I need some help deciding what to use for next year! I started out with a BJU curriculum as much as I loved it, I found it too intense for me to teach. Since, it was my first year schooling I was not comfortable ommiting things from it. As I have mentioned before I drive school buses for our local school. I leave my house at 6am and return at 9am then to leave again at 1:15 and return at 4:15. With gymnastic and lacrosse and Bible study for me Tues, Wed, Thurs evening are booked up. So, we switched curriculums around mid Oct. We went to Switched on Schoolhouse. LOVE IT! It has taken a lot of the teaching off of me. The kids can do a lot of the work on their own and when they struggle with something I jump in at that point and help. The down side. My kids eyes burn......They are missing workbooks....... So what to do?????? I have had people tell me to get CLE for next year and or Lifepac's. I just ordered lifepac's for my son in Math only. I thought that may help him out. This is what I am thinking for next year. SOS for Science, History, Bible Lifepac for Math and Saxons Language Arts. But, I know absolutely nothing about CLE. So, if anyone has used any of these please give me your thoughts on the curriculums.
Did I mention that I need something that the kids can follow along. So, they can do a lot of it on their own. I can give input on projects and where they don't understand.
I use the Lifepac LA and Bible for my one daughter, and she likes it. I do find it to be a bit slow, it seems to jump around a bit so I supplement with other stuff. She uses the 1st grade level. This is my first year using the Lifepacs. For older kids they can do the work on their own without help. My older daughter started using the Lifepacs this year because she was getting tired of sitting at the computer with the SOS. That only lasted a week, then she was back to SOS for all subjects except Bible, which she uses the Lifepac. Once my younger daugher hits 3rd grade she will use the SOS too. I like the curriculum and I like that it grades most of the work for me. My younger daughter uses the CLE for math. I like it a lot. I started out with Math U See and switched to CLE. She is doing very well with it. I also have the CLE for Social Studies, which is good too. With the CLE you (1st grade level) I follow out of the teachers manual. My older daughter uses Teaching Textbooks for math, which is an amazing program.
I have used Lifepac, Saxon math, some ACE, and bunches of other stuff. My favorite of all time is CLE! I will never again use Lifepac for math or English, although I will probably use it for science, H&G, or Bible at some point in the future (not this year). Much of CLE in these subjects is still in the Lifepac format, so if I need to buy something I don't already have on hand for science, H&G, or Bible, I'll probably get CLE because it's less expensive and contains about the same information. CLE's Sunrise Editions, I find, are far superior to Lifepac -- they're divided up into daily lessons, for one thing, so you don't have to guess or calculate how much to do per day. I also always felt that Lifepac LA "jumped around" and the spelling wasn't conveniently placed within the unit. CLE's LA is separate from the Reading, so the student can get plenty of both, and the LA lessons include the grammar/composition, spelling, and penmanship in each daily lesson. So, more consistent than Lifepac. I also felt like Lifepac's math was a little jumbled, too. CLE's is consistently laid out, with daily 1-minute speed drills in the back of the workbook (up through unit 601), rather than "suggested" like Lifepac's or requiring xeroxing sheets like Saxon's. The first unit of each math level is a review of the major skills from the previous year, so it can either be used or skipped, depending. I have not tried Saxon (Hake) English, but I know that it is spiraled like the math. CLE LA is also spiraled, like CLE math. I also like that it's in workbooks, so there's no requirement to copy into a notebook (except penmanship and of course writing assigned essays and such) in order to do the work. And, as I said, the spelling and penmanship are included in each daily lesson. If you prefer a hardbacked text because it's reusable, I'll suggest Rod & Staff English. I have found CLE math to be way better (for us!) than Saxon math, because I have always had to *teach* Saxon math, but the kids can almost always do CLE independently. The examples and explanations seem to be clearer in CLE to me. And I have found that CLE is more advanced than Saxon at the same marked level. I had some students who were using Saxon 54 (4th grade) and doing well with it into the second half of the book, but I wanted to switch them to CLE for the next year, so I gave them the diagnostic -- and had to place them at the beginning of CLE's 4th grade level. Another student had just finished 4th level CLE, when I gave her Saxon's placement test (just for fun - I wasn't intending to change her over) and she placed at "ready to start Math 76" (6th grade).
We used CLE for 2nd grade Science and LOVED it! However I've been told the upper grades are not Sonlight editions and so I will not be using it again. I am looking into CLE math for 3rd grade as MUS didn't work for us.
Monkeymamma, that would be SUNRISE Editions! >teehee< Lots of people get that confused... Actually, the non-Sunrise editions are not all that bad! Just a teensy bit less convenient. Before I issue one of these, I usually go through it and make a mark where I want the student to stop daily. The quizzes, or self-tests, are not removable, so they're there for the student to make sure to know everything before taking it. They are free to look everything up ahead of time and underline or highlight it in the text before the quiz so they can study it and know it, but not allowed to look back during the quiz or mark anything on the quiz before starting. I have been known to temporarily staple pages together to prevent the temptation to look back while taking a quiz.
Thank you all. This is so helpful. I need things to be quick and somewhat easy. Because my children have ADHD and I loose them quickly if they don't get if at first.
I have used CLE math 100 with my ds this past year. I needed something that was laid out and easy because we are self-employed. My ds could do most of it on his own with a few minutes of my explaining the new stuff. I am looking into using more of their stuff. But he will for sure start Math 200 in Jan, and my dd will start Math 100 in Jan. It has been a lifesaver for me time wise.
Personally math is math, life pak math is easy for up to jr high levels. after that change up to one of the video maths unless you are really good at it. We had no problems with any of the life packs, they got a bit older and got tired of the same old thing but that was all. ALgebra level got to be too hard for me to instruct them on and the independence thing didn't work at that level. Other than that it sounds good to go a little of this and that. Thats how my ds likes it too, a little sos and some book work. With sos and life paks you know where you are in your year, that part I really like.
