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Curriculum that you tried and dislike?


treestarfae
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We've had several but I think the biggest that it took me forever to learn was anything from Winter Promise. I kept getting drawn in only to really regret it. From dealing with the company, trying to get the books I paid for, to realizing they probably never even read the books they scheduled... I never seemed to learn.

 

Heather

 

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

 

 

This. We've tried lots of stuff that just didn't work for my boys. But with WP, I felt lied to. I never minded or got upset about the stuff that didn't work, but I hated the other.

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This. We've tried lots of stuff that just didn't work for my boys. But with WP, I felt lied to. I never minded or got upset about the stuff that didn't work, but I hated the other.

 

You know - I've always wondering why my WP purchases bugged me so much. It's not like I've never bought something and had it flop really bad. My first 3 years were a parade of mistakes. But I've never felt the way I did about WP. I think you nailed it. I felt lied to. I felt like they were selling something they didn't even know themselves.

 

Thanks for putting that into words for me.

 

Heather

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100 Ez Lessons- no way, barely cracked the book, what is that anyway? (canĂ¢â‚¬â„¢t stand the layout!)

Noeo Science- experiments were too bland- bored my science lover

Sequential Spelling- just not the right sequence for us

Saxon Math- letĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s not beat a dead horse-okay? :smash:

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This is only our second year homeschooling but we've had several duds.

 

WP American Story and Animals and Their Worlds - The reading for AS was all over the place and often over her head. Too many crafts and hands on assignments. AW was just too many animals!

 

Wordly Wise - she didn't retain much and was often in tears. There were times when the definition they gave was different than the way the word was being used.

 

Spelling Workout - She hated it.

 

OPTGR/100 EZ Lessons - My son hated both of these. ETC was a much better fit for him.

 

RS4K - I wanted more *meat* to our science program; more examples, more explanations.

 

Latina Christiana I - We liked Prima Latina, but neither of us cared for the way LCI was set up.

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PowerGlide (any language, but we tried Latin & French) - this is a terrible way to teach a language! So much of it is actually in English, and there is not nearly enough to help you speak properly. Grammar is almost non-existant, too.

 

Spelling Workout - the exercises were superficial and often seemed unrelated to the word list. Little explanation of spelling rules.

 

Math-U-See - Wow! This was so bad. Way to suck the fun out of math with drill and kill. :glare: It calls itself a mastery program, but it is so mind-numbingly repetitive, even my math challenged ds called it dull.

 

Latin for Children - The lower levels are no more than fluffy bunnies and busy work. One would hope it gets better, but we opted not to stick around to find out.

 

LLATL - yellow level and up. We used and enjoyed the Blue and Red levels very much. We did them both in one year. In the Yellow level, they suddenly get very christian. Bye-bye for us.

 

Classical Writing (Aesop) - Once I had this in my hands, I thought it was certainly a joke. It is the single most user UNfriendly curriculum I have ever seen. I thought we'd try it anyway, but it is also a tedious curriculum for both teacher and student. The approach is solid, but the format is sorely overwrought. If one could strip away the pomp, it would probably be a good choice. We are much better off using Writing with Ease, and choosing our own literature samples.

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This thread is funny because I find myself getting defensive when something we love is someone else's dud

 

I know! I can't believe how many times Miquon Math and 100EZ Lessons were mentioned. These are some of my all-time favorites! :001_smile:

 

Easy Classical's science schedule is just not working well here. A little too much to juggle on top of doing a lit-based history program. It wasn't as challenging as I expected, and it was also expensive by the time you buy all the books.

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For us...

 

I didnt like WP animals and their worlds either.

 

SL LA (too easy)

 

Konos

BF guides

Abeka History and Science (not bad...just really boring)

 

Power glide

Rod and Staff

Switched on Schoolhouse and Lifepac.

Christian Liberty Press

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****CLE Math - he did great in it and we loved it...until we realized that he didn't get any of the facts at all...even with speed drills, etc. Older brother thrives in CLE Math. Younger son has started using and thriving with R&S Math.******

 

I can see this. I used light units 101 and 102 with my first grader before switching him to Rod & Staff. My plan is to use R & S 1 and 2, then move to CLE. I love R & S but feel CLE prepares better for upper level maths. I like the way R/S teaches the addition and subtraction facts, but prefer the way CLE teaches the mult. and division facts. Anyway, I think it's a good plan. Plus, this way we'll stick with workbooks and not have to copy from the book, as R/S uses a hard text for 3rd and up.

Chloe, this is an intriguing idea for us. My dd is in CLE after public school, and it's working well. I'm about to start my Ker next fall and couldn't decide what to do with him. I will look at this option! Thanks!

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Guest mrsjamiesouth
Moving Beyond the Page 5-7 Environment Concept didn't float my boat!

 

Yes, we tried it with my 5 year old and did not care for it either.

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100 Easy Lessons - really?!? Kids really learn to read using this?!?!:001_huh:

 

Saxon 1-too much spiral! I felt like it was a little ADHD in its approach

 

VP - felt like we would never get out of Egypt! Also, they don't have a clear indication of which books you're supposed to purchase(at the time they didn't have the scholar's program so this may have changed).

 

Everything else we've ever tried at least helped us a little. These are just the 3 things I don't get. At All.

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

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Spelling Power

 

:iagree:

I KNEW I forgot something! Spelling Power drove. me. nuts. I read that book cover to cover, I tested and retested my dd, and it just didn't make sense. I really hate complicated curriculum. When I don't get something and I get told, "well, did you watch the DVD? Go to the website? Ask on a Forum?" and I do all that and STILL it's complicated?!? Forget it!

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Not a good fit for us.

 

MUS---- I think this would have worked if I had purchased it from the beginning. Son felt he was having to reprogram his brain just to use it. Sadly I bought all the levels.

 

IEW---Waste of our time. To complicated to follow and implement.

 

Apologia Biology

 

 

Currently doing:

DS Apologia Biology we bought it and are going to finish. On 2nd to the last module. Chalkdust Algebra, Abeka Grammar, Visual Link Spanish (Free Lessons) http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/cmd.php?af=1143604

Sonlight Core 100, Abeka Health

 

DS Rainbow Science, Easy Grammar, Teaching Textbook Algebra 1, Visual Link Spanish, Sequential Spelling, Sonlight Core 100

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My oldest son was EXACTLY the same way. He hated 100EZ Lesson and he hated the Bob books but it was the art he couldn't stand. He wanted to know why someone who couldn't draw made the pictures for it!

It seems that it is impossible to expect that anything will be a good fit for everyone. My children loved the Bob Books when they were little, so this stood out to me "...he hated the Bob Books but it was the art he couldn't stand. He wanted to know why someone who couldn't draw made the pictures for it ! " I can see where they would be boring to some children but on the other hand the drawings are endearing to others.

 

:001_smile:

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:iagree:

I KNEW I forgot something! Spelling Power drove. me. nuts. I read that book cover to cover, I tested and retested my dd, and it just didn't make sense. I really hate complicated curriculum. When I don't get something and I get told, "well, did you watch the DVD? Go to the website? Ask on a Forum?" and I do all that and STILL it's complicated?!? Forget it!

I think I see what you mean. I have had Spelling Power for years and just tried to get to the point of how to get the child tested and in the correct level and get on with the program, and ignore the extra information, which has worked very well for us. I was just looking through the Spelling Power book the other day, looking at some of the information in it that I have ignored for a long time, which I think actually turned out to be a good thing. :lol: I laugh, because just for a MOMENT a rush of guilt came over me worrying that maybe I had deprived my children of some very important information , by not trying to teach all of the extraneous extras in Spelling Power.

 

I love Spelling Power, but if I had tried to read through and apply all of the extraneous information it would have driven me nuts and I would have dropped it. I just keep it simple. I had already been homeschooling for a few years when I started using Spelling Power, so I had an idea of what I was looking for. If it had been the only spelling program I had used at that point, I may have had a very hard time sorting through it and I may have thought I HAD to use every bit of information. I have this problem with some textbooks. Some can be intimidating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Miss Sherry
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MUS was great to get one of my children over being stuck on place value, but once she got that down she did not like MUS anymore, and her brother complained about it too.I thought my dc would like watching the tapes with the author speaking on them, but they did not. I continued to use some of the ideas when teaching math to them (my oldest children), but dropped the program. I kept the blocks. I like some of the ideas, but there is no need to continue with the entire program to use some of the teaching techniques. I think it was over priced for what you get.

 

100 EZ Lessons was a dud for us.

 

My biggest regret was SWR based on Spalding - The Writing Road to Reading. There are a lot of things I dislike about this program. My daughter would start to cry when she saw me get the books out for this program, so it simply had to go. Life is too short.

 

 

 

 

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Math-U-See - Wow! This was so bad. Way to suck the fun out of math with drill and kill. :glare: It calls itself a mastery program, but it is so mind-numbingly repetitive, even my math challenged ds called it dull.

 

 

 

Reading your post on Math-U-See made me laugh. :lol: I thought it was going along fine until 2 of my dc started telling me how boring it was. I stopped using it too, but did learn a few teaching ideas from it.

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****CLE Math - he did great in it and we loved it...until we realized that he didn't get any of the facts at all...even with speed drills, etc. Older brother thrives in CLE Math. Younger son has started using and thriving with R&S Math.******

 

I can see this. I used light units 101 and 102 with my first grader before switching him to Rod & Staff. My plan is to use R & S 1 and 2, then move to CLE. I love R & S but feel CLE prepares better for upper level maths. I like the way R/S teaches the addition and subtraction facts, but prefer the way CLE teaches the mult. and division facts. Anyway, I think it's a good plan. Plus, this way we'll stick with workbooks and not have to copy from the book, as R/S uses a hard text for 3rd and up.

 

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::lol::tongue_smilie:

Edited by Tree House Academy
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OPGTR/100 EZ Lessons. Dd & I both hated it. She would literally run away when she saw the OPGTR. We both hate repetition & scripts :lol:.

 

WP stuff. Always WAY higher of a level than they say, not organized well enough IMO with way too much stuff to do and too many things to coordinate.

 

NOEO looked cool but it is turning out to be underwhelming. I think I just wanted the experiment kits :lol:.

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HOD - I love the idea of a Christ-centered program. Unfortunately for us, each level we have tried (LHTH, LHFHG and Beyond) just moves too slow for us. I know the idea is to slow down and savor, but this was just too slow for our taste. Though DD did enjoy most of the hands on activities.

 

 

Ok, so now I have to come back and say that we are back to using HOD as written. After trying WP, I agreed with the previous poster who said the level ratings seem off a bit. And my crafty DD asked not to do the projects because she did not like all the color, cut and paste projects. She asked to do more of the HOD history and projects. So I guess I need to change my idea of what may be a good pace for her and just go at her pace.

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Spelling Workout -- I agree with Silver Moon. The rules seemed thrown in. The levels also seemed off -- perhaps the work was just a grade younger than it said? Then the writing assignment at the end was a bit much in comparison to the rest of the work. dd loved the work (minus the writing at the end) but didn't seem to learn anything.

 

Sequential Spelling -- We tried this after 2 books of SWO in 1st grade. dd HATED it. (Hated isn't a sufficiently strong word, in fact.) I tweak curriculum, but I didn't like the fact that there are no rules taught and the book discourages the teacher to teach the rules. dd would miss a word (fulfill comes to mind....she spelled it fullfill) and we'd correct, discuss, blah blah blah, and then next day, she'd misspell it the SAME way and add an s or ed or whatever. Didn't learn a thing, hated it, bailed and gave away the book.

 

100EZ Lessons: The weird sloooooooooow, fast thing. The rhyming with letters not on the page. Too weird visually (for me). PP works just fine for us.

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It's interesting reading through this thread...sooo much variation. I have found this true in our house as well. What works with one child, bombs with another. Here are a few we have all disliked:

 

Five In A Row: Seriously? 5 days in a row? My kids got SO bored and dreaded it! It was also very teacher intensive and I felt like I spent way too much time planning the lessons.

 

CLE Reading: We love CLE math and LA, but really disliked the reading. The stories were okay (if dry), but the workbook was a miss. Particluarly for my dd that was not working through CLE LA at the time. Her curriculum hadn't covered "schwa", macron, breve, etc yet so she was quite confused!

 

Math U See: just didn't like the methodology

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Guest Cindie2dds

Five In A Row: Seriously? 5 days in a row? My kids got SO bored and dreaded it! It was also very teacher intensive and I felt like I spent way too much time planning the lessons.

 

:iagree: A friend let me borrow this and we knew it wouldn't work right away. One person's bliss is another person's torture.

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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?

 

My list:

 

Saxon math.

Rod and Staff math and English. *I* liked it; dd hated both.

Memoria Press French and Latin. BORING

Sing Spell Read and Write. Too much *stuff* to deal with.

Most literature-based history. Dd has a hard time going from book to book for one subject.

LLATL. Agree with others--too light.

CW. Too much complication.

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100 Easy Lessons - really?!? Kids really learn to read using this?!?!:001_huh:

 

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

 

Yep, they do (100 Easy Lessons)....but I think it's really important that they're really ready to learn to read. My daughter was 4 and was pointing at signs and picking up books trying to read like Mom. :) She was ready...used 100 Easy and within 2 mths was reading on a 2nd grade level, no problem...and understanding what she was reading. I threw in a child's easel and some funny sentences in different colored chalk to liven things up. She loved the book and the easel.

 

My duds:

 

LLATL - as everyone else here is saying, absolutely nothing in this curriculum except some good book selections. Everything else was extremely weak IMHO.

 

Reasons for Spelling.... no rhyme nor reason to the spelling lists. Lots of colorful pics. My daughter's spelling ability actually took a dive with this. We've been using CLE for the last few years. CLE is a fantastic mix of everything you need for LA IMHO.

 

Kim

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Hmm... lets see. First, what I used and did not like:

 

1.Abeka readers- they are great for k5, but after that... very boring for my dd.

2.Horizons K health - feels like it would be good for a classroom, but not enough for the child to do.

3. Sonlight 1 Language - just seemed here and there and everywhere! :tongue_smilie:I am sure it is great for some, but I it just confused me!

 

What I used and did like!

1. BJU k5 Math - love it, love it! Very colorful and my dd could not wait to do it every morning. That says something right there!

2. WWE- my daughter loves the little snippets of stories she hears!

3. Spelling workout - my dd can do it on her own and it is alot less stressful than the abeka spelling we were using

4. BJU English 2 - great intro to english. Very slow and gives a great foundation.

 

I am sure there are more, but this is what I could think of this morning! :)

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Yep, they do (100 Easy Lessons)....but I think it's really important that they're really ready to learn to read. My daughter was 4 and was pointing at signs and picking up books trying to read like Mom. :) She was ready...used 100 Easy and within 2 mths was reading on a 2nd grade level, no problem...and understanding what she was reading. I threw in a child's easel and some funny sentences in different colored chalk to liven things up. She loved the book and the easel.

 

Kim

 

Mine was doing the same thing. Basically reading whatever she could get her hands on. she hated it, we didn't even get to lesson 50 or 60 (where everyone else gets stuck). We switched to A Beka and she was reading within the month.

 

I agree with this quote:

 

:iagree:One person's bliss is another person's torture.
:lol:

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

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Phonic Pathways -made both my boys cry when we used it. But I think it would be very effective otherwise

 

Konos- Did not even attempt this one. Promptly sold it. Looked like WAY too much work, and I figured out I didn't like the idea of unit studies

 

WWE 2 workbook- we were already narrating and doing copywork on our own, and the dictation sentences just about killed my ds. (although I almost ordered the 3rd workbook yesterday!:lol: )

 

FIAR- Luckily I got to try this from the library first bc I was SURE this was a winner -my kids love to hear stories over and over. But I didn't like the activities

 

MUS- loved the blocks...can't really explain why this didn't work for my ds. REALLY loved the looks of it and was sad it didn't work out.

 

 

Potential dud: Latin for children A (just got this yesterday and it looks so scary I put it back in the box. I was trying to save money and didn't get the DVD. Not sure if I'll be able to teach this or not!!!)

Edited by Homemama2
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I am a Tapestry of Grace dropout. The concept of it was wonderful but actually HAVING to plan yet again and buy more books each quarter got old really fast. It was just too much all the way around.

 

Other duds for us were:

Writing Strands

Madsen Method English (my kids would rather have their gums scraped)

100 ez lessons

Konos (again, great concept but the planning) I love planning once a year but when nothing happens if I don't plan, that I no likie!

 

I am sure there is more. It is interesting to see people hate stuff I love but I am sure some of you love this stuff too-- especially TOG. :tongue_smilie:

Stacey

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Saxon math (from 8/7 on...)

LLATL (lower levels...high school gold books are okay, though)

Analytical Grammar (too much...used this through Unit #13 and just could not go on another day)

Writing Strands (didn't seem organized to me or ds)

Calvert (over priced...we worked at a break-neck pace and never finished the work each day!)

WEM (sorry, Susan...I am not smart enough to do this...)...so...not really a bad curriculum choice, it's just me:tongue_smilie:

 

There are probably more...

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Saxon Math -- we got halfway through K. The incremental approach was so shallow for each lesson, I started skipping lessons. Still couldn't stand it.

 

SWO -- ds loves busywork books! But he couldn't remember a darn thing. Apples and Pears is working much better for us.

 

TOG -- Yr2 did me in. Too much to cover in one year. Too much reading.

 

Warriner's Grammar (Introductory Course) -- not a good fit for my workbook-loving dd. She had to copy everything onto paper, which slowed her progress to a standstill. It's a good program, though, IMO.

 

Writing Strands -- tried it when I was tutoring my nephews, before I started homeschooling. Not a good fit.

 

English for the Thoughtful Child -- just didn't like it. I bought it when I read WTM 1st ed. I have a visceral reaction to picture narrations, LOL.

 

R&S English 3 -- actually set my dd backward in her grammar progress. Another textbook-to-copy-to-paper curriculum. The order in which it introduced grammar topics for diagramming (compound subjects and predicates) left her totally lost.

 

R&S Math -- tried it as backup/filler for my dd. It was about the same time I was souring on R&S English, so I put it aside. I just don't like R&S products.

 

Wordsmith Apprentice -- dd really enjoyed this, but I thought it moved too slowly for her.

 

I'm sure there's more I've forgotten, but that's our Hall of Shame for now.

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IEW - checked it out but didn't like what I was hearing from the videos, didn't like how teacher intensive it was, didn't like lots of it. Then a year or so later gave it a try by allowing oldest dd to participate in a short IEW class that was at or above her grade level (without telling her my opinion). She came out hating it each day! "Ug, Mom, are they kidding? 'ly' words? Why can't they just call it adverbs? ...." and on and on it went, all the way home.

 

Spelling Workout - seemed to random for me. Kids didn't learn either.

 

TOG classic yr2 - Really wanted this to work but we never made it out of the "fog." Should've been warned with a curriculum that already defines a "fog" period!

 

Sound Spelling - I liked the idea but it was too complicated to actually do. The book never even got written in.

 

That's all I can think of at this point.

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I feel like a traitor saying this here, but I despise SOTW with AG as a stand-alone program. It works fine as a spine in another curriculum schedule. I think I'm too methodical; I expect to go systematically through the whole book. But then, there has to be more time spent on essentials (The Civil War, The Great Depression, etc.), so unless we're going to do 2 hours of history a day, I don't see how it can be one year's curriculum. :tongue_smilie: It caused me constant anxiety because we were always "behind", until I finally bought History Odyssey.

 

WWE- Sick of that, too. :tongue_smilie: I can't stand reading a little piece of a great story. It's too tedious.

 

Sonlight Science K - I despised it. The experiment didn't go with the reading. The Usborne books were often too busy. Scheduling a book like Magic Schoolbus over several days makes no sense. The worksheets were tragic.

 

Sonlight in general. Switching around all those different books. :ack2:

 

Spelling Power - was fine for my good speller, but then I felt like it was moot. My poor speller was in tears. We switched to Sequential Spelling.

 

I agree what others said about no retention of ETC. I used ETC for a couple of years with my son. He liked them and they were "fun", but he remembered nothing at all.

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