Alpha Omega Press - any experience with the LifePacs?

[HollyDay]

I am looking for some electives and different way to do things next year.

I do not want the SOS.

Particularly I am looking at LifePac HealthQuest and LifePac History/Geography grade 4. It looks like mostly geography - we will still continue SOTW.

Also does anyone have any experience with LifePac Bible? Thanks!!

[txchick]

Hi, Im using some lifepacs but not those subjects yet. We like the math, science and language arts so far. its very integrated...and I looked at 4th grade history and it looks good.

wish I could help more.

Donna

[Tami]

is Christian Light's Sonrise edition. It is written to the student, and the instruction is MUCH superior to Lifepacks. We are using CLE Math and Language Arts and love it! If you call CLE, they will send you free sample. CLE is the way to go! I think almost anything is better than Lifepaks. THey are a poor quality product, imo.

[Ellie]

English, history and Bible. They were ok. We did NOT like the science.

You could just buy 2 or 3 Lifepacs in the subjects you're interested in and see how you like them.

[Pretty in Pink]

we used them in 2nd grade and didn't care for them. the only nice thing about them IMO was the price. i found the instruction lacking.

[txchick]

Poor quality or not...thats hard to say...

My kids are loving them...and finally "getting" some of this stuff. I think the lifepacs are simple and move along rather at a good pace. They do the math unit. then they do a pre test(on their own) which serves to show if they have learned everything from the unit.. Then there is a test...and if you need it there is a 2nd test.

If mine do great on the self test...we move on and skip tests..if not we can review a few things and then I retest.

I really dont think its poor quality...but maybe the layout is not for everyone. Were actually gonna move to using the SOS because the kids now have laptops and want to use them...but we may do some subjects still with the lifepacs...and some subjects we will keep seperate..like IEW and Analytical Grammar but we LOVE the math and language arts so far...and my son likes the science.

hth....been a blessing for us.

[GraciebytheBay]

I wouldn't agree that they are of poor quality. One year I was overwhelmed with life "stuff" and needed something more student guided. Lifepacs saved the school year! My ds was in 4th or 5th grade (can't remember) and finally "got" geography for the first time. I suspect it was partly his age, but it was also his learning style. My other son did well but needed more supplemental materials from the library. Lifepacs may be a bit dry compared to the way some of us homeschool, but I believe they serve their purpose for children who have a compatible learning style. BTW, I didn't notice a big difference between the material in Lifepacs and a BJUP textbook that we had at the time. The boys liked that the material was in "chunks," with definite units. Oh, Lifepacs also helped me to measure what they were learning. Test taking isn't necessarily fun, but it is a good measure of comprehension, especially when the teacher can't be as involved as she wishes.:)

[DianeJM]

We really liked it; it was in story format and took us on a tour of the U.S. from the perspective of two kids visiting people. My ds liked doing it, we did some of the story reading together. I almost got the 4th grade set, but then he went to school that year. It did look like geography. If he had been home that year I would have used it. Yes, I would use it in addition to whatever history I did.

I've taken a look at the Health Quest, and I would consider doing that in middle school.

I like the independent nature of the Lifepacs. I agree with some others in this thread that it's probably not the most exciting thing, but we would buy them if we thought it was what we needed. That said, we haven't used them very many times; there is most always something else that looks better.

I bought the Civics/Government elective for my 11th grader this year; he is not thrilled, but he can get through it in 5 months.

I think the plus for Lifepacs is that they are simple and straightforward.