If you switched to a boxed curriculum after being "eclectic"...

[WIS0320]

How did it go? 

 

Which box did you end up choosing and why?  

 

I like planning on my own and choosing exactly what I want to use but Mother of Divine Grace has called out to me for the last two years!

 

 

[...................]

Well I have switched from eclectic to boxed a few times.  I have homeschooled officially for 7 years this year and I have been eclectic 4 years and used boxed 2 years for one year and 3 years the other.  What happens is that, in the eclectic years I get tired of all the planning- moreso- I get tried of wondering if I am "doing enough" and I feel that if I got a really full boxed curriculum, then I would follow the plan and not have as much of that feeling.

 

Using boxed does have its benefits.  I did second-guess what we were doing less, which does result in a shorter school day sometimes. However, each time I've used Boxed, I ended up substituting or dropping whole portions because I disagreed with it or just didn't like it.  Also, I found that my students sometimes needed special attention (such as Sequential Spelling or extra phonics)...so it never ended up being "the answer" for me.  

 

I'm kind of hoping this year was my last foray into a "complete program" because they always end up costing a lot of money (well at least for me, since I used Calvert.  whopping price tag there.)

 

I really like to tailor my kids' education to their exact needs and even to their interests a bit.  Of course, as I said, the downside is that I do second guess the eclectic method a lot.  

[Hunter]

I had been afterschooling for awhile, and homeschooling my younger for a couple years when I pulled out my older. He requested a secular correspondence school. We chose American School. Looking back, now that he is 27, it was the BEST best best thing we could have done for him, and I never have a second of regret.

 

It's important when choosing a box or correspondance school, to make sure it's doable. Sometimes the best rated ones, are the hardest to complete. The accredited diploma my son earned opened a lot of doors for him. Yes, there are other ways, and my younger did not have a diploma, and did fine. But an accredited diploma is a nice perk.

[...................]

PS I feel that the ONLY areas that are super important to stick with one approach are spelling and math.  So, if you stick with your current math AND spelling, I don't think you could lose a whole lot by trying MODG.  Or, if the spelling scope and sequence is similar perhaps. 

[LLMom]

When I had 7 dc at home (with many littles), I ended up switching to boxed curriculum for a while.  I started with Seton (did that for 2 years).  It was a big help because everything was laid out and came in a box.  Once they were a bit older, but I still didn't have time to plan, I switched to Mother of Divine Grace.  While it was more in line with my teaching style/beliefs, It required a lot of book hunting and mom time on my part.  It wasn't as easy for me to use with a busy family.

[Guest]

I have done several boxes over the years: Calvert was my first, then Oak Meadow, then Verticy for Son 1, then K12 {never the math}, then Memoria Press, then BJU. I like them for the planning and not worrying about covering everything. As Calming Tea said, I have dropped portions {handwriting, test prep} but having that box still was/is useful to me and mine. What we have settled on is K12 as independents because I can tailor as needed. {I agree Calvert is a huge 'ole waste of money.}

[Guest]

I had been afterschooling for awhile, and homeschooling my younger for a couple years when I pulled out my older. He requested a secular correspondence school. We chose American School. Looking back, now that he is 27, it was the BEST best best thing we could have done for him, and I never have a second of regret.

 

It's important when choosing a box or correspondance school, to make sure it's doable. Sometimes the best rated ones, are the hardest to complete. The accredited diploma my son earned opened a lot of doors for him. Yes, there are other ways, and my younger did not have a diploma, and did fine. But an accredited diploma is a nice perk.

The bolded was quite helpful for me today, Hunter, as I am pondering Son 2's extreme frustration with LSS. Thank you.

[Crimson Wife]

We haven't yet, but if we decide to do high school at home, I'm seriously considering enrolling my DD in Kolbe.

[ondreeuh]

I've always been eclectic, but we are using K12 independently for history and I really like it. I am thinking of skimming through K12 English (using materials bought on Amazon) this semester, and then using K12 history, English, and science next year.

 

I've got a pretty sweet situation in which I can use K12 independently and get all the curriculum paid for through a local correspondence program. I just pick which work samples I want to turn in.

[Hunter]

The bolded was quite helpful for me today, Hunter, as I am pondering Son 2's extreme frustration with LSS. Thank you.

Unless there are some complaints about a box not being "complete", or being too quick to get done, or too easy, then it's probably not doable. A box should be comparable to a quality public school in VOLUME of work especially and in rigor as well. The child can be rewarded for finishing quickly by being able to officially advance, or unschool, or do something entirely non academic like dance or work.

 

A box that requires a child to work 3 times as hard as a PS student is not a box in my opinion, and unfair. PS students spend very little time on task. A box shouldn't take long at all to complete.

 

A box should be a carefully triaged checklist. It's so easy to add more. There is no need to worry about there being enough. You can "afterschool" the box.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

I switched one child to Oak Meadow, the organization and layout make him very happy.

[Mrs. Tharp]

Unless there are some complaints about a box not being "complete", or being too quick to get done, or too easy, then it's probably not doable. A box should be comparable to a quality public school in VOLUME of work especially and in rigor as well. The child can be rewarded for finishing quickly by being able to officially advance, or unschool, or do something entirely non academic like dance or work.

 

A box that requires a child to work 3 times as hard as a PS student is not a box in my opinion, and unfair. PS students spend very little time on task. A box shouldn't take long at all to complete.

 

A box should be a carefully triaged checklist. It's so easy to add more. There is no need to worry about there being enough. You can "afterschool" the box.

 

I've used Calvert for three years and  completely agree with this. And your last line especially can not be emphasized enough. That perspective is the key to making a boxed curriculum work well.

[naturally]

 

A box should be a carefully triaged checklist. It's so easy to add more. There is no need to worry about there being enough. You can "afterschool" the box.

Hunter,

Are there some boxed ones out there that fit this idea?

 

I haven't switched but truly wouldn't have been able to pull off homeschooling my younger 2 kids while working if it wasn't for the boxed set I am using. I now only look for fully developed curriculum or interactive learning tools because I do want to enjoy homeschooling my kids. If I had to do all the lesson planning then teach all the material I would go bonkers, lol!

What are you using?

[Guest]

I would say Calvert does.

[Berta]

We switched to a boxed set at the start of the year but it didn't work, but not because it was boxed. It just wasn't a good fit with my daughters learning style. We switched to a different boxed set and she loves it. With our crazy schedule this year it's much easier to have something that is open and go and not teacher intensive at all.

[Hunter]

This author used Calvert and then American School. We used American school. Both schools have changed, but I don't know how much.

 

http://www.amazon.com/No-Regrets-Homeschooling-Earned-Masters/dp/0962361100

[Homemama2]

Is Sonlight considered a box?  We are using Sonlight core E this year (an old core that I'm borrowing from a friend).  It's ok.  I like the schedule all laid out for me, but I shouldn't have tried to combine the boys in one core.  The history books and readalouds are great.  The independent readers are WAY too easy for my oldest and most are too easy for my youngest, although they enjoy the stories.  So for second semester I'm switching some of the reading around for my oldest boy. I didn't want to switch all of our LA  or math to Sonlight's choices, so I kept what we were using.  I also don't do their bible. I guess I ended up tweaking our "box" to the point that it's not really a box anymore.  I say this only to point out that my husband tried telling me that I like being eclectic and choosing all my own stuff, and that I wouldn't be very happy with a box.  He was right.   There is absolutely nothing wrong with boxes AT ALL in my opinion.  But if you really like being eclectic, it's hard doing what you're told.  ;)

[laundrycrisis]

DS1, 5th, is using Calvert for the first time this year - this is our first "boxed' experience.  I LOVE it and so does he !  He's finally getting material I just could not effectively make happen before.  The written work and daily checkpoints (like open book quizzes on the computer) are a nice challenge for him, and his level of work is really coming along.  It is flexible enough that I can easily adapt it to LD issues and busy weeks.  I'm planning to use it next year for him as well.

 

 

[Hunter]

Be wary of boxes that contain too much and too many choices, and leaves you to add the skills. Sonlight is not a box to me.

 

To me a box is a correspondence school or something that resembles one. Everything is expected to be completed. All subjects are included and compatible. Often the books are written by the school, or contain a study guide written by the school. The books and study guides are the teacher. Mom is the tutor.

 

CLASS is doable. but I preferred American. School. My neighbor used it for high school.

http://www.shopchristianliberty.com/about-class-homeschools/

 

ACE paces are a doable box.

[AliR]

We have used Calvert since 3rd grade (now in 6th) but before that we used all sorts of curriculum.  I stick with Calvert as, aside from the curriculum itself which is very professional, the 'box' means I spend my time actually teaching our daughter rather than spending time and money shopping for the perfect blend of materials.  I realised that I was using a lot of energy curriculum shopping and hopping - which was more about what I found fun to do - rather than committing time on making what I had work. 

 

DD11 works across three grade levels, and our 'box' from Calvert reflects this as they are increasingly flexible with their packages.  Within the package I have a great deal of freedom to do more, less, faster, slower.  I have significant learning issues to deal with.

 

I have learnt that it is not so much the materials that I use, but how I use them that makes for success.

[...................]

DS1, 5th, is using Calvert for the first time this year - this is our first "boxed' experience. I LOVE it and so does he ! He's finally getting material I just could not effectively make happen before. The written work and daily checkpoints (like open book quizzes on the computer) are a nice challenge for him, and his level of work is really coming along. It is flexible enough that I can easily adapt it to LD issues and busy weeks. I'm planning to use it next year for him as well.

Just so you know 6th grade Has a very different feel. We've loved the literature and the art. Composition is ok. But the Science, history, and geography are awful and prolong the school day enormously.

[Berta]

Be wary of boxes that contain too much and too many choices, and leaves you to add the skills. Sonlight is not a box to me.

 

To me a box is a correspondence school or something that resembles one. Everything is expected to be completed. All subjects are included and compatible. Often the books are written by the school, or contain a study guide written by the school. The books and study guides are the teacher. Mom is the tutor.

 

CLASS is doable. but I preferred American. School. My neighbor used it for high school.

http://www.shopchristianliberty.com/about-class-homeschools/

 

ACE paces are a doable box.

 

We switched to ACE but not through the school. I bought the materials independently and they are working well with my daughter. We started out using Trail Guide to Learning: Paths of Exploration, which I dearly loved, but she did not. She liked the content, but not the fact that I sat with her to do most of her work. With the ACE, she can take a workbook and work at her own pace. There are no defined lessons, and that is what works for her. For some reason, defined lessons seem to stress her. She does not like working on the computer or working with me. She will ask for help if needed and I am available to do so. I check and correct all her work, I don't allow her to do that. I think ACE has gotten a bad rap due to how the ACE school runs their program. I wasn't a big fan at first because I prefer to work WITH her, but this is what works for her. I do realize it would be easy to cheat with ACE, but so far so good. She has always been a good student.

[Kevin'sMom]

I am using K-12. I love the math books, especially. I supplement with Prentice Hall Lit books and use Rosetta Stone and a tutor for French. K-12 for Latin. I am not in a state that supports K-12 at no cost, so I bought the online and physical materials minus teacher support.

[PachiSusan]

I'm actually starting the journey to go the other way - from the box to a more eclectic style...I'm scared. LOL 

[Hunter]

I'm actually starting the journey to go the other way - from the box to a more eclectic style...I'm scared. LOL 

 

My prediction for you is that you will take a break and it WILL be good, and despite it being good, you will go back to a box about 8th grade, to get ready for a boxed high school. Different times call for different things. If there is a time to experiment a bit, middle school is it.

[PachiSusan]

My prediction for you is that you will take a break and it WILL be good, and despite it being good, you will go back to a box about 8th grade, to get ready for a boxed high school. Different times call for different things. If there is a time to experiment a bit, middle school is it.

 

Yes, that is my thought as well. I want a more structured High School, but now? We need to experiment and find out what makes her motor hum!

[CatholicMom]

I don't know if you consider Sonlight boxed but I went from eclectic back to Sonlight this year and I'm SO glad I did.

[Element]

I went from eclectic to Oak Meadow this year. I think I can now say I've supplemented, tweaked, and adapted it to death. It's now more like "OM-flavored WTM."

[Aurelia]

I went from eclectic to Oak Meadow this year. I think I can now say I've supplemented, tweaked, and adapted it to death. It's now more like "OM-flavored WTM."

 

I'm afraid that's what is going to happen for us next year. It happened when I tried their 2nd grade, by the end it was "OM-supplemented eclectic" which is the opposite of how I started the year. I already know I won't be using their science or math.

[Element]

I'm afraid that's what is going to happen for us next year. It happened when I tried their 2nd grade, by the end it was "OM-supplemented eclectic" which is the opposite of how I started the year. I already know I won't be using their science or math.

We love the fifth grade science, but there just isn't a lot of science in the syllabi for younger grades.

[Ecclecticmum]

I was doing eclectic & montessori/unschooling. This year, I am pretty much using standard stuff, I'm still pretty much eclectic, but not tweaking anything I get.

 

I was trying to put on too many hats, and with our home situation, everything simply cant be a relaxing tide, unfortunately. Our home & family, due to all the demands, has to be run like the military, rofl. With the sick days, appointments, meal planning, home therapy, wifely duties, household duties, animals, etc, I just ended up getting to a point where I was stretched too thin, and it was showing.

 

Something had to give, and since my brain needs step by step as it stutters and starts, what "gave" was the curricula. I identified three problems I had:

 

- Montessori homeschooling (one can not simply purchase "all of the goods" and all at once. everything was bought sporadically, and I was having to DIY stuff, taking up more time (that I loved) that I didn't have.

 

-Tweaking of things, I seem to tweak things a lot, and end up taking on more than I can chew. My new rule is not to add anything that wasn't needed, and only reason I can tweak is to simply cross something off the list and not do it, not to add things or re-arrange stuff. If I must, I can write a simple "ideas list" in my book, of stuff that is simple and are just ideas, not "to do" (this allowed me to write down movies and places to go that correspond with units/themes in my curriculum, my kids watch lots of movies, so they may as well be about the curriculas subject, and we have family outing every saturday, so it gives a place to go thats connected to that theme.

 

-Last was connections. Whilst I had been posting and talking on other forums related to the stuff I was doing, whilst doing Montessori there was no real "foruming" going on. No-one on the main forums (like here) had anything I wanted to read, and the Montessori places were really not chatty, in fact, the opposite. The few times I posted, I felt like I was a blight and just in the way (not a nice way to feel) I felt like we were all supposed to be meditating and just focusing on the "awe" that is Montessori, and so "speaking" had the effect of making me feel like a naughty child ROFL.

 

So I decided to just package it up, and use it up. Basically stop Montessori, and go "boxed" and I even had a curricula (two actually) already in my house that fizzled before they began. So I purchased the books for that, and decided to go with the method its influenced from - CM.

 

So I'm an open "boxed method". I use stuff that isn't CM, but works well or works with it. I don't go strictly into the method, because when I tried to do that with WTM, I went a little mad. lol. And for ease of our homeschool, I need to combine as much as possible. So kids are together for everything except LA (Eve & Chaos are on one level, Atlas on another) and Math (where they are on completely different programs).

 

So I've Moved to CM & WP. If I ditch WP, I'll just be using a simple CM. Pick a book, call it history, read it, narrate, done.

 

A year ago, this would not have worked. I am admitting that. Only my eldest had enough attention to use a literature based curriculum. Now though, they are seriously happy to be read to, in fact, insist upon it multiple times a day, lol.

 

I'm also using SCM Organizer. Expensive? I suppose, but $10 a month hardly seems expensive to me if I can schedule stuff in a few seconds, can ignore it and come back to it, and pick up where we left off, and add various notes in for the day, not spill a drink all over it and have it ruined, and access it even when out with just my phone. And especially not expensive if it keeps us on track and ploughing through. Then again, I am an obsessive lesson planner, I will plan and prettify and plan, and tweak and plan. So something that is simple and won't allow me to do that, is a good idea and saves me from wasting more time playing around. In order to satisfy my planner side, I starting a clipping/notes journal which I cut and paste ideas for household/school into from Magazines etc. That way I can stare at all the pretty stuff and get ideas for things to do with school or the household/house, without feeling like I need to check it off and actually do it. My inner planner is thrilled with it, and in return has actually done a few of those things in her spare time ;)

 

So my new box is WInterpromise, or books, books and more books :p

[TheAutumnOak]

Maybe I could have been considered "eclectic", not sure...I use to piece together different things but switched to a box - Memoria Press...This is my first week using the entire packages, so I will have to wait to give a real report of how it is going, but it is fine so far ;) ...I am in the process of adjusting the 5 day week and making it a 4 day, but other than that, no tweaking is planned...

 

[KeriJ]

HOD.  It was everything I was trying to put together on my own.