Moving Beyond The Page, Curriculum... Anyone used it?

[SonshineLearner]

Anyone used or hear of this curriculum? I'd love some reviews :)

 

Moving Beyond the Page

[Farrar]

I know you may want reviews from folks here specifically, but it's popular on another forum I'm on and they do reviews there:

http://www.secularhomeschool.com/content/682-moving-beyond-page-reviews/

[roanna]

I'm using the 6-8 with my 6 year old. We just started 3 weeks ago so we are newly into it.

 

I like certain things about it but no curriculum is perfect so for right now it's the best thing for him and I.

 

What I like about it:

 

1. It asks things in a more interesting way of the child.

2. Math is integrated. My son's strong points are not math at this time so I am holding off on a real math program because there is a little math incorporated to keep him thinking about math.

3. I have found a lot of thing out about my son I didn't know. The questions they ask of the child reveal values they hold.

4. It's good for VSL. I love all the easy hands on projects which are mainly from the workbook pages. Cutting, pasting etc.

5. Customer service is excellent.

 

What I don't like:

 

1. I threw away 3 worksheets this last week because some were boring/ waste of time.

2. Drawings are drawings with no color. I actually sit in front of a movie and color them to make them look nicer a week in advance. Makes them look very nice. I'm sure no one else does this but I don't mind.

3. We were to spend an activity (there are usually 3-5) in a days work reading one book about MLK and why we celebrate it as a holiday. I thought, wow here's an opportunity to really study something that was meaningful to our history and we are only reading a small book about why we celebrate it as a holiday. I went to the library and got a book on Rosa Parks, MLK's life, and his speeches. I paused in the curriculum to spend a day on it.

4. I can tell it's very geared towards fulfilling the national/state standards as they say on their website. When we used SL before I could tell there's not real one for one associations with fulfilling those needs. I think this is why at times it seems a bit public schoolish.

 

Honestly, I don't know if we'll do another year but it's the best thing I've found so far for us. He's very ahead in some areas and the curriculum for his age is not interesting to him. The curriculum that would be interesting to him is too advanced for output. I could piece things together (as I have done) but I need a plan to follow. I have not achieved a state of consistency for myself to keep going unless something tells me the next step. This is just good enough for us at this time.

[JessieC]

We use it and love it. There are so many hands-on projects that really do "move you beyond the page," though it's literature based and writing-intensive (I let dd dictate some of the writing). We've had so much fun with different projects, like holding a measurement fair and inviting friends over to try different measuring activities that dd came up with. It's very creative and engaging! We've only done one level so far (6-8) and will move to 7-9 next week.

[Aurelia]

We've done bits and pieces, like the first two concepts of the 5-7 level and the first couple of literature units for 7-9. I like some of the activities, but there was really too much writing for DD when we used them. That said, I still have the third 7-9 lit unit, and since it's been several months we are going to try it again and see if it's a better fit now. I have a kind of love/hate relationship with MBtP. I love some of the ideas, but others I find either frustratingly useless or simply frustrating.

[SonshineLearner]

Hey there ;) Thanks for the info so far... I'd love some more opinions... or options for trying an "Experience Based" curriculum :)

[sewingmama]

We use the 5-7 level. We substitute a lot though - we use our own seperate math, writing, and phonics curriculums. I personally wouldn't use it as a full curriculum and find it functions well just for social studies/science.

 

There isn't really much writing instruction at this level (don't know about the higher ones). For instance recently one of the activities said "Ask your child to write a poem about spring". Well what if your child doesn't know what a poem is? What if (like my DD) they freeze up because they don't know the mechanics of writing poetry? That is why we use a seperate writing program. I also don't like their handwriting worksheets - the lines they use are ginormous and my DD was having trouble writing on them -so I tried it myself and I couldn't make neat writing on those lines either -too much space for wobbling. It's also not often enough - every now and then they throw in a random handwriting sheet - but my DD who has fine motor control issues needs every day practice :001_smile:

 

Anyway -I'm happy enough to use it as unit studies.

 

What I like about it is that is is very open and go - the materials are easy to find etc. I like that it is all planned out and I like that you can add in extra things if your child is very interested in something. I also like that if your child is not so interested you can cover a subject in one lesson -for example we covered the 4 seasons in one lesson each over 4 days - my kids were already familiar with these subjects so it was enough for them.

 

My kids have so far enjoyed all the activities - even the ones I thought were a little lame LOL. Most only take a few minutes to do which makes sure they get done.

 

I will probably do the next 2 levels but quit after that -and the only reason for that is that it seems to be very heavy on American history in the older years and we just don't need that much living in Australia ;)

 

The book selections are good (and cheap) and we have liked them all but (random plug) my kids like Sonlight selections better which we just use as a read aloud booklist.

 

I don't love MBTP but it works for us right now because we have to cover national standards and subjects in my State and MBTP covers them all -which means I can "get em done" and move onto something else more interesting :001_smile:

 

I don't think it's a gifted program at all - my kids are average and have no issues using it - I am using it with my 6 and almost 5 yo's.

[jar7709]

We have been using it for over a year and with some modifications it is great for my family. No matter what I use I would have to modify, so that doesn't bother me. I have some posts about how we use it more specifically on my (long neglected) blog, link in my sig if you are curious.