faiths13 Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 just curious - if you buy a curric and dont like it, what do you do? esp when you are on a budget or have limited funds in general? do you stick it out? do you just try to buy something else? is anyone a serial curric buyer? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 depends on the degree of hate. If it can be tweaked to make it work, I'd use it (we made Saxon palatable by making rigorous changes; we still hated it, but it got the job done. We switched the following year. We have also cut out busywork from curricula.) OTOH, if it makes me and/or the student really miserable, no amount of money is worth sticking it out. Before I'd buy the next thing, I would evaluate what exactly it is that I dislike, which features I would need instead, and then research materials to find something that fits better. I would try to borrow or preview before purchase, if possible - or get a very old, used version. Depending on what subject it is, I might improvise and make up my own (for example, I disliked all science curricula and have not found any I like below high school) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 depends on the degree of hate.If it can be tweaked to make it work, I'd use it (we made Saxon palatable by making rigorous changes; we still hated it, but it got the job done. We switched the following year. We have also cut out busywork from curricula.) OTOH, if it makes me and/or the student really miserable, no amount of money is worth sticking it out. Before I'd buy the next thing, I would evaluate what exactly it is that I dislike, which features I would need instead, and then research materials to find something that fits better. I would try to borrow or preview before purchase, if possible - or get a very old, used version. Depending on what subject it is, I might improvise and make up my own (I have not found any science curricula I like below high school) :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Is this the first time you have found one that you disliked that much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faiths13 Posted August 27, 2012 Author Share Posted August 27, 2012 great reply! i am just asking because in the past i have had that problem - but i was with a charter that paid for curric so it wasnt so much an issue. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CupOCoffee Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 depends on the degree of hate.If it can be tweaked to make it work, I'd use it (we made Saxon palatable by making rigorous changes; we still hated it, but it got the job done. We switched the following year. We have also cut out busywork from curricula.) OTOH, if it makes me and/or the student really miserable, no amount of money is worth sticking it out. Before I'd buy the next thing, I would evaluate what exactly it is that I dislike, which features I would need instead, and then research materials to find something that fits better. I would try to borrow or preview before purchase, if possible - or get a very old, used version. Depending on what subject it is, I might improvise and make up my own (for example, I disliked all science curricula and have not found any I like below high school) Totally agree with the bolded. I've tweaked and I have abandoned. Nothing is worth everyone being miserable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myeightkiddies Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 just curious - if you buy a curric and dont like it, what do you do? esp when you are on a budget or have limited funds in general? do you stick it out? do you just try to buy something else? is anyone a serial curric buyer? lol There are many serial curriculum buyers on the board. Some programs have a great resale value. In some cases the resale value is close to the retail price. One option, if you have such a program, is to sell it and purchase something that you will like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeeterbug Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Hmmmm...I tried a box curriculum my first year and gave it up after maybe 10 weeks. After that I just pulled out the bits I could use and added other things the best I could. And now it sits on my shelf just in case I might want to use it again for one of my youngers. The next year I knew to go a different route! That was my biggest blunder, my other misses have been smaller things that also sit on my shelf but I don't feel as guilty about since they didn't cost as much. I'll eventually resell them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 I try to give it a fair shot, tweak if I can, but if I am miserable or the kids are, I wouldn't suffer too long. There is too much good stuff out there. This is the first year I have ever switched midstream, but I had another almost complete program on the shelf and decided I wanted to try it before I got too many weeks in since the first was not just what I wanted. Last year I stuck with something because I didn't want to spend the money and I regretted it. I won't do that again. Money can be an issue so if you can't buy another, use your library, free resources, and your time to tweak it to be useable and enjoyable. If you as the teacher despise it, chances are you won't use it. Definitely evaluate what you did and didnt like about it thoroughly though so you don't make that mistake again. Homeschooling is a journey and we have to give ourselves permission to make mistakes and grace to fix them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama2Many4 Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 The bulk of what's on my bookshelves are hated curriculum. Or just not working for whatever reason or another. But I just keep them because I'm afraid that someday I'll need them after someone figures out some brilliant way of tweaking them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 just curious - if you buy a curric and dont like it, what do you do? esp when you are on a budget or have limited funds in general? do you stick it out? do you just try to buy something else? is anyone a serial curric buyer? lol I never sell something I don't like, because after awhile someone will post something about tweaking it and I'll want to try that. But if someone needs something that is sitting unused on my shelf, I do let them take it. I have repurchased some books so many times over the years it's disgusting. Sometimes I have not been able to immediately replace a subject. Sometimes I limp along. Other times I just use the library. Sometimes I have had to take a break from the subject entirely while I save up enough money to get something. I just double up on another subject for awhile. One thing that has slowed down my hopping is thinking about Adam being cursed with weeds. I find curricula "weedy". But they are all "weedy". So once I EXPECT everything I use to be weedy, I'm less disappointed. What I do is figure out my priorities and make sure the curriculum takes care of the priorities. One of my hardest things is when certain pieces that I love are not compatible. I love Spalding 4th edition, but it's not compatible with any dictionary ever written and certainly not with CGE's dictionary lessons. And McGuffey's clashes with both. Sigh! And if I'm using something ultra time consuming in one area, I feel like I need to balance that by going easy in another subject. So one curriculum change can set off a domino effect. I might stop using a science textbook and instead use DVDs if I'm spending 2+ hours a day on a new time intensive math or writing curriculum. I am a curriculum jumper, but I tend to jump in a circle, retrying old things over and over, in different combinations and with different tweaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grantmeawish Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 We are 6 weeks in and on a one week break. THis is my 1st year homeschooling. We've decided to drop Saxon and Apologia science and start Singapore and Mr. Q after this week. I hate to waste money but they were making school miserable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Many textbooks can be turned into read alouds. I often use public school textooks for independent readers and as read alouds. For output all I expect is mastery of the vocabulary. You can kind of robinsonize a textbook (Robinson is a curriculum where students do a lot of independant reading and vocabulary study). Sometimes we use a lesson from Draw Write Now to create a journal page. An oldschool trick with Saxon, when a student is placed too high or is a slower learner, is to do each 1/2 lesson twice. Just a couple tweaking ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Well, define "hate a curriculum".... Is it just not working, or are you bored with it? Is it not what you thought it would be? Do you, as a teacher, need more time to walk around in it, so that you can teach it better? Is it not at the level of your child(ren)? Slow it down. Speed it up. Take stuff out. Add stuff in. Supplement with some freebies from online. Use the library to cover the parts that aren't working. Don't jump ship at the first sign of trouble; it may take some time working with it to analyze and figure out WHY it doesn't work for you. Once you figure out that problem, you will know what to steer clear of in the future. :) This will save $ down the road. Something about that curriculum made you want to use. What is that something? Can you capitalize on that aspect, and subordinate the rest? I know my answer isn't the quick fix, but sometimes it is the long fix...;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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