Jump to content

Menu

capecarnation

Members
  • Posts

    30
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by capecarnation

  1. Please be aware that the math used in MP is at least a year behind that of Singapore Math.  That was our experience.  We have decided to move away from MP:

     

    * many books that were suggested in the Lit & Enrichment section of the teacher's guide are not found at any of the libraries within a 50-60 mile radius from us.  Some of them are out of print, I think.  The others are too expensive to purchase through MP.

     

    * math is very weak in MP for the current grade, or our son is exceptionally bright (some truth to that)

     

    * no science at the 2nd/3rd grade level

     

    * reading / writing isn't as in-depth as it could be.  MP rep's stated that they intentionally do this at the lower levels to establish a foundation.  Our son was bored.

     

    * Latin isn't taught as well as Songschool Latin and Latin for Children  (Dr. Christopher Perrin)

     

    The MP curriculum-in-a-box looks pretty.  It is not always clear as to which books you need and which ones weren't included in a shipment.  We found it easy to set up the classroom and seatwork or each day, but in the end a good brick-and-mortar school and an attractive-looking curriculum package don't always amount to a quality homeschool education.  Again, that is our opinion.

  2. That was an odd comment (in the above post), but other than that I really enjoyed the summary. I've never attended a convention, and I don't intend to, but it was very interesting to read the above poster's impressions. I think he created a very good, informative and colorufl picture of what a convention is about. I wouldn't want his post to go 'poof', personally.

     

    Thank you, 67.  That means a lot.  I had no ill intentions in sharing my experiences at the GHC in Cincinnati, I was simply trying to give others a heads up, and thought that some who are not at all comfortable around gays might not want their children exposed to this sort o thing at a Christian-based homeschooling convention.  We have decided to start going to conventions every other year, and skipping the speakers entirely.  I was really surprised to not see some of the curriculum makers mentioned on the WTM forums present at the convention.

  3. Apparently, Ms. Farrell forgot her Jesus fish sign.

     

    To be honest, she didn't.  She chose to dress that way not only because that's how she usually dresses but because, as I agree with her, she has found it easier to break the ice (she's there to sell her books) and to talk about the Lord with people who feel comfortable around her.  She was really glad that I commented on her style of dress, and the impression that it gave, and that she would keep this in mind at upcoming conventions.  :)  

  4. Not for anything, but this was a very odd "first post ever" on this forum.

     

    Some of the description and details were very interesting, but the gay thing really made me :confused: and I thought some of the "cons" were pretty catty.

     

    I had no idea that posts are supposed to 'look' a certain way depending on the post count of the member.  I have faith that The Well Trained Mind forums don't stoop to that level.  For the record I met the co-author of the book The Well-Trained Mind.  A very nice lady, and well spoken (in addition to being a great writer)!  My wife and I have used the book in our search or homeschooling materials.  

     

    The Great Homeschool Convention's Statement of Faith (https://www.greathomeschoolconventions.com/about-us/statement-of-faith/) and the Convention Philosophy (https://www.greathomeschoolconventions.com/about-us/convention-philosophy/) clearly state the Word of GOD is the underlying theme of the convention.  Almost all of the vendors sell material primarily promoting Christian-centered education.  The only thing questionable was having a speaker there talking about gays and homeschooling.  It isn't really necessary for most gay people to come out of the closet, the gays I saw there were 'flaming' quite a bit, which didn't mesh well with the behavior of most of the crowd there.  

     

    The cons I listed were complaints shared by others there, including some of the vendors, everything I posted was factual.  

  5. We went to the GHC in Cincinnati, OH this weekend.  I just asked my wife about an hour ago what grade she would give it, and she said "B".  That might be a big generous.  Rather than write a story on our 3-day (we didn't always arrive early in the morning) experience I'll just create a list of pro's and con's of our experience:

     

    PRO's

     

    * the better selling products out there were generally represented by the better communicators.  

    * quite a diverse crowd of homeschoolers, though one family we met 'the wife' was just over-the-top in trying to make this a very-positive-experience.  She seemed to want the perfect 'homeschool parenting conversation'.  Sad.

    * We got to meet Stacy Farrell.  I'm into deep discussion about philosophical matters, and that woman can (and wants to) bring it.  She was very nice, and going by her appearance in general I would have NEVER guessed that she is Christian.  She struck me as a Gypsy type of lady.  She agreed that dressing in that manner would actually open up doors or her to bring the Lord to others, as many are turned off by the "Christian look".  We bought her book kit "Philosophy Adventure".  I've not started it yet.

     

    CON's

     

    * food was incredibly expensive.  Two cokes.  Two orders of fries.  FIFTEEN DOLLARS.

    * way too many junk vendors.  Everything from kitchen pots and pans to bonnets romance novels written for adults to personal training for college students :(

    * some of the vendor rep's weren't very nice.  I did get the feeling that many vendors weren't doing very well in sales (yay, internet), so I can understand

    ...... they're being short with people

    * Memoria Press was there, and while they may have had the most impressive-looking session my wife and I felt relieved to be going with a different curriculum after

    ...... dealing with an argumentative representative.  The lady just.  could.   not.  accept that the books listed in the "Lit & Enrichment" section are NOT easily accessible at the local library (or even in print).  She became rather defensive and repeatedly tried to spin the argument in the slant of just not looking hard enough or said books.

    * the talks were mostly infomercials or products, and some were just plain unprepared.  I sat through one of the unprepared ones or about ten minutes.  The speaker was losing her voice so she was trying to get her daughter to take over the talk.  The mother knew her stuff and was quite articulate (though with a raspy voice, haha), but the daughter was "okay!!......" before beginning every sentence (that she was reading off a paper).  I had to talk out it was so poorly done.  Another talk was done by a guy teaching us how to write the Greek alphabet.  He never spoke in Greek but was quick to make fun of the Greek accent.  His teaching was too hurried and unless you were sitting directly in front of the screen you couldn't see any of the letters anyway.  The speaker didn't even think to provide pencils and paper for the participants, and when I asked him, loudly, if he had an "ink.....pen......" he didn't 'get it'.  

    * there were a lot of gays there and while I'm not gay and I don't condemn anyone who is, I found it a bit awkward as almost all of the vendor booths were Christian-slanted and many of the crowd were Mennonite.  

    * Parking to the place was pretty good, but once you're in the buildings (Duke Energy Center) it was very confusing as to where to go for speeches and how to get to the convention center.  The map given out to participants was poorly done on computer (very tiny).  

×
×
  • Create New...