If you have used Kolbe lesson plans...

[Sweet Home Alabama]

...would you please tell me about them? I have learned a little about Kolbe, but would love to learn more. Specifically, I am considering their plans for biology which uses the Miller-Levine Biology text (2006 edition).

 

 

• I am under the impression that anyone can use Kolbe's plans whether Catholic or not.
  
• What is the benefit of signing up with Kolbe.... turning grades in to them?
  
• Do you all feel like Kolbe's lesson plans are written to the student and intended to be done as independent work? How much Mom time is required? How intense is biology? How much time/lesson/day is reasonable to complete the assignments? Labs?
  
• I remember reading in a post here that Kolbe biology tests were pages of essay questions..... quite hard. Can anyone describe Kolbe testing a bit more specifically?
  
• As far as Miller-Levine Biology, Kolbe uses the 2006 edition of this text. I tried e-mailing them to ask if there are plans to use the more current 2010 version. I have not heard back from them. Does anyone else know? Does it matter.... Is the 2006 edition just as good?
  
• General pros/cons?
  

Thanks!

Edited April 16, 2011 by Sweet Home Alabama

[OLG]

Let me try to answer a few of your questions. It's been a few years since we did this but we used the Dragonfly book. Yes, that book is still fine for the course. Publishers revise even when nothing new has happened ;)

 

You can pretty much turn your student loose with the course plan as long as they can map out the lessons daily for themselves from the weekly plans. I found it easier for me to break it down each week. There is some Catholic 'addendum' to some of the material but very little as I recall.

 

There is really little benefit to signing up with Kolbe for anything less than the full curriculum, imo. It means there is just one more place that has to send in a transcript come college time.

 

This science course with Kolbe isn't a breeze but it isn't terribly hard either or so my son felt. You do need to read everything carefully and know the terminology (tons in bio). The tests are a mixture of matching, multiple choice and essay. Essay questions truly test the student's understanding of the material. Keep in mind that you are free to change ANYTHING on the exams. This is true even if you were enrolled except if you were going for their Summa diploma or a Kolbe designated course. IF you don't like a question, delete it!

 

Hth!

 

Mary

[Melissa B]

I haven't used the Biology syllabus, but I have it here to use next year. The religious portions are listed seperately in the syllabus - under the heading Church teachings - you can easily skip it. There are six exams to accompany the biology program. The first exam has 30 matching questions, 34 multiple choice questions, 3 short answer questions and ten short essay questions (for honors students only.) I don't see any religious questions in any of the exams.

 

I've never used Kolbe's services, only the syllabi so I can't help there.

 

The syllabus is written so the student can use it alone. I usually get with my daughter twice per week for discussion, to review assignments, go over essays or labs, give quizzes or tests, etc. She is currently doing Physical Science and spends ten to twelve hours per week for everything combined. I am estimating the same amount of time for Biology this coming school year.

 

 

ETA: You might get more answers posting in a couple of weeks. I know many Catholics give up the computer for lent - and tomorrow is Palm Sunday.

Edited April 17, 2011 by Melissa B

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Let me try to answer a few of your questions. It's been a few years since we did this but we used the Dragonfly book. Yes, that book is still fine for the course. Publishers revise even when nothing new has happened ;) Great! Does the Dragonfly book also have the standardized test prep questions like the Mccaw book? I seems like these test prep questions would truly help a student to prepare for testing.

 

You can pretty much turn your student loose with the course plan as long as they can map out the lessons daily for themselves from the weekly plans. I found it easier for me to break it down each week. There is some Catholic 'addendum' to some of the material but very little as I recall. It is unclear when I look at the sample, but would you work down the plan...each line standing for a day of the week?

 

There is really little benefit to signing up with Kolbe for anything less than the full curriculum, imo. It means there is just one more place that has to send in a transcript come college time. I never would have thought of this!

 

This science course with Kolbe isn't a breeze but it isn't terribly hard either or so my son felt. You do need to read everything carefully and know the terminology (tons in bio). The tests are a mixture of matching, multiple choice and essay. Essay questions truly test the student's understanding of the material. Keep in mind that you are free to change ANYTHING on the exams. This is true even if you were enrolled except if you were going for their Summa diploma or a Kolbe designated course. IF you don't like a question, delete it!

 

The tests sound very thorough. On test day, does a student do any other work or is the test the only thing required on that day? If your son followed the lesson plan and studied the material per Kolbe's directions, did he have any trouble making a good test grade?

 

Once high shcool starts and grades count, I just want to provide the right level of challenge. Too much, and dd would feel discouraged; too little, and she wouldn't be preparing herself for college; but if you tweak the test questions, have you negated the objectivity of the test?

 

Hth!

 

Mary

 

I haven't used the Biology syllabus, but I have it here to use next year. The religious portions are listed seperately in the syllabus - under the heading Church teachings - you can easily skip it. There are six exams to accompany the biology program. The first exam has 30 matching questions, 34 multiple choice questions, 3 short answer questions and ten short essay questions (for honors students only.) I don't see any religious questions in any of the exams. Melissa, same questions about testing from above.

 

I've never used Kolbe's services, only the syllabi so I can't help there.

 

The syllabus is written so the student can use it alone. I usually get with my daughter twice per week for discussion, to review assignments, go over essays or labs, give quizzes or tests, etc. She is currently doing Physical Science and spends ten to twelve hours per week for everything combined. I am estimating the same amount of time for Biology this coming school year. Does this include lab time or is that extra?

 

 

ETA: You might get more answers posting in a couple of weeks. I know many Catholics give up the computer for lent - and tomorrow is Palm Sunday.

Good idea!

 

Thank you both! I am relieved both of you said that the plans are geared toward independent work and that anyone can use them.

 

As for labs, several on TWTM have uesd Labpaq labs. These look wonderful, and my dd loves hands-on. They are time consuming. I'm a bit uneasy about using both M-L with Kolbe AND Labpaq because of the time it would take. Otherwise, I really like this combination. Thoughts???

 

Would you both tell me what you do for labs?

 

 

Thank you SO much for your help!!!

 

Anyone else?:bigear:

[OLG]

Yes, the Dragonfly book does have the test prep questions. And, yes, you can break down the weekly plans into daily assignments pretty easily dividing them up by the 'sections' in the course plan. SOme days are a bit heavier than others but that's okay. The exams are a day's worth of work, yes. I'd allow a bit more time myself. We were pursuing the Summa diploma so never changed a thing and did the honors questions on exams which meant ds did everything they sent w/o changes. Many parents do tweak the exams I understand. They are not a walk in the park! But they are totally fair and not beyond the ability of a high school student, imo. If you want a more demanding exam, use the honors questions; if you want a regular exam, drop the honors questions. It will shorten the exam time considerably!

 

Our son had no difficulty at all with this book or the exams. He is a science kind of guy though. Biology has LOADS of terminology that must be memorized no matter what book you do use. I think it just depends upon the student. We had to use this book for Kolbe's Summa program but ds was taking the AP exam so we added the Thinkwell lectures and the online AP Labs from Pearson. Even with these additions he was able to ace it all. Science with Kolbe is a wonderful program!

 

The virtual labs are rather wimpy in my opinion but if you need to make the lab requirement and time is a consideration, they will work. They are correlated to the text and integrated into the course plan so you don't have to spend the time identifying which lab to do when if you chose an outside source. Just depends on the objectives you set.

 

Good luck!

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Yes, the Dragonfly book does have the test prep questions. And, yes, you can break down the weekly plans into daily assignments pretty easily dividing them up by the 'sections' in the course plan. SOme days are a bit heavier than others but that's okay. The exams are a day's worth of work, yes. I'd allow a bit more time myself. We were pursuing the Summa diploma so never changed a thing and did the honors questions on exams which meant ds did everything they sent w/o changes. Many parents do tweak the exams I understand. They are not a walk in the park! But they are totally fair and not beyond the ability of a high school student, imo. If you want a more demanding exam, use the honors questions; if you want a regular exam, drop the honors questions. It will shorten the exam time considerably!

 

Our son had no difficulty at all with this book or the exams. He is a science kind of guy though. Biology has LOADS of terminology that must be memorized no matter what book you do use. I think it just depends upon the student. We had to use this book for Kolbe's Summa program but ds was taking the AP exam so we added the Thinkwell lectures and the online AP Labs from Pearson. Even with these additions he was able to ace it all. Science with Kolbe is a wonderful program!

 

The virtual labs are rather wimpy in my opinion but if you need to make the lab requirement and time is a consideration, they will work. They are correlated to the text and integrated into the course plan so you don't have to spend the time identifying which lab to do when if you chose an outside source. Just depends on the objectives you set.

 

Good luck!

 

 

Mary,

It is the time that I am worried about. This is the schedule I'm tentatively planning:

 

Lial's Algebra II

Miller-Levine with Kolbe and Labpaq

 

My Father's World high school:

 

• History

• English

• Bible

Spanish

Discovery of Deduction

 

 

If she works on everything except logic (half a credit) for 5 hours/week, that is 6.5 hours/day. I truly think some of those classes especially science will take much more than and hour/day. I might need to rethink the M-L/Labpaq combination.

 

DD really loves hands-on. I would consider keeping the Labpaq and changing the text just so she *enjoys* science. I'm not sure what I would replace M-L with. She would probably enjoy the Labpaq more than the virtual labs. So, M-L with virtual labs or a different text with Labpaq??? So many options...

 

Can someone comment about the literal time it would take for this schedule? I really like MFW and Lial's, so it's the science that would have to be tweaked. I don't want dd to have to be doing school aaallllll day every day. I need to be realistic.

 

This is my first time considering credit hours. Am I thinking about this in the right way?

 

Thoughts? Again, I am truly thankful for this help!:001_smile:

Edited April 17, 2011 by Sweet Home Alabama

[Melissa B]

Good idea!

 

Thank you both! I am relieved both of you said that the plans are geared toward independent work and that anyone can use them.

 

As for labs, several on TWTM have uesd Labpaq labs. These look wonderful, and my dd loves hands-on. They are time consuming. I'm a bit uneasy about using both M-L with Kolbe AND Labpaq because of the time it would take. Otherwise, I really like this combination. Thoughts???

 

Would you both tell me what you do for labs?

 

 

Thank you SO much for your help!!!

 

Anyone else?:bigear:

 

 

 

My dd spends ten to twelve hours for everything including labs and exams. I am hoping the same will be true for Biology.

 

For biology I have the virtual labs and plan to do all of these as they are scheduled. However, with this particular child I do not need to give a lab credit so I do have the option to skip labs if we are falling behind.

 

My goals are to make sure she learns the necessary terminology, has a decent overview of biology, can write a good lab report and obtains a high school credit in the subject (so that she is eligible and prepared to take Biology with lab at the local comm. college the following year.) Sorry I couldn't help more.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

My dd spends ten to twelve hours for everything including labs and exams. I am hoping the same will be true for Biology.

 

For biology I have the virtual labs and plan to do all of these as they are scheduled. However, with this particular child I do not need to give a lab credit so I do have the option to skip labs if we are falling behind.

 

My goals are to make sure she learns the necessary terminology, has a decent overview of biology, can write a good lab report and obtains a high school credit in the subject (so that she is eligible and prepared to take Biology with lab at the local comm. college the following year.) Sorry I couldn't help more.

 

 

Melissa, you have been a huge help. Thank you very much.