Do we have a curriculum winners and losers thread yet?

[LadyNancy]

I like seeing what worked and didn't work for you all.

[Lori D.]

And BTW -- yes, there is a similar thread going on right now on the K-8 board, but I don't think many high school items were listed on it. : ) Thanks for posting this -- I like seeing everyone's lists, too!! : ) And this was our first year of high school! Warmest regards, Lori D.


WINNERS
Worked as well as I hoped for, and many way exceeded my expectations!

- Jacobs Geometry
- Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings
- Human Odyssey textbook (by Spielvogel)
- Garlic Press publishers study guide for the Odyssey
- WTM Great Books study of ancients; we used:
1. Epic of Gilgamesh (abridged, by Westwood)
2. The Iliad (Fagles)
3. The Odyssey (Fagles)
4. Oedipus Rex (Fitts & Fitzgerald)
5. Antigone (Fitts & Fitzgerald)
6. Greek myths (various authors)
7. The Aeneid (abridged, by Church)



WORKABLE
Wanted to like these more.

- Put That In Writing 1 (after much modifying, went from loser to workable)
- Apologia Biology (Content is ok. Text is chatty/dry. Line length is *too long* -- makes reading very tiring/easy to lose your place.)



LOSERS

- Analytical Grammar (good program; just didn't get done here -- more "workbooky" than we like)

- SL6 historical fiction readers for the ancients
(*I* liked these, but apparently these were too young in reading level, or too much ancients (or something!) for our boys, and many did not get read as I'd hoped)

- SMARR study guide for Gilgamesh (by Robert Watson)
(VERY disappointing! $8 for 7 sheets of paper folded into a booklet of 28 pages -- and 10 of those 28 pages were front/back covers, publishing info, or blank!! Content was only vocabulary words, comprehension questions, and less than a dozen "critical thinking" or discussion questions:mad::mad:)

[hsmamainva]

I can tell you what has worked well for my oldest so far!

Winners:

Sonlight (Core 100) - she used it in 8th, but some may choose to use it in 9th

Smarr's Literature Guides - she really enjoyed this program -- we used the Introduction to Literature (9th) and World Literature (10th) programs -- she moved on to taking College Composition I & II at the community college in 11th and received A's on every essay she wrote

Spielvogel's Western Civilization for 10th - she really enjoyed this text! She started 11th with Bailey's The American Pageant, which she enjoyed, but then she decided to take US History at the community college, so she never made it past the first few chapters

The Learnables Spanish - Year 1 (9th), 2 (10th), and 3 (11th) -- I had reservations about this curriculum, but it's worked out beautifully for her

Apologia Science - Biology (9th), Chemistry (10th), Physics (11th) - she really enjoys them

.............

I don't have any 'losers'!

She didn't care for BJU Geography (9th), but she wouldn't call it a 'loser'

And she's satisfied with Teaching Textbooks, now that she's using it the 2nd time around ;)

[Gwen in VA]

Winters -- almost everything we've tried
The Lively Art of Writing
Dolciani algebra 1 & 2
Jurgensen, Brown, and Jurgensen Geometry
Henle Latin

Losers --
Put That In Writing 2
The Thinking Toolbox (We loved Fallacy Detective, but....)
Wheelock's (sorry.world -- Wheelock's is just not us!)

[tmkclscroggins]

WE've had a rough year this year but had some definite winners!

Winners:
Foerster's Algebra I
OSU German - this one is wonderful!
Truthquest History

I don't know if this is a loser, it just wasn't great for us:
Natural Science - Scholar's Online


melissa

[SwimmerMom]

Winners:
Lightning Literature
Apologia's General Science
Chalkdust Pre-Algebra
Phonetic Zoo, Level C
TOG's Writing Aids

Losers:
Educacion Espanol (the only espanol dd can speak after 1 year is to order food)
The rest of TOG (It just didn't work for us: didn't fit my teaching style, didn't fit Bean's learning style, but she did enjoy the books)

[Liza Q]

My 17 and 15yos say that The Iliad was a LOSER and the Odyssey was a WINNER.

My 17yo thinks that Does the Center Hold? An Introduction to Western Philosophy by Donald Palmer was a winner. And she says that The Brothers Karamazov is a TOTAL WINNER which is really irritating me. It was not on our list and she keeps reading it instead of writing about the Aeneid.....

For me, Smarr Ancient Lit was a winner. It does not go into much depth and we needed to supplement with The Lively Art of Writing but the selection of literature was excellent and the schedule was priceless.

Teaching Textbooks is a winner as well for all of us. This is our third year using it and the explanations and graphics have been unbelievably helpful. We are not a mathy bunch, my girls and I, and we appreciate all the hand-holding.

[periwinkle]

9th grade son (creative artist, reluctant academician):

Clear winners:

Lial's Introductory Algebra (taught by Mom, not the dvt)
Teaching Company World History (he loved Linwood Thompson-but goofy goes a long way here:D)
Apologia Physical Science (tried this in 8th but too overwhelming...just right this year!)
Practical Graphic Design
Advanced Winston Grammar
Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
Dante's Inferno (who knew this would catch him?)
Don't Check Your Brains at the Door by Josh McDowell (I was thrilled to find a devotional he would actually READ!!!)

Losers:

Oxford Latin
Breaking the Barrier Spanish 1 (this moved way too fast and furious for both of us)

12th grade son (math-science logical guy):

Clear winners:

Plato's Republic
Lightning Lit World Lit
Introduction to the Practice of Statistics (Moore and McCabe)
How Should We Then Live DVD's
Handbook of Christian Apologetics
Sister Wendy/Annotated Mona Lisa for 1/2 credit art history (fun!)
Computer Science Lab cdrom

Not quite losers:

Dr. Callahan Calculus (well, we did finish it...let's see how college calc goes next year)
Campbell's Biology (this actually convinced him to NOT major in biology, ha!)
Barron's Grammar the Easy Way

[Laura K (NC)]

I mean, I can completely understand her loving that book. But I can completely sympathize with you in wanting to get some other books done in addition. My youngest would rather read a Redwall book than any book I assigned him, but Redwall doesn't have quite the literary oomph as Brothers Karamazov!

[Laura K (NC)]

Winners:
Saxon 8/7, though my 13yo would beg to differ.
Foerster Algebra
A Beka Science 6: Observing God's World
Sonlight's 20th c. history


Losers:
SRA Explorations and Applications 5 and 6
Sonlight 20th c. literature
How to Read a Book

And we've had some other losers, but that was more my fault than the book's fault. For example, I'm burnt out on Rod & Staff after so many years, even though I know that it's the best program. We didn't get as far this year as I needed to.

[Moira in MA]

Thanks for starting this thread. Here are ours:

Winners for 10th grade dd:

Scholars Online 'Intro to Playwriting' -- this has been a fabulous course, she learned *so* much.
Scholars Online 'Latin III' -- she wants to be a classicist; need I say more.
Foerster's Algebra II [& Trigonometry] -- she enjoyed the interesting problems.
Omnibus II -- loved the books and the discussions especially Dante's Inferno.
Gileskirk Christendom -- it's Dr G., enough said.
Chemistry 'The Central Science' -- she wants to study more chemistry at college.

Losers:
Spanish II Breaking the Barrier -- too little use of vocabulary, really needs an instructor.

For 8th grade dd:

Winners:
Omnibus II -- she enjoyed many of the texts.
Gileskirk Christendom
Traditional Logic I

Losers:
Scholars Online 'Natural Science I' -- way too much information & too little class interaction.
Spanish I Breaking the Barrier -- same issues as Spanish II.

[Jane in NC]

For my 10th grade son:

Clear Winners:

Dolciani Alg II/Trig
Oxford Latin III
Latin Mythica (Bolchazy)
Teaching Company lectures by Philip Daileader (Early, Late and High Middle Ages)

Whether I will declare Campbell's Biology a winner may depend on my son's AP score. The tome was overwhelming, a terrific book, but I don't know if it was our wisest move. The generic high school texts lacked complexity, but we really stepped into it by going with this college text.

This is something that I just have not yet processed: was the AP focus the right thing to do? What I love about homeschooling is that it enables us to follow our passions, but I feel that my son lacked the time to follow many of his outside interests this year. Part of this was due to the demands of biology and his other school work. He also spent a lot of time at the ice rink which was ultimately good for his physical and emotional development. Sports commitments come with a huge price though.

Maybe the problem is that my son has so many interests and there are never enough hours in the day to do everything.

Back to the list: My son says the best book he read for school this year was Canterbury Tales, followed by Inferno. We all loved seeing Henry V performed at the reconstructed Black Friars Theater in Staunton, VA.

We're tired. I suspect that I'll have more to say in this thread after I walk away from our schoolwork for a bit and process things.

Jane

[LisaNY]

Losers:
SRA Explorations and Applications 5 and 6
Sonlight 20th c. literature
How to Read a Book



Laura, if you don't mind my asking, what made HtRaB a "loser" for you?

[LisaNY]

Since my dd was in 7th gr. this year, I will only post about the curricula that would be considered hs level.

Winners:
R&S English
WTM/WEM (Intermediate GB study, meshed with some of WTM hs plan)
Henle/Lingua Latina
VfCR

No losers at the hs level.

[Veronica in VA]

Winners:

Her Spanish class - they used BJU Spanish 1
Fix it grammar
Apologia Biology
Notgrass American History
Math Relief Algebra 2
The Scarlett Letter

Losers:

Autobiography of Ben Franklin
Huck Finn (not sure why she didn't like this, she said she got tired of them going down, down the Mississippi - LOL!)

Lightning Lit was ok, but she didn't really like the selections that much.

Veronica

[Brenda in MA]

These are for my high school junior.

Brenda


Winners

Chalkdust Pre-calc (great improvement from Saxon Advanced Math last year)
Sonlight Core 300 DK book + several readers (discussed w/spark notes & WTM-style questions)
Spark Notes for several Core 300 readers
Potter's School Computer Programming & Literature courses
Giancoli Physics
Great Source American Government

Losers

Apologia Chemistry (did not adequately prepare son for SAT2 test)
Sonlight Core 300 reader guides in IG -- content was inadequate

[LisaNY]

Losers --
Put That In Writing 2
The Thinking Toolbox (We loved Fallacy Detective, but....)
Wheelock's (sorry.world -- Wheelock's is just not us!)

Gwen, can you share why PTiW 2 was a "loser" for you?

[Captivated]

Winners:
Sonlight Core 300
Teaching Company courses : Argumentation, The Odyssey, World History: Fertile Crescent...
Clues in Crime - Duke TIP program
SOS Spanish II
Apples Daily Spelling - I would rank this as a huge winner b/c I saw great improvements in my son's spelling. He would put this on the loser list. :)
Saxon Algebra II - but only cause we had a tutor who taught this, we could not have done it on our own.

Losers:
Traditional Logic (first book was ok, second was mind numbingly boring)
Editor in Chief - didn't seem to help as much as I thought it would
Apples Daily Spelling - ds didn't like it, thought it was worthless BUT I saw saw HUGE improvements in his spelling.

[LisaNY]

Winners:
Teaching Company courses : Argumentation, The Odyssey, World History:
Clues in Crime - Duke TIP program


Captivated, can you share your experience w/Argumentation? What grade level are your dc? I have this, and I was thinking of going through it myself. Was this used as your logic/rhetoric course?

I'm curious about Clues in Crime? What kind of program is this?

Thanks!

[percytruffle]

For my 10th grade son:

Clear Winners:


Teaching Company lectures by Philip Daileader (Early, Late and High Middle Ages)



Jane, I'm so glad to see these on your list of clear winners! Ds will be using them independently next year as his history spine. It will be his senior year and since he has covered everything on my list for history including government and economics, he was allowed to select the time period he wishes to study. I just purchased the last of this series today (High Middle Ages) after having purchased the other two when they were on sale last month. He and I were looking over the lecture titles today and he was very excited. Since I will be teaching during the day I'll have to find a way to fit them in in the evening so I don't miss them. They do sound great!

Here's our list of clear winners for this year (11th):

Boorstin's A History of the United States
Perelandra with the study guide by Progeny Press
The Old Man and the Sea (ds loved it!)
Artistic Pursuits Senior High Book I
TTC Art Across the Ages, supplemented with The Annotated Mona Lisa
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Clear Losers (as per ds ;))

The Scarlet Letter
Notgrass American History

[Grace is Sufficient]

For science minded son
Winners:

Apologia Biology and Chemistry
Put That in Writing 1
Home2Teach writing course
Rod & Staff English 8
Videotext Algebra
Notgrass World History

Losers:
Stobaugh's Lit Analysis course (don't remember the name)
Critical Thinking Book 1

[RebeccaC]

Winners;
Sentence Composing for.......
The Life and Writings of C.S.Lewis Teaching Company
Life of Fred
Vocabulary Cartoons
Apologia Science
Bob Jones Geography
A&E, History channel, and Discovery Channel Documentaries
Rosette Stone Spanish


Mixed review one boy loved other tolerated was Winter Promise's Sea and Sky with Older Learner guide. Another mix was Moving with Math and Easy Grammar.

Great New find is English Grammar 101 http://www.englishgrammar101.com/Lessons/Default.aspx with computer security up high enough to get rid of side bar ads.

[Quiver0f10]

The only thing we didnt' really like at this level was PTIW 1. We tried it twice and it just didn't work for us. We are switching to IEW and I hope that's a better fit.

[Ms. Riding Hood]

are:

--all the Apologia sciences (have used all except marine biology and adv. biology--and we'll do adv. bio next year). Dc love these and find them easy to understand and interesting to read; they have been excellent preparation for the AP chemistry & physicsB exams, and the CLEP biology exam. Ds will take the SAT physics next week, and he feels confident. What a huge relief for this mom of six, who cannot on any level "teach" science! And we are not young earthers or strict 7-day-creationists. In fact, older ds (the very science oriented one who reads lots of science) has read many sides of the young/old earth debate and formed his own opinions. Same with literal vs. abstract interpretations of the creation story. Now I see younger ds struggling to form opinons on these issues as well. I suppose I like that Jay Wile gives his point of view; dc certainly won't be hearing it from many other sources, though they will be getting plenty of the more current wisdom. Of course we discuss a lot, and I suggest reading or quote to them from things I read. But we love these books "as is". Not to mention that Dr. Wile is a helpful guy when we've ever needed him.

--Rod & Staff grammar. At first glance I thought they looked dry as dust. But after using them for 3-4 years, I really must say they are little gems. And cheap, too!

--Thinkwell Calculus. This was discussed in another post, but ds logs on and watches a fabulous college professor teach the subject. What more could I wish for?

And the losers are:

--Writing Strands. I wish somebody could convince me these are great because I hate seeing them sitting there on the shelf. But I really detest the author's writing style. I can never look at a page and easily determine exactly *what* is supposed to be done. I'm sure it's just me.

--Abeka Grammar & Comp. Maybe they get the job done, but in the least interesting way possible. I used them for three years with oldest ds, for grammar only, and didn't care for them at all.

[LadyNancy]

Here's mine - 9th grade:

Winners:
Bob Jones Physical World
Lial's Basic College Math
Put That in Writing 1
Vocabulary from Classical Roots
TruthQuest History

OK:
Asimov's Chronology of the World
Breaking the French Barrier
Abeka Health

Loser:
Lightning Lit & Comp - just didn't work out for her

[Begonia]

Dd completed 8th grade this year, so I'll list only the "high school level" curriculum and reading material:

Winners:

Wheelock's Latin I online class with Sasha Decker
Jacobs Algebra (a fabulous and unexpected hit in our house :) done in combination with a CD of whiteboard lectures from www.kingdomtutors.com)
Mythology Alpha and Beta classes from Lukeion.org
EPGY writing courses
SAT Question of the Day from the College Board site
NaNoWriMo month-long writing contest
Anything to do with the national election (books, websites, cable news channels, volunteering etc.)
The Iliad
Ovid's Metamorphoses
Oedipus Rex
The Crucible
Bless Me, Ultima
Shakespeare: A Winter's Tale, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet

Losers:

Analytical Grammar (dd didn't find it particularly helpful. She feels the Latin course gave better training on grammar concepts)
A local creative writing co-op class (two thumbs down!)
The Odyssey (lacked novelty. Dd had heard the story too often before she sat down to read it herself)
The Aeneid (too long, too dull, dd didn't "get" it. Perhaps we should have waited on this one! :tongue_smilie:)
Hesiod (not read in a modern translation. Dd found it to be both dull and dense)

[Laurel-in-CA]

Pretty good:
Spielvogel - The Human Odyssey + Study Guide
Lial's Introductory Algebra
Lightning Lit Speech; (dd didn't like World Lit as well; getting her head into another culture was hard)
Abeka Biology - a class of 3 with a friend teaching and doing all the dissections

Not what we'd hoped:
Breaking the Barrier Spanish I - We are going to have to use the community college for this!
Jacobs' Geometry - Don't know if this was the text or the student/teacher combo; we're going to something with video support next year.

[Katia]

12th grader

Winners:

Wordsmith Craftsman
Lightning Lit World Lit
French in Action, level 2
Life of Fred
Teaching Company Economics lectures

Losers:

Put That in Writing, level 2
Alpha Omega Government, Economics Lifepacs
MUS Stewardship Math

10th grader

Winners:

Wordsmith Craftsman
Vocabulary for High School Students
Pimsleur Japanese complete level 1
Let's Learn Kanji, Katakana, Hiragana
Alpha Omega Lifepacs: Bible
Alpha Omega Lifepacs: Civics
Teaching Textbooks
Life of Fred

Losers:

Lightning Literature:American Lit
Alpha Omega Lifepacs: Geography

[Jane in NC]

Jane, I'm so glad to see these on your list of clear winners! Ds will be using them independently next year as his history spine. It will be his senior year and since he has covered everything on my list for history including government and economics, he was allowed to select the time period he wishes to study. I just purchased the last of this series today (High Middle Ages) after having purchased the other two when they were on sale last month.


My son will be following this series with a reading of Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, which Daileader discusses in one of his lectures. I figured that it would be a good summer assignment. I wanted to mention the book in case you stumble across a used copy somewhere. It might be a nice addition to your son's program.

Jane

[Captivated]

My ds is 17 and I did use it for Rhetoric. The instructor is great, great examples, great teaching. My ds did the program with a friend - they got together once a week and then discussed and wrote from the topic.

Clues in Crime - DS thought it was fun. :) It was interesting and took about a semester to work through. Not heavy science but thorough. Here is a link to it http://www.tip.duke.edu/independent_learning/cdrom_courses/clues_in_crime.html (by the way, I'm posting this on the used forum in the next day or so :) )

[percytruffle]

My son will be following this series with a reading of Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, which Daileader discusses in one of his lectures. I figured that it would be a good summer assignment. I wanted to mention the book in case you stumble across a used copy somewhere. It might be a nice addition to your son's program.

Jane

Thanks so much, Jane. I will be sure to look into it.

[Deb in NZ]

here's my thoughts after almost 2 terms...

16yod:
Winners---
MUS PreAlgebra (dd is understanding maths & enjoys it)
Apologia Biology (dd LOVES the Apologia texts)
Sequential Spelling for Adults 1&2 (we're finally seeing improvement in her spelling)
SYRWTL Latin 1 (dd says this is so much easier to understand than LC1, which we tried last year)
Trail Guide to World Geography

So-So---
Science Roots
Jump In writing course

Losers---
SL 200
Making up my own Spanish program with SOS highschool Spanish & Easy Spanish

14yos:
Winners---
MUS Epsilon (maths is sticking & ds doesn't complain too much about the work)
Apologia General Science (last year this was a flop with ds, but this year I'm working more with him & we're making progress)
Sequential Spelling (I can now understand most of his writing)
Trail Guide to World Geography (ds would call this a loser, but I'm pleased with how it works for our family)
Latin Prep 1 (a much better fit for ds than PL we tried last year)
A Backpacker's Alphabet penmanship book by LightHome Publications ( great practice for HS boys, we can now read most of his writing)

So-So---
First Start French (we've put that aside for the moment, to simplify the workload & concentrate on attitude & working to the best of ds's ability on the basics)

Losers---
SL 5 & SL-LA 5 (just wasn't a good fit for us, we love the books but just couldn't get SL to work for us with this core)

JMHO,

[Denise in NE]

Winners for 7th grade
Rainbow Science (dd liked last year better than this year though)
IEW Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course B (WORTH THE MONEY!)
Rod and Staff Grammar (a clear winner every year!)
Rosetta Stone Spanish
Saxon 87

Winners for 9th grade
The same IEW course
Analytical Grammar High School Reinforcement
Rosetta Stone
Teaching Textbooks Algebra II
Lightning Literature 8
Fallacy Detective/Thinking Toolbox

Losers

BJU Space and Earth Science (My 9th grade dd used this course. I wouldn't recommend it without the DVDs - which I didn't order....)

Speech at our local cooperative (My 9th grade dd received an A+ both semesters but -oh-the TORTURE we all went through as she prepared each week! She never did grow accustomed to speaking in front of the group!)

Vocabulary From Classical Roots (My 9th grade dd despised this series. We're switching to Wordly Wise next year)

Lightning Literature 7 (7th grade dd didn't like the reading selections)

Sonlight 5 (They both hated this!)

Positive Action: Life of Christ (this wasn't a bad course - I just thought the application part was a bit lean)

Denise in NE

[Kareni]

Begonia,

You included Ovid's Metamorphoses on your list of winners. I recently posted asking for favorite translations of this work. May I ask which translation you used?

Regards,
Kareni

[Cedarmom]

Winners-
Doing debate- he loved it and it increased his confidence
Omnibus II-especially Dante
Teaching Company-lecture on Dante
Lingua Latina

Losers-

Nothing really - we didn't do Speilvogel as much as we should have, but it is a good text

[Mommyfaithe]

[QUOTE=Liza Q;261047]My 17 and 15yos say that The Iliad was a LOSER

And she says that The Brothers Karamazov is a TOTAL WINNER which is really irritating me. It was not on our list and she keeps reading it instead of writing about the Aeneid.....

LOL....My dd is reading The Brothers K too...and can't put it down...go figure!

~~Faithe

[LisaNY]

My ds is 17 and I did use it for Rhetoric. The instructor is great, great examples, great teaching. My ds did the program with a friend - they got together once a week and then discussed and wrote from the topic.

Clues in Crime - DS thought it was fun. :) It was interesting and took about a semester to work through. Not heavy science but thorough. Here is a link to it http://www.tip.duke.edu/independent_learning/cdrom_courses/clues_in_crime.html (by the way, I'm posting this on the used forum in the next day or so :) )

Thank you, Amy! What a great idea to work through it with a friend. :001_smile:

[Sharon in MD]

[QUOTE
Not quite losers:

Dr. Callahan Calculus (well, we did finish it...let's see how college calc goes next year)
Campbell's Biology (this actually convinced him to NOT major in biology, ha!)
Barron's Grammar the Easy Way[/QUOTE]

We are looking really seriously at buying this.....I'd love to hear why you were less than thrilled.

Please let me know! I'm desperate for BTDT info!

[periwinkle]

Ds bogged down in the middle of the material and wouldn't email Dr. Callahan! I was irritated, but it was his senior year...he was busy and stressed finishing his Eagle rank and filling out college and scholarship apps, so I do understand a little. I got the Teaching Company Calculus Made Clear video for him to watch while we spun his wheels for a month or two...then he picked up the course again and completed it. Originally, he was going to take the AP test, but we decided he wasn't feeling as confident as we had hoped. He needs to take 3 semesters of Calculus in college, so maybe it is good he is starting at the beginning there.

I'd have to ask ds specifics about the course...I do know he thought the video featuring Dr. Callahan was "ok". The Stewart text certainly is dense. It made my head spin just looking at it. I took calc in high school and college, but unfortunately I didn't retain any of it and was pretty useless (this made the grading difficult, even with the solutions and test keys!) I think a capable tutor would have made a world of difference.

It would be interesting to hear from someone who has compared this course to Chalkdust. We chose this one because it was more affordable.

By the way, I have our used materials posted for sale on the swap boards if you are interested.:001_smile:

[Begonia]

Begonia,

You included Ovid's Metamorphoses on your list of winners. I recently posted asking for favorite translations of this work. May I ask which translation you used?

Regards,
Kareni

Kareni, sorry that I missed your thread. My response to this thread was written while my dd dictated the items over my shoulder. Ovid was simply not on my "radar." :o

In response to your question, dd says: "I highly recommend the Charles Martin translation because it's easy to understand and the stories are fabulous! It's written in contemporary English, but it's not as annoyingly colloquial as the language in Stanley Lombardo's translation of the Iliad."

HTH.

[Kareni]

In response to your question, dd says: "I highly recommend the Charles Martin translation because it's easy to understand and the stories are fabulous! It's written in contemporary English, but it's not as annoyingly colloquial as the language in Stanley Lombardo's translation of the Iliad."

HTH.

Thanks very much, Begonia and to your daughter too. I'll take another look for the Martin translation.

Regards,
Kareni

[mchel210]

Winners:
Abeka 3rd grade and 2nd grade
La, math, handwriting
SOTW 1 with activity book
maps and globes
Trail guide to the US
Library books!!
TT7 great addition
Lifepac Health quest
Click and read phonics (so fun!)


Ok this year:
Jump In
apologia zoology 1 (great...but got boring after 4 months)
bj la 6
Building spelling skills 6
Time4learning (my dd finished all the lessons in 2 months...not enough to enjoy)

Loosers:
Abeka 6 grade la
christian liberty 6 grade history
abeka readers. Kids didnt like any of them.
Saxon math 5/4
Lifepac History, la, science
LLATL yellow (found way too easy )
abeka spelling (too easy)

Next year hopefuls:
Sonlight 1 and Sonlight 4, SL la (looking for a change) library science on our own with usborne science experiments
artisitc pursuits

[Luann in ID]

are:

--all the Apologia sciences (have used all except marine biology and adv. biology--and we'll do adv. bio next year). Dc love these and find them easy to understand and interesting to read; they have been excellent preparation for the AP chemistry & physicsB exams, and the CLEP biology exam. Ds will take the SAT physics next week, and he feels confident. What a huge relief for this mom of six, who cannot on any level "teach" science! And we are not young earthers or strict 7-day-creationists. In fact, older ds (the very science oriented one who reads lots of science) has read many sides of the young/old earth debate and formed his own opinions. Same with literal vs. abstract interpretations of the creation story. Now I see younger ds struggling to form opinons on these issues as well. I suppose I like that Jay Wile gives his point of view; dc certainly won't be hearing it from many other sources, though they will be getting plenty of the more current wisdom. Of course we discuss a lot, and I suggest reading or quote to them from things I read. But we love these books "as is". Not to mention that Dr. Wile is a helpful guy when we've ever needed him.

Lynne, I'm curious about what you used to prepare for science SAT's, CLEP's, and AP's. Did you use the Apologia basic texts and the advanced texts? Did you use anything else for preparation? I was thinking about having 15yos take the Biology CLEP when he finishes his text in a few weeks.

Thanks!
Luann
mom of 12

[Carolfoasia]

Teaching Textbooks is a winner as well for all of us. This is our third year using it and the explanations and graphics have been unbelievably helpful. We are not a mathy bunch, my girls and I, and we appreciate all the hand-holding.

This is good to hear. I am thinking about switching to this for Algebra II. I have BJU Geometry ready and waiting, but I don't know about it.

[Carolfoasia]

Sister Wendy/Annotated Mona Lisa for 1/2 credit art history (fun!)


I LOVE Sister Wendy. I own her books (for me) and I bought the Annotated Mona Lisa last year, but I just didn't know HOW to do it for their studies. Can you give me an idea of what you did? (and how you made it fun?)

We also have watched the first two videos of her Story of Painting. They liked it!

[Luann in ID]

We had a baby in September this year, which is really fun but lethal for homeschool. So this year I was really thankful for these winners:

Aleks.com
Dr. Lund's Latin I class (Oxford Tutorials)
WriteGuide.com (which got my high schoolers through their research papers)

All three of these were top-notch quality and very hands-off for me, allowing me to maintain my sanity and focus more on my little guys.

Another winner was www.thegreatbooks.com (http://www.thegreatbooks.com) schedules and discussion guides. This was our second year using them and we've had some terrific discussions.

Apologia is always a winner here, too.

Losers:
Hmmm. Can't think of anything major really. I wouldn't say any of the boys enjoyed HTRB, but Mary Alice Newborn's study guide was helpful, and all three boys admitted the book was worthwhile.

I think one thing I would have done differently is to not allow 14yos to join debate. It took him out of the house one full day a week (the class was more than 2 hours away, he rode with friends) and kept him distracted the rest of the time. He let every other subject slide badly. Had the class been closer, or the kid more responsible, or the mom (me) not so distracted with baby, it could have been a great thing, but in this case I'm sorry I allowed it.

[Carolfoasia]

. And she says that The Brothers Karamazov is a TOTAL WINNER which is really irritating me. It was not on our list and she keeps reading it instead of writing about the Aeneid.....

.

This is one of my all-time favorite books, but it is a LONG one. My classics book club is reading it over the summer, and I am a little concerned they will crash and burn on it! When they start complaining, I can always plead that I was not the one who recommended it even though I am leading the discussion, and they will probably forget that fact when they come whining. :) :)

(I would choose TBK over The Aeneid too. While my son didn't "mind" it, it was not one of his favorites in the classics that he read this year. :)

[periwinkle]

Ds read each "module" of AML (Birth of Art, Rebirth of Art, 19th century, 20th C, Contemporary), watched the corresponding Sister Wendy Story of Painting video, filled out several artist sheets (for all but the first unit), and took a quiz I made up based on AML. The artist sheet consisted of biographical information and reviews of 2 paintings including classification, style, color scheme, emotional response, and "why do you think the artist chose the subject matter?"

We had planned a trip to the Natl Gallery to culminate our studies, but instead went to a local art gallery (so much easier on us and our pocketbooks!)

Hth!

[periwinkle]

Losers:

Autobiography of Ben Franklin


This was one of my graduating senior's least favorite books from high school!

[Heather in Savannah]

For 9th grade dd:

Keepers
Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1
Apologia Biology
World Geography - Georgia Virtual School
Progeny Press Jane Austin

Losers
Progeny Press Poetry Study
Jacob's Elementary Algebra - Non mathy mom can't help when stuck
Notgrass World History
Powerglide French I

For 7th Grade ds:
Keepers
Write Shop 2 & Reading "War and Peace" for literature
Forensic Science
Math-U-See Pre-Algebra
The Grammar Key - CDROM

Losers
Mystery of History - We've been spoiled by SOTW all 4 books

[ereks mom]

Cornerstone Curriculum's Starting Points and supplemental books, especially:

Mere Christianity
The Deadliest Monster
Frankenstein
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

[Hilary]

Biggest winners for my 11th grader were Pennsylvania Homeschoolers AP classes. These were his first AP classes and he took U.S. History (Mrs. Richman), World History (Mrs. Harrison) and Psychology (Ms. Gonzales). He thrived on the interaction with the teachers and the other students, especially in U.S. History. Each teacher had a very different style, and I think it was helpful for him to adapt to each one. We'll see how his scores on the tests are, but he certainly felt well-prepared for them, and his confidence in his writing ability has improved immensely.

Biggest loser was BJU Chemistry. He pooped out midway through the class. He wouldn't listen to the tapes because he hated the teacher, and he found the book difficult to understand. Consequently, it looks like he'll complete just three years of high school science.

[LisaCA]

High School Winners:

Apologia Biology
A Beka Health (all grades) We use it every other year.
Saxon

[lwilliams1922]

Losers:

How to Read a Book

\.


my dd 12 is a book worm. she goes through books faster than I can keep up with.

I decided how to read a book would be good for her sence her constant reading is mostly for entertainment.

she said how to read was over her head.

I'm not giving up though. I just got a copy of the study guide.
I'm going to work through the questions with her.
the more I see in the book the more I like it.

[Michelle in GA]

Biggest winners for my 11th grader were Pennsylvania Homeschoolers AP classes. These were his first AP classes and he took U.S. History (Mrs. Richman), World History (Mrs. Harrison) and Psychology (Ms. Gonzales). He thrived on the interaction with the teachers and the other students, especially in U.S. History. Each teacher had a very different style, and I think it was helpful for him to adapt to each one. We'll see how his scores on the tests are, but he certainly felt well-prepared for them, and his confidence in his writing ability has improved immensely.

Biggest loser was BJU Chemistry. He pooped out midway through the class. He wouldn't listen to the tapes because he hated the teacher, and he found the book difficult to understand. Consequently, it looks like he'll complete just three years of high school science.


Was this the BJU DVD version with Mr. Harmon?

[Karin]

Our only pure high school course has been Algebra I.

Clear winners: Dolciani 1965. Gelfand's.

Runners up: Dolciani 1975, Lial's Beginning Algebra.

Losers: Jacobs (too boring for dd,) and Teaching Textbook (way to easy, no meat.)

Not tried, but bought very, very cheaply as backup: Foerster's. We hear it has some merit to it and it's here in case dd or her siblings need to read something else to understand it.