curriculum you thought was great but it ended up NOT being so great?

[Laura Corin]

Minimus Latin. I've picked this up repeatedly to use with my elementary aged kids. We do 1/2 of book one or thereabouts and then I slowly realize it's mostly about projects and coloring and fun stuff but they aren't actually learning any Latin. I continually make the same mistake because it's so darned cute! Maybe I should just sell it and get it over with.

 

Barb

 

I think it's just about getting students interested in Latin, not about really teaching Latin. It's fine so long as you understand its purpose.

 

Larua

[SBP]

You guys are worrying me with your Growing with Grammar experiences!

 

I should have added, in fairness to the program, that my DS did much better with it and, in fact, says it's his favorite of the three grammar programs we've used over the years. However, because my children are so close in age, it's convenient for me to keep them together and have them use the same curricula, and I think he's probably learning more from MCT. But GWG wasn't the disaster for him that it was for his sister, and I'm sure it's a solid option for many children.

 

Best,

 

SBP

[Hedgehogs4]

Well, after 5 years with MUS, I'm changing...It's not that it didn't work, but more that when he started presenting the different ways to do multi-digit mulitiplication, i had no idea what he was doing and couldn't teach it, and why on earth would anyone have a need for that upside-down thing? i just don't understand.

 

anything a beka has not been a fit for us. i know the system works, but it just seemed like so much busy-work.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[Mommyfaithe]

Is there any curriculum you've used over the years that you THOUGHT was so great at the time, but then you discovered along the way somehow that it either taught stuff incorrectly or it did an inadequate job to prepare your student? You may have known that they weren't "perfect," but you didn't realize just how poorly a job they did.

 

I think perhaps an overall "method" might fall into this as well - classical, CM, unschooling, textbook, you name it.

 

What are those curriculums or methods?

 

Saxon Math....found out the hard way...at the SAT's with BOTH dd's not doing so well....oy!

 

Tapestry of Grace...Love the idea....too much to plan...too much...too MUCH!

 

~~Faithe

[mamato4girls]

Sonlight, Tapestry of Grace, apparently Literature based curriculum. My girls all love to read (praise God), but they are tried and true textbook girls. It has taken me 3 years to discover this, but now that I am purchasing curriculum based on their wants and needs and not just what I like, I am hoping for a smoother school year.

[Momma H]

We did not do well with Tapestry of Grace either. It was just.......too much. By the third quarter of more planning and more buying I was burned out.

 

Writing Strands was way confusing. I tried twice and gave up.

 

It is funny, we did EasyGrammar too and my daughter had no idea what a verb was--after like 36 pages of verb lessons. She did not remember really anything that was in there. I thought it was just her--I will have to apologize to her when she gets up this morning!

 

OK, this was THE biggest bust of ALL the History of the WORLD for us.............................ready, drum roll please.....................

Madsen Method English. She is a really sweet lady but it is THE most boring program on the earth. My kids did the groan and eye roll when I pulled it out. I tried to pull it off for a while but soon I was groaning and eye rolling too. No one will buy it!! It was $200 and I don't think it will ever go away! I have it for sale if anyone is interested:tongue_smilie::lol:.

[Pam Wilhelm]

What didn't work??

 

All American History...very dry. very boring.

 

R & S anything.............. nope, didn't work for us.

 

There's more...I just can't think of it right now.... oh wait!

 

Apologia Elementary Sciences.....bought the 3 Zoology books.... I just can't bring myself to wade through them. blech!

[M&M]

Abeka math, grade 3 made long division soo frustrating (and we did stop Abeka mid-year) that my math loving son shut down and stopped progressing in math for over a year. We had to start MUS from the beginning so that he could find the joy of math again.

 

Singapore math, dd did not retain much, it was too logic stage thinking for her.

[FriedClams]

MUS - Too much to list why I dislike this one.

 

MFW - LOVE them. LOVE the idea. Just don't like the whole book basket thing because our library is so lame. I also got really burned out on the states, then on the revolving countries. I think the older grades would be great.

 

Explorer's Bible Study - I really disliked this and it's actually the only curriculum I've returned for a refund. It was all the rage here a few years ago, but when I finally sat down to use it I was HUGELY disappointed. Sent it back.

[crl]

Rod and Staff Phonics. DD just couldn't move at the 1st grade pace and actually remember anything. She seems to need more review.

 

WinterPromise LA didn't work well for her either since the phonics she was learning, didn't go with the stories she was reading. And they had her trying to read words with endings when we hadn't learned them yet.

[Sandy in Indy]

Writing Strands--bleech

 

PowerGlide Spanish--double bleech

 

Any algebra program that didn't include teaching disks! :-) (uh...could be that was the teacher's problem???)

[kewb]

Writing Strands. I wanted to like it. My kids wanted to like it. Everyone disliked it.

 

MUS and Growing With Grammar are working very well for my two. It is funny to see how what works so well for one works so horribly for another.

[Zoo Keeper]

Abeka math --too colorful, too distracting for my guys. I also don't like the "this is the way to solve this problem" approach. It left my oldest very helpless when he saw the problems in a different context. He needs to think outside the box in math, even if he doesn't want to.

[Neesy]

Our second year of home schooling had me trying out Weaver curriculum that A&O puts out now. I thought the concept of teaching all of my kids together at once doing the same period of history would be great. They just never really learned anything about history that year. There was no real structure to it and I felt that it was too confusing with each of them doing something different according to what grade they were in. There was never any good rich literature or biographies for them to sink their teeth into then. Essentially it was putting in information that didn't stick.

 

Sonlight has been great for us because my kids love to read just about anything. They also love to be read to. This year I am actually looking at WP for my ds/12 or possibly TOG but don't know yet.

 

Every time I check the abbreviations sticky for one I don't know, they aren't there! Grrr:confused1:.

Thanks!

Denise

[Heather in VA]

Seriously ducking for cover here but...

 

SOTW. My girls thought it was fine to read but using it as a main curriculum just didn't do it for us. We'd do narrations and questions etc. Then no one remembered anything.

 

Heather

[alamama]

MUS is actually one that I had fears about, and now that my dd is in public school I am realizing that it did a pretty good job. Even though I heard repeatedly that the mus pre algebra was weak, she is doing great in Algebra 1 this year. And she is not a mathy kid.

 

Glad to see that MUS worked for you. It has saved us from so much frustration! It works for us. We have used it for 5th-8th grade.

 

What didn't work?

Alpha Omega...I tried it the first year (4th grade). It was inexpensive and all together. None of it really worked well with our DS.

 

Apologia Physical Science...DD is not a science person (me either). It was way over her head. However, I sent it to a friend and her son is eating it up.

[SkateLeft]

Sonlight - I used it with my oldest in K, and I was SOOO excited because she loved to read. I thought a literature based program would work beautifully for her. I discovered that she needed far more hands on, creative stuff, and SL was a flop. I still wanted to love it though, so I tried it again with 3+4, and then SL 100 in 7th grade. We read the books, but dropped the IG both times.

 

Saxon - My poor oldest child has been subjected to Saxon Math 3 times, because every few years I'd think we should give it another shot.

[LisaMarie6]

Every time I check the abbreviations sticky for one I don't know, they aren't there! Grrr:confused1:.

Thanks!

Denise

 

WWE - Writing with Ease

WP - Winter Promise

[siloam]

Kristen,

 

Hi!

 

You probably have a good idea of mine, but here goes.

 

SL did work here because my kids are too sensitive and need hands on. It also has too much of a focus on history.

 

Ruth Beechick methods I love in philosophy, but in order for them to work the parent has to have a good based of knowledge. If they, say, have a gap in grammar ;) then they can't step in and take advantage of the teachable moments that make learning most effective. We needed a more systematic approach, both to fill in my gaps and because we are mostly concrete sequential learners. We do best seeing the big picture then filling in the pieces step by step in order. My oldest is the only abstract in the house, which is why she did fine with RB.

 

Bravewriter/Jungle writer-same it is based on RB and just not concrete enough for me. Loved it for shifting how I thought about writing and would buy it again for that, but not step by step practical enough for me to make a daily program of it.

 

Apologia upper level science. I so wanted this to work, and it is way to detailed. I want something more big picture focused. The level of memorization needed to make it work for my kids sucked all the joy out of science. It was also taking way to long to get through and I had no idea how we would finish a traditional High School science sequence. The WTM recommendations seem to be more in line with how my kids learn.

 

Real Science 4 Kids. Again I wanted this to work, but there just isn't enough to do. Around here we all run more by habit, doing things daily even if in small portions, and you can't do RS4K in daily portions. There just isn't enough there for the cost, or you run through all the books then have nothing for next year. It just didn't fit our hsing style here.

 

I am sure I can go on, if I keep thinking back, but I will stop there for now. :D

 

Heather

[LisaMarie6]

WP - like the concept, but there were just too many paper crafts. Drove me and my kids nuts and they love to do crafts.

 

Spelling Plus and Sequential Spelling. I've had a hard time finding a spelling program that works and my kids enjoy. ETA: My kids and I are really enjoying AAS (all about spelling).

 

Sonlight LA - just didn't work for us.

 

Sonlight Science - jumped around too much. I and the kids like it when our experiments reinforce what we are learning about.

 

Teaching Textbooks Math - I love it, one less student to teach math to, but the accountability stinks and I ended up teaching the lesson anyway. We've gone back to Singapore and Life of Fred.

Edited September 8, 2010 by LisaMarie6
additional information

[Neesy]

Developmental Math

Horizons (about midway into 2nd grade)

Saxon 1 - SLOWWW

 

I am STILL on the quest! Now for my youngest and last two...boys :)

 

All three of my older dc used Rod and Staff from grade 4 on with great success. They all did only the odd or even problems according to the lesson #, and the problems where there was only "one" (whether odd or even). They also always did ALL of the story problems. If they missed two or more, they had to go back and do the rest of the problems. I also let them take the first chapter's test at the beginning of the year or the review chapters' tests. Often, they would test out of it because they had retained it all from the previous year. The teacher's notes and "pre-lesson" teaching, I think is very important. I know some skip it. Especially the mental math.

 

Blessings,

Denise

[HSMom2One]

Easy Grammar! It seemed like a great way to go at a point that I was burned out on Shurley English, but it was a big mistake that I have regretted so much. Dd did not retain the information she was taught over an entire school year and she forgot much of what she had learned previously in Shurley. By the end of last year I realized that she had digressed instead of progressed with grammar! For that reason, we have moved over to Rod & Staff English and I plan to stay put for a long time.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[lamamaloca]

I have to admit, what sparked this thread iss my experience with MUS. :blushing: I really liked it at first, my kids were doing well with it, they like it, etc. But my 5th grader cannot tell time, and my 6th grader can barely measure. And neither one of them have any concept of what multiplication is except as a rectangle. I had already decided to switch, but today when I gave the MM placement tests, I realized just how many gaps MUS is leaving. My 5th grader is placing into MM 2 (and I will need to touch on the 1st grade time unit), and my BRIGHT in math 6th grader is placing into MM 3. Sigh.

 

We had this experience with MUS. I was really sold on it after watching the Demo video, but my kids got bored with it, since everything was always only approached from one angle, and I don't think that they learned nearly as much as I wanted them to. Really, I just wasn't impressed the further up they went. We switched to MM, and are happy so far (although I'm sure it has its minuses, too).

[Nancy Ann]

I tried to do a relaxed homeschooling and child led interest education for one year. It completely fell through. My son did not really seek out topics on his own. I tried to jump on anything he mentioned and delve into it, but it was so exhausting and everything felt so scattered. It was NOT for our family.

[Heather in WI]

Winter Promise American Story 1 -- hated the books; hated the crafts

 

Bob Jones Science and Bob Jones Bible -- too much teacher prep required and too much classroom time required

 

Veritas Press History and Bible -- too many worksheets!

 

Rod and Staff Math -- dry, dry, dry!

[Holly]

We also tried Relaxed HSing--doesn't work for us. I spent years teaching with unit studies only to finally realize they weren't working for us. When we first started, I kept hearing HSers say "Be more relaxed!"...horrible advice for my family. I added a bit more structure and it's made all the difference.

 

I've now found the perfect balance between being relaxed and being structured and I love HSing again! :D

[mjpeter]

We also tried Relaxed HSing--doesn't work for us. I spent years teaching with unit studies only to finally realize they weren't working for us. When we first started, I kept hearing HSers say "Be more relaxed!"...horrible advice for my family. I added a bit more structure and it's made all the difference.

 

I've now found the perfect balance between being relaxed and being structured and I love HSing again! :D

 

:iagree: This could have come out of my mouth. I though unit studies and curriculum that crossed ages theoretically sounded great, but I need age specific materials and a teacher's manual for homeschooling to be efficient for us.

[BatmansWife]

How much time ya'll got??

 

 

Let's see.....here's just some of the stuff we've tried over the years that has flopped:

 

 

Moving Beyond the Page :001_huh:

 

 

Right Brain Phonics :eek:

 

 

Professor B :thumbdown:

 

 

Times Tables the Fun Way & Times Tales :tongue_smilie:

 

 

Writing Strands :confused1:

 

 

Phonetic Zoo :ack2:

 

 

CLE :001_unsure:

(please....if anyone loves CLE I still have for sale CLE Sunrise 1st grade math, social studies, and science and 3rd grade Sunrise math....PM me!!)

 

 

And the winner of the big booby prize goes to......drum rollll....

 

 

Fast Track Action Reading :smash:

 

 

I actually heard about this years ago on Oprah, of all places. It is THE WORST reading program in the world. Don't ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever...........EVER get that. Maybe this is why I never watch Oprah anymore.

[razorbackmama]

MUS and Growing With Grammar are working very well for my two. It is funny to see how what works so well for one works so horribly for another.

 

Oh, MUS worked great while we used it. My kids grasped everything well. But then when we looked outside MUS, I found mucho gaps.:001_huh:

[razorbackmama]

While I do appreciate hearing what has flopped for y'all, my main question isn't so much THAT as much as:

What did you THINK WAS WORKING WHILE YOU USED IT, but then at the end of the year or whenever you switched (for whatever reason), you discovered that it has NOT, in fact, worked at all?

[Tree House Academy]

CLE Math. I was a big supporter at first, but then realized that dd was just filling in the blanks and was not getting any conceptual understanding at all. We moved on to MM and have had major lightbulbs and retention.

 

 

:iagree: I was a huge supporter, but it really epitomizes "drill and kill" which some kids need and other kids loathe. We fell on the loathe end of that spectrum.

[Tree House Academy]

While I do appreciate hearing what has flopped for y'all, my main question isn't so much THAT as much as:

 

What did you THINK WAS WORKING WHILE YOU USED IT, but then at the end of the year or whenever you switched (for whatever reason), you discovered that it has NOT, in fact, worked at all?

 

 

CLE LA (3)

Growing with Grammar (3)

[MyLittleWonders]

Unschooling, relaxed schooling, and unit studies - none of these accomplished anything, and in the long run, ds#1 was almost 2 years behind in L/A when he hit 2nd grade age. It has taken a fairly intense, classical approach the last 1 1/2 years (we started almost half way through 2nd grade) to get him just about to grade level.

 

Whole language - see above. ;) I was taught in my credential program and master's program that whole language (and really, that was just code for sight word memorization) was *the* only way to teach reading. I didn't question it much when I was teaching because everyone was doing the same thing. But when it came to teaching my own child to read, I realized it was disastrous (at least for us).

 

There have been a few programs that I knew were just not for us, but the methods above truly did not work at all and left huge gaps for ds#1. Fortunately he was young enough that remediation was fairly quick, and the gaps were found when ds#2 was staring K at home, so we really only had to remediate one.

[razorbackmama]

Unschooling, relaxed schooling, and unit studies - none of these accomplished anything, and in the long run, ds#1 was almost 2 years behind in L/A when he hit 2nd grade age. It has taken a fairly intense, classical approach the last 1 1/2 years (we started almost half way through 2nd grade) to get him just about to grade level.

 

Whole language - see above. ;) I was taught in my credential program and master's program that whole language (and really, that was just code for sight word memorization) was *the* only way to teach reading. I didn't question it much when I was teaching because everyone was doing the same thing. But when it came to teaching my own child to read, I realized it was disastrous (at least for us).

 

There have been a few programs that I knew were just not for us, but the methods above truly did not work at all and left huge gaps for ds#1. Fortunately he was young enough that remediation was fairly quick, and the gaps were found when ds#2 was staring K at home, so we really only had to remediate one.

 

Ya know...while I would have never classified us as "relaxed," I've always been pretty "laid back," particularly when it came to reading. I was ALWAYS told by veteran homeschoolers to not PUSH reading. Teach it, but don't sweat it if they aren't reading by 7-8 (or later!). "Everyone learns at his own pace." That is true, TO AN EXTENT. NOW I know that the inability to read by age 7 might signify a problem of some sort.

 

I think in general that and my lack of "expectations" when my kids were younger are 2 huge regrets when it comes to their education. I just sort of tossed things at them now and then but didn't actually require much. And because of their personalities, they didn't actually produce much on their own either. Now that they are in the logic stage, I'm still having to do grammar work with them simply because they are behind due to my own low expectations of them.

[Jenny in GA]

In the "curriculum you thought was great" thread, I noticed several people saying they unschooled for a couple years and "their kids learned nothing" or "their kids were bored and fell way behind" or "they wished they could have those years back."

 

As someone who was REALLY into reading and discussing about unschooling when my kids were three or four years old, and even "officially unschooled" for a year or two (depending on when you start counting), I found that very interesting.

 

Anyone care to elaborate on that?

What drew you to unschooling to begin with?

Was the reality different from what you imagined?

Do you think it was your "fault," ie, that you were just bad at unschooling? Do you think the "unschooling experts" are showing a skewed reality -- or even being deliberately dishonest?

Do you think most unschooled kids "learn little and fall behind," or that yours was an unusual experience for some reason?

 

Thanks!

Jenny

[Jenny in GA]

Whoops, I meant to start a new thread with that last post. Now I just did.

 

Jenny

[mothergooseof4]

Well, this is my 10th yr to hs and I have worked with 4 different dc.

 

Sonlight- worked great for my step-dd. When ds came along, I ordered K and started to work. He hated it. I realized that neither of us really liked the Usborne books that they use a whole lot. He liked the read alouds though.

 

Winter Promise-this looks awesome and I have actually ordered it....twice. It is just too much for us. My kids are not really the crafty type and the selling point is that it has more hands on stuff than SL. We weren't crazy about most of the book choices either.

 

Spell to Write and Read-I really believe this is the absolute best way to teach spelling/reading. I just found it hard to implement. I switched to All About Spelling which is based on pretty much the same principles and love it. It is more open and go. It gets done, which was not happening with SWR.

 

Right Start Math-My ds hated this. He cried every time I pulled it out. He hated the manipulatives, hated the games. He really just wants an explanation and a worksheet.

 

CLE LA and Math- we spent the last year with all the kids in CLE for math and LA. It is a great program and strong academically. Just too much for us. The Learning to Read program is awesome and my youngest two have done/are doing well with it. But, when it was time to add in the LA and the Reading, it became a very heavy load for a 1st grader. My 1st grader enjoyed the math and has memorized many of his math facts, but doesn't really have an understanding of math.

 

Apologia Elementary-on their own, these get boring. We need variety. Plus, a lot of this info is over their heads. Ds is doing Zoology 3 this year as scheduled in HOD, but it is not just reading the book straight through. I do own all of this series except the Anatomy one though. So, they appeal to me, they just don't seem to fit.

[Gwenhwyfar]

KONOS ~ it was fun...when we were able to pull it together. I found it scattered though and often couldn't find/didn't like the suggested resources...just wasn't the right fit for us, although we thought it was at first.

[Mommy22alyns]

Singapore Math. Luckily we hadn't used it for very long when I realized that Becca hadn't actually learned a darn thing from it. :001_huh: We went through 1A and hit the wall in 1B.

[cbollin]

While I do appreciate hearing what has flopped for y'all, my main question isn't so much THAT as much as:

What did you THINK WAS WORKING WHILE YOU USED IT, but then at the end of the year or whenever you switched (for whatever reason), you discovered that it has NOT, in fact, worked at all?

 

hmm... not exactly the same situation, but close.

 

I was happily using MUS and it was working well for my oldest. I had no intention of switching. Then, when she finished zeta in middle of 5th grade, I really saw lots of gaps in math that didn't make sense to me and a lack of really getting it. She was getting 90-100's on tests and reviews and all of that. I really liked MUS when I used it. She didn't complain. She was getting good grades. But yeah, if you're getting that feeling.. yeah... she finished out her elementary years with Singapore and it was doing the things that I wanted to have accomplished with MUS and didn't realize wasn't getting done until we looked at another program. So, it was working, but it wasn't. I didn't ruin my kid with it though.

 

Same kind of story with Easy Grammar. Oldest worked through the books and was jamming through EG Plus in 4th grade. It wasn't doing anything for her learning how to write. She could do the exercises. It was easy. I was not convinced it was an effective tool for the age she was. Looking back, I'd probably wait until 5th grade or higher to do "formal grammar". So, that's not the same situation, but close.

 

-crystal

[Heather in VA]

While I do appreciate hearing what has flopped for y'all, my main question isn't so much THAT as much as:

What did you THINK WAS WORKING WHILE YOU USED IT, but then at the end of the year or whenever you switched (for whatever reason), you discovered that it has NOT, in fact, worked at all?

 

I answered SOTW before and this was the case. They answered the questions and gave narrations but after a while I realized they never remembered anything.

 

This was also the case with Right Start Math. I used it for my youngest for 2/3 of Level B. I switched because I didn't like the order of topics and the way they taught some things but I didn't realize until I had switched how little she had retained. I know retention is often just as much a function of the student and how they best learn as it is the program itself but I didn't even realize how little she was retaining until later.

 

Heather

[5LittleMonkeys]

Mmmm. I would have to say Easy Grammar. We actually dropped it several months before the end of last year as it just seemed like busy work. It was not expanding at all on what they already knew. At the beginning of this year I showed them their R&S English and told them that this would be much more thorough than their grammar from last year and my oldest said, "We did grammar last year? I don't remember doing grammar last year." :confused: Enough said.

[Halcyon]

I haven't had this experience with GWG. There seems to be plenty of review throughout, and my kids are retaining quite a bit. This is our second year of it, and so far so good. :001_smile:

 

 

 

 

We're enjoying GWG year 4 right now--BUT I do a fair amount of review with my son, and we revisit topics often (but we do that for most curricula). He can diagram a sentence pretty darn well for an 8 year old, and he says grammar is "his favorite subject" since beginning GWG.

 

I do think GWG will prove to be effective in the long term only if we do review of past topics. Then again, I could be totally wrong as we've only been using it for 1 month LOL. Time will tell, but for now he does well on my "car pop quizzes" (anyone else do that? :lol:)

[razorbackmama]

So, it was working, but it wasn't.

 

THIS is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. When stuff is working, till you find out that it actually WASN'T.:tongue_smilie:

[Cinder]

What did you THINK WAS WORKING WHILE YOU USED IT, but then at the end of the year or whenever you switched (for whatever reason), you discovered that it has NOT, in fact, worked at all?

 

This thread has reminded me of several programs that flopped here. But now I see that's not what you're asking.

 

For us, what I thought was working while we used it--any of the spelling programs we used: Spelling Power, Abeka, R&S. My ds's have super memories and always ace their spelling program. Ds1 is a natural speller and it translates into his writing. Ds2, however, still can't spell when it comes to writing. I don't mean when he's writing a draft or on a quiz. I mean, he doesn't notice spelling errors while he's editing his writing or doing the final draft. He's in 7th grade now and none of these spelling programs has helped at all in this particular way. I know it's not the particular program--it's just the way ds is wired.

 

Cinder

[eclipse]

Handwriting Without Tears - the two kids I used it with hated it, and still have atrocious handwriting

Powerglide Spanish - Just. Awful.

Edited September 9, 2010 by eclipse

[jamnkats]

In the "curriculum you thought was great" thread, I noticed several people saying they unschooled for a couple years and "their kids learned nothing" or "their kids were bored and fell way behind" or "they wished they could have those years back."

 

As someone who was REALLY into reading and discussing about unschooling when my kids were three or four years old, and even "officially unschooled" for a year or two (depending on when you start counting), I found that very interesting.

 

Anyone care to elaborate on that?

What drew you to unschooling to begin with?

Was the reality different from what you imagined?

Do you think it was your "fault," ie, that you were just bad at unschooling? Do you think the "unschooling experts" are showing a skewed reality -- or even being deliberately dishonest?

Do you think most unschooled kids "learn little and fall behind," or that yours was an unusual experience for some reason?

 

Thanks!

Jenny

 

I unschooled from beginning to age 14 or 15 with #1, age 12 with #2, age 11 with #3 and age 8 with #4.

 

Both the older boys decided they were getting concerned that they were unprepared for the future (we had had various talks on this theme) and #2 started with his first math lessons ever. He is now finishing up probability and will start Algebra soon. Son #1 just couldn't get motivated and finally at 16 he decided he wanted to go to school. So he is now jumping into writing essays for the first time, doing math (he's on fractions now and I expect at this rate he'll be in Algebra by December), learning French (but the kicker is he's learning French in Mexico so all instruction is in Spanish, which is a new language to him also), etc. Right now we're writing an essay on Homer - but it is in Spanish. But he is totally rising to the challenge.

 

I'd go on but I really can't do this and help him with Homer anymore. At any rate, thats a quickie on our experience.

[txhomemom]

Where oh where do I start. Sometimes it seems like every subject has been a flop.

 

First there was my quest for the perfect phonics program...tried them all...thought I was helping dd, probably was just confusing her when switching programs.

 

Then there was spelling...the thorn in my side. Tried Sequential Spelling, Spelling Power, Natural Speller, Calvert spelling and many others (I cannot remember them all). Each time I thought the new program would be the one and then we never seemed to accomplish anything. My dd still couldn't spell. Although, looking back on it she may have learned how to spell a few words so all was not lost. I think in the future we will just correct her spelling in her writing and use spellcheck a lot.

 

Math should have been an easy subject to teach, but every time someone mentioned a new math program I had to go check it out. My daughter now has gaps in her math knowledge because of all the curriculum hopping. The bottom line is there is no perfect math program. You just have to stick with something at some point. Right now we are filling the gaps with Key To books and the Chalkdust Basic Math textbook. I feel like I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as basic math, but don't even get me started on Prealgebra and Algebra, etc...more stuff to research and this time I am not changing programs I promise!

 

One grammar program we used but did not seem to be very effective was Growing With Grammar. That was kind of disappointing because I was excited that I had finally found a secular grammar program and then it just turned into drudgery that never stuck.

 

This year I am doing things completely different. I am trying not to choose curriculum based on what everyone else says is amazing. I think that is where I went wrong in the past.

 

By the way, if I told you all the programs I have tried and ditched I would probably run out of room. I should have joined a curriculum buying junkie support group years ago!

[Annabel Lee]

Things I didn't realize weren't "working" while we used them:

 

Abeka 1st and 2nd grade spelling books w/o the rest of Abeka's LA - My ds9 used these in 1st and 2nd grades, just the student spelling book alone. He always aced his spelling tests so I didn't realize the trouble brewing; by Christmas-time in 2nd grade I suddenly wondered "Where's all the phonics rules & rules for affixes, the phonics drills, etc.?". I had a minor spelling crisis and learned something about curricula: that phonics instruction is usually part of spelling, not grammar. New to homeschooling outside Abeka's box at the time, for some reason I thought FLL was supposed to take care of phonics.

 

Saxon Math 2 in 1st grade, same son again - he got good grades but he hadn't learned anything new by the end of the year. I followed their instructions for placement when looking back, I think starting at the end of 2 and going into 3 would have met him where he was at. Placement tests can be tricky boogers.

 

My most expensive one though, is WP AS1. Too much, too disjointed, not chronological, worksheets that don't even go with the week's topic or readings, don't even like the spine after working with it, and I wanted more Christian history (church history and missionary bios) than it offered. My boys are bored with some of the books and a disproportionate number of them seem geared towards girls, and they don't like cutting & pasting, which isn't what I think of when I hear "crafts". I bought it to do together w/ a friend IRL who dropped it earlier than I did.