kfeusse Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 are these one and the same? I can't seem to quite figure it out. Specifically, I am looking at HS Chemistry...SOS is just a DVD and Lifepac is a book...can they be used together? Or what exactly? What am I missing? Please clear this up for me. thanks. While you are at it, if you have a review of these products, I would love to hear about it. thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 There's also Monarch, from the same publisher, to toss in the mix. Monarch is the online version of the materials. You could try it out for 30 days as a trial. here is the link to that to give it a try. see if you like the content and if your student likes it. https://www.aop.com/discover-monarch I don't have a review on the chemistry content. In general, you use either lifepacs (worktext), or SOS (computer based of pretty much same content with some extras) or Monarch (online version of SOS as far as I know. no disks to install,) They are not meant to be combined. It same (or close enough to same) content, but different platform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 (edited) are these one and the same? I can't seem to quite figure it out. Specifically, I am looking at HS Chemistry...SOS is just a DVD and Lifepac is a book...can they be used together? Or what exactly? What am I missing? Please clear this up for me. thanks. While you are at it, if you have a review of these products, I would love to hear about it. thanks. Alpha Omega publishes both. Lifepacs are 10 workbooks for each subject for each grade. SOS is Lifepac on DVD. Monarch is Lifepac on-line. I don't care for high school-level Alpha Omega. I especially don't like the science. Edited January 17, 2016 by Ellie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfeusse Posted January 17, 2016 Author Share Posted January 17, 2016 would you mind sharing why you didn't care for it? thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wehave8 Posted May 14, 2019 Share Posted May 14, 2019 On 1/16/2016 at 11:16 PM, Ellie said: Alpha Omega publishes both. Lifepacs are 10 workbooks for each subject for each grade. SOS is Lifepac on DVD. Monarch is Lifepac on-line. I don't care for high school-level Alpha Omega. I especially don't like the science. On 1/16/2016 at 11:37 PM, kfeusse said: would you mind sharing why you didn't care for it? thanks. (bumping) I'd like to know, too. Pam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebra Posted May 14, 2019 Share Posted May 14, 2019 I think they are essentially the same content. Lifepacs are 10 workbooks, SOS is a CD Rom, and Monarch is online. Monarch is going to have more videos, games etc. We used the French and Monarch World History this past year for 10th grade. Exactly what was needed in MY particular situation. The Monarch was really easy to implement. I just assigned days I wanted dd to work on it, and corrected whatever came up. DD signed in and did it, the end. I'm not saying it's the most wonderfully complete ideal curriculum ever invented. It was just a way for me to get a couple of subjects done reasonably well, but with less effort from me. I could then focus my efforts on subjects that needed more of my time. You have to pick and choose your priorities, and for me, Monarch allowed me to do that. I've looked through the math/english/science and they just don't look great to me. And I wouldn't use their entire program for a variety of reasons. YMMV. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted May 15, 2019 Share Posted May 15, 2019 Yes they are pretty much the same. There is some mild changing of the order of units here and there. Monarch is the online version of SOS so if you are thinking of it you'd probably want Monarch. We used Monarch for two subjects this year....here's a quick review... Interface- fantastic, we were never confused about anything except how to print out old tests...but... tech support- awesome, answered immediately and immediately solved my issue (how to print out old tests) features- fantastic- it schedules, it re-schedules, it includes holiday breaks and allows you to put in breaks or even say "non school day" at any time for a sick day or unexpected day off...it grades for you, it reminds you when you neeed to grade somehting, and you can delete any lessons or projects that you feel are superfluous, easily change answers, and so much more. It's really a fantastic system for ease of use... Help With Teen- awesome, because it almost removes you from the equation...the project and grading tasks which you need to assign can be made objective...the essays are objective and the I also sign objectively based projects and find rubrics online so that there is no questioning my grading or thought process... ___ Content: Here is where there is a bit of an issue. The lessons are EXTREMELY dry and boring, and there is not as much "interactive content" as they would lead you to believe. Most lessons are boring, not very well written text on a screen, and then a homework style quiz to check up on the basic content. History content was ok, although now and then some strange fundamentalist Christian ideas are thrown in but for the most part OK. *** Science was so extremely poorly written, that it sounds like a person who speaks no English but has a Masters degree in Science, used a limited English knowledge and an online translator to write the content. Seriously, that is how poorly written it is. It honestly seems like they sat someone down with contents, standards and hundreds of facts, who didn't really care about making it accessible to anyone, and said, write a curriculum for this... Also for all Monarch/SOS subjects, the tests can be pretty insipid. Often instead of testing for the flow, or meaning behind connecting events, they'll just change a date and ask a question. Like, did the Civil war happen in the 1840's T or F...just things which are very frustrating because you can understand a lot about the Civil War, its causes, its main battle fronts, and reasons for the ultimate victory of the north, and get the exact dates off by 20 years...they do this a lot...just changing tiny random facts and then making it T or F or multiple choice. ___ So with that said, it's extremely affordable, at only what is it, 80.00 for each subject for the year? But because it's so boring and dry and redundant I would say that you should only use maybe two subjects and not Science...probably just electives, history, maybe Literature if your kid doesn't like Lit and you just need to get it out of the way. 🙂 Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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