S/O a S/O a S/O....curricula: what curricula did you swear you would never use...

[Mommyfaithe]

Or never ever use again, but lo and behold....it is a good fit for one of your kids????

 

I'll go first....

 

I hated Saxon Math...loathed it! Blamed it for sucking the life and love of math out of my older kids. I wrote about it over and over....

 

 

Fast forward ahead....after 4 years of CLE, my 2 youngest boys hit a wall in math...and not only that, they had no retaining of facts AT ALL...we had done all the work, they just needed more and they needed to start at the start. Well, I remember that Saxon starts off every year with addition, subtraction, etc., as if the kid had never seen a math book, and does it with their proper grade level on the cover :-).

 

UGH! My kids LOVE Saxon and thanked me with hugs and kisses for getting those books for them. ???? OY VEY!!!!

 

So, I am willing to eat crow to get the job done....and will stick with it as long as they are learning.

 

So, share your crow recipe!

[Indian summer]

When I first bought SOTW activity guide, I thought all those questions would suck the love out of history for my dks. We are now on our second cycle of history and are loving the activity guide. For us, it was all about timing and development. What I find most interesting is that youngest is the age oldest was on our first go 'round, and she's just a completely different kid so she's ready and enjoying it. My oldest was not a hands on learner, but he's liking it now.

[TarynB]

IEW.

 

I shouldn't have resisted it for so long. It was exactly what my DS needed at the time, worked beautifully for him.

[SilverMoon]

Rod and Staff English when my oldest was little and I still knew it all. A Mennonite company?? Who does that? And it looks so dull and boring!

 

FLL 3 and 4 didn't exist, This flopped, That was just terrible, and so on. I bit the bullet and ordered R&S. After the first chapter I kicked myself for not doing it sooner. It's simple, effective, and got the job done quickly and well. Now I own nearly the whole set and can't imagine even looking for anything else.

 

 

 

We did have a brief stint with Saxon. My second DC really enjoyed having multiple math books and seeing how different authors presented concepts. A friend gave us our first Saxon book and this DD loved it. I ended up buying her two more. They've sat in my closet "just in case" for years, but the younger kids look at them as if they might bite.

[Clear Creek]

Math-u-see!!!  I hated the name, the idea of using notched blocks, the thought of focusing on one concept for a whole book.  Then I used it out of desperation with my middle child, who was in third grade and still had no number sense nor understanding of any mathematical concepts, and lo and behold, she is now learning math!  She has begged me to never switch her to another math curriculum ever; she wants to use MUS until she graduates or runs out of math books.

 

I managed to get over the name (oddly enough the sister company, Spelling-You-See, actually spells it correctly  :tongue_smilie:), the blocks are immensely helpful for helping my daughter visualize the concepts, and I found out the books don't actually only focus on one concept for the entire book - for example, my son is halfway through Beta, which is supposed to cover multi-digit addition and subtraction...he has also covered shapes, perimeter, skip counting, telling time, money, multi-step word problems...all the stuff that makes a curriculum well-rounded.

[atozmom]

IEW.

 

I shouldn't have resisted it for so long. It was exactly what my DS needed at the time, worked beautifully for him.

 

Yes, this exactly! I really wish we would have started it sooner.

[Amy M]

 

I managed to get over the name (oddly enough the sister company, Spelling-You-See, actually spells it correctly  :tongue_smilie:), the blocks are immensely helpful for helping my daughter visualize the concepts, and I found out the books don't actually only focus on one concept for the entire book - for example, my son is halfway through Beta, which is supposed to cover multi-digit addition and subtraction...he has also covered shapes, perimeter, skip counting, telling time, money, multi-step word problems...all the stuff that makes a curriculum well-rounded.

 

Yes! :iagree: We're halfway through Beta, and it covers several different items, just as you said, even reviewing all of the single-digit subtraction facts covered in Alpha, as well as mental math problems in the teacher's text.

 

[Guest]

Saxon.  I just switched ds(12) to this earlier this year, and it is working so well for him! 

[LivingHope]

A Managers of Their Home schedule

 

I am definitely doing better with time management with my detailed schedule.

[Crimson Wife]

MCT. I had been totally underwhelmed by it when I looked through a friend's copies of the 3 elementary grammar books (Grammar Island, Grammar Town, and Grammar Voyage) without any of the other components. Very misleading because those books are nothing but a superficial overview and 90% of the grammar instruction is actually found in the "writing" books (which I had not initially seen).

 

Right Start and Singapore would've fallen into this category if I had started my oldest in RS A instead of Level B and SM 1 instead of 3. Fortunately, by the time I discovered with my 2nd child that I dislike RS A and SM 1, I already knew that I really like RS B & the first part of C and SM 3 & up.

[Alte Veste Academy]

IEW here too. I was so sure it was a formulaic robot-growing program that I was positive I would never use it. Then I listened to Andrew Pudewa's talk Teaching Boys and Other Kids Who Would Rather Be Playing in Forts. http://www.circeinstitute.org/audio I had seen it recommended here many times, but this time it was FREE, so I actually listened to it. LOL Instant love with Pudewa. I dug deeper and bought TWSS used, got it, loved it. As with everything I buy, I do not agree with every last detail of it, so I am not a slave to the details, but it has been a great addition to our writing program here.

 

It is because I was so very anti the idea of IEW and then loved it that I didn't even bother to post in the other thread. Because aside from the obvious stuff like not wanting anything that is overtly religious, I don't want to eat crow by saying never now to something that may end up being helpful to my kid(s) later.

[sagira]

Miquon. It totally didn't work for my DS back in K and 1st, but for my creative, discovery-oriented dd6 it is a great fit. I also use MM 1A with her as I don't want to get deep into multiplication right now (Red Book).  I can see us going back into Miquon for multiplication sense and the Green Book while picking topics from MM and printing just what I need. The two combined are a perfect fit for dd's needs. I reread First Grade Diary and now I understand what the appeal is now that DD responds to it :)

[dbmamaz]

not a curriculum exactly, but i never saw the point of using a phonics program.  My older two kids learned to read with me just pointing out sounds organically through reading, and both were advanced readers in early elementary.  My youngest was late to talk, late to read, late to write.  When he finally showed an interest in spelling, I tried SP and it flopped.  I saw a video about LoE and it floored me - i'm a terrible speller and this was an eye-opener.  After using it (ok, all but the last 4 chapters, cuz we burnt out), I kinda wish I'd used a phonics-intense program with him earlier, instead of waiting until mid-4th grade!  OTOH, i dont think he was mature enough for it before then.  But i'm not a convert on deep phonics programs.

[Walking-Iris]

Textbooks.  :leaving:

 

I love RSO...just love it. But my children respond better to science when there is color. So I've supplemented our science with various textbooks. Even (gasp) reading from them.  :ohmy: I've had the hardest time finding a science I loved for years. I love RSO, but it lacks cool color pics and graphs and diagrams and all those things a science textbook has. I finally found our happy place with this combo. And I swore I would never have a public school text in the house. (I just bought MIF...a public school *math* textbook.... :coolgleamA: )

 

Also not a particular curriculum, but I swore I would never use ebooks. I hated the thought of buying something that only existed on a external drive and I would need to print out blah blah blah.

 

But some of my favorite things come in ebook form!

 

I can't think of a specific curricula I would never use...well Apologia, Abeka, BJU...stuff like that. I'll eat crow (a lot of it) if I ever find myself doing that!

 

 

[BatmansWife]

Beautiful Feet.  For years a friend of mine told me how they used BF for history and loved it.  I often looked at it but then would quickly think...."I'm not gonna read all of those books aloud!"  This is our first year with BF and we LOVE it!! 

 

Beast Academy.  The pictures don't appeal to me.  But, now Jr. Batgirl is totally hooked on "comic" books (a.k.a. graphic novels, graphic biographies, etc).  Soooo....I'm going to get BA for her now too.  I think she's going to love it. 

[arcara]

IEW.

 

I shouldn't have resisted it for so long. It was exactly what my DS needed at the time, worked beautifully for him.

Same here! For years I couldn't imagine spending so much money and watching all those DVDs. I was also worried about how "formulaic" it is. But, I finally bit the bullet and got it and it's wonderful!

[prairiewindmomma]

MUS

IEW

textbooks that public schools use

 

It took me a long time to realize that my kids learn differently than I do, think differently than I do, and need a ton of structure in their learning programs.

[IHaveNoIdeawhatIAmDoing]

Handwriting without Tears. Tried it, hated it. My daughter had such a hard time forming letters and I had a hard time with the fact that they only have a bottom line and a middle line, without a top line. Unfortunately, 6 months later my daughter pulled it out of the closet and started doing it for fun. She loves it now. I still have to draw in the top line to satiate my  OCD.        

[deerforest]

Singapore. We hated it in the early years and mostly did living math and some Right Start before switching to BA. After outpacing BA, we had few good choices. So, I did a bunch of stuff independently but just started Singapore 5a and so far it's going okay for us both.

[alisoncooks]

Well, I haven't used it yet, but I've always thought the HOD samples looked terrible.  

But I've found my self searching threads on it and such b/c we're looking for a 1-year world history and I keep hearing how Preparing is a great year...

[Guest]

I could make a multi-tiered crow cake with all the things I swore I would never use or buy again...and again....

 

WWE

R&S English

 

These two pop to mind because I am using them AGAIN now. It kills me knowing the kids could be so much further along if I had just ignored the Siren's Song of the newset and shiniest. OTOH, I now know a LOT about many, many curriculums.

[Another Lynn]

Saxon Math - heard the horror stories and knew there was no reason to go there.  Now, it's great for my older three.

 

IEW - hated the idea of it, convinced it was total plagiarism and no one would write properly after doing it that way, but using it at CC with friends gets more writing done here than ever before. 

[BugsMama]

Singapore Math and Supercharged Science.

[kirstenhill]

A spiral math program. We used part of Saxon K and the spiral drove me crazy. But it turns out that DD really benefits from a spiral program with a lot of review, so CLE is a good fit for her this year.

[MyLittleBears]

Boxed curricula!

 

I tried MFW exploring countries and cultures a few years ago. We ALL hated it. My boys gave me silent protest every time we pulled the books out. I also did not like the schedule and what seemed to me the "inflexibility" of it. (I felt as if I had to do everything)

The manual was a burden rather than my tool.   I swore off "boxed" curricula.

 

Last year we moved across the country and out of need for simplicity and a much lacking public library I decided to give MFW a try again. I has been a huge blessing for me and low and behold, science, music, history AND everything else is actually getting done. The one thing I can't seem to make a lot of time for is art. Well I guess we can't have everything!! :)

 

 

ETA-  I used to be a big no Teaching Textbooks snob. I tried it out of desperation when my oldest son was testing a little bit below grade level. Well, he jumped two grade levels in math in a single year!  It was the funny stories and the way it is presented that did it for him. Something about the VSL brain. It just works for him. I am a snob no longer!

[Meadowlark]

Boxed curricula!

 

I tried MFW exploring countries and cultures a few years ago. We ALL hated it. My boys gave me silent protest every time we pulled the books out. I also did not like the schedule and what seemed to me the "inflexibility" of it. (I felt as if I had to do everything)

The manual was a burden rather than my tool. I swore off "boxed" curricula.

 

Last year we moved across the country and out of need of simplicity and a much lacking public library I decided to give MFW a try again. I has been a huge blessing for me and low and behold, science, music, history AND everything else. The one thing I can't seem to make a lot of time for is art. Well I guess we can't have everything!! :)

 

 

ETA- I used to be a big no Teaching Textbooks snob. I tried it out of desperation when my oldest son was testing a little bit below grade level. Well, he jumped two grade levels in math in a single year! It was the funny stories and the way it is presented that did it for him. Something about the VSL brain. It just works for him. I am a snob no longer!

SO interesting! There was just a discussion on the FB page about ECC and if it's a fair representation of the MFW program. What exactly didn't you like, and how is your current program different? Do you think it was the program, or just other factors that you hated? Im trying to decide if ECC is in our future...most likely I will do a similar type year pulling together my own stuff. But I do wonder about MFW in the future, and if I can be a ".boxed" sort of girl or not, lol!

[mama27]

Saxon math.  I resisted  because it was used in the local ps system in Ga where we lived at the time and I didn't want to do ANTHING that resembled "them."

Then I gave in.

Then I got rid of it.

Got it again.

Got rid of it.

I'm back to it now because really after almost 12 years of homeschooling and trying to teach my kids math from waaaaaaaay too many other currics and methods I've realized that Saxon (with LOF and MUS thrown in) is the best way for my kids.

The rebel in me still thinks Saxon is evil.

[Aurelia]

CLE. I didn't want to use such a religious publisher, but the math program turned out to be a good fit (at least for awhile) for DD. Also FLL. I tried FLL1 and hated it. I wanted to hang myself rather than go over the definition of a noun yet again. Fast forward to this year, we're using FLL4, and although some of it is still a little repetitious, it's nothing like the first level. DD likes it MUCH better than EG, too.  

 

Oh well, crow tastes good with the right spices. 

 

 

[Dory]

Saxon Math - I absolutely loathed it's very existence growing up. Amazingly, it works alright for my oldest. It would be terrible for my youngest two. I still think it's weak conceptually, but it's thorough otherwise. So I have him read a few math readers along with it and he motors through pretty good. It's a little humbling since I have warned quite a few people away from it. I still dislike the younger grades as I think there is just too much there and it takes WAY too long.

[SarahW]

A Beka    :blushing:

 

In my defense, I only bought some used geography and birds flashcards from another homeschooler down the street for dirt cheap.

 

Despite being pretty beat up, they're actually pretty good.

 

But every time I see the logo on them I go..  :blink:

[Korrale]

I have been nibbling on crow recently. I wasn't really a fan of Singapore Primary Mathematics... But alas, my son really likes it and does well with it.

 

I ate a lot of crow when I went from being a huge phonics reading program advocate to a whole word advocate. I thought that preschool prep was the biggest waste of screen time... Now I am a huge advocate for it when teaching little ones to read.

[Mrs. Tharp]

Rod & Staff Math. Rod & Staff English.

 

Too religious. Too repetitive. Too boring. Turns out my older son loves the repetition, the review, the predictability and is thriving in these subjects for the first time. And after using Calvert for the past few years, I have a new appreciation for the low price.

[MyLittleBears]

SO interesting! There was just a discussion on the FB page about ECC and if it's a fair representation of the MFW program. What exactly didn't you like, and how is your current program different? Do you think it was the program, or just other factors that you hated? Im trying to decide if ECC is in our future...most likely I will do a similar type year pulling together my own stuff. But I do wonder about MFW in the future, and if I can be a ".boxed" sort of girl or not, lol!

 

 

ECC is and isn't a good representation of MFW. It is really about expectations. If you go into the year know that you will only study geography and world cultures, it is very well put together.  The missionary stories are wonderful but for the younger crowd (my kids we a lot younger then) the YWAM books can be very long and drawn out. In retrospect I could have just changed them out for some the ones geared for younger children. The science was AIG properties of ecosystem, again very dry reading, although they learned a lot and supplemented with heavy library use. I was also in a different mindset then. I wanted to continue with our history cycle but was convinced that starting with year one was the only way to go because a friend had raved about it. I was expecting fireworks from my children and I got crickets. I wish I had just gone with my gut and started with ancient history. It is really what you make of it. Allowing yourself the flexibility to not do parts of it and replace as needed or doing it all, as it suits you.