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What are some curriculum trends you’ve noticed over the years?


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And did any stand the test of time?

 

This question came to my mind today as I was browsing various Facebook groups, looking at what people are currently using for their homeschool (I do this when I get bored..don’t judge me 😂

It seems like every other post right now is about The Good and the Beautiful. Or Blossom and Root, if I’m in the secular group. People seem to really latch on to things. Not that long ago I remember seeing a lot about Masterbooks too. I thought it was interesting, and wondered if you guys had noticed similar “bandwagon” jumping over the years, and if any of these fads stood the test of time?

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Welcome! I see by your post count you are new!

I've been part of the homeschool community for over 20 years now. Pretty much any time a new program was released, it was the "latest and greatest" thing, and "guaranteed to solve any and all homeschooling problems"... 😉 And yes, a number of those have been solid standbys and are definitely here to stay...

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I'm only going into year 5 but I jumped on TGTB and MB in year 2 due to the trendiness, and promptly dropped both. Older Plain curricula have been our favorites for math and LA.

To be fair, we are using a MB science but it is built around other texts. I find their reprintings of other works fare better than the ones they are producing to build their brand. In other words, they seem stronger as a publishing company than as a curriculum company. 

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1 hour ago, GoodnightMoogle said:

And did any stand the test of time?

This question came to my mind today as I was browsing various Facebook groups, looking at what people are currently using for their homeschool (I do this when I get bored..don’t judge me 😂

It seems like every other post right now is about The Good and the Beautiful. Or Blossom and Root, if I’m in the secular group. People seem to really latch on to things. Not that long ago I remember seeing a lot about Masterbooks too. I thought it was interesting, and wondered if you guys had noticed similar “bandwagon” jumping over the years, and if any of these fads stood the test of time?

Heart of Dakota was really big a few years ago.

Over 20 years ago, there was a small group of hsers who were convinced that if you didn't do Latin there was sin in your life, lol.

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I think it seems to go in waves.  Specific curriculum, yes, but there is always a growing philosophical trend behind it.

Literature based/family style was huge for a while.  Sonlight was the standard, FIAR up there, HoD to a lesser extent, and the more relaxed reading through the subjects.  That was in kind of a weird Sharks/Jets relationship with neo-classical, which was rising.  WTM methods, Memoria and Veritas,  My Father's World...

Neo-classical folks started splintering off, and the literature folks joined them to find Charlotte Mason ideas in a more CM centered program: Ambleside, The Alveary, and the spin off of those that incorporated elements of CM but were more comfortable to new folks- Torchlight, Gather Round, Build Your Library..I'm sure Biblioplan fits in there, too.

The big trend now is the nature-based: Blossom & Root, Wild Math, that sort of thing that people can shove to the side when it gets to be a month of -15 degrees and the idea of going outside to do school is not appealing.  It's balanced with the other extreme: Time4Learning, MobyMax, and whatever the new, $10/month online, will-teach-your-child-everything-in-15-minutes-a-day-and-make-it-fun program is out there.  I noticed a decent showing about Night Zookeeper last fall that seems to have petered out to non-existence, but I haven't paid attention to what has taken its place yet.

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On 5/13/2021 at 10:16 PM, Brittany1116 said:

I'm only going into year 5 but I jumped on TGTB and MB in year 2 due to the trendiness, and promptly dropped both. Older Plain curricula have been our favorites for math and LA.

To be fair, we are using a MB science but it is built around other texts. I find their reprintings of other works fare better than the ones they are producing to build their brand. In other words, they seem stronger as a publishing company than as a curriculum company. 

I’m wondering if I was seeing a lot of MB and TGTB because of covid. There were a lot of new homeschoolers and those two have such “pretty” packages. MB isn’t to my liking but I can totally see why one would be drawn to it; it makes you feel like you can easily have all your subjects in a row and everything looks so neat and nice. I imagine a lot of people were looking for a curriculum that made them feel like they could easily check the boxes. Can’t blame them for that! Last year was rough. 

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12 hours ago, Ellie said:

Heart of Dakota was really big a few years ago.

Over 20 years ago, there was a small group of hsers who were convinced that if you didn't do Latin there was sin in your life, lol.

I wonder why Heart of Dakota fell out. I used to see a lot more posts about it here (I was looking into their tot program for the future for my little guy so that’s how I discovered it). 
 

I imagine there are just other programs out there that fill their niche? I remember their catalogue didn’t spark much excitement in me when I looked through it. There are just so many other choices out there and it’s easy to judge curriculum by its cover. I wonder why it was so popular in the first place? I could see it appealing to a certain sense of tradition/patriotism, I suppose. 
 

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5 hours ago, stripe said:

I used to hear more about Circe and Ambleside than I do now, but I may just not be listening to the right places. People seem to have moved on from anxiety about “twaddle.”

I definitely still see twaddle and Ambleside talked about in the Charlotte Mason circles. Circe though was so HUGE here. I love reading those old threads. It seems that to me, from an outsiders perspective, that there was a big movement for more rigor in the homeschool world. “Truth, Beauty, and Goodness” was a big rallying cry. Actually, those ideals still really resonate with me 😬

There was some drama with Circe and Cindy Rollins (of Mere Motherhood) from what I gathered from one of her Facebook groups. Allegedly they were not treating everyone so well behind the scenes. If true, it’s a real shame for a company that claims to promote “virtue.” 

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Yeah, I am definitely not up on the latest Charlotte Mason trends. I removed myself from some Ambleside list probably...ten years ago. 😆 It got to be way too much for me, and I had a weird experience with one person in particular.

From what I gather, somethings have been shoved aside to make room for conspiracy theories! This seems to be appealing on both extremes of the political spectrum.

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1 hour ago, GoodnightMoogle said:

I wonder why it was so popular in the first place? I could see it appealing to a certain sense of tradition/patriotism, I suppose. 
 

I assumed it was mostly popular because it was a one-stop-shop;  a whole week's worth of material in one handy spread. Fill in math and whatever else and you're done! (I think of MFW and Sonlight like that also, which is why none of those appealed to me. I enjoy planning too much for that!)

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1 hour ago, GoodnightMoogle said:

I wonder why Heart of Dakota fell out. I used to see a lot more posts about it here (I was looking into their tot program for the future for my little guy so that’s how I discovered it).

I imagine there are just other programs out there that fill their niche? I remember their catalogue didn’t spark much excitement in me when I looked through it. There are just so many other choices out there and it’s easy to judge curriculum by its cover. I wonder why it was so popular in the first place? I could see it appealing to a certain sense of tradition/patriotism, I suppose. 
 

I used to be on another discussion forum where the author of HoD used to wade in when people made negative comments about it. HoD never appealed to me. When I reviewed it, it just looked like something I'd find in a public school, way too scripted and contrived. Apparently the author had, in fact, been a public school teacher, so there you go.

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2 hours ago, Kiara.I said:

The trend I see right now (other than here) is everybody wanting a full education online, provided, marked, and everything.

And don't forget, in addition to what you listed, people also want: "independent" (done completely solo by student) and "free". 😉 :laugh:
🦄
Ahhh, people are still chasing that unicorn  where all of the Venn diagram circles overlap and they find the perfect curriculum that is: 
- independent (or very little work from mom / open & go)
- free (or at least cheap)
- and rigorous (guarantees entry to selective college 😉 )

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Easy, quick, and flashy are what I see. No prep so parents can work. And independent learning for the very young too. 

 

Also, I think some programs have gone out of style because they require leg work. HoD is great, but has a lot work for a mom to do and is hard for more than one guide to be used at a time. 

 

CLE seems to be popular too. I think because it is easy to self teach with. 

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10 hours ago, stripe said:

I used to hear more about Circe and Ambleside than I do now, but I may just not be listening to the right places. People seem to have moved on from anxiety about “twaddle.”

Yes, I have noticed far less anxiety on twaddle. 

And I think newer homeschoolers don't want so much prep work, or older books. 

Those that plan to homeschool from the beginning and are reading to their kids from the start might not be so intimidated from the AO booklist. But those just jumping in might see them as too hard, old, and advanced. Even I find some of their recommended books a little too much too soon. 

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6 minutes ago, lulalu said:

Those that plan to homeschool from the beginning and are reading to their kids from the start might not be so intimidated from the AO booklist. But those just jumping in might see them as too hard, old, and advanced. Even I find some of their recommended books a little too much too soon. 

I agree, some of the AO recommendations do seem to be too much of a stretch for the age, even in my eager reader family. I think it would be quite daunting for someone starting up.  
 

Are there two different categories at the moment, one for deliberate homeschoolers and one for ‘crisis’ schoolers?  It seems like their needs & preferences would be different.  The everything online trend seems to fit better with the second group, with the wild math etc. maybe a reaction to & rejection of that? Completely speculating. 

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3 minutes ago, daijobu said:

When I started homeschooling about 10-15 years ago, all anyone would write about was BFSU, MCT and Singapore Math.  People still use Singapore Math, but I'm sad to see people seem to have given up on the others. 

MCT looks great, but it's intimidating, with all the parts and all the $$$.

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11 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

I think it seems to go in waves.  Specific curriculum, yes, but there is always a growing philosophical trend behind it.

Literature based/family style was huge for a while.  Sonlight was the standard, FIAR up there, HoD to a lesser extent, and the more relaxed reading through the subjects.  That was in kind of a weird Sharks/Jets relationship with neo-classical, which was rising.

This cracked me up imagining a bunch of homeschoolers snapping at each other as they walk by with their Great Books and their historical fiction.

I’ve also noticed the “nature” trend! What’s the deal with that? People feeling like they didn’t get enough nature in their own childhoods so now they’re really trying to give it to their kids?

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Yes! BFSU!! Has that gone out of style? I even attended a talk by that Nebel guy once at some homeschooling shindig.

Yes, I’ve noticed the nature thing. The trouble is, it’s all aimed at people with kids under 8. It’s great to take a day off and go to the beach or whatever, but that doesn’t work the same way with high school students. I thought we went through this all this before with the DIY movement and Soulemama and all the craft blogs.

Sometimes I wonder though. Are we homeschooling because we are trying to professionalize motherhood? 

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2 hours ago, lulalu said:

Easy, quick, and flashy are what I see. No prep so parents can work. And independent learning for the very young too. 

 

Also, I think some programs have gone out of style because they require leg work. HoD is great, but has a lot work for a mom to do and is hard for more than one guide to be used at a time. 

 

CLE seems to be popular too. I think because it is easy to self teach with. 

We love CLE math because it is solid and inexpensive. It is in line with or possibly ahead of Saxon from our experience. I haven't noticed much talk about it lately, and no one near me knows what it is. 

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I wonder if the nature thing is bigger now because it's less accessible than the past. There's been so much landclearing and houses built with no access to nature in the last 20 years. A lot of people have to really plan if they want to access nature, because they can't just step out and find a wood and a creek behind their house. And it's seen as odd to let your kids wander whereas that used to be the norm. 

I'd say the homeschoolers I know irl are mostly 'pull kids out because school isn't working'. This is generally because the child has a diagnosis and the school isn't meeting a need. So it's less philosophical and more about getting school and life done without hardship. For these families, there is less of an overall scheme and more 'I saw this cool activity on the internet, we'll do that'. But I don't know any highschoolers, it is probably a different story then. 

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58 minutes ago, GoodnightMoogle said:

I’ve also noticed the “nature” trend! What’s the deal with that? People feeling like they didn’t get enough nature in their own childhoods so now they’re really trying to give it to their kids?

Trying to balance out the ever-pulling screen time, perhaps. That makes me wonder if Waldorf philosophy will have a resurgence.

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I remember when Spell to Write and Read (SWR) was THE spelling program. It has a learning curve for the teacher especially if you aren't familiar with Spalding or Orton-Gillingham style instruction. I think that was part of its decline. I used it to some extent with all my kids (and still have my original manuals) but I will be the first to admit it is dry as a desert and boring if used as it is exactly. Programs like All About Reading/Spelling and Logic of English that have come since SWR was at the height of its popularity are an improvement on the dry and boring aspect. I also don't see 100 Easy Lessons or MEP or Five In A Row mentioned as much any more.

We have always been secular homeschoolers but I've never had much issue at all with the occasional mention of religious views as long as I can edit it out easily if I want to. Being a secular homeschooler was the minority within the minority as homeschooling was still a bit of a weird thing to do when I started. I can even remember being told by a few people that it couldn't be legal for me to homeschool if we weren't religious lol. But the secular homeschool world has gotten vicious since I started homeschooling. I've made the mistake a few times since coming back to homeschooling of suggesting a religious curriculum that is easy to remove the religious bits as you see fit and been blasted for it. Apparently, there are enough secular curricula available now that suggesting that someone adapt an even faintly religious curriculum is blasphemy, lol. Yes, pun intended. 😛 

Co-ops used to just be something fun to do on a Friday afternoon. It could be a simple as a park day and a craft or just a parent led class that was mostly just a simple way to get kids together and practice working in a group. No pressure, no grades, more of an organized social outlet for moms and kids than an educational experience. Now, oh my gosh, co-ops are run like mini private schools! It's just unreal to me how regimented homeschool co-ops can be now. They are definitely not something we will ever participate in but I seem to be in the minority, again *sigh*, because the second question after "Are you a homeschooler?" always seems to be "So, what co-op do you go to?"

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1 hour ago, stripe said:

Yes! BFSU!! Has that gone out of style? I even attended a talk by that Nebel guy once at some homeschooling shindig.

Yes, I’ve noticed the nature thing. The trouble is, it’s all aimed at people with kids under 8. It’s great to take a day off and go to the beach or whatever, but that doesn’t work the same way with high school students. I thought we went through this all this before with the DIY movement and Soulemama and all the craft blogs.

Sometimes I wonder though. Are we homeschooling because we are trying to professionalize motherhood? 

If some are homeschooling to professionalize motherhood, it won't be the first time people have attempted to justify, quantify, and commodify motherhood. It's been going on for a long time. I have a collection of books preaching about "womanhood" going back to the early 1800's. To be perfectly honest, in some ways, it has not changed all that much.

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1 hour ago, bookbard said:

I wonder if the nature thing is bigger now because it's less accessible than the past. There's been so much landclearing and houses built with no access to nature in the last 20 years. A lot of people have to really plan if they want to access nature, because they can't just step out and find a wood and a creek behind their house. And it's seen as odd to let your kids wander whereas that used to be the norm.

I think also more screens, more time online and a reaction to that.  

But also, 20 years ago (ok, maybe 30-40 years ago...I forget my oldesd is 18 now ), I think people were more likely to kick their kids out the doors and let them explore nature on their own (I was part of the "come back by dark" generation).   Now, for a lot more parents, if they are getting their kids out into nature,  its supervised.   And if the parents have to be out there supervising anyways, might as well be teaching them something.  It's a way to get your outdoor exploration time and your school time done at the same time, and while I don't think people are consciously choosing it for that reason, I think that could be why it's sticking.   Things that solve two problems at once have more staying power than things that only solve one.

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My kids are young and I am DONE wading through the "nature" schooling to find stuff on homeschooling. When my kids are in nature they are busy digging holes, torturing/exploring insects, running in a circle screaming and are NOT going to participate in my contrived math or reading lesson. Sorry for the rant but I was really annoyed when I was trying to put together a challenging enough preschool and kindergarten "curriculum" for my son. 

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2 hours ago, Brittany1116 said:

Oh yes, nature schooling is big right now. Wild and Free and other groups. There were several books out about it in the last 2-3 years. If I remember correctly, Julie Bogart also wrote about nature and childhood magic or something similar.

She wrote “The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life,” but it’s not any more about playing outside than anything else I’ve seen from her. She did have Ainsley Arment speak at her COVID homeschooling online convention last year. Arment wrote “The Call of the Wild + Free: Reclaiming Wonder in Your Child’s Education.”  She’s the founder of Wild + Free. And three of her five kids are over 8 years old, so I stand corrected on that.

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I'm seeing a lot of talk about Blossom and Root and Gather Round on various boards.  Lots of nature stuff.  

 

I've gone back and forth a lot myself over the years.  I aimed for more Ambleside-esque stuff when I just had a couple of younger kids, but we didn't like a lot of their suggestions.  Then I went to more formal stuff for a while because five kids plus a couple of complicated pregnancies, and TIME was a big issue for me.  This year, I've got a couple of older boys who are mostly independent, and a couple of art and science obsessed little boys and a toddler, and we've thrown a lot of prescribed stuff out the window.  These little boys love their pile of books that we read parts from every day; we've got ten or twelve going at any given time, and we hit six to ten a day.  We've also got a bunch of semi-guided nature journals (I fell in love with NaturExplorers), and we pull out whatever we feel like studying at any given point.  They beg for another page from the current art book and are eager to read about the day's periodic table element.  Honestly, it feels like what I always envisioned school to look like -- a collaboration between adult with some knowledge of the big picture and children with natural curiosities and interests.

 

Story of the World remains my perennial favorite, though.  I've been through volumes 1 and 2 three times now and will be doing volume 3 with the boys next year.  Hard to mess with a classic.  I haven't seen it mentioned a lot in groups, though.  The Christian-oriented groups seem to like Apologia a lot still, as well as Notgrass (which I have used some and liked).  I don't see Pandia Press's stuff mentioned a ton these days, even in secular groups, nor Human Odyssey.

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14 hours ago, daijobu said:

When I started homeschooling about 10-15 years ago, all anyone would write about was BFSU, MCT and Singapore Math.  People still use Singapore Math, but I'm sad to see people seem to have given up on the others. 

I feel like I see people talk about MCT all the time. 

We've been vaguely trying BFSU, but it's not really getting done. I may get one of the things that streamlines it... the problem is that it's not our main science (mostly our science is reading books together and my kids are science-y anyway so it comes up), so then it's the first thing to get dropped.  

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BFSU and MCT both require a certain amount of flexibility and confidence of the teacher.  It's not that people give up on them, it's that they are hard to get into. 

If I could change anything, it would be homeschool conferences.  I only attempted one.  The sheer plethora of junk being peddled and the lack of focus on education as a whole makes them unworthy.  If they had seminars on lesson planning and scheduling some of these out-of-the-box programs, getting comfortable with them in a teacher-centered setting, I think more would jump on - not to mention make conferences valuable again.  But when the conferences include workshops on "The Dark Side Of Socialism" or "Education: Does God Have An Opinion?", rather than a focus on learning how to teach, some of these wonderful programs like BFSU or MCT are going to seem scary to new folks who just feel like they should open the book and go, especially if they have no support to help wade through them and bounce ideas around.

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I feel like BFSU got a little bit of a resurgence when the books offering a guide to doing it came out.   But that seems to have died down again. 

I still see Pandia Press stuff a lot, quite a bit of Accelus and Time4Learning or similar online programs, lots of Outschool suggestions.   Apologia definitely seems one of the more popular options for religious homeschoolers, along with My Father's World and Sonlight.   At least around here. 

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9 hours ago, theelfqueen said:

I feel like I've been seeing BYL a lot lately but I think it has mostly been here. 

I used to see BYL mentioned more in the secular group I’m in but now Torchlight seems to have taken the spotlight for people who want a bookish curriculum. In fact, though it still gets mentioned, I’ve seen mods mention that people aren’t “allowed” to recommend BYL anymore because there are elements in it that are non-secular or something 🙄

How dare people be allowed to use their own brains when selecting a curriculum??

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1 hour ago, HomeAgain said:

If I could change anything, it would be homeschool conferences.  I only attempted one.  The sheer plethora of junk being peddled and the lack of focus on education as a whole makes them unworthy.  If they had seminars on lesson planning and scheduling some of these out-of-the-box programs, getting comfortable with them in a teacher-centered setting, I think more would jump on - not to mention make conferences valuable again.  But when the conferences include workshops on "The Dark Side Of Socialism" or "Education: Does God Have An Opinion?", rather than a focus on learning how to teach, some of these wonderful programs like BFSU or MCT are going to seem scary to new folks who just feel like they should open the book and go, especially if they have no support to help wade through them and bounce ideas around.

Yes, not so many classes on how to teach reading, or even resources for parents who want to strengthen their own understanding — I have seen more than a few people say they don’t understand their child’s elementary math program, for example.

I also wish people talked more about identifying learning disabilities, emotional troubles, and other times when interventions and assistance would be helpful. I appreciate what SWB has said about this, as well as people posting here, but I will speak for myself — I don’t think I have been helped by being surrounded by people who seemed to overlook odd behaviors, or suggest problems fix themselves, or the like. Experienced teachers have more experience with students and general norms of development and are better able to identify some problems earlier. Parents may just not see these things. Sometimes we feel picked on when people point out these things, or we are in denial, and this interferes with getting help or our children’s development/education. 

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5 minutes ago, GoodnightMoogle said:

I’ve seen mods mention that people aren’t “allowed” to recommend BYL anymore because there are elements in it that are non-secular or something

It isn’t secular? Is it religious? Or it has things that aren’t “neutral”? I’d like to know more.

 

ETA I found this that answered some of my questions

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21 minutes ago, stripe said:

It isn’t secular? Is it religious? Or it has things that aren’t “neutral”? I’d like to know more.

 

ETA I found this that answered some of my questions

Yes, I think “Story of the World” is considered non-secular in that group as well and that’s what BYL uses.

 

 

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53 minutes ago, GoodnightMoogle said:

I used to see BYL mentioned more in the secular group I’m in but now Torchlight seems to have taken the spotlight for people who want a bookish curriculum. In fact, though it still gets mentioned, I’ve seen mods mention that people aren’t “allowed” to recommend BYL anymore because there are elements in it that are non-secular or something 🙄

How dare people be allowed to use their own brains when selecting a curriculum??

I picked up Torchlight for ds in Kindergarten, I think? Anyway, among the book selections was an anthology of religious stories or myths, and there was a note about it that you might want to put this book out of your child's reach because there are religious things in there and they might get ideas. They appear to be very strict, devout secularists.

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3 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

If I could change anything, it would be homeschool conferences.  I only attempted one.  The sheer plethora of junk being peddled and the lack of focus on education as a whole makes them unworthy.  If they had seminars on lesson planning and scheduling some of these out-of-the-box programs, getting comfortable with them in a teacher-centered setting, I think more would jump on - not to mention make conferences valuable again.  But when the conferences include workshops on "The Dark Side Of Socialism" or "Education: Does God Have An Opinion?", rather than a focus on learning how to teach, some of these wonderful programs like BFSU or MCT are going to seem scary to new folks who just feel like they should open the book and go, especially if they have no support to help wade through them and bounce ideas around.

And that's why I started my own convention. In today's homeschool convention world, most "workshops" are presented by exhibitors, whose job is to sell their product or service, even if they don't mention their product or service by name. It wasn't always thus. None of our presenters are exhibitors, and we're trying to do workshops which are actually meaningful and useful and practical.

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3 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

 

If I could change anything, it would be homeschool conferences.  I only attempted one.  The sheer plethora of junk being peddled and the lack of focus on education as a whole makes them unworthy.  If they had seminars on lesson planning and scheduling some of these out-of-the-box programs, getting comfortable with them in a teacher-centered setting, I think more would jump on - not to mention make conferences valuable again.  But when the conferences include workshops on "The Dark Side Of Socialism" or "Education: Does God Have An Opinion?", rather than a focus on learning how to teach, some of these wonderful programs like BFSU or MCT are going to seem scary to new folks who just feel like they should open the book and go, especially if they have no support to help wade through them and bounce ideas around.

Thank you for writing this!  I often wondered if the homeschool conferences in other states were better than the one local to me.  Mine focuses more on liberal topics and social justice and just plain reassuring new homeschoolers.  This is terrific, but for my needs there is precious little on actually teaching various subjects.  I would have loved hearing someone talk about teaching English/Language Arts or discuss the various spelling curricula since that's out of my wheelhouse.  Or really, any subject-related topic.  

Why does ideology take the place of actual assistance?  

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5 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

We've been vaguely trying BFSU, but it's not really getting done. I may get one of the things that streamlines it... the problem is that it's not our main science (mostly our science is reading books together and my kids are science-y anyway so it comes up), so then it's the first thing to get dropped.  

You aren't alone.  And reading books about science is a fine substitute.  

BFSU was made for people like me.  I actually woke up in the mornings excited to do science.  I'm pretty weird.  

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30 minutes ago, Ellie said:

And that's why I started my own convention. In today's homeschool convention world, most "workshops" are presented by exhibitors, whose job is to sell their product or service, even if they don't mention their product or service by name. It wasn't always thus. None of our presenters are exhibitors, and we're trying to do workshops which are actually meaningful and useful and practical.

Good for you!  I try to do my part, but on a smaller scale.  Although I never attended our local conference when I was actually homeschooling, I now return every year to discuss teaching math.  I even have moms come up on stage and we solve a problem together.  I hope I'm helping.  

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8 minutes ago, daijobu said:

Why does ideology take the place of actual assistance?  

Because folks who are putting on the conventions are using exhibitors as workshop presenters instead of actual homeschooling parents, who are knowledgeable and determined and experienced and really smart.

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1 hour ago, daijobu said:

You aren't alone.  And reading books about science is a fine substitute.  

BFSU was made for people like me.  I actually woke up in the mornings excited to do science.  I'm pretty weird.  

I'm excited to talk about science and we read science pretty often and I expect to get into science with actual numbers soon enough, and we've actually TALKED about BFSU stuff with some frequency and I appreciate it as reference... but I don't love the activities he has, which means that I have to put together other activities, which means that I get lazy 😛 . 

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1 hour ago, Ellie said:

And that's why I started my own convention. 

Any chance you recorded your convention?  In our area you have to drive 4+ hours to get to the nearest convention that is mostly ideology.  I have a free homeschool library and I would love to be able to provide useful listening for newbies. 

I have a lot of people asking for Masterbooks, Good and Beautiful, plus some titles that the local co-ops use.  Mostly, moms come in and want "x grade".  They want a pile of books that they can hand their child(ren) and check that box off.  Doesn't have to be from the same publisher, just open and go.  Some like the idea of online, but so many are burned by covid schooling that they are more interested in physical materials.

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