If you are loyal to a boxed/prepack. curr.

[Lovedtodeath]

When we used Adventures in My Father's World, I got really burned out using the book lists in the TM. It's a great list. I just overdid it trying to find all the books and then picking the ones I liked the best. By the end of the year, I was doing way less of that and using books from WP's American Story 1 and a bit of 2 instead. My son loved all those books.

They were books from the themed programs? Or were they books from the WP Language Arts?

 

My plan ATM is to use WP themed programs with Sonlight LA for American History.

[mom2koh]

We have BLHFHG and we are now only using it sparingly. I just felt like we were slogging through and doing things to check off the boxes. My dd loves the poems and history readings so we will continue those. But, we are using a different math, science and LA/phonics program.

 

Last year we used MFW K and loved it. I thought this year would be good for us to use a mix and I was so wrong. We will be returning to MFW next year (maybe even this year if I can find a cheap copy of their 1st grade curriculum).

 

I think it's all personal preference though. What works for one or many of us may not be right for your family.

 

:grouphug: Good luck.

[Donna T.]

I'm feeling pretty silly! We must be corny people because I honestly have no idea what others are seeing as "corny" in HOD. There are finger plays and rhymes. The children can make up hand motions or body movements to help them with anything that they are to memorize. That is mostly advised for children who do like to move around and play... it's just one aid in helping them to memorize. Or, sometimes it's just for fun. The crafts and projects are simple enough for the child to do themselves because HOD is very big on developing skills. My oldest son didn't come to HOD until 5th grade. Now I can see so clearly how HOD is developing skills that are not even adressed at all in other curricula that we have used. With every other boxed curriculum that we have used, I always felt like something was missing. That was just my experience.

 

When placing a child into HOD, it is advised that you look at many factors before choosing a guide to use. So, you start at their skill level, rather than a time period in history that you want to cover or some other factor. Then, as you work through the guides, the child is developing skills that gradually and naturally led them into the next guide. I guess if a child is 5 or 6 or maybe 7 (like my son) their assignments may seem "cornier" than for an older child, but honestly, I just don't see that at all.

 

I have to admit, we have not done the rhymes (I'm talking about my younger son... no rhymes in Preparing :)) everyday. I like that they are scheduled everyday though. That reminds me that they are there and if we haven't done them for a day or two, we'll do them. There was recently a whole thread on the HOD board about the body movements and the hand motions, etc. Everyone agreed that their children really loved those things after Mom started doing those with them. No child is going to think those are fun if we sit on the couch and tell them to slither like a snake!! But, if we get involved and have fun with it, they will do the same.

 

I hope I don't sound defensive. I really don't mean to. :blush: I would love for someone to share with me what they found to be corny. But, like I said, maybe we are just like that around here!! The books are so good, the devotionals are just what we need to be talking about right now, the Bible verses really minister to their hearts. We did make our dirt layers out of chocolate instead of real dirt... is that what is meant by corny?

 

:001_smile:

[Donna A.]

We will be returning to MFW next year (maybe even this year if I can find a cheap copy of their 1st grade curriculum).

 

You could check the MFW used curriculum yahoo group. :)

[jewel7123]

I'm using LHTH with my 4 and 2 year olds, and the Fingerplays are one of their favorite things about the program! Now the Bible Activities or Active Exploration where you are supposed to act out the story....we don't really do that part. I personally thought acting out the stories with stuffed animals was a bit, I'll say it, corny, but we just skip over that box for the day and its all good! The rest of the program is great and we love it!

[LynnG in Arizona]

Donna T., I know I (and probably everyone else who posted about this issue) definitely did not intend to insult anybody who loved HOD, or say that HOD-families were corny.

 

I know this issue falls into the homeschooling truism that the curriculum that might be perfect for my family might not be a fit for yours, and vice versa.

 

So for me, the things in the HOD samples that I found corny and a real turn off were the acting out Bible stories with stuffed animals, as well as the human re-enactments. For me, these type of activities would feel very silly and forced and just, well, not "me".

 

In fairness, though, I have re-looked at the samples today and can see that I do like the second (Hearts?) year much better than the first. So maybe I just need to pass on the first year program and consider the second when the time is right?

 

****

 

And to the original poster, I really sympathize with your dilemma. I too have bookshelves of additional resources . . . living books, art curricula, instructional DVDs, art supplies, manipulatives, etc. And I just plain forget to do any of it the vast majority of the time. I would love to find a program that schedules some of these extras out for me and really covers all the bases.

 

I am a huge Sonlight fan and happily used many of their cores, but I do recognize that my little ones are going to need some more hands-on activities (maybe even some re-enactments ;)) to supplement all our reading aloud, especially in the very early years.

[Alicia]

Many people don't realize what a complete program CK is. In some school districts it is the primary or driving curr. for the k-6 or k-8 years.

 

For planning, scheduling and background knowledge enabling me answer the "whys" I use the Teacher's Handbook (TH.) The TH for each grade is approx. 400 pages. The TH topics are: history, science, biographies, music, art, poetry, speeches, idioms, grammar, writing topics, and literature for the year. Each topic for each grades has background information that the teacher needs to know beyond what you may actually teach but fleshes out the topic , activities, blackline masters, vocab, cross curr connections, standards, essay topics, projects, additional books and resources, research ideas, questions and answers, topic analysis, objectives, ect. The Handbook is also aligned with the Pearson Hx. texts. All topics are coordinated to the history and lit topics for the year. Much like TOG which I lust over -but much more streamlined and only one year at a time- and will go to once mine are ready for logic stage/middle school. CK ends with the bulk of their support materials at the end of 5th grade. I use the month by month planner as little dated daily boxes make me crazy. CK allows me to not spend all my time planning, but allows me to tweak, add in latin, spanish, instruments, nature studies , and now New Zealand history/culture without overloading my kids or myself.

 

Here is more info on the Starter Kit, I just use 4th as an example with a little explanation for each item.

Please note that you would need to get the materials from somewhere. The "What Your __grader Needs to Know" (wygntk) books are just a summery per subject of the year. In other words I use SOTW to do the history as laid out in the Sequence, I use McRuffy / FLL and/or Phonics Road for language, Mammoth Math and McRuffy Math for math, ect.

For science or history or art ect. you could just read the text from wygntk book then get out you living books and flesh out your topic. This with the additional background info in the Teachers Handbook on the topic to help you understand what you are trying to teach as well as why.

Or you could just read books (library or purchased) on the topics as they come in the schedule, do a narration, notebook page, or handout from the included blackline masters, read the TH for your own knowledge to teach completely and call it done. You could also just choose a science/history/art textbook. How you get it done is up to you, the idea is to get at least this much done thus, CORE Knowledge. The CK foundation is working to provide material to help support teachers/home educators. These materials include the Teacher Handbook. This is why many unschoolers like CK; the TH makes them feel secure in their knowledge base, provides teaching ideas, tells why each topic is important and allows them to decide how to teach the material themselves. You could do this with history, science, biographies, art, music, grammar, poetry, idioms, math.

 

Fourth Grade Starter Kit

$199.00

The Fourth Grade Starter Kit includes one of each of the following:

 

* K-8 Sequence the whole curr in detail for the elementary years

* What Your Fourth Grader Need to Know (Paperback) most commonly seen part of the program. It has color photos and contains lots of the shorter selections like poems, as well as very short summaries of history and science topics. Not enough to be used as an overall textbook but a really great portable resource

* Teacher's Handbook, Fourth Grade This is what keeps me coming back to CK after trying WinterPromise and Sonlight. I have all the background info I need to help me understand a topic as well as teaching tips and listings of additional resources, cross curr. suggestions, how a particular topic is tied to prior learning as well as to future learning. Voc lists as well as handouts if I want to use them. This is a hardcover text and the blackline masters are separate but included in the price of the TH. This allows me to be the teacher and not be limited to learning along with my kids all the time if I am weak in a particular area.

* Art Resources, Fourth Grade Art prints on 8 x11 cardstock with questions/answers and looking ideas on the back. Tied into the history topic in general. In older grades tends to focus on a particular movement or artist.

* Text Resources, Fourth Grade Since this program was developed for public school it does not assume that all kids have access to lit/poems/speeches at home. These are blackline masters without illustrations of all the lit/poems/speeches/sayings/nursery rhymes so that each child could have a copy. We use for copywork, reading together, marking up sentences ect.

* Day-by-Day Planner Workbook, Fourth Grade For those who are not driven crazy by all the little boxes:tongue_smilie:

* Day-by-Day Planner CD, Fourth Grade This includes the resource "Books to Build On" as a searchable document and has the info for the days dropped in for you. I have never used it.

* Listen, My Children, Poems for Fourth Grade Small paperback book that has all the poems for the particular year. Nice but they are also in the Text Resources and of course the Teacher Handbook breaks down and helps you to teach each poem. This helped me to feel more secure in my teaching of poetry especially in my early days. I learned lots about applying literary devices from the Teacher Handbook.

* Grades 3-5 Music CD Set The Sequence lists the movements/composers for each year. the Teacher Handbook has activities, lesson ideas, background info, voc. ect for each piece/composer

* Coupon good for 25% off Pearson Learning History & Geography materials (coupon included with your shipment). These texts are really very good. I used them in general for upper grammar while my lower grammar used SOTW. Everyone on the same time period with texts suited to the age.

 

CK sequence allows me to cover the material more than once in grammar years; fewer topics a year allowing more depth; American and world history scheduled every year; secular so I can add my own religious studies without having to edit; middle school history uses the concepts of Ideas to rotate back through history making the perspective feel fresh; modern history and problems are addressed including immigration, civil rights, space, ect.

 

I encourage you to go the the site http://www.coreknowledge.org and download some samples, there is lots of good stuff.

 

 

Alicia in New Zealand

 

 

 

Hmm, I not sure about those grade packs. I think those are meant for PS. I have used Core Knowledge, it is a great supplement. It was created to fill in gaps or holes in PS.

You would use it like a spine: you can then jump off into other studies to fill in the rest of the curriculum. If you were to read the whole book to your dc, it may only take a month or two. (if that) So while it is complete, in the fact that is contains every subject, it is far from a complete curriculum.

Have you seen the free worksheets at the website? Some people use those along with other studies to widen it out a bit. Unschoolers like Core Knowledge because they can just touch on the many topics and get a good overview of what their child should know grade by grade. :)

Edited September 16, 2009 by Alicia
clarity and spelling

[Mommamia]

I'm feeling pretty silly! We must be corny people because I honestly have no idea what others are seeing as "corny" in HOD. There are finger plays and rhymes. The children can make up hand motions or body movements to help them with anything that they are to memorize. That is mostly advised for children who do like to move around and play... it's just one aid in helping them to memorize. Or, sometimes it's just for fun. The crafts and projects are simple enough for the child to do themselves because HOD is very big on developing skills. My oldest son didn't come to HOD until 5th grade. Now I can see so clearly how HOD is developing skills that are not even adressed at all in other curricula that we have used. With every other boxed curriculum that we have used, I always felt like something was missing. That was just my experience.

 

 

I hope I don't sound defensive. I really don't mean to. :blush: I would love for someone to share with me what they found to be corny. But, like I said, maybe we are just like that around here!! The books are so good, the devotionals are just what we need to be talking about right now, the Bible verses really minister to their hearts. We did make our dirt layers out of chocolate instead of real dirt... is that what is meant by corny?

 

:001_smile:

 

I wanted to give you some feedback concerning your "corny" question. We tried LHFHG and BLHFHG. We found that the history was too advanced(they use the older grade text from CLP) and various other boxes to be too young. That is what we found for our kids personalities and abilities. Just our(dh and I) opinion. It felt too contrived and like busy work(too forced and scripted). So, I guess it did feel "corny". If you started at the 5th grade level, I can see why you would not be experiencing that. HTH.

[sagira]

This may not be a question I may be qualified to answer, but if I did use a boxed curriculum, being a Charlotte Mason devotee, I would use Living Books Curriculum.

[Tidbits of Learning]

Many people don't realize what a complete program CK is. In some school districts it is the primary or driving curr. for the k-6 or k-8 years.

 

 

 

I have looked at the samples on the site and found it very intriguing. I was just a little confused. I read through your whole post but shortened my quote. I just want to make sure that I get this right. So, you get the teacher's notes and background to teach everything and a guideline for the grade but the actual resources such as history and science resources or math or whatever are not included...?

[Donna T.]

Donna T., I know I (and probably everyone else who posted about this issue) definitely did not intend to insult anybody who loved HOD, or say that HOD-families were corny.

 

 

 

Of course not! I haven't felt insulted at all :). That never occurred to me! I'm just thinking maybe we are corny! Now that I think about it further, I'm thinking we really are!

 

Blessings!

[Donna T.]

I wanted to give you some feedback concerning your "corny" question. We tried LHFHG and BLHFHG. We found that the history was too advanced(they use the older grade text from CLP) and various other boxes to be too young. That is what we found for our kids personalities and abilities. Just our(dh and I) opinion. It felt too contrived and like busy work(too forced and scripted). So, I guess it did feel "corny". If you started at the 5th grade level, I can see why you would not be experiencing that. HTH.

 

Thank you!

[Lovedtodeath]

Many people don't realize what a complete program CK is. In some school districts it is the primary or driving curr. for the k-6 or k-8 years.

Thank you so much for chiming in. I have been very interested in Core Knowledge.

I have looked at the samples on the site and found it very intriguing. I was just a little confused. I read through your whole post but shortened my quote. I just want to make sure that I get this right. So, you get the teacher's notes and background to teach everything and a guideline for the grade but the actual resources such as history and science resources or math or whatever are not included...?

This is my question as well. After buying the grade pack, what else do I need? Is it more like a Curriculum Guide/ Teacher's Manual, but you still have to gather up most of the resources? I do see that on the Core Knowledge site it looks like you add Math and Language Arts to it yourself, just like most core programs... but does it include everything else you need, or just give you a plan? You said it is similar to TOG?

[crl]

I thought my music loving dd would do great with the finger plays - nope! She refused to do them after the "A-A-Adam" one. I thought she wouldn't like acting things out with the stuffed animals - wrong! She loves acting things out, just not what is in the guide:lol: Today the animals were suppose to greet each other and get to know one another. Instead one jumped on the other to beat her up. Sigh, that's my baby girl......:001_huh: maybe it's better that you drop the dramatic play box!

 

This was my exact experience with LHTH with my 3 yr old DS. Glad to know I'm not alone.

[mnllj7]

We are using Living Books Curriculum, it is boxed but you provide your own math. It is great, it covers world history cronologically, as well as american history. has science, nature studies, picture studies, composer studies. music studies, and does alot of dictation and narration. really a great program.

nancyt:)

[Lovedtodeath]

We are using Living Books Curriculum, it is boxed but you provide your own math. It is great, it covers world history cronologically, as well as american history. has science, nature studies, picture studies, composer studies. music studies, and does alot of dictation and narration. really a great program.

nancyt:)

It includes all of the LA that you need, I am assuming?

[i.love.lucy]

Of course not! I haven't felt insulted at all :). That never occurred to me! I'm just thinking maybe we are corny! Now that I think about it further, I'm thinking we really are!

 

Blessings!

 

Donna, put me square in the "corny" camp too. We make up silly songs, we dance around the house, we act out plays and skits, we perform shows. *shrug* My ds LOVES the silly songs and fingerplays and they are helping him remember the material. I spent a lot of time in my dd's preschool and kinder classed back in ps and they sang TONS of songs and made up rhymes to go with them. Maybe it's just me, but I am not so ready to leave behind my ds's childishness at 5! There is plenty of time for serious academic rigor later, right now I am helping him discover his love of learning and if it's "corny" for me, so be it.

[Geo]

I've homeschooled for 22 years and HOD is the first curriculum I have used where it actually flows. I used SL for five years and it never came close to the cohesiveness of HOD. It's an easy yoke.

 

Geo

[Geo]

I have enjoyed this discussion immensely.

 

I have to admit that I keep hearing great things about HOD, then checking out the samples for the umpteenth time, and then getting turned off by how corny they seem. (Just looking at the first two levels.) I am somewhat glad that I am not the only one.

 

For those of you who have shared this concern, did you get over it? If so, how? Did things improve once you actually got into the curriculum?

 

I do love Singapore Math and Rod & Staff for grammar, so the fact that these two things are scheduled is a HUGE plus for me.

 

I truly want to like HOD, really I do, but I can't get past the corny factor. Not trying to be mean or catty here . . . I really want to like the program.

 

Actually, I'm not suprised it seems "corny." The younger levels are for young children who very often find it refreshing and uplifting. It speaks to their innocence. Remember, the "corny" part is written to reach the hearts of the children, the ease of use part is for the mom.;)

I must confess, Mr. Rogers was deeply loved by the children in my house. We got rid of television when the yellow sponge

tried to replace him.

 

 

Geo

Edited September 18, 2009 by Geo

[crl]

I too have felt that HOD was "corny". But after trying many other things which just didn't work for DD, I finally got over myself and just went with the corny things she liked and toned down the ones she wasn't interested in. It's the only thing I've found so far that seems to work well for her and me together without too much extra work on my part. And some of the "corny" things, my younger son can join us so we can be together as a family.

[johnandtinagilbert]

Loyal to TOG and The Phonics Road. Will Never Ever use anything else...they make bliss in a box, full of literature and an excellent liberal arts education!