Calling all homeschoolers....
If you have experience (good or bad) with SOS, Abeka, or Bob Jones, I'd love to hear about it! Also, if you have had good experience with another curriculum (that has at least some online component) please fill me in! Cost is not so much an issue (since we won't be paying for it--our tax dollars will). The biggest stipulation is that our core program must have an online component.
Thanks!
7 comments:
I homeschool with Alpha Omega..This is our first year and I love them. We don't do the online part. But they do have two online programs,Monarch and Switched on Schoolhouse. There website is http://www.aophomeschooling.com/
I'm very interested in this information as well. With the likely timeframe to bring our Ghanian children home falling during next school year, I would like to pull my current children out of public schools & have them all home together. Look forward to reading the feedback you get!
Christy, if you're a conservative Christian family and interested in a traditional approach to education, you might check out Rodd and Staff curriculum. It's actually used in lots of Amish/Mennonite schools! There is something so wholesome and good and basic about the program. We like it for English and Math and Christian Ed (which is actually their reading program). We don't like it as much for science and social studies. For kids just coming home from Ghana it might be a good approach, since they will be used to a somewhat similar approach in Ghanaian schools. I REALLY think Rod and Staff English is excellent. But again, that program would definitely only be if you are conservative Christian and looking for a traditional approach. You can't beat the price!
My older kids have used Time4Learning as their "spine" this year. They *LOVE* it, but I'm not as pleased as I hoped I would be. It's a very cute program and they do cover all of the bases, but I don't think there is enough repetition. T4K is like $20 a month for first child and $15 a month for each additional child.
I also use Alpha Omega. (Not the online one.) But, since they make SOS, I bet it's good. My daughter does well with their printed curriculum. I also used it as a child. When I went back to public school, I tested way higher than my grade level. They make some good material! Also, there's plenty of repetition. It's MUCH better than the online public school we did last year!
As you know ... we have 12 children and I've been homeschooling for 20+ years. So, we have used a WIDE variety of curriculums. :)
While we have not personally used SOS (because of our concerns), my husband (as a certified teacher) has worked with several families that have used SOS, and he is very concerned about this curriculum. He feels that it would be a good supplement to other curriculums, but that it is not in-depth enough as a stand-alone curriculum.
I believe that ABeka and Bob Jones are very similar. I have used a lot of ABeka curriculum over the years, and have had friends use Bob Jones.
If you are looking for a "package deal", either ABeka or Bob Jones is good. But, we don't think it is BEST in every subject area. We prefer to pick different curriculums for different subject areas.
We also would not choose to do the video school, as we want to be more involved in our children's education, rather than having them look at a video screen all day. And ... I have not heard of an online component of ABeka or Bob Jones.
We LOVE ABeka for Language Arts at every grade level.
We really appreciate ABeka History and Science for high school, but prefer to use more "real books" for the younger grades.
We have used the Sonlight Curriculum for all of our kids the past 2 years and LOVE it! But, there is not an online component of this program.
Question: Can you use $$ from a public school district program to purchase ABeka or Bob Jones? In WA State we are not allowed to purchase any Christian curriculums with our school district funding. (Which means that we cannot purchase our Sonlight with it, either ... but use it for extra workbooks and field trips and such.)
Hope this all helps. Let me know if you have any more homeschooling questions.
Laurel :)
We have used BJU DVD classes for several years. Our older 2 do High School through BJU and we have been very pleased.
I have only seen snippets of Abeka and the videos I saw are teachers teaching to a classroom and BJU's program is designed just for homeschoolers. The teachers teach to the camera.
Thanks for the advice Anita! I am not familiar with Rod and Staff (never heard of it, actually) so I will definitely look into it!! We are a conservative Christian family & I want a Biblically-cored curriculum for our children. Sonlight has been the front-runner in my search thus far, with My Father's World up there too, but I am intrigued by the online formats for my oldest as she shows intense interest in it. Thanks again for posing this question to the masses so that many of us can benefit from everyone's input. I love reading your blog! :)
Laurel - I love reading your blog too! How fortunate that your public schools will help fund your home education! Our school system offers no such support.
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