Da Bombs/Bombs: What were your hits and misses for this year?

[FloridaLisa]

I heart when we do this every year. I've found some real jewels this way.

 

In our home, here were our hits and misses:

 

Hits

 

* Precepts Bible studies -- These have really enriched our Bible study. This year, a friend put together a study on the Tabernacle for us from several of the Precepts studies.

 

* Rod and Staff Grammar -- Old hat to many of you, but we began using only a couple of years ago. How I wish I had used this with my older two after finishing Shurley in 7th.

 

* Apologia biology -- Another tried and true for us. I facilitated labs for 10 other kids whch helped us stay on schedule and add some oomph to ds13's week.

 

* Our Schedule -- Worked well this year. Three olders rotated the littles through math circle, reading aloud and playtime. Definitely some training involved but hugely helpful and so tickled to hear my youngers squeal "[sister's] time!" or [biggest brother's turn]!" My son loved reading through the Little House books again.

 

* Classical Writing -- Another that scared me so it sat on my shelf. It's not that difficult to implement and we found a great rhythm. I actually started this with my middlers, but my rising 9th grader will move on with Diogenes. Wish I had started this about a year earlier.

 

Misses

 

* Stick with what works -- WHEN will I learn this? :tongue_smilie: We've always used Saxon. I began casting around at different options for Alg. II and after many weeks ended up at Saxon. So ds15 and I will be doing Alg. II for several weeks this summer.

 

* Grading -- This is my shameful secret. I cannot stay on top of the grading! I stayed on top of grading for my co-op clGss (one laaaaate night a week) but I need to do something about math. ::sigh::

 

* History -- Or lack thereof. My two middle schoolers needed history this year and I never really got around to it. Doesn't that sound horrible? They read a lot so I could call it unschooling, but my time and energy was devoted to core areas and I do feel good that we did lots of math, grammar, writing, Latin, science. I'm gearing up for some serious history next year!

 

I think that's it. No real curriculum misses with my high schoolers.

 

Lisa

Edited May 5, 2011 by FloridaLisa

[Miss Marple]

Hits:

BJU Chemistry with DIVE CD

Online semester course through University of OK online high school (World History and Personal Financial Literacy)

Moving back to a weekly paper schedule for each son.

 

Misses:

Conceptual Chemistry (loved Conceptual Physics, but wanted more in depth chemistry than CC provided)

 

Everything else - math, grammar, history, literature, health - is fine. Can't rave over anything but can't find fault either.

[EKS]

Hits

 

1. K12's The American Odyssey: This is simply the best high school American history text I've seen (and I've seen a lot!). It is coherent and interesting. It might be difficult to find though.

 

2. Teaching Company lectures Understanding the Universe combined with The Cosmos: Great astronomy course! Alex Filippenko's enthusiasm for his subject oozes from the screen. My son thoroughly enjoyed science this year.

 

3. Lial's Intermediate Algebra: Clear explanations, excellent problem sets, no disconnect between instruction in the book and the problems on the test. Perfect!

 

4. The way we did literature this year: We just read and discussed and my son wrote essays. Sounds simple, but he finally understands how to write a literary essay which is HUGE.

 

 

Misses

 

1. Foerster's Algebra II: The disconnect between the instruction in the book and what was on the tests was awful. The explanations in the book were not helpful either.

 

2. MCT's Magic Lens: The loops weren't what my son needed.

 

3. Wordly Wise: Yuck. Boring busywork.

[FaithManor]

Megahit - Life of Fred Pre-Algebra. DS was giving me fits in algebra 1 so I decided to do another round of pre-algebra and heard that this might work for my boy who hates math. Whatever Fred does, it worked for ds, built his confidence with the concepts, and gave him time to mature. He's now back at algebra 1 and doing much better and with a willing attitude! :001_smile:

 

Singapore math extra challenging word problems were a big hit with youngest ds.

 

I can't way we had any misses. This has been a very good year for us. So, big "WHEW"!

 

Next year, well that's the kicker. Oldest ds will finish Lial's algebra and move to Jacob's Geometry. He'll have Henle Latin, Apologia Biology, Rod and Staff Grade 9 & 1o grammar/comp (he's about 12 lessons into it already), Art History, U.S. History which I am frantically pulling together myself because I haven't liked anything out there, Practical Drafting, the Color of Art (M.I.T. Opencourseware), and Visual Basic Programming.

 

This will be our first adventure with M.I.T.

 

If we had a miss, I'd say it was Latina Christiana II. The middle ds winged through it and I'm not certain if his retention was what it should have been. We'll see how he does with Henle first year Latin in the fall. I may not use Latina Christiana again. But, our oldest really disliked Latin for Children A & B, so, I'm not certain what else I would use with the youngest.

 

Faith

[Kendall]

Hits:

 

Binder for my 11th grader. Tabs for each subject-History, English, Literature, Spanish, Vocabulary,etc. (didn't really need this for Math/chem). I place assignments in binder, he places work in binder. No more I can't find the assignment sheet, I can't find the paper you gave me, etc. Simple idea, can't believe it took me this long to think of this. After trying this I discovered the book "That Crumpled Paper was Due Last Week" and the author suggests binders for this type of student!

 

No other major hits/misses for high school

 

Hits

 

MEP math-big Hit for 1st/3rd/5th and Foerster Algebra 1 (with NEM on the side) has been a hit for my 7th grader.

 

Mother Tongue 2 (early 1900s, free online through google books-print it fit to page) - Used with my 5th grader who was struggling with Rod and Staff. MT is harder, but somehow that has made her understand it better. We will take probably 2.5-3 years to go through this.

[Lori D.]

ALL STAR HIT

*** Dave Ramsey's Foundations in Personal Finance *** -- DSs LOVED this DVD/workbook program, asked for it daily, and LEARNED great, practical, useable information!

 

 

HITS

- Youth & Government -- YMCA state model legislation program

- tennis team -- at local public high school

- Spanish 101 and 102 -- as dual enrollment at the local Community College

- Conceptual Physics / Conceptual Chemistry -- yea! we enjoy science again!

- British Lit. reading list -- enjoying all our choices

 

 

MISSES

- History just didn't happen this year; ran out of time -- fortunately, the credit was not needed

- Writing -- sigh... again, we did FAR less than I wanted and they needed; they hate writing, and that is such a mental (and energy) hurdle for me to overcome that I begin to think this is something I should just outsource

 

 

JURY STILL OUT

- Dianne Craft therapies to increase brain connection to help our VSL -- I *think* these and the nutritional supplements are helping; I've had trouble making this a consistent part of our schedule, so we may have had more obvious results if I had made sure DS was getting this *every* day

Edited May 5, 2011 by Lori D.

[profmom]

Just posted this on the K-8 board, but it's more relevant here.

 

BJU 9th grade geography -- boring for my 8th grade dd who is used to living books. Switched to my homemade geography program and included ds-6th and me -- going well!

 

An online Latin class for my dd-8th -- not enough accountability (homework key not provided to me or graded by teacher -- only discussed in class; weekly quizzes would have been helpful so it wouldn't have been so easy for dd to wait until unit tests to try to memorize paradigms, etc.) We both learned a lot from this experience -- about her, accountability, what to look for in an online class, etc., and, thankfully, this was 8th grade and not high school. She is keeping up and making As in her TPS online classes, just not this one from another source. (Not posting the name because they are nice people and I'm sure the class works for others.) I'm sad that it didn't go well and will try to learn from the experience.

[krstbrwn]

Hits

 

Alexandria Tutorials

Greg Landry Science - Human Anatomy and Physiology

(These were online courses)

 

My daughter's two classes at a local college- A's - yeah for early college credit.:lol:

 

Teaching Company's History of Medieval England

 

Misses

 

Word within a word

Magic Lens

Streams of Civilization

Jacob's Geometry - I had to supplement it too much.

 

There are probably more hits and misses, but I'm in a rush.

[Margo out of lurking]

Hits:

 

Lial's Introductory Algebra. Dd will never be a math genius, but this worked. For both of us.

 

CLP history. I would find it history at its most boring. Dd appreciated the simple, bare-bones format that could be read through easily and just be done.

 

Lightning Lit/Shakespeare. This has been a surprise hit for us for many years. She liked it in 8th grade and requested it again for this year. Ds is also using 7th grade LL and enjoying it.

 

BJU Biology through an outside class. I've known Lee Binz, The Homescholar, from waaaaaay back. Her best advice to me was to "invest in your weakness." An outside class was perfect, wonderful instruction from a qualified teacher, great accountability for dd, and great confirmation for dd, as she got solid As through the entire class. We never could have come close to replicating this at home.

 

Dd learning on her own. She's spent a huge chunk of her spare time dabbling in languages, everything from German, Russian, and Spanish, to Icelandic and Quecha. She will write pages of whatever (even science notes!) in her language of choice, seek out instructional videos and television shows in different languages, play online games in different languages. We are backtracking to pull together a course based on what she did, with a final project to show proficiency, and give her credit.

 

Misses:

 

IEW's Elegant Essay. Boring. Not enough basic instruction. She wants to see specific examples/samples.

 

Brennan Sapp's free online forensics course. She and I both need a little more motivation. It didn't happen. (See Biology above, lol.)

[Brenda in MA]

For 9th grader this year:

 

Hits:

 

Henle Latin 2 -- We made it through Latin Grammar and are moving on to reading. With the MODG syllabus, this course, while not super exciting, was very effective.

 

Spectrum Chemistry -- Love the explanations and conceptual understanding gleaned from this text. The 30 hands-on experiments have been a huge hit.

 

Algebra 2 (Dolciani & Brown) -- Not an easy book, but the explanations are very clear, and the problems help to cement a real understanding of math.

 

World's Greatest Paintings -- from The Great Courses -- very enjoyable art appreciation

 

Misses:

 

The American Journey -- We used this text for the second half of US History. I was hoping to find something more balanced, chronological, and in-depth than the Hakim books. The presentation was more chronological, and the book did a decent job of explaining the connection between historical events. However, the presentation was more liberal than I was comfortable with. I also chose to use the on-line quizzes from the publisher's website to document my son's completion of the course, and he found them very frustrating because the questions often dealt with minutia rather than substance.

 

SAT Prep -- I had intended that we work on this throughout the year, but we just didn't have the time. I guess we'll pick it up over the summer and through next year.

 

American Lit & Writing -- We enjoyed the books I selected, and we had a lot of discussions, but he wasn't able to complete as many pieces of writing as I'd hoped.

 

Overall, we had a pretty good year despite stresses from health issues and trying to balance extracurricular stuff.

 

HTH,

Brenda

[HollyDay]

Hits:

Science Shepherd Biology

LifePac Civics and World Geography (dd loves it - go figure)

 

Misses:

BJU Biology - just too much info too fast

 

Just so-so:

LLATL Gold American Lit - wasn't thrilling - got the job done

 

"If it isn't broke" category

Saxon Algebra 1

[ereks mom]

Hits:

 

Teaching Textbooks Geometry -- We liked this SO much better than the BJU Geometry that my older child used 5 years ago.

 

TRISMS Expansion of Civilization -- EK likes that she can do most of this independently, and she enjoys doing the research.

Doing my own thing for literature and writing, rather than using a textbook/program. I drew from my collection of resources this year for EK's literature, and she read some great books and had good accompanying activities, including--but not limited to--essay writing assignments.

 

Misses:

 

Daily Grammar Practice (DGP) -- We abandoned this about halfway through the school year. It just didn't seem to serve the intended purpose: a good review of grammar. I wanted to like it, but I just didn't.

 

Latin Prep 2 -- We really liked Latin Prep 1, and I SO wanted to like LP2 also, but it just doesn't seem to explain thoroughly enough. I'm a mom with no Latin background, learning along with my student, so I need something that explains very clearly, with plenty of practice exercises. If there had been a workbook to accompany level 2 (as there was with level 1), I think it would have worked better for us.

[Susan C.]

Hits:

 

Scott Foresman Literature, thank you Janice!!

BJU math/online dvds, my math saviour!

Apologia Chemistry, w/Virtual Homeschool Group, chemistry was a beast, but VHSG made it bearable.

All American History, dd picked it and did both books, and liked it.

BJU Grammar, dd has liked and done this since 7th grade.

SAT Vocabulary Cartoons

 

Misses:

A Beka Literature, like the selections and some of the commentary, but there was not enough literary analysis help for us.

 

Still don't know about:

Breaking the Barrier Spanish, dd's head was spinning, too many grammar concepts and too much vocabulary to memorize per lesson, but we may come back and like it more after we cover more grammar elsewhere.

[Angel]

It's been a good year for us. Though we've had way too many breaks and are not as far along as I would have preferred, I feel great about the content that HAS been learned. Dd also has used her free time to dabble in some different areas, from photography and video editing to sewing.

 

Dd 11th grade

 

Hits:

 

Lial's Intro to Algebra: I wish we had found this last year! Dd so needed me to be hands-off with her Algebra and this fit the bill perfectly. Clear and easy instructions! It's been slow going, as she's needed some more time for a few of the lessons and we have had lots of breaks, but what's she is learning is sticking (finally!)

 

Elements of Faith: Just a small book I picked up to supplement her Chemistry but it has been full of info on the elements. For the second semester I paired it up with "The Elements: A Visual Exploration..." for more variety.

 

Our Jane Austen Lit Study: The BEST thing of the year. Dd and her friends have spent hours reading and discussing Jane Austen this year. They went much farther in depth than I ever expected and we all had a blast. Having them keep a blog of their quotes and the study worked out great. http://theaustensisterstogether.blogspot.com/

 

We really had no misses. I had planned on doing Movies as Literature but we were reading so much with Jane Austen and lit for her history that it just didn't get done. We may do this over the summer.

[Brindee]

Hits:

MFW AHL--Loveditloveditlovedit!!!

Lial's Algebra--Just started this about 2 weeks ago. So far dd likes the way it's set up, the clear explanations, and the practice it gives!

Biology 101--Really like the DVD's, but added lots of reading and online virtual labs to make it credit-worthy for us

Visual Link Spanish--Really "clicked" with dd and she's learned a lot!

Piano/Voice--This isn't a curriculum, but she loves her teacher (same teacher for both) and made some great breakthroughs this year!

 

 

Misses:

TT Algebra 1--As much as I like TT, this just didn't stick with dd this year. We finally decided on a redo, and started in on Lial's.

 

 

Overall this has been a GREAT year! We've liked everything she did this year! The TT thing was not a horrible problem, we just felt like she needed something different.

[Julie in MN]

Kai,

2. Teaching Company lectures Understanding the Universe combined with The Cosmos: Great astronomy course! Alex Filippenko's enthusiasm for his subject oozes from the screen. My son thoroughly enjoyed science this year.

 

 

My ds has so enjoyed some of the TTC series this year as a big part of his science in 9th. I'm thinking about future years. Did you feel these two series were enough for the astronomy this year at your house, or did you add other things too (text, lab, write-ups)?

 

 

Misses

 

2. MCT's Magic Lens: The loops weren't what my son needed.

 

 

I just wanted to mention that the new version of Magic Lens just came out and he doesn't use the loops. He has you teach the grammar at the beginning of the year and reinforce it in the other areas for the rest of the year (writing, poetry, vocab, 4Practice). Just thought I'd throw that out there.

[creekland]

HITS:

 

Cc Microbio - son loved this, learned a lot, and has a potential Letter of Reference writer, plus had a great "real" Lab experience.

 

Cc Effective Speaking - has done wonders for his confidence and interviewing ability.

 

Wordly-Wise: The first thing he told us when he came out of the ACT testing site was he was glad he did this all before the ACT as many of the words were on there.

 

Element of Style: This has been a hit before and it's still on my list. Short book with good review.

 

The Practice of Statistics: Technically the jury is still out on this one until he gets his AP score back, but he loved the book and was able to self-teach from it with very few questions for me.

 

Nutrition Action: (for health) It has really been a good, short magazine of current research in healthy eating. It's changed my guy's eating habits without me having to say a thing.

 

Misses:

 

Lial's Pre-Calc: Definitely not needed with the math my guy had already done with TT and a little supplementing, BUT, it's a good book if someone is just looking for a Pre-Calc book to start pre-calc. We just didn't need it. Fortunately, it didn't cost much as I bought an older edition.

 

Rosetta Stone Latin America: I keep my guy chugging through on this since we spent the money, but I'd go with something else if I had it to do over.

 

Neutral:

 

Apologia Advanced Chem and Anatomy: My guy likes them and can work through them independently - both pluses. The Chem definitely shores up missing components of Chem 1. The Anatomy I just can't compare to anything else to know if it's good or not. It's not my field. I'll know more about Chem when/if we opt for the SAT Subject test in it.

[Rebecca VA]

HITS:

 

Teaching Textbooks Geometry -- This is such a pleasant course to use! The teacher explains things clearly, and every single problem is thoroughly explained. As soon as my student finishes this, she will go into Jurgensen's Geometry (she'll be doing two Geometries and two Algebra 2s).

 

Lukeion Latin 2 -- Excellent teaching, class moves along at a challenging (but pleasant) pace. My student made a 38 on the NLE.

 

K12 Modern World History (20th Century) and Geography and World Cultures -- Wonderful, challenging courses! We will use more K12 next year.

 

MISSES:

 

We (actually, I) really messed up the beginning of this year by choosing online courses that involved too much philosophical and social chit-chat. My daughter had BEGGED me not to sign her up for those courses, and I foolishly didn't listen. Even I didn't like them all that much. We ditched two of the courses early on and another one around Christmas and used K12 instead.

[tex-mex]

 

3. Wordly Wise: Yuck. Boring busywork.

:iagree: My ds also hates WW3000!!

[Grace]

My 8th graders used some high school curriculum this year.

 

Hits

Larsons Elementary Algebra with Dana Mosley DVD's (Chalkdust-for-less-option)

 

ALEKS

 

BJU Spanish with DVD's

 

Jensens Format Writing- used in a outsourced class but they loved this and it took away their fear of writing!

 

Analytical Grammar- They did not love this but I feel they have a strong grasp on grammar

 

SAT Question of the Day

[creekland]

:iagree: My ds also hates WW3000!!

 

It's probably important that we all explain how we define our hits and misses.

 

I haven't actually asked my guy his impression of any curricula we use. He might find WW boring too - I don't know, though might consider asking later today after work. I based my "hit" solely on the fact that he aced the English portion of the ACT (36 - no questions incorrect) AND had his "lots of words from WW - Book 11") comment as soon as he entered the car when we picked him up. He's commented before that, "An Element of Style" helped too. Thus, my ratings. Now that I mull it over this morning, the comment may have been due to his thinking the book was boring and finding out it was worth it? Maybe not. I don't know.

 

AND, since the words are different each time, on the next test there may be none. Who knows? For me and our situation, I still consider it gold and am glad I had him finish that book prior to the ACT in April.

 

It's the same way with TT (math) for me. My guys have done superbly with it (97th percentile on the ACT with my "no extra studying for the test" test taker and 99th percentile with my "loves to study for the test" test taker). TT is slower than other curricula. It doesn't cover as much as quickly. However, since I'm a results "hits" person and it worked for my guys, TT is a hit here (though not this year since my homeschooling guys have maxed out TT now).

 

All that said, I still believe multiple curricula can work and get similar results and what works for one might not work for another. This whole post (of mine) is solely to say I never considered "boring" or "entertaining" to be on my list of criteria for evaluation. That could be good to know for anyone reading pending what they are looking for!

 

One change that would definitely happen if I considered what they liked is that Rosetta Stone would be a hit. The kids enjoy it and do very well on its grading system. The fact that my oldest took a placement test at his college and couldn't pass it for even one semester of credit keeps it a miss on my list.

Edited May 6, 2011 by creekland
saved a kitten from dying

[mom2paul]

Hits -

 

Lial's Intermediate Algebra

Apologia Advanced Apology at co-op, supplemented with another hit: Anatomy & Physiology Revealed

Demolishing Strongholds for Christian Worldview Studies

Fallacy Detective

 

Misses -

 

Rosetta Stone Spanish

TOG - Sold it and moved on to Omnibus and Sonlight 200 Lit

 

It was an expensive year for "misses."

Edited May 6, 2011 by mom2paul

[Faithr]

For 10th Grader:

 

Hits: Saxon Algebra II combined with Khan Academy Geometry, A Beka Biology plus Lab (homeschool class), Homeschool Latin class (great, great teacher!), Didache series History of the Church (a really well written text book), our selection of literature readings to go along with the Church History using Fran Rutherford guides and Teaching Co. lectures to supplement, Robert Einarsson's on line workbook on sentence structure.

 

Misses: I didn't have my son practice writing essays enough. He just hate writing! I didn't have enough persistence in encouraging him. So I think I'm going to turn him over to writeguide for a month this summer. Then he'll take a homeschool class on writing next year.

[In The Great White North]

Didache series History of the Church (a really well written text book), our selection of literature readings to go along with the Church History using Fran Rutherford guides and Teaching Co. lectures to supplement

 

Would that be her Old World Europe book? Did you do all the books in it? And were these the Teaching Co DVD's you mentioned on the Teaching Co favorites thread?? Was this for Middle Ages?

[Faithr]

Yes, in a way. It is a survey of Church History starting from the time of Christ (actually there's a bit about OT times) up through the Modern age. Right now we've just finished the Renaissance. So far for my high schoolers we've done a survey of Ancient History/Lit in 9th, then a survey of Church History combined with lit in 10th, then Brit Lit/History in 11th, then American Lit/History/Gov't in 12th. This book is a Catholic textbook, though, so if you aren't Catholic, it might not be for you! But frankly it is a very well written one and it would a useful book if you are into compare/contrasting different denominations.

 

Yes the Teaching Co. lectures I used to supplement this year in particular were St. Francis and Dante (we only watched some lectures from each this time around). I also have another lecture series about St. Thomas Aquinas (but not from the Teaching Co.) that we also watched about 5 lectures from.

[Nissi]

Hits for dc. in 10th and 7th grades:

AP Chemistry with PAHS

AP European History with PAHS

Spanish with Scholars Online

Speech and Debate Competitions with NCFCA - Dc. have made wonderful progress this year in so many different areas : debate, apologetics, humourous interps., impromptu, etc. Benefits extended beyond academics to life skills.

Omnibus I primary readings

Foerster's Algebra I with Math Without Borders CDs

TPS English I online class

[nicurn]

Hits:

Omnibus primary/seconday thru VPSA

Jacobs Algebra

Apologia Science ( always a hit around here)

Laureltree tutorials for Intro to Lit

 

Misses:

Videotext algebra

[FloridaLisa]

ALL STAR HIT

*** Dave Ramsey's Foundations in Personal Finance *** -- DSs LOVED this DVD/workbook program, asked for it daily, and LEARNED great, practical, useable information!

 

I listen to Dave Ramsey while cooking dinner many days so my kids get to hear him as they move in and out. :001_smile: But per this recommendation, I reserved some of recordings from our library. Good summer stuff!

 

An online Latin class for my dd-8th -- not enough accountability. <snip>

 

Would you mind pm'ing me the name? Ds may be moving into Latin III next year and will need accountability. Dd did Latin III through our state virtual, but I think ds needs a synchronous class or one with higher interaction to help him slug through the Latin.

 

Elements of Faith: Just a small book I picked up to supplement her Chemistry but it has been full of info on the elements.

 

I've got this in my cart at Amazon. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

HITS:

Nutrition Action: (for health) It has really been a good, short magazine of current research in healthy eating. It's changed my guy's eating habits without me having to say a thing.

 

I've got the site bookmarked. Ds and dd are both into nutrition, but I need to research to see how much this will add to the classes they are already taking at college. Thanks!

 

Lukeion Latin 2 -- Excellent teaching, class moves along at a challenging (but pleasant) pace. My student made a 38 on the NLE.

 

I keep hearing about this provider. Have you heard anything about the Greek?

 

Speech and Debate Competitions with NCFCA - Dc. have made wonderful progress this year in so many different areas : debate, apologetics, humourous interps., impromptu, etc. Benefits extended beyond academics to life skills

 

I LOVE NCFCA. Really count my dc's experiences there as top notch. I helped to start our local club. I wish it wasn't so all-consuming. :tongue_smilie: My 10th and 8th graders are basketball fanatics and it's just too difficult to do basketball and the NCFCA forensics competitively. Hope to be back with some of my youngers one day!

 

Lisa, off to look at some of the hits recommended here.

[Merry]

Hits:

 

Chalkdust College Algebra

College Biology taken at a University Model class

A Patriot's History of the United States

American Literature class at Scholars Online

 

 

Misses:

 

Essay writing...not enough writing done

Spanish 2 at a University Model class...teacher wasn't very good

Edited May 6, 2011 by Merry
to save a kitten's life by fixing an apostrophe error:)

[Susie-Knits]

HITS:

 

• Latin Alive! - We are learning Latin together... pretty fun.
  
• Vocabulary for Achievement - Wants to warm up his brain with this every morning. Used it for many years now and ds has a great vocabulary. Running out of books though.
  
• Chemistry Enrichment Class - I am teaching this class for ds and a couple of friends. Biggest compliment yesterday - "I don't want Chemistry to end!" Never heard that about chemistry before!! But chemistry has to end for PHYSICS (my love) to begin. haha Will do a similar class for physics next year.
  
• Chalk Dust Alg 2 - has worked for mathie and non-mathie alike.
  

Lows:

 

• Online Literature Course - Wonderful teacher and class material but ds couldn't keep the pace. He found "realism" depressing. Also found out that the online format, isn't for this ds - small group in person situations are better. Thought an outside class would inspire him since he really does get literary analysis and can verbally express it. But in the end, knock down his confidence - bad thing. He struggles with consistent written output. When he is able to write, it is really good in form and substance (scores in upper 90%). But for some reason, he isn't always able to pull it all together in order to write by a given deadline. This problem seems to be related to his ADHD - it is not laziness or lack of want.
  

 

[Lori D.]

I listen to Dave Ramsey while cooking dinner many days so my kids get to hear him as they move in and out. :001_smile: But per this recommendation, I reserved some of recordings from our library. Good summer stuff!

 

 

Hope your family will enjoy his stuff, too! :) No joke, it's been one of the few things DSs *asked* for every day! And because he is so funny and distinctive, the info has really stuck with them; they are already making some very sound financial choices -- yea! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Kareni]

 

HITS:

 

Chemistry Enrichment Class - I am teaching this class for ds and a couple of friends. Biggest compliment yesterday - "I don't want Chemistry to end!" Never heard that about chemistry before!!

 

 

 

Susie-Knits,

 

May I ask what materials you've been using for your Chemistry Enrichment class?

 

Regards,

Kareni

[creekland]

 

I've got the site bookmarked. Ds and dd are both into nutrition, but I need to research to see how much this will add to the classes they are already taking at college. Thanks!

 

 

 

Just to be clear on Nutrition Action, it's a continuation of our "health," not really a stand alone course except that mine have already done "Health" as a stand alone course. The magazine sums up current studies and their implications in a reader friendly way with no advertising to sway their reviews/opinions. "I" enjoy reading the magazine as well - just to keep up on what is real (via studies) and what is myth or not yet tested.

[profmom]

I just realized that I didn't post hits earlier!

 

~ Potter's School English/writing -- loved the detailed feedback, the process that the papers go through, the high standards, and the process to help the students reach them. We had English 2 for 8th grade & Writer's Workshop for 6th.

 

Dd-8th actually had 4 classes at TPS this year (English, Algebra 1, Physical Science, and Propositional Logic & Apologetics). That's a lot, yes, but she loves her classes and TPS! Out of these, all have been great, but Algebra 1 has been the hardest. She's probably not wired to have math class only one day a week, but she still has an A because dh works with her 2-3 nights a week, grading, going over corrections and questions. Next year we'll add the optional second session of math problem solving and see how that goes.

 

~ CLE Math -- another good year with this math for my current 6th grader. (They don't have Sunrise editions of their high school math yet though.)

[Supertechmom]

Thank you all!!! I have several things marked for review!

 

would love details on the chemistry enrichment class as well. we are starting that next year and I was going to run a lab each week. That may be a good boost for class.

 

I love these threads. You guys always give such great help and advise.

[Rebecca VA]

If your son takes Lukeion Latin 3, he'll be in my daughter's class! It will meet Wednesday mornings at 11:30. They're finished with Wheelock's and will be doing lots and lots of translations next year. Latin 4 -- the following year -- is AP Vergil prep.

 

The Greek teacher is Mr. Barr. He's one of the kindest, most patient people I've ever met. I imagine he's an excellent Greek teacher, but I haven't seen him in that capacity personally.

[Miss Marple]

Adding another hit that I forgot earlier:

 

IEW High School Essay Intensive - this was mostly used by my son who is graduating this year. However, because of the way it is organized, I think it will be a great addition for my Ds#3 (VSL with LDs).

 

I used IEW previously when the boys were young. We just couldn't make it work. Now, looking back, I think it's because the early program worked from parts to whole. That's difficult for VS learners. However, this particular course seems to come at the essay from a whole to parts (at least the SAT essay section). Ds seemed to understand and retain more from this course than he ever did from the others. I'm keeping my fingers crossed :-)

[8filltheheart]

Hits:

The Cosmos and Understanding the Universe TC lectures + every other astronomy lecture series they have. Ds absolutely LOVES these. He wouldn't recommend taking them until after physics though if you want the full benefit of understanding what is being discussed. Even with an alg based physics course completed he says that some of the material he can only partially understand.

Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology Fourth Edition by Scanlon + student workbook, TC lectures, anatomy coloring book, and organ/fetal pig dissections--another excellent course. Dd learned a lot.

OM World Geography: Ds found the textbook dry as toast and it is by his definition "very greeny." But, the OM guide is filled with excellent, thought-provoking projects that brought the course to life and over all, he thoroughly enjoyed the course.

AoPS and Foester pre-cal---used by 2 different students and each met their needs. But most of all their teacher was the best. :) Unfortunately, she has decided to move on to different things next yr. :(

 

American history TC lectures, a really, really old Sadlier Oxford American history text (from the 50s), and Duke TIPs AP American History TM (the TM is full of a TON of info, way more than I would ever attempt. But, the charts and resources in it makes it definitely worth the $$)

 

Our spontaneous "Inception" study--they have thoroughly enjoyed it even though it has been more work than normal.

 

Ok:

Spectrum chemistry by itself. It really wasn't enough for my ds. The experiments are fantastic. He really needed more from the book. I added in Plato's chemistry and it helped, but in the future I am going to combine Spectrum and PH.

 

Misses:

A Patriot's History of the US-- my dd detested this book. She said it was so surface oriented that she couldn't learn anything. (we don't use textbooks, so she is used to whole books instead. This was definitely not a good fit for her.)

 

OM English 9--I debated whether to include this in OK or here. I guess my expectations are way different than OM's. My ds finished the entire course around Thanksgiving. What it did cover, it did well. THe questions were not just superficial comprehension questions. They were more analytical. It just wasn't enough. It did however allow us to cover lots of other books and do our Inception study. ;) I think it would make a great 7th or 8th grade course w/ room to add more lit of your choice.

[regentrude]

Hits:

 

Teaching Company lectures by Elizabeth Vandiver!

We listened to Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Greek Mythology and a selection from the Greek Tragedies- about 72 lectures total.

 

Art of Problem Solving:

Intro to Algebra worked well for DS

Intro to Geometry worked well for DD

 

Short History of Western Civilization by Harrison/Sullivan

DD loves this textbook

 

 

Misses:

 

Cambridge Latin - but mostly MY fault. I have not been on the ball enough with DS.

[bugs]

Hits

 

Lial's Introductory Algebra - Thank you Jann in TX.

LLfLOTR - Just fun for the three of us to do together and learn - Thank you Lori D.

CW series - just love it

R&S Grammar - another love.

Visual Link Spanish - dd loves.

Fallacy Detective and Thinking Toolbox - son loves.

 

Misses

 

MUS Algebra - makes me sad but not enough practice

Conceptual Physics - my bad - kid not ready

Notgrass American Govt. - another my bad - kid not ready (I will use this with ds in 12th grade though because I believe it's fairly thorough).

[Susan C.]

Hits:

 

Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology Fourth Edition by Scanlon + student workbook, TC lectures, anatomy coloring book, and organ/fetal pig dissections--another excellent course. Dd learned a lot.

 

Tell me more! Which TC lectures, why not Apologia?

[Hunter's Moon]

Hits

Lial's Precalculus (love this!)

 

Misses

Apologia (dislike for many reasons, one being he discredited all of Darwin's work in one paragraph, whether he believes in Evolution or not, to discredit all his work and say he simply assumed everything is silly and rude)

 

That is about it. Those are really the only two things I have felt strongly about either one way or the other.

[Aquinas Academy]

DD 14's hits and misses.

 

Hits:

Didache Introduction to Catholicism -- Love, love, love it!!

Great books study -- We've had such a great time reading exploring ancient literature together.

Bradley's Arnold Latin Prose Composition -- I've never seen someone so excited about a dead language.

 

Misses:

Traditional Logic -- Great course, just not for us.

[Janice in NJ]

Hello my friend,

 

I'm still not happy with our chem rotation. One more kid to go. I have so many great resources but lack the umph to always pull things together. (Too much and we never get done.... too little and there's no meat.)

 

You wrote:

Ok:

Spectrum chemistry by itself. It really wasn't enough for my ds. The experiments are fantastic. He really needed more from the book. I added in Plato's chemistry and it helped, but in the future I am going to combine Spectrum and PH.

I have PH. Do you have the Kolbe syllabus? (Always wondering if it would make life easier...) Do you like it?

 

I think chem needs a VERY active lab component. Very! We never were able to do enough - the tyranny of the textbook. (As a result neither of my older kids likes chem..... makes me sad. I'm SURE they would have liked it if I could have tamed that textbook. :glare:) If you combo Spectrum and Prentice Hall would you send me your notes? Pretty please?

 

Oh - and could you nail it down before 2012/13? Pretty, pretty please?????

 

THANKS, my dear! :001_smile:

 

Peace,

Janice

[Susie-Knits]

Susie-Knits,

 

May I ask what materials you've been using for your Chemistry Enrichment class?

 

Regards,

Kareni

This class morphed so much over the year - started off as a lab situation to go with Apologia Chemistry for a bunch of "liberal arts" teens. Then as we got going, I started adding math helps (my background) and study skills because I saw a great struggle in this area. Somewhere along the line I started supplementing occasionally with the GPB Chemistry video series in areas where I thought the text got cloudy for these teens or they didn't have the basics needed to understand the text. I provided as much hands-on as possible with lots of experiments – all kinds - Apologia labs, MicroChem labs, and think I even have some other experiments from another source too. We did several class sessions with the wonderful molecule model sets and took photos. We did a lot of white boarding equations were I got everyone up and working. Had group study sessions promoting “study buddies,†and took time to come up with "cheat" sheet for each module (great study skill). The best thing was the group of teens – very accepting of each other, no big egos, and lots of good memories made. The growth in these teens is very visable too - along with a good understanding of chemistry (the goal! haha).

 

It this point, I need to go back to my syllabus and update the changes and diversions I made. Oddly enough, this class was for my youngest …

 

Hope that helps,

Susie

[Susan C.]

Janice,

Chemistry is just awful. There, I said it. You will be hearing my happy dance in a week or two when we call it finished. (Notice I said call it finished...). No more kids, no more chemistry. (((very small hooray because we are whooped)))))

[8filltheheart]

Tell me more! Which TC lectures, why not Apologia?

 

I am not an Apologia fan at all. My oldest used this text with a former AP biology teacher. This was my first time teaching the course. I thought it was presented very clearly. These lectures: http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=160

 

FWIW, the student workbook is excellent and includes tests.

[8filltheheart]

Hello my friend,

 

I'm still not happy with our chem rotation. One more kid to go. I have so many great resources but lack the umph to always pull things together. (Too much and we never get done.... too little and there's no meat.)

 

You wrote:

Ok:

Spectrum chemistry by itself. It really wasn't enough for my ds. The experiments are fantastic. He really needed more from the book. I added in Plato's chemistry and it helped, but in the future I am going to combine Spectrum and PH.

I have PH. Do you have the Kolbe syllabus? (Always wondering if it would make life easier...) Do you like it?

 

I think chem needs a VERY active lab component. Very! We never were able to do enough - the tyranny of the textbook. (As a result neither of my older kids likes chem..... makes me sad. I'm SURE they would have liked it if I could have tamed that textbook. :glare:) If you combo Spectrum and Prentice Hall would you send me your notes? Pretty please?

 

Oh - and could you nail it down before 2012/13? Pretty, pretty please?????

 

THANKS, my dear! :001_smile:

 

Peace,

Janice

 

My dd used the Kolbe syllabus last yr. The course was great and thorough but the virtual labs were not great and the real labs we purchased (I think it was the microchem 5000 or something like that), every single lab was a dud. Not just one or two, but every single one. I was not happy.

 

Spectrum's labs are superb. My dh is a chemE and he has been impressed with the quality labs. He says they are far superior to anything he experienced in high school chem and AP chem.

 

After the numerous things I have used for chemistry, I really think that if I could meld PH and Spectrum into a single course that it would be my dream chem class.

[krstbrwn]

After the numerous things I have used for chemistry, I really think that if I could meld PH and Spectrum into a single course that it would be my dream chem class.

 

I'm considering Spectrum for chemistry this year. What would you meld from the PH book? What is it that Spectrum lacks? TIA

Edited May 7, 2011 by krstbrwn

[WishboneDawn]

HITS

Dancing Bears A - Huge hit! My son has been through ETC, 100 EZ lessons and other reading programs and nothing was sticking. I finally went to DB and we all saw the light!

 

Apples and Pears - Not so much my son's favourite but he still likes some parts of it an it's working. My son who couldn't read last fall is reading, spelling, taking dictation...I'm loving it.

 

Singapore PM - Of course. The old standby that always does right by me.

 

Singapore DM - The NEW standard that's doing right by me. :)

 

All our MCT materials, Getting Started With Latin - just really fun stuff.

 

Misses

 

Jensen's Vocabulary - blah. Now collecting dust.

 

Singapore Interactive Science 1 - Hmmm. Daughter liked the text but it was a crazy year and I never did get the other elements working right. Next year?