Reviews

The Worst List

Great Science Adventures - The World of Plants (K-3)

I did not like all of the photocopying that had to be done. I could not keep up and they wanted to do the activities and experiments, not the pages I had spent what seemed like hours copying. Too much work on my part!

Abeka Grammar 3

This was easy to teach and my daughter enjoyed it. Unfortunately, she did not retain and apply what she learned.

Spelling Workout A-D

This was easy to use and my children enjoyed it, but they didn't retain what they learned. There is too much busywork that serves to distract rather than teach.

Living Learning Books Science, Level 2

I thought this was overpriced for what we got. Basically, earth science and astronomy were divided into topics, and for each topic we got a booklist, some coloring sheets of rather poor quality, and a few review questions. There were also suggested activities with instructions, but we didn't do most of them because they were too simplistic for the recommended ages. It is recommended for grade 2, but adaptable for up to grade 5. We used it for grades 2 and 4, and I did not think it was easily adaptable at all. I ended up having to scour the library catalog to find suitable books for my 4th grader because the booklists included very few recommendations for older children. Most of the recommended books were rather babyish even for my 2nd grader.

Math U See

We tried this and found it doesn't fit very well for us. My son got tired of the videos and the pages. But the biggest problem we had was that he wasn't able to retain anything. There just wasn't enough review for him. We thought this would be a great fit, with the videos and manipulatives, but the lessons just seemed to be too much alike.

Rod & Staff English

This program really didn't last long in our house. The program was just too rigorous and the content was dry. My son would beg to do any other English program than Rod & Staff. This was really a shame because I love how Rod and Staff explains the concepts so well!

Alpha Omega Lifepacs - High School Science

This was very dry.

Saxon vs Abeka vs Bob Jones

With Saxon math, I found that the students in the private school (elementary grades) would score (on the Stanford 10) a grade level or two below the students who used Abeka math. I liked the constant repetition and hands on activities of Saxon, however it was not as advanced in skill level as Abeka. My suggestion for those who would like to use Saxon, would be to use a grade level higher than their student's current grade level. I like Bob Jones history for grades 1st-3rd. However for 4th and 5th grade, Abeka is far more challenging.  I loved the content of the 4th and 5th grade Abeka history.

Mystery of History

Last year we tried "The Mystery of History". I really like the curriculum, however it was a lot for a youngster to digest. We will probably try using it again in 3rd or 4th grade.

Spelling Power

The program that didn't work for us this year was Spelling Power. It just became monotonous to my daughter with the daily testing and sentence writing. Although it may be a good program, it just didn't work for us.