BMW Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Do you look at your children individually and tailor your curriculum choices? Do you make your decisions based on what you like or how you want to teach or be involved/or the work load it puts on the teacher? Do you heartily believe in a certain approach? (like cm or twtm) Why? If you were going 4th-9th grades and didn't have a foundation with the child laid previously, what would you do? (so, this child hasn't had any of the 4 cycles of history or science) What is your favorites article or website for learning/teaching that addresses curriculum choices? Why WOULD you choose a packaged curriculum? Why would you NOT choose one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasharowan Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 I usually try to find something that works with several learning styles, although with the gap between ds1 and dd, I usually need two different things anyway. When we started following TWTM, my oldest was in 6th and we're still trying to find our way in History. We did a lot of Ancients in elementary just because he liked it and then started with Middle ages when he was in 6th. The other two have just kind of followed along and so don't have much on the ancients so when we go back to it in 2010, they'll be learning new stuff. Science we follow interests rather than a schedule. We have done a lot of body stuff in the past and are now heading into chemistry next year. I find that if I don't like a program, it doesn't get used unless it is completely independent and my child likes it. I don't like packaged curriculums, they're too limiting and I always find at least 1-2 subjects that I don't like. I pick and choose by subject from publishers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweetpeach Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 We mostly use the same curriculum . . . but delivery is wildly different from one child to the next! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 (edited) I have to tailor the curriculum to each child because my children are so different from each other. My oldest is an auditory-sequential learner who does great with traditional curriculum. My second is a visual-spatial learner who is mildly dyslexic. My third is a kinesthetic learner who is severely dyslexic. My older two started out in public school and I took them out because the school expected everyone to learn the same thing at the same time in the same way. If I don't tailor my curriculum to meet their separate needs, I might as well send them back to ps. I realize that some people can tailor the implementation of the curriculum rather than using different curriculum, but I am not that creative. I need to use curriculum that is already adapted to fit the way my kids learn. I work outside the home, so to the greatest extent possible, I use curriculum that is laid out in a way that allows me to open it up and do the next thing with minimal planning ahead of time. The WTM approach appeals to me, but over the years I've adapted it so much that what we do now is probably not even recognizable as WTM. My over-arching goal is for my kids to have a firm foundation in writing, reading, and math. If they have that, they can learn anything and fill in whatever gaps I've left. If I were started with a 4th grader with minimal knowledge of history, I would use SOTW with the activity guide. By 7th grade you can add some Albert Marrin books to get greater depth. For science, I would probably use Abeka. Their pre-high school science is great. I like Cathy Duffy's website and http://www.homeschoolreviews.com, as well as the message boards here. I wouldn't use a packaged curriculum, because in talking to my friends who use them, I don't think they save money, time, or stress. By choosing what I want to use for each subject, I can what I think is best for a particular child rather than settling for or replacing whatever comes with the package. Edited February 28, 2009 by LizzyBee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 I currently have 2 children who are very different in their learning styles. I learned the hard way to choose curriculum to the child. My daughter hated, to the point daily tears, what we were using. I changed everything and she's a lot happier; she doesn't love school but she's not crying every day either. My son now uses the language arts that was making my daughter cry every day and it works very well for him. If I were to use the same curriculum with him that I use for my daughter, he'd feel like a failure and he's too sensitive to risk that. He shuts down and punishes himself. They use the same math program. It works well for both kids. They also use the same history but I have to provide an extra book for my son to follow along in while I read to my daughter. She needs to hear it and he needs to see it. Our science curriculum is ok but still needs tweaking to make them both happy with it. My son thinks we are not learning enough in science; my daughter wants more hands on fun with it. I don't use a boxed curriculum because I don't think it would work well at all, especially for my daughter. I think my daughter would find them too repetitious and easy, neither of which she tolerates well. I think my son would complain about not learning enough with them; he wants LOTS of in depth material. I also need to individually choose each subject because my daughter is all over the place with grade levels (ie. capable of high school level language arts but at her grade level for math and somewhere in between with history/science). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMW Posted February 28, 2009 Author Share Posted February 28, 2009 How do you know what works better for learning styles? My 8th grade boy is overall very bright and would do good with any rigorous curriculum. 1 5th grader is a little behind, struggles in fluency, but great attitude and wants to move forward... Another 5th grader is bright but hates to have to work, work, work... The 3rd grader is behind because of ld's with aspbergers, but very smart. How can I tell what their learning styles would be? How would I then pick out what to use with them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lulubelle Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 You may want to check out the book Discover Your Child's Learning Style by Willis and Hodson. It has questions for each child to answer to get to know who they are and it also has suggested curriculum. It could be a good start to find out each child's style. My oldest is only 6, so I'm still trying to understand him, but he is pretty straight forward with how to teach him right now. I can't say that we have used the curriculum suggestions in the book, yet. My second son, who is 4, is a totally different kid in every way and I have begun doing the same phonics plaid program with him that I did with my first son last year. I am using many different teaching techniques with him than I did with my first. I think a good program has all 4 learning styles built into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 How do you know what works better for learning styles? How can I tell what their learning styles would be? How would I then pick out what to use with them? Some resources to get you started: The Way They Learn by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias - Your library should have this. 100 Top Curriculum Picks (or something like that) by Cathy Duffy - It lightly covers learning styles and which curricula fit each learning style. http://www.visualspatial.org Auditory-sequential learners (sometimes referred to as left-brained thinkers) are the "just give me the facts" kind of people. They tend to learn well via textbooks, workbooks, and reading. Visual-spatial learners (or right-brained thinkers) are global learners (whole to parts) learners. With many of them, math facts and phonics don't make sense out of context, but they will learn them easily if you take a back door approach. For ex my 7 yo learns math facts best via word problems rather than drill sheets. With some kids, you have to teach them to read words by sight, then teach them the relevant phonics rules, because teaching phonics in the traditional way leads to banging your head against the wall (btdt). Kinesthetic learners are VSLs, but not all VSLs are kinesthetic. They are always moving, tasting, touching, taking things apart, etc. These are the kids who needs lots of hands-on instruction. Some things that have worked well with my right brained kids: Singapore Math Vocabulary Cartoons Times Tales Triangular flash cards for math so they can see the answer with the question Two sets of flash cards for history so they can lay them out in order and see the event and date/year at the same time PH Science Explorer Abeka Science Story of the World Rod and Staff Grammar (my 12 yo loves diagramming - it makes grammar visual) Classical Writing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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