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BrendaPeter
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Thanks for bumping this up Erin. I didn't get to read it the 1st time around. Our oldest is also in 6th grade but I'm starting to check out some of these programs now as it is pretty time-consuming.
We were enrolled for a year with MODG. Their consultants are other homeschooling moms all around the country. Your experience with MODG would depend on your particular consultant, so it's pretty variable. Also you have sign up as a family which I thought was a waste of $. After signing up for that year, I realized that I like alot more flexibility & was overall confident with doing things on my own.
I've looked into St. Thomas Aquinas Academy & it seems to me like such a nice combination of classical & CM, however, they're not accreditted.
Wish I had more to share. Thanks Janet for all the specifics!
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Brenda (mom to 6)
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BrendaPeter
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I wanted to mention that when you're enrolled in MODG you have 3 scheduled consultations per year with your consultant. I did e-mail her from time to time, but there wasn't the flexibility of calling her whenever I had a question. That wouldn't have been practical at all since she was homeschooling 7 kids herself!
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Brenda (mom to 6)
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ALmom
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We used St Thomas Aquinas Academy in 8th grade for our oldest and loved it. It had been such a good fit then, that we thought we'd use it for our oldest in 9th. That did not work. In 8th grade, they recommended some books that taught dd to write step by step (worked for her), a wonderful vocabulary, grammar that was thourough but review (she finished it and the diagramming very early and started on the diagramming program for high school). We continued to have difficulty finding science that worked, tried to use MODG history syllabus which was OK but not great fit with us. We did some Math - u- See but reverted to Saxon as that worked for her.
I think I liked it because I needed someone to talk to (think aloud with when designing our program), had been burned out with Seton in 6th grade, hadn't liked the excessive emphasis on ancient civilizations in MODG and Kolbe and had no idea where else to turn. I was rapidly losing my confidence in homeschooling and was dealing with a dc that said she hated homeschooling. I needed support that year. I didn't know (or maybe these posts didn't exist back then) but I think this forum provides everything I got from St. Thomas Aquinas (with exception of the assessment test - but other than for the one dd with vision problems where it gave me an idea for what levels to place her in math and spelling it really didn't tell me anything I didn't already have a pretty good feel for anyways) and it is free.
St. Thomas Aquinas works by helping you design your own curriculum - of course they have their pet recommendations but do work with you to help you out. Once you sign up, they send you an informal, written assessment test. They go over it with you and make recommendations accordingly. It was very helpful to us to help us clarify noted strengths and weaknesses in the dc. They had some wonderful recommendations in 8th grade that got our dd writing more and such. The history and science was weaker - seems to be a common problem (my favorite history is still Kolbe)
By high school, I felt the material they were recommending was "dumbed down" and we substituted Seton English just because this course was driving us nuts (instead of using words like nouns - they would use terms like naming words, etc. and our dd who was so strong in grammar was quite insulted). She had already done a portion of this in 8th and I think they didn't really know where to go with us in high school. I got a sense that their high school program was designed more for students who just had a hard time with traditional academics. One of the books they used, they wanted you to spread out over 4 years - she could easily have done it in part of one year. We also jerked around in science based on some bad advice(do physics in 9th grade to help solidfy the concepts/ the why of Algebra) and stupidity on my part. They also wanted us to do pre-Algebra/Math - U - See which turned out to be a bad idea for this dd - it insulted her and really hurt her confidence. She did better when we dropped this stuff and went back to Saxon and just did Alg I.
We really felt the one year of assessment tests were worthwhile ( our 2nd dd was just finished with vision therapy and I was lost about where to place her), they seemed pretty accurate in comments, worked with me to come up with plans, had some ideas, etc. We were dealing with homeschooling moms - but they had some real wisdom to share with us as we struggled through the "I hate homeschooling" year. I needed support and they were a wonderful group of people.
As a rigorous high school program, I just didn't think it worked. I do not have to worry about transcripts etc because we are in a church school state and our church school can supply us with a transcript (with a non-me signature of the administrator) so that really wasn't something we researched in looking at the programs. I got a sense that they wanted more flexibility than MODG and less tied down to the traditional model but still had a classical emphasis. Because you designed courses yourself with the consulter, there was some flexibility. If you already know what you want to do, I'm not sure you really need them. It might be fine as a transition, but I'm not sure the paperwork is worth what you get in return. We never sent in the paperwork - as I just used our cover school.
If what you want is a consultant to help you identify strengths and weaknesses, give you a few ideas for curriculum, place you in an appropriate level in spelling etc. it might be worth the $100 or so we paid. I doubt many moms on this forum would find much need for them - although the woman who started the school was very, very kind and had plenty of wisdom for us in terms of working with teens. I really think the school was more designed to meet local needs for state law and provide some avenue of help for those with weaker academics that could not cope with the demands of MODG, Kolbe and Seton.
 I told you, I've done so many different things. Our poor oldest dd has been through more curriculum providers than most, I'm sure. This is not advised, btw. I should give you all lots of hope that even our craziness with our first dd hasn't ruined her - and we are still homeschooling. If we've managed - anyone can!
Janet
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Bookswithtea
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I'm still waffling. I was seriously considering joining Seton because its accredited. I even called them and asked them if they ever have students who aren't super academically motivated.  They are very very nice, btw. The guy I talked to went out of his way to send me extra info and talked with me for close to an hour.
That said, upon praying more about it all, I just don't think Seton, in its entirety, is going to help my ds to thrive as God made him to be.
Right now, I'm leaning toward Clonlara for the covering and waiting to see what CHC releases this Spring. I'll probably continue with modifying Sonlight for history, and I may have ds take one or two Seton classes (probably English related). He has opportunities locally to take coop classes for math and science and I will probably take advantage of that because I am NOT good in these subjects and I know the teacher...she's awesome. I'm kind of hoping he will take a few community college level classes his junior or senior year. And I also looked into the local vocational program with our high school, and while they didn't give me a firm yes, they indicated that it probably wouldn't be a problem if he wanted to take 1/2 day classes for the vocational classes and continue to homeschool for his core academics. Its a very good program, too.
Then again, I've noticed that ds continues to throw curve balls, so I am keeping all my options open! lol 6 months ago he was sure he wanted to be a contractor (this is what I had heard for years, btw). Two weeks ago he told me that he didn't like building with wood anymore, could care less about finishing his fort in the back of our property and had no interest in contracting after all. 
So, does that sound like a befuddled answer? Because I am positively befuddled!
~Books
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BrendaPeter
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Thanks again Janet for such thorough info & insight. I really appreciate your efforts.
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Brenda (mom to 6)
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BrendaPeter
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| Posted: Dec 30 2005 at 5:49pm | IP Logged
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Erin wrote:
Have any of you looked at Angelicum Academy's booklist? I was thinking of using some of their titles. And write up my own outline. |
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To add to Erin's question, is anyone enrolled in Angelicum? They seem very similar to Kolbe - is that true? Thank you!
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Brenda (mom to 6)
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time4tea
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Hello All!
I am going through the same contortions as many of you - oldest ds is in 7th this year, and I am pondering where to go from here. Do we really need a program? We do have a church school cover, as someone else mentioned above, that will provide ds with a diploma from our state as well as a transcript. Sometimes I just feel as if I lose my confidence, especially as I look to high school. I want so much for the dc to be prepared for the future and I get afraid of overlooking something.
We were enrolled with Seton a couple of times before, and even though they were very nice people and sent us everything we needed in a nice, neat package, it did not work for us. I, too, dislike all of the focus on ancient culture that MODG and Kolbe seem to prefer, and I cannot really say that I am a solid "classical education" devotee; I prefer more of a CM approach in many areas. And then I begin to wonder what a program - administered from a distance by people who I have never met and who do not know my dc - can really offer our family.
I look forward to reading more in this thread about what each of you has experienced with the different programs. It has been very helpful to me so far!
God bless ~ J
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BrendaPeter
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time4tea wrote:
| Do we really need a program? We do have a church school cover, as someone else mentioned above, that will provide ds with a diploma from our state as well as a transcript. |
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Good question. Maybe you don't need a program? I'm discerning that myself. I would like the transcript, although I've heard it's not entirely necessary. I guess that Clonlara is for getting the transcript with the flexibility of having your own curriculum. Is that true?
I would say that I'm in the same boat as Janet. My weakest area for high school will be writing so I would like the help with English/Literature & History. (Janet, thank you for making that more clear for me!) Although WriteGuide can be alot of help in this area if you were to go it on your own. Bookswithtea - have you looked into WriteGuide? Might work for your son.
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Brenda (mom to 6)
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time4tea
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Brenda (and All!),
I just received a letter from kolbe the other day (our Kindergartener is enrolled with Kolbe K), and apparently, Kolbe will be offering an "enhanced support" option next year for those parents who beleive they need more support from the proctors (I would qulaify as one of those parents!). I will be curious to learn more about this program and what the cost will be. I guess my biggest reason for looking to a program is so that I can have someone to bounce ideas off of and to help me choose materials. Much as I would love to preview all materials myself, it just isn't cost effective to purhcase - and then potentially have to return - books and other materials. As I mentioned above, our dd is enrolled with Kolbe K, basically because I have never taught K before and felt like I wanted to have access to an advisor, if I needed help. I have called the Kolbe proctors a few times, and have found them to be very helpful every time.
One point I re-read from (I believe it was Janet) above about MODG lesson plans and having difficulites understanding what exactly they were wanting/expecting -I have used the MODG syllabi for the elementary years and must admit, I, too, have had this same problem. Sometimes it seemed as if I was expected to already "know" just what to have dc do with a specific assignment, but I didn't know. Perhaps if more detail had been included in the syllabi, it would have been more helpful. Or maybe it is expected that if you want more clarification, you'll enroll? I have heard mixed reviews about enrollment with MODG, so I have been hesitant to go that route. I guess I just feel better about calling, say Kolbe, and speaking with a proctor, since I know they are not trying to homeschool their own family of children at the same moment they are trying to address my questions and who knows how many other families.
God bless and Happy New Year!
Jen
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ALmom
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Thought I'd mention that we have been enrolled with Kolbe for our high schooler for the last 2 years and our 8th grader this year. I was very impressed with the paper topics and guidance and delighted to find out they are addressing some of my concerns in the grades -
They are adding options for more non-classical minded folks (ie to have an option for more traditional looking history courses) and they have been re-vamping all grades to make it more helpful to mom. They have provided parents with the Land of Our Lady history option if you do not want to do the Greenleaf guides of ancient civilizations. They are also putting in more specifics -IE - they are providing a summary of points expected for essay questions, etc. I have seen this in their 9th grade religion and it is fabulous. They are also working on more literature guides for high school - the ones so far have been really helpful. I have found them totally open and helpful in working with me to substitute my own things when I haven't wanted to do the full classical.
Because Kolbe's attitude is so clearly in support of the parent-teacher, I have never found any problems with flexibility and have often found them encouraging and supporting me when I want to tweak something. I plan to use them - but plan to substitute my own literature selections from time to time and will probably tweek history some as I want a Western Civ course.
I had lengthy discussions with Kolbe before signing up (I would recommend this for any provider before joining) our oldest as I knew we had jumped so many times and I didn't want to do one more change without being sure it really would work for us. I learned about the flexibility mostly in these conversations (you don't necessarily see it in the catelogue which is always outdated). Kolbe has been working very, very hard this year to update and provide options in their grades but their attitude is that of course parents are free to substitute anything that you (as parent) think works better (they just don't have lesson plans, test materials, etc and counselors may have more limited knowledge on something you are doing - but they have still helped us through it as best they could). If you want a transcript from them then they need two sample works for each subject for each quarter and some planning work with first quarter. I think they have completed 9th grade and are working on 10th now. By the way, I found that the method of forming a notebook for record keeping and reporting purposes that they suggested (and I copied from another local mom) was a very helpful exercise for me as a parent. We put together a four year plan (high school) which can always be modified, lined up courses, course descriptions, etc. but also had a place in the binder to store completed work in each subject. I do this for my high schooler even when I do not send it in.
Someone was talking about wanting to transition in to something more for high school. I found signing up in 8th for our dd(but not planning to be tied to reporting) was one way to see how well the child/work fit together. We were blending their stuff and CHC and finding that our dd really took to Kolbe even though she had not had anything resembling this in the past (other than Saxon math and a Seton grammar course which was great grammar - and her first intro to formal grammar which we took 2 years to complete). At one point I got alarmed at the history we had chosen and spoke with Kolbe - we were using the Ann Carrol American History for her and answering all the questions (this wasn't their plans but something we fell into when CHC stuff just wasn't working with her) I expressed how I wanted her to have the overview in an organized and sequential way but wanted her to have time to dig into her own interests like she did with American Indians using some questions from CHC Stories of the Saints as a jumping off point. Kolbe proctors gave me some suggestions about expediting the other - suggesting (duh) please don't have her answer every question, it will take too long and be pointless. What about just outlining key points/people and then investigating something of interest more in depth and skipping the questions. When I asked our dd about this idea she really got excited and felt like she would learn a lot more and not get so bogged down. I feel like they helped me get back on track in the way we had initially wanted.
I know it might not be financially feasible to sign up when you don't plan to send stuff in and may not need their consulting as much as I did. We're still debating this aspect with our 6th grader and undecided. Another option would be to order lesson plans ($35) in the subject you feel the most need for support. You wouldn't have their consulting services but would get some idea about how easily your dc takes to their lesson plan approach - without feeling "stuck" if it isn't workable. Or if you are thinking about Seton, then sign up for a single course in 8th grade. The only thing here, is that you don't really learn about the flexibility like you do when you are actually signed up. In either, you can sign up but never send anything in (at least in 8th grade) but that is expensive. I always wanted that "psychological" option as it freed me to do whatever needed to be done, whether or not the school would have accepted it or not. At the same time, I got a real feel for the flexibility or lack thereof because I could go along as if I was sending something in and ask questions, etc.
I am very interested in hearing how things develop with CHC, but do not know if it will be developed in time for my 8th grader. Since she took better to Kolbe plans than CHC in the middle school years in the areas I find hardest to teach, I think we found our answer, at least for her. I am still observing and reflecting with our 6ht grade son and CHC might be more for him. I know we will tweak Kolbe for our 8th grader as I want her to read some great Catholic authors and I suspect that Kolbe proctors will help me weave these authors in where they will blend best and help me decide which elements to drop - or peruse more quickly without doing the written work (ie just for exposure). I have a certain amount of built in flexibility because I can always revert to my cover school for a transcript.
A lot depends on what we can afford, and whether dh thinks it is worth it even if we do not use the transcript, etc.
Janet
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Natalia
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Erin,
I was one of those wrestling with a 12 yo and a high school decision. I seem to be in a different boat that all of you though. My decision seems to be more about wether to hs or not. Where we live most homeschoolers go to school for high school. Even some of my friends who did not sent their oldest dc to high school are changing their minds and their younger ones are going to school now. On top of that, I have heard some teens that are now in college, wishing they have been to high school ( mostly because of the social aspect. I have never heard a teen saying that they were receiving a better academic education at a traditional school). These things have made me pause and think. My dd is very social and I think that she will be miserable if all her friends go to school and she stays behind. It seems, for what I have heard, that once the kids go to school they don't have as much in common with hsers and their friendship usually die.
So my decision is not about what curriculum to use or if I am going to unschool or not. It is more basic that that. I am scared to death and I wish the decision would be made already and behind me.
I am taking some advice Janet gave me on another thread ( I am too lazy to link. I think the thread was titled Where to Begin). She suggested starting early to investigate my choices and also to talk to my dd and see what is that attracts her to school. For the next few months I am going to concentrate in getting to know my dd well. I don't really know the person she is becoming. I want to get her to feel comfortable expresing what is that she wants, desires, fears about both options. Hopefully some things will become clear as we talk.
I feel really pressured to make a decision to hs or not because, apparently, in our state if you decide to send a child to school later than the freshman year they wont accept what they have done in hsing and they have to start at a freshman level again. That seems wrong to me but that is what I am told.
So, Erin that is where I stand right now. I am glad you asked. You are not being nosy
Natalia
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Erin
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Natalia,
sorry I haven't responded. After I posted I've still been tweaking and looking.
How are you going? What a difficult decision to wrestle with. I'm praying for you.
Well, I don't know if I now belong here on a discussion about traditional hs highschool programs.  I've decided to once again write my own. Basically for the reasons I stated before, American history has to be changed to Australian. We never like most of the religion texts. No-one likes any of the science texts.  etc. You know I really thought we could find any easy way out.
I'm going to use MacBeth's science page for science direction. (Thanks MacBeth) And John Hudson Tiner's books. I'm using Story of the Church by Tan for history, fleshing it out with lots of living books. Mater Ambalis has good recommendations.
Singapore Maths for maths, Lingua Mater is English, I've found some really old relgion texts that we'll use for religion.
Geography we will create ourselves using the ideas here. http://wonder.riverwillow.com.au/site_map.htm Oh and we'll spend a term on Australian history using Our Sunburnt country by Arthur Baillie and lots of living books to accompany it.
Well that's it for the academic subjects. It is more direction than we've taken before and more texts than we've ever used. Hope it works.
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Erin
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ALmom
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Natalia,
You are facing a really tough one. We have been there with our first dd (very social, wanted to go to a regular school, not many homeschool through high school here either unless they join a Protestant cover with more traditional schoolish things(more like a ps imo) and once you start homeschooling 9th it is almost impossible to revert to public or private school without starting over). We had to prayerfully consider what was best after listening to her concerns, etc. - but ultimately we made the decision to homeschool (which she did not like at first) and we had some tough years - and I periodically went through soul searching wondering if we had done the right thing. Now as she is finishing up her last homeschool year and looking forward to college (her first traditional school experience)things are much much better and I feel confirmed that we made the right decision to homeschool (although we made many mistakes in implementing homeschool for high school). In the end not being able to send her somewhere in 10th after doing 9th was a blessing in disguise - it made it possible for us to stay our course. Our dd might still say she would let her high schoolers go to public school but she is not bitter or unhappy and has begun to see all the benefits she derived from homeschooling and even if she is not yet ready to shout it from the housetops, she did actually include the fact that she was homeschooled on her college applications- and she is admitted with a scholarship.
We did find an activity in her passion that included teens from all the area schools including homeschooling and that was a real blessing for us that helped us meet legitimate social needs and make it tolerable for her. Continually trying to meet needs in creative ways affirmed that we were listening to her even if we overruled what she wanted. We began to find some of the resources for homeschoolers late in the game - and as our oldest points out, things are much easier on her siblings. I'm glad we have our heads above water now - but most of the time it felt like we were blindly forging ahead hoping and praying we'd all come out ok. I know every region and situation is as unique as the family trying to decide - our prayers are with you. (Saying a Hail Mary now).
Erin,
Sounds wonderful - your school plans. I wish I could do it. I just get too overwhelmed. Sometimes I sacrifice Real Learning just to have some learning if you know what I mean. Sometimes I wonder if we are doing the right thing (or just wimping out) and then realize that just as I accept that every family is unique - I have to look at my own family situation and accept my own limitations and I just cannot lesson plan (even in a very loose sense of the word)for everyone. I prioritize real learning for my youngers and accept something less for the older who already have a foundation. Sort of where I am is: our household has suffered more from doing nothing because it wasn't good enough than from doing a less than ideal program. I think it is my personality (I'm a good supporter, I can change stuff and am too stubborn to stick with something that really isn't working than to go along because it is in the program- got into some real discussions with Seton over this one and we only finished 10th grade with them because dd wanted to at least finish something - but all agreed we'd never go back as fully enrolled). We use Kolbe - but I look at our 8th grader and the only lesson plans we are following are science and religion. (By the way our initial opinion of Kolbe's 8th grade science was that it was deadly dull, traditional worktext but we were doing it anyway just to get exposure - we really like it now. Yes, it is a worktext and very traditional looking but it is meat and not fluff and surprisingly full of experiments on every couple of pages - and dh got all excited about the experiments on electronics and is working with dc to set up an electronics lab -stimulated by suggestions in the worktext - and in our house it wouldn't have happened without the basic suggestion, supply list, description and scripted dialogue being there - not that he will stick to that - but that sort of describes our family) We are doing some of the Kolbe literature but I substitute freely. I couldn't do this with Seton because they specified what had to be sent in. With Kolbe, I can send in what I want as work samples and be done with it and it doesn't have to be anything on any of their plans. With our 12 th grader, we're doing a coop English this year and nothing in their plans on this subject. We don't look a bit like their 12th grade year in our classes - but it works. We are doing 9th grade religion (for 12th grader) and 12th grade history. Everything else is of our own making for her. We did a patch work for her 11th grade literature as I didn't want to spend an entire year on ancient literature - we picked one quarter from ancient Greece, and some works from 11th grade year. Our 8th grader uses some of their literature but not all. It is worth it for me to have the literature support and someone to ask about the writing. I have something that steps us through the literary devices for works - we pick a few from the Kolbe plan and then wing it on our own with some other books that I want dc to read - but feel better knowing that we've at least talked about protaganist, antagonist, climax, characteristics of an epic, poetic devices, etc. because they have walked us through it with works. Then we can try to apply the same thing to books of our choice. I can see where the use of textbooks can end up becoming a memorize-forget exercise but while we may fall into that some, we never can stay there - tempermentally it drives us all nuts. But without textbooks, we tend to do nothing. I can sure understand where our crazy approach might not work for others too well. If you start a traditional program and end up feeling like a slave, something isn't right. For us, we feel like Kolbe allows us to benefit from the best of all worlds - but a lot has to do with exactly what support you are looking for. I like the detail in their literature because I just don't have a clue what to do. I like the science texts because they give me an outline to make sure we are doing something, Kolbe does the first run through to point out problem areas and there are at least some experiment suggestions in the texts they choose. I use some of the history paper topics in high school, but do some of my own things - again it helps me to have an outline. In grades before high school, we do our own history, even when we are with Kolbe- if there is something in their lesson plans that I like, I use it but I also feel free to ignore it. I've always been a bit of a maverick so this fits us - I'm sure it wouldn't fit everyone. By the way - hope you still share how your stuff pans out. I get tons of ideas on how to tweek my texts from you all that are more natural planners! I love the variety of opinion - it is so refreshing!!!! (I even lurk on the unschooling thread for ideas and the stimulating discussion).
Janet
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Erin
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Janet,
I loved reading about what you do. Sounds to me that you are a natural planner. You are taking Kolbe and adapting it to suit your family. This is healthy you are not slaves to it but are using Kolbe as a tool. I have to say that in the end Kolbe was the one that I nearly picked but then as I explained I would still have to change some things so I thought why spend my money. I did pore over their outlines to get direction.
I must share dd's reaction to my plans. Dd had been involved with some of the selections but I called her in to give her the final overview. All was going well until I mentioned History.! "I'm not doing history, I don't like history and why do I have to do it. There are Saint's that didn't do history and they still got to go to Heaven and there are probably popes who didn't do history and they got to be popes." Needless to say I was trying to keep a straight face and didn't think of a good answer. Any ideas?
BTW this really isn't true she LOVES reading and has read many books that could be classed as living history. She just had a bee in her bonnet.
__________________
Erin
Faith Filled Days
Seven Little Australians
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ALmom
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| Posted: Jan 08 2006 at 11:33am | IP Logged
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Erin,
Oh how your post brought smiles. My oldest dd still talks like that and unfortunately I still haven't come up with a satisfactory answer(because it is so fascinating thinking about people and how people and events all intertwine - just imagine families and the impact of events on a family living through this, etc. - just did not inspire her but made her think mom was a bit of a nut) although dh suggested that we just call it something else. (She might have gone for a title like - The musical and artistic heritage of Western Europe and a heavy dose of study of composers and artists with something thrown in about time and place to round it out into a traditional Western Civiliation Course). Didn't think of it at the time and probably didn't have the time to be quite so creative - so we reverted to my more traditional mode for a time (and ended up with Seton History which drove us both nuts). Perhaps when you know the living books you are adding in, you can call it according to the books. Of course, I love that you were trying to keep a straight face (not taking things too seriously and feeding the resistance - a mistake I made for a while because I love history and thought everyone should be as fascinated by it as I was). At least two of mine like history - except when we call it history and have them read parts from a textbook - and especially when we get sidetracked answering questions at the end of the chapter.
How does Story of the Church go for you. Where do you come up with the living books to go along with it? One year I did make my own history unit - I looked over everything I had around in the house and made a list of reading assignments jumping from book to book - even loaned it to a few folks who asked for it. One good friend helped me immensely by commenting that it had great ideas - enough to cover 4 years of history and then some. Unfortunately it was totally unrealistic as it was my one year plan(my problem when it comes to planning which is why having something lined up helps me). Ask anyone in this family and they will tell you that they are sick of explorers (we never got beyond that with my plans)I tend to get sidetracked on my own rabbit trails - and poor dc have a very detailed glance at one small piece with no overall view.
Janet
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Erin
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| Posted: Jan 09 2006 at 4:26am | IP Logged
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ALmom wrote:
Erin,
Oh how your post brought smiles. My oldest dd still talks like that and unfortunately I still haven't come up with a satisfactory answer(because it is so fascinating thinking about people and how people and events all intertwine - just imagine families and the impact of events on a family living through this, etc. - just did not inspire her but made her think mom was a bit of a nut) |
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My children also think I'm a nut they are not shy about this! 'Mum are you crying again!".
ALmom wrote:
| although dh suggested that we just call it something else. (She might have gone for a title like - The musical and artistic heritage of Western Europe and a heavy dose of study of composers and artists with something thrown in about time and place to round it out into a traditional Western Civiliation Course). |
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I did try this later calling it 'cultural studies' she just gave me a 'look' dd knew.
ALmom wrote:
| Of course, I love that you were trying to keep a straight face (not taking things too seriously and feeding the resistance - a mistake I made for a while because I love history and thought everyone should be as fascinated by it as I was). |
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I have learnt this the hard way. Dh says that where I go wrong is I go head to head with her so I am making and effort here to not. Now when she throws a sulk I just make some comment and walk away. Frustrating, am I indulging her, but then the other way doesn't work either.
ALmom wrote:
| How does Story of the Church go for you. Where do you come up with the living books to go along with it? One year I did make my own history unit - I looked over everything I had around in the house and made a list of reading assignments jumping from book to book - |
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I was planning to use the book as an idea of history chronologically as we have never done this before. We've always jumped. So the plan was to read the chapter and then read living books from that time period. We have an extensive home library so I raid the book shelves, ring all my friends asking for living books of that period. And I will sometimes buy some books, Emmanuel Books have one of my favourite catalouges for ideas and I cross-reference with a couple of other catalogues and Bethlehem books.
The thing is that is all we ever seem to do. We never seem to do 'projects' or activites or write anything. I feel we have a good base we just aren't extending/tying up.
Your daughter sounds rather like mine. Only dd12 is starting to hit the hormonal changes We seem to be having more sulking these holidays and all she wants to do is read and never does her jobs happily. I do hope she is just in holiday mode.
__________________
Erin
Faith Filled Days
Seven Little Australians
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Natalia
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| Posted: Jan 09 2006 at 7:17am | IP Logged
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Janet,
Thank you for your prayers. God knows I can use them. Yes it is a tough
decision and I feel overwhelmed by it. But I know that with God's grace we will get through. I think is going to be a time for growth for my dd and for me as well.
Natalia
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: Feb 19 2007 at 5:53pm | IP Logged
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~Tea's recent post reminded me of this thread. Its old old old now, but there were so many of us wrestling with what to do for High School.
For several of us, high school begins this Fall! Are you geared up and ready to go or are you still trying to decide what to use? Have you made any decisions about programs or curriculum? Are you willing to share what you are thinking about using, what you've decided is a 'no' for you...what you've heard from friends locally that has encouraged or discouraged you?
I'm hoping we can share this adventure together, ladies. Anyone up for talking about this again?
__________________
Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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BrendaPeter
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| Posted: Feb 20 2007 at 11:00am | IP Logged
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Thanks for resurrecting this Books! It's very interesting reading the old posts - especially when I keep thinking "did I write that?"!! Funny how time changes things.
Our oldest ds is in 7th grade so we still have time. He's soooo different in his learning style from our 2nd ds who is in 6th grade so our high school decisions will really take that into consideration. Since this old thread, we've enrolled them both in Seton's reading course & it's worked out VERY well. I'm planning to enroll all 4 of the school-age dc in Seton next year. I've been using so much of their materials for so long now that it seems like the natural next step. Our kids really love having someone else grading their work & getting a "real" report card. Go figure! We still do latin, which Seton doesn't include, so I substitute that for whatever I "throw out" like vocabulary. It's such a relief for me to have the basics taken care. We're then able to spend the rest of our time on real learning type things like living the liturgical year.
Anyway, back to high school! I'm very much leaning towards Regina Coeli for our oldest. He loves to talk about whatever he's learning & he'll really enjoy those on-line classes. I'm thinking we'll go with NAHRS to pull it all together as I imagine there'll be a few community college courses thrown in there as well.
Looking forward to what everyone else's thoughts & plans are!
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Blessings,
Brenda (mom to 6)
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Cathmomof8
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| Posted: Feb 20 2007 at 12:39pm | IP Logged
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I don't have enough time to give such a glorious detailed post as some have, ; but I wanted to share our experience with MODG. We've been enrolled for years and our oldest 2 have done the 9th and 10th grade syllibi. And we have used Teacher's assistance for several classes. With MODG you can choose which classes you want more assistance with. The student has a teacher who he can call with questions, who he must talk to once a month and who he sends 1-4 assignments in a 4 week time. This can be done by snail mail or email usually. And I have a consultant that I talk to, at minimum 3 times a year. We go through every student enrolled, every subject and discuss what and how we will/are doing things. I have found them to be VERY flexible and here are some things I like about MODG for highschool...
Teacher assistance allows my teens to be accountable to someone else, have some deadlines - but they aren't set in stone, have the opportunity to discuss things with someone besides me and they grade papers, eliminating me from that equation, which at times has been a sensitive thing around here.
I love how Religion, history, literature are intertwined. And how the history is mostly based on reading good literature with just a textbook for a spine, with little reading really. And they write maybe 6? papers for History/Literature that are all a different kind of paper (first person narrative, compare and contrast, documentary, etc.)
I really like the 9th gr science. The student reads about a topic one day and fills i a worksheet (not if you don't want them to though) and then writes a 3/4 page essay on that topic -narration, yes? and does a diagram to go with it. There are 2 essays a week usually. I think this class has really brought out a lot of skills in my boys, and has been more painful for one than the other. ;)
You don't have to do Latin or Greek. Even my consultant doesn't for the most part. My kids are taking Spanish. My eldest did do Latin and I see how good it was for him but I just haven't had the time or energy to do it with my youngers and my 2nd son really wanted to learn Spanish.
The syllibi are a life saver to me. We all know what is expected and when. The syllibi are also only 32 weeks and for the most part a 4 day schedule. And, get this, as long as week 28? is done or is it 24?? you can get full credit for the course. ( I haven't ever told my teens this, and haven't had to. I see for my 3rd son though that he may struggle more and may need more time for some things.)
FWIW, there is very little test taking with MODG. Very little workbook/worksheet work. There is a LOT of discussion and essays. And there is a lot of flexibility if you want but if you have a student like my two eldest - they want to just do what it says and get it done with. sigh.
Can't think straight at the moment. Too much commotion. Better get everyone back to work.
Theresia
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4Real Forums : High School Years and Beyond
Topic: Traditional HS High School Programs
