BP without the Companion

[Nam2001]

Hi ladies,

I was wondering if any of you have used Biblioplan without their Companion text? I know this will prevent me from using some of their other products like the cool histories, but I would rather use the optional spines they list. 

Any thoughts? 

Thanks! 

[nixpix5]

The first year I used BP I bought Cool Histories, craft book and the Companion text...it was meh... I used it for a couple of weeks and then dropped it for just the schedule. The schedule is gold and I always use it along with SOTW and KF Encyclopedia plus their scheduled books. They even schedule Veritas Press cards which I love. I found I could still use some of the cool history prompt questions and activities because most of the information in their companion text shows up in the other spines. If there is something that doesn't and I care enough, we just do a bit of research to answer it. I like BP because you can absolutely make it your own. I have been grateful for the fantastic books we discovered along the way using it and the way they seamlessly weave together their history resources. It is my absolutely favorite schedule. 

[wehave8]

53 minutes ago, nixpix5 said:

The first year I used BP I bought Cool Histories, craft book and the Companion text...it was meh... I used it for a couple of weeks and then dropped it for just the schedule. The schedule is gold and I always use it along with SOTW and KF Encyclopedia plus their scheduled books. They even schedule Veritas Press cards which I love. I found I could still use some of the cool history prompt questions and activities because most of the information in their companion text shows up in the other spines. If there is something that doesn't and I care enough, we just do a bit of research to answer it. I like BP because you can absolutely make it your own. I have been grateful for the fantastic books we discovered along the way using it and the way they seamlessly weave together their history resources. It is my absolutely favorite schedule. 

So, you think the flow of history is not lost by not using the Companion?

Pam

[Holly]

We just started BP, so I’m still getting the hang of it.  Only my high schooler is actually using the Companion.  My younger ones (2nd, 5th, and 7th) are using SOTW and a couple other spines.  The Cool History Classic is based on SOTW books, so that would be an option for you.  I think I prefer the SOTW activity guide questions and narration, but we are just getting started, so that may change.  I love the BP family guide and the books scheduled have been great!  We haven’t worked much with the discussion guide yet, so I’m not sure how that will work using different spines.  

I have used a bit of the Companion with them.  We’ve looked at pictures and I read a few of the “fascinating fact” sections.  You can easily pull up some pictures with Google images for free, which is what we previously did with SOTW.  I wouldn’t spend $100 (cost of year 3 Companion) for no more than I use it with the younger ones!

[Nam2001]

Thanks for all of the replies so far. 

[rjand6more]

I use the Companion, but I use the Cool History Classic based on the SOTW books.  I would not hesitate to use BP without the Companion.  There are so many spine and supplement books scheduled.  You can pick and choose. We use the maps.  They seem to be based on SOTW more than the Companion.

 

I have the ebook Companion.  I like it, but my kids like SOTW better.

 

[Nam2001]

One of my kids will be in 8th grade so I hesitate to use SOTW as her main spine. I definitely want to use it for my 5th grader. I have thought about MOH or History of US. But I assume they won't work well with the extras BP has. Maybe we stick to narrations :) 

[mom@shiloh]

I've used all four years of BP, sometimes with the Companion and sometimes without.  The only thing that you couldn't use would be the cool histories if you didn't use the Companion.  One option would be to purchase the family guide for the schedule, use one of the other spines that is listed and then also purchase the discussion guide.  Pull questions out of the discussion guide to use either for oral or written narrations.  

[wehave8]

6 minutes ago, mom@shiloh said:

I've used all four years of BP, sometimes with the Companion and sometimes without.  The only thing that you couldn't use would be the cool histories if you didn't use the Companion.  One option would be to purchase the family guide for the schedule, use one of the other spines that is listed and then also purchase the discussion guide.  Pull questions out of the discussion guide to use either for oral or written narrations.  

What ages have you used it with?

 

Pam

[mom@shiloh]

39 minutes ago, wehave8 said:

What ages have you used it with?

 

Pam

I used it with 5th-12th graders.  We'd usually use the Companion for high school reading and other spines for the younger kids.  This year, I'm reading Remember the Days with all of them  -- 7th, 8th and 10th.  RTD is recommended for younger grades, but I feel it gives a good summary.  They're reading other books on their own.

[wehave8]

1 minute ago, mom@shiloh said:

I used it with 5th-12th graders.  We'd usually use the Companion for high school reading and other spines for the younger kids.  This year, I'm reading Remember the Days with all of them  -- 7th, 8th and 10th.  RTD is recommended for younger grades, but I feel it gives a good summary.  They're reading other books on their own.

What 'outputs' do you use?  Written summaries?  Cool Histories?  etc.?

Pam

[mom@shiloh]

15 minutes ago, wehave8 said:

What 'outputs' do you use?  Written summaries?  Cool Histories?  etc.?

Pam

Some years we have used the Cool Histories. We began with that this year, but have evolved to what we're doing now.  We read RTD as a group.  The kids take notes and are required to do a written summary.  I keep the discussion guide nearby and pull out questions that I want to discuss.  We do this twice a week, spending about 45 minutes on reading and discussing.  Then they spend about 15 minutes writing their summaries.  On the other two days of the week (we do co-op once a week)  they read independently.  We've used the Famous Men books, Trial and Triumph, some MOH and lots of the lit. suggestions. The Famous Men books do have a student book that we've used with questions and we've also used that for outputs. This has worked well for this group of kids at this point.  We may switch it up next year.  I've discovered that I can only handle a certain amount of our subjects being teacher-intensive, but history is one of the ones that I like to keep that way.  

RTD is definitely 'lighter' than the Companion, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as a replacement in the high school years, but it's what we needed for this year.