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Why is Oak Meadow so expensive?


cseitter
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OM is really expensive. Keep in mind that none of it is consumable. Also, if you look at the price of some other homeschool curricula, it's not so different.

 

MCT Island basic package is $150 - and that's for just one subject. Add in Saxon Math and you're up to about $200. Then you still need Science and History (and possibly Spelling, Geography, Art, Music...).

 

For the curriculum only - no living books or manipulatives - of Moving Beyond the Page for a year, it is about $190 for the K level. Then you still have to add math.

 

ETA: For K level of K12 for LA, Math, Science and History - tangible materials only, no online content - it is $240 (And many of those materials are consumable.)

 

Sonlight K LA, Core, Science - IG's only, no books - plus Singapore K Math comes to about $250.

Edited by crstarlette
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OM is really expensive, too expensive for what you get, IMO. At least for the syllabi I have seen (5th grade English/history and 7th grade earth science) I would need to supplement heavily, which would require buying more materials. I love their ideas for assignments, but on the input side they are very weak.

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OM is really expensive. Keep in mind that none of it is consumable. Also, if you look at the price of some other homeschool curricula, it's not so different.

 

MCT Island basic package is $150 - and that's for just one subject. Add in Saxon Math and you're up to about $200. Then you still need Science and History (and possibly Spelling, Geography, Art, Music...).

 

For the curriculum only - no living books or manipulatives - of Moving Beyond the Page for a year, it is about $190 for the K level. Then you still have to add math.

 

ETA: For K level of K12 for LA, Math, Science and History - tangible materials only, no online content - it is $240 (And many of those materials are consumable.)

 

Sonlight K LA, Core, Science - IG's only, no books - plus Singapore K Math comes to about $250.

 

:iagree: I actually feel like OM is cheaper than a lot of other things...If it fits your style it is definitely worth it...

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Well, to homeschool one child for less than $300 a year, that seems like a bargain to me. There is a lot more in the Syllabus than just the schedule in the younger grades. Even though there are separate fairy tale books and craft books, the majority of the stories and ideas are actually in the Syllabus. In fact, you could easily just buy the Syllabus for the younger grades and use Grimm's Fairy Tales or Lang's, and Burgess and Clara Dillingham Pierson Animal books (all free online or at your library) for K through 2nd grade. Add knitting and an instrument, and there you go.

 

I think it's the best bargain out there if you are truly comparing apples to apples. Look around at a Kindergarten, or 1st--3rd grade program that is "complete" and see how much it is to add math, crafts, grammar, and other things to truly complete it. That's just my humble opinion, two cents worth and all.

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Look at the middle school prices. ;) That's one of the reasons we never made the plunge. It's a VERY good program, tho. Also, have you ever seen the price of a Sonlight Core?! :eek:

 

We have bits and pieces of their stuff. Also, I plan to use their science (I think it's their Earth Science) in late middle school.

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I think it's the best bargain out there if you are truly comparing apples to apples. Look around at a Kindergarten, or 1st--3rd grade program that is "complete" and see how much it is to add math, crafts, grammar, and other things to truly complete it. That's just my humble opinion, two cents worth and all.

 

Or Calvert - that one is really expensive.

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Look at the middle school prices. ;) That's one of the reasons we never made the plunge. It's a VERY good program, tho. Also, have you ever seen the price of a Sonlight Core?! :eek:

 

We have bits and pieces of their stuff. Also, I plan to use their science (I think it's their Earth Science) in late middle school.

 

 

But here again, when I look at the prices of other programs, they seem to go up as grade level goes up.

 

For Moving Beyond the Page, K is cheaper than 1, which is cheaper than 2, then it stays consistent for a few grades, and then it goes up again.

 

SL is more expensive too because there are so many workbooks required for LA (unless I'm misunderstanding their website).

 

TT stays at $120 for a few grades, then up to $150, then up to $185.

 

There are exceptions (or maybe the programs I listed are the exceptions, or maybe it's about even). Saxon prices seem to actually go down a little, as well as MCT. But even so, it seems like it is not uncommon for curricula to cost more for upper grades than for lower grades. That makes sense too. I will need the help of experts more as my kids get older. I don't really need a curriculum for the lower grades because the content is beyond me. I want a curriculum (and possibly need it) because of the convenience of not having to plan everything out myself - pick all the stories, etc. (Not that I don't appreciate the ideas, activities, content, etc. of the lower grade books, just that I find a book of addition lessons far less necessary than a book of calculus lessons.)

 

Sorry, that got a bit OT.

Edited by crstarlette
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I don't know anything about OM, but my feeling has been - IF you can afford it, choose whatever materials you want. No matter what materials I buy, it is still SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper than even the cheapest private school education. And basically IMO I am giving my kids a top-of-the-line private education.

 

Of course I get needing to stay on budget too. Here is where the library and used resources help tremendously. A lot of packaged curricula include buying books you can borrow from the library.

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But here again, when I look at the prices of other programs, they seem to go up as grade level goes up.

 

For Moving Beyond the Page, K is cheaper than 1, which is cheaper than 2, then it stays consistent for a few grades, and then it goes up again.

 

SL is more expensive too because there are so many workbooks required for LA (unless I'm misunderstanding their website).

 

TT stays at $120 for a few grades, then up to $150, then up to $185.

 

There are exceptions (or maybe the programs I listed are the exceptions, or maybe it's about even). Saxon prices seem to actually go down a little, as well as MCT. But even so, it seems like it is not uncommon for curricula to cost more for upper grades than for lower grades. That makes sense too. I will need the help of experts more as my kids get older. I don't really need a curriculum for the lower grades because the content is beyond me. I want a curriculum (and possibly need it) because of the convenience of not having to plan everything out myself - pick all the stories, etc. (Not that I don't appreciate the ideas, activities, content, etc. of the lower grade books, just that I find a book of addition lessons far less necessary than a book of calculus lessons.)

 

Sorry, that got a bit OT.

 

Sonlight's expense is 90% about the literature. There are very few workbooks.

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Sonlight's expense is 90% about the literature. There are very few workbooks.

 

I was not including the price of the literature in my calculations.

 

In LA G there looks to be about 3 workbooks. Now that I look at it again I was looking at it wrong before. They've got one workbook listed twice (appropriately) and extra worksheets (which I assume are only necessary when you're using it for multiple children) that I counted, so I was seeing 5 when there are 3.

Edited by crstarlette
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ok:lol::lol: There isn't much of Sonlight if you don't count the literature.

 

 

Right....if you take out the workbooks, you still have Sonlight.....but if you don't count the lit books....well, you are not doing Sonlight, AT ALL.

 

The price of Sonlight is because you get ALOT of books to read, not because you get three workbooks.:D

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Right....if you take out the workbooks, you still have Sonlight.....but if you don't count the lit books....well, you are not doing Sonlight, AT ALL.

 

The price of Sonlight is because you get ALOT of books to read, not because you get three workbooks.:D

 

You could choose to get the literature from the library. The point was to compare prices of different curricula. I compared the minimum cost of SL with the cost of OM to show that SL costs at least as much as OM even if you don't buy the literature. That is to say, it is not the cost of the literature that makes SL just as expensive as OM. It is not the difference between a bunch of great books and a few textbooks.

 

I'll say it again:

 

SL without the literature is just as expensive as OM.

 

That was the first point I made.

 

 

 

Here is the second point I made:

 

Just like OM, SL without the literature is more expensive for higher grades than for K.

 

In the post regarding the workbooks, I was trying to determine the cost difference between SL K and SL 7, and also determine (quickly) the main reason for the cost difference. The workbooks were not part of the point at all, just a minor detail.

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I've used both and if you compare apples to apples, Sonlight is hugely expensive.

 

Sonlight Core A (Kindergarten) $733.98 (complete)

 

Oak Meadow K $385 (complete with craft kit and K-3rd manuals)

 

Heart of Dakota LHFHG $242.37

 

My Father's World K $338.

 

Living Books Curriculum Kindergarten $499

 

I think any *complete* curricula you purchase will have sticker shock, but it is a bargain basement price compared to any private school.

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