Do any of your HS kids do better with Textbooks vs Literature based curricula?

[txchick]

Do we have both types on this board? My son wants the EASE of learning with Textbooks and I prefer him to do more research and work a bit more for his knowledge...Sigh....Im so unsure.

 

Donna

[Mommyfaithe]

My 2cnd dd learned much better with text books. When I finally broke down, swallowed my pride and bought her textbooks in 10th grade, she began to take off. She loved her A Beka Lit and often went to bed studying it. The book gave her enough backround and enough of the storyline to light her fire and have her read the entire work later....after the work was done. Same with her science and and history. Once she had the smaller amount of info, she was sparked to find out more...on her own...

 

I am sorry I didn't listen to her learning style younger. It would have made for much less contention about getting assignments finished and she would have been able to blossom sooner.

 

 

Good Luck,

Faithe

[Quiver0f10]

My 10th grader doesn't enjoy reading and is very slow at it. He prefers textbooks and does very well with them. This year he is using Notgrass Exploring World History and we will add in a few of the lit books using Teaching The Classics as a guide.

[Kris in Wis]

For math and science we need textbooks. For history, English and social studies we use literature. I think if I would let them, all they would do is read!!

[gail]

We read literature as much as we can for history and classical literature. However, the sheer volume of reading required to finish whole books is just not do-able for us. Therefore, we pick some whole works and do excerpts for the rest, using textbooks.

 

For math and science we have used texts since the 7th grade.

 

Gail

[CAMom]

My 10th grader learns much better with textbooks. I can always use literature as a torture device if I need to, though.:tongue_smilie: He is the ultimate math/science mind.

[Heather in Savannah]

She is a slow reader, and so gleaning her knowledge from literature is to tedious....she would never finish her work, and would become very discouraged. Since we began using texts she has taken off, and her marks are excellent. She is very much a "just give me the facts" type of person. My ds who will be an 8th grader this fall loves to read, and has read literary works over 1000 pages, so he will be the one to enjoy learning from literature. I think it is important to work with the child's learning style.

[Love2Smile]

After trying Sonlight last year, both my girls are textbook learners...Nothing to be ashamed about...I am using a mix of Abeka, BJU and ACE

[Susan A.]

We have 3 dd's - two do better with textbooks, one does better with WTM style learning. In the end, we use a mix with all 3 - Mom's sanity counts too!

[sweetbaby]

We use a mixer of both. Works well for us.

[Christine]

My 10th grader doesn't enjoy reading and is very slow at it. He prefers textbooks and does very well with them.

 

:iagree: (Actually, just trying to say "ditto" for my son.)

 

Now, as to the "better", I just don't know. He does well enough with texts, and he doesn't want anything more. It keeps his complaining down to a minimum. It is the better option from his point of view (less work). (But, from Mom's point of view, I'm not sure it's a "better education". . .)

[Peela]

I am kind of envious. Both mine detest textbooks with a passion, and much prefer the literature approach. Some days it seems it would be so much easier to hand over the textbooks and tell them to get on with it.

Grass is always greener :)

[momof2boys]

We use a mix. For Math and grammar we use texts. For History I will sometimes use a text as a starting place and then we add in loooootttsss of books. My boys love history and they do not like textbooks because it does not give them enough. this makes it hard on me to plan history and takes alot of time but it is worth it to see their love for the subject. For Science I used unit studies in elementary and junior high but for highschool we are using textbooks. I am going to add in some books for each of the boys for Science to break up the monotony(sp?) of textbooks.

HTH

[Kimberleigh]

My kids prefer textbooks because it serves as a guide. When we used living books, they worried there would be gaps and often didn't know what to learn "next." As they've moved into high school work, we've also found it's easier to sync up AP courses with textbooks instead of having to build a curriculum that will cover all the material they'll need by exam time. Much as I rail against this testing frenzy, it's pretty much a necessity in this competitive college environment.

 

We supplement and go beyond the texts quite a lot. But after trying for years to force a literature-based approach, life got easier for all of us when we switched to textbooks. I have to admit, it does make planning a lot simpler. My kids are more relaxed now, too, knowing that they're getting at least an overview of everything (and digging deeper into the areas that interest them).

[carolinagirl710]

Do we have both types on this board? My son wants the EASE of learning with Textbooks and I prefer him to do more research and work a bit more for his knowledge...Sigh....Im so unsure.

 

Donna

One absolutely adores literature and the other...well, let's just say his feelings toward lit. based learning is a first cousin to hate! He is my "just the facts, please!" kinda of guy.

 

So literature and textbooks live quite happily together here.

[Tokyomarie]

We've done different things at different times. Literature based learning, and using whole books on non-fiction topics, was much more engaging for my children during the elementary and early middle school years. We used a combination of worktext and WTM-style methods for math, phonics,writing mechanics, and grammar. For science, history & geography, and literature I've used mainly or exclusively a whole book approach until about 7th or 8th grade (depending on the year & child).

 

From 7th grade things change and we begin using more textbooks in the content areas, beginning with science. For history and geography, some years I've added a textbook spine to our literature-based studies, other years or for a course we've used a textbook based approach. I left textbooks behind for studying literature a number of years ago. We use exclusively whole books and poetry anthologies for literature studies, though I do use study guides to help us get the most out of our reading.

 

I think if my child preferred learning with textbooks, I'd use some textbooks but not exclusively so. There is too much to gain from engaging with the world of classic literature, primary documents, and whole book non-fiction works to fail to use them at all.