Make me feel better - what $$$ have you spent on curriculum that didn't work out?

[Barb_]

When did you buy it? IEW will let you return it for up to a year. No questions asked.

 

Heather

 

Oh. Too bad I didn't know about that...um...eight years? ago when I bought the VHS version I never used. :001_rolleyes:

 

Barb

[Paula in PA]

Not too much here so far. My dd's learning style is a lot like mine and I've been including her in the decision-making process for the last couple of years, both of which seems to help.

 

Our misses:

Spelling Workout - she's not a natural speller

Classical Writing - seemed to go ok at first, then fizzled out

IEW ATF&F - definitely not for her

First Start French - wrong method for her

[desertmum]

Got some cds of music in Spanish for children. Turned out to be Mexican and didn 't I understand half of the words used. Then I got a whole set of handwriting books about z-b handwriting , then switched to italic handwriting. I just can't buy from a catalog, I have to see things first...

[meet me in paris]

As I have mentioned before, I have purchased 5 levels of SL LA and returned them ALL at some point in time. (I have finally learned my lesson, tyvm.) Very, very thankful for SL's liberal return policy.

 

I believe I have also purchased every. single. science. curricula made for K-8. I've tried to do secular science here, but honestly, Apologia just makes the best stuff (for us, anyway). It's easier for me to skip over a line or two that makes me uncomfortable then to try and make my kids do stupid science activities. :)

[Guest lahmeh]

First year of homeschooling I ordered the entire year of BJU DVD's for first grade and ALL the books and manipulatives for 2 kids! Only used it for 2 weeks or so. Wasted about 1300 dollars. :mad:

[Laura Corin]

Sonlight III language arts; Trail guide to world geography.

 

Laura

[Moni]

Lots.

 

I have to buy it to Window Shop anyway (examine it), so I don't see this as a negative thing :)

 

I have my own goals, and when I look at curric items, I determine whether it will help us meet those goals.

Sometimes it's yes.

Sometimes it's no.

 

Sometimes it's Yes... but it makes it take too long. No good.

Sometimes it's Yes....but it will move along too quickly. No good.

And so on and so forth :lol:

 

To me, it's just part of the the Cost of Doing Business ;)

 

:seeya:

 

P.S. I can't even begin to recall All The bought-then-sold items or else I would list them here. :-)

[The Crazy 4]

i bought the bob jones history and science for 2nd grade and did use cause we changes our approach to teaching

[ColoradoMom]

Supercharged Science. I was so excited about this curriculum because we are so science oriented but it just wasn't put together for homeschooling. It was awkward to figure out what we were supposed to be doing, I didn't understand the sequence in the manual, and while I don't mind paying for foil to use in the experiments, scrunching it up in a ball was probably not the best idea. It was over $100 - so it was a big let down. In all fairness it was about 2 years ago - so it might be updated at this point.

 

Memoria Press Traditional Logic DVD's - again this was a LONG time ago when my DD was in 8th grade (She's 20 now) but she said that guy was just too boring to watch. They were pricey, so that as a disappointment.

[WiseOwlKnits]

All About Spelling. It was a huge flop. And I bought the first two levels together (so I could save on shipping, LOL!). Best laid plans.....

[Aurelia]

Moving Beyond the Page - I bought the first 3 concepts of the 5-7 level new and pieced together 3 of the 6-8 used before I finally accepted it wasn't for us.

 

All About Spelling - took too much time

 

More learning to read and K/1st math programs than I'm willing to admit.

[PollyOR]

TOG YR 1

So, we both bailed, eh?

 

:glare:Last year was a banner year for "wasted" money. In addition to TOG 1 I spent at least $400 on TOG books and then never used them. Wonderful program. I'm too disorganized to use it.

 

Bought BJU biology brand new and 15yodd disliked it. We bought a microscope, dissection DVD, and dissection kit/specimens to go with it. All unused. We are now using a $5 Prentice Hall Biology book (dragonfly) that I picked up from Goodwill.

[Dmmetler]

I badly miscalculated level when I started with my DD, so I have a bunch of grade 1 materials that simply aren't getting used, or that DD breezed through in a few weeks at most. I've been able to pass most of them on to other people, so at least SOMEONE has gotten use out of them!

 

And I learned a valuable lesson about placement tests.

[5LittleMonkeys]

This past spring I purchased over $200 worth of curriculum from James Stobough (Literary Analysis) while at a curriculum fair. He had been the speaker at one of the seminars and his lecture really made a lot of sense to me. When I went back to his booth I drooled over all of the material. I wanted so badly to use it but when I got it home and opened it all up I realized it was just way too time consuming for me and for dd, and having dd just recently come out of not so great ps the year before, I knew it would probably be very hard for her to do. Luckily was able to send it back.

 

I still think about it for high school though.

[Emma]

WinterPromise's Sea and Sky Adventure. My son just doesn't like fluff. He wants to know what he has to do, so he can be done. He doesn't want me to try to make it fun. I also felt it wasn't "enough" for 4th grade.

[GESTEP]

I have a long list too many of which are on this list. Some of my recent poor choices were

 

Apologia Elementary books-I bought 5 of them since they were on sale:glare: I bought these twice (not all 5 the first time). Initially my dds were too young so I tried again and they cannot stand these books. I don't know why but they feel the same way about my next item...

 

Mystery of History-maybe it is the conversational tone used in these books and the Jeannie Fulbright books. I don't care for that style either (but I did not let it show to them).

 

Sequential Spelling-we tried this for the last month or so and it is only confusing them. After 2 weeks in book 1 they could no longer spell "chin". We are back to All About Spelling (which I sold once since I was not consistent in doing it daily then tried to cram too much into one lesson and make them hate it).

 

MFW Adventures-too many coloring pages for each state and seemed like the same thing day after day.

 

Too many more to remember what they were or why we did not like them.

 

Gina

[WiseOwlKnits]

Sequential Spelling-we tried this for the last month or so and it is only confusing them. After 2 weeks in book 1 they could no longer spell "chin". We are back to All About Spelling (which I sold once since I was not consistent in doing it daily then tried to cram too much into one lesson and make them hate it).

 

 

Isn't that funny how something that works so great for one kid can be so awful for another? For DD, it was AAS that confused the heck out of her. Sequential Spelling has been the. most. perfect. fit.

[Hedgehogs4]

just this week we decided to ditch (sorry susan and jessie!) both OPGTR (we made it to lesson 74, but it's killing us) and FLL3. i'm sorry, but my 5yo needs a picture here and there...and some context. FLL3 is not as engaging as FLL 2. i think a guided, rather than a scripted program would be better.

 

fwiw...in terms of peace hill press's other stuff...we LOVE SOTW, WWE, and FLL 1 / 2.

[Elfinlady]

I'm thinking of ditching FLL4. It is seeming to be below my DD's level. Thinking about just going ahead and moving her into 5th grade grammar. She wants to do this, she says FLL is too easy.

[tennismomkelly]

So, we both bailed, eh?

 

:glare:Last year was a banner year for "wasted" money. In addition to TOG 1 I spent at least $400 on TOG books and then never used them. Wonderful program. I'm too disorganized to use it.

You're in good company! :tongue_smilie: I bought the DE version of TOG plus 1/2 of the books, the lapbooks, and Writing Aids for the year and never even started using it. :001_huh: I just couldn't get my plans organized and we really needed to move forward. Like you said, it's a wonderful program. I still drool over it. But, I couldn't get my act together when it came to planning. :001_rolleyes:

 

I also bought the 1st 3 levels of All About Spelling. It was just too time consuming for us. Fortunately, this sells quickly on the For Sale board although I sold it for much less than I paid for it.

[Lyn]

More than I can actually count. Some Konos stuff, untold history coloing books, various spelling programs, Calvert stuff and on and on and on.

 

Lets face it every child is different and often you can't know what will work for you and your child until you try it.

[randisue]

Sonlight Kindergarten for a child who was no where near ready for it. I found out later that she had severe learning disabilies.

 

Now, she is 15 and I am trying to decide about IEW . We have done several lessons and it is painful for her and me, but she is learning a little. I just don't know if learning to write has to be a negative experience for her. I want it to be a pleasure, but maybe that will come later.

[Donna in OH]

Same here on Rosetta Stone. We have French 1, an older version that will still work on one of our machines. Never did figure out the SMS but I like the program so it's still on my shelf. Clearly I'm not over it yet LOL

 

Past purchases that didn't work for us were Sonlight, Writing strands. Still working on getting back to Latina Christiana - I like it but we just aren't getting it done.

 

So it goes. The one thing I have learned is that when I have finished with something, I need to get it out of my house! The books are filling the house.

 

Donna

[MerryAtHope]

Who-boy...2 math curriculum 2 or 3 reading curric's, 5 spelling curric's, and a bunch of LA, sometimes some history & science... Usually if it doesn't work I try to pick at least SOMETHING from it to give it a go and use it for the year--often I couldn't afford to just dump it and move on, though sometimes I was able to recoup some money selling it used & then get something else. Yup, chalk it up to teacher education!

 

I also used to buy ahead when I liked something, thinking I'd use it forever, only to figure out later it wasn't the best fit for us & then I ended up selling. THAT I don't do anymore, no matter how good the deal is (ok, I DID break my rule this past year at a used sale for a history spine that was a STEAL that I'm sure I'll use--but if I don't use it, I can at least get the money by reselling & it won't be a loss.).

 

Probably the things that have ended up not working for us have been more used purchases than new, so usually I can get close to our money back, if not all. After my first few years of hsing, if I can't see it in person or see a lot of samples online (I check multiple sites as they tend to have different samples up), then I try to get it used.

 

I love our local used sale each year, but this is the purpose right--for all of us to sell the stuff we thought we'd love but didn't to someone else that it might work for?!

 

Merry :-)

[HootyTooty]

Last year it was Trail Guide to the US. I realize I needed something more like this than I did the way the trail guide was set up.

[DragonFaerie]

Ugh! I am not terribly experienced with homeschooling yet and this is my first year to really try to plan out our curriculum. I've not done too well. :blink:

 

We tried Horizons Math (grades 2 and 3, both workbooks and the teacher's manual for EACH!). I like how advanced it is but both my kids hate the repetition and doing tons and tons of the same types of problems over and over again. My 7yo would take one look at the day's assignment and start crying. And he LIKES math!

 

Then there was Sequential Spelling (plus TWO student books). I thought this would be fabulous for my "builder" 7yo as well as my stellar speller 8yo. Not so much. DD8 was bored. DS7 was confused. So, we ditched that and went back to traditional spelling lists (thankfully the ZB Connections lists were FREE and work well).

 

Let's see.... we tried Writing Strands 3 for DD8. She was confused by it. She could never quite figure out exactly what she was supposed to be doing for each day. Then I would look at it and I wasn't sure what she was supposed to be doing either. And when I did understand the assignment, I couldn't understand the point. We were both exasperated and gave it up in favor of narrations, copywork and journal writing.

 

And there was Science Odyssey (teacher's manual and extra student pages). I bought that thinking we'd have such fun with all the experiments and everyone would love science. Not so much. Discovered that we didn't have time for that many experiments. And I found the course to be lacking in the actual information for each lesson. Too much doing, not enough teaching/ explaining.

 

Thankfully I've been able to return my other blunders but these seem to be the ones I'm stuck with. And I can't even list them for sale here as I haven't posted enough yet. :glare:

[simka2]

Apologia's Flying creatures...I tried...I really, REALLY tried :crying:! But today when the curriculum basically said we know there is a intelligent designer, because bats sonar is so much better than the Navy's I lost it.

 

I would love a science curriculum that could somehow point out all views where appropriate...and with some measure of scientific evidence. Then again, maybe not...maybe I just want a really basic science and separate theology curriculum. Oh well, anyone want to buy it?

[4wildberrys]

SO many over the years---it's really quite embarrassing! :tongue_smilie:

 

The worst are the ones I buy, try--don't like, sell. And then REBUY because I read someone else's review that makes it sound great!!!

 

This is really hard to admit----but I simply CANNOT STAND IEW!!! And I bought it all over again thinking I could make it work---committed to just one program to finally get my kids writing. What a dummy----I just do NOT like the methodology. At all. Uninspiring doesn't even cover it. This is my LAST expensive purchasing mistake---last.

 

Other flops: BJU LA, Abeka LA, Abeka math, Abeka science, BJU History, Lightning Lit, Rosetta Stone (HUGE $$$$ flop!), Noeo science, Rainbow science, Angelicum Academy anything, Sequential Spelling, Catholic Heritage Curricula anything.......there's more but I can't remember all of it. At the time, I was a curriculum junkie with a large budget, and fortunately the buyers benefitted from my inability to find the right fit!

[LauraQ]

So far I haven't dropped a ton of money on anything that didn't work, but I have spent small amounts on MANY things I didn't need, didn't use, or that didn't work. What saved me, I think, was that in the early years, I didn't HAVE the money to throw at something was wasn't SURE was a winner. Often, the cheapest programs have worked best for us, and that was a good thing at the start! Now I have more money to spend, so far the two biggest risks I've taken money-wise have been VP's Omnibus I (huge success) and Saxon Algebra I (we'll see how it goes, but so far so good and we're on Lesson 16).

[justamouse]

about 600 on Video Text Math, 200 on Teaching Textbooks, all of the Classical Writing

 

too much to count (and mostly in the beginning). But a valuable lesson has been learned -now I don't jump on it. I know I don't need it, I'm teaching them just fine thankyouverymuch. They're succeeding and that's the measure in and of itself. I can't do better than that and a bright shiny new curric won't, either.

[Medieval Mom]

I bought four packs (100 sheets each) of handwriting paper that is ADORABLE, but far too widely ruled for my K son. Heck, I can barely write on the stuff. But it's sooooooo cute ;) Altogether, it was about $20, not a fortune, but I certainly could have spent the money elsewhere.... Ah well. Perhaps we can write on the mid-line and bottom line? Or save it for our next little one? Or:001_unsure:

 

Oh dear! I am afraid I have made many more blunders than this since this thread began years ago! ;) To think that I was upset about WRITING PAPER! SHEESH! :lol:

[Cheri Warren]

SO many over the years---it's really quite embarrassing! :tongue_smilie:

 

The worst are the ones I buy, try--don't like, sell. And then REBUY because I read someone else's review that makes it sound great!!!

 

This is really hard to admit----but I simply CANNOT STAND IEW!!! And I bought it all over again thinking I could make it work---committed to just one program to finally get my kids writing. What a dummy----I just do NOT like the methodology. At all. Uninspiring doesn't even cover it. This is my LAST expensive purchasing mistake---last.

 

Other flops: BJU LA, Abeka LA, Abeka math, Abeka science, BJU History, Lightning Lit, Rosetta Stone (HUGE $$$$ flop!), Noeo science, Rainbow science, Angelicum Academy anything, Sequential Spelling, Catholic Heritage Curricula anything.......there's more but I can't remember all of it. At the time, I was a curriculum junkie with a large budget, and fortunately the buyers benefitted from my inability to find the right fit!

I cannot stand IEW either! Have you found anything you like as far as LA and writing??

[kfeusse]

I don't know about the OP, but I feel better after reading this thread...I, for one, feel like I go thrugh so many curriculums...only to repost them on the FOR SALE board shortly after purchasing....here are some of my mistakes:

 

Spelling Workout

Sequential Spelling

 

Saxon Math

Math On the Level

Singapore Math (mistake for 2 of my 3 kids)

 

Veritas Press History

 

Happy Phoincs and other phoincs type games that never got played.

 

I have tried many "make it yourself curriculums" (for example geography) before settling in on a "real" curriculum

 

I know there are more...but right now, I can't think of any...but there have been many math manipulatives I have purchased and never used, as well as other independent books I thought we would enjoy to suppliment our other studies...would have used our library, but our library is small and ILL costs me $3.50 per book and that although that is cheaper than buying the book, after I send the ILL book back, I have nothing to show for the $3.50...so I end up buying the book used...and having a book we may or may not use again.

Edited September 25, 2010 by NEprairemom

[aude sapere]

TOG Year 1 Redesign -- the samples looked great, but my kids just didn't like it...

[MrsMe]

I'd rather not think about it. I am not going there. I just can't take it!!!!!

 

ABSOLUTELY!:svengo:

What a horrible thing to have to go back and think about!:)

[Night Elf]

Plenty over the years, especially entire school years of Calvert that didn't work at the time. We've had other years very successful with Calvert.

 

Anyway, the most recent mistake I made was spending $250 on Rosetta Stone French. We hate it. The demo was fun and the reviews were great so I thought I was making a good informed purchase. But it's got to be one of the stupidest programs I've ever purchased! At least with Calvert, I could use parts so it wasn't all a total loss. Anyway, because of licensing fees, I can't even resell it.

[saja1029]

About $180.00 on Oak Meadow for my 4th grader (that was used approx. 2 weeks). It was completely wrong for him and nothing could be salvaged. Luckily, I was able to resell most of it (fingers crossed on the rest...).

[kfeusse]

we also tried workboxes and that was a cool concept...but not for out family either...so I spent money on the book and time and money setting up the system...only to drop it after a couple months. sigh...oh well...live and learn.

[julikins]

I just can't believe I read this whole thread! It was hilarious and sad, and comforting all at the same time. I've been so gun-shy to make mistakes, after making some real blunders this year (a whole Sonlight core used, but still over $200), that I can't seem to commit to anything now. I've been rethinking everything we've used and can't decide on anything. Prayer and patience, I guess!

[5Wizards]

Rocket Phonics (saw at a HS convention and had to have it...didn't use once)

 

Sequential Spelling

 

Saxon Math (bought used, looked through it, immediately resold)

 

Rightstart A and B (like the idea, could never follow through)

 

History pockets (keep buying these as I like the IDEA, but the reality is always a letdown for me...have maybe 6 different ones on the shelves)

 

BFSU

 

Bought 2 used copies of HO1 Ancients (forgot that I had already purchased one), then decided that I really just want to go with SOTW 1-4 and HO2 with my oldest

[emonline]

As I was looking through this list, I was glad to see so many others had joined in the discussion - but most of your lists are much shorter than mine would be!

 

I agree on Saxon Math but thought I was alone -- everyone I know (personally) loves this curriculum!

[missesd]

Nothing really yet. But all my stuff up till now, with the exception of Saxon has been online. This is my first year buying in hand books for all my subjects. I have, however, found I have WAY too many workbooks... not sure how it happened but I hate wasting stuff, and I know the majority will never get used :\

[walkermamaof4]

I wonder if we should all add to our signatures what didn't work. That might help us all understand other people's posts even more. For me, we ended up buying but not using long-term:

 

Saxon Math

Horizons Math

Math u See

BJU Math

Abeka math

Miquon math

Sequential Spelling

Excellence in Spelling

Little Hands for His Glory

Bigger Hearts for His Glory

TOG

Shurley Grammar (did 4 levels before finding MCT - what a relief!)

Veritas Press history

Writing Strands and Reading Strands

Play N Talk Phonics

 

Sadly, there have been lots of others. We really love what we are using now at least!

[MrsMe]

As I was looking through this list, I was glad to see so many others had joined in the discussion - but most of your lists are much shorter than mine would be!

 

I agree on Saxon Math but thought I was alone -- everyone I know (personally) loves this curriculum!

 

LOL, probably not mine!!!

I'm one who has to try it all, THEN choose!

[mom31257]

SL Core 100 is not going as well as I thought it would at the beginning of the year. Thankfully, I bought it all used, so that helps. If I decide to sell it, I should be able to get my money back out of it.

 

I've already switched dd from the Hakim series for the spine to BJU 8th grade text I had here. I couldn't believe the difference in our discussion. She got so much more out of the textbook. I think she feels the other series drags things out too much. She says she definitely believes she will retain more knowledge with the textbook and student activities.

 

I am having her read the Bible selections and the other literature/history novels from it. That way it isn't a total waste. She is doing them, but she hasn't truly enjoyed one of the books. I have to keep in mind that her reading genre favorites would not be in these categories.

[moonlight]

math mammoth has not worked for us! it is very thorough, but the pages didn't appeal to my ds since they were in black and white and it just seemed like a repeat of the same information. i guess that would be a good thing for kids that need the extra practice..

 

someone else mentioned it too, but history pockets too! too much cutting, coloring and prep work involved...and i bought 4 of them with such high expectations. just ended up being a headache in terms of work!

[Jilly6]

SOS Math. lol, so much money wasted on that program...

[Jilly6]

 

Sequential Spelling

 

 

We loved Sequential Spelling! it was perfect for a dyslexic child!

[Hedgehogs4]

I have a tendency to buy lots of something when we like it, failing to consider that we may grow tired of the same routine or system...like Apologia's zoology, etc. We HAVE enjoyed it, but I'm looking forward to trying some other things like elemental science. My dh is going to be doing electricity and physical science with ds, so apologia will gather dust then, unless I keep going with dd5 later.

 

I bought saxon k--ugh! :tongue_smilie: and a beka language and math for two years...again :tongue_smilie:, and now wordly wise is sitting on my shelf. i hate to say that, in spite of the fact that i LOVE SOTW, i do not use the Activity Guides.

[MissKNG]

someone else mentioned it too, but history pockets too! too much cutting, coloring and prep work involved...and i bought 4 of them with such high expectations. just ended up being a headache in terms of work!

 

The Literature Pockets too! Way too much prep work and my big girl really didn't even care for them!!