Well, we finished it up and I can only say...thank goodness that's over.
I suppose a long story is due because, well, I don't know how to explain anything without going way back to the beginning...
It all started on a September morning in 1973...Ok, blaming it all on
my public school education is probably a bit overkill but if I blamed
myself how would that look?
When I started homeschooling a few
years ago it was half out of desire and three-fourths out of necessity
(look, I already told you I went to public school, leave me alone about
it). Aside from Stanley's reading struggles, most other things
were learned easily. We started out with Modern Curriculum Press
Math and found that far too easy. I had heard good things about
Saxon but had been afraid to use them at first. I bought their
level 1 and, while at the beginning I liked it, I began to find all
that repition tedious. So I went on the hunt for something
exciting and, perhaps, colorful. I found Calvert.
We had
already been using their Music and Art programs and found those to be
very good so why not their Math? Besides, it looked just like the
books I used to use in school and I ended up being very good at math.
Well, I must have had some natural talent because if my math books were really like this I doubt I retained much.
I think my trouble all started with SWR. After reading that and
learning how kids learn, etc., I began to realize that the new problems
Stanley was having in Math had less to do with him and more to do with
the curriculum I had chosen. In Calvert there is little
repition. When a chapter is finished, it's finished. What
was taught previously is rarely, if ever, revisited.
Thinking
back to life with Saxon I can now see why they had so much repition so,
as boring as it may seem to me, we will be returning to Saxon come
January.
Calvert seems so nice. At first glance it seems
that, compared to Saxon, there is really no work for the parent to
do. You just help the child learn the concepts in the workbook
and go on with your life. Unfortunately, you will end up having
to supplement quite a bit, especially if your child struggles in
Math. I really do not recommend it at all.
This is exactly why we like Saxon. Because even if J2 is struggling with a new concept we have some review to help him feel confident. And, we revisit things so often that we don't forget concepts!
Posted by BelovedLamb
