar! My son is in 6th grade, and just took the 8th grade Explore test through ACT. He scored in the top 7% of 8th graders on the grammar and word usage section. This is an easy to use program as well. There are many exercises in the book for each lesson, but we do many of them orally, except for the diagramming. We will continue with this series for the duration.
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