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What was your biggest curriculum mistake?


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Wow, we have such vastly different kids!  I have loved reading this. Some I think tried to use items too early. 

 

Now, I agree with many of you on your comments about the numbers of books in some subjects.  Ack, it was a turn off for me too. 

 

Something that we sat down and never finished ...

 

Wordly Wise, Vocabulary from Classical Roots, Mystery of History, and SOTW

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Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings:  If I had been less rigid about using it as written, we probably would have done better.

 

 

 

I was contemplating using this with ds. Can you tell me more details about your statement? I'd be glad to learn from your experience! Thanks.

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I was contemplating using this with ds. Can you tell me more details about your statement? I'd be glad to learn from your experience! Thanks.

 

Instead of having my son fill in all of the worksheets (and then getting stressed because he wasn't doing it correctly), we should have just done everything orally.  Every so often I should have had him write an essay using either a prompt from LLLOTR or something we came up with ourselves.  I would also skip the comprehension section entirely (where the kid is supposed to fill in blanks in a synopsis of the chapter).

 

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I am really surprised at how many did not like 100 EZ lessons. I had great success with all 5 of my kiddos, and the 6th is still a baby. I never did any of the writing portions of the book, but it took about 15-20 minutes a day, and we usually moved straight to beginner readers by lesson 70 or so. 2 of my kids are English Language Learners, and they had success too!

 

Fails for us include: Rosetta Stone, Sonlight, Handwriting Without Tears, Apologia Astronomy (did not like narrative format, and also did not enjoy studying astronomy for the entire year!), R&S Spelling, MUS Alpha/Beta/Gamma was a mixed bag with both positives and negatives. I really wanted to love Latin For Children A, but the kids are struggling with it.

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I'll come back to add one for this year... MCT Island. I get why people like it, but the parts to whole approach was so, so wrong for my kids. I do kinda like the poetry book, but everything else was boring review or just brain breaking for them. The writing assignments made my head hurt. Luckily I got it used and it'll resell well.

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Those of you who don't like MUS are scaring me, although I guess several math names are popping up here. I'm using MUS! What's wrong???? :)

 

 

It worked well until about the 4th level (Gamma?) for my dd, then I found that after a year long of doing division, she had actually forgotten the basics like subtractions!!! So mastery approach just didn't suit her at all, and we went to a spiral one instead (CLE Maths), and now she retains it.

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My mistakes were when I went and bought another curriculum when I already had more than we could use!  I typically do this from a sense of fear that we aren't doing "enough"

 

My first year I purchased Sonlight from a friend and only used it for a few weeks.  That was a learning experience, not a mistake.  I'm pretty sure if I had never tried it, I would be wondering if it would be the answer!

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I have Spelling Power on the bookshelf, but I can't even seem to find the motivation to look through it, let alone start it. It seems so daunting. I guess I should have known that I needed an open and go type of thing. And, I just don't know that I even want to cover spelling. My first big mistake, and rather costly.

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Mistakes that cost $$$:

 

Mapping the World by Heart: pretty expensive for a program where you have to make up your own lessons.

 

MCT: Cornucopia of wrongness about grammar, poetry, phonetics ... probably would have been able to list more if I hadn't cut my losses and given it away.

 

Artistic Pursuits: At this point, I stopped buying things just because they were recommended by people on the board, even if I agreed with their educational principles.

 

Cheaper mistakes:

 

A year of Sonlight, partial and used.

 

A Spanish curriculum: Can't be much help when you don't know any of the language yourself.

 

Used Saxon books.

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For those who listed Easy Grammar, what didn't you like about it, please?  I'm actually looking at it now for this coming Fall.

 

Does anyone NOT like Logic of English?  I'm looking at this for spelling.  I really want something that covers HOW words are crafted in English and where they came from, as I think it will really help my elder DD (who is a rather creative speller).

 

This past year is our first year homeschooling, so we are still figuring it all out.  On top of that, we have had several family matters that have arisen to interrupt and complicate matters.  We adjusted, and kept on.  At the very least we worried about the 5 required topics here in TX and took breaks from other stuff when needed.

 

Why I'm grammar shopping: 

We started with Shurley English Homeschool because the kids' school they had attended used Shurley English and the kids seemed to do fine with it.  Well, Shurley English Homeschool isn't quite the same, and we found it confusing and tedious to try to work through.  We then switched to Fix-It Grammar (Tom Sawyer), which was fun for a while.  However, we didn't always get why the Fix-It author listed some things the way she did, and when we tried to go to the unabridged Tom Sawyer we discovered just how different the passages in Fix-It were from the original.  That killed the fun of "fixing" Mark Twain, and didn't resolve the confusion at hand.  We are currently reviewing Nitty Gritty Grammar (books 1 & 2) because they are fun and TX requires covering grammar.  They are not, however, a systematic approach, they are meant to be solely a resource to aid older students and adults who did not grasp grammar fully or find something confusing.

 

On science: 

We bought Elemental Science and would have continued with it (the kids like it well enough).  But those family matters intervened, and while we were doing ES we were also sending the kids to a local science academy, which happens to be a total BLAST and they learn a lot.  Long story short -- science academy it is for us!  Took some load off my plate, the kids have fun and make new friends, I have more parents to visit with -- all in all a much better deal.

 

On history: 

We started with SOTW, even though I knew it was written to a younger age/grade than my kids (currently grades 4 & 6).  It gave us a good place to start, so we could get our "feet wet" in homeschooling.  We supplemented with Usborne and Kingfisher history encyclopedias, and now use primarily those, along with whatever videos I find on Netflix, places we visit, occasions that come up -- anything we can take advantage of.  This gives me the added advantage of adding in archaeology, and the history and prehistory of places/areas not usually covered in other materials.  Oh, and I inflict Great Courses lectures on the kids from time to time.  They like to moan, but they actually get interested in some of them.  I highly recommend Lost Worlds of South America to cover the general lack of information about pre-Columbian South and Central America.  I am biased --  I have a degree in archaeology, and I'm giddy over the lengthy resource list it includes for my further purusal.

 

Biggest mistake: 

taking on too much, for fear of doing too little, right at the start.  We have backed off of some of the extracurriculars, and I'm modifying my plan of year-round schooling.  As things are working out our homeschool year will remain tied to the cousins' school years, so we are going to do more traditional and expected topics throughout the normal school year, and use summers and periodic breaks for exploring other subjects and opportunities.  We still will keep our flexibility of when we take vacations, how long our school days are, and when we have sick or snow days.  I'm finding we are still making quite good progress, largely, I think, because the stress is off of us of matching someone else's pace and schedule.  The kids have become a lot more independent in this school year, and work through stuff amazingly fast many days.

 

Great thread!  Thanks, OP!

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I've only been homeschooling since October and my "fails" I think would probably work well for any of my other children, just not the one I bought them for. 

 

Saxon Math was not a good fit for him. While he learned Spalding in PS and did well, SWR at home was a total bust. I want to poke my eyes out when we do FLL. And for some reason I could not get into Apologia Zoology 1.

 

It's bugging me to see people mention REAL Science Odyssey since I just ordered that for next year! :(

 

Don't let that bug you!  There isn't a single curriculum out there that fits everyone.  Several of my favorite curriculum are listed here.  I really liked REAL Science - life.

 

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All right—enough! :sneaky2: The frequency of this thread has finally guilted me into adding the following to my confession list: 

 

Wondermaps

 

History Through the Ages Timeline products (notebook, figures, and placement guide)

 

WorldBuild Vocabulary by Dynamic Literacy – I bought it a couple of years ago, thinking it'd be a good but easy workbook for summer academics, but it's officially a flop. I hope my recent investment in Reasoning and Reading (recommended by CAP) doesn't suffer the same fate.

 

Since the latter two are only partially completed, I can't sell them, return them, or get myself to throw them out. I keep thinking that my little man may somehow benefit from them some (rainy?) day. Ha! Likewise, here are other purchased resources that remain unused, but still wait on the shelf as a possible reference whenever an urgent situation may arise that calls for one of them ;):

 

Writing Road to Reading (4th Edition)

 

Our Mother Tongue

 

Warriner's English Grammar and Composition

 

Apologia Science (Astronomy, Botany, Zoology 1)

 

I think I may need intervention from the hive—permission to sell or donate them. 

 

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Ok, it has taken me 4 days to read this thread lol!

 

Thank you to those of you that actually broke down why you left Sonlight. I have so far loved it but I have also used it differently which has left me questioning whether I want to continue or go another route, especially since I will be finishing FLL this year.

 

What didn't work for us:

 

History Odyssey - I don't do well with reading chapters in books out of order.

 

RSO Science- Great retention, dd loved it... I dreaded doing an activity every time we did science. Kuddos to the moms that can hang!

 

K12 Independent was not a good fit for us at the time. Had I started homeschooling in K or 1st I think it wod have been great. I may even do it with my little. I don't regrettit either though because from it I learned what I wanted.

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Sequential Spelling

Spelling Power

Bob Jones Spelling

All of these eventually were shelved. My dd is happily doing Phonetic Zoo and loving it.

 

 

Wordly Wise

Vocabulary from Classical Roots

Both of these were a bomb in my house. My 9th grader is now reading Vocabulary Cartoons, and remembers every.single.definition, because of the silly picture. Go figure.

 

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  • 4 months later...

Ack! I see LFC was mentioned a few times, and we are starting it in January. I hope it doesn't flop because I have no back up plan.

 

I really did not like RS4K, too simple. And Spelling Workout flopped twice for us, so I promised DS I'd never inflict it on him again.

 

I also banned myself from ever buying another elementary science curriculum! He learns much more through leisure reading and our daily lives anyway...

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I also banned myself from ever buying another elementary science curriculum! He learns much more through leisure reading and our daily lives anyway...

 

My best elementary science curriculum has been "daily hands on interest led experiment-based curricula with an intensive focus on buoyancy and water displacement."

 

In other words, my kids take baths.

 

They also read tons of library books and the olders played with Klutz books (Grandmom is buying them for the little guy's Christmas presents too, but she's not as aware of age-appropriateness at 79 as she was at 59) and science kits called Wild Goose Eggs that are no longer available, but were similar to this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VEAEZG/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3ERWWV8Q2SNVV&coliid=I3W45337NCW5DK

 

In other words, my kids play with TOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Drawing WIth Children.  I wouldn't hate it if I could figure out how to teach it.  Instead, it sits unused on the shelf, taunting me.

 

There are some good lesson plans online.

 

They are essentially identical to what I figured out on my own for my now-25 year old and now-22 year old and questioned for my now-6 year old. ;)

 

The online tutorials recommend waiting until the kid is 9 and I did it when my kids were 9 and 6 and remember the then-6 year old LOVING it and gaining a lot of self confidence from it, so it's sitting on my "stay the bleep off of Amazon and shop here instead" shelf for now while we work on pencil grip issues and deal respectfully with his emotional fallout from the summer break I needed more than he did.

 

Just mentioning that this is a fairly old thread. But still a good one!

 

It's nice to have a single thread to learn from others' mistakes instead of having to search, IMNSHO; carry on!

 

D'Nealian Handwriting was a big mistake for my family. It was pretty, but too easy to toss at a child and ignore pencil grip while washing dishes, paying bills, and nursing the baby, since the K'er always handed me pretty pages until she was a 3rd grader with SERIOUS issues.

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Those of you who don't like MUS are scaring me, although I guess several math names are popping up here. I'm using MUS! What's wrong???? :)

It totally works for my oldest.  She gets it and scores high on her standardized testing.  My son, not so much.  We quit after primer and then did CLE, which led him to tears.  Now we're remediating with Critical Thinking Company's Mathematical Reasoning and then I'm thinking about Teaching Textbooks.  I've gone back and forth over it, and it scares me that people in this thread haven't had good success.  But I need something that will teach him the math (this is my biggest weakness) and will meet him where he is at.  Any other suggestions :)?

 

 

Uh oh. I am seeing Writing Strands on more lists than I would like. I am planning to start both oldest next year. What did you hate about it?

My writing phobic daughter broke out of her shell because of this and still talks about how much loved it.  So to me this was a success.  It was what she needed at the time. 

 

Life of Fred - I bought 4 books before we even started Apples.  It just wasn't for us.

TruthQuest History - I paid to have the teacher's guide and the lapbooks printed (for both kids) and we all hated it.  HATED it.

I'm glad I didn't buy it yesterday then.  (Truthquest, I mean.) And Life of Fred wasn't too much a success here either.

 

BJU online for 7th grade. Total disaster!!

Why?  I'm thinking about 8th, so can you elaborate?

 

The things that haven't worked here for the most part have been because it didn't work for my kids, usually, where they were at.

But what made me cry just to think about opening the books were:

Horizons K Math

Alpha Phonics  (Loved Phonics Pathways)

AAS

And, we still use it because it works but I hate it, R&S Grammar.

 

So there you have it...

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Math Mammoth. I bought the full blue set because it was cheaper and we were pretty broke at the time. I had the intention of remixing it to match the light blue, but have never got around to it. That was like 5 years ago or so. In any case, what we have used was just too incremental and slow. She suggests people who don't need the practice do every other problem, but the distribution of problems doesn't really facilitate this. 

 

But, with 2 kids still in MM range and 2 upcoming, it could still end up being useful for something.

 

We've had a bunch of other stuff that hasn't been appealing or only held their attention briefly, but we haven't spent any significant money on these, so I don't really count them as a mistake.

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MUS

ETC

Reading Eggs

AAS

AAR

FIAR

LoF is just meh, we don't hate it

RS Level A- jumps all over the place to much for me. though I'm very tempted to try the new level B. lol.

 

We don't hate this, but why did i buy Penny Gardner's handwriting book when we were perfectly happy with the Getty-Dubay books? What a waste.

I must take AAR off my list. We are now using it, my kids love it. And by doing all the cutting out ahead of time and skipping all craft suggestions, I am no longer hating it.

 

Sadly, I must put Getty dubay italics on this list. After three years my kids were still struggling. Letter reversals, forming letters from the bottom up, etc. Fingers crossed that our new choices work better (rhythm of handwriting cursive for the older two, HWOT for the 4yo).

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1.  Abeka K - my daughter would cry when I brought the books out

2.  100 Easy Lessons to Teach Reading or whatever that book is called

3.  Horizons Math - moved way too quickly with too many problems

4.  Around the World in 180 Days - just really not for us

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Jacob's Geometry. It is hailed as THE Geometry curriculum in some circles and it reduced me and my dd to tears. And I LOVE Geometry and am good at Geometry!  

 

Meaningful Composition. I looked at a copy that my neighbor had and quickly shut the book and returned it. :P 

 

Horizons Math. Pages seemed too cluttered to me..and my kids. Too many colors. 

 

OPGTR. Sry. :(  Just wasn't a fit for us. Didn't hate it...just didn't work for us. 

 

Growing With Grammar. No retention as others have said. 

 

Phonics Road. Love the concept. Just didn't work for us. 

 

Writing Road to Reading. Same as above. I could never figure it out. :/ 

 

I don't hate the above...they just didn't work for us. :)

 

 

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R&S Spelling was a disappointment here. I used it for grades 2&3. Maybe the upper grades are better but I don't have time to take that risk. My dd did fine with the program but she is now beginning 4th grade had a really hard time with the spelling portion of her end of year testing last year....scoring at a 1st grade level! When I checked her spelling on my own I discovered that she didn't learn the words from the spelling prgm and didn't leRn how to figure out how to spell those words. I'd love to put her into Megawords but she isn't at a 4th grade level yet. So I am backing her up and doing How to Teach Spelling with her. Wish I just started with this 2 years ago.

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Oh there are so many...

 

AoPS (I wanted a genius, but he's just smart. I've got to be okay with that.)

 

just about every spelling curriculum I've ever tried.

 

WWS (sorry, SWB...I love EVERYTHING else. That just made us cry)

 

Mapping the World by Heart (no...not gonna happen...just...no)

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Oh no, really?? I've been trying to convince myself that HOD Res to Ref would be worth making work for my dd12 next year, knowing we would have to drop their science, and some of the Bible stuff--otherwise, I think it could make such a big improvement in school for her. BUT, they use volume 3 of MOH, and reading this is disheartening. :( Which volume was that? (Not that it necessarily matters--if she will write that in one volume, I'm not sure I would even want to read a different volume.)

 

Just seeing this after many months. .. It was volume 1.

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Oh no, really?? I've been trying to convince myself that HOD Res to Ref would be worth making work for my dd12 next year, knowing we would have to drop their science, and some of the Bible stuff--otherwise, I think it could make such a big improvement in school for her. BUT, they use volume 3 of MOH, and reading this is disheartening. :( Which volume was that? (Not that it necessarily matters--if she will write that in one volume, I'm not sure I would even want to read a different volume.)

 

Just seeing this after many months. .. It was volume 1.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My biggest mistake was giving in to dd #2 when she complained about writing. I tried every writing program under the sun, thinking that it had to be the curricula.

 

I was convinced she had fine motor delays. I had her evaluated by an OT who told me her fine motor skills were totally normal. Then that OT taught her cursive in 6 weeks. So, I decided to outsource writing. Guess what?! She can write!

 

It turns out that writing just isn't a natural act. It's hard work for some kids. All that money spent on writing programs... *sigh*

 

Hi- So where did you 'outsource'?  I'm new to homeschooling and am having a terrible time finding a writing program!

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