What Was the Worst of the Worst for your HS?

[mom2bee]

Everyone loves to ask whats the best of many good options, but can everyone please share the worst of some bad options?

 

It doesn't have to be a product, it can anything HS/education related.

What were some of the biggest "OMG! If only I'd known" moments of your HS life to date.

 

We all know there are so many bright and shiny apples in the barrel of HS products, groups, and publishers, but what is the rotten apple, lurking behind the pretty web page and starry-eyed self proclamations?

 

Care to share? Please?

[Jen500]

Everyone loves to ask whats the best of many good options, but can everyone please share the worst of some bad options?

 

It doesn't have to be a product, it can anything HS/education related.

What were some of the biggest "OMG! If only I'd known" moments of your HS life to date.

 

We all know there are so many bright and shiny apples in the barrel of HS products, groups, and publishers, but what is the rotten apple, lurking behind the pretty web page and starry-eyed self proclamations?

 

Care to share? Please?

 

I think one family's rotten apple could be another family's shiny apple.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I think one family's rotten apple could be another family's shiny apple.

 

 

:iagree: I don't want to offend somebody by saying how much I hated something that somebody else just LOVES

[rafiki]

.

[Koerarmoca]

my biggest mistake was trying to do an online public cyber school, I liked all the freeness but in reality it was awful. we switched to traditional homeschooling and bad choice #2 was trying to do it with 100% free resources. some free resources are great don't get me wrong but I think it needs to be balanced with other curriculum choices.

[RootAnn]

It doesn't have to be a product, it can anything HS/education related.

What were some of the biggest "OMG! If only I'd known" moments of your HS life to date.

 

- Trying to use a workbook-y curriculum by-the-book without modifying it for my wiggly willy.

- Trying to use the same books/style for my 'next' child just because I used it for her older sister. What works for one doesn't necessarily work for all, at least without some modification at least.

 

 

... And, I've learned these lessons from some of my IRL friends, although I keep having to remember them because I'm prone to do either of these,

- "The Grass Is Always Greener" --> A different book/curriculum will "fix" everything. Switching around so much that your kids end up with major gaps/behind.

- "This method/book/curriculum is so EASY for them to do BY THEMSELVES so we'll get it because it'll make MY life easier." ... And with some (my) kids, by themselves at younger ages mean they don't really "get" the material at all and are just plugging & chugging (whether it be grammar or math). And you don't realize it until the very end of the year (or two or three) when they haven't retained anything or haven't learned it at all in the first place.

[FO4UR]

SWR with ds8.

 

It's not a bad program. It was a terrible fit for him. dd5 would probably do OK with it, but it has been sold...we do have WRTR on the shelf, but we prefer Recipe for Reading & Happy Phonics. I regret NOT buying Happy Phonics sooner for ds8.

Edited March 15, 2011 by 3blessingmom
spelling error...haha...maybe I should have SWR for ME!

[nmoira]

I think one family's rotten apple could be another family's shiny apple.

And other families enjoy the study of worms. We got some fantastic caterpillars in some organic corn last year. :D

 

There have been plenty of threads, long ones at that, in which we go on at length about our mistakes and disappointments in various programs. If the OP is interested, here's one: Curriculum you have tried and dislike

 

[Dmmetler]

Assuming that since my DD was finishing PS K, I should start with 1st grade materials so we didn't "miss anything", even when the placement tests placed her higher.

[5LittleMonkeys]

Choosing teacher intensive programs when I know in my heart I don't have the time or the inclination to use them.

 

A couple of times I've purchased these types of programs because I perceive them to be "better" than others and I always end up regretting it, as do my dc.

[TheAutumnOak]

I wish I had read "The Well Trained Mind" when I first started homeschooling, instead of just reading it in the fall, when my son turned 10...I am still reading it, and re-reading it :tongue_smilie:

 

But I guess everything happens for a reason...

[mom2bee]

I think one family's rotten apple could be another family's shiny apple.

Thats one way to look at it. Personally I just use bad apples as an excuse to make apple sauce and apple butter *yummy!*

 

:iagree: I don't want to offend somebody by saying how much I hated something that somebody else just LOVES

Oh, I didn't mean for everyone (or anyone) to be offensive. Just be honest. No one is required to hold universally excepted/respected/agreed upon opinions are they? If someone attacks you because of your statements against something they like, they are the ones who needs some perspective. Not you.

 

And other families enjoy the study of worms. We got some fantastic caterpillars in some organic corn last year. :D

 

There have been plenty of threads, long ones at that, in which we go on at length about our mistakes and disappointments in various programs. If the OP is interested, here's one: Curriculum you have tried and dislike

 

Thanks for this link, I didn't see anything along this line of thought when I looked back through the pages, but this forum moves so fast, its hard for lil ol' me to keep up.

[TracyP]

Everyone loves to ask whats the best of many good options, but can everyone please share the worst of some bad options?

 

It doesn't have to be a product, it can anything HS/education related.

What were some of the biggest "OMG! If only I'd known" moments of your HS life to date.

 

We all know there are so many bright and shiny apples in the barrel of HS products, groups, and publishers, but what is the rotten apple, lurking behind the pretty web page and starry-eyed self proclamations?

 

Care to share? Please?

 

:lol: I just have to laugh. I'm starting to feel like a guinea pig. :lol:

[Hunter]

Spending too much time on academics and not enough on character development, manual labor, and life skills.

 

Thinking that because my youngest son was "gifted" that I was required to give him more than I had the resources to give. I was always biting off more than I could chew and accomplishing less in the long run.

 

Financially and in so many other ways, a 4 year college was out of my son's reach, unless he desperately wanted it, and I had spent the earlier years focusing on character and manual labor. Maybe if I had focused more on character he would have had the character to really push past the poverty and abuse he grew up in, to do the extra WORK needed during the final push of college prep work.

 

If I had to do it over again I would have PLANNED on junior college despite his IQ and everyone's comments about how I was letting him down and limiting him and never doing enough.

 

To be a good parent, we work with the resources given us. If those resources are not enough, that doesn't make us a bad parent. The abilities of our children and what everyone else is doing doesn't change what our resources are.

 

We need to take a hard look at our educational level, finances, teaching style, etc and create a homeschool that is calm and organized and attainable without strain.

 

Doing our best STOPS when we are in pain. When we are in pain we are practicing self-neglect, not doing our best. Doing our best is NOT painful. We do not owe our "gifted" children self-neglect. And we need to make sure we don't neglect our "normal" children in an attempt to have our "gifted" children reach their full academic potential.

 

Being a good parent is about giving what WE have to give. Not focusing on what our children are CAPABLE of. Truly capable children with good character will end out where they are meant to go with a solid BASIC education and character. It might take a couple years longer and it might be a non traditional route, but they will get there.

 

Skimming over the BASICS and not having them WORK and not taking time to develop their CHARACTER and teaching them that we are an expendable machines placed on this earth soley to fascinate their dreams is the best way to make sure they get no where.

[SnMomof7]

Phonics Road - I COULD NOT make it work as a teacher. I can't learn to teach something from DVDs - especially something like handwriting and phonics without endless rewinding/fast forwarding etc. I MUST have something on paper for it to work for me.

[hmschooln]

I wish I had read "The Well Trained Mind" when I first started homeschooling, instead of just reading it in the fall, when my son turned 10...I am still reading it, and re-reading it :tongue_smilie:

 

But I guess everything happens for a reason...

 

:iagree:Same here it would have been great to have known about WTM from the get go.

[hmschooln]

Real Science 4 Kids after drooling over it for a few years waiting for ds to be old enough for it I couldn't believe how disappointing it was for us when it arrived:confused:

[Celia]

For us, it was Sing, Spell, Read and Write. I'm sure this program would work great for some kids, but for a ds with motor skill difficulties to have how fast he can progress in his reading tied to anything to do with a pencil.... big mistake! And an expensive one too!

 

That said, I think my dd would like it, but I'm loving the simplicity of OPGTR and will stick with that if she doesn't protest.

[12Stars]

Not knowing my homeschooling philosophy before buying boatloads of curriculum. (I'll try this, and that, and something else...eventually I *might* find something I like.)

 

My poor guinea pigs...I mean "kids'. :tongue_smilie:

:iagree:

 

Choosing teacher intensive programs when I know in my heart I don't have the time or the inclination to use them.

 

A couple of times I've purchased these types of programs because I perceive them to be "better" than others and I always end up regretting it, as do my dc.

 

:iagree:

 

I deviated so much this year from what was working. We had some hits and some misses. Now I am trying to implement what had worked in the past and it is working again.

[Trish]

All American History was a bust for us. Once we finished with Explorers (which seemed like a LONNG time!) my son begged to do unit studies. Wordsmith Apprentice wasn't as good a fit for us as I had hoped, either.

[laundrycrisis]

Hunter, I love your sig:

"A curriculum that gets done is superior to a superior curriculum that doesn't get done."

 

:iagree:

 

I have temporarily given up on anything that requires me to plan and pull together.....anything. It just wasn't happening. We will just be open-and-go here for a while, but getting it done.

 

Anything that required any prep work on my part didn't work here.

[dm379]

Trying to do it for free. I'm just not motivated enough to put forth that much work.

[elegantlion]

My biggest mistake was NOT researching homeschool philosophy AFTER one full year of homeschooling. I simply did what my friends were doing. I tried reading about them before we started schooling, but had no experience to understand them all. Reading with some experience under my belt would have been a great help.

 

We were in our 3rd year of homeschooling (3rd grade) before I realized it truly wasn't working for ds, we were both losing our minds with the curriculum of choice. I truly had no idea how many choices were out there. In 4th grade we went eclectic, in 5th we found classical, we've been there ever since. My friends? None of them are still homeschooling.

 

Oh, and I would have read more to ds. I kept wondering when our first curriculum choice was going to add in real books, not just obnoxious phonics based readers. I didn't understand the power of reading aloud to your child. We did the bedtime stuff, but in my ignorance I thought once we could read on his own that should stop too. (bang head smiley). Again, it took me a few years to figure that one out and a few more years to repair the damage.

 

READ, READ, READ to your children. This week we're doing a writing course and reading Stuart Little is our read-aloud. We're using a simple book even though he's 13 to work on narration. This book is a joy to read-aloud. E.B. White is a genius with the written word and even ds laughed through what we read yesterday.

Edited March 16, 2011 by elegantlion

[....]

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 EZ

Abeka

[Joyofsixreboot]

Biggest mistakes weren't the curriculum but me trying to follow recommendations without considering my owm child. Singapore for my ds was a disaster. Not the fault of the curric or ds just a really bad fit.

[mom2scouts]

Trying to do lapbooks with my son was a disaster. They look like so much fun with all that cutting, gluing and drawing, but my son hates to do them. He's an auditory learner and he just wants the information.

[mo2]

Not knowing my homeschooling philosophy before buying boatloads of curriculum. (I'll try this, and that, and something else...eventually I *might* find something I like.)

 

My poor guinea pigs...I mean "kids'. :tongue_smilie:

:iagree::iagree: and :iagree:

 

And trying to do too much the first year, then feeling like a failure when it didn't all get done.

[Ruthie in MS]

I'm a graduated homeschool student myself (and so is my husband) and now I'm homeschooling my own children. dds ages 6 and 4. We are in our second year of homeschooling --and believe me-- its not without its mistakes. And I thought I knew what NOT TO DO from my own experience.

My Biggest Mistake..... A Beka: So much busywork and repetition. I feel like its got my nose to the homeschooling grind stone. But we are finishing the year out with it because we have a baby on the way and due sometime in May (1 and a half months from now). My husband is so pro-A Beka and thinks its an academic wonder (he grew up on A Beka), so it may take some getting used to on his part.

Next year: More real books, more hands-on activities, more field trips and more fun. Also, the schedule we had planned for ourselves has been so rigorous. I am thinking about doing a 6 week on and 1 week off schedule for next year. Either that or 4 days a week instead of 5.:001_smile:

[justamouse]

I have to pick one?

 

They all had their moments. Every year brings a new challenge and with every child it's different. Fun, no?

 

Learning to slow down. That you can't let fear make you rush and pressure them. That you need to build those foundations well. Solid. And if that means scratching six books off the list, than so be it.

 

Don't compare. You just cannot compare yourself. Make the best, well researched investments that you can, and just do what you know your kids need. Don't try and keep up with the public schools-they're smoke and mirrors about some stuff. Don't compare yourself to the wonder homeschooling mom whose kid is reading at 1 and doing long division at 3.

 

Don't be afraid to trash the expensive curric. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Applying more pressure won't make it work 'better' if it's not working at all. Just accept the mistake, sell it if you can and move on with the new knowledge you have about how you teach and your child learns.

 

Slow and steady wins the race.

Edited March 16, 2011 by justamouse

[DarlaS]

All American History was a bust for us. Once we finished with Explorers (which seemed like a LONNG time!) my son begged to do unit studies. Wordsmith Apprentice wasn't as good a fit for us as I had hoped, either.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

I knew this program was not ideal, and was still going to have my kids finish it. THEY even wanted to finish it. Today I was sitting and reading in chapter 17 with them, I could not stop myself from stopping them (often!) and inserting more information: "Yes, George Washington and his men were defeated at Ft. Necessity. Does it say why? No? Really?!"

 

Then I looked at the book myself and there was nothing that spelled out what led to this defeat. It contains none of the details that make the stories meaningful. If you were going to make an effort to make history dull, that is how to do it. :glare:

 

So I pulled out vol 3 of A History of US (AHoUS), and we will probably just continue with that since we already own it, and I can just pick up with vol 3--no need to start at the beginning.

 

AAH is turning my kids into zombies. I think the only reason they want to stick with this book is because the chapters are so short and they can get it done already (A history lesson should not be like ripping off a band-aid! :tongue_smilie:). We will at very least be supplementing heavily with AHoUS. It's still not ideal, but much closer to what I had in mind.

[Just Robyn]

Saxon math was a bust for us, though we may return to it starting in about 5th grade or so. I still haven't decided about that.

 

Noeo with my middle ds, even though it's great for my oldest.

 

All About Spelling did not work well for my middle ds. It's still on the shelf in case I decide to try it with the youngest.

 

Working full time third shift was THE WORST thing ever to combine with homeschooling.

[Nan in Mass]

For my particular family (emphasizing that) Saxon math was about the worst curriculum we tried. We haven't tried all that many, though. Everything else, I could more or less make work, at least a little.

 

I wasted a year chopping our day into half hour slices. We can't manage to absorb anything this way (should have learned from the Saxon mistake).

 

I wish most that I had understood better why TWTM does some of the things it does. Some things we couldn't do and never will need to do (or can learn later) and can be skipped, but others we couldn't do and need to be able to do. For those, we should have backed way, way up and learned how to do them. If I had known the difference, my children would have gotten a much better education.

 

-Nan

[Hunter]

Hunter, I love your sig:

"A curriculum that gets done is superior to a superior curriculum that doesn't get done."

:iagree:

I have temporarily given up on anything that requires me to plan and pull together.....anything. It just wasn't happening. We will just be open-and-go here for a while, but getting it done.

Anything that required any prep work on my part didn't work here.

 

laundrycrisis, I firmly believe that it is more important to know the teacher's teaching style, than the student's learning style. A comfortable teacher can haul a student over a rough patch, but a teacher cannot haul herself over a rough patch. Everything comes to a screeching halt, when teacher is the least bit confused and/or disorganized. We set a proper example for our children when we know our limits and pace ourselves.

 

I'm not advocating laziness or low standards...just...being brutally honest about what OUR resources are, and being efficient and organized about how we use them.

[TXMary2]

Curriculum faux pas are a given, but have to say the worst was the first year of homeschooling. It wasn't at all what I had pictured. I was doing "school at home" and ds, who was 9 at the time, was not cooperating with me. We had a pretty ugly first year. I learned a lot about myself and my son in the long run though and learned a lot from all those first year mistakes. As cra**y as it was, I wouldn't trade it because we both learned and grew from it.

[MyLittleBears]

I am sure this happens to almost everyone but my biggest problem was getting the house in order, I just did not realize how much my housework was going to suffer. I've had to really let go of having everything in it's place. This was extremely hard for me. As far as curricula goes, anything in a box was a "big" flop for us. I realize now how I love to piece things together the WTM way. For someone who likes everything in order, having a orderly already put together curriculum would have made sense. Ghee, I hope I don't have control issues!:001_huh:

[TXMary2]

Curriculum faux pas are a given, but have to say the worst was the first year of homeschooling. It wasn't at all what I had pictured. I was doing "school at home" and ds, who was 9 at the time, was not cooperating with me. We had a pretty ugly first year. I learned a lot about myself and my son in the long run though and learned a lot from all those first year mistakes. As cra**y as it was, I wouldn't trade it because we both learned and grew from it.

[Hunter]

I am sure this happens to almost everyone but my biggest problem was getting the house in order, I just did not realize how much my housework was going to suffer.

 

I recently read The Organized Home Schooler and it helped SO much. My apartment isn't even recognizable as the same one. My part time roomate and I just walk around the apartment smiling sometimes. It did take purchasing about $300.00 worth of cheap bookcases and folding tables and filing equipment, and tools to assemble it all, but it made a $2,000 difference.

[Homemama2]

Not knowing my homeschooling philosophy before buying boatloads of curriculum.

 

Definitely!!! Also my first year I blindly bought some recommendations from a good friend. Every one was a disaster because she and I are so different. She LOVES things like unit studies where you sew historical costumes and I can't sew anything more complicated than a pillow case! She hates science, I love it. So that first year I learned to figure out what works best for our family, not everyone elses. (although I still tend to jump on any current bandwagon curriculum....I gotta stop that! lol!) :)

[justamouse]

laundrycrisis, I firmly believe that it is more important to know the teacher's teaching style, than the student's learning style. A comfortable teacher can haul a student over a rough patch, but a teacher cannot haul herself over a rough patch. Everything comes to a screeching halt, when teacher is the least bit confused and/or disorganized. We set a proper example for our children when we know our limits and pace ourselves.

 

I'm not advocating laziness or low standards...just...being brutally honest about what OUR resources are, and being efficient and organized about how we use them.

 

Now there is some wisdom.

[lexi]

100 EZ Lessons was a failure here!! My DD did not get it and did not understand the fast/slow thing and absolutely could not blend her sounds.

 

We switched to Phonics Road. Whew! Much better! She's starting to read and it was relatively painless. No more frustration! :001_smile:

 

A Child's Geography by Voskamp. This was recommended to me and we hate it! It's boring and the style of writing is irritating. I also found the information difficult to follow. No thanks!

 

We've had very few failures....so far...but I'm sure we'll have more. We have found lots of things we like though!

[TJinLOCA]

Trying to do a "group homeschool" with 5 other families. We practically ended up hating each other, and each other's kids! :) The parents were all too afraid to discipline another family's kid, so the kids all goofed off and got away with murder, and each of us ended up feeling that the other parents weren't doing a very good job when it was our shift. :rolleyes:

 

It turned out my son was quite a bit more advanced than the others in his academic instruction, and got bored (and wiggly, and loud) very quickly. He really needed one-on-one instruction (and A LOT of firm supervision). Once we quit the group and went back to doing all his academics at home (with me!) he was fine.

 

We eventually joined groups for extracurriculars and a few non-core subjects - Art, Spanish, Music, and sports. But he definitely needed more structure and individual attention to excel in the more rigorous academic areas.

[Seal]

so far? lol..we've only just started..i have a four year old! but starting WAY WAY WAY too early...that and making my hands on learner use workbook after workbook after workbook.

[silliness7]

Being a good parent is about giving what WE have to give. Not focusing on what our children are CAPABLE of. Truly capable children with good character will end out where they are meant to go with a solid BASIC education and character. It might take a couple years longer and it might be a non traditional route, but they will get there.

 

.

 

Very wise observation. Thank you!

[Tree House Academy]

Calvert. Never have we found anything worse. There were parts of Calvert that we liked. Most of it, we hated.