Susie in MS Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Are these not sold by Queen anymore? Pam Angela O'Dell's materials can now be found at Jelly Bean Jar. Queens no longer publishes her materials. Slowly Master Books will have them all. But for now this will be where you can find her materials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wehave8 Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Angela O'Dell's materials can now be found at Jelly Bean Jar. Queens no longer publishes her materials. Slowly Master Books will have them all. But for now this will be where you can find her materials. Thanks Pam 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink and Green Mom Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 We aren't really enjoying it here either. It is okay but neither me or the kids are excited about doing it. I have 3 sets of all the students books (that the kids have already written in of course) so I've got a fair amount of money into it. I just don't think I can do it all year. I'm thinking of just trying to put my own thing together for rest of the year so I don't have to buy anything new. The textbook just seems dry and the kids eyes glaze over when I get it out. I've started using Guest Hollow's American History I as a guide for topics, and reading some of the corresponding Notgrass chapters. I am using mostly books I own (I have a history book hoarding problem) and books from the library on the various topics. We are pretty much just writing summaries on the main things we've learned unless I can find something to supplement on Pinterest or elsewhere to fill up a notebook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsWeasley Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading *hides* I wanted to love it so much. We've made several attempts to utilize this book over the past 2 years including taking "maybe he's just not ready" breaks, writing out on a white/chalkboard, flashcards, etc. Nothing made this work for DS. Switched to a combo of Starfall and R&S reading (which I was prepared to hate because it uses A LOT of sight reading and was very much made for classroom use) and in 3 weeks he's done a complete 180 from hating the thought of reading to begging to do a reading lesson. Seton "Science 1 for Young Catholics" Should've known better from the online samples. Starts with the outdated Food Pyramid, "eat bread at every meal, drink milk at least 3x a day" the next few chapters have been better but deeply needs supplementation, which I was not expecting. Switched to using DK Human Body Encyclopedia for that unit. I don't want to call OPGTR a flop yet, because I haven't completely given up on it yet. We're just taking an indefinite break from it, perhaps permanent if I scrape together the funds for AAR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trulycrabby Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 We have been flipping back and forth between Rod and Staff 6 and Easy Grammar 6. Rod and Staff 6 at this level just a bit tedious for him, but the lessons are just so easy to teach that I keep coming back to it. It's our third year with it and up to this year we have loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 I'm switching out Manners Made Easy for the Family. Bleh. Trying Munro Leaf's illustrated manners books instead. Decided only to use ACE for geography and go to narrative history read alouds for the younger crowd along with written/dictated and illustrated narrations. We are now using The Story of the Ancient World by Guerber/Miller. We are really liking it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 We dropped an online class, but it wasn't due to the underlying book(s) used. Mostly, it was problems with the teacher. Hmmm..... Perhaps the only disappointment I can think of is with my oldest's Latin -- Latina Christiana. We're still plodding through it, but I think it lacks something in both the format (should be more student-directed) and the teaching (there should be more teaching to the teacher). Some of the "board work" exercises expect students to know concepts and/or vocabulary that haven't been taught yet. But we don't hate it, we just have a few little gripes about it. First Form is definitely more student-directed, but there is still plenty left for the teacher to teach if s/he wants. I've taught LC twice now & can't remember any 'board work' like you describe. Can you give me an example? (Heck if I can even remember any board work other than writing up the chants & using the disappearing line technique to memorize them.) The DVD of Grammar of Poetry We're using this in a co-op. The teacher only uses SOME of the DVD (the intro to each lesson). The kids have gone into every video after the first two asking, "what will Matt mess up this time?" I don't think there was a mistake last time we met, but almost everytime they find he did something wrong or there's something in the graphics that is wrong. It might make the parents more upset (that there are mistakes in such a $$$ video) if the kids weren't giggling so much. My girls HATE writing the poems, but don't mind the rest of the class so much. They have definitely learned a lot so far & it has changed their outlook on music. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy to monkeys Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Hmm. CLE language arts became too much for my older kids. They could have kept slugging through it, I suppose, but I'm finding that to be better spent working on composition. We are dropping formal grammar for the rest of the year. (GASP!!) They've done some formal grammar every year since 1st grade, so I'm thinking they'll be fine. I'm clueless as to what they'll use next year, but I'm ok with that. I wouldn't say I'm disappointed with CLE's language arts but rather that I'm disappointed it stopped working for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 I am not loving Ellen McHenry's The Elements. I wanted to love it but should have known better because I got Cell last year and didn't love it either. I think it's too crafty or activity-heavy for us. We like documentaries, books and real labs. I don't think it's a bad program, just not a great fit. I keep reading "make these cards" or "make this game" and I inwardly groan and know it's just not going to happen. I'm going to switch to the ACS Middle School Curriculum and use parts of The Elements as well as documentaries, books and labs. :) The bigger issue for me is that my second son is just so different from my first. I have a lot of curriculum that I loved and my oldest loved (we are very similar and have similar learning styles) but that my second son is just not into. That has been less obvious before this year because being younger we more focused on the basics. So, I'm finding that I have to adjust what I do and how I teach. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loesje22000 Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 We're using this in a co-op. The teacher only uses SOME of the DVD (the intro to each lesson). The kids have gone into every video after the first two asking, "what will Matt mess up this time?" I don't think there was a mistake last time we met, but almost everytime they find he did something wrong or there's something in the graphics that is wrong. It might make the parents more upset (that there are mistakes in such a $$$ video) if the kids weren't giggling so much. My girls HATE writing the poems, but don't mind the rest of the class so much. They have definitely learned a lot so far & it has changed their outlook on music. We have done 4 lessons sofar, and dd is getting bored, very bored due to the slow speaking of the teacher. Our only reference are the AoPS video's which we like. And the teacher looks quite often down instead of straight to the camera. I compared yesterday Grammar of Poetry with a Dutch textbook, en we will work with the Dutch one. Mixed with An Introduction of Poetry from Progeny Press. It is an expensive misser with the custom charges added. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 The bigger issue for me is that my second son is just so different from my first. I have a lot of curriculum that I loved and my oldest loved (we are very similar and have similar learning styles) but that my second son is just not into. That has been less obvious before this year because being younger we more focused on the basics. So, I'm finding that I have to adjust what I do and how I teach. Same here. I'm just now figuring out what works for dd1, a mix of independence and also heavy on projects and crafts. It really was hard to wrap my brain around, I kept on trying things that had worked withds but they would fail terribly with dd, she wen't through about 5 different math programs before I finally and begrudgingly started her on Horizons, which has been perfect. It seems that whatever would have been a horrible fit for ds is perfect for her. Now I'm starting to find a middle ground with all of them and finally doing some group work and that is exciting and good as dd2 is a mix between dd1 and ds, then I've got dd3 coming up and who knows with her yet. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 I've been all over the place. Me. It is not the fault of any curriculum that I've made some changes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarabellesmom Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Oak Meadow. Holy moly. I don't even know what I was thinking. My children like craft projects, which it has in abundance but the level was so below my second grader and the writing was way to much for my fifth grader. It was such a terrible fit. In my beautiful homeschool imagination, it's exactly the kind of thing I want, but in our real life it's the opposite of what we need/accomplish. The advertising is just too sexy. I was drawn in and couldn't look away. It's like homeschool porn--all these beautiful happy families out enjoying the world. What's wrong with us that we don't fit the mold? I think I might just be too practical and I hate hate hate busy work. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caviar Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Are these not sold by Queen anymore? Pam Not sure. They may be, but I think there may have been a bit of a disagreement with them and the author as of late, or the author just decided to have her own site from which to sell. The authors own site is here: http://jellybeanjar.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 This is only our third year homeschooling and I must be getting better at schussing out bad-fit curriculum because we like everything we've got this year. In the past, Rosetta Stone, Logic of English, and Write Shop have been our biggest busts. This is the first year I haven't even wanted to change anything at all 6 weeks in. This is my 12th year homeschooling. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Math - My son did courses 1 & 2, and I knew Course 3 would be a half-step between 2 & Algebra. I thought he needed the extra year, but after finishing the first half of the book he is ready to move on to Algebra. Not a fail, just not a good placement. He can test out of the first couple of chapters and be on schedule to finish by the end of the year. Exploration Education - I lined this up with Holt Science & Technology's physical science book (for the experiments) and my son really, really wants to just do the Holt textbook. By the time we do EE he has already learned all of the content and the experiments are super time consuming demonstrations without any new knowledge. So I am having him look through EE as we go and see if there is anything he wants to do. I'll try it again with the next kid. Moving Beyond the Page - I already cut out the busywork projects, and what's left isn't quite enough in terms of discussion, grammar, and composition. I'm going to just read & discuss the books with DS for the rest of the year and try out a PS literature textbook (McDougal-Littell Literature). It is a lot more thorough in its instruction and doesn't have all the tangentially-related extension activities. Between MBTP and EE, I'm starting to think that my son just wants to get to the point and learn systematically. Can't fault him for that. Younger son is doing great with Calvert, and we'll finish the year. Next year I'll probably do something else though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Far out on EE -DD is loving this. Go figure how kids are so different in what they like! Math - My son did courses 1 & 2, and I knew Course 3 would be a half-step between 2 & Algebra. I thought he needed the extra year, but after finishing the first half of the book he is ready to move on to Algebra. Not a fail, just not a good placement. He can test out of the first couple of chapters and be on schedule to finish by the end of the year. Exploration Education - I lined this up with Holt Science & Technology's physical science book (for the experiments) and my son really, really wants to just do the Holt textbook. By the time we do EE he has already learned all of the content and the experiments are super time consuming demonstrations without any new knowledge. So I am having him look through EE as we go and see if there is anything he wants to do. I'll try it again with the next kid. Moving Beyond the Page - I already cut out the busywork projects, and what's left isn't quite enough in terms of discussion, grammar, and composition. I'm going to just read & discuss the books with DS for the rest of the year and try out a PS literature textbook (McDougal-Littell Literature). It is a lot more thorough in its instruction and doesn't have all the tangentially-related extension activities. Between MBTP and EE, I'm starting to think that my son just wants to get to the point and learn systematically. Can't fault him for that. Younger son is doing great with Calvert, and we'll finish the year. Next year I'll probably do something else though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 We are very happy with everything this year except MP's literature guides. We don't hate them, but not really loving them either.. I need something for full-length novels. Writing & Rhetoric is so full at this level, I'm not sure what to pick. We can't really just do read and discuss because it just doesn't work for us. I had to laugh at the curriculum porn comment up thread... that's MP for me. Look... shiny lesson plans, classical literature...ohhhh, 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pehp Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 It really wouldn't take a Nostradamus to predict this one, but my Charlotte Mason-loving ways conflict with K12 LA. Duh. But I'm making it work by using the spelling and vocab, which my son likes, and the literature, which I think is *okay* but he enjoys (I modify it to fit in with our approach--lots of streamlining, and I don't require the writing they do...I just require narration), and ditching their writing skills/grammar (we decided it was written by an evil alien witch and we sent her back to Mars....SO SATISFYING for both of us). I don't like HWOT so I just do our own handwriting stuff and check it off on the online plan each day. Fabulous learning experience for me, though. It's a tool we will use this year; I won't buy it again next year. After 2-3 years of my own little loosey goosey crafting of his education I wanted some hand-holding on LA skills. What I discovered is: I was doing it fine before. And I will do it fine again. And in its way this has been a major confidence-booster. He does enjoy the visual aspects of the online program, and I appreciate not really planning any LA stuff. But I feel bolstered in my ability to Do This, and that's so valuable to me. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Exploring the World of Physics by Tiner is turning out to be too technical for my two. I am considering pulling out the middle school text books I have instead. I like that it talks about the history and the people of physics, but the actual science portions are not easy to understand for 8 and 10 year olds. I might just scrap the text in favor of books from the library and Coursera's How Things Work. I am sort of embarrassed about this fail because I think if I had only taken time to read it I would have realized it wasn't a good fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 I'm not disappointed in Song School Latin overall, but their DVDs are just awful. They don't appear to have a script, and are instead just improvising during filming. The pronunciation of French during the Derivative River segment is atrocious, and even some Latin words are mispronounced and subsequently dubbed over. The whole production is so low budget, with wild sound fluctuations, that it looks like a child's film project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexi Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 I'm not disappointed in Song School Latin overall, but their DVDs are just awful. They don't appear to have a script, and are instead just improvising during filming. The pronunciation of French during the Derivative River segment is atrocious, and even some Latin words are mispronounced and subsequently dubbed over. The whole production is so low budget, with wild sound fluctuations, that it looks like a child's film project. Yes the mistakes are so obvious and everything feels very unplanned. Are they making it up as they go? Did they not think about what they were going to say before filming? And the mistakes being dubbed over just....ugh.... It drives me nuts! But my kids don't mind so I just cringe and try to move through it. On a positive side, we are having awesome retention and moving quickly through the program. I'm hoping Latin for Children is better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Everything seems to be going okay. My only issues are with co-op classes. I would rather have done a different science, but everyone else wanted Apologia Physical. I am teaching the class, so it only makes sense to have ds do it, too. I could have put him down a grade into Astronomy, but that wouldn't have been challenging enough for him at all. The writing class has been a little disappointing because they have only done paragraphs. I think they are trying to figure out where everyone is before they move on to longer assignments. We are free to assign "extra" work at home and even turn it in, but I feel that makes me the bad guy if no one else is doing it. We use CLE LA, so I'm having ds do those assignments even though I'd hoped to just use co-op for writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aprilleigh Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 We had a hard time with OPGTR when we started out, but he actually learned the material in spite of it. We completed part of the book the first year, then took a break because it was stressing mommy to be constantly fighting him. We picked it up again the next year and because of the long break we started again at the beginning. What a difference! By the time we got to the new material he was excited to do his reading every day and would actually ask to start with that. That lasted through the end of the book. I almost switched after the first year, but because he was actually learning the material, even though he wasn't enjoying it, I stuck with it. I suppose I would have made a different decision if it had also resulted in him not wanting to read actual books, too, but that never happened. He's turning into a little mini-me with a serious love of books. Spelling Workout, on the other hand, was a complete flop. Neither of us liked it. Fortunately it wasn't expensive and although I had him finish the first book I'm sure he didn't actually learn anything from it. We switched to AAS and that's been a huge hit. I almost switched to AAR too, but after a conversation with the publisher I decided not to. I was advised that AAS would complement OPGTR, and since he was actually learning from that program I should just stick with it and let AAS build on what he had already learned. Worked like a charm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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