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saigemom
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| Posted: July 03 2008 at 9:15am | IP Logged
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which one would you choose? We have always been very free and busy on rabbit trails at our house. Everyone has learned a lot, but this yr. due to a lot of craziness...I am considering a packaged, not a lot of mom required prep. time curriculum. So....if you have any suggestions I would really love to hear them.
Thanks.
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mom2mpr
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| Posted: July 03 2008 at 9:28am | IP Logged
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Uh, hopefully no tomatoes will be thrown but I go to Sonlight. I know, it is not Catholic but there is a wonderful Yahoo group with a files section that helps you tweak it to be Catholic.
Not a lot of Mom prep(just a quick review at the beginning of each week), great books, lot's of fun and discussion and room for rabbit trails.
I have returned to them, after a 3 year break, for most of our learning and we all are looking forward to this coming year. I returned due to craziness, too! I needed help with planning.
Anne
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Sarah M
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| Posted: July 03 2008 at 10:48am | IP Logged
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I'm going to use Oak Meadow this year. I'm not usually one to go with prepackaged curriculum, but we are anticipating a relocation this coming year, and I want to make things easy on myself. The curriculum is not Catholic of course, so I'm weaving in liturgical ideas from a few different resources. Another curriculum provider that interests me (but I haven't tried) is Living Books Curriculum.
HTH
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Schoolrmacres
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| Posted: July 03 2008 at 11:16am | IP Logged
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I personally would go with CHC myself. I have used there stuff on several occasions and love it!!My dd loved it too which was a biggy for me.
That is just my 2 cents.
__________________
Darlene, wife to Shawn and mamma to Haleigh Elizabeth, our Gift from God through adoption.
Peace be with you
http://achampionfamily.blogspot.com/
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momtokea
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| Posted: July 03 2008 at 11:42am | IP Logged
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This past year we went with Sonlight. We skipped the religion part of it and my kids did catechism classes using the Faith and Life series through our parish. The nice thing about Sonlight is you can pick and choose which parts you want, you don't have to buy the entire thing. I highly recommend Sonlight for the literature selections. We will be using it again next year.
Maria
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italianalaskan
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I will be using Sonlight with my dds going into 1st and 3rd grade.
My ds 6th grade will be doing K-12 for history and science only.
Simona
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JuliaT
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I do not like pre-packaged curriculums at all. I know that I would tweak it to the point where it would have been worth my while not to even have bought it. That being said, I did buy my first curric. this year for my youngest's K year. I bought OM. I really like it. It is discovery based and it is just plain fun. Now, I don't know how the other grades are but if I had to buy for my older two, I would definitely get OM for them.
If you buy the entire package, the books (reading, craft books etc) are included as well as all of the craft supplies. This is the major reason why I liked it so much. I didn't have to spend time hunting down all of the supplies.
Blessings,
Julia
mom of 3 (9,7,5)
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SylviaB
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JuliaT wrote:
| I do not like pre-packaged curriculums at all. I know that I would tweak it to the point where it would have been worth my while not to even have bought it. That being said, I did buy my first curric. this year for my youngest's K year. I bought OM. I really like it. |
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Julia,
I am not familiar with OM, could you tell me what it stands for?
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SylviaB
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Never mind, should have the thread more carefully- figured it out!
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saigemom
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| Posted: July 03 2008 at 2:33pm | IP Logged
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I like the idea of having all of the supplies prepared for you...hmmm..I may have to look further into Oak meadow.
I've looked at sonlight before, but it has just never really grabbed me.
We did CHC b4 and while I LOVE their grammar, religion, and some of the other books...their whole package was not for me.
I've been seriously considering using serendipity for all of them(except I would have to get a diff. math for my 4th grader) Is it okay to print everything from that our or is that a copyright no no?
I'm so confused this year. Usually we don't have so many life issues up in the air and this isn't so hard. 
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folklaur
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Sonlight (especially good if you have kids who love to read).
WinterPromise (if you have kids that want/need some hands on additions and you want someone else to tell you what to do and when so you do not have to think and/or plan as much about it. Because you CAN easily add hands-on to SL too, but you will be the one figruing out what/when/and how. WP does more of that for you.)
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MarilynW
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Sonlight - great literature, living books approach, Ruth Beechick approach to language. Easy to take out their religion plans and put in our own.
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Marilyn
Blessed with 6 gifts from God
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Elizabeth
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saigemom wrote:
I've been seriously considering using serendipity for all of them(except I would have to get a diff. math for my 4th grader) Is it okay to print everything from that our or is that a copyright no no? |
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You're welcome to anything you want on Serendipity--that's what it's there for  . The Alphabet Path should be finished in the next couple of weeks. And you'll see a sneak preview of the history trail, the art lessons, the music lessons, and the poetry lessons oh...maybe Monday...maybe Tuesday, God willing. 
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Becky Parker
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We use MODG. I find it really fits with the Charlotte Mason methodology. I also found, to my surprise actually, that it is quite flexible. The early years are very gentle and there is plenty of time to use some of the great ideas from Serendipity, Montessori, or whatever you like. As the kiddos get older it gets more difficult, but they are ready for it. The reading required is rather extensive, but there is no "twaddle", it's all great literature in my opinion.
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Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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saigemom
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Elizabeth- Thanks for letting me know  I am very excited to see everything. I truly thank God for the work you have done there.
Becky- Have you used MODG for 4th or 5th grade? Does the syllabus give you detailed info. for everyday and every subject or is it more of just history and reading?
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Bookswithtea
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Saigemom, how old are your children and how many do you have? It makes a difference in what I would use if I had to make that choice...
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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Becky Parker
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Saigemom,
I will have a fourth grader next year, and I have one in 9th that has used MODG since 5th grade. You can buy the syllabus without enrolling in the program. The syllabi are available from Emmanuel Books (I put the link below.). You can also enroll, which I choose to do.
The syllabus does spell everything out, day by day. YOu can see samples of it at the MODG site. Of course, you only have to use what you want. I tweak things a little for some of my kids.
HTH!
Emmanuel Books
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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saigemom
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Books-
My children are ds 4th (but tested into 7/6 math and is a very advanced reader) so I am toying with total unschooling for him except for math, dd is 7 and in 2nd grade, and ds 6 going into 1st-but has a hard time with math. thanks in advance for any input, Saigemom
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Sparrow
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We'll be doing 1st grade (our first year homeschooling) and we're largely using CHC. In looking over the material, I think it will be good for little ones up to 4/5th grade, but after that, I think I will probably use something else (possibly MODG).
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Katie, blessed wife to Tyson and mom to all girls! Bailey (7) Riley (3) and Rory (3/17)
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Bookswithtea
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4th, 2nd and 1st? I keep thinking about how you said you were also thinking about unschooling with the oldest, except for math...I wonder if you will like following a guide or if it will make things harder in the end? I'm also thinking you mentioned a lot going on right now, so I'm trying to find ideas that are "survival mode" hsing. None of these options are perfect, but they will get you through a bad year in a pinch.
CHC's biggest frustration point, imho, is their time intensive unit studies for history and science. Its too hard to split kids up and do everyone on something different. But you did say you like their workbooks...
So here are my random thoughts...
1-buy third grade CHC for all three of them. That year is the easiest to do science (Behold and See...I've heard good things about it and from what I've heard, still good for older kids), and the tour a country unit could be fun and not too hard on mom since you are doing the same thing with everyone. That should be easy enough to for your 6 yr old to understand. Keep everyone on the same rhythm in the CHC guide for their various workbooks at their own grade level, and whatever math you love (we love Math U See). Honestly, I would even pick one level of Faith and Life for all three, read it aloud and do whatever questions from the activity book that you like, orally as a group, and then do the hands on religion CHC units together (I think that one has the rosary booklet?). I would order it early enough to look through the "tour a country" and get some ideas for whatever living books you want to have on hand or order from the library for each unit and make note of them in the guide before the schoolyear starts.
A more expensive option is to consider Sonlight 1+2 for everyone...interesting for the 7 and 9 yr olds with several books that might interest a 6 yr old. There is enough in this core for 1 1/2 yrs. If it went well, it would be easy enough to move onto core 3. I'd still keep them all together for religion...maybe pick a good bible story book and read a chapter a day?
Another option is to try MODG...again, pick one level for everyone...3rd grade would be my recommendation. The history in that level is gentle enough for the 6 yr old, but shouldn't completely lose the 9 yr old. You could use the primary language lessons in the guide for the 9 yr old (or sub. ILL if you feel comfortable subbing). The science in MODG 3 is also doable over several grade levels. Its a relatively inexpensive Abeka text. I will say, though, that I really dislike MODG's phonics/spelling programs, and would recommend doing something else for the 1st and 2nd grader.
hope this helps, Saigemom.
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Blessings,
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: If you had to go with a packaged curric.
