Task cards?

[Gentlemommy]

I'm looking into these for my dd for fall. She will be in sixth grade. Specifically, I'd like history and science, and as a bonus, artists/composers. I know about the Creek Edge Press task cards, are there any others you've used and would recommend? I feel like I see them on Pinterest all the time from TeachersPayTeachers, but there are so many and I'm not sure of quality. The CEP ones look great, but if I bought the entire science and history sets, it would be close to $200. 😳 Which is why I'm looking to see if there are any others out there.... I really would love all four periods of history to be available from the same place, like CEP. Same with science, I'd love anatomy, physics, biology, and chemistry to be available from the same place. Any ideas?

And if you HAVE gone with the CEP task cards, how did you feel about them? Did your student enjoy them? Did they really deliver on the whole 'independent' aspect? Are the activities repetitive or are there lots of ideas? Are the activities mostly writing based or do they also have ideas for crafts/non writing activities? Do you feel your student really retained what they learned? This in advance!

[HomeAgain]

We have not found anything else like CEP.  A while back we tried a company called Matchbox (Matchstick?) and they were very incomplete.  The ones I've seen on TPT are more of a multiple choice fashion instead of actual tasks.

 

As far as CEP, the only issue we had with them was that the Joan of Arc card felt out of order.  The tasks are varied enough, with enough open-endedness to make it work.  My kid would negotiate substitute activities, too - instead of create a poster or collage, he'd make a powerpoint presentation or digital artwork.  He liked the idea that he could schedule his own work, that it was clear and easy to follow, and that he could pick the resources.

[Homeschoolmom3]

I'm listening in.  They seem right up my alley for my two younger kiddos.  I think the more you make them do and learn on their own the more they comprehend.  So instead of always doing papers, narrations, etc. it helps to break it up and do something else!  Instead of just reading all of the books, giving them a choice will help break the monotony!  I am seriously considering this path for next school year, for science anyway!  

 

I have looked ENDLESSY!  and can't find anything that compares to CEP.  I hate they are so expensive too!  You are right about everything on TPT, it is more multiple choice and not a topic to explore.  I am seeing a need here!  I wish CEP had more too, I am going to be making some for my Kinder next year for Geography/Community helpers and probably for his math.  

 

If I find anything I'll post!  :-)  

[TCB]

I've only used the CEP Earth Science cards but have really liked them. I've used them with both dds now and they've worked well for both, despite the fact that they have fairly different learning styles. I don't think that they are repetitive, and we switch activities up, like the pp, if we want to. It might seem repetitive if you were doing them in too many subjects at a time though. I really like the fact that you can use them with whatever books you have on hand. 

[UCF612]

We started with the CEP ones this year. I love them but they didn't work for us this year. I am saving them for our next run through Ancients when my boys are older. I think they'd work great for kids who could do more independently. My oldest probably would have been fine to do them alone but my youngest is still a struggling reader. I wasn't on the ball enough to get the books/supplies we needed either so now we just read SOTW for history. But I'm excited to pull out the task cards again when my boys could work together and both successfully complete them independent of me guiding every little bit. They actually loved the few cards we did manage to get through.

[quietchapel]

I find them to be very inexpensive. They are entirely non- consumable, so give me a year of history for 20- ish dollars. I'm not aware of anything less expensive.

[EndOfOrdinary]

The entire sets are expensive if you were going to use them all in one year. However, they are designed to be used only one set per year. Each card is for an entire week. I think if you were to try and use all the sets in a compressed manner, you would miss a lot. It is possible for the tasks to be completed quickly, but that really misses the point. Since rabbit trails, curiosity, and losing yourself in the various research is the goal of the learning, it is important that the cards do not just become a check list to blast through.

[FO4UR]

I'm considering these as well.

 

The thought crossed my mind to see if a bunch of local homeschoolers would all pitch in and fund a donated set as a reference in the library.  That might work well for people who live close to a good library.

 

 

[Gentlemommy]

So I went ahead and bought a bunch of sets as downloads. They come as a zip file, and when I tried to download them onto my iPad, they wouldn't download. I tried on izip, iBooks, and Cudasign. Now I have no downloads left to try on our home computer! I emailed Creek Edge a few days ago and haven't heard back from them. I'm getting nervous as it would be a very quick and easy fix to resend me the download links. Has anyone had experience with their customer service?

[Homeschoolmom3]

Give them a few days, when I had emailed about some questions it took almost a week to get a response.  I know that can be frustrating!

[boscopup]

We've been using the Life Science task cards for my 1st and 3rd graders, and it's gone very well. I got the Medieval History, but for some reason the task card method didn't work as well for us in history. I think we just prefer a spine for that. But for science, hitting the library works for us.

[Gentlemommy]

Just wanted to update- I got a very nice email from CEP explaining how to download and she also gave me extra downloads. So yay!!!