Curriculum that you tried and dislike?

[titianmom]

I was just sitting here thinking about it. I've used it with mine and it wasn't bad; a bit slow IMHO, though. I reached the point where I was skipping exercises to get to the meatier ones.

 

Liked the concept and some of the more involved assignments but it was hard to watch and make sure mine was actually getting it done with everything else going on. It ended up being a last minute "hurry up and finish" project.

 

Kim

[mama2cntrykids]

For my oldest ds9:

Spelling Power-well, I guess it's more ME that doesn't like it, lol. I just.don't.get.it. 'Nuff said!

Writing Tales-too repitious

A Reason for Handwriting-He just don't like cursive, lol!

 

DS7:

CLE Math-Too much for him. It was over-load, literally.

 

Both boys:

100 EZ Lessons-they just hated it! I can't see how anyone could learn to read with it personally. They both learned with MFW 1st grade phonics (quite well too!).

 

DD3:

HOD-LHTH-Not enough to do. Pointless, in my opinion (sorry).

 

Next year we're changing things up. DS7 is going with MUS and DS9 is going with Spellwell (I think, lol).

[*Jessica*]

We're very unhappy with Explode the Code. It's busywork with little retention. I think I'm going to give them to my 4-year-old for coloring books.

[johnandtinagilbert]

100EZL was great at the time, but a flop later b/c of gaps in phonics. Gets 'em readin', but that's about it!

 

Powerglide Spanish too much english, didn't make any spanish connections after 6 months of study.

 

MUS - I'm disappointed. It works for those it works for, but is Terrible for others. Love the manipulatives, but find dc become dependent on them. Found my daughter forgot everything the first year we used this...wasted an entire year on multiplication...I was Not happy.

 

Abeka anything...too busy, had poor long term retention

 

Spelling Power -- too complicated to use the program as a whole, although I suspect if one did, they would be successful...it was just too much to join the pieces together

 

Writing Strands - too slow, seemed disconnected, dc thought it was SO boring

 

Alpha Omega....can anyone say YAWN. Thorough, yes, but too public school format for us.

 

HWT, like it, but thought it was overrated.

 

Vocab. for Classical Roots....dry,boring, just yuck!

 

Wordly Wise. We go such little retention from this.

 

I guess overtime, I used to like scripted, but not now. I do love open and go, still just to save on planning time.

 

Workbooks are totally ineffective in my house.

 

LLATL to light

 

Considering God's Creation bored to tears

 

FLL seemed great at the time, but retention was near zero, except for the songs and poetry. Maybe this means there isn't enough review for us.

 

There are a lot of things that were fine, did their job, but we've found better since:

RS grammar - super effective, also super dry

Pathway Readers - great reading, but too dry and too much work to make cross subject connections

SOTW (didn't love it alone, but use it for a part of our history)

MOH (combines well with SOTW) but too much planning

RS4K - like it, but needs more to be deeply effective

Writing Aids -- too drawn out and vague for me as a teacher, who would like a more systematic approach.

Rosetta Stone Spanish -- really shocked, but dc did not like this.

[NCMom]

MUS - the older version...my oldest's review - "too many gimmicks, too little math" :)

 

Easy Grammar - again from my oldest-and he said this TO THE EVALUATOR that year "Well, I learned absolutely no grammar, but I did learn how to fill out worksheets.." :glare:

 

Latin's Not So Tough - we call it Random Latin Worksheets in a Binder or Latin Made So Tough :)

 

Considering God's Creation - never got off the ground and I tried at least 3 times, not sure why, though

 

Writing Strands - yuck! random and incomprehensible

 

Saxon - there is so little explanation of the WHY and not much more of the HOW. Computation skills/speed improved but problem solving abilities plummeted when we used it exclusively.

 

CC- loved the first year we did it, and find Ch A & B to be ok, but did not find Ch I challenging or productive. Too much of the experience depends on the tutor AND the other students. Too much of it for us, anyway, lol.

Most people in our area (including myself) are not using the program in the way it was intended to be used. I think...it's sometimes hard to tell since info about the actual inner workings of the program if not always easy to attain...even when you are a tutor. :001_smile:

 

I'm sure there were more, I'm just too old to remember them!

 

ymmv - nothing works for everyone!

Georgia (I loved 100EZ lessons, LOL:tongue_smilie:)

[rainforest mama]

We've been at this for several years now (DD is 11), so I'm actually pleased with how few curricula we have disliked!

 

Here's what didn't work for us:

 

Writing Strands - We tried this twice at different levels and it just seemed so boring.

 

G.U.M. - We were looking for a secular program and this is what the first WTM recommended. Despite doing it for 3 years, I don't think DD learned anything. We're doing JAG now and DD is learning lots and loving it!

 

SWO - We finally ditched this after Level E. DD wasn't retaining any spelling rules and it had become just busywork.

 

FLL - Too scripted for us. DD is more of a visual learner, so it wasn't a good fit for us.

 

Miquon Math - DD is not terribly hands-on, so it wasn't a good fit. I'm looking at it again for DD #2 who is extremely tactile.

 

I think that's it for us.

 

Lana

[mcconnellboys]

I previewed, but never used, Abeka science and history because I just didn't like the content of them at all.

 

I found problems with the layout of a Spanish program called Espanol Para Chicos y Grandes. Likewise, this year, I have found problems with the layout of Spanish for Children.

 

I bought Real Science 4 Kids biology, but didn't use it much as it was just too simplistic. It might be fine for a first or second grader who has never really done science type things before, hasn't been interested in animals as a toddler, etc. But I've never found an actual science "program" - all in one- that I do like.......

 

I don't really like all the logic programs that are available because they start from a particular Christian viewpoint. I'd really rather just have a secular program that teaches logic without mixing it up with religion. I'm using them, because I also haven't found any good alternative - I just don't really like them.

 

Math programs like Saxon or MUS would drive me crazy to use year after year all through school. But if you need the drill work they offer, they are perfect for that. I used Saxon along with Singapore in first grade (and some in second grade, using their third grade book) to provide all the extra types of math that were not included in Singapore, such as calendar math topics, more fractions work, money, time, etc. I used MUS for drill work in multiplication and division during third and fourth grades alongside Singapore.

 

Similarly, I didn't care for the extreme amount of repetition in First Language Lessons, but that was easily enough corrected by just skipping some of it.

 

I've always had a love/hate relationship with Writing Strands, but it does get the job done.

 

So, as you can see, while I may not love every program I use, it may still get used if it works well for my child and if the child, himself, does not hate it.

[2cents]

Please share what curriculum you tried and dislike and why?

 

Classical Writing Homer-Still using it but the implementation is hard to get into until you learn to tweak it to your own purposes.

 

Singapore Math-We like A Beka better. We relate to less color and short, concise directions. We want just old fashioned math and lots of drill. We like drill and it likes us ...the SAT tells us so. ;)

 

Lightning Lit-It is ok but we're looking for something a more challenging for next year.

 

All-American History-Finding it very dull zzzzzz.

 

Homeschool Computer Programming-ok program but not at interesting as I would have hoped.

Edited March 13, 2010 by 2cents
Adding another

[HRAAB]

After 14 years I could come up with quite a long list. Way too picky, I guess. These are big ones though:

 

Classical Writing: I was so, so excited, but I didn't find it user friendly and my dd got extremely bored with it.

 

Power Glide Spanish: Total, huge bust.

 

Apologia: Absolutely no way we could make this work even with leaving out certain modules.

 

Saxon Math: My dd's favorite subject became a miserable time. However, I like Saxon.

 

LLATL: Really like the approach, but way to religious for us.

 

ETA: 5 in a Row. I so wanted my girls to love this. None, not a one, did. And I tried with every single one of them.

 

Noeo Science: Really wanted to like this but it just didn't seem to be connected, rather all over the place.

Edited March 13, 2010 by Ishki
Forgot one

[amtmcm]

I'm smiling at some of the reasons people don't like MUS--those are the reasons my dd likes it! LOL Plain, boring problems on a page is what she needs. Color, pictures, clutter all drive her insane! Isn't it great we have so many choices?

 

 

 

:iagree:

 

This is also why my DD10 likes Easy Grammar - plain, simple (boring to some) pages that get straight to the point with no fluff.

 

Our dislikes:

Saxon Math

A Beka DVDs

Vocabulary from Classical Roots (busy work)

All American History (workbook is ok, the text is really dry)

Learning on Purpose by Critical Thinking Co. (waste of time)

[mcconnellboys]

Ugh - Powerglide! How could I forget that? The children's version was not as bad as the adult version......

[angela in ohio]

I previewed, but never used...

 

If we are listing ones we didn't even use after looking at them, my list is going to get a lot longer. :D

[nmoira]

DD the Younger and I officially gave up on OPGTR this week. She loathes it, and I don't have the heart to try to make it fun any more. I don't know why we stuck with it so long.

[Brindee]

I could have written your post word for word myself (older brother thriving with CLE, younger didn't get facts and is now thriving with R&S Math)...down to the plan to switch back to CLE in 3rd grade.:iagree:

 

ETA: ROFL...You were QUOTING *me* in the top sentence. That is so funny! I sat there thinking, "WOW...she is so much like me." Heck... IT WAS ME! :lol::lol::tongue_smilie:

:lol::lol::lol: That's too funny! :D

 

I have to add one more thing to my previous post now.

 

I tried CLE Math for dd, but it didn't work. She just didn't get it and didn't like it. I realized that it and Saxon both have a spiral approach. I guess I need to get away from that (she VERY much disliked Saxon!). She went from being "ahead" (relative term) to now being kind of behind in math. She asked to go back to TT, since she likes the dvd idea, and wants to start more simply and work her way back up with something she liked, so we're getting the Algebra 1. She did well with TT when we used it before, but didn't like the guys voice so wanted something different. (Yes, she's been my most vocal about which things she likes and dislikes. It's because she's more aware that there are other choices, not that she's playing a game, or rude about it....) At any rate, I think she likes how TT explains why. She gets frustrated when she is told to do something but she doesn't know why. She wants a gentle approach, so we'll just do TT and go through it at her pace.

 

We just stopped the CLE Math, and I just ordered the TT Algebra 1. We have LoF Beginning Algebra already, so she'll be able to use it as a supplement with the TT.

[iammommy]

Sonlight-started out loving it, but too much reading for my ds. Switching between books was horrible.

 

K12 Math: Made my ds math phobic.

 

K12 Grammar- But I love the K12 spelling and literature

 

Wordly Wise-HATED it

 

All American History-boring

 

The Paragraph Books-WAY too repetetive, even for a remedial program

 

LLATL-love the idea, but we're not Christian and it became too difficult to edit out what was inappropriate for us

 

Exploring Creation through...-We tried several, and we just didn't like spending so much time on one topic. We like variety in science in the younger grades. We believe in creation, but had to edit out the Christian aspects, which wasn't too difficult to do.

 

Spelling Workout-meh. Pales in comparison to K12 spelling

 

Nan

[jcs]

MUS - I was really disappointed with this one. At the time when I was researching math programs, everyone was raving about it. That's when I learned curr. comes in waves.

 

LLATL - I really wanted to love this one. I was really excited but it was way too light.

 

100EZ - I cracked the book opened and coudn't bare to continue looking at it. It was just me. My kids never saw it. I'm glad other have been able to use it.

[Punks in Ontario]

Misses:

Climbing to Good English: the content is there, but my guys didn't learn much of anything from this. I look at it once in a while and think, this should work, but. . . I think the pages are too crowded and explanations are too basic for my guys. CLE is working much better.

 

Prof. B: It worked, but is soo boring and repetitive. Too teacher intensive.

 

Some of Ambleside: While I'm still using Ambleside for most of our stuff, none of us could quite get into Plutarch, or some of Shakespeare. Guess we're not quite scholarly enough.

 

Wordsmith Apprentice: another one that I look at and think, this should work. The guys would just answer willy, nilly and then it would be torture to go back and fix stuff. The only way it worked was if I sat with them and worked stuff through orally. Teacher intensive, again.

 

L'Art de Lire: too schoolish for us! The boys thought the stories were pointless. Yep, sounds like school.

[2cents]

Adding Powerglide Latin....UGH! Horrible experience!

[Elm in NJ]

TOG: We tried 1 unit and didn't even get halfway

 

Latin for children A: did this when it first came out, too many mistakes then

 

CW: couldn't make it work for us. I just couldn't understand. Have bought and sold it 3 times now.

 

FLL: my kids would beg me not to do this.

 

WWE 2: my younger kids would cry over this.

 

MFW K: my second child hated this, so I sold it

 

HOD Beyond and Bigger: tried to like it, didn't work for my kids.

 

Rod and Staff Science 3 and 5- couldn't get into it, we prefer secular science

 

Apologia Astronomy: again secular science preferred

 

WP Animals Book- did a few lessons and gave up.

[Guest sewbusy]

I agree... my son did the same! Too monotonous.

[Guest sewbusy]

oh, sorry..new to this.. I was agreeing about the OPGTR. My son disliked this, and I have to admit, even I was bored with the repetition.

[Mejane]

Misses:

Writing Strands

Classical Writing

AAS

Explode the Code

Latina Christiana

Wordly Wise

Thinking Toolbox

Jump In

 

Hits (just to balance things out :)):

Singapore Math

Vocabulary from Classical Roots

Story of the World

Rainbow Science

Cambridge Latin

Life of Fred

Apologia Biology

Teaching Textbooks

[Melissa in CA]

BJU English- Parts of it were ok and it's very visual but DIAGRAM DIAGRAM DIAGRAM. We quit this program when I looked at the sample sheets for the next level and it was the same thing we had done for 2 years. Diagramming...again.

 

 

Funny how each of us like something different.:D My older boys hated diagramming because quite honestly they never understood it (nor did I). They are still, even as college students, horribly ignorant when it comes to all things grammar. My youngest ds on the other hand does GREAT with diagramming and loves it. I attribute this love and understanding of grammar and diagramming to BJU's gentle approach in teaching it. He used BJU Writing & Grammar for grades 4-7, and is now very much enjoying the grammar and diagramming in CLE's English as well. I finally understand diagramming too! It's fun!! :lol: It's almost like a puzzle, and it really helps the student learn how each word is being used in the sentence. Good Stuff! ;)

[Jumping In Puddles]

The biggest bust for us was OPGTR. My son hated it and would burst into tears when he saw me pull the book off the shelf.

 

BFSU but only because I had a hard time implementing it and my children would beg for science and would ask why we never do it. :crying:

 

ETC was also a miss. My kids and I don't like it -- seems like busywork.

 

ABeCeDarian TM: Love the student books and the phonics program as a whole but the teacher manual is useless and frustrating.

 

;) While I'm here, these are my hits:

WWE I

Sequential Spelling We only just started this, but ds looks forward to it. I need to get myself a book with spelling rules because I don't know all the rules and sometimes I think it is helpful if he gets the word wrong to simply tell him why and move on.

RS B

SOTW audiobook

HWT kindergarten and cursive. Once they learn how to form the letters, I don't see a reason for them to still do the workbooks when they are doing copywork from WWE or just practicing on paper before WWE. My kids and I happen to love the 2 lined paper. I think it is much less confusing and my kids have no problem moving onto 3 lined paper. I wish 2 lined paper was the standard and we never had to transition.

ABeCeDarian for phonics. Not perfect, but very methodical, quick and effective. Teacher manual is practically useless though.

 

ETA: oh gosh, is it really 3:24 am??? I need sleeeeeeeeeep. :sneaky2:

Edited March 15, 2010 by Jumping In Puddles

[DianeJM]

WRITING STRANDS -- yuck. The absolute WORST bust ever experienced in my family.

HORIZONS MATH

R&S ENGLISH -- although I love this, one dd HATED it so we switched, and actually never found a niche for English, so really, it's probably more the subject itself than the curriculum that didn't work, but I hesitated to ever try anyone else with it after that.

[lauriej]

We tried it in 1st and again in 3rd grade and it was a total disaster for my dd. The spiral approach just doesn't work for her and that is one of Saxon's selling points.

[Gratia271]

MUS

Saxon

Shurley Grammar

HOD

[Wheres Toto]

We haven't been at this too long so won't have much but:

100EZ Lessons - ds hated it.

5 in a row - both kids hated it. DS hated reading the same book all the time and wanted to do just one aspect from the book in more depth (ex: night of the moonjellies - he wanted to learn more about ctenophores and other ocean animals - not switch to learning about running a business, then types of boats, etc. Thankfully I was able to borrow this from the library. We switched from one book/many topics to one topic/many books.:)

 

Things that are working:

MEP - DS likes the mix of activities. The brief lessons and frequent review seem to work well for retention.

 

A large variety of learning games (from Kelly's Kindergarten), file folder games (file folder fun) and anything active.

[MrsMe]

Rightstart Math. My dd ended up Math phobic after this.

[....]

We tried 100 EZ with the 5 year-old recently and spent about a month on it. She didn't like it and would start looking for an escape when she saw the book coming.

 

We're using CLE LTR and she really likes it. Go figure! :D

[skaterbabs]

OPGTR: My son would cry whenever the book came off the shelf.

 

Dot did too - yet if I made her a worksheet on the lesson (and presented it as SPELLING), she did it with a smile. :p I think some of it was her obvious outrage over being taught to read. "I already KNOW how to read!" was her reaction when she saw me buy the book. lol

 

MUS bored us to death.

 

That's one of the reasons we chose not to use it. Another was because our children may return to public school at some point, so we needed something close to the public school scope and sequence.

 

 

ACE: we used this with Yacko for a year or so, and I used it myself in middle school. The explanations in the math were very good, but the rest of the program was boring and dry, and the preaching was heavy-handed enough to give me a headache. The portrayal of women bothered me as well. The program has it's place, but I wouldn't recommend it for a girl or a sensitive boy for that reason. Yacko was using ACE when we saw CLE at a homeschool conference and he asked to make the switch to CLE. The color cartoons in ACE were too babyish for him. I'm still kicking myself for not switching right then!

 

SOTW has not been a hit for us either. Dot hates it with a passion, the activity book doesn't have enough activities. Yacko and Wacko zone out while reading the selections and don't retain anything.

[jclinton]

But the catalog looks amazing! :lol: I still look at it, even though I know better.

 

Same here - and I keep getting sucked in as well - even though I KNOW the schedule is disjointed, nothing flows and it's overpriced - and you have to wait for your books - I don't think I've ever had an order from them go the way it was supposed to!

JoAnne

[jclinton]

OK - this might not be inclusive as I've choosen to forget many of the over-priced wastes of money I've bought that just plain didn't work for us.

 

Things that didn't work for dd:

MUS - started out great, I loved it - she HATED it.

Shirley Grammar - too scripted

First Language Lessons - boring

Real Science 4 Kids - Chemistry level 1 I hate to admit this because *I* really liked the idea of it especially with the new KOGS books - but there is too much covered with the KOGS, boring and a bit over dd's head.

Voyages in English copyright 1966 - (LOVE the 2006 VIE though!)

Itallic handwriting

SL LA1 - the OLD LA where they learned about antecedents LONG before nouns were even introduced!

SL I Can Read books - oh my goodness - do people even talk like the characters in those books? DD HATED it - she used to tell me "Mom, these are NOT grand!":lol:

WRTR -AGH! what??? this was awful!

WP AS1 - but I made it work with LOTS of tweaking - basically got rid of their spine and their schedule and used the books. Great book choices - but the schedule was absolutely useless!

 

Misses for DS -

 

WP Hideaways in history - BIG waste of money and time - too disjointed

WP Accelerated LA K - again BIG waste - very disjointed

SL K - which suprised me because dd LOVED this core!

Real Science 4 Kids - prelevel chemistry - he's just not getting it!

100 EZ Lessions - which is how dd learned to read

Phonics Road - I so wanted this to work - but it didn't

SL's I Can Read Books - I guess I'd forgotten how bad they were!

 

 

Ok - that's enough negatives! :tongue_smilie:

This was fun in a cleansing sort of way!

 

JoAnne

[Debbie in OR]

Teaching Textbooks

Saxon math

Shurley Grammar

[JudyJudyJudy]

Growing with Grammar: Ds found it boring. He had no difficulty at all doing the material, but he would cry because he hated it so badly.

[treestarfae]

:bigear:

[tricia]

After 23 years of homeschooling I think I've tried EVERYTHING at least once. But I'm stuck now at ambleside and loving every minute of it. I don't see jumping to another curriculum anymore.

[HomeschoolingMy4]

We're only in our second year. AOP Lifepacs were just too easy for my kids. We also attempted to try Considering God's Creation but the level didn't seem to be just right. I like LLATL for my middle girls but level 1 was just kinda odd for my youngest.

[StephanieZ]

SonLight LA

PowerGlide JR French (YUCK!)

Spelling Power (but dd might have just been too young)

[Annabel Lee]

Please share what curriculum you tried and dislike and why?

 

WP AS1: like a PP said, the only good thing is the book choices.

 

Calvert K: too easy

 

R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Earth & Space for grades beyond 1st, maybe 2nd (by Pandia Press): it's just not enough for 3rd and 4th gr. even though it says "1st - 4th"

 

Abeka math K4 - 3rd: needs to add manipulatives to younger levels (I did this, but not everyone goes "off-script" from the TM); by 3rd it is "ahead" b/c of larger numbers but not b/c of breadth of concepts taught. Repetitive calculations of big numbers = child who is bored to tears. It's not a bad program, but it certainly wasn't for my son.

 

Abeka LA: Too many separate pieces. Why can't everything be in just a few places instead of scattered over a long list of expensive charts & flashcards? Other curric's manage to do it with less stuff. The readers drive me batty - why not just have kids read the originals of those stories? It can work and it's solid, but again, it's just not for me & mine.

 

Although I think it's a very good program, Writing Tales doesn't cut it for what I want in a writing program right now. Too much overlap w/ other programs we aren't giving up - grammar, vocab, etc. I like it & may end up using parts of it (writing portions only) w/ Abe and possibly all or most w/ Zeke, but as written, it doesn't fit Abe's needs right now. :(

 

CW Aesop for the same reasons as WT for now. I hang onto the idea of doing Homer later but I have this fear or gut feeling that it makes writing into this complicated, time-consuming mess. I do that to too many subjects all by myself w/o any help, tyvm. :P

[sleepymommy]

Our misses:

 

FLL 1/2- Ds disliked the format.

 

AAS- I disliked teaching it.

 

ETC- Too much busywork.

 

RS B- I wanted to like this, but it was time consuming and ds does better with less "talking" and more doing.

 

Miqoun- Ds hated the C-rods.

 

Draw-Write-Now- Ds disliked it. He didn't really care for following the directions on how to draw. He didn't like the art intwined with his writing/copywork. He would rather just get his copywork done and go on drawing whatever he felt like later.

 

I'll go ahead and list was has worked for us though:

 

WWE

Dancing Bears Fast Track

Flashkids Reading

Math Mammoth

MEP

Math Minutes

[Trish]

All American History Volume I (sadly I bought II before realizing this wasn't going to work out.) My son waded through the whole Explorers period before begging for unit studies. (We are now doing "Ancient China" for fun, and I am learning a lot!)

 

All American History was a bit dry and textbooky for my taste. I didn't look forward to opening the book, either, so when he came up with an alternative I was ready to go for it! He said, "I can learn about colonists ANY time, we've done it every year since kindergarten." This is our first year hsing and he's in fourth grade.

 

However he's been watching Liberty's Kids on our lunch break (the video series from way back when), so I feel like he's at least getting SOME American History.

[TheAutumnOak]

Saxon math - I agree with a PP, this is the math that never ends. Dry, boring, overscripted (You may put the blocks away now. [Child puts blocks away]).

 

 

:lol: This is too funny!

[SnMomof7]

Okay, I'm only up to page 8, but I must post!

 

We actually like a lot of things other people don't. Like MUS - my daughter thinks Demme is a genius, and has said so several times :). R&S English 2 has been a huge confidence booster in writing for my DD.

 

What hasn't worked for us - Phonics Road to Reading. Ugh, I learned that I can NOT teach from a DVD, no way, no how. I need something on PAPER!

 

100 EZ - daughter cried, I didn't like the made-up alphabet - my mom loved this for my youngest brother though

Rocket Phonics - we liked the rocket and the card games, what I didn't like was the made-up alphabet (ugh), and the teaching materials were a bit confusing to me

 

I think transitional alphabets should be outlawed.

 

Apologia Astronomy - I think this is SO boring, and the KBC lapbook we bought is so poorly organized :( It makes me want to bang my head against the wall trying to find what I need to print for each lesson from the pdf. BUT, DD loves it, and I have the supplies kit, so we are chugging along :(. Sob!

[teachmejoy]

I really wanted to love Sonlight, but was really disappointed. The choices were mostly over my ds's head and there was nothing to retain the info. "narration" questions are not enough.

 

Singapore Math - Loved the Kinder, got hung up in 1A and switched to Math Mammoth which made more sense to ds.

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

I love scripted lessons.

 

Our duds:

 

• Sound Beginnings and WRTR: I couldn't even start with these. I like visually appealing programs. I love AAS.
  
• Prima Latina: The accent drove me nuts. I didn't find a Latin program I liked. We've decided to start w/ French.
  
• Song School Latin: It was too cheezy for me.
  
• FIAR: love the book list, but is has way to much prep work. I like open and go.
  
• Child Size masterpieces: We do a monthly artist study, and that is working much better for us.
  
• HWOT: I like the prek book. I don't like it after that.
  

[Cornerstone Classical]

OPGTR: My son would cry whenever the book came off the shelf.

 

My Daughter too. She even picked it up and threw it across the room...I then went over, picked it up and shelved it.:001_huh:

[Cornerstone Classical]

Our duds are:

 

Horizons Math

Singapore Math

Spelling Workout

WWE

OPGTR

Mystery of History (not a good fit for grammar stage, imo)

BJU Grammar 2

BJU 1st grade subjects

Prima Latina

AO Lifepacs

[dietmom]

Anything with a script doesn't work for us. We also don't do well with literture based programs that come with a grid type schedule.

 

:001_smile:

 

I'm with you on this--my son can't stand being "talked" to all day!!

[Maverick_Mom]

Real Science Odyssey, Chemistry.

 

I wanted to like this program, I really did. A lot of work went into it -- including some really great labs that do an excellent job of illustrating concepts. And I give the author credit for creating a program that introduces chemistry -- to my way of thinking, a pretty abstract subject -- to young children.

 

But it was apparent pretty quickly that I made a mistake in choosing this. When ds #2 said he wanted to learn about chemistry, what he *really* meant was that he wanted to do fun experiments that bubbled and sparked and overflowed and changed colors and all the rest. He did *not* want to be overwhelmed with written text that made both his eyes and mine glaze over.

 

I've always felt that chemistry and physics are kind of abstract and theoretical, and I felt that we should wait till later (middle school, maybe) to study them. (I know that many homeschoolers disagree with this. Bear with me.) Reading through the lessons, I've changed my perspective somewhat. I can see that much of chemistry is *not* abstract and theoretical. You can see whether a chemical reaction has occurred by any one of a number of signs, and that reaction tells you something, in a very observable way, about the materials you're working with. But there's so much about chemistry that you have to take on faith -- atoms, for instance! :D -- in a way that you don't have to with the natural sciences. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person, but I felt just as mystified as ds as we were going through some of the lessons. So now my perspective is that perhaps it isn't about how old one is when one studies the physical sciences -- it's about the kind of learner one is and how the material is presented.

 

Have to say, though, that I never really "got" the periodic table of elements until now. Am I a nerd if I say that I think it is totally cool?! One of the labs used marshmallows to demonstrate the configuration of protons, neutrons, and electrons, and ds made a great notebook of the most common elements. So maybe RSO was not a total waste after all. ;)