Moving Beyond the Page

[woolybear]

I would love to hear some feedback on MBTP. I don't have any specific questions. It looks very interesting to me, but a bit overwhelming. Particularly since I was considering using it as a supplement. I don't know where to even start.

 

Oh, wait. I did think of one question. For my younger ds, who is 10 yo, but is not a strong reader, it says he would fall into the 6-8 yo skills wise, but I am wondering if the content would be below his level. Does it make sense to wait until his reading skills are stronger and then can maybe match up to his age?

 

Basically, I would just like to hear a bit more about this program from anyone who has used it.

[winoelle]

Last year I used MBtP in it's entirety for my dd10. I added a little to it in some areas that we wanted to be more in depth with. This year we are using Oak Meadow as sort of the core to our program and I am using the Lit Units from MBtP for language arts. I really like a lot of things about MBtP and my dd LOVES it. I think the Lit Units on their own are great. I also think you can use the Social Studies/Science units on their own. You would just select which activities you wanted to use. I have plans to use a couple this year as they tie in to other things I am doing. As far as the levels go, I think that it is mainly writing skills that tend to be a stretch. We are currently using the 9-11. Their customer service is great, and if you contact them I am sure they would place you correctly. Just starting with a Lit Unit might be a good way to gauge if the level would work for you.

[ondreeuh]

Bump :)

[PhotoGal]

We have used quite a few lit units and so far I have been happy with them. I think that is a great way to get started. I don't think the 6-8 level has lit units, though. You might choose a lit unit in 7-9 and then modify it as needed. For example, you could read the book aloud and do assignments orally or by dictation for now. My son really enjoyed the first 7-9 lit unit ("Tornado").

[sewingmama]

We used it this year - and got bored of it after the first couple of units. We were using 5-7 and it became to easy for my 4&5 yo at the time. The books are not as integrated as I would like them to be. There are A LOT of worksheets.

 

I won't be using the next level up but might try the lit units when we get to that age as I've heard good things about them.

 

The subjects/themes tend to get repeated every year and its heavy on the American emphasis which I don't need.

 

I agree the customer service is fabulous -absolutely the best.

 

I think I am more comfortable using it in bits and pieces rather then as a whole.

[Lily_Grace]

We have used quite a few lit units and so far I have been happy with them. I think that is a great way to get started. I don't think the 6-8 level has lit units, though. You might choose a lit unit in 7-9 and then modify it as needed. For example, you could read the book aloud and do assignments orally or by dictation for now. My son really enjoyed the first 7-9 lit unit ("Tornado").

 

 

 

This. We picked and chose based on my son's interests, modifying the skills as needed. Many of the books they use also have audio versions, so if you are worried about the content being too young pick a book that would interest him and have the audio playing as he reads.

 

 

We really liked the units we did (Sign of the Beaver, Giver, My Side of the Mountain, and The Hobbit) and thought they were creative and interesting. We had no interest in using the full program, though, with science/social studies. It actually brought us back to unit studies and gave us more direction this year for what he wanted from a program.

 

One last tidbit - the samples on their website are okay, but I refrained from ordering for years because that was the only thing I saw. I ended up putting one in the cart at Rainbow Resource because their samples looked so much better!

[roanna]

We used it for the Community 6-8 age for my 6 year old. It had some interesting things but honestly it seemed to get a bit boring after a while. It is VERY closely matched to core standards aka dry. I wrote a much longer review here if you want to look it up.

 

An example was that they talked about Martin Luther King and you were to check out/buy just one book. There was no background that I thought would be so valuable and interesting such as Rosa Parks. I got a handful of books from the library to help. The spelling lists are very odd. The last thing I will say is that some of the activities were great, some really felt like busy work just trying to fill in space. I threw those away.

 

I don't know about the other levels but just don't expect too much. As others have said , it's good to use as a supplement.

[woolybear]

Thank you all. Your responses were very helpful. I will check out the samples at RR. Based on what I've read here, though, I think I would just consider it for a supplement, maybe trying out a lit. unit.

[BatmansWife]

We are going with MBtP next school year. We'll be doing the 7-9 with a 9/10 year old. I'm really excited to use it. Bummer is that I can't order it for 7 months yet! :sad: