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kristinannie
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| Posted: April 13 2013 at 12:18pm | IP Logged
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I am definitely not interested in enrolling in the least because I love having control over my curricula and I know that OLVS doesn't allow substitution. I love our CM style of education!
However, I was looking at some of their samples online (especially for religion and science). Have any of you used any of these books? Are they living books that can be narrated? Did your kids enjoy them? I like that they are very Catholic.
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Martha
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| Posted: April 13 2013 at 1:53pm | IP Logged
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I and my kids really like their spelling and cursive.
A friend likes their religion and I'm sorely tempted to buy it.
No idea on the science.
Their website and catalog are prohibitively slim on info IMO.
However, last year I emailed them asking if there was any way I could have some samples of quite a few materials and the quickly and happily sent me some PDFs with content list and sample pages of all the materials I was curious about.
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Martha
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pmeilaen
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| Posted: April 13 2013 at 2:10pm | IP Logged
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What ages/grades are you interested in?
We use some of their religion and science materials, one of my children has also done some of the English materials. My oldest is now doing OLVS high school (grade 9) and it's a perfect match for him.
I still use my eclectic approach to homeschool, even for my high schooler, but OLVS makes sure that we are meeting basic requirements. We still manage to add additional subjects and books, even in high school.
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kristinannie
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| Posted: April 13 2013 at 2:26pm | IP Logged
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pmeilaen wrote:
What ages/grades are you interested in?
We use some of their religion and science materials, one of my children has also done some of the English materials. My oldest is now doing OLVS high school (grade 9) and it's a perfect match for him.
I still use my eclectic approach to homeschool, even for my high schooler, but OLVS makes sure that we are meeting basic requirements. We still manage to add additional subjects and books, even in high school. |
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My daughter will be in first and my son in second grade next year. The more I look at their stuff, the more I like it. I don't want to use their math. I love RS and Miquon. I also don't want to do the workbooks. I would rather have the kids narrate the passages. I do like their handwriting. My son is going to learn cursive this year so we could do that with their books.
I guess you are right that it is a very good base and we could add a lot of our own things in. I am actually having trouble lately because it is scary sometimes to not be accountable to anyone (other than the state obviously).
I will talk to the representative when I am at the IHM Conference this summer. Or maybe I should just call them. We usually start the new school year in May or June. We are pretty much winding down right now. Are they pretty easy to deal with as far as substituting? I remember originally that I thought they weren't so that is why I didn't even really look at their stuff.
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pmeilaen
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| Posted: April 13 2013 at 9:29pm | IP Logged
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kristinannie wrote:
pmeilaen wrote:
What ages/grades are you interested in?
We use some of their religion and science materials, one of my children has also done some of the English materials. My oldest is now doing OLVS high school (grade 9) and it's a perfect match for him.
I still use my eclectic approach to homeschool, even for my high schooler, but OLVS makes sure that we are meeting basic requirements. We still manage to add additional subjects and books, even in high school. |
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My daughter will be in first and my son in second grade next year. The more I look at their stuff, the more I like it. I don't want to use their math. I love RS and Miquon. I also don't want to do the workbooks. I would rather have the kids narrate the passages. I do like their handwriting. My son is going to learn cursive this year so we could do that with their books.
I guess you are right that it is a very good base and we could add a lot of our own things in. I am actually having trouble lately because it is scary sometimes to not be accountable to anyone (other than the state obviously).
I will talk to the representative when I am at the IHM Conference this summer. Or maybe I should just call them. We usually start the new school year in May or June. We are pretty much winding down right now. Are they pretty easy to deal with as far as substituting? I remember originally that I thought they weren't so that is why I didn't even really look at their stuff. |
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I do like the Voyages in English for first and second grade. OLVS suggests using them both in grade 1, but I like to use Voyages in English 1 in grade 1 and Voyages in English 2 in grade 2. This is basically an oral approach to English. The teacher manual for those two grades is really good. There is minimal writing for the student, but the teacher's manual has little jingles, poems for memorization, and most of it is completely scripted.
The first two books of Science and Living in God's World are not colorful, but very gentle in bringing near the world of science. There is plenty of room to add in your own nature studies, books from the library, etc. I also like to use Science Stories 2 and Science Stories 1, which complement the OLVS books nicely. You can see inside those books on ebay. I don't use the science DVDs for those grades because quite a few topics on the DVDs belong to physics. I don't teach physics until grade 6.
I do like their religion selections. My son really liked the "Living My Religion" Series. I think Seton based their religion books on those older ones. Some of my daughters prefer the Seton religion books, with my first grader I'm doing "Living My Religion" and am also doing Our Holy Faith, you can always add picture books from Catholic Mosaic, etc. I do like the Lovasik books OLVS recommends and also their saint books.
What I do not like is their art. It's only coloring books for the lower grades. The music CDs for grade 1 and 2 are quite nice.
I do use the Maps, Charts, and Graphs, but do one each year.
I haven't used the National Reader.
I don't like Memoria Press Latin, so I don't use it. I start Latin in grade 3 or 4, but use different materials. I do French and German instead.
I also don't use their math, I prefer Miquon in combination with Singapore Math and CalcuLadder. I used RighStart Math for two of my children for a while and liked that also.
What I really like about OLVS is that you have something you can fall back on if you or one of your children get sick or other things happen that make a Charlotte Mason style homeschool not very easy. You know you will cover all subjects and don't have to come up with anything else if you run out of time. I also like older books and OLVS has quite a few  .
We have mandatory testing here in NY, after grade 4 (or 5). My children have all done exceptionally well on their different tests (PASS and CAT). So I do recommend them.
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: April 15 2013 at 10:36am | IP Logged
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We have used portions and mostly had good experiences.
I LOVE the handwriting (we skipped the first book for K-en which is printing and jumped right into the 2nd book for k-en which is cursive); my son really enjoys it too!
We prefer their hardcover science books to the younger grades, as they are interesting stories with two young children who go on nature walks and the like. Very applicable - very "living".
We used their old lesson plans for religion (the only lesson plans at the time that utilized the original Baltimore Catechism). We really enjoyed those, but have not seen or used the new texts.
We DID use Chats with God's Little Ones and it is SO wonderful! It is not designed to read TO your child, but for you to read first to yourself and set up a natural conversation. VERY good for the long-term!
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