4Real Forums: Kolbe Academy and MODG?

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Topic: Kolbe Academy and MODG?

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Natalia
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Posted: June 12 2005 at 10:23pm \| IP Logged

Have anybody use these? Do you enroll in the schools or just use there sillabi? Strengths and weakness? I am looking more specifically for a 7th grade program? Do you use them as is or do you change it? are they flexible? I am looking for a program that will give me a scope and sequence but that is not overwhelming and hard to implement.
Any comments will be appreciated.

Blessings,

Natalia

ALmom
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Joined: May 18 2005
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Posted: June 13 2005 at 12:10am \| IP Logged

Natalia,

I think it depends on what you need and what you can afford and which you can get into.

I believe that you can order both MODG and Kolbe lesson plans/syllabi independently from signing up for the school. We ordered MODG syllabi through Emmanuel books. They are reasonably well layed out (IMO) with suggestions for readings and very broad topics for papers. It is organized by subject which I find a little harder to use - but I tend to cut and paste from some of her plans and put all subjects in day 1 together, etc. They include some sample tests and tend to combine history and literature. A lot depends on whether or not you like the particular materials being used. You can look at booklists on-line to get an idea and there are some samples of the lesson plans either on-line or in Emmanuel books catelogue. There is no teacher support unless you join the school.(ie the science doesn't have an answer key, there are no answer keys to tests, etc.). If you want to use MODG, you must call very early as they fill up very rapidly. They can be rather expensive. You get a certain number of hours to taylor your own curriculum and at the high school level and maybe also lower levels, you can get more assistance in some subjects. I cannot say much about this because we couldn't get in the year we thought we wanted to do their program (for us it was probably for the best as I found us floundering with the history/literature component although I do continue to use parts of their lesson plans from time to time.)We have only used/modified MODG lesson plans.

We spoke to a Kolbe proctor when we could not get into MODG. Most of their lesson plans are quite detailed and very well layed out for us. There is a paper topic every week in literature at the high school level. Until recently, the biggest complaint was that they simply gave book lists for literature for levels below high school and that there weren't a lot of Catholic options in history. Some answer and support material is only available to registered families but quite a bit of it is available for anyone to purchase. This year they are creating study guides for all the literature on their reading lists and they are also giving the option of following their standard history cycles or using Land of Our Lady. In 7th and 8th grades they have plans for either the Ann Carrol books or very decent secular history text. There is a lot of teacher support in all the materials. Obviously, paper reviews and discussion with a proctor would be limited to those signed up for the school. They were very kind to send us sample lesson plans before we decided. Their whole philosophy is one of subsidiarity. The parents are in charge and even if you are signed up with the school and plan to get a transcript through them, you can substitute whatever you want. They are there to serve you and assist you in whatever ways you choose. I have found it easy to taylor our curriculum by picking and choosing from a lot of different grade levels or even quarters and doing some mixing and matching. They have been helpful in suggestions - both ways we might lighten up, where we might find resources and even the suggestion to look at the plans and decide what we really do and don't want to do. They do not grade any work. It is up to the parents to do assessments in whatever manner the parent sees fit.

I'd suggest reflecting on what it is you really need and then finding out who offers that at the best price.
Kolbe's lesson plans are more precise with lots more access to answer keys to go with guides and tests. MODG is a little more general while still giving day by day breakdown on the subjects. Do you need someone to give feedback on written work? Do you need transcripts? Do you need class type settings to hold you to a timetable? (MODG has this with their teacher assisted and teacher directed classes while Kolbe does not) Kolbe will review all papers (if you want them to) as part of the standard registration fee, while you would have to sign up and pay for teacher assisted/directed courses in those subjects for which you want someone to review papers with MODG(and there is a hefty fee for this). How much detail do you want in your plans - a simple breakdown of texts with some paper/test suggestions here and there or do you want a very detailed plan that you can modify?

Our first step in deciding between them was to decide what kind of support it was we really felt we needed. We'd tried so many different things, we just didn't want to go on another wild goose chase. We sort of analyzed what it was that hadn't worked with everything we'd done to that point which helped us figure out where we really needed support. Then, we spoke extensively with both MODG and Kolbe. Both were very kind in answering our questions and offering samples and information on what they did and did not offer. This helped us narrow down what would work for us.

Hope this helps some.

Janet

Natalia
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Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Louisiana
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Posted: June 13 2005 at 7:54pm \| IP Logged

Janet,
Thank you so much for the detailed response. That is the kind of thing I was looking for. I especially liked the questions you suggested I ask myself. In fact thanks to those I decided to not go with either Kolbe or MODG. I think that I will wait until high school when I will probably need more help. Thanks.

Natalia

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