skylark Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 Hello everyone! I am new to this board and I was wondering if any of you have any pros and cons to these two curricula? I have three girls:10, 7, and 3. My 10 yr old is an avid reader and I would like a literature based program. Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 Don't really know a lot about them, but an obvious (big) difference is price: AO is free (at least the planning/scheduling part) & Living Books Curriculum is fairly pricey (imo). Also, fyi, if you are interested in additional AO-related resources, do a search on yahoo groups as I think there are various groups. I know there is one for AO copywork. Sorry I can't help more. I'd love to hear any comments from someone using Living Books Curriculum, but I think it's also fairly new -- maybe in the past year or two (??) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 I don't know about LBC either, but the advantage of AO being free is that it allows you to spend money on other things, (like dance classes or whatever) and to tweak to your heart's content without feeling you are wasting your money. I have started using AO and it is a well thought out, complete curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat in MI Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 AO would be the cheaper option, but Living Books would probably be easier for you to use. You wouldn't have to look for books or print them and everything would be right there in a neat package. I do not have first hand knowledge of Living Books so I can't comment as to the materials they use. I am going with AO next year because I have discovered that I like to do my own thing. I will not feel guilty if we don't read one of the books listed or if I make a substitution. With the package curriculums I feel as though I must do everything on the list and then I feel bad when we aren't able to. HTH Blessings, Pat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
at the beach Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 Hello everyone!I am new to this board and I was wondering if any of you have any pros and cons to these two curricula? I have three girls:10, 7, and 3. My 10 yr old is an avid reader and I would like a literature based program. Thanks in advance! We use AO, and I am not all that familiar with LBC other than looking at the site and booklists. I personally think that AO is a better choice for us after taking a look at the lists on LBC. The lit selections are wonderful and quite challenging. AO's program is closely tied to how CM taught in her schools. This is only our first year with AO, but the longer we use AO, the better it seems. AO truly is a labor of love on the part of the moms who started it and those who continue to volunteer to keep AO going. As far as schedules, we don't need more detailed schedules than the weekly reading list, but there are schedules available that go into more detail if you join certain Yahoo groups. There is just so much support by so many homeschool parents who've used AO for years, and that's great, too. AO is a no-cost curriculum. I have looked at many curriculums, and I can't find any at any cost that are better for us. Most of the books are available free online or you can get them inexpensively used or from the library. One thing I am discovering is that following AO as written is very important for us. That is what makes it so easy to manage. Also, not adding extra things (I'm thinking mainly language arts type stuff) that would then make AO overwhelming. It is a full program just as written. Trusting the CM process in language arts initially made me nervous, but I can see that it is working and that adding to it is totally unnecessary. Finally, what I love most about CM and AO is that it guides children to self-education. Anita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylark Posted May 30, 2008 Author Share Posted May 30, 2008 Thanks for your responses! I was also comparing the lit selections and wondering if the "old language" used was beneficial when it came time to write. What do you think the benefits are to reading older literature as opposed to more modern works? Would the children enjoy it as much, or does it take effort to understand it? Thanks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KS_ Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 Thanks for your responses! I was also comparing the lit selections and wondering if the "old language" used was beneficial when it came time to write. What do you think the benefits are to reading older literature as opposed to more modern works?Would the children enjoy it as much, or does it take effort to understand it? Thanks... Well, I don't know anything about Living Books, but we've been using Ambleside for a 3 years now and I love it. As far as the "old language" used, I think the quality and richness of the Ambleside books has been fabulous for my kids. They have a wonderful, large vocabulary and really love the literature used in Ambleside and it has enabled them to appreciate and read many other great books. They'll often use words or phrases in the conversation or play that they've read - and correctly - but more complex language than I've heard other kids their age use. It does take some "training" to understand some of the language in some of the books, but it hasn't been that difficult and it has been very worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Thanks for your responses! I was also comparing the lit selections and wondering if the "old language" used was beneficial when it came time to write. What do you think the benefits are to reading older literature as opposed to more modern works?Would the children enjoy it as much, or does it take effort to understand it? Thanks... The way I see it, if you expose kids to at least some older style books, they can read anything, and their vocabulary is deeply enriched. I have been amazed at the words my ds12 uses in day to day speech, lately. Wheras if you only expose them to the modern stuff, a whole world of well written classics is out of range, because it is challenging. Kids were after all brought up on what are now classics years ago...it's not like it is actually beyond kids, it's just that we have become lazy. Having said that, if I was changing a child over from twaddle to CM, I might do more reading aloud and make it a gradual process, or choose a lower year, so that they can go through an adjustment. I have been surprised that books like the Swiss Family Robinson and Treasure Island have gripped my kids and totally enthralled them. They can read the modern stuff too, and they do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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