Anyone else using TPS's English 1 or 2 courses?

[yvonne]

We used TPS's English 3-6 courses for high school for my children who are now all in college. They were excellent. Solid, quality literature discussions and solid writing expectations and feedback. My youngest also used TPS's Eng 1: Narnia course. That was also excellent, with good, weekly writing requirements.  All the instructors my children had were fantastic. My children could write excellent lit papers by the time they graduated. I've recommended TPS's Eng courses all over the place to many folks looking for truly high caliber, online Eng courses for middle & high schoolers.

This year I have a 7th grader using TPS's Eng. 2 course and I am utterly disappointed with it. They are trying to move to a "textbook" written by one of their very good teachers, but the quality of her teaching is not translating at all. I really hate when online providers try to force all their teachers into one mold. Just because something works for one teacher does not mean ALL teachers can replicate that same success. Hire great teachers, tell them what texts and skills you want them to cover, and then leave.them.alone!  I am also dismayed at how much time online the kids have to spend reading two very pricey (2 x $40), beta-version texts AND entire works like the play, The Importance of Being Earnest. It's ridiculous. The kids should be reading hard copies and learning to annotate them!  Especially junior high students!

Is anyone else using TPS's Eng 1/2 courses? Are you having a similar experience?  I cannot imagine recommending these classes any more. I hope TPS hasn't changed its Eng 3+ high school courses.

[cintinative]

I am not sure I can totally answer your questions because we started right before the switchover.

Last year my oldest took English 2 and at that time it was considered to be high school level. It has been completely reworked.  He had a good experience in the class, but I don't think that translates to this year per se.

My 8th grader is in English 1. Because they reworked things, our original plan of doing English 2 in 9th is no longer viable. He will have to test into English 3.  The class he took last year was supposed to be for 6th or 7th graders, but now is only for 6th.  Again, everything is reworked.

He is doing okay in English 1. They have larger assignments like essays, with reading, and some type of brief weekly writing assignment.  

I am not sure what textbook you are referring to--last year my son had a grammar book and a poetry book for English 2. But I don't think English 2 still covers the poetry book (?).  I printed both and had them bound. We did read the Importance of Being Earnest last year and did use a paperback for that.  We did not annotate at all in that class.

My oldest is in English 3 Confident Composition. He is doing well, and overall it is going fine, but it is clear this is the first time they have run this particular class.  This class does not do annotating either.

On the annotation--maybe they used to do that and no longer do? 

As for the classes, I can tell you there have been a lot of changes in what books are read over the  years.  A local friend had three daughters go through TPS and none of them read the same books. I had her send me the book lists so I could see the differences.  

I am sorry you are so disappointed. They seem really open to feedback--I think I would let them know that you would prefer not to use electronic forms of books.  I was very frustrated by all the changes in the course progression.  There were some other classes that we could have pursued if we had known they were going to do that.

 

Edited November 17, 2020 by cintinative

[yvonne]

Thanks for your feedback.

The two "textbooks" are the ones by R. Frederick, "Grammar the Write Way" and "Making Connections,"for which they charge $40 each, for electronic-only versions.  I finally had MC printed out because I cannot stand having my student on a computer screen so much. I didn't print out GtWW  because Office Depot quoted me something over $50 if I printed color & with all the color coding stuff in the text, I knew we would need the color. 

TPS Eng 1 & 2 courses used to be so good. I'm really sad to see TPS Eng 1 & 2 courses shifting to "textbook"-based instruction. If I wanted textbook type/caliber instruction, I would do it myself. When I pay to outsource, I'm looking for quality, live instruction by quality instructors, not for someone to simply regurgitate a textbook at my student. I'm looking for LESS dependence on online texts, not more, and certainly not complete dependence on online sources for the teaching.

My dd took the Journey into Narnia class w/ RA Frederick. It was a great class. Smooth, organized, a good balance of lit & writing. This new Eng. 2 course is nowhere near the same caliber. 

I just hope the Eng 3 classes have been left alone.

I'll probably contact Ms. Frederick after the class is over and grades have been submitted because I know she has the best intentions. I think perhaps she's been doing this for so long that she doesn't realize that handing HER program to other teachers doesn't necessarily translate well, and that, in fact, it can hobble teachers who would otherwise be good teachers by imposing an outside curriculum and approach on them.

Edited November 29, 2020 by yvonne

[cintinative]

That's so interesting because we did not use "Making Connections" in English 2. We did use Grammar the Write Way. I printed it black and white and where we had questions about the color we looked at the pdf copy. I hope that helps!  

We also did not read Fellowship of the Ring, but the course seems to have really been altered.  

The jury is still out on English 3 (Comp only). I can let you know?

[mamamoose]

I had a really negative experience with TPS and they definitely did not act Christian in the matter. Furthermore, I think their classes are generally lacking in instruction and on the easy side of things compared to the classes we have taken at MPOA. Please feel free to message me about any of it and I can tell you more.

[yvonne]

Yes, I'd be very interested in your Eng 3 experience, cin! 

Thanks for your feedback, mamamoose. All my experiences with TPS Eng & French prior to this class have been very positive. In fact, TPS's high school Eng classes were the best I found from the many providers we used.

My dd did take an MPOA English class in 7th or 8th. It was ok. The instructor was very good (Roemer). My dd enjoyed the class and I think her writing improved. For high school, I prefer lit-based Eng classes, with a strong writing component based on the works read and with grammar only addressed in the context of the student's writing.  MPOA's comp approach is intriguing to me, and I think it would probably work, but it was just too different/too big a leap of faith for me to try it with my kids.