Hi, I'm Rhonda and I am just preparing to home school my daughter and a family member's son beginning next school year. SO thankful to have found this site. Looking for tips on curriculum choices and expectations. I look forward to getting to know everyone! Rhonda
Welcome, Rhonda! Glad you are here, it's a great place to be. What age children are you going to be HSing?
I will be homeschooling my DD age 12 and her male cousin age 13. She will be beginning 7th grade and he 8th grade. Both are gifted children with so much more potential than the public school system allows them to release. I have ordered the Switched On Schoolhouse science(gr 7) and language arts programs(gr 8) for DD. I am waiting on more conversation with the cousin's parents to see which curriculum they are comfortable with. I have read bad reviews about the SOS math, but thought I would get more opinions here. I chose this program (to try first) because I am an Ultrasound Tech (and supervisor of my dept) working full-time. This program will make the transition into home schooling easier for me with the record tracking, automatic grading, etc. Once I get used to it and get the kids settled, I may or may not like the program. Guess we have to start somewhere, Right? Have you used SOS? What about math?
We have used SOS for every subject. Some people realy like it and some don't like it at all. Since you are about to start using it I don't want to discourage you as it might be a good fit for your use, therefore I will keep my comments to myself. On a positive note, it is easy for the parent since it does most of the grading and record keeping for you. You are right, we all have to start somewhere and go from there. I hope all goes well and be careful here at the Spot, it can be very addicting.
Wait...don't hold back your opinion! Please, I want to know what you think. I understand that what doesn't work for one might for the other, but I would at least like to know what to be aware of~ Trust me, I want your opinion! Rhonda
Welcome, Rhonda! You might want to post your question about SOS on the homeschooling section here to get more responses. Also, you can go up to "search" and find a ton of posts about SOS. We have used it for a few subjects, but my ds14 doesn't care for computer curriculum so much. I have a friend who uses SOS for everything. She does not like the math at all. She says it is not very user friendly in that when you work out the problem on the screen, you have to fill in each space (imagine numbers carried and so on) and it was very, very time consuming her kids, which ended up being very discouraging for a child who gets things quickly and wants to move on. She has never used any other math, so she isn't aware of it being better or worse than any other for content.
Thanks so much Brooke. I will keep all that in mind. My daughter loves the computer and thinks she will enjoy the computer programs. Just ordered them this week, they should arrive Friday, I think. I thought it would be best to just order two curricula to begin with to make sure we really feel it will benefit us. I may try A Beka or Saxon for math. I'll post on the other thread for that info. Thanks again!
My oldest DS, a SR. has used SOS for the last two years. He doesn't like school at all and never has He just want to do it and get through. Knowing that, he doesn't like SOS at all, he says, and I agree, that it is a curriculum that you can use just to say that you have done school. I don't think they retain much from it at all. My 13yo ds used it last yr. and he didn't like it at all either. I switched all of his stuff this year and is much happier. We stuck with it with the oldest for many reason even though we don't like it. I think one of the things that we don't like the most is that you have to type the exact answer or it is wrong, so no typos. However, the teacher can change the grade on the "wrong" answer, so that helps. As far as the math goes, we ordered it for both boys the fisrt year and all of us disliked it so much I sent it back. I am sorry, but I can't remember why we didn't like it. They both used Teaching Text that year. 13yo loved it and it helped him in math a lot (he used a lower level). Oldest did TT Geom. and he hated it and so did I, (most people like it.) Anyway oldest is using SOS Alg. II this year and all he will say about it is, "Well, compaired to TT Geom. anything has to be better." I hope it works for you and hope this helped and wasn't more than you wanted. Let me know if you have anymore questions. I am sure others will jump in. Oh, I do have to say that I like the Senior year of Bible for SOS.
Thank you for being so open. The math is my daughter's strongest subject and I want her to excel there. The public school system doesn't provide explanations as thorough as I feel they should. The basic math foundations aren't built in ps. My daughter is where she is because SHE wants it and because I have worked with her. I just feel like being at home, she will have more opportunity. I just want to make the decision that is best for her. Feel free to pass along any other opinions or information you have. I need the advice.
I exceled in math in school. We used Saxon and I believe it is a fantastic program if you have a child who isn't intimidated by a lot of practice work on the page. My ds used to just shut down if the page looked overwhelming, so we switched to Math-U-See for him. I liked Saxon a lot when I was in high school, though.
I love the idea of repetition, that's how learning is made permanent in our minds. I don't know, however how my daughter will respond to all that practice work because she has never had any repetition in ps. For that reason, I am thinking of waiting one year then trying her with Saxon. I just don't know if I should us SOS math for that one year...or if it will hold her back.
Just keep in mind that when HSing DD doesn't have to do all the problems. She can do however many you or she thinks needs to be done to do that she understands and then you can move on. Once she has done enough repetitions, move on. I know I haven't read or heard all the reviews on SOS math, but I think I have only read or heard one good one. For whatever that is worth.
