MamaSprout Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 I'm looking for something pretty put together for my Logic Stage DD who will be ready for some high school classes next year. I'm really busy, getting busier, and am quickly losing my interest in re-inventing the wheel to write our homeschool courses. So I'm looking at Kolbe. Questions- Is there anything similar but not religious? (even at a higher price?). We don't always do well with online courses, so the K12 stuff wouldn't work for us. I really like their book choices (well enough) for most things- for science and math, most of what we'd use for the next couple years are my 1st or 2nd picks. Except Geometry... still trying to figure that one out. :o) We're secular homeschoolers, but not atheists. How does the Theology substitutions work if we wanted to pursue 8th grade and high school diplomas? Has their "customer service" improved? I saw some pretty tough reviews on the WTM boards from a few years ago. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 We're a Kolbe family. We follow some of the course plans and my daughter has taken an online science class with them. It's a *lot* of work but you do not necessarily need to use their material (depends on the type of diploma you are seeking). If you did go with the course plans, one thing I can say for sure is that even the Kolbe online teachers do not follow them exactly. There were sections of the science syllabus (intro to physics and chemistry) that were not covered. That surprised me, because I am a major box-checker and it bothers me to not do every last task - but there's so much that sometimes you will need to pick and choose. As far as customer service, I have been very pleased. It may seem like a big operation, but it's not - it's a fairly small business. We're in our second year. I am not sure how they would handle the Theology requirement - talk to them; I'm sure they will work with you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 We tried their Biology course plan. It didn't work for us, but I wanted it to. The first test was over FIVE chapters, which was just way too much info for my son to parse out. He needs more scaffolding than that. If he was taking a live class I imagine a teacher would have covered what to study for, done some review, something, but without that it was just too much. So..sadly, we are now using Apologia. My son is NOT religious, but appreciates that it is written to the student and set up so that he can be successful. We will use something else for Evolution, probably documentaries and maybe one book. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Their High School materials do look very challenging. I think that's good, though. It's nice to know you can be selective. I don't mind trimming or supplementing a little so much as writing everything from scratch. Where we live, we don't have a lot of regulations. On the flip side, if we tried to enroll a student in school, they are usually placed at their age grade, regardless of what classes they've done. That makes a transcript very appealing. It's pretty unlikely we'd put dc in school, but if she's doing the work, it would be to have the transcript. Miller Levine is my second choice book- it's very dense and busy. I'm not really sure how to approach Biology next year. With Physical Science this year, Biology makes sense next year. Dc doesn't really want any detours into side topics (environmental science?- history of science?) she wants to get to Chemistry ASAP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Their High School materials do look very challenging. I think that's good, though. It's nice to know you can be selective. I don't mind trimming or supplementing a little so much as writing everything from scratch. Where we live, we don't have a lot of regulations. On the flip side, if we tried to enroll a student in school, they are usually placed at their age grade, regardless of what classes they've done. That makes a transcript very appealing. It's pretty unlikely we'd put dc in school, but if she's doing the work, it would be to have the transcript. Miller Levine is my second choice book- it's very dense and busy. I'm not really sure how to approach Biology next year. With Physical Science this year, Biology makes sense next year. Dc doesn't really want any detours into side topics (environmental science?- history of science?) she wants to get to Chemistry ASAP. There was quite a bit of chemistry in IPC. They use a Physical Science book from Holt which was not my favorite text but dd learned a lot. There's so much chemistry in biology these days it was recommended to take IPC as a prerequisite.I'm not saying it is for everyone but it worked for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 There was quite a bit of chemistry in IPC. They use a Physical Science book from Holt which was not my favorite text but dd learned a lot. There's so much chemistry in biology these days it was recommended to take IPC as a prerequisite.I'm not saying it is for everyone but it worked for us. Yes. We're doing Derek Owens Physical Science. I think it is fairly similar in math and chemistry content to a IPC course. He considers it an 8th- 9th grade course and recommends PreAlgebra as a prerequisite. We're in our second year of PreA, so she's doing fine. ETA, I know what you mean about the Holt book. We looked at it, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Yes. We're doing Derek Owens Physical Science. I think it is fairly similar in math and chemistry content to a IPC course. He considers it an 8th- 9th grade course and recommends PreAlgebra as a prerequisite. We're in our second year of PreA, so she's doing fine. ETA, I know what you mean about the Holt book. We looked at it, too. My oldest daughter took several courses from Derek. I would probably choose Derek's Physical Science over IPC for most kids but my middle daughter needed to experience an online course that demanded her constant attention - it didn't matter what the course was, it just happened to be IPC. I do like the way Derek explains concepts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 We're a Kolbe family. We follow some of the course plans and my daughter has taken an online science class with them. It's a *lot* of work but you do not necessarily need to use their material (depends on the type of diploma you are seeking). If you did go with the course plans, one thing I can say for sure is that even the Kolbe online teachers do not follow them exactly. There were sections of the science syllabus (intro to physics and chemistry) that were not covered. That surprised me, because I am a major box-checker and it bothers me to not do every last task - but there's so much that sometimes you will need to pick and choose. As far as customer service, I have been very pleased. It may seem like a big operation, but it's not - it's a fairly small business. We're in our second year. I am not sure how they would handle the Theology requirement - talk to them; I'm sure they will work with you. Would you say that 80 to 90% of the material was covered by the online teachers? I would be disappointed if they did not cover at least 80% of the material since my kid's current school covers about 90% of the material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Would you say that 80 to 90% of the material was covered by the online teachers? I would be disappointed if they did not cover at least 80% of the material since my kid's current school covers about 90% of the material. I would say at least 80% or more was covered by online teachers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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