Stupid reasons for liking/disliking a curriculum

[SnMomof7]

Too many pieces (AAS/AAR)

Cramped layout (Math Mammoth)

DVD instruction without adequate teacher manual (Phonics Road)

Chatty textbooks (MOH, Apologia)

[Vida Winter]

I dislike it when curriculum providers do not have adequate samples of their products.

[Sahamamama]

Dislikes:

 

So anyway, I dislike anything that begins with, "So anyway,...."

 

I dislike products that use weird font combinations, TOO MANY CAPS, and too many exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I dislike full-price products that come across as beta versions (hello, Memoria Press). :glare:

 

I dislike scribbly pictures. Okay, actually I hate scribbly pictures.

 

I dislike it when a "teacher's manual" for math has the helpful suggestion to "teach the student subtraction with borrowing across place values." Thanks for that. :tongue_smilie:

 

Likes:

 

After a certain point (middle of 3rd grade?), I like materials addressed to the student, or at least materials that the student can begin to use more independently. CLE fits this bill nicely, as do Wordly Wise, Phonetic Zoo, Ecoutez Parlez (French), and English from the Roots Up cards. Writing with Skill starts to address the student directly, which is a welcome change from Writing with Ease. I like that SWB decided to directly instruct and assign work to students in WWS. This way I can say, "Susan Wise Bauer wants you to do this assignment this way, Sweetie, so get to work and follow her instructions!" :D

 

I like when it is evident that the author and/or publisher of a product put forth the effort to actually proofread their own material. Of course, some typos are forgivable. But it bugs me when I've paid good money for something, and then feel as though I now need to edit it, too (and I do). So when a product is well-produced, that gets my attention and respect.

 

I like CLE because we enjoy finishing a book and starting a new one, LOL. It feels like we're making progress that way. :)

[Sahamamama]

I entirely rejected BJU math based on the cover of the first grade book. It's a picture of a cheesy clown with an oversized bowtie.

Nope.

 

I know, I've seen that clown, and he would be enough reason to say "No!"

[ScoutTN]

Curriculum with grammar and spelling errors.

Edited August 20, 2016 by ScoutTN

[Sahamamama]

:iagree:  plus I developed an aversion to unexpectedly coming across the word "twaddle" more than once a day (which obviously rules any visits to the AO forum)  

 

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[ScoutTN]

When there isn't quite enough room to work problems or write answers in a workbook. We love math mammoth and how it works here, but the early grades don't have enough room for beginning writers to write their answers.

 

 

Latin for Children has the same issue and poor layout/design overall.

[MrsRobinson]

Dislikes:

 

lots of blurbs and extra margin reading, the word "twaddle" sounds snobby and seems subjective to me, Math U See and Real Science 4 Kids because of the U and the 4 in the names, and difficult to navigate websites. All mentioned already but I agree with you all.

 

I seem to be the only one confused by Bravewriter so maybe I'm not as smart as I'd like to think. And it took me forever to figure out that if you do the IEW SWI-A, you then proceed to Continuation Course-B and never have to do another SWI again. I haven't convinced myself to purchase anything from these websites yet because my confusion has made me grouchy towards them.

 

I also really liked what I was seeing of McRuffy Phonics and Reading but ran for the hills when I saw the words "finger puppets."

 

Things I like:

My Father's World. The company is regional to where we live and it gives me the warm fuzzies for some reason.

 

A curriculum with a dvd teacher or audio cd to listen to. I can hear the ka- chinging $$$ in my head racking up minutes of resting my voice. $$$

 

Math Mammoth. I finally am "getting" how math works and wish I had learned it this way as a kid. I love that it's just the one book at a time and we are not juggling 3.

 

A science curriculum that comes with the activity supplies.

 

Edited because it's McRuffy not McGuffey. I'd like to say my phone's auto correct is to blame, but I really don't remember what I typed. :/

Edited August 21, 2016 by MrsRobinson

[scholarly]

I am not using Saxon with my DS, but I have a very soft spot in my heart for it. When I did Saxon pre-algebra 23 years ago I ended up with a notebook full of prettily worked math problems. I had such satisfaction from turning the pages of notebook paper and seeing all my writing that I kept that notebook for at least 15 years.  I have actually told someone that  I love Saxon... based solely on my nice handwriting and number spacing in 7th grade!

[Caroline]

The first Life of Fred book I read was calculus. It starts with the dad drunk driving. I couldn't get past that, so I never ordered another one.

[Roadrunner]

Paper quality. I wouldn't even attemp Hake when I saw the paper resembled bad quality thin newspapers. Who wants to touch that every day? Not me.

[Jess4879]

I stopped using BJUP math because the man at the convention told me that my child was OBVIOUSLY not really ready for 3rd grade if she couldn't write all the problems. And dear sir, how many children have you actually taught????

 

I threw away Barb Shelton's High School Form U La because of the horrible layout, multiple fonts, call-out boxes, etc. Seriously, that women needs to cut out the caffeine! And to stop telling people they can give students high school credit for cleaning out their purses and making baseball notebooks!

 

And this isn't a minor or stupid reason--I will never use Sonlight because of the vicious, nasty emails from the author. Have you actually TAUGHT a high schooler? No, you haven't. So quit telling folks that they're obviously not really educating their children if said children are doing music at a high level. And don't tell people that the perfection of SL is due to the Christian viewpoint, and then start BookShark. 

 

This is the first time even hearing of this book and the title alone is cringe-worthy.  I googled it...  couldn't help it. LOL  The website is bad!  Click the "window" for this and click the "wreath" for that.  After skimming for even a few minutes, she really doesn't seem to have any interest, nor respect, for university.  Her focus seems to be on character - which is fine...but why market as a high school help if the focus isn't on academics?  

[HomeAgain]

Just thought of one.  Educents had an "Elementary Bible & English Grammer" book on their offerings a while back. 

 

I couldn't even bear to look at the sample.  They have changed the title since, but goodness!  It was not a way to inspire confidence in their product!

[kolamum]

I stopped using BJUP math because the man at the convention told me that my child was OBVIOUSLY not really ready for 3rd grade if she couldn't write all the problems. And dear sir, how many children have you actually taught????

 

I threw away Barb Shelton's High School Form U La because of the horrible layout, multiple fonts, call-out boxes, etc. Seriously, that women needs to cut out the caffeine! And to stop telling people they can give students high school credit for cleaning out their purses and making baseball notebooks!

 

And this isn't a minor or stupid reason--I will never use Sonlight because of the vicious, nasty emails from the author. Have you actually TAUGHT a high schooler? No, you haven't. So quit telling folks that they're obviously not really educating their children if said children are doing music at a high level. And don't tell people that the perfection of SL is due to the Christian viewpoint, and then start BookShark. 

 

Oh. My. Goodness. The emails! They've been INSANE lately, but now they tell you how to clean & "do it all". I had to unsubscribe because somehow I was subscribed to an absurd amount of their lists I don't even recall asking to be on. 

 

 

 

--

 

Online classes that cost more then a private school tuition, and then require you to get more supplies in order to complete the class. Or, my favourite, have the student do all the reading & work prior to the class so the very expensive class can be nothing more then chatting about work.. even though the instructor will have 15 people in her class. What's up with that?

 

If I have to pay that much for each class I could enrol my kid in the local private school, not to mention if I'm teaching the child the information anyway why would I pay $500 for someone else just to discuss things with my kids. I may homeschool, but I am not made of money.

[LMD]

I dislike spiral bound because they don't look pretty on my bookshelf.

[morningcoffee]

Too many pieces (AAS/AAR)

Cramped layout (Math Mammoth)

DVD instruction without adequate teacher manual (Phonics Road)

Chatty textbooks (MOH, Apologia)

 

Yes ... just adopting a casual or chatty tone doesn't actually make the content anymore memorable. 

[morningcoffee]

 

And this isn't a minor or stupid reason--I will never use Sonlight because of the vicious, nasty emails from the author. Have you actually TAUGHT a high schooler? No, you haven't. So quit telling folks that they're obviously not really educating their children if said children are doing music at a high level. And don't tell people that the perfection of SL is due to the Christian viewpoint, and then start BookShark. 

 

I found this surprising too. 

[MrsBasil]

I can not even look at My Father's World or Heart of Dakota because of their fans.  For the longest time, if someone said they had tried one and it didn't work, was too light, not their style, or whatever then tons of people would come out of the woodwork to disagree with every single point and seemed to take it personally if the person who didn't like it continued to politely disagree with them.

 

Ugh!  

[luuknam]

Pages of just solid math problems. AOPS or Life of Fred or even Singapore where there are a mix of word problems and visuals and numbers don't bother me, but anything that just has pages of 1. 16x25= sends shudders down my spine. Especially if the problem numbers hit three digits in a single problem set.

 

I'm not sure why that's a stupid reason. I'd call that an excellent reason!

 

Another dislike - a writing curriculum (IEW, I think - not sure of order of letters) that you can't use unless you first watch the $$$ video. Seriously, how hard would it be to write an instructional manual for the parents to read? Surely you know how to write, right? I hope?

[Vida Winter]

nm

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2016 by Vida Winter

[regentrude]

I dislike:

cutesy. Such as "Exploring the way life works" - biology with cartoon illustrations and explanations like "the molecules are holding hands and dancing". Not in high school, please!

 

distracting layout. Sidebars, colored boxes, activities, "connection to xyz"-boxes, unnecessary illustrations. Visual clutter. A photograph of a person wearing a lab coat is superfluous.

This applies to most ps textbooks I have seen.

 

huge font. I dislike fat books that use an 18pt font - that's fine for first grade, not high school.

 

scripted. I don't want to be told what to do each day. We can figure it out, thanks.

 

I like:

clean design, consecutive text that can be read, concise+to the point, no unnecessary illustrations, no "hands-on" projects. Just give it to us straight.

Edited August 21, 2016 by regentrude

[Sahamamama]

Just thought of one.  Educents had an "Elementary Bible & English Grammer" book on their offerings a while back. 

 

I couldn't even bear to look at the sample.  They have changed the title since, but goodness!  It was not a way to inspire confidence in their product!

 

:lol: Yes, "grammer" is one of my pet peeves, along with "even has it's own workbook." Either master the proper use of the apostrophe, or don't teach it, please.

[Critterfixer]

Dislikes: Anything with moving parts. Or pieces that I have to cut, clip, rip out.

Likes: Anything that says I can change an assignment or create my own if I want to.

[Dmmetler]

Anything that requires materials that weigh more than the child expected to use them.

[luuknam]

Anything that requires materials that weigh more than the child expected to use them.

 

What curriculum was that?

[Heathermomster]

All of the color in the MARR Biblioplan Companion gives me a headache and makes my stomach hurt. The cheap binding on the book, the writing, and cost doesn't help much either.

[Sahamamama]

5. there is a lot of required writing which appears to be busywork (Memoria Press)

6. the answer key is HARD TO READ (hello, CLE...) - (my eyes need good answer keys like the ones in BJU math which highlight the answer large and in a different color)

 

:iagree: We found much of the MP guides to be busywork. With the CLE answer keys, I use a large magnifying glass. Seriously, I have a magnifying glass in my pencil box, just for CLE. Otherwise, it's impossible to see things like fractions and exponents! So tiny! At least this year (4th & up), the instructor guide for Math won't have each student page reduced to one-fourth the full size. :glare:

 

[Sahamamama]

Anything that requires materials that weigh more than the child expected to use them.

 

:iagree: When my nephew was in 7th grade, the total weight of his textbooks was more than his weight, fully-clothed, with shoes. He was expected to bring home ALL of his textbooks every night (for homework), then cart them ALL back the following day (for class work). My sister went ballistic, LOL (she's good at that). In the end, the school loaned them a full set of textbooks to keep at home, and he kept another full set at school in his locker. He was the shortest kid in his class in 7th grade. He is 21 years old now, and 6' 4". ;)

 

I wonder what weighs more than your girl? :scared:

[LMD]

Too much social media/buy my ebook flogging puts me off. There's one at the moment, a popular choice but it's driving me crazy with all the watch/buy my stuff. I really can't bring myself to even look at it closely.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Dislikes:

 

Poor quality paper. I'd rather pay a bit more and have it look and feel nice. I'm thinking of things like the Cartoon Guides series. 

 

Cramped text. The page has to look like it wants to be read.

 

 

 

 

Likes:

 

Humour. If it makes me giggle, I'm in.  LoF, Horrible Histories, Murderous Maths etc.

 

Authors who respond personally to your emails - Ed Zaccaro. 

 

Resources without grade/age labels.

 

 

[meena]

The typeface/font. I looked into Writing Tales. The minute I opened the sample and saw it was Comic Sans, I couldn't read any further. I knew I'd never survive a whole year having to look at that.

 

I'm also very turned off by pages that are too busy. The History of US regular editions (by Hakim) have way too much text and pictures crammed on a small page. I found the concise editions much easier on my eyes. I also have a hard time with many of the Usborne books used with Sonlight for the same reason. I feel like the information on each page isn't presented in an orderly or linear enough way, and my eyes start wandering.

[fralala]

Well, I simply cannot use any curriculum that requires me to gather together a list of materials before the day's lesson, including those that claim they only use common household objects. This has made me rule out a lot of otherwise lovely-seeming science and art curricula...and even history and math. Though I may be depriving my young children, they seem to get no more joy out of the projects that require me to spend 30 minutes beforehand prepping and 10 minutes afterward cleaning up than they do out of being handed a box of crayons and some fresh paper. And I get joy out of not having to devote shelves of space to supplies, or having to head out to Target at the last minute to pick up materials.

 

(I was reminded of this because someone above mentioned Oak Meadow, and when I checked out the required materials for a SINGLE DAY of second grade, and I apologize for virtual yelling, but there were more than 20 things listed, including a hot glue gun, plaster impregnated bandage, and a crochet hook and yarn, which very well may be everyday things for OM-- but really.)

 

Although I don't want this to be the case, and I wish to be more self-aware and to prevent myself from doing it in the future, the dumbest reason I have liked and purchased curricula in the past is because they were created for or marketed to teachers of "gifted" children. My children are amazing people and a pleasure to teach, but they are not gifted, and using a curriculum for gifted children will not make them gifted. There may be other good reasons for choosing these materials, but if I'm honest with myself, it was the prospect of somehow making my kids more academically exceptional that made me choose them. A stupid reason.

[kolamum]

All of the color in the MARR Biblioplan Companion gives me a headache and makes my stomach hurt. The cheap binding on the book, the writing, and cost doesn't help much either.

Me too, but I have VPD so that's why. My severe VPD can't even look at it without being ill. I'm not sure what the deal with it is.. I've heard raving good things about Biblioplan, but not for us.

[Mrs. Tharp]

Anything I have to regularly print off won't get done. Even if I print it in advance and put it in a binder. I hate binders. 

 

Failing to use a curriculum I think might really work for my kids because I hate the instructional dvd. I'm on the verge of this right now. Can't bring myself to finish the dvd and I'm wondering whether I'll have enough patience to teach the curriculum. (IEW, for those who are wondering.)

 

Materials with an overly chatty tone. I tend to equate "overly chatty" with "not particularly knowledgeable". My own bias. 

 

 

ETA: I made it through the instructional video and found that it improved as it went on. I'm glad I did because I think it will be a great fit for my sons.

Edited September 8, 2016 by Mrs. Tharp

[Dmmetler]

:iagree: When my nephew was in 7th grade, the total weight of his textbooks was more than his weight, fully-clothed, with shoes. He was expected to bring home ALL of his textbooks every night (for homework), then cart them ALL back the following day (for class work). My sister went ballistic, LOL (she's good at that). In the end, the school loaned them a full set of textbooks to keep at home, and he kept another full set at school in his locker. He was the shortest kid in his class in 7th grade. He is 21 years old now, and 6' 4". ;)

 

I wonder what weighs more than your girl? :scared:

The one that comes to mind immediately is Sonlight. Despite all the gushing about box days and having everything come in one customizable package, it's just too much stuff. Saxon's manipulative kit and teacher support stuff for primary was also way, way too much stuff, IMO-most of which was used for only a lesson or two.

 

DD's Holt Biology for her high school lab doesn't weigh more than she does, but it certainly weighs more than it should-it's fully as big as the college 2 semester majors level textbooks, yet is a lot less comprehensive and more "fluffy"-and if I actually printed al the worksheets, tests and support materials that come in the "homeschool packet", it would probably take a ream or more of paper and weigh as much as the book! That one textbook and the 1 in binder the instructor requested to be brought to lab takes up most of her backpack.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Dmmetler2

[fairfarmhand]

Though there are plenty of reasons to not like BJU, I'm giving English a try this year because I love the idea of alternating units of grammar and writing to manage the English / Language Arts glut.  

 

It's worked very well for us. We use all their elementary levels.

[Roadrunner]

unorthodox book shape? CPO science comes to mind. I just don't like the shape of their books, yet I own so many of them. 

[madteaparty]

I've discarded many a curriculum because too many words. Yes, even language arts ones...:/

[sewingmama]

Anything with too many pieces... just can't be bothered storing them, finding them, using them. I get myself confused as well as my kids.

 

Anything where I have to flip pages during the lesson...will never use anything that says Do this ( see page 9 of Part B Book 2).

 

I use PDFs all the time because of living overseas but the printing needs to be straightforward. Please put everything needed ..lesson, activities, graphics all in one sequential spot. When I am printing a lesson I do not want to print the lesson, then scroll down 50 pages to the activity section, then scroll another 50 pages to get to the map resources. I don't print all at once because I skip stuff I don't need ... put everything together please.

 

Hate curriculum that isn't modern. Hate the cheesy drawings and lame associations. My kids play video games and love Pokemon, Minecraft and Lego. They do not have tea parties in their clean Sunday dresses, bake cupcakes for Daddy or read books under trees.

Edited August 22, 2016 by sewingmama

[Sammish]

Well, I simply cannot use any curriculum that requires me to gather together a list of materials before the day's lesson, including those that claim they only use common household objects. This has made me rule out a lot of otherwise lovely-seeming science and art curricula...and even history and math. Though I may be depriving my young children, they seem to get no more joy out of the projects that require me to spend 30 minutes beforehand prepping and 10 minutes afterward cleaning up than they do out of being handed a box of crayons and some fresh paper. And I get joy out of not having to devote shelves of space to supplies, or having to head out to Target at the last minute to pick up materials.

 

(I was reminded of this because someone above mentioned Oak Meadow, and when I checked out the required materials for a SINGLE DAY of second grade, and I apologize for virtual yelling, but there were more than 20 things listed, including a hot glue gun, plaster impregnated bandage, and a crochet hook and yarn, which very well may be everyday things for OM-- but really.)

 

I can't remember which science curriculum it was, but under their list of "common household objects" was an ice pick. Really?? Do people even still have those? 

 

(And I would like to hop on the "anti comic sans" bandwagon.  :iagree: )

[luuknam]

I have a love-hate relationship with curriculum not listing grade levels. I love it if it's not on the book where the kid can see it, but please, have it easily found on the publisher's website. I encounter public school textbooks in a thrift store on a fairly regular basis, and while I usually do a pretty good job guessing what grade level they're for, if I go to the publisher's website it should be right there on the page, and not just have a million words about all the Common Core standards it teaches and all that stuff and neglect to mention a grade level anywhere.

 

I can't remember which science curriculum it was, but under their list of "common household objects" was an ice pick. Really?? Do people even still have those?

 

And I hate common household objects. I'm the kind of person who has to go to the store for baking soda because it's not a common household object... On the bright side, while we don't have any ice picks (afaik), we have other things we could substitute for that. I'm not aware of anything that can be substituted for e.g. baking soda though (unless you're actually baking something, in which case baking powder might work).

[Lang Syne Boardie]

 

Hate curriculum that isn't modern. Hate the cheesy drawings and lame associations. My kids play video games and love Pokemon, Minecraft and Lego. They do not have tea parties in their clean Sunday dresses, bake cupcakes for Daddy or read books under trees.

 

I don't understand why you're relegating cupcakes and reading books under trees to the dustbin of Victorian history. Modern people bake a little (or else why are there three long shelves of cake mixes in every supermarket), and read (even e-books)...?

[Bluegoat]

I don't understand why you're relegating cupcakes and reading books under trees to the dustbin of Victorian history. Modern people bake a little (or else why are there three long shelves of cake mixes in every supermarket), and read (even e-books)...?

 

Those kinds of pictures do seem ubiquitous in some texts though, stuff like A Charlotte Mason companion.  It always seems a bit odd to me, in the sense that CM wasn't particularly an antiquarian.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Those kinds of pictures do seem ubiquitous in some texts though, stuff like A Charlotte Mason companion. It always seems a bit odd to me, in the sense that CM wasn't particularly an antiquarian.

True, she was quite progressive for her time! And I should have said that I do understand the pp's complaint about twee Little Lord Fauntleroy art in everything marketed as CM. We should probably blame Karen Andreola, who liked the style and went first, even though it's not her fault that so many people imitated her.

[ScoutTN]

My kids do bake for their Daddy, mostly choc chip cookies and peach pie. We do read books outside, sometimes under trees! We do have tea parties too, though not wearing our Sunday best.

 

I think we must be post-modern misfits! :)

 

My kids like Pokemon and Lego too.

[ktgrok]

I want to like Tapestry of Grace just because I think it is awesome they have it set up so if you can't afford the book, here's the call number to look for a similar one in the library. I think that's awesome. But their curriculum doesn't work AT ALL for me. It's like it's not quite fully written or something. 

 

Meanwhile, I dislike Sonlight for a bunch of reasons, but am using the spin off company, Bookshark, because it DOES work. Practicality over philosophy at this point. 

 

Oh, and although it is too Evangelical for us really, I ADORE Notgrass for their primary source books that come with each package. Not only is it chock full of awesome bits and pieces (sample of a New England Primer, letters from presidents, poems, hymns, speeches) but it SMELLS awesome. I LOVE the new book smell of their stuff. Again, philosophicaly not the best fit, but practically it worked out well for my oldest who needed get er done stuff, and it smelled so good :)

[rose]

Dislikes:

* I really dislike consumable books. I have WAY too many kids for this. I can handle really cheap workbooks like R&S but even those take my time to order. The ideal solution for me would be reusable student text books and free or buy once and print as many as you want printables from the publisher's site.

 

*Cool stuff. My kids loathe cool.

 

*Fact boxes all over the page. My kids up until just recently had a lot of difficulty understanding what was the main text in the book and what was the supplemental text. I think us adults under estimate how much visual distraction interferes with comprehension.

 

*Christian "science" curriculum that is really just young earth propaganda. I firmly believe in a YE but this drives me nuts.

 

*Comic Sans. I contain agree more with others up-thread.

[TX Native]

MFW past K was a turn off for me before looking over a manual to form my own opinion because I heard the sales people are pushy at conferences and I hear the lesson plan is redundant. I did get the K program used, but didn't go past that when hearing those 2 critiques over and over. Plus, I am definitely not a box checker. This is why I have never been tempted to consider Sonlight even though several friends sing praises about it.

 

I resold a used RightStart Level B set after 2 lessons because it was over the top scripted, had too many manipulatives, and I didn't know where to store the balance.

 

I like SCM products because they use good quality paper (especially for the copywork books).

[Targhee]

I think page layout and typesetting is very important, especially for children. But really it is me that hates anything in Comic Sans or fully-justified any font. I gravitate to those with quality illustrations (color doesn't matter as much as the quality of the art). Also, I prefer things that are smaller than 8.5x11 in size - they are just easier for little hands to manage.

[lgliser]

We don't use Abeka for math any more but when we did, I hate that they would abbreviate words like day.  They put something like dy.  I didn't understand it.  They were still using three characters... just spell the word!  Seems like they abbreviated other words strangely but I can't remember which ones...