We are trying the classical approach this school year. So far so good! The one area that we have not started yet is grammar. Any suggestions? I think I'm between Rod and Staff and Shurely Grammar. Help! ~ Shaina
Shaina...they are different, so it depends on what you like! I am using Rod and Staff. I'm glad i went with it, but others same the same thing about Shurley Grammar. I probably know more that use R&S than SG. The reasons I liked it are because its straightforward..I don't want/need a lot of prep time or want to sing chants,etc. From what I understand, Shurley Grammar has a more teacher prep time and they memorize by fun chants. The second strongest reason i liked it was because WTM said it can *stand alone* as a writing program. This reason more than anything. I also like the diagramming that begins in the 3rd grade. It has worked well for my visual learner. He can't *fugde* on which part of speech it is. EAch part has a name/place. By diagramming it, he sees the relationship to each other. This year, I'm still using part of Calvert's writing program since its so strong, but its nice having another option if we want to switch. So basically if you buy the very inexpensive Rod and Staff English books you are basically getting 2 programs for the price of one, i.e. grammar and writing. Not to mention the books are hardcover and you use them for the next child. This keeps the headache down on deciding if you like Writing Strands or not. Does that help any? TinaTx
Shaina, I used Shurley Grammar with my boys, and it got some good results. But Tina is right---it has cathcy little chants to learn things, and it was a LOT of work on my part! I got overwhelmed after awhile, and couldn't keep up with it all, and the boys got bored of doing the chant things, so we moved on to other things. That's just our experience, I'm sure there are many people who have had great experiences with SG. I've heard good things about the R&S also, like that they REALLY learn it, and it's writing is very strong and to the point for what is being taught. I think my info. on that has come from WTM and TinaTx, so I'm sure it coincides with what she said. :wink: Best wishes on your decision!
Thanks for your imput ladies. I think I'll go with my first instinct - shurley is not for us. Rod & Staff is affordable and seems to be the right decission for Andrew. It's so hard when you hear so many good things about so many good programs! This year has been hard for us as we have completely changed our way of thinking about education. We've been struggling the most with writing - ugh. Andrew (9) is very creative, he loves to think of stories and explain things - it's the mechanics that are difficult. Thanks again for your help. - now I have to figure out this timeline thing )[/u][/url]
I'm using Easy Grammar with my 3rd and 6th graders. We're doing well with it so far! I want to see how it goes for this year, then make up my mind how well we like it. So far my kids are doing fine with it. I'm hoping it works well!
Shaina, Well, like I said, we're not very far into it yet, but so far it seems good. They had to learn what prepositions are, then a list of them to remember and work with. Then they do sentences and other things. My third grader finds the prepositions in the sentences and uses them in different ways. My 6th grader learned about prep. phrases also, and how once you find and cross out the prep. phrase, it's easy to find the subject and verb of the sentence. My kids fell right into it with no problem. My 3rd grader learned her preposition list right away, and was very proud of herself. I can see that they are learning and have advanced already in the short while we've been using it---and they like it! So, as I said in the other message, we'll stick with it this year and see how it goes. If they keep liking it and advancing, then we'll just continue on with it. It's not a lot of prep. time for me either, so that's something I like! Especially since I am and have been putting so much time in getting the Bible/History thing going (which is going GREAT I might add!!!). Have you looked into Easy Grammar? I'll have to look in WTM and see if it says anything about EG, I don't remember, or I haven't read it yet.
For the grammar stage wtm recomends A Beka, Rod & Staff, or Voyages in English. I have a few friends who have recommended Shurley - but I think I have ruled that one out! I don't have time for the prep work and we're not big on "chants" My 9 year old doesn't even like his Awana verses to music! I don't think I've ever seen Easy Grammar. Is it a workbook format? Where did you purchase it from? I'm sorry to ask so many questions - I think I said before I'm a horrible decission maker ) Thanks again for the help.
Shaina........ Another good reason to use Rod & Staff in your case is that the writing is not too much. In otherwords it won't run off a reluctant writer in terms of the mechanics of it. You know some things I found helpful with my second son is narration..I have him *talk* so he can just enjoy the process of creating or writing..Then I write it out, and then he copies it in his best handwriting. This takes a lot of work out of doing 2 steps, ie. creating the ideas and concentrating on how the letters should look, kwim?
I got Easy Grammar from a local Teacher's/Educational Store. They were having a sale and I also got an amount off for having purchased a certain amount over time, so it was a pretty good deal. The thing I liked about getting it there was that the person that works there, whom I know fairly well by this time, told me all she knew about it and I could open the books and see what it looked like. It had been recommended on the Homeschool Forum at abcteach around that time also (near the end of last "school year". It is basically a workbook format. It comes in just a workbook for the kids, or you can get a teacher's edition that also has the workbook pages in it. On one side is the sheet for them to do, on the other is the answer sheet for that page. I like having it all in one place. I just run off the sheet they are to do---some days I keep my printer quite busy, but I'm still coming out ahead of sending them to a Private school, plus I get to have my children home with me!!! I like that!!! (Well......most of the time!) I am using Learning Language Arts Through Literature (LLATL) for my 3rd grader for writing. It's okay, but I'm not overly excited about it. My daughter isn't complaining right now, so we'll keep using it for awhile. The nice thing about the LLATL book I got for her was that there is a Chrisitan Bookstore not far from us that also consigns homeschool books. I found her level there for $1.00! I thought it was certainly worth trying for that price! Hey, questions are great, keep on asking them! You can't learn whatcha wanna know unless you ask! :lol:
