What curriculum did you avoid as long as possible but now you love?

[creekmom]

I stole this thread idea from the high school forum...:D....I would love to hear some opinions on this (K-8) forum.

 

I'll start - I avoided IEW for a long time bc it looked so incredibly boring!! That light blue cover on the binder reminded me of my teacher inservice days. :tongue_smilie: I wonder how many more writing programs they could sell if they just made the cover more visually appealing. I bought it last year, and I'm glad I did. I like that it teaches students the "how" of writing by already giving them the idea/sentences and having them play around with style techniques to develop their own writing voice. If you have a child who's intimidating by writing, this program would be beneficial.

 

Anyone else?

[blessedmom3]

--CLE math and LA !

I thought it looked boring , colorless and light !

My son loves it and is learning so much .

[JudoMom]

Sonlight (well, we're just doing the History/Literature portion). I find the tone of their catalog & emails to be condescending, and I didn't like the price. But we're doing 6 this year and will do 7 next year and it is filling our need wonderfully. We are all enjoying it!

[sagira]

Math Mammoth. At first, I thought, I'm happy with my MCP Math. I was stubborn to change anything. But ds wasn't comprehending, and just going through the motions. If I asked him how much is 3+2 in real life, he would think for a long time. There weren't enough explanations for him. He needed to know why.

 

I wanted a math book already ready-made, not one I needed to print. Math Mammoth looked amateurish to me at first. However, when I finally decided to use it, I was pleasantly surprised. I'm so pleased. I can also print more for my daughter and Mystery Baby once it's their turn. I like how the explanations are geared directly to ds, and he can read them and we can discuss them. They are varied and fun too, not just page after page of additions and subtractions.

[shinyhappypeople]

McRuffy Math. Looked at it last year briefly, but it just didn't click with me. I took it off my list (I thought) permanently. I'm using it now for my K'er and we're both having lots of fun. It covers a lot of material in a fun way and is very, very easy to teach. If the best curriculum is the one that gets done, then McRuffy Math is the best one for DD2 and I.

 

 

Math Mammoth (for DD1). The first time I looked into it it seemed light (ha). I'm using it now with my older DD and she likes it, as do I. It allows her to work semi-independently and makes her brain sweat :) I'm very pleased with her progress!

[stripe]

MEP.

 

I looked at the first few pages and was annoyed by all the coloring. Turns out it's much more interesting.

[corbie]

I'm hoping Atelier art is going to be one of those programs!

 

TOG is definitely one.

Math Mammoth was easier to try out due to the cost. We do like it, but my dd's need more review. I'm supplementing with Horizons but may switch to CLE.

[Oakblossoms]

HOP...it is actually working for my now 7 year old. We have tried several different programs. It just seemed so expensive.

[Lolosoli]

Math-U-See

 

I don't why I bite the bullet and buy it sooner. It jumping at me...both on-line and in advertising in magazines. I just kept saying no even though it was obvious that it was meant to be.

 

I decided to just give it a try and it was the best decision I ever made and immediately wished I hadn't been so stubborn for all those years.

[DianeW88]

KONOS. I started out homeschooling with Calvert....because it was 1994 and my choices were Calvert, Abeka, Bob Jones or KONOS. Anyway, after a few years, my oldest told me he hated the "read the chapter, answer the questions" philosophy of Calvert and that he wasn't learning anything. :ohmy: So, I had to bite the bullet and get KONOS. Totally revolutionized our homeschool. My kids loved learning. I loved teaching. We had a blast! I embraced unit studies wholeheartedly and have never looked back.

 

Diane W.

married for 22 years

homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years

[Irishmommy]

Sonlight! I just didn't get why you needed to pay so much money for something you could create yourself! After adding another child to our school, I know I don't have time to plan everything I'd like. We are liking core k so much, that I will probably do 3+4 with my son next year along with core 1! Totally sold on Sonlight now!

 

Oh, and I am such a box checker that I thought miquon would never work for us - now I am loving it!

[Dawn E]

LC1. I wrestled and wrestled with what to do for Latin. I loved the idea of Lively Latin and all the great reviews, but I really wanted a program with a dvd option. For whatever reason, LfC never really appealed to me, though I know it works very well for many. LC1 had many mixed reviews. I was also uncertain about the concept of studying only vocab and grammar with little translation work. Now I'm sold. I think it is of great advantage to get these conjugations and declensions down while she is in the prime memorization age prior to moving into a program with much translation. Dd is young, so there will be much time for that later. LC1 coupled with Ludere Latine is working very well for us.

[mystika1]

Singapore Math

There were several reasons why I was afraid to try it.

a.)Some say it is hard using a Teachers Guide along with Textbook and Workbook. I have no trouble at all. I just don't see the big deal.

b.)They say it is for gifted students. I love my dd but do not label her as gifted. She loves SM and really understands math now.

c.)Expensive. I have used RS, CLE, MUS, MM and do not find that to be true at all. It is actually quite reasonable.

 

I wish I would have gone with my gut sooner. I could have saved myself so much money and avoided so many tears.

 

HTH,

 

Penny

[Daisy]

Mystery of History. It looked so dry and boring to me, but we are loving it!

[HollyDay]

Saxon math. I hated it!! Dc love it. It gets the job done nicely.

 

LLATL. I did not think much of it really. We are using the high school book and love it!

 

SOTW. No rotten tomatoes please! I could not stand vol 1. But, we have really enjoyed volumes 2 and 4. I skipped 3 because we were doing more literature approach. But, we are glad to be back in 4.

[Rebecca]

Sonlight.

Avoided it FOREVER.

Love it.

Love the Science.

Love the LA.

Love it all.

 

:D

[Stacy in NJ]

picks. Didn't think I would like them, but I found both of them wonderful to use.

[datgh]

Shurley English! My kids did it at the Christian school and when we decided to bring them home my daughter begged to continue with it. After trying to correct the Shurley tests for her teacher at school, I was scared to death of it. Wanted noooooo part of it but to smooth over the transition (dd did not want to leave school) I told her I would give it a try. I never looked back. DS didn't want to use Shurley so we went with Bob Jones instead. By October he was more than willing to go back to Shurley English.

[romeacademy]

IEW - The price kept scaring me off, but I've been able to find some used, borrow some, and just bit the bullet on the rest. It's definitely been worth it.

 

R&S English - Just for the grammar, since we do IEW for writing. With the oldest 2 I tried Abeka (boring), then actually used R&S, went on to try Analytical Grammar (probably my biggest bomb), Winston Basic (w/ ds - that was fine), Fix-It, and now going back to R&S for the youngest 3. Why do I mess with something that's working?

[KarenNC]

Saxon math. Seems to be a perfect fit for my daughter.

[meet me in paris]

I avoided Math-U-See because I Hate-The-Name.

 

But it's the math program we love (after trying many, many, many math programs).

:iagree: LOL! I tried everything (*everything*!) before buying it. Never leaving now.

[JadeOrchidSong]

FLL

I knew about it before I started grammar, but I didn't know enough until a friend told me how she used it and WWE for her dd. I was very curious and wanted my ds to learn grammar earlier than he can write words comfortably. So I bought it and just finished 6 lessons. We do double lessons a day easily and he can recite the definition of nouns, proper nouns and common nouns as well as the Caterpillar poem flawlessly. He seems to enjoy it and I can teach it in 5 minutes a day without any effort. So I am sold on FLL and will continue with ds as long as he wants to.

J

[nukeswife]

For me it was IEW, because the name "Institute for Excellence in Writing" sounded snooty LOL. My son and I both love it.

[woolybear]

Oak Meadow

[Jilly]

Saxon math. I hated it!! Dc love it. It gets the job done nicely.

 

:iagree:

[tiffanyl]

Robinson curriculum ~ I never thought in a million years I would like it. But, I LOVE it! It's actually the first time in 15yrs of Hm schooling that I am not looking around at other curricula. Only adding some christian biographies & lamplighter books to the mix.

 

Saxon math ~ Another one I was sure we would not like. But... my kids are finally understanding math and I'm seeing their confidence growing.

 

Five in a row ~ I don't know how many times I looked at it and knew it wasn't for us... Thankfully I tried it after a discussion on these boards. I can't tell you how happy we are with it! It is the perfect fit for us.

[AnointedHsMom]

Textbooks in general but specifically BJU. We really like BJU now. I somewhat wish we had started out with BJU from the beginning with my oldest.

[FriedClams]

Mystery of History. It looked so dry and boring to me, but we are loving it!

 

:iagree: I regret not doing MOH 1 last year, but I think it may have been too much for my kids. I totally plan on sticking with it as long as possible, then likely moving to TOG. (As an aside, the the reproducibles cd is awesome!! I waffled on that too - and it's great!)

[FriedClams]

I avoided Math-U-See because I Hate-The-Name.

 

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: That's funny!!! :lol::lol::lol:

[Samiam]

MFW....I didn't want something that was tied altogether. I definatley did not want Bible study in there. It was weird though, every year I somehow ended up on their website, and eventually ended up on the catalog mailing list....still no good for me though, just did think it would work since it's a "complete package", I like each subject to be it's on thing, and not necessarily from the same publisher.

 

Now, using MFW Adventures and K, love it!!!!! Actually sold the Winterpromise CATW program that I had spent months piecing together and intend on using MFW ECC next year with DS7 and DS12, and then will have DS7 and yougest DS the following year start the rest of the cycle, while oldest DS continues on MFW's high school path.

[tvaleri]

Tapestry of Grace

 

I was in a co-op last year that used TOG. We endured. Every week I swore when we were finished with the year, we were finished forever. Then the search for another curricula to cover 20th century history ended in complete frustration. Decided not to reinvent the wheel. Not loving it yet, but have a general fondness =D

 

Saxon Math

 

Loving fall in NC,

Teresa

[Holly]

HOD--I'd looked at it dozens of times and it seemed too textbookish for us. Last spring I checked the site out to look for read-aloud ideas. I took a closer look at the program, and I'm very glad I did. The history books are full of stories and the science book is more of a reference for the experiments. The 3Rs are pretty much what we've already been doing, just more organized and efficient than anything I'd put together. :blush:

 

We are on week 4 and I'm amazed at how well it's going.

[ElizabethB]

HOD

 

The cutesy little pictures in the text boxes turned me off, but my children are enjoying the activities and the books.

 

Love is a strong word for me for HOD.

 

Now, I do love MCT and Webster's Speller, but I liked the idea of them before I started using them.

[Underdog]

Spell to Write and Read. Liked it, bought it, hated it, sold it, bought something else, got interested in SWR again, bought it again, LOVE it.

 

Wish I had just not tried to figure it all out the first time around. The second time around I jumped right in and followed the steps one by one...and it's so much easier than I led myself to believe. I'm very happy with it now.

[fenni]

Heart of Dakota!! loving it! Looked at it the last two years and was convinced it would be too difficult to run two different programs for my kids (although I was already doing that w/ MFW), so I never really dug into the website. I also thought that some of the rhymes and activities might seem hokey and forced, but my kids are begging for more!! Was looking for something different this year and once I really started digging in at HOD's website and then in their catalog, I felt like I had struck gold! HOD is like a breath of fresh air after last year.

[~Jo]

Well, we totally changed up ALL our curriculum this year. We were doing total ABeka. Now not one book is ABeka. :lol:

 

I had heard about IEW several years back but had heard it was pricey....this past spring a local HS friend told me her success story with it. I had the opportunity to listen to the TWSS dvds this summer with her and we are doing SWI B. My dc LOVE this class and are actually WRITING!!!

 

I never thought we would be doing anything "latin" buuuuut we are doing First Form Latin and it is a HUGE hit!

[Geo]

I avoided Math-U-See because I Hate-The-Name.

 

 

:thumbup: Your-Not-The-Only-One

 

I hated Rod and Staff English for years (by the looks of it-inside and out) Turns out, it's rather pleasant to use...orally.

 

Geo

Edited September 15, 2010 by Geo

[Momma H]

MFW here too! I did not think I would like someone else telling me what to teach and I thought I wanted to be in the driver's seat with what we learned, then I got past Kindergarden and had a reality check that I had no idea what I was doing! I still avoided it until my friend did ECC and I could see how much fun they were having. That was 5 years ago and I am totally hooked. I have even TRIED to find something I like better just to make sure I am not missing anything and, nope, MFW it is!

:D

[dripdripsplat]

CLP.

 

Every time their catalogue would come in the mail, I would look at it and think, "How can anything good cost that little. There must be something wrong with it."

 

Well, we've been using it for 2 years now, and I wish I'd found it sooner.

[mama25angels]

CLP.

 

Every time their catalogue would come in the mail, I would look at it and think, "How can anything good cost that little. There must be something wrong with it."

 

Well, we've been using it for 2 years now, and I wish I'd found it sooner.

 

:iagree: and while I don't use a full program, I love the bits and pieces of it I have used and am planning to add more components of their program.

[Lorriekay]

TOG Tapestry Of Grace

 

Okay well I didn't avoid it but it took me forever to decide and I had my reservations.

 

I LOVE it and so does my DS 7:grouphug:

[give_me_a_latte]

BFIAR/FIAR: I had the manuals on my shelf forever, along with some of the books. It just never felt right to me. I couldn't figure out why everyone raved about it so! But then one day I picked it up again and flipped through and it just clicked! Now BFIAR is at the top of our to-do every day. We've fallen in love with so many of the books we've rowed, and we're even making LAPBOOKS! (another thing I avoided for a long time!)

[Sheila in OK]

Rod & Staff English. It just always looked so dry and boring to me, and I'm not crazy about textbooks. But this is our 2nd year to use it and I love it! No fluff, gets the job done, and inexpensive!!

[Homeschooling6]

McRuffy, I would see someone comment about it every-so-often. It peeked my interest but not enough to really look at it.

Finally after seeing the name enough I took a look and liked it (took about a year). It wasn't something I was drooling over or anything but once I took that leap and poked around the site I was hooked.

Currently I'm using McRuffy Phonics K and Science K, McRuffy Math K and 1st (also own 2nd and 3rd), hopefully we'll get to McRuffy Science 2 as well.

[AudreyTN]

Teaching Textbooks.... I sooooo love Singapore, but my dd just doesn't get it. She gets TT. :D

[Aurelia]

Right Start math. There were so many pieces I kind of got hives looking at it, but after trying several things that just weren't a fit, RS was perfect. Apparently Ariel thrives on hands-on and visual stuff.

[angela&4boys]

Rod & Staff English. It just always looked so dry and boring to me, and I'm not crazy about textbooks. But this is our 2nd year to use it and I love it! No fluff, gets the job done, and inexpensive!!

 

:iagree: Rod and Staff English is a gem!

[farmwife]

Spell to Write and Read. Liked it, bought it, hated it, sold it, bought something else, got interested in SWR again, bought it again, LOVE it.

 

Wish I had just not tried to figure it all out the first time around. The second time around I jumped right in and followed the steps one by one...and it's so much easier than I led myself to believe. I'm very happy with it now.

:iagree: I even wrote posts here about how hard it was. :blush: Now after trying other programs, I realized they were missing very important elements like spelling rules and phonograms!! I just couldn't understand why they didn't teach those things right away.

 

I look at our oldest dd's learning log from when she was six and it is truly beautiful. I regret, regret, regret not sticking with it! I just wish I could go back and stick with it. :crying:

[Guest momk2000]

BJU - we have used and loved BJU English since grade 2, but never used any other BJU subjects. We are now using Heritage Studies 4 and Science 4 as well. :)

[Barb_]

I stole this thread idea from the high school forum...:D....I would love to hear some opinions on this (K-8) forum.

 

I'll start - I avoided IEW for a long time bc it looked so incredibly boring!!

 

You could have had mine! Oh, nevermind...I forgot...it's VHS. :tongue_smilie:

 

Still avoiding it and the daughter I bought it for is a Junior in college.