Am I crazy to buy 3 levels of SOS to save time???

[ourjourneys]

I have been implementing our curriculum from various sources (WTM, Latin for Children, Classical Writing, Various reading, singapore Math, etc). However, all of these take a lot of time from me as the teacher/parent to implement. I am needing to finish my own college more quickly so I am going to attempt 12 hours in the spring and summer (have been taking 6 hours). This is going to make my time extremely tight. So, in a last minute decision I have purchased 3 levels of Switched on Schoolhouse. I hope I have not made a poor decision. I have read very mixed reviews.

 

We love Singapore math so will use the SOS for LA, Science, and History. I wanted to test them at the end of this year too, and I thought this may align more toward the standardized exams (I can not believe that I am saying this because I have always been so far away from standardized anything).

 

So, have I lost my mind? Is it still going to take a lot of time from me? My kids are in 3rd, 4th, and 5th. My husband teaches them math so that takes a huge chunk away. They also attend Arabic and religion courses on Sunday for 4 hours.

 

Will they get all that they need or do I need to supplement much with this? I am considering this ONLY for me to get through school which should be 1 year from now - if I go on for my masters it will be 2.5 years.

Any thoughts are MUCH appreciated!

[ourjourneys]

:001_smile:

[Night Elf]

I didn't like SOS because once we got past the first few lessons, there was nothing to refer back to. There were no notes, no texts and tests just expected the kids to remember everything. Maybe it has changed since I used it because it was about 6 years ago.

[Mrs Mungo]

We did SOS for state history one year. I actually found it to be sort of a pain to use for only one or two classes. I'm pretty computer savvy, but I didn't find it very intuitive to use. BUT, that was several years ago, maybe it's improved.

[ourjourneys]

Thank you all... I was thinking about the notes (not having a book)... My 5th grader is good about taking notes and I think my 4th grader will adapt to that... Are the lifepacs exactly the same curriculum so that if we needed a book to go by, could we get the lifepacs for them?

[MamaBirdX7]

Someone else might have a different opinion but I think the Lifepacs are just enough different that they work as a follow along book. You can print out the lessons though.

 

You might find, as I did, that one of your children really doesn't respond well to computer schooling. My child in question is very kinesthetic and high emotional IQ so needs more personal interaction.

 

Edited to add, we aren't using SOS at this time, but I might use it again for a subject or two.

[bairnmama]

I had a friend use SOS for her oldest last year to free up time (4th grade) for her to concentrate on her 2 youngest. Her main complaint was the way the answers were required to be so exact. You had to respond exactly the way the program wanted, using the wording it wanted, or the answer was counted as wrong. That really frustrated her son. She also said there was a whole lot of unecessary busy work. But, it did allow her to focus on teaching her younest to read and go through 2 yrs of math with the middle child who had gotten very behind because of illnesses, so it served it's purpose.

[katilac]

I personally wouldn't choose it for a long-term solution, but think almost anything can work for a year. If you go on for your masters, then no, I wouldn't consider it enough, if you want to stay in the realm of a WTM style education.