wehave8 Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Why do I tire of certain things so quickly? My boys and I are tired of the same games and questions on the VP SP History. They have learned from it, but no way can we do another year, let alone 3 or 4 more, of this. And sometimes we feel like we could move on so much more quickly without the 'funny parts' of the videos. Are we the only ones? Pam 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Same here. Getting on the computer is inconvenient, we have some internet limitations. I've tried vpsp at different times with 4 different kids and they all tired of it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrousel Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 We didn't make it past the free trial of ancients. The bickering between the host characters was more annoying than funny. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGHEALTHYMOM Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 We too are very limited on internet. I won't be able to do many lessons at all this year unless we visit our library or other free wi fi enabled business. DD 10 did enjoy the first few lessons. We joined a co op and have a different history cycle to learn about so that threw me off too. We signed up late and got American History instead of cooking. It is a great co-op and all day so I am just going with it and counting my loss. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexi Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 It's hard to do with more than one child. Do they each have an account where they each have to go through all the lessons themselves? Right now I have one child doing it but we all watch and listen. I can't imagine trying to coordinate multiple kids using it. But for now we really enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 (edited) We are/were using OTAE this year with my 9 and 7 year olds. Oldest was doing the lesson first (and getting "credit") and youngest was doing it 2nd. Oldest liked it and was able to do it all independently, except when they asked her to spell something on a timed activity. Youngest hated it -- she wasn't able to do any of the questions/quizzes independently because she's not a strong reader. I finally decided that this wasn't how I wanted them to learn (oldest will finish out the course this year, but we won't continue next year). Sure, it got done daily but it wasn't interesting to *me.* Plus some of the info that was drilled over and over seemed unimportant. I ended up buying several History Pockets books and using CHOW as a spine/outline, and we're doing a lap book for ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome to finish off the year. We're reading several books from the library (as well as some I bought). I was aiming for more exposure this year, anyway, and this seems to be more enjoyable (plus, it gets us through *all* of ancients in one year, and we can move on to Middle Ages next year.) Edited November 23, 2015 by alisoncooks 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 (edited) I don't like it because I prefer to discuss history and to use narration or writing as our primary output. I like to do content subjects with both kids together when possible, not individually. My Dd did well with it for a year, but Ds has not. Edited November 23, 2015 by ScoutTN 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plink Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 I really wish that there was an option to "audit" the course: to allow the kids to watch all the informational videos, but be allowed to skip the repetitive games. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lollie010 Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 My kids hated the games and the silly jokes. The games took up too much time and there was no way to skip over them if they were just ridiculous. My kiddos got through about 6 weeks and begged for mercy. I agreed with their frustrations and pulled the plug. I felt like the information could have been conveyed in about 1/3 of the time if the nonsense was cut out and it would have been an excellent program. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 We are doing it for the first time this year. I don't love the focus on dates and the attention to small minute things while often miss the "story" behind the topic. I have one that loves the games and one that hates many . . . I'm not in love with some aspects, and I do think they take a long time every day to not cover that much, but my kids are overall enjoying the program. I have decided that the things we don't like are not bad enough to override what we do like-- an engaging quality history course that can be done independently. The lit is a good fit for my ds, but I do think for the future I will do the Sonlight readers for my dd. She much prefers as she says "stories about families." :lol: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 I don't love the focus on dates and the attention to small minute things while often miss the "story" behind the topic. This is what I was getting at. We did several weeks worth of Ancient Egypt with OTAE and my kids were pretty apathetic about it all. But when we took a break from VP and started using picture books and activities, suddenly they were much more engaged and incredibly interested! (Mine, too, enjoy the day-to-day life aspect of history. We've been using the Usborne Time Traveler book that Guesthollow recommends and they LOVE it!) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmseB Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 I use the self paced as a supplement. For example, we're studying daulaires greek myths intensively with MP this year, and my son does NTGR on his own and they kind of coalesce. Last year we did SOTW1 with my kiddo doing OTAE on his own. He likes doing independent computer work, though. I like it as reinforcement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto4inSoCal Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Im also using it as a supplement. I don't think I would like it as our main history. We have story of the world in the car and we are reading famous men along with doing crafts 1x a week from layers of learning. I feel like ancient history has so many components its hard to cover everything in a year. VPSP is just sort of Meh for me. It gets done and if we slack on everything else I still feel like history was done. It also gives me time to spend in the morning with my twins. It's predictable which can get boring but like I said it gets done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyseal Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 (edited) My daughter dislikes the repetitive games; I will admit that right off (alas, she definitely knows when Columbus landed, something we were never able to achieve with 3 previous "hands-on" Columbus units). I will also admit that with DD3 and a very high-energy, hard-to-focus DS5, history will not get done unless I make it semi-independent. I will put it off and then it won't actually happen. So, the self-paced aspect and not the rollicking good time is why we're finding it useful this year. But yes, my daughter does not like the games at all. Is perfectly fine with the content, and apparently enjoys dumb jokes ;) Edited November 25, 2015 by greyseal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 The ONLY thing I don't like about Veritas is that we have to complete it by a certain date. That stinks because, hello, we're homeschoolers, and we've had at least 2 years where we didn't finish on time. One year, I got a deal and it started in April so we had to be done by the next April. But, it was for the school year that started in August and my ds wasn't able to finish on time. I'm just really aware of start/finish dates now to avoid that problem. Otherwise, no tech issues and I LOVE the content. And that it's independent. And super engaging for my kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 The games, with few exceptions, were NOT a hit here. I do wish those could have been skipped. Otherwise, it has worked well here as a supplement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wehave8 Posted November 27, 2015 Author Share Posted November 27, 2015 I don't like that there are no writing assignments, either. And everything on the tests are multiple choice or true or false. Pam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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