# Annoyed with curriculum



## mammabooh (Sep 1, 2004)

I haven't been impressed with the curriculum since the beginning, but this threw me over the edge today. Here are two questions that were in today's work...

Volcanoes spill out hot
1. soup
2. lava
3. dogs

The most important tree in the Oregon forest is the
1. Douglas fur
2. Cat fur
3. Dog fur

What in the world were they thinking?


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## Head Roller (Sep 24, 2010)

is this a public school??


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Sounds like my ACT test, back in the 80's.

Which cir are you using and what grade level? Might be appropriate as pre-reading questions for 1st or 2nd grade just to get them thinking but at higher levels I would be highly disappointed.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

What curriculum is this?


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## mammabooh (Sep 1, 2004)

This is 3rd grade, LifePac from Alpha Omega.


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## nobodyUknow (Apr 11, 2008)

We are doing 3rd grade Christian Light Education and I would be disappointed with such "fluff" questions. One "funny ridiculous" answer choice would maybe be okay (just for giggles) but for all wrong answers to be soooooooo wrong is too much in my opinion. I've never used AO except for Horizons Math for awhile. Hope it gets better.


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## foaly (Jan 14, 2008)

I too have had some issues with Lifepacs, especially the language arts. Seems not to be much rhyme or reason to it with the items they introduce. Kind of disjointed IMO.

I didn't even waste my time with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade history Lifepacs. Fluff for sure.

4th grade history is more geography and my son enjoyed it. No fluff so far but I need to find a better option for LA. I am so far spending a lot of time reading with my boys some of the literature from Ambleside Online. Classic stuff, no fluff.

Anyone else have suggestions for a good LA curriculum?


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## mammabooh (Sep 1, 2004)

foaly said:


> I too have had some issues with Lifepacs, especially the language arts. Seems not to be much rhyme or reason to it with the items they introduce. Kind of disjointed IMO.
> 
> I didn't even waste my time with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade history Lifepacs. Fluff for sure.
> 
> ...


It's all fluff in my opinion (at least what we've seen so far of LifePacs). They just skim over stuff and don't give any details about anything. It's ridiculous. My son is on the 4th book of the 3rd grade in math, and he still hasn't come across anything that he didn't already know. His spelling words for this week were "and, are, of, only, the, to, too, two, why, who, you, and your". THIRD grade! He could have spelled those in kindergarten.


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## WildernesFamily (Mar 11, 2006)

I'm not too enthralled with LifePacs either. I much prefer LLATL for Language Arts.


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## mammabooh (Sep 1, 2004)

WildernesFamily said:


> I'm not too enthralled with LifePacs either. I much prefer LLATL for Language Arts.


Do you get the feeling that the curriculum was written by a junior high kid? The grammar is terrible. I'm more than a bit miffed.


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## cindy-e (Feb 14, 2008)

mammabooh said:


> Do you get the feeling that the curriculum was written by a junior high kid? The grammar is terrible. I'm more than a bit miffed.


Yea, when you buy a curriculum and it turns out to be less than what you hoped, it's frustrating because you spent all that money! Then you have to decide to put up with it till you finish it for financial reasons, or sink more money into something else. UG. I feel for ya. That has happened to me before. It wasn't AO. I have never used that. I remember that in the end, I just skipped some of the dumber exercises. Sometimes, I just had him verbally tell me the things he was learning. For example, in this case, I would have just asked him to tell me the name of the liquid that comes out of a volcano. In the end, I moved away from workbook based curriculum altogether. We still use workbooks from time to time, but not often. 

I feel for ya! 
CindyC.


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## mammabooh (Sep 1, 2004)

I chose this curriculum because he LOVES to do workbook stuff. He has no desire to do the science experiments because they are so dumb. It's really frustrating for him (and for me) because there is no challenge whatsoever.

I guess I'm on the search again for curriculum for next year. I might just have him finish up this stuff and then start him on something different around Christmas. He's supposed to do 3 pages a day (they say 45 minutes) to make it last for the entire school year. He can do 3 pages in about 3 minutes. I'm not trying to brag on him, it's just frustrating that this stuff is so easy.


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## foaly (Jan 14, 2008)

mammabooh said:


> I chose this curriculum because he LOVES to do workbook stuff. He has no desire to do the science experiments because they are so dumb. It's really frustrating for him (and for me) because there is no challenge whatsoever.
> 
> I guess I'm on the search again for curriculum for next year. I might just have him finish up this stuff and then start him on something different around Christmas. He's supposed to do 3 pages a day (they say 45 minutes) to make it last for the entire school year. He can do 3 pages in about 3 minutes. I'm not trying to brag on him, it's just frustrating that this stuff is so easy.


We're in the same boat here, Mammabooh. My 9yo son hates Lifepacs so we are also looking for another curriculum. We use Saxon Math which I love so we are good with that. Might just continue with Ambleside Online for literature but we definitely need a different LA curriculum. I hear BJU has an excellent science curriculum. Apologia gets raves too for science.


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## mammabooh (Sep 1, 2004)

Quite a few of the families in our homeschool group use A Beka. The dad of one family is a rep. Do any of you have experience with A Beka? I must admit that I am biased against it because I went to a horrid Christian school back in the 80's and that's what they used.


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

mammabooh said:


> Quite a few of the families in our homeschool group use A Beka. The dad of one family is a rep. Do any of you have experience with A Beka? I must admit that I am biased against it because I went to a horrid Christian school back in the 80's and that's what they used.


My kids LOVED Abeka.
I don't have any of the younger aged stuff, otherwise I'd send it to you!

My last child is a Junior, and her Business Math / Consumer Math / Spelling / Grammar/ Comp / and Bible, are all Abeka.
The Bible is from a very "Baptist" point of view, but, it gives good reason to go straight to Scripture and see what God has to say -vs- curriculum.

Abeka builds on the previous years concepts (in grammar/comp) and there is repetition.....but......with 2 graduated, they are GRAMMAR MASTERS. They are constantly letting me know when I am butchering the kings English!!

**Edited to say** We are very much a 'school at home' type of family. We used books, we do workbooks, we take quizzes, and tests. The kids have work in each subject (between 6-8 subjects each year) every day. So my advice comes from this style of home education. Just wanted to clairfy.

Hopefully you can find someone who has some used stuff that you can check out cheap!!


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I HATED A Beka!!! I found so much incorrect information in dd's 6th grade science book that it made me sick!

Do you have a Sam's Club nearby, mammabooh? We used a workbook cirriculum while I was trying to teach dd reading and comprehension that we purchased from Sam's. The workbooks are pretty thick and go by grade level. One book covers just about every subject. There were separate books for the states and presidents.


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## mistletoad (Apr 17, 2003)

mammabooh said:


> I guess I'm on the search again for curriculum for next year. I might just have him finish up this stuff and then start him on something different around Christmas.


Couldn't you start him on something else right away? Obviously you are both wasting your time at the moment - I think you could do a better job without a curriculum if it would be difficult to buy another one right now.


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## foaly (Jan 14, 2008)

mammabooh said:


> Quite a few of the families in our homeschool group use A Beka. The dad of one family is a rep. Do any of you have experience with A Beka? I must admit that I am biased against it because I went to a horrid Christian school back in the 80's and that's what they used.


My $0.02......A couple of years ago, I spent hundreds of $$$$ on Abeka for my two boys. It was very time consuming for mom. There was lots of busy work and my boys are too busy anyway for more unnecessary busy work.


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## highlandview (Feb 15, 2007)

mammabooh said:


> Quite a few of the families in our homeschool group use A Beka. The dad of one family is a rep. Do any of you have experience with A Beka? I must admit that I am biased against it because I went to a horrid Christian school back in the 80's and that's what they used.


I use the A Beka Spelling and Grammar for grades 4, 5 and 7. It is not at all fluff. However, do not buy the spelling test booklet or the spelling answer key (duh, on my part). The only thing you will be missing by skipping those are a few vocabulary questions that you can make up on your own. Another problem for the A Beka system for me is the teacher manual's are thick and include Literature (which I am not using). I have to do a lot of digging to see when I should schedule tests, etc.


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## MarkP (Jan 5, 2009)

We use the "eclectic" approach around here, so often make use of various sources/resources based on what works for each kid or what I feel they need to work on. I have used the free worksheets that can be printed from www.superteacherworksheets.com, including several in the LA category, arranged by grade level -- grammar, punctuation, reading comprehension, etc. Being able to look at the worksheet, decide if I like it, and print it off for free (minus ink cost) is great, and you can keep them in a folder or workbook you (or your son) make yourself. There are many such sites, so that may be an option for you now until you decide to put out bigger money for something else.

Trudy


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Try Calvert. There's nothing lightweight about Calvert!


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## cindy-e (Feb 14, 2008)

LisaInN.Idaho said:


> Try Calvert. There's nothing lightweight about Calvert!


Yea, I'm with Lisa on this one! I have never used the whole thing, but have used elements of it. Very good. Just FYI, it's secular if that matters to you. Nonetheless, it is really very well done. Color. Interesting. Not insulting to a child's intelligence. 

Cindyc.


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## mammabooh (Sep 1, 2004)

cindy-e said:


> Yea, I'm with Lisa on this one! I have never used the whole thing, but have used elements of it. Very good. Just FYI, it's secular if that matters to you. Nonetheless, it is really very well done. Color. Interesting. Not insulting to a child's intelligence.
> 
> Cindyc.


Thanks Lisa and Cindy. I'll check it out...sounds like just what we want. I had wanted a Christian curriculum, but the stuff we have now is so stale, it's turned me off.


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## halfpint (Jan 24, 2005)

My children only liked a few Alpha Omega - like the accounting, Health, and some of the Bible. When I do use a curricula I give a lot of the tests verbally as I would rather my children be able to intelligently discuss a topic than only know enough to do a few matching or fill in the blank type questions. I usually go much deeper into detail than the written tests do.

For elementary science I liked to do unit studies, nature journals, field trips and hikes (for the journals), and lots of experiments. I haven't found an elementary science curriculum that I liked. I like the Apologia for Jr. High and High (although I don't think there is enough earth science), but haven't tried their newer curriculum for elementary.

I use a mix for language arts - daily grams, easy grammar, learning language arts through literature, Andrew Pudewa (IEW), megawords and probably a few more I can't think of. Most of our writing assignments are based on what we study in science, history or Bible, and occasionally art or music. 

Dawn


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## jamala (May 4, 2007)

We used to be all Abeka except math our kids love saxon math. This year we decided to switch to SOS and lifepacs for language and science and the kids loved it for a week or two--now they hate it. We will be going back to abeka next year for everything but math.


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## CheerfulMom4 (May 21, 2008)

We used to use lifepacs and I didn't like them either. We switched to Christian Light, still a workbook curriculum but IMO it's a lot better. My kids like it a lot better too and it's broken up into lessons which is nice.


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## Louisiana Mom (Oct 15, 2004)

Have you heard of Climbing to Good English? I used those for grades 3 & 4 and they worked pretty well. - cheap too at rainbow resource.


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## skwentnaflyer (Mar 9, 2009)

We really like Rod and Staff, although it's Mennonite, and DD is beginning to point out doctrinal differences. We just have her answer the questions and then we discuss why we can follow a different doctrine and not have it affect our salvation. We tried Saxon math last year because the public schools here use it, but she went back to Rod and Staff on her own, said the Saxon was too easy. I think R&S might be a little ahead of public school.


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## rosehaven (Nov 5, 2004)

Here's a Mennonite/Amish store to order from for less than Rainbow

Clay Book Store
2450 W. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522

717-733-7253

They don't have a website. Very friendly phone service and ask for a listing of all teaching materials available. You will be delighted with the selection and you can't beat the prices. I've ordered from them for the past 5 years. Also for math, Study Time math is excellent. It is almost identical to Rod and Staff however they have the consumable math book through 5th grade.

Hope this helps. 

God bless to you and your family.

In His service,

April


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

mammabooh said:


> Quite a few of the families in our homeschool group use A Beka. The dad of one family is a rep. Do any of you have experience with A Beka? I must admit that I am biased against it because I went to a horrid Christian school back in the 80's and that's what they used.


I had A Beka for some things in Jr and High school, also back in the 80's. Yep, I won't touch it either!! My mom use to teach lower elementary school and she said it did improve (at least in k-2) in the 90's. I did go and look at it at some of the hotel meetings.....I didn't buy anything other then the "learn your state" workbook. 

We like Rod and Staff for math and English. We are going back to KONOS, starting on Monday, for everything else.

We tried LifePac for 1st grade with my son. After 3 workbooks in math we stopped that one. I continued him through the LA to the end. He learned nothing!


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## mommathea (May 27, 2009)

Ok, so I'm not the only one. When I started asking around about A/O this summer for my 2nd grader I heard nothing but praise of it.
But I'm not liking it at all, and the work is way to easy for my son. He's actually a year ahead in school being only 6. 

I stopped having him do the spelling because he was going through the literature part too fast, he's really comprehending it. But he goes though it quickly.
I started printing off spelling lists off the internet.

The history is a joke. I thought that Abeka was bad with the history but I think A/O is worse. It has no reason behind it. It has taken almost a whole book telling him about the pioneers but it doesn't cover anything from a historical perspective. 

I haven't looked at the science yet. We do history the first part of the year, then science the second part. 
In math he is on the 4th book and the only thing new that he's learned is rounding to the closest whole number. And that was all of 20 seconds of learning. 

There is now way we can afford a new curriculum, or even a few new books right now.
I'm so frustrated that he isn't 'learning' but rather doing school work. 
I wish I was more confident in doing more of an unschooling bent.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

Lifepac is not for us either. It is too basic.
We use SOS. Some may argue is the same but it is not. It is much more involved. I have had the lifepac and the SOS equivalent side by side and can show this. Our daughter has been taught using SOS and has scored 97% in this area on her SAT, and is being offered honor programs at colleges. She is 16. Says it all. 

As for history, have you looked at the drive thru history series on dvd? We get it from netflix and the kids love it. It's not all they do of course, but an added bonus to their curriculum.


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## mommathea (May 27, 2009)

Ok, I had thought about doing SOS next year when my boy is in 3rd grade. I had thought it was the same though. 

We've been thinking about getting Netflix. We don't do tv, so it might be a good idea. Thanks.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

There are a lot of educational dvd's on netflix. You might be able to get the dvd from your local library. There are quite a few of the drive thru history series. Google it and you get to see clips.


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## cindy-e (Feb 14, 2008)

Also, on Netflix, we are enjoying the Terry Jones Midieval Lives series. Terry Jones used to work with Monty Python, whose movies I do *not* enjoy! But this is educational and very toned down, and really very informative - and funny! 

There are all kinds of things on netflix to supplement your learning. All the Shakespearean plays in various forms... lots of older movies that are more true to the orinial books that current ones... We even watched an old black and white french opera of the beauty and the beast on there once. The kids loved it, believe it or not. L! 

Yea, I think netflix is a good resource.

Cindyc.


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## Linkovich (Apr 17, 2009)

Haha, sounds like my hunter safety test!

True or false: After consuming alcohol, it is safe to go hunting.

Lol, I wonder if you put true if you'd get an automatic fail!


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## Jakk (Aug 14, 2008)

I really liked the Lifepacs when I first started with them this year but I have found the exact same thing as you.. its fluff. What isnt fluff isnt repeated and I like the spiral approach to learning better. My daughter is already on book 4 (1st grade) and we have only been doing school since the beginning of September, and ... we took the last two weeks off while we were away. I do like the Lifepac Bible though. 

I bought WAY too many Lifepacs. After the first week of using them I went on ebay and bought the LA grades 2, 3 and 4 (used) and for my older daughter History and LA for 11th and 12th grade. My 15 yr old uses SOS and we have been pretty happy with the program but my daughter said she would like to try the workbooks next year. Now I am not so sure lol... She also uses the Lifepac for Bible and likes it.

I have never used the Lifepac Math, for that I am using CLE for my younger daughter and Teaching Textbooks for my older daughter. I have been thinking about getting the CLE language arts, but have been putting off since cash is tight. I use CLE social studies with my younger daughter and we really like it too.


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