MODG for 9th grade--Thoughts?

[at the beach]

I'm looking at using some of the MODG courses for my daughter's 9th grade year. Specifically, American History and Lit, Grammar and Composition, and Religion. I already know that we'll want to add an additional spine for the American History portion to balance the text MODG uses. But I'm hoping some of you have used MODG and could give me some feedback on the program. Do you enroll or do you just use syllabi for the courses you choose to do? I've been reading DYOCC and am really enjoying it. I like the fact that it seems to be more lit-based for the history/lit. We loved Sonlight when we did it but it often seemed like it was just too many books too fast. The upper cores, especially after 100, look like they'd take more than several hours a day to do well. I also don't want to deal with figuring out how to add a Catholic perspective to SL or wading through the massive IG with all those notes of John's.

 

:bigear:

[8filltheheart]

I really do not like Anne Carroll's books. They are as skewed in Catholic perspective as the majority of Protestant providers are in the other direction.

 

I found a really old high school textbook American history for Catholic high schools (The Catholic high school social studies series) that I have been using. It is a balanced text that also includes Catholic contributions to the formation of the US that are ignored in other books.

 

I believe the Catholic Textbook Project is coming out with a Catholic high school American history book, but I don't know its release date.

 

Personally, I would use a secular text before AC's. (I was using a combo of texts prior to this OOP one. Dd really likes this text. I am glad I found it!)

[at the beach]

I really do not like Anne Carroll's books. They are as skewed in Catholic perspective as the majority of Protestant providers are in the other direction.

 

I found a really old high school textbook American history for Catholic high schools (The Catholic high school social studies series) that I have been using. It is a balanced text that also includes Catholic contributions to the formation of the US that are ignored in other books.

 

I believe the Catholic Textbook Project is coming out with a Catholic high school American history book, but I don't know its release date.

 

Personally, I would use a secular text before AC's. (I was using a combo of texts prior to this OOP one. Dd really likes this text. I am glad I found it!)

 

Yes, this is my one snag with it. I thought that if I could find another text that was balanced, it would be okay because we could discuss the problems with the Carroll text and she would see how important it is not to just believe everything you read. Could you share the name of the textbook you are using? Maybe I can find it used. We also have an old copy of The American Pageant. Do you think MODG could be used in this way, by adding another spine so that we could discuss the problems with the Carroll book? Thank you so much for your thoughts. I really appreciate it.

[Nicole M]

I really do not like Anne Carroll's books. They are as skewed in Catholic perspective as the majority of Protestant providers are in the other direction.

 

I found a really old high school textbook American history for Catholic high schools (The Catholic high school social studies series) that I have been using. It is a balanced text that also includes Catholic contributions to the formation of the US that are ignored in other books.

 

I believe the Catholic Textbook Project is coming out with a Catholic high school American history book, but I don't know its release date.

 

Personally, I would use a secular text before AC's. (I was using a combo of texts prior to this OOP one. Dd really likes this text. I am glad I found it!)

 

This is good intel! Because I was about to say that although my experience with MODG is limited to the Natural History course and the Henle Latin, and they were both quite good, especially the Latin, with pacing, quizzes, and teacher support. Too bad about about Anne Carroll. It's so hard to find good "package" resources, and sometimes we need that support, as teachers, as much as we'd like to think we can do it all from scratch.

[Kathy in Richmond]

I bought the American History Syllabus several years ago from MODG, thinking I would use it with my kids. We also changed our minds when we looked at the Anne Carroll text, for reasons mentioned above. It didn't appeal to either of my kids.

 

I didn't care much for the syllabus, either, for the price. Opening it randomly, I see an assignment to "pick a book from your book list" (there are several long book lists corresponding to different periods of American History, but you could find these elsewhere), then for the next six days the assignments were simply "Read". The following day the assignment is "write a book report" (you supply the details/topic; there is only a general grading rubric in the front of the syllabus). The next four days it's simply "write."

 

This is pretty much the plan for the year, with textbook readings assigned on some days: Read these pages & answer the questions in the text -no answer key provided, though. At one point there are actually 24 days in a row where the only instruction is "Read"!! Mid-course the student analyzes a speech of their choice by outlining it, rewriting from the outline, cutting up the outline and trying to put it back together, etc. This is all stuff more appropriate for the logic stage IMHO, and it's nothing you wouldn't learn from reading the WTM.

 

Well, I could come up with that all by myself! If I'm going to buy a syllabus, I want a little more detail and more specific essay topics/helps included. (To be honest, a couple of the writing topics are assigned, but they're too general for me, such as write a paper on the causes of WWI or WWII).

 

I am a fan of the MODG Henle materials authored by Laura Berquist, though. We were quite satisfied with those.:)

We ended up using Kolbe's history and literature materials instead.

[at the beach]

I bought the American History Syllabus several years ago from MODG, thinking I would use it with my kids. We also changed our minds when we looked at the Anne Carroll text, for reasons mentioned above. It didn't appeal to either of my kids.

 

I didn't care much for the syllabus, either, for the price. Opening it randomly, I see an assignment to "pick a book from your book list" (there are several long book lists corresponding to different periods of American History, but you could find these elsewhere), then for the next six days the assignments were simply "Read". The following day the assignment is "write a book report" (you supply the details/topic; there is only a general grading rubric in the front of the syllabus). The next four days it's simply "write."

 

This is pretty much the plan for the year, with textbook readings assigned on some days: Read these pages & answer the questions in the text -no answer key provided, though. At one point there are actually 24 days in a row where the only instruction is "Read"!! Mid-course the student analyzes a speech of their choice by outlining it, rewriting from the outline, cutting up the outline and trying to put it back together, etc. This is all stuff more appropriate for the logic stage IMHO, and it's nothing you wouldn't learn from reading the WTM.

 

Well, I could come up with that all by myself! If I'm going to buy a syllabus, I want a little more detail and more specific essay topics/helps included. (To be honest, a couple of the writing topics are assigned, but they're too general for me, such as write a paper on the causes of WWI or WWII).

 

I am a fan of the MODG Henle materials authored by Laura Berquist, though. We were quite satisfied with those.:)

We ended up using Kolbe's history and literature materials instead.

 

Kathy, Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I'll look at Kolbe again. Maybe tht would be better, but I don't think they don't have a separate course for American History, do they? She wants to specifically do American History next year. I suppose I could consider something like APUSH or AP Gov, but I don't even know if I could find a place for her to take the exam. This year, she is doing an online humanities course that covers church history and world lit, it is high school level, and she's doing very well in it thus far, so I don't know that it would be appropriate for her to do logic-level stuff next year. I was hoping for something that would give me enough guidance to not have to do it all on my own. I also would have liked something more lit-based (which excludes Seton history), but don't really want SL because, though she loved it when we used it, I've heard not so good things about the high school levels and on top of it we'd have to add in Catholic resources for religion, take out some of SL's, wade through JH's massive notes in the IG, etc. Hmm, I have DYOCC and I could just use those and put the course together myself I guess, coming up with specific writing assignments on my own. There is a huge book list in DYOCC for the time period. Maybe I should look at Ambleside Year 9, which I guess is American History. Oh my. One more thing to look at.

 

Thanks again for your thoughts! :001_smile:

[Kathy in Richmond]

Oh, yeah. We never really found an American history course that we loved. My dd also wanted a year of just American history, so we took a break from Kolbe in grade 11. She worked through The American Pageant on her own, we supplemented with lots of American literature, and she watched different documentaries like the Ken Burns Civil War series as she went along. But the down side was that we had to cobble it together ourselves. She wasn't doing it as an AP course (we never do history APs because they cover too much too fast for our taste). So she was able to devote more time to the topics that interested her.

 

My ds took American history in grades 8 and 9 using the Beautiful Feet guides to Early American & World history followed by the US and World history from the Civil War to Vietnam. While it's not completely US history-based, maybe that would suit you and your dd more? I did those courses/readings along with my ds. I enjoyed the literature approach and having the plans laid out for me!

 

I've never used Ambleside Online.

[at the beach]

Oh, yeah. We never really found an American history course that we loved. My dd also wanted a year of just American history, so we took a break from Kolbe in grade 11. She worked through The American Pageant on her own, we supplemented with lots of American literature, and she watched different documentaries like the Ken Burns Civil War series as she went along. But the down side was that we had to cobble it together ourselves. She wasn't doing it as an AP course (we never do history APs because they cover too much too fast for our taste). So she was able to devote more time to the topics that interested her.

 

My ds took American history in grades 8 and 9 using the Beautiful Feet guides to Early American & World history followed by the US and World history from the Civil War to Vietnam. While it's not completely US history-based, maybe that would suit you and your dd more? I did those courses/readings along with my ds. I enjoyed the literature approach and having the plans laid out for me!

 

I've never used Ambleside Online.

 

We do have an old copy of The American Pageant so maybe I'll add that in if I do use MODG. I'm also going to take a look at Beautiful Feet. Thanks for the suggestion. I am finding that we are leaning against AP courses for history and lit for the reasons you mention. Again, thank you.

[Tiramisu]

Another thought...Our Lady of the Rosary School might have American History materials that you can look at. Last year, I called them and ordered a used copy of their world history 2 course packet to preview. The readings were an interesting combination of primary source documents and articles written by Catholic historians with accompanying comprehension questions, all conveniently bound in one course packet. We would up going with something else just because of a great last minute offering at our coop, but I think it would have worked for us. The schedule, also in the packet, looked more than manageable. I have no idea what their American History materials would be like but they might be worth looking at. OLRS really isn't talked about much and I have no idea what their status is.

 

I forgot to tell you that there is probably a textbook spine but I couldn't find it on their website.

Edited January 19, 2011 by NJKelli
more info.

[Cabertmom]

The Mother of Divine Grace syllabus does have one great thing going for it--a good booklist. We found that very helpful but didn't end up using Anne Carroll or much in the way of the geography suggestions from it either. We did, however, find a few great treasures from the book list. The one that comes to mind right now is Bold Journey West with Lewis and Clark.

[mchel210]

I'm looking at using some of the MODG courses for my daughter's 9th grade year. Specifically, American History and Lit, Grammar and Composition, and Religion. I already know that we'll want to add an additional spine for the American History portion to balance the text MODG uses. But I'm hoping some of you have used MODG and could give me some feedback on the program. Do you enroll or do you just use syllabi for the courses you choose to do? I've been reading DYOCC and am really enjoying it. I like the fact that it seems to be more lit-based for the history/lit. We loved Sonlight when we did it but it often seemed like it was just too many books too fast. The upper cores, especially after 100, look like they'd take more than several hours a day to do well. I also don't want to deal with figuring out how to add a Catholic perspective to SL or wading through the massive IG with all those notes of John's.

 

:bigear:

I see this is an older post...but I was curious if you came up with a plan yet? We used SL up to core 6 but now my son is coming back home after 1 year in PS and he hated it. I was looking at tons of curriculums but I think I may use Oak Meadow for the main books and add in MODG religion and possibly latin.

 

My son needs his day broken down and OM seems to do that.

[at the beach]

I see this is an older post...but I was curious if you came up with a plan yet? We used SL up to core 6 but now my son is coming back home after 1 year in PS and he hated it. I was looking at tons of curriculums but I think I may use Oak Meadow for the main books and add in MODG religion and possibly latin.

 

My son needs his day broken down and OM seems to do that.

 

Funny that you should ask. We were just recently talking about 9th grade plans for next year. We opted not to go with MODG. My daughter requested Sonlight Core 100 for next year, so we will go with that--after I spent countless hours preparing a Medieval History/Lit course.:tongue_smilie: After doing all that planning, I actually kind of welcome the IG--even if it is massive and not ideal.:o If we include religion in her studies, I've decided to go with Didache Introduction to Catholicism for 9th. I might buy Bravewriter for highschool as it's on sale with homeschool buyer's co-op for half off right now. Don't know if we'll get around to using it this coming year. I know Core 100 seems light as far as the level of the books, but I'm fine with that for next year.

 

What grade is your son going into? If it's ninth, I might be tempted to just pick up with Sonlight Core 7 if he enjoyed SL. I don't know anything about Oak Meadow. As for Latin, I have my daughter in an online class, and I wouldn't have been using MODG for that, though I've heard that the MODG syllabus for Henle is good. I do think that the Laux books are probably more challenging than the Didache series for religion, but I don't think I want my daughter having to commit an hour a day for a religion course on top of everything else she's doing. I also like the looks of the philosophy curriculum that CHC carries for high school students, and I am thinking of using that after the Didache Intro to Catholicism course. My daughter has used Laux's Church History book this year in an online class, and she has enjoyed it, but I don't think that MODG uses the history book.

 

Hmm, now I'm rambling. In sum, I guess we do have a plan now. It just doesn't look anything like I thought it would.

[4wildberrys]

Funny that you should ask. We were just recently talking about 9th grade plans for next year. We opted not to go with MODG. My daughter requested Sonlight Core 100 for next year, so we will go with that--

 

I think you will really like Core 100---and SL has improved that horribly cumbersome IG to be more user friendly, so now the teacher portion has eXACTLY all the same info as the student study guide!! And they changed the books around. I used a couple of MODG syllabi, but was really disappointed in the Religion ones because there were no answers for me to discuss the questions with dd! The Fr. Laux books are 'okay', but honestly, the new Didache series is AWESOME and totally relevant to today's Catholic teens. The biology syllabi was a disappointment to us, so I never used it. And my friend did get the American History syllabi but was also very disappointed, especially since there was nothing there that she couldn't have arranged herself. You could always add in the Christ in the America's book to add a Catholic perspective----but we have never needed to do that. I just simply add in our Religion materials and call it good. SL does not leave out Catholics in American history, although of course they don't focus on the Catholic story. certainly not anti-Catholic like other curriculum can be. ;)

[mchel210]

I would love to get back with SL. I just end up having to read aloud to my son since he has a bit of LD and we split the reading. I have to go look at it again.

 

I have been back and forth every week with what to do. My husband wants him in a program that is very straight forward and laid out for him. I guess it would be pretty straight forward if I stuck with SL. Then it included english and history with all his literature as well. hmm...I have to jump over there! I havent even heard of that religion you are speaking of. I have to find it and go check it out!

[at the beach]

Thanks for the input, 4wildberrys. I appreciate your thoughts.

 

mchel210, What age is your son? Does he enjoy you reading aloud? I enjoy reading aloud to my kids, and they don't seem to mind it. I have missed reading aloud this year to them together because my 8th grader was in an online history/lit course, which really limited how much we did together. We didn't like that change.

 

What I've found with my 11 yo who has learning differences is that I have to make sure that she uses a curriculum where she is at the upper age range for it. Her input also nudged me toward giving SL another go for next year. With my 11 yo, we had been doing a variety of things that included Our Pioneers and Patriots, Mater Amabilis, and some Ambleside. She liked it, but she never interacted with the books in the same way she did with SL. She made a comment asking why we couldn't just do SL like we did before because "that was really nice." This, coming from a reluctant learner. I decided to just go with Core 3/D for her with the advanced readers. We just started it, not even waiting until next year. She read the read-aloud to me the last few days. I really think it's better for her to have a program that is not frustrating.

 

For Core 7 on up, it does include the language arts. Also, I am planning to try Winston Grammar with my 11 yo at some point, which I know SL used to recommend for grammar, and they still sell it.

 

I really don't want to come off as pushing any one curriculum because there really is so much great stuff out there, so obviously YMMV.

 

Best wishes finding something that works for you and your son.

[mchel210]

My son is in 9th grade this year, 15. He went back to school last year in Feb and high school this entire year. They are on block schedule which is 4 classes per semester=to a year of class. Each semester they get 4 new classes. He took Alg. twice so far but they dont help at all. He also has a terrible grade in Science, English and I think he passed history. His history was a lot of busy work that had nothing to do with history. Looking up information about the Miami Heat, Dolphins schedule info...stupid things. Science is read the book, print an article and take a test. Nothing else. Math is open the book and do the work. No teaching. His english teacher told him he would pass him if he did some make up work...but I have no clue what they really did there. Not much.

 

 

I was thinking of just repeating 9th grade and giving him the credit for his electives. He took ROTC which gave him 5 credits this year.

 

 

He liked SOTW a lot. He loved the history for Core 6. I think he listened in to core 1 and 3...did core 4 and 6. BUT...he doesnt like to read and I have to be on top of him for that. I already have Easy Grammar I could pick back up with him along with SWI B. and WW7 and a spelling program (middle school program) He did great with TT pre algebra so I was going to wait either get TT alg. or just switch to Saxon to really make sure he gets it stuck in his brain once and for all.

 

I would have loved to bring him back home earlier this year, but I didnt want to play the back and forth game.

 

Oak Meadow is a secular program that is all laid out by the week. Each lesson is broken down over the week with regular textbooks and then they read it and answer the questions. I was thinking I would get a lot less resistance since the week is laid out for him. Since it is US history, it would work to add in the SL readers along with the history instead of using SL. Plus it was a lot cheaper. Im not going to use the teacher assisted program, just the manuals. The TM is about 25 and the syllabus is about 25 then the books are textbooks and I have seen many on ebay for about 10. Otherwise they sell the new books for a ton. But they also resell.

 

Im just trying to see what is the easiest for him. I do want to add religion since he enjoys it. Does that book you spoke about have a guide to follow or do you just read a little at a time? He had Seton 7 we used for a couple years. We just read a little each time.

 

You're not coming off pushy at all. I am terrible when it comes to his curriculum. My girls are both in a private Catholic School now...but they use a few books after school. They are easy to teach since they are gifted, but my son hates working and putting forth effort. Complete opposites. I love ideas since I just want to make sure he gets it all and understands what he is taught.

 

He says he wants to go in the Military, but I want that option to go to college there as well. He doesnt think he is capable of college at this point...so I want to get him to realize once he puts a little effort...he will do better and can go to college! :)

[4wildberrys]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oak Meadow is a secular program that is all laid out by the week. Each lesson is broken down over the week with regular textbooks and then they read it and answer the questions. I was thinking I would get a lot less resistance since the week is laid out for him. Since it is US history, it would work to add in the SL readers along with the history instead of using SL. Plus it was a lot cheaper. Im not going to use the teacher assisted program, just the manuals. The TM is about 25 and the syllabus is about 25 then the books are textbooks and I have seen many on ebay for about 10. Otherwise they sell the new books for a ton. But they also resell.

 

Im just trying to see what is the easiest for him. I do want to add religion since he enjoys it. Does that book you spoke about have a guide to follow or do you just read a little at a time? He had Seton 7 we used for a couple years. We just read a little each time.

 

You're not coming off pushy at all. I am terrible when it comes to his curriculum. My girls are both in a private Catholic School now...but they use a few books after school. They are easy to teach since they are gifted, but my son hates working and putting forth effort. Complete opposites. I love ideas since I just want to make sure he gets it all and understands what he is taught.

 

He says he wants to go in the Military, but I want that option to go to college there as well. He doesnt think he is capable of college at this point...so I want to get him to realize once he puts a little effort...he will do better and can go to college! :)

 

 

Using something that would ensure the work gets done without a bunch of balking and hassle AND that would make him feel competent is what it sounds like you are looking for! IF you thing OM would fit that bill then use it by all means ;) And throwing in a FEW of the SL books that would enhance the history would probably be a better bet for a boy that doesn't really like reading all that much. SL is all ABOUT the reading----especially from 200 on. The beauty of homeschooling is you can tailor a program that works for your child's individual learning style so they can excel the best they are able to. Keeping my dd back a year when her friends graduated last year was SOO hard----but the best decision we ever made. She has had this year to mature and really understand she is cabable in math and even find her love for psychology---which she is going to study in college. Which she also didn't think she could do ;)

 

If you are asking about the Didache series, yes, you can just get the student book and read through it and go through the questions together. There are 4 books for high school but we are only using Intro to Catholicism and Our Moral Life in Christ since we already have Church history and Bible study covered.

[at the beach]

My son is in 9th grade this year, 15. He went back to school last year in Feb and high school this entire year. They are on block schedule which is 4 classes per semester=to a year of class. Each semester they get 4 new classes. He took Alg. twice so far but they dont help at all. He also has a terrible grade in Science, English and I think he passed history. His history was a lot of busy work that had nothing to do with history. Looking up information about the Miami Heat, Dolphins schedule info...stupid things. Science is read the book, print an article and take a test. Nothing else. Math is open the book and do the work. No teaching. His english teacher told him he would pass him if he did some make up work...but I have no clue what they really did there. Not much.

 

 

I was thinking of just repeating 9th grade and giving him the credit for his electives. He took ROTC which gave him 5 credits this year.

 

Since he will be homeschooled, I think giving him that extra year sounds like a fine plan.

 

 

 

He liked SOTW a lot. He loved the history for Core 6. I think he listened in to core 1 and 3...did core 4 and 6. BUT...he doesnt like to read and I have to be on top of him for that. I already have Easy Grammar I could pick back up with him along with SWI B. and WW7 and a spelling program (middle school program) He did great with TT pre algebra so I was going to wait either get TT alg. or just switch to Saxon to really make sure he gets it stuck in his brain once and for all.

Hmm, have you looked at Key to Algebra? I know many think this isn't a full algebra program, but in DYOCC by Laura Berquist, she recommends using this book for struggling kids. I know there were a few posts on this board, too, that it is fine to use as a basic algebra course. I have no experience with it. I have thought of buying Hands on Equations for my youngest when she's older, which also looks like it might help a child "get" algebra.

 

 

I would have loved to bring him back home earlier this year, but I didnt want to play the back and forth game.

 

Oak Meadow is a secular program that is all laid out by the week. Each lesson is broken down over the week with regular textbooks and then they read it and answer the questions. I was thinking I would get a lot less resistance since the week is laid out for him. Since it is US history, it would work to add in the SL readers along with the history instead of using SL. Plus it was a lot cheaper. Im not going to use the teacher assisted program, just the manuals. The TM is about 25 and the syllabus is about 25 then the books are textbooks and I have seen many on ebay for about 10. Otherwise they sell the new books for a ton. But they also resell.

 

Perhaps this is just what you need. Oak Meadow gets lots of great reviews on this board. You wouldn't have a big investment in it, either.

 

 

Im just trying to see what is the easiest for him. I do want to add religion since he enjoys it. Does that book you spoke about have a guide to follow or do you just read a little at a time? He had Seton 7 we used for a couple years. We just read a little each time.

 

If you google Didache High School Religion, it should come up. There are a few sites, and one of them has samples of the chapters and TOC. I know you can get a student book, teacher book and a student workbook. Also, Catholic Heritage carries this series. I really like their site, but I do not think they have samples of the Didache series.

 

 

You're not coming off pushy at all. I am terrible when it comes to his curriculum. My girls are both in a private Catholic School now...but they use a few books after school. They are easy to teach since they are gifted, but my son hates working and putting forth effort. Complete opposites. I love ideas since I just want to make sure he gets it all and understands what he is taught.

 

He says he wants to go in the Military, but I want that option to go to college there as well. He doesnt think he is capable of college at this point...so I want to get him to realize once he puts a little effort...he will do better and can go to college! :)

I totally understand wanting college to be an option. I really hope you find something that works well for him. Many blessings to your family!