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Scott Foresman Pros/Cons


treestarfae
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Anyone use Scott Foresman subjects? Why do you like/not like the curriculum?

 

I believe Scott Foresman math program is enVision. If I am correct, my kids use it at school. We afterschool with SM because we don't think enVision rivals SM (used with IPs and CWP). I wouldn't say it's a bad program, but it's a new one, has little track record and based on our experience, there are better options on the market.

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I used a 3rd grade Scott Foresman math text many years ago. Perhaps it has been updated since then, but based on my experience, Scott Foresman would be the last publisher I'd ever use, for anything. It made poor dd, who was quite mathy, cry before Thanksgiving. It took for.ev.er to teach any concept, because it started at the ve.ry.be.gin.ning of ev.er.y con.cept. OMG. Just shoot me now. :ack2:

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Why do you want to use SF over more traditional home-school materials? Did you come upon some for free or something?

 

I looked into traditional textbook company materials and found them difficult to adapt to home-school. Or, at least, difficult to track down exactly what you need. There are so many different workbooks, teacher guides, etc. Then, you have different state standard editions. Anyway, I bought (and then returned) SF kindergarten science materials. I was not impressed.

 

Don't know what subject you're looking for, but I think Harcourt Science has decent textbooks that have little activities throughout. We have the first grade science text (arctic fox edition). However, the text is so simplistic that it actually makes it more difficult to retain information. My DD did better when I read a more complex non-fiction reader to her.

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We are currently using a Foresman Science text I came upon cheap. I decided to add it in mostly because I have it and also because it is in the back of my mind to keep the kids prepared for the 'just in case' of public school. I have no intention of not homeschooling in the future, but things do happen. It is good for them to experience use of a Science textbook I think as it is very different from what we do for Science. If I hadn't gotten it so incredibly cheap I wouldn't have bothered though.

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I have some 1st and 2nd grade readers that a friend gave me for free. My kids don't enjoy them as much as they do their Sonlight readers, but they read a little each day because I like that the chapter/ unit wrap-ups cover things I hadn't thought to cover at that age (Internet searches, fire safety, test- taking strategies). I wouldn't necessarily buy them over other homeschooling materials, but they have been a good supplement for us.

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I have the SF older series reading books, from DD's old school. DD enjoys them, and I've been able to find many supplemental materials on line. They're not our core reading series, but they've been dynamite for her to "play school" with and they've introduced her to quite a few good books and authors.

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When I first started homeschooling, I was scared and unprepared and signed us up for a virtual charter school- Connections Academy. For kinder and 1st grade they used mostly Calvert materials which were great. When we got to 2nd grade, almost everything was Scott Foresman. What I mainly remember was Science and Math. Couldn't stand them. Science was just very typical ps agenda, very spiral, and textbooky and boring. Wasn't the worst ever, but not my favorite. The math however, was horrid! My daughter was gifted and skipped a grade, in fact even while doing this math, always got A's on all tests, etc. However, it was such a wimpy curriculum and had such little drill, that the next year when we started homeschooling on our own, she didn't remember anything she had learned the year prior. So when we started MM, I had her re-do 2nd grade. (It was a bummer too because all the topics covered in MM2 had been covered in her math, just not sufficiently.) And it was tough and stressful for her and took us over a year to recover. She suddenly had this, "I hate math", "I'm not good at math" attitude which she never had prior to that. We're finally doing great on math but it's been a long journey that came from 1 year of a mediocre curriculum. Hope I don't offend with my opinions on this, but it was very frustrating. It seemed that in each lesson they covered such a tiny little bit, and never really dug in to solidify the technique. Kind of like they just danced across the top of a lot of ideas but never landed on them to really do the job.

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