Feb 20, 2008

Boxed or Not: The Great Curriculum Debate

I just started homeschooling in January and I have been piecing things together, it is a LOT of work, but the boxed sets scare me. As one mom mentioned they seem to teach to one particular learning style, what do you do if one part of the "BOX" is where your child is suppose to be and another is not.

KM seems to do really well with visual and interactive learning for Math, needs a lot of auditory for social studies, memorizes nearly everything for ELA and needs total hands on for Science.

Is there a box that is going to include all those?I wish I could take the easy route and get the boxed curriculum, but if I was the easy route type of person my daughter would probably still be in PS!

We have been using the Time4Learning site and I like how it is set so that you can follow it straight through or jump around. Math of course we follow straight through, but the sites gives a good variety with games, text reading, videos, and exercises with full explanations played out so that it is VERY interactive. We supplement with workbooks or printed worksheets and online games when we get to an area that seems to be stumping her. ELA is pretty much the same scenario. Science we are doing pieces here and there with LOTS of projects along the way. This seems to really be intergrating the information for KM. Social Studies & History is where the problem lies right now. We are trying to figure out something that will keep her engaged. She is very good at memorizing (freakishly really), but retaining and connecting in this area is something different. She is not a read the book and answer questions type of child. Mind you she will do it and as i mentioned with the memorization will give you the right answer, but she won't remember 90% of it in a month. I am thinking we will go a different route with it right now and focus on current events, with the presidential election around the corner we can focus on democracies and governments.

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