Comparing MP and Aquinas Learning

[musdir26]

Hello, does anyone have experience with the Aquinas Learning program that can tell me how it compares to MP? Cross-posted to the MP Catholic Connection on facebook.

God Bless,
MK

[Girlnumber20]

Re: Comparing MP and Aquinas Learning

Hello, does anyone have experience with the Aquinas Learning program that can tell me how it compares to MP? Cross-posted to the MP Catholic Connection on facebook.

God Bless,
MK

I looked at and even ordered their "Schola Parva" and Schola Alta" catechism workbooks which were available on Lulu, which looked so excellent- but we just never had time to do the workbooks, I wasn't sure how to teach them and lacked confidence to implement at that time in our homeschool.. My understanding of that program when I looked at it about 4 years ago, was that it was intended to be a 1-day a week group school program similar to cottage school, that you could train for, to run. It looked great, but I never found out too much more about it beyond that... now you have me curious to look it up again, I remember liking the look of their books.

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

Re: Comparing MP and Aquinas Learning

Aquinas Learning is modeled off of Classical Conversations. So any input you have comparing MP to CC would be mostly relevant. As the previous poster said, it is intended to be used with a one day a week co-op program. On a side note, the founder is the wife of Patrick Reilly of the Cardinal Newman society that publishes the Newman Guide to Catholic colleges. Also, they use The Lost Tools of Writing from Circe, so they are more in tune with Andrew Kern's vision of classical education, one that does not use workbooks very much, aka student guides. As has been stated beautifully by Sarah, we have different avenues of pursuing the beauty of classical ed. Some people are equipped to have a no workbook homeschool. Others like me, could only tackle it with student guides.

[KF2000]

Re: Comparing MP and Aquinas Learning

MK,

Aquinas Learning started up in my old neck of the woods, and was a project I looked very closely at trying to get started in our local area. At the time, I was still searching for the "big picture" that would really unify our homeschool according to the classical model, and being brand new to an area made the idea of having a one-day per week program that was foundational to our school was really, really appealing. The previous poster is correct that that one day of classroom instruction is supposed to set the foundation for the work that you do at home the rest of the week.

I admire AL for the ambitious project, especially as it has mostly been through the work of a single person to get started and developed. It is intended as a full curriculum of its own - so it has been a momentous project!

That being said, for us, it did not end up being the right fit. It was right after exploring this option that we began using full cores from MP, and we have never turned back. What I love about MP is that each child has a full program of study, top to bottom, that does not require us to figure things out on our own along the way. Each day is very similar to the previous day, and that helps our routine immensely. Each course is full and rich, and hits a variety of areas of skill development. These are characteristics that AL was just not able to offer us at that time.

The idea of a one-day school still appealed to us though - which MP has been addressing by helping people open cottage schools all across the country. We were able to try this out the year before we moved here, and it was perfect. So each time, MP had a better answer for us than the other options available.

I hope that helps a bit!
AMDG,
Sarah