ereks mom Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I don't want to buy something that's going to sit on the shelf unused. I guess what I'm asking is "what do I really NEED for Biblioplan?" BTW, we'll be doing Ancients next year, and I've never used either Biblioplan or MoH before. I've always used TRISMS with my own kids (and I LOVE it), but it's just not going to fit with my students (logic stage teen girls). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljenn Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 We are using Biblioplan for the first time and my dd LOVES it. She looks forward to it, and this is a STEM kid who usually thinks history is "boring". We use Cool History for advanced, the Hands On Maps, the Family Guide (lesson plans), the Companion and MOH. I have dd do the worksheets/essays for Cool History and just the readings for MOH. We really like it, and when she comes in to tell me a cool fact, I know she's learning!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna T. Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Hi! I hope it is o.k. for me to jump in to the conversation! :001_smile: My oldest will be a 9th grader next year. We have never used Biblioplan but I have always wanted to and am considering it for High School. Caroljenn, do you use the Greenleaf literature guides that are recommended in Year 1? I think my son would need the help that those offer for the literature of this time period. But, I am just wondering if they are enough help. By help, I just mean enough support so that we can count the BP reading as a part of his English credit. Thank you for any info. I really want to start at Ancients in 9th grade, but I know we will need help with the literature component. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljenn Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Hi! I hope it is o.k. for me to jump in to the conversation! :001_smile: My oldest will be a 9th grader next year. We have never used Biblioplan but I have always wanted to and am considering it for High School. Caroljenn, do you use the Greenleaf literature guides that are recommended in Year 1? I think my son would need the help that those offer for the literature of this time period. But, I am just wondering if they are enough help. By help, I just mean enough support so that we can count the BP reading as a part of his English credit. Thank you for any info. I really want to start at Ancients in 9th grade, but I know we will need help with the literature component. The only lit guide I have right now is for Beowulf and its from Progeny Press. We haven't used it yet, but will in the next few weeks. I like what I see in it- it has vocab review and good questions, I am definitely giving my dd English credit for the readings for year 2. I am going to do the lit guide with dd at first to get her started and make sure she is giving intelligent answers and has the hang of it. Dd is a STEM kid and she hates analyzing literature, which is why she's getting the hand-holding treatment at first! We didn't do Ancients, so I don't know about that one- sorry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 So... what do I really NEED for Biblioplan? Do I NEED the Companion if I'm going to use MoH? (I'm thinking "no". So if I don't get the Companion, do I NEED Cool History? Aren't Cool History assignments based on the Companion? Can I do just fine with only MoH and the Bibliolplan guide? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljenn Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 I think you are correct. MOH has questions built in. I don't know if you'd even want the guide if you are doing just MOH, unless you are using it for Bible and English. The English assignments are not as spelled out in the guide - you could probably make your own English if you wanted to. Maybe use recommended WTM readings with a study guide? Also, the Cool History has Bible references and questions that help make up the Bible credit. You could, of course, do something for Bible too. You can download a sample of a page of the guide on Biblioplan's website - it is worth a look for you and your needs. I really like the maps and the Cool History, but the MOH questions are good too. Dd was in private school through 8th grade, so she is used to a worksheet format and likes it. I don't have the timeline because I still have one from MFW. Overall, I am very happy with Biblioplan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Togo Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 I am using Biblioplan with a teen girl, and she loves it. For Year I, we used the Companion, Cool History, maps, timeline, history and geography tests, and we have added the new discussion guide for Year 2. We don't use anything else for the history portion because the Companion, etc. is more than enough with literature guides and Bible reading/study. For ancient literature, we used most of the lit portion of Beautiful Feet Ancients; i.e. I typed this up as a study guide, and we also used Smarr literature guides. We worked through The Old Testament Challenge to add depth to the Bible reading. We use a separate English composition curriculum, so the Smarr guides were a good fit for us since they are primarily reading guides. I gave the following credits for Year 1 - 1 credit for Old Testatment Bible, 1/2 credit for World History, 1/2 credit for World Geography, 1 credit for Ancient literature. Biblioplan is flexible. The Family Guide gives suggestions for supplemental reading and literature guides. You can follow those suggestions or not. I used resources I already had for Ancients. Biblioplan is easy to use for me and my student, and we have worked out a schedule that is good for us; i.e. Monday- Read Companion and Cool History, Tuesday - Cool History, Wednesday - Cool History, Thursday - Off for music and errands, Friday - Mapwork and Discussion w/Mom. Dd studies a few days a week as well, so there is no cramming for tests. Literature has a separate time slot. Bible, we do together. We did not need 3 days for Cool History with Year 1, but Year 2 requires a bit more work, so I have scheduled 3 days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 I truly appreciate the input, so please feel free to comment if you have used Biblioplan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grace4me Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 We have used BP Year 2 and Year 1 for jr high and my dd loved it. We used Companion, Cool History, Maps, Timeline. She did the readings from MOH, but not the activities. We used Greenleaf's guide to the OT and I like that better than OT challenge (my other two used in MFW Ancients). BP is flexible! Readings can be as "heavy" or light as they need to be for each child. We use another writing/grammar/lit. analysis program, so that was not an issue for us. It worked beautifully with BP. If you are not going to use the Companion or Cool History, I probably wouldn't bother with BP. But, that said, if you are "visual" like I am, the price of having an "outline" in the Family Guide to gauge your year by is worth the price. You can buy BP in bits and pieces, which is nice. Their samples on the website give you a pretty good feel for the program. HTH, Mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom@shiloh Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Another question: I'm thinking about Biblioplan for next year and I've downloaded the three week sample. So far, I'm not seeing optional spines listed there such as MOH. Am I missing something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna T. Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 I can't remember which weeks are included in the year 1 sample, but if you can tell me which weeks you have I will check my BP schedule to see if any optional spines are scheduled for those weeks. But, yes, you should see the optional spines. I have the newest year 1 schedule and it looks like they are scheduled for almost every week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 I've used Biblioplan Year 1 and Year 2 but not with MOH. I used it when dd was in 6th grade. I've used Glencoe World history as an additional spine to the Companion. The cool history, tests, and advanced maps require the Companion. The one drawback I've found to the tests is that the questions come word-for-word from the weekly cool history pages. You are taking tests over 5-7 weeks at a time, but they still should have made the tests in a different format. I haven't had time to make them myself, but I have used additional activities from the Glencoe book to round things out for dd. I am not using BP again, though. Dd is going to do her American history credit next year. Year 3 of BP is being revised and will be released in sections. Their previous version used Hakim, which dd doesn't like at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Another question: I'm thinking about Biblioplan for next year and I've downloaded the three week sample. So far, I'm not seeing optional spines listed there such as MOH. Am I missing something? Here is a link to the Ancients sample. MOH is listed near the bottom of the page. It may be that some of the weeks don't correlate to something in MOH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 So... what do I really NEED for Biblioplan? Do I NEED the Companion if I'm going to use MoH? (I'm thinking "no". So if I don't get the Companion, do I NEED Cool History? Aren't Cool History assignments based on the Companion? Can I do just fine with only MoH and the Bibliolplan guide? Since you mentioned that you don't own the MOH yet, might I suggest you locate a copy and review it prior to making any curriculum decisions. After reviewing MOH, you may decide that you don't need MOH at all. When I looked at MOH for my 7th grader, we were unimpressed. Also, Biblioplan has a Yahoo Group. Blessings, h Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted March 27, 2013 Author Share Posted March 27, 2013 Since you mentioned that you don't own the MOH yet, might I suggest you locate a copy and review it prior to making any curriculum decisions. After reviewing MOH, you may decide that you don't need MOH at all. When I looked at MOH for my 7th grader, we were unimpressed. Also, Biblioplan has a Yahoo Group. Blessings, h Actually, I really like MoH and I am pretty sure I want to use it, but I wasn't really impressed with the BP Companion. I was thinking of using the BP Guide because it schedules out MoH and also literature, but I would rather not use the Companion if I can get by without it. I'm not sure yet about the Cool History. I guess if the Cool History is based on the Companion, I'd have to either get both of them or neither of them, huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljenn Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Yes, Cool History is based on the Companion, although if you really wanted to, you could get the answers for the worksheets elsewhere. I am glad I have all of it. We are happy with it so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 The Companion and Cool History are expensive. Try before you buy. Maybe download the three week sample of the Cool History and use it with MOH. You know you want MOH. I can't think of a safer way to try the program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted March 29, 2013 Author Share Posted March 29, 2013 Thanks to all who responded. I'm still on the fence. I'd like to look at a Companion and a Cool History--hold them in my hands and flip through them, not just look at the 3-week sample (which I've downloaded and printed out). That should help me decide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna T. Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 I encourage you to send an email to Julia Nalle at Biblioplan if you have any questions that the samples do not answer for you. She is a very helpful, generous person who will help you without making you feel pressured. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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