we dropped it because--poll

[Classical Katharine]

If you've ever dropped a program you started, what have been your reasons? This poll lets you click more than one choice, so please click as many as you want. Feel free to add comments . . . what you wished you'd done differently, what you wished you'd known, what advice you'd give to others, whatever!

Edited March 29, 2012 by Classical Katharine

[Sctigermom]

k12 phonics was too much for my son from the beginning. Saxon math was too slow. Oak Meadow was too slow.

[danybug]

My experience for the most part has been to drop items because of two reasons. I mean at times some other reasons might have crept in, but not enough to give up on a curriculum.

 

The first is because the item has been too easy for my kids. For example: we tried Sonlight P4/5 for my 4yo dd and it was just too easy that it did not hold her attention as well as other things. We were beyond it and I thought we could still enjoy it. But at this point you can tell she wants to be challenged and be able to see her own progress.

 

The other reason I selected is because the curriculum was not for us because it was not our style, which usually equals too cutesy or fluffy. My kids like to do some activities, but for the most part they look at learning as reading and doing the work. My ds especially does not like things that have variables added in to make it what I would say is cute or funny. That is why my ds did not enjoy LOF or MCT and enjoys R&S English and Saxon. We are more a thorough and at times dry type of curriculum family I guess ;)

[boscopup]

I voted too easy/slow and not our style (boring or textbooky).

[SilverMoon]

I voted for too easy, errors/poor execution, and other. Other = ineffective.

 

The big ones off the top of my head:

Easy Grammar - Too easy/ineffective/poor execution. It was so easy to execute DS could complete the whole page correctly and not understand what he was doing.

 

Spelling Workout - Poor execution/ineffective. They could do the whole lesson without even reading the spelling rule, and my oldest in particular would rather poke a spork in his eye than do the puzzle-like activities for practice.

 

My Father's World - Too easy. IMO the history sets are pretty good for grades 2-5. There's no way it covers the 4-8 it's marketed as in my homeschool.

Abeka Arithmetic - Ineffective. It goes broad, very broad, but not deep enough in anything at one time to give the kid any sort of confidence in it. I found my kids couldn't do the same level of math from a different source unless it was set up exactly like Abeka.

[kathymuggle]

other: too much busy work, not enough substance

[nono]

I voted other and that's simply because it was easier for me to pull together the material myself and have it the way I wanted, rather than paying $$ for subjects organized in ways I didn't like.

[alisoncooks]

We dropped MFWK at week 19.

In theory, I like that everything is integrated: Bible, science, phonics, read-alouds, character.

In practice, if one little thing got left out or we took a few days break, I felt like it ruined the entire week. And the 6-day units were very hard for me to wrap my mind around. We prefer 4-day weeks around here. ;) (Yes, I know I am allowed to tweak it fit me...but I just couldn't/didn't.)

 

I've done much better with a LOTW-type program of my own making, with separate math/Bible/science.

[sleeplessnights]

A lot of times we drop something if it uses an inappropriate amount of our precious time.

[PeacefulChaos]

So far, we haven't actually 'dropped' anything - however, we're switching some stuff for next year. our main reason is that it just doesn't fit with the learning style of the kid, or that I just don't care for the way it teaches the material.

[WeeBeaks]

other: It wasn't working for the child using it. Not too fast or too slow, but the child wasn't retaining it at all, couldn't apply it and thus didn't really "learn" it (grammar).

[ErinE]

We dropped WWW3 after the first semester. I think it a great program for learning writing fundamentals, but I was already covering the topics during narration and dictation.

[sassenach]

I picked several choices. Other: Didn't fit the learning style of student. Ds9 is NOT an auditory learner. Programs that are heavy on auditory (FLL1/2) were a total waste of our time.

[Amethyst]

We've droppe dmany things for a variety of reasons.But I also checked "other" thinking about Sonlight American History because I found the Instructor's Guide to littered with conservative politics.

[lillehei]

I have been homeschooling my 9 & 11 yo for only 2 years and I am the queen of dropping curriculum. Every grammar/writing program we have tried has been a failure but all for different reasons: Sonlight, IEW, Easy Grammar, Shurley. We dropped Sonlight this year in favor of SOTW and have regained our love for history. We won't be continuing with Apologia science. We are still debating whether to continue this geography. I think the only constant we have had is math.

[Jenny in GA]

Hmm ... it's hard to answer that without going into specifics.

 

I think often I drop something because one or more of us are bored with it, and/or I feel we've exhausted it and it's time to move on.

 

That's how I felt about FIAR. Originally I planned to use it for years (it actually extends up to 8th grade), but after a year and I half, I'd had enough and felt it was time to move on. I thought my kids would be really disappointed, but they were quite happy with what they moved to, and never seemed to miss it.

 

Easy Grammar -- we dropped after 2-3 months before we got bored with it and it didn't seem to "teach" anything, just plug and chug the same types of exercises day after day.

 

We dropped AAS because I got sick to death of it and all the "parts" after a couple years, and it started occurring to me that, although it seems great in theory and has a big following, my daughter's actual spelling was improving very minimally. I wish I had dropped that one a lot sooner.

 

I dropped FLL because it was so wordy and I could not take it anymore. Also, my second child absolutely hated it from the get-go (which was also true about AAS.)

 

We dropped Writing Strands after about three days because my child cried every time she tried it, and I had trouble understand the directions (I'm a professional writer. It's not like I was too stupid to understand a writing assignment, but it was unclear and weird to me, and my daughter couldn't understand what he was asking for either.) Also, his sense of humor was not appropriate for that age, IMO.

 

I know some people push their kids through a curriculum even though the kids don't like it, but I don't see the point. There's so much good stuff to choose from, and to me the whole point of homeschooling is to find the best fit.

 

Generally speaking, I'm the kind of person who likes a lot of variety, and I tend to not stay with a program for more than about 2 years, even if it was a program I liked a lot. I have forced myself to stay with the same math program for four years, though, because I think that's a little different.

[LMD]

I have dropped things because on reflection it was not was I wanted to expose the children to so young.

 

I have dropped things because they were too dry/wordy for us, if I can't get my head around it then it doesn't get taught! I need to be interested & excited to pass on the lesson content.

[Gailmegan]

I had similar thought as others but one I didn't see mentioned is "Hard to implement." I have dropped a number of programs because I couldn't get it done. Either the instructions were too complicated or too much leg work was needed (like books from the library every week or too many supplies that had to be purchased).

[Another Lynn]

Some possible reasons for "other"

 

With math - the pace of the program might have been okay, but there wasn't enough review (i.e. it was mastery instead of spiral)

 

In general - I would also tend to drop things where the teacher support was designed for classroom use and required lots of tweaking/digesting/gleaning before it was useable.

 

I'm not proud of it, but I think my biggest priority is possibly time-efficiency.

[redsnapper]

CQLA Level A

 

It had so much potential. Even ps teachers I know thought it looked really good. But in using it, we'd find errors or references to material not listed in the worksheets (turns out some of it wanted us to use other books they sell; nowhere in the paperwork does it even suggest you purchase those books)

 

The spelling notebook doesn't help my dd at all. The writing piece has them doing the same kinds of things, using the same step by step process every time. Never adjusting to, "now that you know how to do A, let's skip A and start at B. It says it's character based, but other than a list of character words in a box on Day 1 every week, there was little reference to character. Had optional penmanship of scripture, sometimes reading selections, or a "character focus". But I felt it was the barest hint of character based, not enough to be a main selling point. I felt like "wacky words"/homophones section it on to/two/too and their/there/they're way too many times.:glare:

 

I do like how it has flexibility built in for basic or more challenging work throughout the week.

[KarenNC]

Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons and Phonics Pathways---boring, odd fonts, distracting, bad fit

Singapore math---started well, moved too quickly, not enough review even in standards form

MCT grammar----don't know if it moved too fast or if I needed more support, but she wasn't retaining grammar

MCT writing--not enough support--I need more hand-holding

Powerspeak French---cute and she enjoyed it, but no retention

educacion espanola---dry, boring

Growing with Grammar---no retention

First Language Lessons--no retention (sense a pattern here in grammar:glare:)

 

I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting.

[kitten18]

 

In general - I would also tend to drop things where the teacher support was designed for classroom use and required lots of tweaking/digesting/gleaning before it was useable.

 

I'm not proud of it, but I think my biggest priority is possibly time-efficiency.

:iagree:

[TheReader]

I started with Singapore Math which worked really well for my oldest in the K to 4th grade years; around 5th grade or so he started struggling, not so much because the math moved to quickly but the teaching style/learning style weren't matching up. As the problems got more complicated, the mental math of Singapore just wasn't clicking for him anymore.

 

So we switched.

 

I started it, but switched almost right away, with my youngest and instead he's doing Miquon. This was purely a learning style thing; he learns in a completely different way than my older boys did/do, so almost everything I used with them, I can't use with my youngest.

[wintermom]

FLL 1 - started out really enjoying it, then became very repetitive and boring.

 

Wordly Wise - Enjoyed the first book, then took too much time for what it was. Found other ways to cover similar material.

 

MUS Primer - Dc really disliked the DVDs and workbook. We have and use the manipulatives regularly, though.

[Tabrett]

An other:

 

Too repetition. I wish curriculums would mix up what they do every 6 weeks or so. Like 6 weeks of worksheets, then 6 weeks of notebooking, then 6 weeks of hands on, ect... Doing the same thing all.year.long drives me batty!

[julikins]

I dropped MUS Alpha for my son because it wasn't right for him. We've loved MUS for my daughter, she gets it and is doing very well. But he needs something different (spiral instead of mastery).

 

I had to drop MFW ECC for the most part, just doing little parts of it, the read alouds and biographies, the Bible reading and a limited taste of geography because of stressful stuff going on and just having to cut down to the basics. We have been building a house, found out I was miraculously pregnant but on bedrest for most of the pregnancy, and then we moved and now we have to be in a different city closer to good doctors awaiting the arrival of baby. So we've cut down to concentrating on the 3 R's, reading together and some science notebooking that is loosely based on geographic locations. That's about it. But I wish we could have made it work. Oh, and I've been trying to do the geography game, but honestly haven't done it for a few weeks. Really love the game though and the kids are learning so much. But if we were doing the whole program they would be loving it too! God knows. I'm looking forward to starting off fresh with MFW CtG next year.

[ALB]

Other- I just can't seem to follow lesson plans created by anyone else :lol:! I know, a terrible trait, but I tried WWE, and just thought I would rather find my own copywork, I like choosing all my own read alouds (no thanks, HOD), I like coming up with my own science topics and books, etc. I change FLL until it is un-recognizable. So far, I have managed to follow Saxon and Spelling Workout fairly closely (although both are supplemented with a variety of things!).

[kalanamak]

I said started out but got hard too fast, and too cutsey. And other: the other is the most common. Could be: I hated it, it didn't stick, found something better, just didn't seem to get done.

[kalanamak]

I have been homeschooling my 9 & 11 yo for only 2 years and I am the queen of dropping curriculum. Every grammar/writing program we have tried has been a failure but all for different reasons: Sonlight, IEW, Easy Grammar, Shurley. We dropped Sonlight this year in favor of SOTW and have regained our love for history. We won't be continuing with Apologia science. We are still debating whether to continue this geography. I think the only constant we have had is math.

 

I am very grateful I seem to be collecting "keepers" as I move along. My keepers so far are SM, GWG, WWE, and now (:party:) Spelling Power. My son recently reminded me he hates spelling. I flashed some of our old books at him, and he admitted he was being inflicted with the least of all spelling evils. (And it's working!)

[Joyofsixreboot]

We've dropped HOD Bigger from week 24 sort of. My kids liked the history to begin with but felt it got drier and drier. I'm using another history book to finish US history. We always added more science so we're finishing reading science but not note booking it which 10 yo liked but 8 yo loathed. We read the proverbs but dropped Little Pillows about week 3. DS will finish the extension books which have been outstanding. We use the poetry and we always used our own LA and math. Confused yet? I did love having 24 weeks without driving myself nuts.

[pereztribe]

Prima Latina was ours. I really wanted to like it. I even bought it twice, thinking because she was a little bit older we could use it, but neither one of us liked it at all. I think it was just too dry.

[desertmum]

Singapore Earlybird series. Too many cute colours and fluff. DS was easily distracted by this. Got Singapore Essential Math which is in black and white and now ds can focus on the math -not the pretty pictures.

 

BFSU - I dropped it because I have no idea how to structure it -too complex for mum, I need something more open and go.

[sagira]

The reasons I have dropped programs are thus:

 

- too boring

- too much busywork, no real learning

- too similar to something I'd already been using that was working already

- too difficult

- ds wasn't comprehending

- not a good fit between teacher and material, or student and material

 

I bought Killgallon Sentence Composing, but didn't even start it as I knew it would have been too difficult for my then fresh third grader. I am trying it out this year, now that ds has been reading more higher level books, has more experience with more complex narrations and longer dictations.

[mommy5]

My main reasons have been it takes too much time, too little teacher support and then too difficult for the child.

[Annabel Lee]

My "other" was because I was trying to do too much and had to learn to allow some things to fall off the schedule. We were doing things that, after researching & learning a bit more in my earlier hs years, I discovered were redundant & would end up having overlap.

 

I also voted for the first option, because Calvert K was too painfully easy yet took so much time.

[beaners]

We didn't finish Funnix through to the end because my daughter's reading ability advanced beyond the program. I don't know if I would say we dropped it, because that particular phrase implies (to me) that it wasn't working. We both thought it was great, and I'll be using it pretty soon with my next child. It had just served its purpose, so I decided we didn't need to keep working on material that had already been mastered.

[m0mmaBuck]

CLE LA was just too much for DS from the start. R&S LA was fine by me but didn't work for DH and DS. Spelling Workout was too much busy work with not enough meat. AAS was too "babyish" per DS. Spelling Power DH and DS "didn't get." WWE made DS cry every time I pulled it our. R&S Social Studies was too dry. CLE Math and Social Studies were just plain boring after the 200 level.

 

I'm sure there are more but I'm noticing LA/spelling seems to be a recurring offender in our house.

[stripe]

Some because they were boring, others because my kid wasn't learning as much or as deeply as I wanted.

[Dmmetler]

Hey Andrew-dropped because it was too easy and too boring and slow and workbooky

 

Elementary Spanish-dropped because it was too easy and DD hated the lessons on the computer

 

Saxon Math (in PS K)-Too repetitious-DD hated it

 

Sing, Spell, Read and Write (in PS K)-too repetitious, moved too slow, too easy

 

Spanish for Children-Started OK, but no retention. My DD definitely prefers to learn languages by reading in them/using them, not by memorizing

[3Blessings]

We started with Saxon and ds tolerated it, but dd hated it. We were already a bit accelerated and still felt not quite right. To be fair, still not sure we have the right math for after schooling, but maybe I will change my tune after we start homeschooling full time. I don't want to constantly change curriculum . . .:glare:

[jessicamcc]

We have definitely dropped stuff if it was too boring. I try to be really careful in my selections to avoid that. My husband doesn't understand- he had to do things that were boring all the time in school. I just reply that I know, but know that I'm the teacher I don't want to suffer thru something if I don't have to.:lol: