Would You Say Oak Meadow Curriculum Is "On Grade Level...."

[CAtoVA]

or below (a typical student's) grade level to some extent? Just wondering, if you have experience using Oak Meadow coming from another curriculum, that you found that your student needed to be accelerated in grade levels with OM?

 

My rising 5th grade DS has decided he now wants to be homeschooled again after a year away at a private school. I think he needs a structured "all in one" type of curriculum and I am looking at Oak Meadow. It seems like the upcoming 5th grade skills would be below where he is now especially in language arts and mathematics. I find that strange because I didn't think my son was advanced or anything—he did use 4th grade Math in Focus last year (kind of advanced) but I would have said he was your typical 4th grader in everything else. Thanks!

[AimeeM]

Not until around grade 4; up until that point I would consider it very, very, very "light" compared to most. In all fairness, they are a Waldorf type program, so they subscribe to that philosophy (which does call for delayed formal education, on some level, if I'm not mistaken).

 

Even in grades 4 and up, I think the math is behind most other programs, and I think the language arts instruction is weak. I had some of the 7th grade (or was it sixth grade?) materials in hand a couple years ago, and I definitely would have needed to supplement spelling (given, my daughter is dyslexic), grammar, and writing - because it was too weak instruction wise, but "behind" in grammar even for my dyslexic kiddo.

 

 

[Pen]

Academically, behind, I'd say--or just not all that academic: its strength tends to be in having crafts projects ideas and so on to go with studies--and that it is structured all-in-one, as you say.   I think a lot of people don't get its math and do their own math program when it says to work on math.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

Starting in 4th/5th I'd say OM is average in difficulty. It's not very rigorous, but we didn't find it overly simplified either.

[Heather in VA]

If you are looking for a more academic program that would include hands-on activities you might want to look at Moving Beyond the Page. It doesn't include math but I think that tends to be better since math is so individual for each student.

[Ellie]

or below (a typical student's) grade level to some extent? Just wondering, if you have experience using Oak Meadow coming from another curriculum, that you found that your student needed to be accelerated in grade levels with OM?

 

My rising 5th grade DS has decided he now wants to be homeschooled again after a year away at a private school. I think he needs a structured "all in one" type of curriculum and I am looking at Oak Meadow. It seems like the upcoming 5th grade skills would be below where he is now especially in language arts and mathematics. I find that strange because I didn't think my son was advanced or anything—he did use 4th grade Math in Focus last year (kind of advanced) but I would have said he was your typical 4th grader in everything else. Thanks!

 

Well, here's the thing:

 

He'll just be 10ish. If you think he would enjoy doing Oak Meadow, if the lessons and activities and whatnot look interesting to him and to you, then I'd say do it. If it isn't quite as academically strong as some other materials, well, he'll just be 10ish. He might need a year of being creative and stuff more than he needs a year of strong academics, KWIM?

[Mandy in TN]

If you are looking for structured school in a box and are wanting a package that is more traditional, why don't you look at Calvert?

[Murphy101]

I think it is average, but in a different way. There's light math and writing below 4th grade, but the on hand activities and arts are well done and something sorely lacking in many young programs. The math and writing in 5th is okay. Not heavy, not too light.

 

First year home? Maybe not a bad idea.

 

Your call.

 

:)

[CAtoVA]

Thanks for the thoughtful responses about Oak Meadow. You all pretty much have confirmed my thinking about it. It appears to have its "pros" as you have mentioned like the projects and interesting "takes' on assignments, etc., but also the "cons" like weak writing instruction and math that is less than rigorous.

 

How is the literature component?

 

 The main problem we seem to be running into is that, in almost all the "full curriculum" type of programs,  history for fifth grade is American (even with Oak Meadow). My DS did a full year of American history last year and would really like to start with ancient Rome (where we had left off in 3rd grade) and move into the Middle Ages. 6th grade Oak Meadow has the ancient and also medieval  history so if everything else would work I think I would go with the 6th grade option.

 

Funny that Calvert was mentioned as my DS was perusing the catalog tonight and thought everything looked fine for fifth grade except the history. I guess I could add on Veritas self-paced history or something else if I went with that. I understand that Calvert language arts is very strong and that's important to me.

 

Moving Beyond the Page looks heavenly and something I may be able to try in the future with DS (aged10) after he has some more recent experience with homeschooling. I have discovered that structure is important (motivating) to DS so I think a more "check box" type of curriculum suits his needs right now. I am looking at MBtP for my younger ones right now, however.  I recently picked up some guides at my homeschool convention used curriculum sale and love them.

[Hunter]

From my understanding, Oak Meadow is an attempt to make the best parts of a Waldorf education acceptable to school boards and Christian parents. It's not true Waldorf.

 

I believe that it is a BALANCED curriculum that stresses the mind, body and spirit. Academics are based on normal child development and the WHOLE child is educated and nourished. Fitting in as many AP exams as possible in high school is not considered more important than the developmental needs of 6-9 year olds. The mind is not believed to be able to survive suspended on a soulless and sick body.

 

So Oak Meadow will be "behind" in some academic topics, than a curriculum that was designed around teenagers being rushed into adult college classes. Oak Meadow will be "ahead", WAY ahead in some body and soul topics that your child may not even have been introduced to.

 

I am BIG on students having access to a balanced curriculum that meets the needs of the WHOLE person–mind, body, and soul. Many of my tutoring students have mental illnesses and years of physical neglect have taken a toll on their bodies. Often I put body and soul first, because really to survive, those are actually more important. All that Maslow's Hierarchy stuff.

http://timvandevall.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Maslows-Hierarchy-of-Needs.jpg

 

I don't subscribe completely to any of the more balanced styles of education, because so many of the styles have become so commercialized and complicated and sometimes even cultish. As a WHOLE I don't think Oak Meadow is better than Ambleside Education, and OM is so expensive. If price is no issue, OM looks good to me.

 

Good luck, whatever you decide!

[CAtoVA]

Hunter, I totally hear you and have been doing some deep soul searching since returning from my homeschool convention. Namely, I need to recommit to finding the joy in hs'ing and communicating joy with my children when we learn. This is SO important, imo!! I want a body, soul spirit feeding curriculum for my DS (for all my kiddos actually!) but am conflicted regarding his apparent need for structure and some rigor  to keep him on track at all. That's why I am potentially considering MBtP and Oak Meadow and curricula like that and hoping it is the right "fit" for DS right now. Just not sure what to do yet......

[winoelle]

We used all of 5th, except math, and this year we are using the history and parts of the language arts. I think how you use it plays a large role in how "on level" it is. My daughter loves it, and she has learned so much history and loved doing it. Her writing ability has grown leaps and bounds.

[Hunter]

As winelle says, HOW you use a curriculum counts as much as the curriculum itself. Also the CONTEXT of the rest of a child's life. You don't need to spend a lot of money to create mind, body and soul balance. It surely can seem that way, though!

 

I believe in AO's insistence that you take them outside. And take them outside some more. Then take them outside some more. :)

http://amblesideonline.org/CMM/topicalscience.html

 

For crayon drawing, Augsburg Drawing has some good stuff.

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/359033-augsburg-drawing-free-and-awesome-and-complete-1-8/

 

Blackboard Sketching

http://books.google.com/books?id=1KlCAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:yClJ5hQJdZMC&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JIKdU5SLL7KisQS1wIGYBw&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Blackboard Drawing

http://books.google.com/books?id=P3c4AQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Frederick+Whitney%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=G4KdU6LyE6O3sAT03IDABw&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Celebrating Festivals doesn't have to cost anything

Sharifa Oppenheimer, author of Heaven on Earth says this about festivals: “In earlier times, children were raised within the agricultural calendar. In this way they had the opportunity to live within, and to know in their bodies, long chains of sequences. They knew the steps in a process, and learned the lesson to persist until the goal was attained. From planting a seed and persisting through till harvest, or caring for a new lamb, through shearing, carding, spinning & weaving, these children had an inborn sense of sequencing. In our technological lives which are fractured by phones ringing, screens flashing, and a thousand distractions, it can be difficult for children to have a sense of the long rhythms of life, and the step by step sequences these rhythms involve. To celebrate seasonal Festivals gives our children an opportunity to live these long rhythms, the rhythms of the earth and sun. These children will begin to know the long, slow sequences of their own human lives.â€

 

You can find books on arts and crafts at your library. Knitting and making your own knitting needles is the best place to start.

http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/factsheet/pub__2436697.pdf

 

Learn about grains and make breads and porridges and pilafs

 

Play some music with a small handheld instrument. Tin whistles, harmonicas, ocarinas, recorders are all good. Or even some spoons or glass bottles.

 

Oak Meadow is ONE way to do it. I wish someone would write a book for Waldorf like 1st edition TWTM. Something to solidify a rotation that people could flesh out with already published trade books.

[CAtoVA]

Hmmmmmm, Hunter, should that be YOU..... (writing the Waldorf-inspired WTM guide using trade books?) ; p

 

Thank you for all the great ideas and for the reminder to check out AO.

 

Winoelle, I noticed that you can purchase just portions of the curriculum such as the history so I may do that.

[Hunter]

It won't be me writing the Waldorf book. :) I like to keep my big toe dipped in all the methods and styles, but I had to choose a focus, and I chose to go more the CM route, even though DEEP down I am more Waldorf than CM. After we break away from the DEEP down, there are more low income and portable resources for CM.

 

CM would have swallowed her tongue and probably died on the spot if she ever met me and my students, BUT the free and low cost and portable resources available are useful to me. So, I use what is THERE.

 

Yesterday's Classics/Gateway to the Classics is making a big effort to publish the CM/AO resources that even low income people can use to provide a balanced curriculum. There is NOTHING going on in the Waldorf community to compare. The WHOLE and some consistency from year to year are very important to me; I think I can manage to keep up with AO year to year, even when things get really messy.

 

If I were comfortably housed and financed and had little ones of my own, I'd probably buy the whole Oak Meadow curriculum and use that. But…that is not MY life. :lol:

[AimeeM]

If I'm not mistaken (and I very well could be), you can't sub out history for calvert. I think you can only sub out math.

Thanks for the thoughtful responses about Oak Meadow. You all pretty much have confirmed my thinking about it. It appears to have its "pros" as you have mentioned like the projects and interesting "takes' on assignments, etc., but also the "cons" like weak writing instruction and math that is less than rigorous.

 

How is the literature component?

 

 The main problem we seem to be running into is that, in almost all the "full curriculum" type of programs,  history for fifth grade is American (even with Oak Meadow). My DS did a full year of American history last year and would really like to start with ancient Rome (where we had left off in 3rd grade) and move into the Middle Ages. 6th grade Oak Meadow has the ancient and also medieval  history so if everything else would work I think I would go with the 6th grade option.

 

Funny that Calvert was mentioned as my DS was perusing the catalog tonight and thought everything looked fine for fifth grade except the history. I guess I could add on Veritas self-paced history or something else if I went with that. I understand that Calvert language arts is very strong and that's important to me.

 

Moving Beyond the Page looks heavenly and something I may be able to try in the future with DS (aged10) after he has some more recent experience with homeschooling. I have discovered that structure is important (motivating) to DS so I think a more "check box" type of curriculum suits his needs right now. I am looking at MBtP for my younger ones right now, however.  I recently picked up some guides at my homeschool convention used curriculum sale and love them.