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insegnante
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| Posted: March 06 2008 at 9:21pm | IP Logged
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Wasn't sure how to title this, let alone within the character limit.
I'm looking into, not sure what to call them, curriculum providers or overarching programs? -- the only one I've specifically looked at with interest just recently is STAA-homeschool.com but I mean things like that, Kolbe, MODG.
Anyone have leads/recommendations/experience when it comes to these programs and a wide freedom to place children in subjects at the level appropriate to their skills, not their age? My son is about halfway through Math-U-See Alpha, and before "school" got slow around here was breezing through what I'm pretty sure is sometimes considered a second grade phonics book (ETC 4,) and I have a feeling his functional reading (at least in terms of decoding and somewhat in vocabulary) level is higher (not that he's always cooperative about just sitting down and reading, but when he wants to he's pretty fluent.) But I still want to call it "first grade," and I think approximately first grade "content" is probably more appropriate for him. I think his "wisdom" level is not as high as his standardized-testing-type intelligence level, if you know what I mean. But I can't see investing in any curriculum that is really wedded to the idea of grade/age level.
We'll have a newborn in August and we sure have lost a lot of time and especially energy for homeschooling because of illness, pregnancy nausea, etc. I thought maybe one of the less demanding and less expensive programs might be a good investment in case HSing life with a newborn, a probably still less than perfectly disciplined 6-year-old homeschooler and by then a probably still language delayed 4-year-old is not much easier than HSing life with pregnancy, stomach problems and respiratory viruses.
Sorry for going on and on... there's a lot going on here, which somehow leads me to ramble *longer*... but it's really making me more interested in a nice structuring program to fall back on in case life doesn't somehow become easy and calm by September.
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Theresa
mommy to three boys, 3/02, 8/04, and 9/10, and a girl, 8/08
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Willa
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| Posted: March 06 2008 at 10:22pm | IP Logged
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I think most programs have some flexibility in placing kids who vary in ability. Especially in the primary grades it is quite common for kids to range widely.
Personally I usually place the kids in the grade they would be according to age or sometimes even a bit lower, then supplement according to their ability -- it's always possible to enrich and deepen any curriculum if you have a particularly bright or motivated child. And personally I like simplicity in a correspondence program, because that gives me a chance to add my own rabbit trails, make changes, take time off for life without feeling stuck in a lockstep pattern.
The only two programs I have used are Seton and Kolbe. We were enrolled in Seton for a couple of years at the start, then switched to Kolbe.
I like MODG's syllabi but don't have experience with their correspondence program, and I don't know much at all about STAA. Hope somebody else can help you there.
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Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
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Rachel May
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| Posted: March 07 2008 at 12:32pm | IP Logged
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insegnante wrote:
But I still want to call it "first grade," and I think approximately first grade "content" is probably more appropriate for him. I think his "wisdom" level is not as high as his standardized-testing-type intelligence level, if you know what I mean. But I can't see investing in any curriculum that is really wedded to the idea of grade/age level.
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I think this example may be similar to what you are saying above? My nephew is VERY bright and is the same age as my oldest. His family is enrolled in MODG and has skipped him up only one grade level, not because he can't do more difficult work but because Laura Berquist (their advisor) felt that there was a mental maturity to be reached before moving ahead. Instead of helping them find resources to move through higher grade levels, she gave them more resources for breadth within the grade his is in. Does that gel with what you are saying?
Myself, I use the MODG syllabi but am not enrolled and I tweak a lot. In some subjects I love her resources and how she tells me to use them. She thinks of things that I haven't thought of myself. In other subjects I don't like her resources and choose to plan units/rabbit trails or look here or in Real Learning for living books to strew.
I am just starting to consider enrollment (they don't really recommend it before 4th grade) because my friend said she appreciated having a relationship with an advisor BEFORE the teen years when she felt she needed the advisor's advice. However, at this point I am not ready to give up the flexibility that designing my own curriculum gives. My understanding is that once you are enrolled with MODG there is some flexibility, but it doesn't sound like Kolbe.
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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insegnante
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| Posted: March 07 2008 at 6:31pm | IP Logged
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Rachel May wrote:
I think this example may be similar to what you are saying above? My nephew is VERY bright and is the same age as my oldest. His family is enrolled in MODG and has skipped him up only one grade level, not because he can't do more difficult work but because Laura Berquist (their advisor) felt that there was a mental maturity to be reached before moving ahead. Instead of helping them find resources to move through higher grade levels, she gave them more resources for breadth within the grade his is in. Does that gel with what you are saying? |
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Yes, I think "maturity" is a good word for what's still very six-years-old-kindergartener/first-grader about him.
Quote:
Myself, I use the MODG syllabi but am not enrolled and I tweak a lot. [...]
However, at this point I am not ready to give up the flexibility that designing my own curriculum gives. My understanding is that once you are enrolled with MODG there is some flexibility, but it doesn't sound like Kolbe. |
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For some reason, I want to want to use one of these programs, but the more I look into them the more I think that my difficulties won't be solved by using one. We would certainly be customizing -- for example, we're happy with Math-U-See and I didn't notice that as the math curriculum of choice in any of the programs I looked at -- and once we start cuztomizing the whole "overwhelmed by choices and possibilities!" thing can become an issue again. And I wasn't really struggling to implement the stuff we had chosen to do (mostly math, phonics, and introductory world geography through atlases, storybooks, and online resources) until I was struggling with fatigue/illness/etc. in general. We'll probably be better off investing in individual programs and resources for Spanish, art, music, etc.
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Theresa
mommy to three boys, 3/02, 8/04, and 9/10, and a girl, 8/08
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Rachel May
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| Posted: March 08 2008 at 12:14pm | IP Logged
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insegnante wrote:
| ... We would certainly be customizing -- for example, we're happy with Math-U-See and I didn't notice that as the math curriculum of choice in any of the programs I looked at -- and once we start cuztomizing the whole "overwhelmed by choices and possibilities!" thing can become an issue again.... We'll probably be better off investing in individual programs and resources for Spanish, art, music, etc. |
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My approach to tweaking, if it is helpful, is to look at what MODG (or even better Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum) suggests as far as which subjects to teach and which programs to consider first which has helped me from becoming overwhelmed by the many choices out there. If I like what's on the syllabus, then I go along with it, and if I don't, I choose my own, like I did when choosing Math U See. I feel like she has years of wisdom and experience she has made available to me, and I may as well use them.
In the same way, I use Real Learning as a guideline to the how to teach, and when the "how" of MODG is too far from the CM "how", I go with a more CM style.
I don't know if that helps, but I thought I would share. 
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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insegnante
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| Posted: March 08 2008 at 5:01pm | IP Logged
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Rachel May wrote:
[QUOTE=insegnante]
My approach to tweaking, if it is helpful, is to look at what MODG (or even better Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum) suggests as far as which subjects to teach and which programs to consider first which has helped me from becoming overwhelmed by the many choices out there. If I like what's on the syllabus, then I go along with it, and if I don't, I choose my own, like I did when choosing Math U See. I feel like she has years of wisdom and experience she has made available to me, and I may as well use them. |
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You know, I like that idea! Thanks. And it is basically how we found the Math-U-See that we like so much -- I wanted to use something tried and true among homeschoolers for such an important subject which is not my personal strong point (I mean I can do arithmetic just fine! but I'm not a "math person" at all), and Cathy Duffy's opinion helped seal the decision. Otherwise I would have kept going around and around reading the different positive and negative opinions and trying to figure out what sounded like it would work for us, and then probably still having doubts after we'd ordered something that there might be something "better" out there.
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Theresa
mommy to three boys, 3/02, 8/04, and 9/10, and a girl, 8/08
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: HS "programs" and flexible grade level
