Tell me about Connect the Thoughts (science)

[momto2Cs]

I am looking in particular at Physics & Astronomy for my ds, but am curious as to any feedback about CTT's science programs. How in depth are these studies? How much time do they generally take? Anything else I should know?

 

Thanks!

[DragonFaerie]

:bigear:  DD is using CTT, but I can't answer your questions as she's just getting started with it.  She's working through the "How to use CTT" right now and then she'll start science after that.  She has already started the creative writing and music history courses and likes those so far.  Again, though, she's just barely gotten going.  I'd love to hear from others who are using the program, too.

 

ETA: I'm hoping these will be in-depth enough for her to use through high school.

[DragonFaerie]

Just thought I'd post that I received an email from CTT.  They're having a 20% off sale next week:

 

"Connect The Thoughts 20%-off every course and book sale runs from Tuesday, March 4 through late Monday March 10. Every course will be 20%-Off. There are no codes or coupons, the prices during our sale are the sales prices."

[momto2Cs]

Thanks for the heads up!

[foxbridgeacademy]

I have recommended CTT many times to many people.  We have used their History courses from Pre-history through Medieval so far and I love the writing assignments (we use them as discussion questions mostly).  I really had fun (so did the kids) using Science basics in a co-op setting too.  We skipped the Earth Science courses and tried Chemistry (with just my two).  I didn't like it nearly as much.  It's not how I understand Science so I had trouble "teaching" it.  If you have an independent student (like my nephew) then it works great.  I think the time required can be anywhere from 15 minutes to over an hour (sometimes more) it really depends on the lesson.  I found myself cutting out parts of the curriculum to save time/effort.  I love the ideas and the "out of the box" thinking the student does.  The author try's not to TELL the student what to think, instead the student is led to form their own ideas.  Maybe we weren't ready for the upper level science?  The history is much easier to implement and can be a lot of fun.  The curriculum uses not only text but video's too.  There are many opportunities for projects, drawing, and field trips.  Again, it is a great program but I couldn't do the Science.  It is IMO religion neutral (as long as you believe in "Old Earth") with no bias toward any belief.  I would suggest you "bite the bullet" and buy Science Basics ($20).  Also sign up for the emails, CTT offers %20 off every couple months.

 

FYI- 1. I tend to only give one writing assignment per lesson, if there are projects we will only do 1.

        2. My children loved the Creative Writing too, wanted to do it daily.

        3. Some people object to the authors religion/ previous religion (?) but I found nothing to even indicate a bias toward any religion, and I looked. 

[DragonFaerie]

I have recommended CTT many times to many people.  We have used their History courses from Pre-history through Medieval so far and I love the writing assignments (we use them as discussion questions mostly).  I really had fun (so did the kids) using Science basics in a co-op setting too.  We skipped the Earth Science courses and tried Chemistry (with just my two).  I didn't like it nearly as much.  It's not how I understand Science so I had trouble "teaching" it.  If you have an independent student (like my nephew) then it works great.  I think the time required can be anywhere from 15 minutes to over an hour (sometimes more) it really depends on the lesson.  I found myself cutting out parts of the curriculum to save time/effort.  I love the ideas and the "out of the box" thinking the student does.  The author try's not to TELL the student what to think, instead the student is led to form their own ideas.  Maybe we weren't ready for the upper level science?  The history is much easier to implement and can be a lot of fun.  The curriculum uses not only text but video's too.  There are many opportunities for projects, drawing, and field trips.  Again, it is a great program but I couldn't do the Science.  It is IMO religion neutral (as long as you believe in "Old Earth") with no bias toward any belief.  I would suggest you "bite the bullet" and buy Science Basics ($20).  Also sign up for the emails, CTT offers %20 off every couple months.

 

FYI- 1. I tend to only give one writing assignment per lesson, if there are projects we will only do 1.

        2. My children loved the Creative Writing too, wanted to do it daily.

        3. Some people object to the authors religion/ previous religion (?) but I found nothing to even indicate a bias toward any religion, and I looked. 

 

Do you think the CTT courses are in-depth enough for high school credit?  We're not far enough in for me to tell, and DD is still in 7th grade (and an incredibly independent student; she doesn't like discussion).  But, I'd like to do the whole curriculum, if it will work for high school.  I read the website, and he claims that it is very thorough and takes a good 4 to 5 years to complete.  What do you think?

[foxbridgeacademy]

Is it a complete program?  I can only really give my opinion on the history courses since we didn't make it far into Science.  

For History we have used the first 5 courses.  I have cut out some of the activities, and we do most of the the writing assignments as discussions.  For a student who doesn't like to discuss then you could pick and choose which writing prompts to use.  We have added additional reading from K12HO and Oxfords WIAT.   I'm not sure it is needed at the Middle School level but I do think for H.S. more text/info is needed.  But then most programs require additional reading IMO. The writing requirements remind me of a lot of my History classes in college. Short essays that required more then just a regurgitation of the previous days readings. There is a lot of writing, and the curriculum relies on documentaries for a good portion of its teaching. This works great for us, DS is dyslexic and LOVES historical Doc's.  There are links in the PDF to where you can find the Doc's.... usually on YouTube.  

So to answer your actual question.... IMO yes I think with minimal tweaking it would work fine for H.S.  If done exactly as laid out, it might be even a bit much (again, lots of writing.) 

 

I would wait for a sale, buy the History and Science level you are about to do next.  Then take your time going through it.  I start by copy/pasting the whole PDF into a Word Doc.  The I go through lesson by lesson decide what activities and Writing prompts we're going to use.  I color the bits I don't think we'll use red (I don't delete in case we change our mind).  I also change the font, and size to something that will use less ink.  More recently I put it on Google Drive so no printing needed, we can just use the tablet.  

[foxbridgeacademy]

I am looking in particular at Physics & Astronomy for my ds, but am curious as to any feedback about CTT's science programs. How in depth are these studies? How much time do they generally take? Anything else I should know?

 

Thanks!

 

I would start with Science Basics, it will give you a chance to get comfortable with the particular style of the curriculum, plus there are a lot of neat activities and interesting ideas that I'm glad we got to experience.

[DragonFaerie]

Is it a complete program?  I can only really give my opinion on the history courses since we didn't make it far into Science.  

For History we have used the first 5 courses.  I have cut out some of the activities, and we do most of the the writing assignments as discussions.  For a student who doesn't like to discuss then you could pick and choose which writing prompts to use.  We have added additional reading from K12HO and Oxfords WIAT.   I'm not sure it is needed at the Middle School level but I do think for H.S. more text/info is needed.  But then most programs require additional reading IMO. The writing requirements remind me of a lot of my History classes in college. Short essays that required more then just a regurgitation of the previous days readings. There is a lot of writing, and the curriculum relies on documentaries for a good portion of its teaching. This works great for us, DS is dyslexic and LOVES historical Doc's.  There are links in the PDF to where you can find the Doc's.... usually on YouTube.  

So to answer your actual question.... IMO yes I think with minimal tweaking it would work fine for H.S.  If done exactly as laid out, it might be even a bit much (again, lots of writing.) 

 

I would wait for a sale, buy the History and Science level you are about to do next.  Then take your time going through it.  I start by copy/pasting the whole PDF into a Word Doc.  The I go through lesson by lesson decide what activities and Writing prompts we're going to use.  I color the bits I don't think we'll use red (I don't delete in case we change our mind).  I also change the font, and size to something that will use less ink.  More recently I put it on Google Drive so no printing needed, we can just use the tablet.  

 

Thanks so much for all the info.  I'm glad to know that it's a pretty thorough curriculum.  I was already planning on adding in readings from the k12 HO books as DD enjoys history and geography, so it sounds like it should be fairly solid going into HS.  Yay!