Naomi C.
- Reviewed on Saturday, July 04, 2009
- Grades Used: 1st
- Dates used: 2008-2009
The 08-09 school year was my first "official" homeschooling year. I choose to use Rod and Staff simply because my mother homeschooled me using the same curriculum. I felt comfortable and familiar with their approach and techniques. My 6yo daughter easily followed along with the phonics and reading program. She went from not being able read much when we started in August 08, to reading fluently by February 09. It was amazing (and very encouraging!!). She struggled a little with the math, but still grew by leaps and bounds.
I didn't see the need to do the Worksheets everyday, so we quit those after Christmas break. Also, my dd hated the Penmanship. So, away went the "formal" Penmanship book. I replaced that with my own version of Penmanship...learning addresses, phone numbers, months of the year, days of the week, seasons, directions, etc. That went over much better and she actually learned useful, everyday things while practicing her handwriting. When my ds starts 1st grade, we will use the Printing Practice books rather than the Penmanship. I think that handwriting is much more interesting when it corresponds to the day's lesson.
I really enjoy Rod and Staff. Their English and Math are rock solid foundations. (As mentioned above, I was schooled through the sixth grade with Rod and Staff. I went to a private school from 7th through 12th grades, and never received anything but an A in English or Math during my high school years. I graduated HS with a 4.0 and I credit that mostly to the foundation I had in elementary years.) I have questioned myself on the difficult days as to whether this is for us, etc, but, I know that Rod and Staff offers an incredible value and a wonderful, solid education for my children. Their Teacher's Manuals are very thorough and easy to follow. All in all, I have found Rod and Staff to be a simple, easy to follow, thorough curriculum where the student truely masters the basics in such a way that they are never forgotten.
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nancystanley
- Reviewed on Thursday, May 08, 2008
- Grades Used: 4th
- Dates used: 2007-2008
This is our second year homeschooling. Last year I chose an expensive curriculum because I thought that was what my daughter needed. I thought Rod and Staff looking boring. When I told my friend about my frustrations she brought me back to R & S and I'm so glad she did. The more I looked at it, I loved the simplicity of the pictures and everything was written so clearly. My daughter needs to be challenged, so I thought I would give it a try.
We used the English, reading, and History. We loved it! It was so easy to teach. We started with Saxon Math, so continue to do that, but wish we would of started with R & S math. All I can say is that it is a great curriculum that puts God in the center.
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Homeschooley
- Reviewed on Wednesday, April 16, 2008
- Grades Used: 7th
- Dates used: 2007 and 08
We Used these books this school year! We actually ended up dropping the Spelling, English, History and for a while math! We did NOT Like these books they were set up where u write the problems on a seperate paper and it just was not for us! The spelling was to advanced for my daughter who is a 9th grade spelling level! and WAY to advanced for the average 7th grader! We had to leave the math books and go more indepth in numerous places then come back! English just was to much! Science though is just WONDERFUL! We will use it again! We LOVE it! It is well rounded and Keeps the kids engaged! Overall it has to be for you!
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stack2025
- Reviewed on Saturday, March 01, 2008
- Grades Used: 1st- 4th
- Dates used: 2007-07 and 2007-08
Last year we used Rod & Staff for reading only and were so happy with it we decided to try other subjects.
This year we tried English, Spelling, Reading and Phonics, Math, Social Studies and Health.
The reading, although it has a good deal of book work, is ideal if you wish to ground your children in the scriptures at a very young age. It is very scripturally thorough and accurate. If you don't want your kids or students to do all the book work they can do some orally, skip some of the exercizes, or just let them read the nurture readers and then ask them questions about the stories.
The phonics lessons were very well done. Using R&S phonics, after reviewing with Hooked on Phonics at the beginning of the year, we brought my son along from hating reading and refusing to read in his Kindergarten private school class up to a grade 2 reading level this year homeschooling. He is reading really well now.
The Health,English, and Social Studies lessons have less book work than the reading does and the lessons are brief enough to keep my younger son's attention yet very adaquate.
The Math lessons are easy to teach because the manual is well laid out. Since someone sold us a used set for my daughter we used our own flash cards for 3rd grade and it worked out okay but I would recommend using the flash cards. We also used the black lines again and again for review when my daughter was struggling with mastering a particular concept. She loves the speed drills.
For spelling there were only three excersizes each week so we simply added to them by making the students write each word three times on Monday, write them on index cards Tuesday and then file them alphabetically Wednesday, do the book work on Thursday, and then Friday we test. That way we're learning to alphabetize while we learn to spell and it's less boring than just writing for alphabetizing or making up sentences to write the words into.
We plan to continue with R&S with most subjects now that we have seen what good quality they have to offer.
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