busymama7 Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 What is available? We used DIVE this year for Biology and my kids have not done very well. Their grades are fine because the do all the assignments, but they haven't done well on the exams at all. We were expecting more lecture/teaching from the course. I am thinking ahead for next year and would really like something independent like DIVE has been but with more lecture/teaching. I can arrange for labs to be done with a small group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccm Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 (edited) My daughter is using the BJU Distance Learning DVD Chemistry with Mr. Harmon. I think it is a very good course with an excellent teacher. The current course is a LINC class, so it is not all lecture, but sometimes the student's questions are good ones. http://www.bjupress.com/videos/11/chemistry.mov Here's a sample from the BJU Press website. Strangely enough, it is not the current course, but from the previous edition. And if you go to this link, the picture of Mr. Harmon is a newer version. Perhaps BJU Press is in the process of updating the chemistry videos. http://www.bjupresshomeschool.com/content/distance-learning-sample-videos Okay, I just checked out the catalog I received in the mail and the Grade 11 Chemistry is with the 3rd edition textbook, so the DVD will be the updated one. I think the LINC schools may be phased out, so I'm pretty sure the video would be all lecture. Best to check with BJU customer service. Edited March 25, 2012 by ccm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Running the race Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 You can get recorded DVD lectures for apologia at http://www.redwagontutorials.com. There are two lectures per module. The lectures are actually recordings of live classes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 What is available? We used DIVE this year for Biology and my kids have not done very well. Their grades are fine because the do all the assignments, but they haven't done well on the exams at all. We were expecting more lecture/teaching from the course. I am thinking ahead for next year and would really like something independent like DIVE has been but with more lecture/teaching. I can arrange for labs to be done with a small group. Would you mind explaining a bit more? I was considering DIVE for next year. How is the child expected to learn the material - primarily from the texts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busymama7 Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 Would you mind explaining a bit more? I was considering DIVE for next year. How is the child expected to learn the material - primarily from the texts? Yes. It claims to be lecture based and there is some lecture, but not near as much as we were expecting. Many, many weeks have had NO lecture at all and a good many more were under 20 mins. It does not compare at all to what a PS student would experience in a classroom every single day. (not that it was claiming to, but in just figuring out why my kids have not done well has made me think that if they were in a classroom with lecture and discussion everyday they would have been fine.) We have been very disappointed. Also, the lecture is just an audio of his voice with a visual of a smart board kinda thing, like they use on Khan I think. I really was expecting something more like MathUSee I guess where he was actually teaching. We have done it as a co-op and a few of the kids are doing really really well. They have been using Apologia or Bob Jones and I think the text did make a difference. I chose a regular high school textbook(Raven et al) and my kids hate it and say they dont get anything out of the reading. So they are left memorizing review questions for the test and then bombing the test because they dont really KNOW the material. :glare: This is not all the fault of DIVE, of course. But I am disappointed in the program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Yes. It claims to be lecture based and there is some lecture, but not near as much as we were expecting. Many, many weeks have had NO lecture at all and a good many more were under 20 mins. It does not compare at all to what a PS student would experience in a classroom every single day. (not that it was claiming to, but in just figuring out why my kids have not done well has made me think that if they were in a classroom with lecture and discussion everyday they would have been fine.) We have been very disappointed. Also, the lecture is just an audio of his voice with a visual of a smart board kinda thing, like they use on Khan I think. I really was expecting something more like MathUSee I guess where he was actually teaching. We have done it as a co-op and a few of the kids are doing really really well. They have been using Apologia or Bob Jones and I think the text did make a difference. I chose a regular high school textbook(Raven et al) and my kids hate it and say they dont get anything out of the reading. So they are left memorizing review questions for the test and then bombing the test because they dont really KNOW the material. :glare: This is not all the fault of DIVE, of course. But I am disappointed in the program. Erg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busymama7 Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 You can get recorded DVD lectures for apologia at http://www.redwagontutorials.com. There are two lectures per module. The lectures are actually recordings of live classes. These look really good. Have you used them? Happy with them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 These look really good. Have you used them? Happy with them? We are using them right now for physical science. I like them OK, but admittedly part of any "problem" I have may be due to my student.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Yes. It claims to be lecture based and there is some lecture, but not near as much as we were expecting. Many, many weeks have had NO lecture at all and a good many more were under 20 mins. It does not compare at all to what a PS student would experience in a classroom every single day. (not that it was claiming to, but in just figuring out why my kids have not done well has made me think that if they were in a classroom with lecture and discussion everyday they would have been fine.)I went and watched the "How to use DIVE" video on their website, and yeah, it says that the lectures are the meat of the curriculum and that there are like 2 lectures a week.:confused: Also, the lecture is just an audio of his voice with a visual of a smart board kinda thing, like they use on Khan I think. I really was expecting something more like MathUSee I guess where he was actually teaching.I did realize this. There are sample videos on their website, so I knew it wasn't a video of him teaching. We have done it as a co-op and a few of the kids are doing really really well. They have been using Apologia or Bob Jones and I think the text did make a difference. I chose a regular high school textbook(Raven et al) and my kids hate it and say they dont get anything out of the reading. So they are left memorizing review questions for the test and then bombing the test because they dont really KNOW the material. :glare: This is not all the fault of DIVE, of course. But I am disappointed in the program.A friend of mine has a daughter doing the physical science (or whatever he calls it), and she said that the exams are meant to be hard and that the key is in how good her daughter has taken notes. Did your kids take good notes from the lectures? Both my friend and the video I watched emphasized how the texts are purely supplemental.:confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busymama7 Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 I went and watched the "How to use DIVE" video on their website, and yeah, it says that the lectures are the meat of the curriculum and that there are like 2 lectures a week.:confused: I did realize this. There are sample videos on their website, so I knew it wasn't a video of him teaching. A friend of mine has a daughter doing the physical science (or whatever he calls it), and she said that the exams are meant to be hard and that the key is in how good her daughter has taken notes. Did your kids take good notes from the lectures? Both my friend and the video I watched emphasized how the texts are purely supplemental.:confused: I know thats what he says(that the lectures are the meat) but we dont feel like that has been the case with biology. My kids have taken good notes and do all the review questions. I think if they were better test takers and better at memorizing they would do better. But we dont feel that they have really learned the material. What text is your friend using? If I were to do it again, I would use apologia or possible bob jones. I didnt think the text was going to matter much, but I think it did. Lots of people love dive, so it could just be us. I would say if you are going to use it, make sure you get a good text. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathmom Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Khan Academy lectures are better than DIVE IMO, but I've only seen the math ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBS Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I've used Khan and only reviewed DIVE and I liked Khan better also. I have not used this yet, but did the intense research, and then I purchased the teacher DVD-rom, to go with the Georgia Public Broadcasting Physics/Chemistry. Its discussed in this forum how to do this, and it worked for me, so I won't repeat. I plan to line it up with a chemistry text and physics text, but have purchased several, so will "road test" those on the kid when the time comes. I made him watch every online program I could find, including all mentioned here already, and he liked the GPB professor best. He's kinda corny, kinda cool. I'm thinking/hoping LabPaq will fit the need for labs. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oraetstudia Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 How about Brightstorm? http://brightstorm.com/textbook They have videos to go along with several textbooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Yes. It claims to be lecture based and there is some lecture, but not near as much as we were expecting. Many, many weeks have had NO lecture at all and a good many more were under 20 mins. It does not compare at all to what a PS student would experience in a classroom every single day. (not that it was claiming to, but in just figuring out why my kids have not done well has made me think that if they were in a classroom with lecture and discussion everyday they would have been fine.) We have been very disappointed. Also, the lecture is just an audio of his voice with a visual of a smart board kinda thing, like they use on Khan I think. I really was expecting something more like MathUSee I guess where he was actually teaching. We have done it as a co-op and a few of the kids are doing really really well. They have been using Apologia or Bob Jones and I think the text did make a difference. I chose a regular high school textbook(Raven et al) and my kids hate it and say they dont get anything out of the reading. So they are left memorizing review questions for the test and then bombing the test because they dont really KNOW the material. :glare: This is not all the fault of DIVE, of course. But I am disappointed in the program. I know thats what he says(that the lectures are the meat) but we dont feel like that has been the case with biology. My kids have taken good notes and do all the review questions. I think if they were better test takers and better at memorizing they would do better. But we dont feel that they have really learned the material. What text is your friend using? If I were to do it again, I would use apologia or possible bob jones. I didnt think the text was going to matter much, but I think it did. Lots of people love dive, so it could just be us. I would say if you are going to use it, make sure you get a good text. We've been using DIVE Biology this year and are having a different experience. I made my own schedule integrating Singapore's Biology Matters, DIVE, and the internet resources they provide for the syllabus. My son has been scoring at least 95% on the tests. My son has liked the lectures and his only complaint is that some weeks the readings don't match the text, since I prepared the syllabus, I'll take the blame for that. I've watched the how to video since I had not watched it previously. He does say the video is the main component in an early section but this is immediately followed up with "you need a reading supplement." Later on when he uses the meat phrase, he does so while he is showing the comparison of various reading supplements and their rigor. He says the video is the meat but immediately follows with the clause that you must take good notes, understand the lecture, do a good job on home work and labs, and study hard for tests. It sounds like your children might need to learn more effective study skills since it sounds like they are doing well on the weekly work. Not everyone knows how to prepare for a test. Further, in my view some folks are better at process materials while others are good at recall materials. Biology is a recall material and sometimes just pure grunt memorization is required in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busymama7 Posted March 30, 2012 Author Share Posted March 30, 2012 It sounds like your children might need to learn more effective study skills since it sounds like they are doing well on the weekly work. Not everyone knows how to prepare for a test. Further, in my view some folks are better at process materials while others are good at recall materials. Biology is a recall material and sometimes just pure grunt memorization is required in it. I know! You are right for sure. I am figuring this out a little late... But I still think that if they had something that compared to a daily class they would understand and recall the info better. I mean of course there will be a lot of straight memorization, but some of the mistakes I have seen them make on the exams are definetly caused from a lack of understanding. They are trying to memorize and fill in the blanks, but when their memory fails them, they dont have the basic understanding to figure it out. I dont know if that makes sense or not. I am really glad the program is working for your son. I think it probably works for lots of kids. I think my kids needed a different approach and I am struggling to figure out how to get that for next year. Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilovemy4kids Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 I highly encourage you to check out the recorded lectures from redwagontutorials.com we have used redwagon for a few years now and couldn't be happier! If you send me a pm, I'd be happy to share more. Sandra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Running the race Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 These look really good. Have you used them? Happy with them? We've been very happy with them. We've used General Science and Physical Science so far. Next year we will be using Biology. They do correlate directly with the Apologia books, so you would need to use that curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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