Kolbe jr high questions-xpost

[fleischdoc]

I am seriously considering Kolbe for 7th grade (and through high school) for my dd- for you that have used Kolbe's program, what did you like/dislike, what did you tweak,etc.

Thanks for any feedback.

Lisa

[fleischdoc]

anyone?

[Faithr]

My son did Kolbe for 8th grade last year, except we never did the science. But we decided to do our own thing for 9th grade.

 

We liked it a lot, especially the literature program which my son really enjoyed. The thing I tweaked the most were the tests, which to me where like high school or even college level exams. So I'd let him spend a week answering the essay questions.

 

He also really enjoyed the vocabulary and grammar/composition books.

 

He did Saxon Algebra I.

 

The Religion we wound up doing mostly orally because my son is not a big writer and that made him hate religion which, of course, I didn't exactly want to happen! So instead we'd just meet on the sofa with some milk and cookies a couple of afternoons a week and read through and discuss the catechism and readings.

 

We didn't do the science because I'm really unschoolish with that until high school. My guy likes to read lots of stuff about science and watch programs and such. He knows a lot about it without me even trying!

 

He took an outside Latin class.

 

We really contemplated doing Kolbe for 9th but it turned out we'd have to tweak it so much it wouldn't really resemble Kolbe anymore, so we just pieced together our own thing. But to tell you the truth 9th grade has not been a great year, so in hindsight maybe we should have stuck with Kolbe!

[fleischdoc]

Thanks for the feedback- that was helpful. I really am needing something to keep myself on track-we have been pretty laid back so far, and I am feeling the need to be more structured for jr high to prepare for hs.

Lisa

[Tiramisu]

We enroll in Kolbe. This is our third year, and what I've used used of their course plans and curriculum, I've tweaked. I still love it because of the flexibility to personalize my dc's curriculum, and I like the reassurance of them keeping my records and providing a transcript. I think 7th grade is a great time to try Kolbe. It's a minimal investment, but a great way to find out if it will work for your dd. I think that's the ONLY way to know if it will work for you. You could also try to get your hands on some course plans to get an idea of what they are like. I could tell you that the curriculum is rigorous, but you know that already. There is also a lot of writing in high school, and essay a week is assigned in ?most? high school courses, but I can't say I've found a lot of instruction before high school to prepare kids for that.

 

I'm off the board for Lent, but I'll visit again next Sunday. You can always email me if you have any questions.

 

Kelli

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

How much tweaking would Kolbe allow?

I want someone to do the tracking for me, but I don't particularly like their course plan. I think it's a great course plan btw, for the 4 years of high school, but it doesn't match my son. He wants more math, more sciences, more electronics, and more computers. Great books aren't really his thing, although he's a great reader.

[busyrobin]

The amount of tweaking allowed depends on which diploma you are after.

 

http://www.kolbe.org/diploma_types/

 

Summa - no tweaking, or a substitution must be pre-approved, but don't know how easy/difficult that would be

 

Magna - substitutions are allowed but must be grade appropriate

 

Standard - the most flexible !

 

 

All the requirements are set out in tables via the above link.

 

There are certain requirements for honors work (summa) and the number of credits required for each subject (all types). Does that make sense ?

 

 

I have two enrolled in Kolbe, oldest is only in 7th though. I use roughly about half of the course plans. We've stuck with Kolbe purely because of the flexibility. What we do use is very thorough. :001_smile:

 

 

Emily