Anyone use AO Weaver Curriculum?

[mystika1]

Hi,

I was given volume 1 and 2 yesterday and would like opinions. IMHO I prefer the lay out better than Konos(our current curriculum)and it would be reusable(in later years) as I was also given the 7-12 grade supplement. I was actually looking for chronological history type unit studies, but this looks so good that I have almost changed my mind.:D I was also given other curriculum(MFW, MBTP) but I am drawn to Weaver.

 

For chronological history I suppose I could actually cover it during the summer months via homemade history unit studies. My dd loves studying Ancient Egypt.

 

Anyone used the Weaver? If so, did you find it to be complete?(besides the addition of LA and Math)

 

Thanks,

 

Penny

[smstjohn]

I bought it a few years ago and tried it. All I remember is thinking, famines again?!

 

Since you have it, I would look through it and see if you think it will flow well enough for you. I also liked the idea of it moving chronologically, but really was put off by how slow it actually seemed putting it into practice.

 

Hopefully, someone will chime in who used it more extensively.

[freeindeed]

I used Volume 1 with my middle children when dd was in 2nd grade and ds was in kindergarten. We really loved it, and we have fond memories of that school year. I still miss Weaver from time to time (although we are very happy with SL.) The main reason I switched is that the planning portion of Weaver just got to be too much for me, especially as we were going through the adoption process to bring my youngest one home. And now that she's here, I know I wouldn't have the time to plan Weaver, go to the library and get books on topic, and research web sites to go with each topic. It is a great curriculum, though, and truly does start with the Bible and "weave" in everything else, which I love. If you have time to plan, then I think it could work for you.

[Ellie]

See, I preferred KONOS: back in the day, before there were lesson plans included, there was no reference to grade levels; I thought KONOS was more flexible and creative; and I really liked the way everything was taught while learning godly character traits.

 

But to each his own. :) If I hadn't done KONOS, I would probably have done the Weaver, just because I like unit studies.

[JaneP]

Hi Penny

 

I notice from your other posts that you like unit studies so i don't think you would find Weaver any more difficult or time consuming than other unit studies.

 

We used Weaver vol one about 2 years ago when dds were in Grade 3 and K. I didn't buy any of their supplements; just the basic volume.

 

Here are some things I can remember..

 

I was very impressed how the author was able to use one topic to span several grade levels. So all your children would study "cities" for example and then you would turn to the appropriate color coded grade level pages for that unit to see which activities, vocab words, concepts etc would be suitable for each student. I haven't seen any other curriculum that claims to be "multi age" so well organized in that regard (must admit I would love to get my hands on TOG one day)

 

However, I was very unimpressed how the current publisher has failed to update Weaver. The booklists are very out of date and it was strange not to have any references to finding information online; it was obvious Weaver was written pre internet and no effort had made to update it. Having using HOAC, Amanda Bennett, MFW and HOD I was also used to having online support from the curriculum publisher but there was none for Weaver. It's is a shame when you think of the work put into it by the original author. Something like Weaver is ideally suited to the internet age. There is a fantastic "unofficial" yahoo and facebook page which I did find helpful though.

 

Like other unit studies, sometimes the topic which the author had derived from the text can seem to be a bit of a stretch. Thinking of one FIAR study where we studied copper because there was a picture of a kitchen in the book and you could see a small copper saucepan hanging in a corner :tongue_smilie:.... Normally this doesn't worry me too much but I can remember feeling a bit uneasy sometimes because it was the bible which was being used in this way. It seemed almost as if some passages were used as an excuse to introduce a topic. Sorry, I can't remember any examples and this may or may not worry you. I guess a lot of Weaver Moms don't feel this way so maybe it is just me.

 

The other thing we personally missed from Weaver was handouts that could help us document our learning. We do a lot of lapbooking and notebooking and there were very little resources for that in the volume we used.

 

I found it very complete; I recall the science being very challenging.

 

All the best with what you decide!

Jane