Using Rod and Staff English with Heart of Dakota
Rod and Staff English continues to be one of the best grammar programs ever written! It teaches grammar for the purpose of improving all language arts skills – such as speaking, writing, spelling, and communicating properly. It maintains a Christian focus throughout, and of course, it is best-known for doing an outstanding job of teaching grammar!
Each Heart of Dakota guide includes plans for multiple levels of Rod and Staff English, so just follow the plans for the English level you choose. Beyond the scheduling aspect and looking onward toward the details of teaching a lesson, however, you can find success using Rod and Staff English with Heart of Dakota in many ways. Let’s see how!
Do it as written.
Rod and Staff English includes clear step-by-step directions, so you can easily do it as written. Begin with the oral review questions in the teacher’s guide. These questions provide excellent review and help students commit to memory important English terms. Next, read the content of the lesson. For young children, parents read the content aloud. For older children, parents and children can read the content separately silently. After reading the content of the lesson, move through the oral portions of the lesson together.
Finally, finish with the written portions of the lesson. Students can independently write their answers in a wide-lined or college-ruled notebook. Just refer to the Rod and Staff Teacher’s Guide for the answers for both the oral and written portions of the lesson.
Do two-thirds of each lesson orally or on a whiteboard.
Another option for using Rod and Staff English with Heart of Dakota is to modify the presentation while still covering all the content. While we truly love Rod and Staff English, the lessons at the upper levels can get quite long. So, one tip we’ve found that helps us consistently get it done is to work through the lesson orally and/or on a whiteboard. This speeds each lesson right along.
This method also keeps the student’s interest and allows you to correct any misconceptions immediately. Plus, in this scenario, written work is limited to only meaningful answers. For example, it is much more important to write diagramming exercises than it is to write the words ‘singular’ and ‘plural.’ So, anything that can be done orally, do orally! Anything that can be done quickly on a whiteboard, do on the whiteboard!
Assign one-third of the lesson to be done as written work.
Still another option for using Rod and Staff English with Heart of Dakota is to do the bulk of the lesson orally. At the end of the lesson, we assign one section to be done as written work. When choosing which section this will be, we make sure it is a section that is most meaningfully done in writing. This assigned section often includes diagramming or composition exercises.
If there isn’t a certain section that benefits from being written, we may do the entire lesson orally instead. This option works well for students who take a long time to write, for students who struggle with writing, or for parents and students alike who are short on time.
We’ve tried this method from English 2 through English 8 with good results. We consistently get it done, and our sons have good overall retention of concepts. When our two older sons entered college, they were thankful for the strong English background they acquired through Rod and Staff English! Try this method yourself, and see what you think!
To cement previous concepts, be sure to do the oral review at the beginning of each lesson.
No matter your chosen method of using Rod and Staff English with Heart of Dakota, make sure to do the oral review at the beginning of each lesson to cement previous concepts. Skipping the oral review means students forget what has been studied previously. So, don’t skip the oral review!
Using Rod and Staff English with Heart of Dakota successfully works with all the above methods. So, choose the method you most prefer, and you will be well on your way to seeing the ‘fruit’ of teaching grammar with Rod and Staff English!
Table of Contents for Rod and Staff English Levels 2 through 8 (clickable links below):
- Level 2 Pupil Text
- Level 2 Teacher’s Guide
- Level 3 Pupil Text
- Level 3 Teacher’s Guide
- Level 4 Pupil Text
- Level 4 Teacher’s Guide
- Level 5 Pupil Text
- Level 5 Teacher’s Guide
- Level 6 Pupil Text
- Level 6 Teacher’s Guide
- Level 7 Pupil Text
- Level 7 Teacher’s Guide
- Level 8 Pupil Text
- Level 8 Teacher’s Guide
In Christ,
Julie
P.S. Check out Carrie’s blog post about pacing for Rod and Staff English for college-bound students by clicking here!
P.S.S. Are you wondering how to get all of language arts done each day? Click here to see how Heart of Dakota makes this easy to do!
