Bay Lake Mom Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 I have seen a lot of posts about how people love Biblioplan, but it's usually their first year with it. I am trying to determine our next steps for history, and I think BP is appealing. Have any of you used Biblioplan for several years and still like it? Is it overkill? I'm debating using SOTW with the activity guide or going all in with Biblioplan. I like that BP has everything scheduled out for you, there is a craft book, coloring book and discussion questions. I guess I just want to know opinions on "is it worth the investment"? I can afford it, but I don't want to buy a bunch of extra books that are going to sit on the shelf. Thoughts? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalusignan Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 I'm following. I find myself going back and forth about BP. I've never tried it. The Family Guide is very appealing to me, but I think the Companion is quite expensive. Don't know if it's really worth it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 We only used it for one year. We did 2 years of U.S. history after that and then moved to VP Self Paced. If we went back to the 4 year cycle, I would go back to BP. If schooling 3 wasn't kicking my butt and I didn't absolutely need history to be independent right now, I would be back to BP in a heartbeat. Come to think of it, I have BP Middle Ages and might use some of it for my next year 1st grader while my bigs are doing VP...thanks for reminding me! ;) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalusignan Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 We only used it for one year. We did 2 years of U.S. history after that and then moved to VP Self Paced. If we went back to the 4 year cycle, I would go back to BP. If schooling 3 wasn't kicking my butt and I didn't absolutely need history to be independent right now, I would be back to BP in a heartbeat. Come to think of it, I have BP Middle Ages and might use some of it for my next year 1st grader while my bigs are doing VP...thanks for reminding me! ;) What specifically do you love about it? How is it superior to SOTW with AG and additional library books? What parts do you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freedom Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 I'm using BP Ancients now without the Companion....just the family guide as a download to save money. I use it with Egermeier's story Bible as our spine and throw in SOTW for non-Biblical history. That along with a great library, Wondermaps (Bright Ideas Press Black Friday sale last year), and some free coloring pages every now and again is working great so far. Biblioplan family guide helped me map out everything chronologically and create a library book list. I also have the SOTW vol. 1 Activity guide but rarely use it. If you want to add more hands on activities, a web search usually does the trick. I skipped the companion because I knew I would rather use living books along with the Bible. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in VA Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 I'm on my 4th year of using BP. I think it's great and the Companion is one of the best history texts for homeschoolers around. I find it very flexible and then nice and independent for high school. My senior recently took a US history course as dual enrollment from a university to get credit for when she goes to college and the Companion had so much more information than her college text she used it instead of the text to study. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 What specifically do you love about it? How is it superior to SOTW with AG and additional library books? What parts do you use? I blogged about it here, might help. I actually blogged a good but about our time with BP... http://onemagnificentobsession.blogspot.com/2012/10/why-biblioplan-over-sonlight-and_24.html 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Indeed Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I use Biblioplan- but have used it since before all the additional resources. We use just the schedule. We have used it for years(8 I think) and really like it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise in IN Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I'm on my 4th year of using BP. I think it's great and the Companion is one of the best history texts for homeschoolers around. I find it very flexible and then nice and independent for high school. Just agreeing here with what Heather has said. I used BP in the past (before the Companion & updates) with younger elementary and loved it. Now I am using it with 5th, 6th, 9th, & 11th, all with the Companion and various other resources. I love the flexibility & simplicity of BP; it is a great fit for my style and for my kids. How old are your students? If you have only young elementary, then I think the Companion would be way too much. In that case I would only suggest using BP if you are interested in the resources it schedules. Otherwise, Story of the World + additional books is very good for younger elementary and straightforward, easy to use. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAmomof4 Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 We are 2/3 through our first year, doing Year 2 Middle Ages. I bought the Companion but I don't like it. The info is waaaayyy too detailed for elementary age kids, and I don't think I'd like it for olders either, since the chapters consist of just a bunch of boxes of random facts without any narrative connection. But that's just me. Love the family guide - would use it to plan all grade levels. Nice to coordinate between multiple grades. We use SOTW 2 (according to the BP schedule) and use the SOTW activity guide for our maps, coloring pages, and extra activities. It just tied in more nicely for me, since that book is our main history reading. Also, I think the SOTW handouts are more nicely done than BP's. For additional reading we use the BP-suggested titles and timing. Many of the BP readers overlap with those suggested by SOTW and also VP. What I wish the program included? Memory work. There are writing assignments included for upper grades, but you have to buy the cool history. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in VA Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 [quote name="CAmomof4" post="6805415" timestamp="1453850197 What I wish the program included? Memory work. There are writing assignments included for upper grades, but you have to buy the cool history. I just want to point out that it does include quite a lot of memory work. It's in the Family Guide. It's a relatively new feature so if you bought used you might not have it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bay Lake Mom Posted January 27, 2016 Author Share Posted January 27, 2016 Thank you all for your insight. I think I'm even more confused about Biblioplan now. There are just so many components. Maybe that's God's way of telling me this isn't for us at this time in our journey. I recently discovered Wayfarers curriculum that also uses SOTW, and it seems quite simple to use. I'm trying to find some reviews on it now as well. I'm trying to determine which history (or all in one) curriculum that we will be using next year. I would like to make the right choice so I don't feel the need to switch every year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalusignan Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 We are 2/3 through our first year, doing Year 2 Middle Ages. I bought the Companion but I don't like it. The info is waaaayyy too detailed for elementary age kids, and I don't think I'd like it for olders either, since the chapters consist of just a bunch of boxes of random facts without any narrative connection. But that's just me. Love the family guide - would use it to plan all grade levels. Nice to coordinate between multiple grades. We use SOTW 2 (according to the BP schedule) and use the SOTW activity guide for our maps, coloring pages, and extra activities. It just tied in more nicely for me, since that book is our main history reading. Also, I think the SOTW handouts are more nicely done than BP's. For additional reading we use the BP-suggested titles and timing. Many of the BP readers overlap with those suggested by SOTW and also VP. What I wish the program included? Memory work. There are writing assignments included for upper grades, but you have to buy the cool history. Thank you for your response. My tentative plan for next year is to skip the Companion and get the Family Guide. I felt the same way about the Companion when I looked at samples. And Year 3 Companion is almost $100!!!! Doesn't seem worth it. Have you used the Biblioplan maps? I'm undecided if I'll get the SOTW AG for maps, coloring, and activities or get the Biblioplan maps and put the coloring and activities together myself. Could the Biblioplan maps be done independently? My only problem with the SOTW maps is that the instructions aren't on the student page..I would like to just hand her the map page and have her do it independently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 (edited) .... Edited June 22, 2016 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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