wendyroo Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 My advanced 8th grader is contemplating learning and pedagogy and curricula. He isn't 100% against what he is doing this year, but he feels (and I agree) that it is a lot of busywork and not a lot of depth. It is challenging in a "memorize all the details and regurgitate them on long multiple choice tests" way, but not really in a "teach him how to think and learn" kind of way. For context, he is currently using Edmentum online classes through a virtual flex school. He is taking English 8 (his least favorite subject), Advanced US History (which is boring, but forcing him to learn to write analysis papers...though not actually teaching him how to do so), Advanced Chemistry (which is easy, and a bit boring, but he enjoys), and Pre-Calc (which he is blasting through and learning almost nothing from). He is also taking a very high level Spanish 5 class with me and various tutors. For next year I am considering Build Your Library 10. He would also take Derek Owens Calc and Roy Speed's Logical Communication (and therefore do little of the writing in BYL). Spanish would be a mix of at home and a dual enrollment class. Can anyone share experiences with BYL 10 (or other high school levels other than 9 which I have heard bad things about)? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 1 hour ago, wendyroo said: My advanced 8th grader is contemplating learning and pedagogy and curricula. He isn't 100% against what he is doing this year, but he feels (and I agree) that it is a lot of busywork and not a lot of depth. It is challenging in a "memorize all the details and regurgitate them on long multiple choice tests" way, but not really in a "teach him how to think and learn" kind of way. For context, he is currently using Edmentum online classes through a virtual flex school. He is taking English 8 (his least favorite subject), Advanced US History (which is boring, but forcing him to learn to write analysis papers...though not actually teaching him how to do so), Advanced Chemistry (which is easy, and a bit boring, but he enjoys), and Pre-Calc (which he is blasting through and learning almost nothing from). He is also taking a very high level Spanish 5 class with me and various tutors. For next year I am considering Build Your Library 10. He would also take Derek Owens Calc and Roy Speed's Logical Communication (and therefore do little of the writing in BYL). Spanish would be a mix of at home and a dual enrollment class. Can anyone share experiences with BYL 10 (or other high school levels other than 9 which I have heard bad things about)? Thanks My kids are bright, but probably not gifted, so I can't speak to whether it would work for an accelerated younger kid. My two did BYL 10 as a Freshman and a Sophomore. They both enjoyed and learned a lot from BYL 10. We didn't do the Biology. History went very well; I was wary since neither of my high schoolers like graphic novels, but they really liked the Cartoon Guides. Literature is a nice mix of classic and newer stuff. You'd want to probably come up with your own discussion questions for literature - the questions given (which also don't have answers given) tend more toward the "What happened?" rather than Why?. Although they didn't dig the epic poetry, that was hands down the best discussions we had last year. World Religions was a favorite of one kid, and "meh" for the other. LOL. Nature Art was well-done, although it wasn't a favorite of either. Writing is very light in BYL, and I recommend supplementing that (which you're planning so you're good there). They're SLOWLY working through level 11 this year. I've picked up a lot more working hours this school year, so I am less involved this year. They are doing the work mostly independently and it's going well, but so far, nothing has really sparked their imagination this year. I don't feel like I know enough about this level to give much of a review though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyroo Posted October 17, 2022 Author Share Posted October 17, 2022 3 minutes ago, historically accurate said: My kids are bright, but probably not gifted, so I can't speak to whether it would work for an accelerated younger kid. My two did BYL 10 as a Freshman and a Sophomore. They both enjoyed and learned a lot from BYL 10. We didn't do the Biology. History went very well; I was wary since neither of my high schoolers like graphic novels, but they really liked the Cartoon Guides. Literature is a nice mix of classic and newer stuff. You'd want to probably come up with your own discussion questions for literature - the questions given (which also don't have answers given) tend more toward the "What happened?" rather than Why?. Although they didn't dig the epic poetry, that was hands down the best discussions we had last year. World Religions was a favorite of one kid, and "meh" for the other. LOL. Nature Art was well-done, although it wasn't a favorite of either. Writing is very light in BYL, and I recommend supplementing that (which you're planning so you're good there). They're SLOWLY working through level 11 this year. I've picked up a lot more working hours this school year, so I am less involved this year. They are doing the work mostly independently and it's going well, but so far, nothing has really sparked their imagination this year. I don't feel like I know enough about this level to give much of a review though. Thanks for the review. How did you handle high school credits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 4 minutes ago, wendyroo said: Thanks for the review. How did you handle high school credits? History 1, English 1 (I supplemented writing), Nature Art .5, Epic Poetry .5, World Religions .5 is what they got with BYL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyroo Posted October 18, 2022 Author Share Posted October 18, 2022 (edited) 24 minutes ago, historically accurate said: History 1, English 1 (I supplemented writing), Nature Art .5, Epic Poetry .5, World Religions .5 is what they got with BYL. That is similar to what I was thinking, but I was considering just rolling Epic Poetry into the rest of the literature and giving that a full credit. Then giving one full credit of composition for his Roy Speed class. So he would end up with: World Literature (BYL) - 1 World History (BYL) - 1 Biology (BYL) - 1 World Religion (BYL) - .5 Advanced Composition (Roy Speed) - 1 Calculus (Derek Owens) - 1 Spanish Conversation and Diction (DE) - 1 Art (BYL + two other drawing classes) - 1 Edited October 18, 2022 by wendyroo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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