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MBTP (Moving Beyond the Page) -- Anyone use(d) this?


Sahamamama
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We used the first couple of concepts of the 5-7 level and the first two literature units for 7-9. I like it in small doses, but I couldn't do a full year of just that curriculum. The assignments offer a lot of variety, and although we mostly enjoyed the Tornado lit unit, things quickly got frustrating for Ariel with Sarah, Plain and Tall. They expect a lot of writing (more than we were used to, at any rate) for fairly young students, so if your child doesn't enjoy writing, stay away, or be prepared to do most of the writing for her. The lessons also take quite a bit of time, if you count the reading of the chapter and the activities, it can easily take 45 minutes to an hour to do the lesson. Ariel struggled with several of the assignments, and rather than push on and frustrate her further, I opted to stop for awhile and do our other English curriculum alone for a few months before I pull out the Helen Keller unit I already purchased. My original plan had been to do half Galore Park and half MBtP, but given the difficulty with MBtP (and the expense), we are going to use MBtP as a supplement. That said, I think we will continue to use a few of the literature units to add variety, but probably only 2-3 per year.

 

If you want to try it, I recommend buying a lit unit if your student is old enough for it, or one concept of the age group to try. I was actually able to piece one concept together, used, for about 1/3 the cost of buying everything new.

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We use it. Last year I did just a couple concepts from the 7-9 units. This year I ordered all of the 8-10 yrs. I honestly go back and forth about how I feel about it. I like the lit units better than the social studies/science units. Often the science experiments don't work. Things are divided up in a way that can feel really disjointed. There are also a lot of typos which bugs me more some days than others. I end up adding a lot to it in order to feel like we are really doing more than skimming the surface of topics. I think that next year we will do the literature units, but probably not the social studies/science, but that could change as the year goes on. We are really looking forward to the next couple units and my daughter is enjoying the topics. Anyway, it is not perfect, but it has been the closest I have found to what I want without writing it myself.

Noelle

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I have had 2 of the concepts and didn't complete either of them. I am absolutely unconvinced that they're appropriate for gifted children. There's just no way. I guess if by "gifted" they simply mean "gifted in writing" then maybe, but gifted in general? Absolutely not. The 5-7 concept about...habitats maybe? That information it contained was appropriate for a 3 to 4 year old, but then it asked for quite a bit more writing than a 3 or 4yo would be able to do. I absolutely agree that they ask for a lot of writing.

 

Also, the artwork is horrendous. Some of the pictures are difficult to even decipher. Then, of course, there are the typos. The idea behind the curriculum is great. The execution is not. I don't think they're terrible. They could just be a lot better.

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We've been using the lit units for my 12yo and love them. A couple of points though:

 

1. He's not gifted.

2. We choose from books he's interested in, rather than books at a specific age span. This means we have lit units from the 8-10, 9-11, 10-12, and 11-13 spans. All have been enjoyed.

 

The projects usually offer enough open-ended possibility to keep him engaged and wanting to learn more, but not so much that it is frustrating to keep up with. I haven't considered doing one of the concept units yet but the lit ones are better than what I have seen anywhere else. With the exception of Mr. Popper's Penguins on homeschoolshare, most of what we've tried has been question/answer or very dry. These offer us a more in depth look into the book and keep his interest a lot more.

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After the new year DD will be starting the second unit of 5-7. She likes it and while I won't say it is perfect, it is working well for her right now. DS, on the other hand, did not enjoy it. Oh well, we found other things for him. :)

I suspect you might not see MBTP too often on these boards because imo it is a fairly different approach than that described in WTM. I like it, though.

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I am absolutely unconvinced that they're appropriate for gifted children.

 

:iagree: We used one of their Lit Studies as a Unit Study over the summer. My son thought it was fun, but it was (for lack of a better word) too easy. I would look at samples for the program above what's recommended.

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I also like the literature units better than the science and social studies units. I'd also agree that there is a lot of writing.

 

Last year we did some 8-10 lit. units. There were things I really liked, and a lot of things we skipped. We went through the units about twice as fast as planned, because dd doesn't like to read through books slowly. I loved the depth of some of the questions, which provided good prompts for writing. I didn't really agree with some of the assignments. For example, writing a report about beavers in the middle of reading Sign of the Beaver didn't go over well here. It would have done nothing to enhance understanding or enjoyment of the story. I see value in being able to write an animal report, but I'd let my child choose any animal, and it wouldn't be a one day assignment falling in the middle of a literature unit.

 

This year we are doing some 9-11 units, and my younger dd has done a 7-9 literature unit. I was able to find them half price at a used bookstore. Dd really liked the energy unit.

 

I'd say we do about 50% of what is assigned. Some things seem unnecessary (drawing a picture of the state quarter for every single state), and others seem useful, but not in the middle of the other assignments (writing a turtle report in the middle of a book about a dog).

 

I think it is expensive, especially since we are picking and choosing from within each book. The things I really like about it though are things I haven't found anywhere else.

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I didn't really agree with some of the assignments. For example, writing a report about beavers in the middle of reading Sign of the Beaver didn't go over well here. It would have done nothing to enhance understanding or enjoyment of the story. I see value in being able to write an animal report, but I'd let my child choose any animal, and it wouldn't be a one day assignment falling in the middle of a literature unit.

 

My kids didn't like the Venn diagrams and those kinds of assignments, but they liked the hands-on stuff (of course). They made movie posters for Sign of the Beaver and they both made a stop-motion photography movie using figurines. THAT they liked...but we can put unit studies like that together without buying a program. Once you've done so many of them, there's pattern. :tongue_smilie:

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I purchased MBTP 5-7 and we started using it. We finished the first concept and moved on to the second and I really wanted to like it but I always feel like it's lacking and I'm really not sure why. I must have a different experience than others who posted because I do not feel there is too much writing (at least so far). I just feel like there isn't a lot of substance. A pp mentioned that it seemed to be more directed for 3-4 yo and maybe that is true. My dd is 4 and really has done very well with it.

My dd loved the habitats unit but really did not enjoy the Community unit, at all. When I purchased it I thought the Unit Study style would be good for us (we just started homeschooling) but I am finding that my dd has a very strong interest in science and she really missed it when we were doing the community unit. I have the whole 5-7 curriculum so we will probably use it but not strictly as intended.

SO, to answer your question...the material is light, imo, if you are within the age group it suggests. Also, in the 5-7 units the literature is very weak. I find myself supplementing a lot but maybe that is just me!

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I have had 2 of the concepts and didn't complete either of them. I am absolutely unconvinced that they're appropriate for gifted children. There's just no way. I guess if by "gifted" they simply mean "gifted in writing" then maybe, but gifted in general? Absolutely not. The 5-7 concept about...habitats maybe? That information it contained was appropriate for a 3 to 4 year old, but then it asked for quite a bit more writing than a 3 or 4yo would be able to do. I absolutely agree that they ask for a lot of writing.

 

.

 

I agree...we worked on that Habitat concept when my dd was 3.5 and I had to really beef it up for her because the material was so light.

 

OP- make sure you check out the samples to see which age range would work for your kiddo.

 

And YES, I couldn't stand the artwork!!

 

But then again, I've heard of people loving it too.

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My kids didn't like the Venn diagrams and those kinds of assignments, but they liked the hands-on stuff (of course). They made movie posters for Sign of the Beaver and they both made a stop-motion photography movie using figurines. THAT they liked...but we can put unit studies like that together without buying a program. Once you've done so many of them, there's pattern. :tongue_smilie:

 

Now that's a fun idea! We just bought a new video camera. I have no idea how to do stop-motion photography, but I'm sure I can google it. :D

 

I agree about the second bolded statement. Some of the concepts get repetitive. I do think science and social studies units can be pulled together pretty easily. There is just something about the literature questions in MBTP though. I really liked them.

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We have liked certain things from MBTP. I do like their Lit studies. I'm planning to have dd11 do a couple of them this year although so far we haven't started any. We did the Little House in the Big Woods study last year and liked it. The one I'm planning to do next is Sign of the Beaver. I guess we'll see on the Beaver report if dd wants to do it or not. I did let her skip a couple parts of Little House she wasn't that interested in.

 

I have the Animal Habitats and never could get into that one. We also got one of the concepts for 8-10 that was science related and wound up dropping it pretty quickly.

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If anyone has the old 6-8 copy of MBTP, I just bought the new one. It said it was revised effective 2011. If you can point out some of the typos I'll check my copy and see if they were corrected. I see the typo concern brought up frequently with this curriculum and it would be interesting to see if they listened to the feedback on it. :)

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After the new year DD will be starting the second unit of 5-7. She likes it and while I won't say it is perfect, it is working well for her right now. DS, on the other hand, did not enjoy it. Oh well, we found other things for him. :)

I suspect you might not see MBTP too often on these boards because imo it is a fairly different approach than that described in WTM. I like it, though.

 

More than likely considering the style is much different than WTM.

 

Thanks, everyone, for those thoughtful replies. I guess that settles the issue for us, LOL. The typos alone would drive me crazy.

 

I haven't noticed the typos, really. And the drawings aren't what I'd call high graphic content, but they certainly are inviting to a child whose drawing skills aren't the best either.

 

I like using MBTP and will continue with it.

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  • 1 year later...

More than likely considering the style is much different than WTM.

 

 

 

I haven't noticed the typos, really. And the drawings aren't what I'd call high graphic content, but they certainly are inviting to a child whose drawing skills aren't the best either.

 

I like using MBTP and will continue with it.

 

 

 

I agree. I used one 5-7 concept, three 6-8 concepts, are about to start the fourth 6-8 concept and so far I haven't noticed the typos. Really! As far as the drawings, they're really not that bad at all. Very simple, unsophisticated and child-like but not something that distracts or takes away from the quality of the material. I, too, like MBTP and will continue to use it. Perhaps not the science and social sciences that begin with 7-9, but will definitely use it for the lit units. In fact, I just purchased the 7-9 Tornado unit today for my 7 year old son. Yay!

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Since this old thread was brought up, I guess I should add that we continued with MBtP and even added DS back in. We're now in the last unit of the 6-8 and with modifications, it is still going quite well. We will probably move on to the 7-9 next year.

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