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wehave8

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    BP Companion and Remember the Days

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    10 minutes ago, ByGrace3 said:

    We used the Remember the Days last year for year 3. It isn't my favorite ever, but I like the BP program as a whole enough, and thought RTD was just the right enough info, and the right topics, that it worked for us. I did feel like the Companion was so much and a bit disjointed-- though most textbooks spines are to me....we supplemented with it, but didn't use it as a spine the years we did use it. 

    I'm hearing 'disjointed' from 2 of you now. I was hoping these 2 books might be the 'connector' not the disjointers. Hmmmm

     

    BP Companion and Remember the Days

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    1 minute ago, nixpix5 said:

    I find them to be really subpar to be honest. The companion for ancients felt disjointed and I gave up on it and sold it when we went through ancients. I got Remember the Days used for Middle Ages this year and once again, used it only for the first couple of weeks and dropped it. It was dry and although aimed at younger kids, felt not engaging for that age. Sad because I love every other aspect of BP. We just use the other scheduled spines. 

    This could just be my own feelings though. If you looked at a sample and liked the layout, it could work as a spine but it isn't very.....thorough? Not sure that is the right word. It just feels incomplete somehow. I cannot quite put my finger on what bothers me about it. 

    Interesting. Thanks

    Sonlight Question

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    11 hours ago, Lori D. said:


    Just a thought, but why not do both? You could use Notgrass as your "spine"/main text, and then pull engaging books from the Sonlight lists or Biblioplan lists to supplement. 🙂

    Another option for the high school years that combines Notgrass AND "living book" approach is My Father's World (MFW) high school. They take the Notgrass World History and spread it over 9th and 10th grades, and then take the Notgrass Exploring America and spread it out over 11th and 12th grades, adding terrific books in each year to flesh it out. I've heard great things about the teacher guide and the instruction in Writing/Composition provided in the MFW high school programs.

    Sidenote about SL that is totally JMO: I personally feel that the best Sonlight cores are core B through core H (basically grade 1-7), and high school is where Sonlight gets weak. At least when I looked at the SL high school cores years back, theywere VERY odd in the choice of books -- some books that were grade 4-6 level, mixed with books that were very mature and at a late high school level. And sssooooo maaannnnyyyy books to try and get through in a school year, meaning we would have had to race through them rather than have time to dig deep and discuss.

    BEST of luck with your middle school/high school History & Lit studies! Warmest regards, Lori D.

    Thanks

    I think SL is out.  I can't see us doing MFW.  I will be discouraged by all of the writing and other subjects in their lesson plan that we might be too weak in to do. I would be torn between wht I want to do and the whole plan of MFW.

    I am really feeling it is a toss up between BP and Notgrass.  I think my only question now is... If you do a 4 year history rotation plan, when do you fit gov./civics/geog. in?  I know Notgrass and BP have map work, but BP doesn't do government.  But we are doing Constitutional Literacy this year. Just thinking out loud.

    Pam

    Sonlight Question

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    2 hours ago, MerryAtHope said:

    They use complete books. They use a spine and have you also read historical fiction and biographies that tie in with the time period. (More biographies in upper levels). HTH!

    Yes, an no.  :)

    Since they do, it makes my decision harder.  I had a core guide someone had given me from a few years ago, but I've passed it on since then.  I still hear so many people liking SL.  I am trying to plan ahead for next year.  Our 2 olders are doing Constitutional Literacy this year and the youngest is doing geography.  I am on the fence about doing texts (Notgrass) or Lit. based History next year.  The 2 lit. based I'm considering are SL or BP.

    Pam

    ABeka Science question

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    4 hours ago, Zoo Keeper said:

    Short Answer:  Yes, it should be fine. 

    Longer Answer:  Since Abeka science spirals and spirals and spirals in the elementary grades, the 6th grade book covers much of the same material as the 5th grade book, only in greater detail.  One of mine who is a very good reader worked Abeka science a year ahead of her grade (4th grade book in 3rd grade, 5th grade book in 4th grade, 6th grade book in 5th grade...) and did very well.  It is a lot of reading and writing, if you do it as written with all the section review questions, worksheets, quizes, etc.  A younger child may need a little more help to get it all done.

    You say they cover much of the same materials, but the TOC show different topics.  For example... One covers Invertebrates, the other Vertebrates. One Machines, the other Chemistry, etc. Not sure I understand.

     

    Pam 

    Apologia BIOLOGY VIDEO INSTRUCTION DVD

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    8 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

    I'm popping in my disks... in module 2 there is a <1 min introduction, a 8 minute clip on bacteria, a 5 minute clip on the eating habits of bacteria, an almost 5 minute clip on asexual reproduction of bacteria, 3 minutes on genetic recombination....a few minutes for each clip.

    The introduction is of a woman in bed with a thermometer (it's implied that she is ill) talking about how much bacteria there is in the world, and how it's important to study them because they can make us sick.  

    In the 8 minute clip on bacteria, there's a series of diagrams with a speaker talking. The diagrams are pretty simplistic. While the speaker is spending the majority of the time on a single diagram of the parts of a bacterium, she's making some aside comments which could be confusing. (She talks about different shapes of bacteria, but only one is illustrated in the diagram.) The commentary on flagellum is pretty good. The instructor then talks directly to the camera and is holding a ruler while talking about how small bacteria are. (I think she's making a reference to micrometers---how that's smaller than a millimeter--but for one of my kids, this is confusing.) She concludes the clip by speaking about God's omnipotence---how even simplistic bacteria couldn't have sprung out of primordial ooze and how they are beyond our understanding in their complexity.

    I bought the DVD series hoping that it would be better for my visually oriented kid.  I think for some kids, it could be a really good fit.  If your child is a bit quirky and pretty literal and hung up on details....this would NOT be a good fit, imo.  Likewise, if you have a logical sequential thinker, run away!

    On YouTube, for free, Crash Course Biology,  Bozeman Science, and MrDBioCFC are all channels with well done biology clips. The quality of graphics and clarity of instruction is much higher. A more logical video would have been to start with high quality images of different types of bacteria. These could have each been labeled. Next she could have put up a slide describing the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.  She could have then shown the subdivision of prokaryotic cells---between Bacteria and Archaea. A series of slides showing the parts of bacteria would follow next.

    I have the same problem with the text, to be fair. I find that Apologia Biology wanders all over. It is not for a logical, sequential reader.  I also find the coverage of material to be somewhat lacking. It, in no way, covers material to the same depth that other high school level texts do. Even more disappointingly, it's not even as interesting to my kids as some other textbooks are. I think the series needs a strong editor, preferably one with a strong scientific background and a straightforward manner of speaking.

     

    ?  I hope we get through the course okay.  I'm not planning on the DVD now, but even the text not written well????  ?

     

    Pam

    Apologia BIOLOGY VIDEO INSTRUCTION DVD

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Blossom'sGirl said:

    I bought it but haven't opened it yet.  I thought it would be interesting to watch the labs along with doing them as I always have a hard time finding internal parts during dissections and picking out small organisms under the microscope (Is that a dust particle or the cell???).  I would love to hear other opinions.  I do agree that the video is pricey but I had extra homeschool $ this year now that I am down to 2.

    Watch it and let me know!!!  :)

     

    Pam

    Notgrass America the Beautiful/Uncle Sam and You

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    7 minutes ago, KrissiK said:

    We did America the Beautiful last year and plan to to US and You this year. I wouldn’t combine them. There are 150 lessons in each book, some are shorter and some are longer, but if you want to get the most out of the book and do the activities listed on the back of each lesson.... you would probably want to take your time and extend it rather than rush through it. This year We are going to do 4 lessons a week and use that 5th day to do some more of the activities. The literature selections that go with the books were really good, too. We didn’t read them all, but I wish we would have.

    Thanks for your input!  I have worked our plan to do them separate years.

    Pam

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