Need advice, quickly

[Ulibear]

Good morning. We need to use a different curriculum, as I have noticed our son is not engaging as I would like, and needs a sense of completion to his day. Additionally, he seems to be lacking in personal responsibility in his daily schooling. I am only familiar with one 'workbook' focused curriculum, but don't feel lead to use that. I would love to hear from families who have used this curriculum with more than one little one successfully, and how it is...? We will be switching from a literature based curriculum that leaves my 11 year old son feeling "kinda like I do nothing and what do I even learn every day, Mama?"

[ljallen44]

Re: Need advice, quickly

I am not the veteran that can give you advice, as my oldest is in Memoria Press Kindergarten. But, I do know from following this forum it will be helpful if you can share what age/grade level your son is.

I can say I bought and started Sonlight with my Kindergartener but switched early on to MP and we LOVE it.

-Laura

ETA: I just re-read and saw that you said 11 years old. Sorry about that!

[howiecram]

Re: Need advice, quickly

I am only familiar with one 'workbook' focused curriculum, "

Just a little tid bit, before the Veteran Moms pipe in: While MP has student guides, they truly are "guides' and not a traditional "hand the kid the book and walk away" type books. They guide your student to deeply think and work through whatever they are studying. The guides in the beginning (grades 3-4/5, I thought Tanya said at conference) are more simple, but they ramp up quickly. In grade 3-5 you are working wth your student to form good sentences to the questions. You write the sentence on a board and your student copies them into their guide. A lot of families, when they first begin MP only do a few written questions and may answer the rest orally. As the year progress you could increase the amount of questions answered.

Your son is 11. How are his writing skills? Math computation skills (math facts)? What grade is he reading at?

[Mary]

Re: Need advice, quickly

Good morning. We need to use a different curriculum, as I have noticed our son is not engaging as I would like, and needs a sense of completion to his day. Additionally, he seems to be lacking in personal responsibility in his daily schooling. I am only familiar with one 'workbook' focused curriculum, but don't feel lead to use that. I would love to hear from families who have used this curriculum with more than one little one successfully, and how it is...? We will be switching from a literature based curriculum that leaves my 11 year old son feeling "kinda like I do nothing and what do I even learn every day, Mama?"

Hello and welcome!

The beautiful thing about the MP curriculum that we found is the satisfaction at looking at a list of checkmarks in the teacher guide at the end of each day. I know that may sound silly to some, but there is something very comforting about knowing you've finished for the day and being able to quantify all that you've done - both that day and looking back and days and weeks past. The bonus? Recitation just solidifies all that your kids know. My kids think it's neat to look ahead at all they have to learn then realize about midway through the year that they've already learned a ton but it didn't feel like too much work. Additionally, those workbooks aren't just busy work - I was initially impressed by the quality of the questions asked in the literature books, which led me to their science books...which led to where we are now.

I used to cobble together a curriculum for each of my children. We used some MP materials, then made the leap to the full curriculum packages - this is our second year doing full cores. I'm currently using K, 4th and 6th grades and we're very happy. Your son will still get a lot of literature, both through read-alouds and assigned daily readings/questions but he'll also get more structure to his day.

I would highly recommend you give the good folks over at MP a call to figure out specifically what materials would work best for him. That's the other really nice thing about MP - when you call, you're not going to get a high-pressure salesperson; rather, an expert at MP materials (in some cases, you'll be talking with the author of one or more of the books!) that will work very hard to get what you and your child need.

You also mentioned more than one little one. Would you mind sharing how many children you have/ages? That will also help us to better tailor our advice. <3

[Colomama]

Re: Need advice, quickly

And also, rest assured we didn't all start with MP. Lots (most) of us started with something else and switched.

If you name your other curriculum you'll probably get a mama who has already walked that path and can tell you how their switch went.

I can say we started with Sonlight and then swung Charlotte Mason. We still have some CM leanings, but MP covers a lot of those aspects (art appreciation, music, good literature read alouds, etc). And I am prepping my LLATL for sale.

Loving our leap to MP with a 4, 6, 9 year old!

[Ulibear]

Re: Need advice, quickly

Good morning. We need to use a different curriculum, as I have noticed our son is not engaging as I would like, and needs a sense of completion to his day. Additionally, he seems to be lacking in personal responsibility in his daily schooling. I am only familiar with one 'workbook' focused curriculum, but don't feel lead to use that. I would love to hear from families who have used this curriculum with more than one little one successfully, and how it is...? We will be switching from a literature based curriculum that leaves my 11 year old son feeling "kinda like I do nothing and what do I even learn every day, Mama?"

Thank you all so much. I'm so blessed and really grateful for such wise advice.

We've used Sonlight and A Beka Language, with Saxon and Apologia basically since '98. We've tried a few other things but this has remained our curricula. To answer previous questions, my son is in Saxon pre-algebra and doing well, but I find it a messy fit for him. As we have only used one other math curriculum for several months in 1998, I thought we might just try the entire package. His writing in not 'grade level' but I would not be able to estimate how far below he is.

I think the checkmarks at the end of the day would bless him, and give him a daily goal, which he thrives on. My leaning toward MP is the literature and the idea of daily finishing his work. I would be heartbroken to sit him in front of a workbook at this age and not participate in his learning, which also makes this look more appealing. I don't like the idea of switching midyear, but we have floundered this year, and I fear some of his enthusiasm is waining quickly. So, making a short story long, I am looking for K and 6 that will blend well and also structure that will give him that accomplished feeling at the end of the day.Having said that, he's also and 11 year old boy he would much rather do most anything else save dental work, or play Calico Critters - again - with his little sister.

[EmilyJ]

Re: Need advice, quickly

I'm not a veteran, either, but I did switch to MP from mostly Ambleside Online, and we LOVE Memoria Press. It's not really a "workbook" curriculum...the workbooks guide the discussions with your children and encourage them to think deeply about what they are reading, to compose well written sentences, and to focus on penmanship, grammar, etc. Before starting MP, we did use a few of their items, but this is our first year with a full grade package for my oldest (9 year old in 3M), and she is thriving. I've been working really hard to get my younger two daughters ready to enter full packages next year, because this curriculum is truly so well put together. Each day we feel accomplished, but not over-worked. My daughter really feels she is learning, and she is enjoying it (except cursive, but we all need one character-builder at least!). I am a reader and thought for-sure I wanted a literature-based curriculum, but MP has so many additional books, enrichment, that it has also satisfied my desire for my girls to be reading. Each of my girls works at their own level, and we all do recitation together in the mornings, and read-alouds from each girls' curriculum in the afternoons.

I'm sure the veteran moms will chime in here, too. They are super helpful!!!

[KF2000]

Re: Need advice, quickly

I am a veteran, and am really loving reading all these experiences. Y'all are doing a great job!

Just nodding along, and thinking, "yep."

AMDG,
Sarah

[alihuyoung]

Re: Need advice, quickly

Just wanted to chime in with a quick response to the "lacking in personal responsibility" line in the original post. I realized mid way through this year (which is our first with MP) that my 1st grader was also lacking in this. After a week or so of showing her the check boxes in the curriculum guide, and giving her her own stack of books to work through daily, she is taking so much pride in her accomplishment each day. I was also inspired by this forum to start training her towards working independently, which has also increased her confidence. For example, we read and talk about the questions in her lit guide (Story Time Treasures), compose answers, I write them on the board, and then I tell her which sentences to copy into her workbook during her "independent time." This time also includes copying her spelling words, copybook, and sometimes her math page. I find that for this particular child and myself, it is better for me not to stand over her shoulder during these tasks. We both are so much happier and fulfilled when she knows what works needs to be done and that she has the tools to do it well. Giving her this independent time also frees me up to do K with her little sister

[pickandgrin]

Re: Need advice, quickly

I think the checkmarks at the end of the day would bless him, and give him a daily goal, which he thrives on. My leaning toward MP is the literature and the idea of daily finishing his work. I would be heartbroken to sit him in front of a workbook at this age and not participate in his learning, which also makes this look more appealing. I don't like the idea of switching midyear, but we have floundered this year, and I fear some of his enthusiasm is waining quickly. So, making a short story long, I am looking for K and 6 that will blend well and also structure that will give him that accomplished feeling at the end of the day.Having said that, he's also and 11 year old boy he would much rather do most anything else save dental work, or play Calico Critters - again - with his little sister.

Welcome! You've already heard so many good things. I think you can find a happy home with MP if that is your desire. If the articles in the Classical Teacher magazine and on this website resonate with you, there is a way you can make this work. Many of us use a "core" package but with modifications in our implementation or substitutions up or down to suit where our children were when we started MP or their developmental needs.

I'm also a former Sonlighter, though not nearly since 1998! Wow. You obviously have many years of homeschooling experience and must really be feeling an itch to change if you've been at it this long and are feeling this nudge now. K is easy: purchase and open. The 11 year old is going to need a bit of subbing here and there, and that is 100% OK. In fact, it's honoring to him and the material. We don't tell a child the things they are learning are valuable if we just let them jump in according to their ages or grades (alone). You don't get pointe shoes just because you're 15 and have taken up ballet. Neither do they hand out black belts in karate based on age. The things MP puts before your children are worthy of their time because they are things all humans should know and see and think about. Many of us have started this education for ourselves as adults. That makes every MP kid approximately 20/30/40/50 years ahead of his grown ups. Haha! Truly, you can never be behind in classical education.

If you've not already, I would put in a phone call to MP's fabulous customer reps (877-862-1097) and just say you need a placement consultation. You can pick a core package as your starting point and then sub up or down based on each individual study. They can walk you through the entire thing from top to bottom. Any substitutions you make will have their individual lesson plans included. You can get a three-ring binder, hole-punch them, put them behind dividers, and he can work from that for each subject.

One of my kids' favorite things to yell is, "Done with school!" At first, this bothered me a little because I want the learning to go non-stop around here! But guess what? It does. They are done with their academics--they know it and I know it--and they are free to pursue other things in their leisure that I used to call school (art, music, outside play, games, sibling play, sports, reading, etc.). We all benefit from knowing what is enough. As Mary recently said on another thread: I know it is good. I know it is enough. That helps us all put heads to pillows in peace each day.

I hope this conversation continues to help you and really, there is no compulsion here. We all want you to find the "happy home" that makes your homeschool all you desire it to be. We hope that will be Memoria Press for you. Thanks for inviting us into your journey.

Warmly,

[pickandgrin]

Re: Need advice, quickly

AND! I forgot to chime in with Sarah on your newer users. I continue to be impressed with your grace and knowledge and encouragement to others. More back-patting and love from me. <3

[Ulibear]

Re: Need advice, quickly

Thank you all so much. After prayer and beautiful heartfelt advice, we'll be speaking with MP and ordering next week. I'm so excited! I cannot tell you what a blessing I've found in this forum. I feel like an (almost ) new homeschooler, and will need this honest and thorough advice for years to come. Here's to new journeys...<3