There is a lot of talk about classical and CM. Does anyone out there just use a regular curriculum like Abeka or a mixture of other books?? Just curious...
We aren't using a complete curriculum but we aren't doing CM or Classical either. We are using a mixture of things. We have a social studies program we got from a school store, handwriting from the internet, phonics workbooks, internet phonics, math u see, internet math practice sheets, and science from several sources.
I'm not CM or Classical either, but I'm also not Traditional. I'm Eclectic. I take bits & pieces of differents methods & mush them together until they form something that works for us.
I know of some that do, but that would not have worked for my daughter even if it appealed to me, which it doesn't--sorry. My daughter spans three to even four grade levels depending on the subject matter. Traditional does not provide enough flexibility.
I think most kids span different grade levels with their strengths and weaknesses, so one-grade curriculum doesn't work here either. We're eclectic as well, which I like, since I feel I am getting the levels of the curriculum that my children can best learn and advance with. There are MANY people, though, that use A Beka or Bob Jones, and their kids do fine. So I just say, do what's best for your kids and your family!
We are not traditional, CM, or Classical. We are eclectic. We were traditional the first year or so but I feel in love with freedom we had when we became eclectic.
I guess we're eclectic... I do traditional curriculums for math and grammar (Saxon and Shurley) but everything else is free agent, either from our own interests (unschooling I guess) or whatever pops into my head (Spanish). I actually wasted a lot of money when I purchased our books this year-last year was free printables off the internet, time4learning and whatever I invented as I went and they're both operating a grade level above what I bought! Oops! LOL
My neighbor used Seton for everything - and I almost did this year but the budget said no. Her daughter #1 just graduated from HS and is in a local community college. Her 2nd daughter is is 6th grade now - and has always been homeschooled. Another neighbor uses Calvert and she loves it - got rid of the teacher aid thing and is grading the papers herself this year - she loves it THEN - 1 other person I know is using Sonlight Core 3 I think - but man did that look overwhelming to me!!! But she likes it - and it's working for her at the moment. But I did like the huge binder with everything for her in it - including what to do every day. But it was still too much for me I just like shiny books
We're eclectic too...a bit of this and a bit of that. What is traditional exactly? Does that mean work books, complete curriculum in a box?
I guess we are in the middle as well. I tried traditional for the first 2 years and it didn't work well at all. I use Saxon for math, so I guess that is traditional. My kids span several grades as well, so traditional wouldn't work for us in that regard. We use My Father's World, but don't use the english or math they recommend.
We're eclectic as well. We use what works for each child which includes some traditional resources like BJU and Abeka for a subject or two (more for my younger 2). But we also use some CM-ish things like Apologia Zoo 2 and A Child's Geography. I have friends that use 100% Abeka and love it. I have others that use 100% "whatever" they find online, etc. Whatever works best for you is the "best" method. Rhonda
I doubt I am traditional about anything. I am fairly eclectic, however I am looking for a new word for it because now everyone is eclectic. I personally lean toward CM and unschooling. However, this is not about me, it is about DS. Soooo, we are trying things out. we are using MOH for history/ss, except for the last two weeks when we did election stuff. (mostly from brainpop-free movies) I was trying to supplement that with Time4learning, but we are dropping that this month. it was only working for math...and even there it seems to be going too slow and holding ds back...so we will concentrate on Saxon there, which we had been supplementing with. I try to get movies... We just finished invertebrates and now we are going to do electricity...because ds asked to... (so that is kinda unschool"y") We read books I like...cuz' for the most part, I have to read them. (I would shoot myself if I had to read magic treehouse...ugh) We are currently doing Cheaper by the Dozen, for which we have looked into the Pierce Arrow, bathing suits circa 1920, and today the story of the Pied Piper. TONS of vocabulary in this book! oh, and we talked about keel hauling and what a boom was. oh oh, also tonsils, germ theory, why we don't routinly take tonsils out now, the surgical instruments used, and why cats can cause strep throat. (the last one was a little off tangent but personally pertinant) We did our first dictation today...ds asked for spelling, and did a stanza of the Walrus and the Carpenter. DS thinks it is amusing. We do typing too. I hide the fact that I really have no idea what I am doing behind an unschooling/eclectic format.:lol: Sorry about huge post. it is a problem I have.
"Traditional" is not really traditional. Abeka and such are simply 20th century brick and mortar American style. Most countries do not follow that style, and it was not even that present in America prior to the 20th century. It is something made to fit the adults on an adult schedule. It would be very hard to have teachers teach every child at their level and their time, and year round just a couple hours a day..how a child learns best. Little quippits in textbooks cannot possibly do for a child what an actual real book can do. I did use that stuff in the begining, but found it so superficial and barely touched the tops of the subjects and so on.
For traditional..Charlotte Mason, Waldorf, Classical, Dorthy Sayers, etc - those were all around well before 20th century American style textbooks. To me, traditional means something that has been around a long time. Maybe a better way to refer to programs like Abeka would be modern brick and mass classroom style? Modern would definitely be a better term and all the busy work is to help manage the large classroom full of children and the lack of depth is mostly because there just is not time to learn much in those classrooms. It is largely about getting past the tests and on to the next test.
I would say that we are eclectic with a strong emphasis on classical. I like SOTW and the language lessons and the structure of classical. I wish that we could be more disciplined. Science right now is whatever looks interesting or fits the season ( right now naming the bones of the skeleton and we are watching planet earth). Math is Horizons and drills.
Right now, my oldest is doing Wordly Wise and Jacobs Algebra. We are also doing Format Writing and she will likely start Tell Me More French soon as we can get it free from the library. We have SOTW and GA Henty CDs. We have lots of literature and such that she can freely read. She also takes Cello. We did Considering God's Creation. We loved that. There are documentarys and we own lots of books.
We are a little of everything. I was feeling very overwhelmed recently and I went ahead and ordered Abeka Dvd's for my oldest son. I am going to use it to fit our needs, and not be a slave to the tv.... for instance History, I dont care for Abeka's History so we will be continuing our History with Winter promise or Sonlight. We will always use living books for History. I hated History in school because it was so dull. Not anymore! I love it, living books make all the difference in the world. Science... my son like to read anything science related so he will probably do Abeka (if he wants to, I dont care for Abeka science lol.) and Apologia and Harcourt science. Plus all the things he watches on the science channel. Jackie
My boys and I loved the 5th grade A Beka History! I liked the 4th grade one okay. We liked some of the science..... I agree with momofafew about the use of the word "Traditional". It's only been recently in history that brick and mortar schools were considered the norm, THE place kids should be! Yeah, those other methods have been around longer and have truer more positive results than ps for sure! To me eclectic means you don't use just one curriculum. If I used Saxon for math (which I don't, my kids disliked it immensely) and A Beka for English/Language, that doesn't mean I'm part traditional and part eclectic, it means I'm using different curriculums for the different subjects to meet the needs of my children the best I can. Interesting statement. I've been eclectic for 10 years now, so have others I've homeschooled with, so it's not something one person made up nor is it a new thing.... Like one poster said, we are doing Chemistry for dd because she loves it and wants to do it! When she was in 4th grade we did Apologia Astronomy, and she said she wanted to do Chemistry the next year. So we ended up getting "Christian Kids Explore Chemistry" for her 5th grade science. She LOVED it and asked if it would be okay to do a different Chemistry for 6th grade! What, am I going to say no when she has found a passion for science? So she is doing NOEO Chemistry II, and loves it as well! I found Rainbow Science for a great deal also, so When she finishes NOEO, she'll go right on to Rainbow. Rainbow has Chemistry, but it also has others, over a 2 year span. So this should take her through 7th and maybe 8th as well. Part of homeschooling is giving them one-on-one attention, but it also has to do with finding their passions and letting them explore them more fully. Something that wouldn't happen in a brick and mortar school. Which all goes back to what I, and others, said earlier: if it works well for you and your child, then that's what you should do.
A Beka's Science was always so-so. This year it has a lot more detail so I am hoping it works for us. I also love their History this year.
