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Mom21 Forum Rookie
Joined: June 10 2011
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Posted: Dec 16 2011 at 11:30am | IP Logged
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We are in year #2 of homeschooling our son, who is now in the 5th grade. We have used Catholic Heritage Curriculum, which has been fine for the most part. I do think it is a bit too "gentle" at times (CHC tends to plug its curriculum as "gentle"). We can easily finish our school day in less than 3 hours. I'm thinking ahead to next year and going with Seton or another similar program that has a bit more rigor. I'm finding with CHC that I have to do supplementing at times (like book reports).
So for those of you who have used CHC and made the switch to another program, what prompted you to do so. Please know this isn't a criticism of CHC. I think it's a good program but maybe not for our son in the long run.
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kristacecilia Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 05 2010
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Posted: Dec 16 2011 at 12:38pm | IP Logged
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We have used CHC and found it to be very gentle, too. Which wasn't a bad thing. I found that my kids needed to be a grade or two ahead, though, which ended up causing more issues and in the end I just decided to put together my own program using a lot of the resources and support of the wonderful ladies here.
__________________ God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
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Bridget Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2005 Location: Michigan
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Posted: Dec 16 2011 at 12:39pm | IP Logged
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CHC is gentle but not easy. Less than 3 hours sounds right for 5th grade. When my older boys were that age we made the switch to Seton from CHC because they (and my husband) wanted the structure. They liked having the lesson plans laid out with identifiable accomplishments.
__________________ God Bless,
Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
Our Magnum Opus
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Mom21 Forum Rookie
Joined: June 10 2011
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Posted: Dec 16 2011 at 1:20pm | IP Logged
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Bridget wrote:
CHC is gentle but not easy. Less than 3 hours sounds right for 5th grade. When my older boys were that age we made the switch to Seton from CHC because they (and my husband) wanted the structure. They liked having the lesson plans laid out with identifiable accomplishments.
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Bridget, do they like Seton? From others I have talked to, they LOVE Seton. The last sentence in your post identifies me, too!
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Bridget Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2005 Location: Michigan
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Posted: Dec 16 2011 at 1:32pm | IP Logged
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We don't use Seton now because of other opportunities for middle and high school years. But my guys preferred Seton to my own plans or CHC. Personally, I think the Seton materials get better and better each year. I would use them again if our local homeschool enrichment classes ever come to an end.
Seton's language arts materials are quite rigorous... for my children I used a grade below their age so they were not so frustrated.
__________________ God Bless,
Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
Our Magnum Opus
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setonmom Forum Pro
Joined: Jan 25 2011
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Posted: Dec 21 2011 at 3:17am | IP Logged
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Well, you can see from my username that I use Seton. I think whether you are happier with Seton or with CHC has more to do with your homeschooling personality and style than with academic rigor. For me, I liked the accountability I get with Seton, the lesson plans, and never having that nagging feeling that, compared to kids in regular school, my kids are "behind". I think that both Seton and CHC use SAxon for 5th grade; the SPelling is about equal in difficulty, and the LAnguage of God workbooks cover about the same material as the Seton workbooks, although Seton may require more work. Seton's fifth grade science is nothing special,( although I think you have the option for APologia Science). The big difference would probably be the book reports, which are part of Seton's reading class. If you wanted to try Seton, maybe you could enroll just for the reading class. The other big difference is the accountability- there is the myseton website, with all your childs courses and the grade for each quarter- so someone is keeping track of whether you really get all the work done.
Also, my child was in 5th grade with Seton last year. WHile we didn't really do all the assigned work, but I don;t think my son spent more than three hours a day on school.
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setonmom Forum Pro
Joined: Jan 25 2011
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Posted: Dec 21 2011 at 3:26am | IP Logged
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oops- just realized you asked for those of us that switched to Seton, what prompted you to switch?
Well, for me, it was that we had had a hard year and I wasn't able to do a lot of advance planning with lesson plans, etc. SO then I would throw together a plan the night before. It just wasn;t working. That particular year, Seton was offering a deal for middle school where you could try three classes for $79. So I signed two of my kids up for that. Then I was still doing lesson plans for the other subjects. One day when I was making up lesson plans, I thought to myself"Why am I doing this? I could just sign up for the Seton course and be done with this". Ever since then I have just done full enrollments. We have been very happy with Seton.
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