1) Two of the three girls were behind academically. I really hoped that by working through the summer we could help them get on track for the next school year. They left our house soon after school started, so I don't know how well it worked.
2) I don't allow my children much in the way of screen time, and these girls were accustomed to having TV and tablets in their rooms all the time. So they never really knew what to do with themselves. I figured school work for the morning would help with that dilemma.
Choosing a curriculum was difficult for me. I know that some people bounce around and change curriculum a lot, but whatever I got, I hoped I would like enough to use the non-consumables with Little Guy. I don't like wasting money, and I hate the idea of some topics falling through the cracks because different curricula taught them at different times and I missed out on both.
I also had never homeschooled before, other than Mother Goose Time with Little Guy, and was jumping in to homeschool FOUR children all of the sudden, so I knew it needed to be easy to implement. Somehow I found the idea of worktexts (which are, for the most part, text book and worksheets in one consumable book), which really appealed to me, and helped narrow down my choices, because as far as I know, only three companies offer them (and all of them offer FREE diagnostic testing, so you can buy the right level for your child based on their education, not their age)
:
- Alpha-Omega Lifepacs
- Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) PACES
- Christian Light Education (CLE) LightUnits
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| ACE PACES |
But without knowing anyone that uses them, I had to figure out which one to use! Of course I turned to the internet. LifePacs were more expensive than the other options, so I ruled them out fairly quickly (which I am glad I did, more on that in a later post). ACE and CLE seemed to be fairly close in price, with ACE being more colorful, and CLE being a very old-fashioned style. I read a lot of reviews, and although I could find many good things for both, the general consensus was that ACE was a little less rigorous and thorough than CLE, with less critical thinking skills involved. Along with my personal preference for the style of CLE, I decided to go with them.
For the most part, I was quite happy with my selection. Although there were a few surprises I didn't really appreciate, I find the curriculum to be a great fit with my teaching style. Check back in a few days for a review of Christian Light Education.
Just found your blog. Curious if you're still using CLE and if so how's it going? An updated review would be great as most of the reviews for CLE are old.
ReplyDeleteI am actually in the process of ordering a bunch of curriculum right now! And most of it is still CLE. I don't care for their Social Studies or Science, but I keep coming back for math, LA, Reading, and Bible. I'll try to do an update soon. Thanks for coming to my little abandoned spot of the internet :)
DeleteI agree with your views of CLE. The LA, reading, math, and Bible reading are great. We're using their 8th grade social studies this year, but I'm not sure how we'll do with it. The book is over 650 pages. We might actually split the year in half and take two years to complete it. I ordered their 7th grade science, and we switched to ACE for science before we even started. It seemed like most of CLEs science was mostly very in-depth and hard science experiments. If it overwhelmed me just looking at it, I can only imagine what it would have done to my child.
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