I’ve thankfully never felt the need to jump on the Gather Round train, I really don’t like the idea of trying to combine all subjects into a unit study. Doesn’t seem cohesive or necessary to me. Plus $$. The good thing about TGTB is that all their current math and LA K-8 is free to download, so very easy to check out the full curriculum at no cost or use at a minimal cost of printing. I have no problem printing a book and then skipping or modifying parts because my cost of printing is so low, makes it very versatile for me.
I think the same thoughts about the unit study approach is why Gather Round isn't worth it for me. I don't mind the idea of doing a themed study and learning more deeply about a certain interesting theme...but I don't need the focus on combining lots of other subjects. And it's true, the fact that TGATB makes their curriculum free to download removes a big barrier to trying it, and makes it easy to be able to use the fun activities and the best aspects of the curriculum.
I don't even mind textbook learning...Abeka gets a reputation for being tough/rigorous but I didn't experience it that way. Every question that's being tested on is right in the book--it's very much just read the textbook, answer the review questions, take the test. It's straightforward, but nothing that inspires me to want to do it again, and especially in high school, I'd like to use resources that challenge independent and critical thinking a lot more. Their math was something else--it's possible they've changed what they offer for high school math now, but at that time, the textbooks were definitely meant to be used with a classroom teacher EXPLAINING the concept and I had no teacher explaining the concept, and UA-cam didn't really exist yet so...math was rough. lol!
Sounds like what you’re saying about Gather Round is that they should take a cue from Campfire curriculums and do their research from people who actually have knowledge on the subject….like somebody who lived in the country. Or somebody who worked in the automotive industry! ;) maybe they should hire you to write their curriculum. Or…..hmmm….maybe you should write your own! 😉 have you ever thought of doing that??? 😜 I totally agree with you about having to prep more for Gather Round. That was one of my biggest complaints. It wasn’t as open and go as I thought.Too much planning to do. 😊
I think you really can't replace or re-create the value of having subject-matter experts and people with real-world experience when writing educational materials--I think often that expertise and real-life passion is exactly what makes a topic come alive when written and taught about. And yes--the amount of prep and extras needed to make the subject come to life just kind of made the cost not really worth it for me.
You definitely have valid points. I will say with Abeka, the high school is tough (some find it dry, or too textbook, etc), but their elementary really is great! But I can totally see that it gave you a bad taste in your mouth and definitely don’t want to revisit that (especially when there are so many other options out there). We can still be friends even though your dissing all of our favorite curriculum 😂😂❤❤
Yes, I think with how much is available to the 'modern' homeschooler...there are richer and more challenging options for high school history and science. I'm not even against textbooks or 'traditional learning,' I think there's lots to love...but I just don't plan to go back to Abeka after my experience. I already love Sonlight's high school HBLs--my mom bought them for my younger siblings once I'd already graduated, and when I came back home for summer break after freshman and sophomore year, I gobbled up as many Sonlight books as I could since I hadn't had a chance to read them. haha! It's a good thing that friendship doesn't rely on having the same favorites when it comes to curriculum. ;P lol!
What you said about TGTB math was kind of my impression upon reviewing it myself. The spiral approach can feel really bouncy, and I have felt that in other curriculums we've looked at. Your disclaimer was right on--what works for one family may not for another, and these videos do help when you're hunting for something different. 👏👏❤️❤️
And what one person doesn't appreciate about a resource might be exactly what someone else DOES appreciate. My brain appreciates systematic and straightforward teaching--get to the point. ha!
I was private schooled with Abeka and now I home school my 3 kids. I only use Abeka's math. Abeka is a lot. My kids are math minded and so am I. We like the colorful pages and the no nonsense style of learning. I also use TGTB for LA. I didn't feel like you were hating on any of these curriculums. Your delivery was informative, thorough, and respectful. Excellent job!
We are actually loving TGTB math for 5th/6th and 2nd, and loving their LA for for 5th/6th and high school! As a former middle and high school English language arts teacher I can say they are pretty solid!
How do you feel about the writing portion? Just curious to get your take. I was also a teacher, but for elementary. To me the writing seems lacking in solid instruction, but I’m not sure if it gets better later on in the upper grades.
@@jennifer61122 I think it’s sufficient, but two things that could contribute to my perspective: my oldest two are pretty strong writers naturally. And I am really sick and tired of reading (and teaching!) formulaic writing.
There's a lot that was genuinely fun and my son enjoyed the 30 lessons of kindergarten that we did with TGATG...but with him being so young (4) and eager to learn math...I wasn't feeling like he was mastering the many topics that were introduced. Thankfully, the curriculum we're using now moves slower, has shorter lessons, and is a better fit for him.
Math K from TGATB has been great for my son. I was never taught math to use in real life and I love how they involve real life situations, stories and how math helps you. My kid loves the games. I like how simple it is and he is learning everything. He asks to learn math and wants to repeat the games. It was free since I printed it. But thanks for sharing the kindergarten math curriculum you use because it's good to know options
Glad it's working well for you guys! I think it might have worked better if my son had been older or had more of a headstart in math, but I didn't feel confident in his mastery. I'm glad to have found Math With Confidence for him!
You are spot on about Gather Round. I did use it and for the season of life I was in, it worked. But I always wanted to love it more than I did, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. I knew I could never use it exclusively. And the price always made me cringe. For what you get I think it is very pricy b/c like you said, I am going to add so much to make it fit better with my kids and then it’s like….all that for a month of lessons?! We’ve gone back to CC this year b/c my oldest is challenge age and that has been a perfect fit for her. I’m reading tons of books to my younger kids. I don’t regret the units I did with my girls but moving to CC was definitely the right move. I can’t imagine continuing on with GR for middle/high school. I knew that wasn’t going to cut it. I have never been impressed with TGTB math or La. It just seems so filled with fluff and I don’t have time for that! I ordered Kate Snow’s kindergarten with confidence and I’ll be honest…I’m having second thoughts over using this vs Masterbooks for my boys. I’m going Preschool math at home now and I LOVE it. I also love Masterbooks 😩 and always thought I would start from the beginning with Masterbooks math for the boys. I started in level 2/3 with the girls. I’d love to hear anything you have to say about Math with Confidence.
I understand why they have to make their prices so high...but I think for the average homeschool family and with thinking about how many books/crafts/extras you might want to add...it's expensive. I have zero experience with Masterbooks. From what I've heard, Masterbooks is very gentle in the beginning with math. What I liked about MWC is its systematic approach to concepts. We're starting week 9 this week....pairs of numbers that make 10 was introduced maybe 5 weeks ago but even at the time they said "most kindergarteners will need more than a week to master this concept" and yes, it's a tough concept for my 4 year old, but it just keeps coming up, not daily, but regularly, in review or practice games, and I'm seeing how over time he gradually remembers the pairs more solidly. That's probably been the 'toughest' concept introduced (for him) in the first 8 weeks of the curriculum so I've been happy to see how a 'harder' concept is handled and the amount of practice as it comes up again and again.
My daughter and I enjoyed "Math with Confidence" level K -- but for the price range I felt I could have done "Under the home"'s kinder math (Manual of Methods) and been fine. My son who was /is my next Kindergarten is doing that and he is learning everything he needs just fine (and it's free). My daughter went from "Math with Confidence" to Easy Peasy Math level 1 (this year she is doing level 2) and thriving. Overall,I would say "Math with Confidence" definitely served it's purpose. However, I could have done the same job with something cheaper. Further, I enjoy Kate Snow's "math facts that stick" better.
Abeka math...let's just say I can relate. My mum ended up hiring a retired teacher to tutor me. I loved math until the high school levels. We felt similar about Gather Round. TGTB is working well for us for now, but I'm adding a LOT more literature to our homeschool next year. :D
My mom is actually really good at math and teaching it...but she had a lot of other younger kids who needed her help at the time and I was, in all honesty, not patient enough to explain the problem to her and get her help....so mostly I struggled with those Abeka math textbooks on my own. I was the only kid who used them...my younger siblings used different high school math options after my experience. ha! Hurray for more literature! That's very much where my heart is in homeschooling.
Your explanation of the good and the beautiful math was SPOT ON. It was fun. We enjoyed it at the time. However he really wasn’t getting solid understanding of the concepts. We are using Kate snow’s curriculum as well and loving it.
Yes, it had genuinely fun activities, my son enjoyed using it--we did about 30 lessons before we took our long summer travel adventure....but I was not feeling like it was giving him a strong, systematic math foundation. IF we had been using a level below his actual level, and if he actually knew all of the concepts being introduced, I think it would have been fun practice...but...I'd rather just use Math with Confidence.
I would say that was our experience with the Good and the Beautiful in general. We used it for Language Arts. It felt like it was made for me as the teacher because it was "open and go" without any prep, but it just felt flat. It was beautiful, but the content was kind of a high level fly by without a lot of time to delve into the content and master it. My kids fell so far behind using this one because nothing stuck.
@@monicamoskovics8686 this was our experience too. Last year I used TGATB for math, LA, HW and science to “simplify” our homeschool. Both my kids using it tested on assessments as if they had lost a whole year. I don’t like to say they retained nothing because we truly don’t know what they get out of any curriculum. BUT switching back to the curriculum they were using before - they tested at the level that they tested at prior to using TGATB. So it appears TGATB really isn’t a good fit for my family. And in terms of the lower levels of LA - I think it is very random in how it’s organized and does a poor job teaching a child to read. I wanted to love it!! It would have been simple and streamlined for me
I think some kids are really suited to spiral math and some absolutely are not. For us, spiral math works really well because my daughter immediately gets everything. She’s 5 and we are lesson 20 of TGATB 1st grade. I’m very interested in Math with Confidence because I’ve heard great things, but I feel like the mastery approach would quickly bore her. We are all so blessed to be living in a time when there are multiple options to fit multiple different styles of homeschooling!
I can see TGATB working for gifted kids and kids who 'get' everything the first time they're exposed to an idea...but yes, there are a fair number of kids who don't get everything the first time. Yes! I know many people love Abeka, too...but I did not love my own experience of using it enough to want to do it all over again. ;P
I was definitely swept away by the marketing of BJU press curriculum. For my pre-k daughter and 3rd grader at the time. They were both geared toward classroom school setting and were just so dry. Definitely not engaging at all. I quickly found out that my preschooler was far beyond the babyish material that was supposed to be taught. So that was a major eye opener when finding out what level my 4yo was at. My 3rd grader just had way too many work sheets and the subjects like science and history were just not interesting. Huge waste of money since this was considered a “faith based” and my homeschool program I get an allotment from doesn’t pay for faith based material. I thought if it was good, then it was worth the money. That was my first year homeschooling too. Huge lesson learned there! I’m way better at analyzing curricula offered nowadays. Your videos have been super helpful to me. Especially the one with your mom and your “strong willed sister”. I have one myself and she is my oldest out of 4 kids! At even 10yo she can be as frustrating as a toddler at times. That talk you guys had openly about what that looked like in your home was very relatable and encouraging as well. Thank you!
Marketing is good at doing its job--persuading people to part with their money. Sometimes it ends up to be a worthwhile investment but other times, in reality, we feel like we wasted our money. It happens to everyone...but as we grow in understanding which resources suit our needs best, we are able to spend more wisely. :) Glad that that video was particularly encouraging--I'm glad my sister was will to be a part of it and go walking down memory lane even if that walk brought up some tough memories.
It's amazing how we're all so different. TGTB math has been such a blessing for my three kids (my kids are a bit older so I cant speak for their K math). Love hearing your thoughts! :)
My son, I think, really needed the solid, straightforward instruction that just wasn't there in the K math--I mean, as a little kid brand-new to math, you do need that background and foundation. He's making awesome progress with his new math, and I love seeing that!
We love Gather Round, but I can understand your perspective on it. Honestly, we did the Living Off the Land Unit Study (it included times in history that I was passionate about and my husband was also passionate about). It worked for us, because we have the capability of just adding to it as necessary. We added hands on activities (many were included), books, games, and documentaries. So I'd say by itself it doesn't always dig deeper into subjects (especially if you're someone already familiar with the material), but it is a good template for our large family as long as we're willing to prep/add to it when we want more. Which for us is nice, because we always have a lot of ideas and rabbit trails we like to go off on.
I know that many, many families use it and love it! I have always said clearly that I tend to be a low-prep homeschooler...I'm willing to do some prep but planning for lots of extras just isn't realistic for my homeschool (both because of my preferences and because of where we live overseas--we don't have access to a ton of public library books and craft supplies can be really hard to source, we live on a small island with limited field trip opportunities). Each family homeschools a little bit differently--and it's most helpful to invest in the curriculums that work best for our specific set of circumstances. I think the units just didn't mesh well with what I wanted...and I also learned that the "unit study" method isn't really my preferred approach to learning, although I don't mind adding on themed or topical studies from time to time. We often learn a lot about ourselves and our own "homeschool personality" as we use different resources.
What you said about unit studies is exactly the issue I have too, but didn't realize it until you put it into words. I want a themed study but not intentionally for all the subjects. Right now, I have settled on CC, Rabbit Trails, and Homeschool in the Woods. I love the literature approach to learning. My son absorbs so much when he can play quietly while I read. We also love MWC. We tried TGTB K and even though he liked math, he did not end the level with much retention of concepts or any number sense. We have done MWC 1 and are on 2 and he can do mental math faster than I can to know if he is right.
I've heard good things about Rabbit Trails! I'm glad that my comments on themed study vs. unit study resonated, I wasn't sure if that would make sense to anyone else. Love to hear from someone further along down the MWC path--I have been really enjoying using it and excited to see my son gradually mastering concepts that have been covered in the first 9 weeks.
Hi Rachel! I couldn't agree more with TGTB math. My 4 year old and I have been loving their preschool book and decided to add the K math. I feel like they assume way too much about how a kid can naturally understand a concept, such as addition that I felt was very flat. And while my kid could just "get it" I dont feel like it would lay a logical foundation for him. He does enjoy some of the activities and at this point (since I already printed the whole thing) i'm just gonna pick and choose what I feel could work and only as extra practice while our RightStart Math curriculum arrives! :)
The way addition was introduced/taught was one of my big problems with TGTB Math. My son already knew the basics of adding at that point, so he was able to do the activities, but if I had been relying on the program for teaching him? I don't think it would have set him up for success. I've heard great things about RightStart!
The explanation you gave to gather round is spot on! Case in point is artists!! I have a B.F.A. With a fashion design focus and the artists unit kinda fell flat for me. fashion was not even mentioned as art or its effect of other forms of art throughout time, I was also disappointed that 2 lessons were given to buildings architect and interior design yet not one to industrial design which is basically everything you use, yes there was a lesson on pottery but no tie to how it later translates to toys, cars etc. we never buy the whole unit anymore I just buy the upper elementary one student and scale up and down for my 2 school age kids. 18-20.00 isn’t overpriced and yes we still have to add a lot. We are just starting transportation now and I’ll be sure to add more although I am not an expert so we will probably be ok with it hehehe.
haha--see...I was satisfied with the Artists one exactly BECAUSE Art is very far outside my domain of expertise and passion. And here you are confirming my feeling....when someone with passion and expertise in a topic uses a Gather 'Round unit on that topic...the things that are missing are glaringly obvious. But when you're using a unit that's in an area that is pretty new to you, you'll probably enjoy it more because you don't have that background knowledge. And yes, when you can buy the single-student bundle, it's definitely a better deal.
I started with Abeka for my oldest but sitting through video lessons for so many hours was a chore, so we ended up using only the ELA and using other materials for the other subjects. We liked Abeka ELA more than The Good and the Beautiful.
I think it often happens that anyone who's an "expert" in a field is often disappointed by resources about that field. Once you know too much it's hard to be satisfied with only a little...haha! I wouldn't have even considered myself to be all that passionate about vehicles, trains, etc....until we did transportation and I realized how much richer I would have wanted it to be, to really show how transportation technology has shaped the world we live in.
I took my daughter from 5th through 10th grade with Abeka as our main curriculum. She then passed the GED tests, with one of the highest recorded scores in our state at that time (1997)
I also scored into the top 1% of standardized test scores for my year on the ACT and SAT...and had my college completely paid for with academic scholarships. As I said, I don't think Abeka was a miserable experience (other than math, which was fairly miserable), but...I think with the wider variety of resources available now that weren't available back when I was homeschooled...I can give my kids a rich and challenging education without it.
You explained my reluctance to unit studies perfectly! Yes, I prefer thematic studies too. But, I will also add that TGATB math has been great for my struggling math learner. The difference might be that we started homeschooling at 5th grade and she had a super rocky foundation. She really enjoyed TGATB math as much as she could possibly like math.
I was hoping what I was saying about unit studies vs. themed studies made sense! That's great that she has found it enjoyable! My son did genuinely enjoy it when we did the first 30 lessons...but with him being young and just starting his journey in math, I didn't feel like it would continue to be enjoyable because I didn't think he was really having a chance to master the concepts (he does well with math but is young for kinder-level...and the math we're using now doesn't move around so much, so I feel better with that for him.) I think I would have enjoyed TGATB math over Abeka, although they don't have high school math at the moment. haha!
I agree with The Good And The Beautiful. I ordered their kindergarten language arts and as I looked at it, I didn’t like it at all. We are using Abeka and so far we love it!
I think adding too much "extra" to really important basic concepts that need to be built on (like phonics and basic math skills) can end up being counter-productive. I know that a lot of people love Abeka, especially for the early years. My experience with it was high school...like I said, other than math, it wasn't even bad (the math was a genuinely bad experience...the books they had at the time were designed to be used with a classroom and a teacher)...it's just not what I would plan to do again.
@@SevenInAll I will keep that in mind as my kids get older. My oldest is about to be five so maybe by then they will have something that will work that we like better
A few of my sisters have used their LA for a year or two and have enjoyed it. I have a few review videos on this channel based on their experience. I think that the approach definitely works well for some kids, who grasp topics quickly and who enjoy the fun activities. For other kids, they might find it frustrating with the multiple different topics that are intertwined--these would be kids who would thrive with more focused, systematic practice that consistently builds and doesn't jump around too much. For me...with early LA, as my oldest son is starting to work at a Kindergarten level--all I want to focus on for LA is learning how to read (we have our core literature-based schoolwork that gives us poetry, art, etc.). I don't really want to work in spelling or writing or art or all the extras at the same time--that's because he's young and at the very beginning of his journey with LA. I'm happy to wait a bit to start exploring other areas of skill within the English language.
Thanks for sharing. I always love curriculum reviews. Good to know your thoughts on Gather Round especially. I've seen it around a lot and was wondering how it was. That was really helpful. We're trying out Abeka (only for 3rd grade grammar) this year. It is pretty good. I don't absolutely love it, but it works really well as an independent subject, which I really need at this point with 5 kids. I don't think I would be a fan of it for other things.
I think Grammar is where Abeka shines the most--it's solid, covers all necessary topics each year, and like you said, independent (which was a big part of why my mom switched over in the first place).
I grew up on Abeka and loved it. I was academic and didn’t mind their no-frills approach. But, for many reasons, I mostly stopped using it with my kids. Still love their math and LA for K-3. But I can’t imagine using their dry textbooks after Sonlight’s literature-rich programs. I also researched TGATB elementary math and LA for next year but decided against it. I love the idea of showing your kids how cool math is rather than trying to dress it up! But, I bought several TGATB science studies and can’t wait to try them. That’s probably the subject in which I’m most willing to shake things up a bit 😃
I also feel like science is a subject area where there's more "room to play"....it doesn't need to progress from one skill to the next in the same way that math and LA does.
I was SURE I would use Abeka with my kids before I had them, but after seeing the way my husband, his siblings, and their children all struggled and got burnt out on it, I decided to reconsider. I saw it over and over again, especially in math. I settled on TGTB because it looked fun and I thought that would fix the problem, but again, you are right on point. The fun activities were taking so long, and the concept wasn't solidly learned. I finally changed to math mammoth this year, which I told my husband is more like "fun with math" and less "trying to make math fun". We are only a couple of chapters into grade 1, but we are learning concepts faster and holding interest until the end of the lesson.
As far as language goes, I love the idea of TGTB. I love the morals and the fact that everything is included in one spot, but when I'm honest with myself, some parts move too fast, and other parts move too slowly and are boring for my children. I find myself supplementing a LOT, and skipping a LOT as well.
That's awesome to hear about your success with Math Mammoth! They were one of my front-runner curriculum choices for math...but for now I'm loving our Kindergarten Math at Home and hoping we'll be able to continue with that. :)
It's frustrating when we discover that we end up needing to supplement an "all in one" curriculum quite a bit to make up for what's not practiced enough to achieve mastery. Supplementing is going to happen in many cases...but when you have to do it too much...it's not quite as "open and go" anymore.
Hey I thought you said Saxon math made you not want to major in engineering 😂 thank you for sharing your experience. I had a similar experience with TGATB kinder Math and kinder reading even though we did REALLY enjoy their original preschool curriculum :)
No, it was definitely Abeka. I did use Saxon in some of my elementary years...but it was Abeka Trig, Geometry, Calc that I remember with very strong feelings. My parents really wanted me to go into engineering....but...working with words suit me better anyways, regardless of curriculum. But possibly a better high school math curriculum would have left me realizing that it's not so bad...my one college math class came as a shock with how pleasant and 'easy' it seemed after my high school math experience.
Thanks for the video! You explained how I feel about TGTB math perfectly! I was so excited to use it & my son thought it looked fun but I really don’t understand the progression. It’s so random and busy. It seems to be more of a workbook or supplement. Doesn’t have much teaching, foundation & growing number sense. My K son didn’t even find the games fun & didn’t even prefer it over something more straightforward. I hate saying that 🙈 That being said, I’d love to hear what do you think about MWC especially compared to Math U See. We’re currently trying BJU K math. This is our first year homeschooling and still trying to figure out a good fit w/ curriculum. You’ve got me curious about Sonlight too because I agree about the unit studies & that has been my hesitancy w/ GR
"random" and "busy" are, I feel, accurate descriptors for our experience of K math from TGTB, too. We're using MWC as well as Primer from MUS right now. I do have a video about Kindergarten Math with Confidence here: ua-cam.com/video/iaCSzMTWLgA/v-deo.html We're about 9 weeks into MWC and 15 lessons in (halfway through) Primer. I don't think both are necessary but my son loves math and enjoys having "more" of both gentle programs (because of his young age, I don't want to rush ahead and let him do multiple lessons--doing two programs gives us more fun math each day without having to move forward too fast). I absolutely love MWC, I think it has a little more variety than MUS, which is more focused. I think MUS is very solid, but I personally appreciate the variety that MWC gives, the picture books it suggests, and the practical, short and simple, but active math activities in every lesson.
Rachel, don’t know if it’s my connection. But the volume on this video is really low. But heard you- I am Engineer here - and math nerd 😅 I’m straight forward in math as well
I always appreciate your insights! I have been using Math with Confidence for two years now. My son is in first grade. I love the open and go. My son loves the activities and games.
My brother’s kids are all homeschooled on Abeka. However, my brother, being a high school math teacher, will not use Abeka math for high school. He says it’s strong until high school. And after that, it becomes less strong yet more cumbersome and time intensive -unnecessarily so. So he does a different high school math for his kids. (I don’t have any personal experience with this myself. This is just what he says).
I tried Good and the Beautiful the beginning of the school year mainly because it was a free download! This is our first year homeschooling so we didn’t know a lot. It didn’t work for us so we have tried different things along the way. My daughter did like gather round. We are on our second unit. For next year I already purchased a used Sonlight for our history. I’ve picked up the books from ThriftBooks and have found other titles at our library. Still haven’t figured out math yet though.
The fact that it's a free download is very, very helpful! Math can be a tough subject to figure out a good fit for--hopefully once you find that solid program that works for you, you'll be able to just "roll with it" year after year!
We use Abeka for Social Studies and I'm thinking about using it for science next year, too, but we're just in Kindergarten right now and there are no tests or anything. It's just visual aids, review questions and coloring. We enjoy it. We tried the Gather 'Round unit on bugs over the summer. It was A LOT of reading. I may try it again in the future, but right now it's just too much for my littles.
I think many people really enjoy Abeka for the early years, but some of the upper levels really start to show how they were designed for classroom use, not homeschool. I don't even think tests are a bad thing (I've always had a natural knack for tests and I enjoyed them in school)...but my own experience with Abeka high school didn't leave me wanting to try it again for round two.
I really appreciated your honest thoughts on these curriculums! I completely agree with your assessment of TGTB math..I tried it with my oldest and it didn't work at all, but she also has ADHD and learning things that aren't interesting to her are very hard for her..I thought the "pretty" aspect of TGTB would make it interesting enough for her, but she definitely needed more solid instruction and the jumping around approach of TGTB really really didn't work for her. I switched her to Math U See and while it's still difficult for her, focusing on mastering one thing at a time is what she needs. She also really likes Life of Fred since she loves to read, so she does that too along with Math U See. I also agree that some kids can do fine with TGTB if they generally pick up concepts quickly. I feel like TGTB could work for my second child who loves numbers and so math comes naturally to him..I think he would do fine with TGTB but would still get a better foundation with another curriculum like Math with Confidence, which is what we use and love. MWC has been the first curriculum in any subject that I feel like I want to stick with and not look elsewhere. I did kindergarten MWC with my third child last year and first grade MWC with my second child, and now I'm doing first and second grade MWC with those two this year. I've also been using Preschool Math at Home with my fourth child, we'll start kindergarten MWC once we work through PMAH. My second child also does Beast Academy online (alongside MWC) and loves it.
We have enjoyed also the Life of Fred stories alongside Math U See for my sisters who are currently in high school and 6th grade. And Yes--currently doing the Kindergarten level of MWC and I already purchased 1st grade because I'm very content to continue with it--hope we'll be able to stick with it for years to come, it has been an excellent fit for us!
Hmmm...This supports that you have to find what works for your child. When my daughter was in first grade I was so excited to try math u see. I bought the program and manipulatives. It was like torture for her. She complained every day about how boring it was and she hated math. I switched to Master books. It was heaven-sent. She loved it and math became her favorite subject. She is now in 4th grade. Last year, I started printing a few TGAB lessons to see if she would like them. She loved it and asked me to switch to TGATB. I was scared too because her love for baths was fostered by Master Books. However, I find that this year, we are mostly using the free pdf from TGATB. So, I am not sure what I will do next year. She loves the videos. I have Life of Fred books but we haven't picked them up in a few years. I think Beast Academy looks like a great program but I don't want too drastic of a change.
we are in TGTB Math 4 and absolutely love the video portion . It is sooo well done and thorough. Math U See was a nightmare and so was Math Mammoth. Horizons was ok, but i found it seriously lacking compared to TGTB Math.
That's awesome that you've found a good fit for your family! Video math instruction can be very helpful for many! MUS can seem very repetitive and dry, I know, but many other families thrive with it as well. I've found Math With Confidence to be a great fit for my little guy, and I hope to be able to continue with it.
My kiddo is autistic. TGTB Math is working great for her and their old LA worked great this new LA is often very abstract with overly flowery language. So I end up having to translate the assignment and modify it so much we just couldn't handle it. So we switched away from TGTB LA. We love their science units. I do not see them being rigorous enough for gen ed 8th grade science. I'm already adding stuff. Gather Round is very surface-level to me.
When you end up needing to modify and adapt a resource too much and too regularly, that can definitely be a sign that something else might be a better fit. What did you end up finding for LA?
@@SevenInAll Christian Light Education ELA & Hooked on Phonics for reading. We borrow HOP from our library one level at a time. I decided to try it before buying either the CLE Reading or All About Reading. She loves it and says she's now a reader. We're on the last level and we'll decide where we go after we're done.
hahaha...might have to tack it onto my long list of writing projects. How Transportation Has Shaped Our World. ;) Or maybe just Automobiles...because after being raised by my dad...there's plenty to say and learn and do about just the automobile.
@@SevenInAll yes! I think gather round focuses too much on “interesting facts”. Transportation is not one my girls were even remotely interested in so we didn’t do that one, BUT I totally agree a study on how transportation has affected the world would be fascinating! That would be disappointing about the GR unit.
Tried Singapore math since it’s the new thing and it didn’t work for us. We are back to doing elementary Abeka which has been so easy for my child bc it’s spiral and I too have a gifted child that grasp things quickly the first or second time. Now we are on year 3 with Abeka she’s tired of the same reviews which is kinda a waste bc she wants to learn new concepts and has expressed her desire to learn algebra now. I’m looking for an advanced math so she can go ahead and move on into the things she doesn’t already know. Any recommendations? Looking for a transitions math curriculum bc I feel like it will fill in any gaps and then hop onto pre algebra. Wondering your thoughts on Masterbooks math line up. On track for pre algebra I think in the next 1-2 years. Thanks for your videos. I know they take time to make and edit.
I don't necessarily have the best recommendations for higher math levels...we haven't been super happy with a lot of what we've used. My math-minded 11th grade sister has used Life of Fred through all of middle and high school, along with Math U See as a backup for more practice. That's worked for her and she's enjoyed it, but definitely won't be a fit for everyone. I don't have any experience with Masterbooks--I've heard that their elementary math programs are very gentle (which can sometimes frustrate a gifted learner who wants to move ahead and learn more!), but I don't know about middle school.
Have you looked into "Beast Academy"? I have heard they are advanced. They use a really unique approach with comics & stories. I know a gifted math minded girl at our Co-op who loves it
@@hollyrivers9955 you could try easy peasy homeschool, it’s free. You could also try time4learning, and just use the math, if you want. It’s secular, and we use it as one of our curriculums. But you can totally just use it for whatever you want.
To us, Gather Round was very bland. The read-alouds felt like a research paper every day & none of us were able to properly soak up the knowledge because of it. Even me, who had just read it out loud, kept tuning it out. I couldn't even remember what I'd just read. 😅 & our kiddos weren't remembering it either. There was no "fun" aspect to the writing & lots of typos as well. We bought the Christmas & the Letters & Numbers.
I agree with the feeling of reading a research paper vs. reading an engaging book on the topic...that's why for me, I've learned that I'd rather use the homeschool budget towards books that we're excited to read.
I never tried that one--if you're ever looking for an Ocean science study again...we have recently started Gentle + Classical Nature 2, which is all about oceans, and we're loving it.
Have you heard of Layers of Learning units? I’ve been using them the past 6-8 months and have loved them. It sounds more like something that would fit with your approach and MUCH cheaper!
Hi! We homeschool in South Africa. We use Mammoth Maths ❤ Have you heard about it? I was just saying this weekend how some maths curricula make such a big sing and dance about a very simple concept, which confuses my daughters into thinking they’re supposed to be getting something more than the simple concept from the singing and the dancing! So yes. For us, less colour and animation and just more math!
It very much seemed to include lots of facts, stats, and info...yet still felt like I would have to add a lot and do a good bit of prepping and adding other books to make it rich learning.
I had the same experience with "Gather Round". I wanted to like it because of the idea of us all doing work together. I tried Abeka a couple times but it was just so dry for us. I have not tried TGTB because when I first heard about it and researched it (4 years ago ) I found out the gal who made it is a Mormon. I found quotes from Mormon authors in the handwriting books and that was it for me. I am not bashing her or anything but it was a deal breaker for me. I would say that curriculum I have tried and would never use again are: 1. Abeka (reasons mentioned above) 2. Gather Round (this video explained it perfectly) 3. Ambleside Online (I found that I like many of C.M concepts but I found it too overwhelming and too strict in actual application --at least for us. We kept what we liked books, nature, and narration) 5. Master books: "Math Lessons for a Living Education" (I really like how they Break up the learning into easy chunks BUT, we were not thrilled with the story element or some of the projects...and I didn't feel the price met with how much I was using the curriculum).
I agree on TGATB math. I have three kids doing it right now, levels 1, 4 and 5. TGATB Math is fantastic for my two children that have a natural math brain. They enjoy the real life applications. Going against the flow here: It is my opinion that real life applications make math more interesting but also harder and not easier. You need a solid understanding of the concepts to apply them to real life, in my opinion. For the one child that is less inclined, I feel that the actual instructions are too short and the curriculum jumps around too much. Here I use TGATB math not for instruction but for extra practice. Because I feel that, inclined or not, math is the one subject that you really want to be good at.
I think if I were using it for extra interesting practice, not for teaching, it would have worked--if you're using it for kids who don't really need the instruction and who naturally grasp mathematical ideas, it could work. I agree with you--math is one subject that you REALLY want to be very solid at. I was using Kinder math with my 4 year old, who I would say is fairly math-inclined...but being 4 years old, he needs solid math instruction.
@@SevenInAll I wanted to add… I really like that TGATB look for math patterns in nature. It’s almost philosophical. Perhaps TGATB math could best be described as ‚beyond mathematics‘
After many attempts with my oldest in math we finally landed on TGTB. It has worked great! Now, my daughter, great! My third kid has used it as well, but he is probably gifted and needs to skip so many lessons now he needs a switch up! Amy comments or suggestions would be great! My fourth kiddo is doing well it too. My fifth isn’t doing school much yet he’s only 3! So, agreed on the it can fit me but not the kid statement! Thanks for your video!
Skipping lessons is definitely a thing with gifted learners. I know of some that successfully use Math U See with gifted kids, which came as a surprise to me, but it's exactly because it's a curriculum that works well when you can just skip what you've mastered and move on to the next thing. I know many love Beast Academy but I have no experience with that myself.
I am just now watching this video, but Saxon is very good for gifted learners. Many will test through the book. Give the chapter 1 test. If they make above XYZ score, skip to chapter 2. Give the chapter 2 test. If they make above XYZ score, pass to chapter 3, and so on till they don't make above XYZ and that's where you start in the book. Every level because so much is review. Only do the evens or odds in the lessons. Once my son got to 7th grade, we switched to Shormann math which is based off Saxon. They offer math through Calculus 2 and offer CLEP/AP/SAT Prep.
Honestly I have the SAME drawbacks from TGTB math. I wanted so badly to love it. I invested money into the math boxes, printed off the curriculum in full color, only to be severely frustrated and not loving math like I wanted my kiddo to love it. We since switched over to math mammoth but I may end up going with math with confidence after the first of the year 😅 ... I'm a bit particular so switching from curriculum to curriculum has not settled well with me but it has had to be done. Thanks for this video !
It is definitely frustrating when we put money into a curriculum...and it just doesn't meet expectations or do what we need it to do. It happens to all of us, though! I very much understand the reluctance to switch because there will never be a "perfect" math curriculum...but it can take some trial and error at the beginning to find what we need and what works.
I think there are definitely a lot more options available to homeschoolers nowadays...we were a lot more limited in options looking back almost 20 years ago when my mom switched to Abeka.
As always, I enjoy your thoughts on curriculum. I do think, regarding geography, it would be perhaps difficult to understand a curriculum purely written from the perspective of someone living there without a sort of editor's voice to temper what significant cultural differences would arise. As for curricula written by large groups of people, you again need an editor to rope it all together, or a very aligned team. We used a like abeka for grades k-2. Just math and phonics...I do not like anything else offered by them. I didn't like TGATB either. It's so interesting what we do all end up liking and using though.
Oh yes--as a writer, I fully, fully believe in the need for editors and for the expertise of curriculum designers to make educational resources come together--several different skill sets are needed--it's no small task! And I don't believe any 'perfect' curriculum exists, although some fit our family better than others.
@@kailynolson2281 I didn't end up really going all in on Letters and Numbers once my boy was old enough....one of the reasons I didn't think it was fair to make a review. We did use most of the workbooks as just for fun because they really were fun and since they were already printed, but I ended up falling in love with Gentle + Classical Preschool. Sometimes it takes a while to figure out what you really want preschool/homeschool to look like.
I know how frustrating it is when curriculums don't work the way we hope they will---glad I'm not alone in my experience, but also sad that the same sorts of frustrations happen to others. It's okay--with trial and error, we figure out the resources that work best for us!
@@elenahajda9291 What I'm using and loving with my son is Math with Confidence by Kate Snow--but that program only goes up till 2nd grade right now, with more years being released in the coming years. I do have a detailed video on the Kindergarten level. For older grades...my own kids aren't there yet, but we have used a variety of programs with my siblings--Math U See has probably been my family's most consistently used program--it's straightforward and gets the job done. I also find Singapore Math intriguing but haven't used it
We live in Asia. And yet my kids hardly know anything about the countries in it. I was looking at Gather Around Asia Unit Study, but wasn’t super impressed. Do you have any recommendations for curriculum that provides a good Asia Unit study?
I don't know of an Asia unit study to recommend. We have just finished up using Gentle + Classical's "On Mission" magazine to study Vietnam, and I was pretty satisfied with the combo of using that magazine as a 'spine' plus several picture books. They have issues for a few Asian countries: India, China, Vietnam off the top of my head. The Vietnam issue also included info on some surrounding SE Asian countries.
@@SevenInAll thank you! I’m going to check that out. If you don’t mind, I have another question for you. I was recently watching another one of your videos… comparing G&B and Abeka. We have used Abekas Language K-3 and have liked it. But now we have started Abeka Grade 4 Language A. We’ve been working on it for over a month now and we just are struggling. My son & I. All the moms I know are using G&B. So this past week I’ve been checking out their grade 4 Language Arts. I think I still have time in the school year to switch. Ok all that said, I noticed that G&B doesn’t have language test or quizzes in their Language curriculum, do you think that is something that I should be concerned about?
@@ChrisHall-kw2tf You could always print out some TGATB level 4 lessons first to give it a try. I don't necessarily worry about tests in elementary years. They can be very useful learning tools for some kids (i.e. some kids are convinced that they understand a concept until they take a test that "proves" to themselves that they don't actually understand it.) but are not always required.
That honestly sounds like a really fun project I could work on with my dad. But my to-write list at the moment is almost excessively long...with the times I have free to write being excessively short. ha!
Oh no i literally just got a couple grade levels of abeka thankfully i was mostly getting it to use the language arts and was planning to use teaching textbooks and some other math resources. I dont excel at language arts myself is why i chose abeka as theyre early grade language arts seems very detailed so hipefully my children wont struggle having holes early on as i did.
I hated Singapore math but my twin son loves it and it works for us!!! We love using books and my ok kids love their hHBLs!!! On the international move we took advantage of eBooks and the HBLs where sent to our new house!!!
I was excited to try moving beyond the page and that was a lot to implement. While also not what I had in mind. I was also excited to try Saxon math and that was a lot and also not what I wanted. Keep in mind when I say a lot i am speaking from a mom of multiples pov (even though I have also seen moms of multiples who love both Saxon and moving beyond the page). I have just spent money that I wish I hadn’t but hey you live and you learn 🥴😁
Yes, my grandpa likes to say "education is expensive"...in the sense that we often end up spending money we wish we hadn't on the way to learning the best/most effective way to do anything...and that includes homeschooling! But hopefully we learn, and gradually make fewer of those expensive mistakes! :)
Abeka was my go-to from the time we started homeschooling (4th grade), through 8th grade. My child really struggled though with it once the format changed at the onset of 7th grade. I had finally switched her math out, and by the second half of 8th grade, I no longer used the literature portion of the curriculum either. I actually did not feel like their anthology booklet was enough. In hindsight, I am sure that as of 7th grade, Abeka is a high school level curriculum. It was an excellent curriculum for elementary level, but not beyond that for my family. Fast forward to moving in to 10th grade, and she is telling me she wants to go back to Abeka just for the grammar and spelling/vocab portion of Language Arts. She also wanted to go back to Abeka history and science, but I said no way…and had to wonder does she have Stockholm syndrome. What she had for 9th grade worked just fine.
The Stockholm Syndrome comment made me chuckle. It is true that sometimes the old and familiar can feel very comforting, even when it comes to homeschool resources. I definitely think Abeka shines brightest in elementary, but many people do experience frustrations as you get closer to the high school levels.
I think "unit studies" in general aren't a good fit for my style, as I mentioned with the themed study vs. unit study difference--and that's a helpful realization for me to have, because then I won't be so tempted to try unit studies when I don't necessarily want or need a single study to cover all subject areas. I agree that Abeka is probably best in the early elementary years...my high school homeschool experience was still great, even with Abeka, but I wouldn't plan to use it again.
Yes 1000%. I love TGATB LA but the math was horrible for my kindergartner. She was able to do simple addition in her head before starting. She’s 4 almost 5, and was able to do the TGATB K-math but she wasn’t retaining anything. So I realized she does better with mastery based math. So we will be trying MWC too. I also felt like it wasn’t teaching how to do things well. Which makes me sad bc I wanted to love it. But we love the handwriting and LA. Lol
Yes, I think the activities in TGATB Math are genuinely fun and interesting...the main problem I have is that the teaching, the instruction for new skills, seems lacking or not as solid for teaching really strong number sense. We've loved our experience with MWC--more than halfway through Kindergarten now!
@@SevenInAll yes very true. It also seems random and too much bouncing around. It doesn’t seem complete to me. I know it works for many, just not for my girl.
I’ve been swept up in excellent marketing many times. Usually it isn’t a good fit. 😂 I did find MFW Exploring Countries & Cultures to actually live up to the hype and exceeded my expectations. I didn’t think it would, so it was a pleasant surprise. TGATB has been a miss in everything except handwriting. All different reasons. Some of it was the look of the workbook pages (so crammed/small writing), sometimes the material was dry and I did not like not having a teachers guide and books for the kids (their old science which are being updated.) I never say never (except abeka 😂) but I try to really weigh if it is going to be a good fit as I don’t have the funds to really change things out.
That's awesome when you can say that a resource even EXCEEDED expectations--how cool! With us being overseas and often having to purchase for future years in advance, it's also hard to change things out (one of the reasons why I did Abeka for all my high school years even though we weren't huge fans from very early on. My mom switched back to Sonlight and used other math programs for my younger siblings.) At least with the rise of digital PDFs for curriculum, it is easier for us to change some things sometimes.
I think for the 'target' audience of gather round (several children, using it for entire school other than math) the pricing is more reasonable. I would also say, to be fair, that every unit could go in so many different directions that where one would go with it another wouldn't choose to. I think for a particular audience it works really well! That said, we have tried it and decided not to utilize it again either. The breadth of ages being taught together is hard to address, in my opinion. I would have loved for it to work though- seems ideal, except it didn't work for us 😅
Yes, if you were using it exactly as intended, and if you have a good library to pull extra books in from, it would be more affordable. Gather 'Round clearly works well for many, many families who use it long-term and love it...it just wasn't really a good fit for us, although we did try several units (and Artists was by far the favorite--a real favorite). My family has wide age gaps (I'm 15 years older and 19 years older than my two youngest sisters...with a bunch of other kids scattered around in between...) and "family style" learning rarely worked super fantastically with our range of ages and range of interests.
Same! I wanted to LOVE GR. But it just didn't fit us and I was bummed it read like alot of facts. Rebecca is such a natraul conversationalist and I had hoped that would come across in the writting. My children didn't like the workbooks at all so it felt like a waste of money and printing. We only finished 1 whole unit of the 4 I bought 🤦♀️. I do like the letters and numbers workbooks but the stories and Bible were very lacking and didn't keep my littles attention. I love the heart of the company but we ultimately went with MFW (Preschool/kinder/history cycle). We learn better from living books I have realized. Also, I have tried TGTB SO many times. I want to love it. I tried. .. but it doesn't work for us. To school like I guess. And the math was too over crowed it overwhelmed my children sadly. (Its so beautiful 😫🤣) We really enjoy Apologia Math and just started my kinder in Math with Confidence and love that one as well. Both are short/fun lessons. But really build a good foundation.
We loved the idea of Gather Round so entirely that we bought many of their units. We did not like any of them. We felt like we could have gone to the library and read random books based on one theme and it would have been more than what we got with Gather Round.
That had to have been a frustrating experience! It can be tough when you spend the money only to realize that a resource is a bad fit. I think trying out some units from Gather 'Round helped me to identify what I really like and what I don't enjoy in regard to themed studies--and yes, actual books related to a theme fit my own style better.
Yes--homeschool students learning advanced math are doing it without a teacher to 'bring it to life' and to ask questions of, without peers to work on projects with...curriculum that's designed for that specific situation might end up being a better fit.
We are a bit all over the place. Woht my oldest having what I call extrem adhd she has such an aversion to school that I’ve just had to pick a curriculum on the daily that fits her mood. It’s honestly been mostly Gather Round and Bookshark bit Bookshark has too many moving parts I’ve noticed and not a lot of them interest her :( we are thinking of trying campfire curriculums next bc I’m at a dead end. The constant complaining is so hard. I watched your video about one of your sister and it was eye opening but practically speaking I don’t know what to do. She has to be doing school so for now I just say well you can hate it but we still have to do it.
Constant complaining is indeed a joy-sucker, and I would be very intentional on working to change that culture. I do have a video about when your kids don't want to do schoolwork and complain about it: ua-cam.com/video/wwKz8gkhlJo/v-deo.html My mom likes to say that as parents, we're probably expecting too much if we want our kids to do what they ought to do (i.e. schoolwork, chores, etc.) AND expecting them to genuinely like it and be super excited about doing the right thing. She says it's enough for them to do it--after all, we all have to do things that are the right thing, they are a necessary task of life, but we don't LOVE them and feel so excited about them. However...when we do those unpleasant, necessary tasks...(taxes, scrubbing toilets, etc.)...we're not complaining about them, are we? No--at least, we shouldn't be, that sucks the joy out of life. When you're dealing with complaining and bad attitudes about doing these necessary tasks...we can expect our kids to learn to do their jobs without complaining. I would have conversations about how life has plenty of not-so-fun parts, and that complaining about these not-so-fun parts doesn't have any benefit (to anyone! not even to the complainer!). You can talk about how everyone has a job to do, the job of kids is to go to school--and its your choice whether to see it as a good thing or a bad thing...but complaining is not an appropriate response to the natural truth of life that everyone, including you, has a job.
I do prefer the Campfire to Gather round. Every sample I try is so dry and boring. I bought the Campfire Thanksgiving unit and the writing is truly living book style. I think it’s because they consult with experts in the field. My 7 year old son would do their core connections for fun while I cooked dinner! I still think you’d have to supplement for older grades. It also asks important Socratic questions too.
Thank you! It’s been such a work in progress as she is the oldest her Aristide sets our day and I’ve seen it trickle into my youngest attitudes :( I know my daughter is brilliant and so loving and kind she just hates school so much. I’ve watched every video you have on school and struggling kiddos. I’ve said everything you can’t think of to help her understand. I think for is it’s time to bring someone else in bc even for Bible she complains. She is an amazing daughter so loving and kind but there is something else I can see that I don’t have the tools for. If she wants to know something she is far more motivated to find the answer and we talk ALL the time I’m just sad and also don’t want to take time from my other kids that need me too. Man parenting is hard work and I’m so glad to have people to bounce ideas off of.
I love tgatb we're on maths 1 now but, I don't feel it lays the foundation well. I feel like it assumes a lot. We'll rush through it and go to maths with confidence grade 1. My son actually likes tgatb but that's not enough.
"assumes a lot" is I think a good summary of my frustration with using the math....I saw it assuming that skills didn't really need to be explained or practiced when my son did need that. If you're going to switch, I would definitely look at the scope + sequence to see where to place your son--not all programs teach the same things at the same grade level, and it can be helpful to check out the scope and sequence first.
@@SevenInAll oh yes. Thank you for the advice. I have been looking at the scope and sequence for math with confidence and I I'm comfortable with it. We used maths with confidence K, and I really liked it. Because we still had time, we added tgatb K, just rushed through it and it filled in some gaps and my son liked it a lot . Also, because we're not in the US, downloading tgtab maths 1 was easier, so we started with it. We're in the 43rd lesson now but we will run through it, and we will return to maths with confidence 1 and start afresh. Like redo the maths school year by God's grace.
Yes about gather round. There are so many other issues with the company in general that I won't ever waste my money there again. Tgtb is so hit or miss with our family. We love the handwriting and science but the la and history are a big nope.
I think it can be helpful to get to a point where you realize that nope--these resources aren't a good fit for what I'm looking for...it helps you save money for resources that ARE a better fit.
I believe the curriculum in my elementary private school was Abeka. I loved the school but the curriculum was very boring. I don’t remember much at all. I think they used it for science and history. That’s why I won’t even look at it now 😂
I think science and history are where Abeka is the weakest--their LA is instructionally solid. Their high school math simply was not designed to be done without a math teacher teaching it, and caused me many headaches because of that. lol!
Totally agree about Gather Round. We are currently doing the Christmas around the World unit and it’s just okay. I got it on sale but it was still pricey and I didn’t even get the extras! I really like Apologia’s deep dive and conversational style - I wish they would do more units (even mini ones) and maybe branch out into arts and other sciences.
I completely forgot when I filmed this video but we actually did the "first" Christmas unit by Gather 'Round as well, several years ago...and "just okay" would have been my review of that after using it, as well. Not something that made me want to try another one...actually, I ended up creating my own "Christmas school" unit to make one that fit my vision for Christmas school. I like that idea of Apologia branching out into the arts and humanities...that would be really interesting to see!
TGTB math…. I see your point. I chose it for my middle child bc she needs the fun. But even with her math, we’ve skipped some of the games and the she always skips the coloring. If it’s merely busy work “fun” she’s not into that. She wants learning to be fun. But she doesn’t want fluff either. My youngest is doing just fine with Singapore math which is for the mathematically inclined. It’s black and white pages. Even the preschool/kindergarten Singapore math Essentials program which I loved. Very straight forward. My youngest flew through it. I let her do as many pages as she wanted in a day and many times she did 5-6 pages! I’ve never heard of the math that you’re using now. Is it only for kindergarten and younger ages? Or what grades does it include??
I was strongly considering Singapore Math before I fell into Math with Confidence...which has some similarities but is overall cheaper, I'd say, and that was definitely a motivation for me. Math with Confidence is published by the Well Trained Mind and thus far has only been released as far as 2nd grade, though their schedule has them releasing levels up through 6th grade. Hopefully it will continue to be awesome and we'll be able to stick with it through the years! We shall see!
Every academic subject in my life has been easy for me (I'm what's labeled as "gifted" in traditional schools, and I share about gifted homeschooling in other videos)....other than Abeka math, and that's because the textbooks were designed to be used WITH a teacher, not for the student to use on their own without teacher's explanations--that was, I believe, my struggle with their math resources. Back then there wasn't really UA-cam or Khan Academy or the resources we have nowadays to look up explanations when we're struggling with a tough concept. For my own kids, I'd lean toward math resources that are more friendly to math instruction outside of a traditional classroom.
If you are aware of how the curriculum could have gone to be in a better direction for a few units then you doubt the curriculum as a whole for other units.
Not sure why this came into my UA-cam recommended videos, but as a Christian high school teacher, perhaps there is some overlap. May I take this opportunity to beg homeschooling parents to educate their kids well. In my 22 years of teaching there have been so many occasions when homeschooled students start coming to school, usually in grade 8, 9, or 10, and have big gaps in learning that makes it so hard as a teacher. Most of my classes have different grades and streams and are very inclusive to different learning styles and levels; however, trying to catch up homeschool kids to basic skills like writing paragraphs, grammar and punctuation, essays etc, has been the most exhausting and frustrating journey. Please don’t take shortcuts and then expect a teacher to fix it all for you later on. For the love of all that is good and right and true….
I fully agree that homeschool parents need to take the job of homeschool very seriously and be committed to excellent education for their children. I grew up homeschooled and felt like college was "easy" after my own homeschool experience...but I know that that is not everyone's experience. My husband is currently writing his thesis and is doing research into the experience of homeschooled kids transitioning into a traditional high school.
@@SevenInAll Thanks for your reply. It is a complex and individual experience, for sure. Some homeschooled children enter the classroom quite capable, and further along in many areas. One situation that seems to repeat itself though is when homeschooled students transfer in, they struggle with deadlines, or totally ignore deadlines as if they don’t apply to them. This is ok for awhile, but it can be taxing always having to check in with those students. They also expect me to help them at the drop of a hat - anytime of day or night, sending emails on weekends or late at night and wanting a reply. I try to always be there for them and assist, but gently help them realize that I’m not their mother and I do in fact have children and a separate life of my own. 😄 God bless your family.
I’ve thankfully never felt the need to jump on the Gather Round train, I really don’t like the idea of trying to combine all subjects into a unit study. Doesn’t seem cohesive or necessary to me. Plus $$. The good thing about TGTB is that all their current math and LA K-8 is free to download, so very easy to check out the full curriculum at no cost or use at a minimal cost of printing. I have no problem printing a book and then skipping or modifying parts because my cost of printing is so low, makes it very versatile for me.
I think the same thoughts about the unit study approach is why Gather Round isn't worth it for me. I don't mind the idea of doing a themed study and learning more deeply about a certain interesting theme...but I don't need the focus on combining lots of other subjects. And it's true, the fact that TGATB makes their curriculum free to download removes a big barrier to trying it, and makes it easy to be able to use the fun activities and the best aspects of the curriculum.
I used Abeka when I was teaching in private school and it was the most boring curriculum I’ve ever experienced lol
I don't even mind textbook learning...Abeka gets a reputation for being tough/rigorous but I didn't experience it that way. Every question that's being tested on is right in the book--it's very much just read the textbook, answer the review questions, take the test. It's straightforward, but nothing that inspires me to want to do it again, and especially in high school, I'd like to use resources that challenge independent and critical thinking a lot more. Their math was something else--it's possible they've changed what they offer for high school math now, but at that time, the textbooks were definitely meant to be used with a classroom teacher EXPLAINING the concept and I had no teacher explaining the concept, and UA-cam didn't really exist yet so...math was rough. lol!
My daughter's private school uses Abeka and the math is all over the place. I do not like the Abeka curriculum.
Sounds like what you’re saying about Gather Round is that they should take a cue from Campfire curriculums and do their research from people who actually have knowledge on the subject….like somebody who lived in the country. Or somebody who worked in the automotive industry! ;) maybe they should hire you to write their curriculum. Or…..hmmm….maybe you should write your own! 😉 have you ever thought of doing that??? 😜
I totally agree with you about having to prep more for Gather Round. That was one of my biggest complaints. It wasn’t as open and go as I thought.Too much planning to do.
😊
I think you really can't replace or re-create the value of having subject-matter experts and people with real-world experience when writing educational materials--I think often that expertise and real-life passion is exactly what makes a topic come alive when written and taught about. And yes--the amount of prep and extras needed to make the subject come to life just kind of made the cost not really worth it for me.
You definitely have valid points. I will say with Abeka, the high school is tough (some find it dry, or too textbook, etc), but their elementary really is great! But I can totally see that it gave you a bad taste in your mouth and definitely don’t want to revisit that (especially when there are so many other options out there).
We can still be friends even though your dissing all of our favorite curriculum
😂😂❤❤
Yes, I think with how much is available to the 'modern' homeschooler...there are richer and more challenging options for high school history and science. I'm not even against textbooks or 'traditional learning,' I think there's lots to love...but I just don't plan to go back to Abeka after my experience. I already love Sonlight's high school HBLs--my mom bought them for my younger siblings once I'd already graduated, and when I came back home for summer break after freshman and sophomore year, I gobbled up as many Sonlight books as I could since I hadn't had a chance to read them. haha! It's a good thing that friendship doesn't rely on having the same favorites when it comes to curriculum. ;P lol!
What you said about TGTB math was kind of my impression upon reviewing it myself. The spiral approach can feel really bouncy, and I have felt that in other curriculums we've looked at. Your disclaimer was right on--what works for one family may not for another, and these videos do help when you're hunting for something different. 👏👏❤️❤️
And what one person doesn't appreciate about a resource might be exactly what someone else DOES appreciate. My brain appreciates systematic and straightforward teaching--get to the point. ha!
I was private schooled with Abeka and now I home school my 3 kids. I only use Abeka's math. Abeka is a lot. My kids are math minded and so am I. We like the colorful pages and the no nonsense style of learning. I also use TGTB for LA. I didn't feel like you were hating on any of these curriculums. Your delivery was informative, thorough, and respectful. Excellent job!
I really appreciate your comment, truly, thank you!
We are actually loving TGTB math for 5th/6th and 2nd, and loving their LA for for 5th/6th and high school! As a former middle and high school English language arts teacher I can say they are pretty solid!
How do you feel about the writing portion? Just curious to get your take. I was also a teacher, but for elementary. To me the writing seems lacking in solid instruction, but I’m not sure if it gets better later on in the upper grades.
@@jennifer61122 I think it’s sufficient, but two things that could contribute to my perspective: my oldest two are pretty strong writers naturally. And I am really sick and tired of reading (and teaching!) formulaic writing.
There's a lot that was genuinely fun and my son enjoyed the 30 lessons of kindergarten that we did with TGATG...but with him being so young (4) and eager to learn math...I wasn't feeling like he was mastering the many topics that were introduced. Thankfully, the curriculum we're using now moves slower, has shorter lessons, and is a better fit for him.
Math K from TGATB has been great for my son. I was never taught math to use in real life and I love how they involve real life situations, stories and how math helps you. My kid loves the games. I like how simple it is and he is learning everything. He asks to learn math and wants to repeat the games. It was free since I printed it. But thanks for sharing the kindergarten math curriculum you use because it's good to know options
Glad it's working well for you guys! I think it might have worked better if my son had been older or had more of a headstart in math, but I didn't feel confident in his mastery. I'm glad to have found Math With Confidence for him!
You are spot on about Gather Round. I did use it and for the season of life I was in, it worked. But I always wanted to love it more than I did, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. I knew I could never use it exclusively. And the price always made me cringe. For what you get I think it is very pricy b/c like you said, I am going to add so much to make it fit better with my kids and then it’s like….all that for a month of lessons?! We’ve gone back to CC this year b/c my oldest is challenge age and that has been a perfect fit for her. I’m reading tons of books to my younger kids. I don’t regret the units I did with my girls but moving to CC was definitely the right move. I can’t imagine continuing on with GR for middle/high school. I knew that wasn’t going to cut it.
I have never been impressed with TGTB math or La. It just seems so filled with fluff and I don’t have time for that!
I ordered Kate Snow’s kindergarten with confidence and I’ll be honest…I’m having second thoughts over using this vs Masterbooks for my boys. I’m going Preschool math at home now and I LOVE it. I also love Masterbooks 😩 and always thought I would start from the beginning with Masterbooks math for the boys. I started in level 2/3 with the girls. I’d love to hear anything you have to say about Math with Confidence.
I understand why they have to make their prices so high...but I think for the average homeschool family and with thinking about how many books/crafts/extras you might want to add...it's expensive.
I have zero experience with Masterbooks. From what I've heard, Masterbooks is very gentle in the beginning with math. What I liked about MWC is its systematic approach to concepts. We're starting week 9 this week....pairs of numbers that make 10 was introduced maybe 5 weeks ago but even at the time they said "most kindergarteners will need more than a week to master this concept" and yes, it's a tough concept for my 4 year old, but it just keeps coming up, not daily, but regularly, in review or practice games, and I'm seeing how over time he gradually remembers the pairs more solidly. That's probably been the 'toughest' concept introduced (for him) in the first 8 weeks of the curriculum so I've been happy to see how a 'harder' concept is handled and the amount of practice as it comes up again and again.
My daughter and I enjoyed "Math with Confidence" level K -- but for the price range I felt I could have done "Under the home"'s kinder math (Manual of Methods) and been fine. My son who was /is my next Kindergarten is doing that and he is learning everything he needs just fine (and it's free).
My daughter went from "Math with Confidence" to Easy Peasy Math level 1 (this year she is doing level 2) and thriving. Overall,I would say "Math with Confidence" definitely served it's purpose. However, I could have done the same job with something cheaper. Further, I enjoy Kate Snow's "math facts that stick" better.
Abeka math...let's just say I can relate. My mum ended up hiring a retired teacher to tutor me. I loved math until the high school levels. We felt similar about Gather Round. TGTB is working well for us for now, but I'm adding a LOT more literature to our homeschool next year. :D
My mom is actually really good at math and teaching it...but she had a lot of other younger kids who needed her help at the time and I was, in all honesty, not patient enough to explain the problem to her and get her help....so mostly I struggled with those Abeka math textbooks on my own. I was the only kid who used them...my younger siblings used different high school math options after my experience. ha! Hurray for more literature! That's very much where my heart is in homeschooling.
Your explanation of the good and the beautiful math was SPOT ON. It was fun. We enjoyed it at the time. However he really wasn’t getting solid understanding of the concepts. We are using Kate snow’s curriculum as well and loving it.
Yes, it had genuinely fun activities, my son enjoyed using it--we did about 30 lessons before we took our long summer travel adventure....but I was not feeling like it was giving him a strong, systematic math foundation. IF we had been using a level below his actual level, and if he actually knew all of the concepts being introduced, I think it would have been fun practice...but...I'd rather just use Math with Confidence.
I would say that was our experience with the Good and the Beautiful in general. We used it for Language Arts. It felt like it was made for me as the teacher because it was "open and go" without any prep, but it just felt flat. It was beautiful, but the content was kind of a high level fly by without a lot of time to delve into the content and master it. My kids fell so far behind using this one because nothing stuck.
@@monicamoskovics8686 this was our experience too. Last year I used TGATB for math, LA, HW and science to “simplify” our homeschool. Both my kids using it tested on assessments as if they had lost a whole year. I don’t like to say they retained nothing because we truly don’t know what they get out of any curriculum. BUT switching back to the curriculum they were using before - they tested at the level that they tested at prior to using TGATB. So it appears TGATB really isn’t a good fit for my family. And in terms of the lower levels of LA - I think it is very random in how it’s organized and does a poor job teaching a child to read. I wanted to love it!! It would have been simple and streamlined for me
@@monicamoskovics8686 the only thing I would ever use from TGATB again is the handwriting!!
I enjoyed this video. I am trying so hard to make the right school decision for my little ones and these videos help me a lot.
Glad it was helpful! I am always happy to chat about homeschool options and resources with anyone who has any questions!
I think some kids are really suited to spiral math and some absolutely are not.
For us, spiral math works really well because my daughter immediately gets everything.
She’s 5 and we are lesson 20 of TGATB 1st grade.
I’m very interested in Math with Confidence because I’ve heard great things, but I feel like the mastery approach would quickly bore her.
We are all so blessed to be living in a time when there are multiple options to fit multiple different styles of homeschooling!
I can see TGATB working for gifted kids and kids who 'get' everything the first time they're exposed to an idea...but yes, there are a fair number of kids who don't get everything the first time. Yes! I know many people love Abeka, too...but I did not love my own experience of using it enough to want to do it all over again. ;P
I was definitely swept away by the marketing of BJU press curriculum. For my pre-k daughter and 3rd grader at the time. They were both geared toward classroom school setting and were just so dry. Definitely not engaging at all. I quickly found out that my preschooler was far beyond the babyish material that was supposed to be taught. So that was a major eye opener when finding out what level my 4yo was at. My 3rd grader just had way too many work sheets and the subjects like science and history were just not interesting. Huge waste of money since this was considered a “faith based” and my homeschool program I get an allotment from doesn’t pay for faith based material. I thought if it was good, then it was worth the money. That was my first year homeschooling too. Huge lesson learned there! I’m way better at analyzing curricula offered nowadays.
Your videos have been super helpful to me. Especially the one with your mom and your “strong willed sister”. I have one myself and she is my oldest out of 4 kids! At even 10yo she can be as frustrating as a toddler at times. That talk you guys had openly about what that looked like in your home was very relatable and encouraging as well. Thank you!
Marketing is good at doing its job--persuading people to part with their money. Sometimes it ends up to be a worthwhile investment but other times, in reality, we feel like we wasted our money. It happens to everyone...but as we grow in understanding which resources suit our needs best, we are able to spend more wisely. :)
Glad that that video was particularly encouraging--I'm glad my sister was will to be a part of it and go walking down memory lane even if that walk brought up some tough memories.
It's amazing how we're all so different. TGTB math has been such a blessing for my three kids (my kids are a bit older so I cant speak for their K math). Love hearing your thoughts! :)
My son, I think, really needed the solid, straightforward instruction that just wasn't there in the K math--I mean, as a little kid brand-new to math, you do need that background and foundation. He's making awesome progress with his new math, and I love seeing that!
We love Gather Round, but I can understand your perspective on it. Honestly, we did the Living Off the Land Unit Study (it included times in history that I was passionate about and my husband was also passionate about). It worked for us, because we have the capability of just adding to it as necessary. We added hands on activities (many were included), books, games, and documentaries. So I'd say by itself it doesn't always dig deeper into subjects (especially if you're someone already familiar with the material), but it is a good template for our large family as long as we're willing to prep/add to it when we want more. Which for us is nice, because we always have a lot of ideas and rabbit trails we like to go off on.
I know that many, many families use it and love it! I have always said clearly that I tend to be a low-prep homeschooler...I'm willing to do some prep but planning for lots of extras just isn't realistic for my homeschool (both because of my preferences and because of where we live overseas--we don't have access to a ton of public library books and craft supplies can be really hard to source, we live on a small island with limited field trip opportunities). Each family homeschools a little bit differently--and it's most helpful to invest in the curriculums that work best for our specific set of circumstances. I think the units just didn't mesh well with what I wanted...and I also learned that the "unit study" method isn't really my preferred approach to learning, although I don't mind adding on themed or topical studies from time to time. We often learn a lot about ourselves and our own "homeschool personality" as we use different resources.
What you said about unit studies is exactly the issue I have too, but didn't realize it until you put it into words. I want a themed study but not intentionally for all the subjects. Right now, I have settled on CC, Rabbit Trails, and Homeschool in the Woods. I love the literature approach to learning. My son absorbs so much when he can play quietly while I read.
We also love MWC. We tried TGTB K and even though he liked math, he did not end the level with much retention of concepts or any number sense. We have done MWC 1 and are on 2 and he can do mental math faster than I can to know if he is right.
I've heard good things about Rabbit Trails! I'm glad that my comments on themed study vs. unit study resonated, I wasn't sure if that would make sense to anyone else. Love to hear from someone further along down the MWC path--I have been really enjoying using it and excited to see my son gradually mastering concepts that have been covered in the first 9 weeks.
Hi Rachel! I couldn't agree more with TGTB math. My 4 year old and I have been loving their preschool book and decided to add the K math. I feel like they assume way too much about how a kid can naturally understand a concept, such as addition that I felt was very flat. And while my kid could just "get it" I dont feel like it would lay a logical foundation for him. He does enjoy some of the activities and at this point (since I already printed the whole thing) i'm just gonna pick and choose what I feel could work and only as extra practice while our RightStart Math curriculum arrives! :)
The way addition was introduced/taught was one of my big problems with TGTB Math. My son already knew the basics of adding at that point, so he was able to do the activities, but if I had been relying on the program for teaching him? I don't think it would have set him up for success. I've heard great things about RightStart!
The explanation you gave to gather round is spot on! Case in point is artists!! I have a B.F.A. With a fashion design focus and the artists unit kinda fell flat for me. fashion was not even mentioned as art or its effect of other forms of art throughout time, I was also disappointed that 2 lessons were given to buildings architect and interior design yet not one to industrial design which is basically everything you use, yes there was a lesson on pottery but no tie to how it later translates to toys, cars etc. we never buy the whole unit anymore I just buy the upper elementary one student and scale up and down for my 2 school age kids. 18-20.00 isn’t overpriced and yes we still have to add a lot. We are just starting transportation now and I’ll be sure to add more although I am not an expert so we will probably be ok with it hehehe.
haha--see...I was satisfied with the Artists one exactly BECAUSE Art is very far outside my domain of expertise and passion. And here you are confirming my feeling....when someone with passion and expertise in a topic uses a Gather 'Round unit on that topic...the things that are missing are glaringly obvious. But when you're using a unit that's in an area that is pretty new to you, you'll probably enjoy it more because you don't have that background knowledge. And yes, when you can buy the single-student bundle, it's definitely a better deal.
I started with Abeka for my oldest but sitting through video lessons for so many hours was a chore, so we ended up using only the ELA and using other materials for the other subjects. We liked Abeka ELA more than The Good and the Beautiful.
That makes a lot of sense about maybe with GR what the difference is-if you already have a lot of knowledge on the topic, the unit may not be enough.
I think it often happens that anyone who's an "expert" in a field is often disappointed by resources about that field. Once you know too much it's hard to be satisfied with only a little...haha! I wouldn't have even considered myself to be all that passionate about vehicles, trains, etc....until we did transportation and I realized how much richer I would have wanted it to be, to really show how transportation technology has shaped the world we live in.
I took my daughter from 5th through 10th grade with Abeka as our main curriculum. She then passed the GED tests, with one of the highest recorded scores in our state at that time (1997)
I also scored into the top 1% of standardized test scores for my year on the ACT and SAT...and had my college completely paid for with academic scholarships. As I said, I don't think Abeka was a miserable experience (other than math, which was fairly miserable), but...I think with the wider variety of resources available now that weren't available back when I was homeschooled...I can give my kids a rich and challenging education without it.
You explained my reluctance to unit studies perfectly! Yes, I prefer thematic studies too. But, I will also add that TGATB math has been great for my struggling math learner. The difference might be that we started homeschooling at 5th grade and she had a super rocky foundation. She really enjoyed TGATB math as much as she could possibly like math.
I was hoping what I was saying about unit studies vs. themed studies made sense! That's great that she has found it enjoyable! My son did genuinely enjoy it when we did the first 30 lessons...but with him being young and just starting his journey in math, I didn't feel like it would continue to be enjoyable because I didn't think he was really having a chance to master the concepts (he does well with math but is young for kinder-level...and the math we're using now doesn't move around so much, so I feel better with that for him.) I think I would have enjoyed TGATB math over Abeka, although they don't have high school math at the moment. haha!
Similar here, first year HM my now 6th grader & he’s been struggling with math. On the other hand my 1st grader is doing great!
I agree with The Good And The Beautiful. I ordered their kindergarten language arts and as I looked at it, I didn’t like it at all. We are using Abeka and so far we love it!
I think adding too much "extra" to really important basic concepts that need to be built on (like phonics and basic math skills) can end up being counter-productive. I know that a lot of people love Abeka, especially for the early years. My experience with it was high school...like I said, other than math, it wasn't even bad (the math was a genuinely bad experience...the books they had at the time were designed to be used with a classroom and a teacher)...it's just not what I would plan to do again.
@@SevenInAll I will keep that in mind as my kids get older. My oldest is about to be five so maybe by then they will have something that will work that we like better
Loved your video! Very informative. What do you think of TGTB Language Arts?
A few of my sisters have used their LA for a year or two and have enjoyed it. I have a few review videos on this channel based on their experience. I think that the approach definitely works well for some kids, who grasp topics quickly and who enjoy the fun activities. For other kids, they might find it frustrating with the multiple different topics that are intertwined--these would be kids who would thrive with more focused, systematic practice that consistently builds and doesn't jump around too much. For me...with early LA, as my oldest son is starting to work at a Kindergarten level--all I want to focus on for LA is learning how to read (we have our core literature-based schoolwork that gives us poetry, art, etc.). I don't really want to work in spelling or writing or art or all the extras at the same time--that's because he's young and at the very beginning of his journey with LA. I'm happy to wait a bit to start exploring other areas of skill within the English language.
Felt the exact same way about TGATB! Very well said. We do Math I See and love it!
Math U See is very systematic, so there's no worries about jumping around and feeling 'chaotic' in instruction. Glad you found a good fit!
Thanks for sharing. I always love curriculum reviews. Good to know your thoughts on Gather Round especially. I've seen it around a lot and was wondering how it was. That was really helpful. We're trying out Abeka (only for 3rd grade grammar) this year. It is pretty good. I don't absolutely love it, but it works really well as an independent subject, which I really need at this point with 5 kids. I don't think I would be a fan of it for other things.
I think Grammar is where Abeka shines the most--it's solid, covers all necessary topics each year, and like you said, independent (which was a big part of why my mom switched over in the first place).
I grew up on Abeka and loved it. I was academic and didn’t mind their no-frills approach. But, for many reasons, I mostly stopped using it with my kids. Still love their math and LA for K-3. But I can’t imagine using their dry textbooks after Sonlight’s literature-rich programs.
I also researched TGATB elementary math and LA for next year but decided against it. I love the idea of showing your kids how cool math is rather than trying to dress it up! But, I bought several TGATB science studies and can’t wait to try them. That’s probably the subject in which I’m most willing to shake things up a bit 😃
I also feel like science is a subject area where there's more "room to play"....it doesn't need to progress from one skill to the next in the same way that math and LA does.
I was SURE I would use Abeka with my kids before I had them, but after seeing the way my husband, his siblings, and their children all struggled and got burnt out on it, I decided to reconsider. I saw it over and over again, especially in math. I settled on TGTB because it looked fun and I thought that would fix the problem, but again, you are right on point. The fun activities were taking so long, and the concept wasn't solidly learned. I finally changed to math mammoth this year, which I told my husband is more like "fun with math" and less "trying to make math fun". We are only a couple of chapters into grade 1, but we are learning concepts faster and holding interest until the end of the lesson.
As far as language goes, I love the idea of TGTB. I love the morals and the fact that everything is included in one spot, but when I'm honest with myself, some parts move too fast, and other parts move too slowly and are boring for my children. I find myself supplementing a LOT, and skipping a LOT as well.
That's awesome to hear about your success with Math Mammoth! They were one of my front-runner curriculum choices for math...but for now I'm loving our Kindergarten Math at Home and hoping we'll be able to continue with that. :)
It's frustrating when we discover that we end up needing to supplement an "all in one" curriculum quite a bit to make up for what's not practiced enough to achieve mastery. Supplementing is going to happen in many cases...but when you have to do it too much...it's not quite as "open and go" anymore.
Another really great math program is Right Start Math. It is a bit of a time commitment, but the concepts are so well taught.
Hey I thought you said Saxon math made you not want to major in engineering 😂 thank you for sharing your experience. I had a similar experience with TGATB kinder Math and kinder reading even though we did REALLY enjoy their original preschool curriculum :)
No, it was definitely Abeka. I did use Saxon in some of my elementary years...but it was Abeka Trig, Geometry, Calc that I remember with very strong feelings. My parents really wanted me to go into engineering....but...working with words suit me better anyways, regardless of curriculum. But possibly a better high school math curriculum would have left me realizing that it's not so bad...my one college math class came as a shock with how pleasant and 'easy' it seemed after my high school math experience.
Thanks for the video! You explained how I feel about TGTB math perfectly! I was so excited to use it & my son thought it looked fun but I really don’t understand the progression. It’s so random and busy. It seems to be more of a workbook or supplement. Doesn’t have much teaching, foundation & growing number sense. My K son didn’t even find the games fun & didn’t even prefer it over something more straightforward. I hate saying that 🙈
That being said, I’d love to hear what do you think about MWC especially compared to Math U See. We’re currently trying BJU K math.
This is our first year homeschooling and still trying to figure out a good fit w/ curriculum. You’ve got me curious about Sonlight too because I agree about the unit studies & that has been my hesitancy w/ GR
"random" and "busy" are, I feel, accurate descriptors for our experience of K math from TGTB, too. We're using MWC as well as Primer from MUS right now. I do have a video about Kindergarten Math with Confidence here: ua-cam.com/video/iaCSzMTWLgA/v-deo.html
We're about 9 weeks into MWC and 15 lessons in (halfway through) Primer. I don't think both are necessary but my son loves math and enjoys having "more" of both gentle programs (because of his young age, I don't want to rush ahead and let him do multiple lessons--doing two programs gives us more fun math each day without having to move forward too fast). I absolutely love MWC, I think it has a little more variety than MUS, which is more focused. I think MUS is very solid, but I personally appreciate the variety that MWC gives, the picture books it suggests, and the practical, short and simple, but active math activities in every lesson.
Rachel, don’t know if it’s my connection. But the volume on this video is really low. But heard you- I am Engineer here - and math nerd 😅 I’m straight forward in math as well
This was edited on a different computer so maybe the sound didn't get boosted as much as normal. Thanks for the feedback!
It was low for me too.
I always appreciate your insights! I have been using Math with Confidence for two years now.
My son is in first grade. I love the open and go. My son loves the activities and games.
We're using the Kindergarten level right now and love it! I very much appreciate how low-prep it is.
My brother’s kids are all homeschooled on Abeka. However, my brother, being a high school math teacher, will not use Abeka math for high school. He says it’s strong until high school. And after that, it becomes less strong yet more cumbersome and time intensive -unnecessarily so. So he does a different high school math for his kids. (I don’t have any personal experience with this myself. This is just what he says).
What math does he use for high school?
I tried Good and the Beautiful the beginning of the school year mainly because it was a free download! This is our first year homeschooling so we didn’t know a lot. It didn’t work for us so we have tried different things along the way. My daughter did like gather round. We are on our second unit. For next year I already purchased a used Sonlight for our history. I’ve picked up the books from ThriftBooks and have found other titles at our library. Still haven’t figured out math yet though.
The fact that it's a free download is very, very helpful! Math can be a tough subject to figure out a good fit for--hopefully once you find that solid program that works for you, you'll be able to just "roll with it" year after year!
We use Abeka for Social Studies and I'm thinking about using it for science next year, too, but we're just in Kindergarten right now and there are no tests or anything. It's just visual aids, review questions and coloring. We enjoy it. We tried the Gather 'Round unit on bugs over the summer. It was A LOT of reading. I may try it again in the future, but right now it's just too much for my littles.
I think many people really enjoy Abeka for the early years, but some of the upper levels really start to show how they were designed for classroom use, not homeschool. I don't even think tests are a bad thing (I've always had a natural knack for tests and I enjoyed them in school)...but my own experience with Abeka high school didn't leave me wanting to try it again for round two.
I really appreciated your honest thoughts on these curriculums! I completely agree with your assessment of TGTB math..I tried it with my oldest and it didn't work at all, but she also has ADHD and learning things that aren't interesting to her are very hard for her..I thought the "pretty" aspect of TGTB would make it interesting enough for her, but she definitely needed more solid instruction and the jumping around approach of TGTB really really didn't work for her. I switched her to Math U See and while it's still difficult for her, focusing on mastering one thing at a time is what she needs. She also really likes Life of Fred since she loves to read, so she does that too along with Math U See. I also agree that some kids can do fine with TGTB if they generally pick up concepts quickly. I feel like TGTB could work for my second child who loves numbers and so math comes naturally to him..I think he would do fine with TGTB but would still get a better foundation with another curriculum like Math with Confidence, which is what we use and love. MWC has been the first curriculum in any subject that I feel like I want to stick with and not look elsewhere. I did kindergarten MWC with my third child last year and first grade MWC with my second child, and now I'm doing first and second grade MWC with those two this year. I've also been using Preschool Math at Home with my fourth child, we'll start kindergarten MWC once we work through PMAH. My second child also does Beast Academy online (alongside MWC) and loves it.
We have enjoyed also the Life of Fred stories alongside Math U See for my sisters who are currently in high school and 6th grade. And Yes--currently doing the Kindergarten level of MWC and I already purchased 1st grade because I'm very content to continue with it--hope we'll be able to stick with it for years to come, it has been an excellent fit for us!
Hmmm...This supports that you have to find what works for your child. When my daughter was in first grade I was so excited to try math u see. I bought the program and manipulatives. It was like torture for her. She complained every day about how boring it was and she hated math. I switched to Master books. It was heaven-sent. She loved it and math became her favorite subject. She is now in 4th grade. Last year, I started printing a few TGAB lessons to see if she would like them. She loved it and asked me to switch to TGATB. I was scared too because her love for baths was fostered by Master Books. However, I find that this year, we are mostly using the free pdf from TGATB. So, I am not sure what I will do next year. She loves the videos.
I have Life of Fred books but we haven't picked them up in a few years. I think Beast Academy looks like a great program but I don't want too drastic of a change.
we are in TGTB Math 4 and absolutely love the video portion . It is sooo well done and thorough. Math U See was a nightmare and so was Math Mammoth. Horizons was ok, but i found it seriously lacking compared to TGTB Math.
That's awesome that you've found a good fit for your family! Video math instruction can be very helpful for many! MUS can seem very repetitive and dry, I know, but many other families thrive with it as well. I've found Math With Confidence to be a great fit for my little guy, and I hope to be able to continue with it.
My kiddo is autistic. TGTB Math is working great for her and their old LA worked great this new LA is often very abstract with overly flowery language. So I end up having to translate the assignment and modify it so much we just couldn't handle it. So we switched away from TGTB LA. We love their science units. I do not see them being rigorous enough for gen ed 8th grade science. I'm already adding stuff. Gather Round is very surface-level to me.
When you end up needing to modify and adapt a resource too much and too regularly, that can definitely be a sign that something else might be a better fit. What did you end up finding for LA?
@@SevenInAll Christian Light Education ELA & Hooked on Phonics for reading. We borrow HOP from our library one level at a time. I decided to try it before buying either the CLE Reading or All About Reading. She loves it and says she's now a reader. We're on the last level and we'll decide where we go after we're done.
Now I want you to come out w a transportation unit study. Sounds like it would be awesome!😉
hahaha...might have to tack it onto my long list of writing projects. How Transportation Has Shaped Our World. ;) Or maybe just Automobiles...because after being raised by my dad...there's plenty to say and learn and do about just the automobile.
@@SevenInAll yes! I think gather round focuses too much on “interesting facts”. Transportation is not one my girls were even remotely interested in so we didn’t do that one, BUT I totally agree a study on how transportation has affected the world would be fascinating! That would be disappointing about the GR unit.
@@faithfullyinfertile They very much use a lot 'fun facts' and numbers/stats...and that's just not so much of my style.
Tried Singapore math since it’s the new thing and it didn’t work for us. We are back to doing elementary Abeka which has been so easy for my child bc it’s spiral and I too have a gifted child that grasp things quickly the first or second time. Now we are on year 3 with Abeka she’s tired of the same reviews which is kinda a waste bc she wants to learn new concepts and has expressed her desire to learn algebra now. I’m looking for an advanced math so she can go ahead and move on into the things she doesn’t already know. Any recommendations? Looking for a transitions math curriculum bc I feel like it will fill in any gaps and then hop onto pre algebra. Wondering your thoughts on Masterbooks math line up. On track for pre algebra I think in the next 1-2 years. Thanks for your videos. I know they take time to make and edit.
I don't necessarily have the best recommendations for higher math levels...we haven't been super happy with a lot of what we've used. My math-minded 11th grade sister has used Life of Fred through all of middle and high school, along with Math U See as a backup for more practice. That's worked for her and she's enjoyed it, but definitely won't be a fit for everyone. I don't have any experience with Masterbooks--I've heard that their elementary math programs are very gentle (which can sometimes frustrate a gifted learner who wants to move ahead and learn more!), but I don't know about middle school.
@@SevenInAll Thank you for your reply.
Have you looked into "Beast Academy"? I have heard they are advanced. They use a really unique approach with comics & stories. I know a gifted math minded girl at our Co-op who loves it
@@hollyrivers9955 you could try easy peasy homeschool, it’s free. You could also try time4learning, and just use the math, if you want. It’s secular, and we use it as one of our curriculums. But you can totally just use it for whatever you want.
To us, Gather Round was very bland. The read-alouds felt like a research paper every day & none of us were able to properly soak up the knowledge because of it. Even me, who had just read it out loud, kept tuning it out. I couldn't even remember what I'd just read. 😅 & our kiddos weren't remembering it either. There was no "fun" aspect to the writing & lots of typos as well. We bought the Christmas & the Letters & Numbers.
I agree with the feeling of reading a research paper vs. reading an engaging book on the topic...that's why for me, I've learned that I'd rather use the homeschool budget towards books that we're excited to read.
@@SevenInAll we've started doing the same thing!
I'm with you on Gather Round we tried Oceans and hated it so much.
I never tried that one--if you're ever looking for an Ocean science study again...we have recently started Gentle + Classical Nature 2, which is all about oceans, and we're loving it.
Have you heard of Layers of Learning units? I’ve been using them the past 6-8 months and have loved them. It sounds more like something that would fit with your approach and MUCH cheaper!
I have not heard of those before, I'll have to look them up!
Hi! We homeschool in South Africa. We use Mammoth Maths ❤ Have you heard about it? I was just saying this weekend how some maths curricula make such a big sing and dance about a very simple concept, which confuses my daughters into thinking they’re supposed to be getting something more than the simple concept from the singing and the dancing! So yes. For us, less colour and animation and just more math!
Yes, very true! I have heard of Math Mammoth, I've heard great things about the curriculum, especially for international homeschooling.
I felt the same way with Gathered Round. So much fact giving but it wasn’t very interesting to us.
It very much seemed to include lots of facts, stats, and info...yet still felt like I would have to add a lot and do a good bit of prepping and adding other books to make it rich learning.
We loved Artists by Gather Round!
We had a genuinely fun time using Artists!
I had the same experience with "Gather Round". I wanted to like it because of the idea of us all doing work together. I tried Abeka a couple times but it was just so dry for us. I have not tried TGTB because when I first heard about it and researched it (4 years ago ) I found out the gal who made it is a Mormon. I found quotes from Mormon authors in the handwriting books and that was it for me. I am not bashing her or anything but it was a deal breaker for me.
I would say that curriculum I have tried and would never use again are:
1. Abeka (reasons mentioned above)
2. Gather Round (this video explained it perfectly)
3. Ambleside Online (I found that I like many of C.M concepts but I found it too overwhelming and too strict in actual application --at least for us. We kept what we liked books, nature, and narration)
5. Master books: "Math Lessons for a Living Education" (I really like how they Break up the learning into easy chunks BUT, we were not thrilled with the story element or some of the projects...and I didn't feel the price met with how much I was using the curriculum).
I definitely appreciate elements of the CM approach, but don't follow the entire method.
I agree on TGATB math. I have three kids doing it right now, levels 1, 4 and 5.
TGATB Math is fantastic for my two children that have a natural math brain. They enjoy the real life applications.
Going against the flow here: It is my opinion that real life applications make math more interesting but also harder and not easier. You need a solid understanding of the concepts to apply them to real life, in my opinion.
For the one child that is less inclined, I feel that the actual instructions are too short and the curriculum jumps around too much. Here I use TGATB math not for instruction but for extra practice. Because I feel that, inclined or not, math is the one subject that you really want to be good at.
I think if I were using it for extra interesting practice, not for teaching, it would have worked--if you're using it for kids who don't really need the instruction and who naturally grasp mathematical ideas, it could work. I agree with you--math is one subject that you REALLY want to be very solid at. I was using Kinder math with my 4 year old, who I would say is fairly math-inclined...but being 4 years old, he needs solid math instruction.
@@SevenInAll I wanted to add… I really like that TGATB look for math patterns in nature. It’s almost philosophical. Perhaps TGATB math could best be described as ‚beyond mathematics‘
After many attempts with my oldest in math we finally landed on TGTB. It has worked great! Now, my daughter, great! My third kid has used it as well, but he is probably gifted and needs to skip so many lessons now he needs a switch up! Amy comments or suggestions would be great! My fourth kiddo is doing well it too. My fifth isn’t doing school much yet he’s only 3! So, agreed on the it can fit me but not the kid statement! Thanks for your video!
Skipping lessons is definitely a thing with gifted learners. I know of some that successfully use Math U See with gifted kids, which came as a surprise to me, but it's exactly because it's a curriculum that works well when you can just skip what you've mastered and move on to the next thing. I know many love Beast Academy but I have no experience with that myself.
I am just now watching this video, but Saxon is very good for gifted learners. Many will test through the book. Give the chapter 1 test. If they make above XYZ score, skip to chapter 2. Give the chapter 2 test. If they make above XYZ score, pass to chapter 3, and so on till they don't make above XYZ and that's where you start in the book. Every level because so much is review. Only do the evens or odds in the lessons. Once my son got to 7th grade, we switched to Shormann math which is based off Saxon. They offer math through Calculus 2 and offer CLEP/AP/SAT Prep.
Honestly I have the SAME drawbacks from TGTB math. I wanted so badly to love it. I invested money into the math boxes, printed off the curriculum in full color, only to be severely frustrated and not loving math like I wanted my kiddo to love it. We since switched over to math mammoth but I may end up going with math with confidence after the first of the year 😅 ... I'm a bit particular so switching from curriculum to curriculum has not settled well with me but it has had to be done. Thanks for this video !
It is definitely frustrating when we put money into a curriculum...and it just doesn't meet expectations or do what we need it to do. It happens to all of us, though! I very much understand the reluctance to switch because there will never be a "perfect" math curriculum...but it can take some trial and error at the beginning to find what we need and what works.
Honestly, I don’t think I will ever use Abeka either. There are so many other curriculums out there that work better for us.
I think there are definitely a lot more options available to homeschoolers nowadays...we were a lot more limited in options looking back almost 20 years ago when my mom switched to Abeka.
As always, I enjoy your thoughts on curriculum. I do think, regarding geography, it would be perhaps difficult to understand a curriculum purely written from the perspective of someone living there without a sort of editor's voice to temper what significant cultural differences would arise. As for curricula written by large groups of people, you again need an editor to rope it all together, or a very aligned team. We used a like abeka for grades k-2. Just math and phonics...I do not like anything else offered by them. I didn't like TGATB either. It's so interesting what we do all end up liking and using though.
Oh yes--as a writer, I fully, fully believe in the need for editors and for the expertise of curriculum designers to make educational resources come together--several different skill sets are needed--it's no small task! And I don't believe any 'perfect' curriculum exists, although some fit our family better than others.
Did you review the gather round letters and numbers in the end? I only think I saw your previews
No, I believe I only did the flip-throughs.
@@SevenInAll curious to know how it went! Is that a video you plan to make or maybe you'd care to just share here :)
@@kailynolson2281 I didn't end up really going all in on Letters and Numbers once my boy was old enough....one of the reasons I didn't think it was fair to make a review. We did use most of the workbooks as just for fun because they really were fun and since they were already printed, but I ended up falling in love with Gentle + Classical Preschool. Sometimes it takes a while to figure out what you really want preschool/homeschool to look like.
So true. Great video, so honest. We used all of those curriculums you were talking about and that's so true!!!
I know how frustrating it is when curriculums don't work the way we hope they will---glad I'm not alone in my experience, but also sad that the same sorts of frustrations happen to others. It's okay--with trial and error, we figure out the resources that work best for us!
@@SevenInAll what math curriculum would you recommend?
@@elenahajda9291 What I'm using and loving with my son is Math with Confidence by Kate Snow--but that program only goes up till 2nd grade right now, with more years being released in the coming years. I do have a detailed video on the Kindergarten level. For older grades...my own kids aren't there yet, but we have used a variety of programs with my siblings--Math U See has probably been my family's most consistently used program--it's straightforward and gets the job done. I also find Singapore Math intriguing but haven't used it
We live in Asia. And yet my kids hardly know anything about the countries in it. I was looking at Gather Around Asia Unit Study, but wasn’t super impressed. Do you have any recommendations for curriculum that provides a good Asia Unit study?
I don't know of an Asia unit study to recommend. We have just finished up using Gentle + Classical's "On Mission" magazine to study Vietnam, and I was pretty satisfied with the combo of using that magazine as a 'spine' plus several picture books. They have issues for a few Asian countries: India, China, Vietnam off the top of my head. The Vietnam issue also included info on some surrounding SE Asian countries.
@@SevenInAll thank you!
I’m going to check that out.
If you don’t mind, I have another question for you. I was recently watching another one of your videos… comparing G&B and Abeka. We have used Abekas Language K-3 and have liked it. But now we have started Abeka Grade 4 Language A. We’ve been working on it for over a month now and we just are struggling. My son & I.
All the moms I know are using G&B. So this past week I’ve been checking out their grade 4 Language Arts. I think I still have time in the school year to switch.
Ok all that said, I noticed that G&B doesn’t have language test or quizzes in their Language curriculum, do you think that is something that I should be concerned about?
@@ChrisHall-kw2tf You could always print out some TGATB level 4 lessons first to give it a try. I don't necessarily worry about tests in elementary years. They can be very useful learning tools for some kids (i.e. some kids are convinced that they understand a concept until they take a test that "proves" to themselves that they don't actually understand it.) but are not always required.
Also, could you publish a unit study on transportation please?😀
That honestly sounds like a really fun project I could work on with my dad. But my to-write list at the moment is almost excessively long...with the times I have free to write being excessively short. ha!
I second this!! 😁💗
Oh no i literally just got a couple grade levels of abeka thankfully i was mostly getting it to use the language arts and was planning to use teaching textbooks and some other math resources.
I dont excel at language arts myself is why i chose abeka as theyre early grade language arts seems very detailed so hipefully my children wont struggle having holes early on as i did.
If it helps, I think Abeka's language arts is their strongest subject area!
I hated Singapore math but my twin son loves it and it works for us!!! We love using books and my ok kids love their hHBLs!!! On the international move we took advantage of eBooks and the HBLs where sent to our new house!!!
Sometimes that happens, too--a kid loves a curriculum that a parent does not!
I was excited to try moving beyond the page and that was a lot to implement. While also not what I had in mind. I was also excited to try Saxon math and that was a lot and also not what I wanted. Keep in mind when I say a lot i am speaking from a mom of multiples pov (even though I have also seen moms of multiples who love both Saxon and moving beyond the page). I have just spent money that I wish I hadn’t but hey you live and you learn 🥴😁
Yes, my grandpa likes to say "education is expensive"...in the sense that we often end up spending money we wish we hadn't on the way to learning the best/most effective way to do anything...and that includes homeschooling! But hopefully we learn, and gradually make fewer of those expensive mistakes! :)
Abeka was my go-to from the time we started homeschooling (4th grade), through 8th grade. My child really struggled though with it once the format changed at the onset of 7th grade. I had finally switched her math out, and by the second half of 8th grade, I no longer used the literature portion of the curriculum either. I actually did not feel like their anthology booklet was enough. In hindsight, I am sure that as of 7th grade, Abeka is a high school level curriculum. It was an excellent curriculum for elementary level, but not beyond that for my family.
Fast forward to moving in to 10th grade, and she is telling me she wants to go back to Abeka just for the grammar and spelling/vocab portion of Language Arts. She also wanted to go back to Abeka history and science, but I said no way…and had to wonder does she have Stockholm syndrome. What she had for 9th grade worked just fine.
The Stockholm Syndrome comment made me chuckle. It is true that sometimes the old and familiar can feel very comforting, even when it comes to homeschool resources. I definitely think Abeka shines brightest in elementary, but many people do experience frustrations as you get closer to the high school levels.
I felt the same way about Gather Around. I loved the concept but it's a no for us. We have used Abeka Language arts but wouldn't use it after grade 2.
I think "unit studies" in general aren't a good fit for my style, as I mentioned with the themed study vs. unit study difference--and that's a helpful realization for me to have, because then I won't be so tempted to try unit studies when I don't necessarily want or need a single study to cover all subject areas. I agree that Abeka is probably best in the early elementary years...my high school homeschool experience was still great, even with Abeka, but I wouldn't plan to use it again.
What math program are you using for your son that you like?
I'm using Math with Confidence (we used the Kindergarten level, currently using 1st Grade)
Yes 1000%. I love TGATB LA but the math was horrible for my kindergartner. She was able to do simple addition in her head before starting. She’s 4 almost 5, and was able to do the TGATB K-math but she wasn’t retaining anything. So I realized she does better with mastery based math. So we will be trying MWC too. I also felt like it wasn’t teaching how to do things well. Which makes me sad bc I wanted to love it. But we love the handwriting and LA. Lol
Yes, I think the activities in TGATB Math are genuinely fun and interesting...the main problem I have is that the teaching, the instruction for new skills, seems lacking or not as solid for teaching really strong number sense. We've loved our experience with MWC--more than halfway through Kindergarten now!
@@SevenInAll yes very true. It also seems random and too much bouncing around. It doesn’t seem complete to me. I know it works for many, just not for my girl.
I’ve been swept up in excellent marketing many times. Usually it isn’t a good fit. 😂 I did find MFW Exploring Countries & Cultures to actually live up to the hype and exceeded my expectations. I didn’t think it would, so it was a pleasant surprise.
TGATB has been a miss in everything except handwriting. All different reasons. Some of it was the look of the workbook pages (so crammed/small writing), sometimes the material was dry and I did not like not having a teachers guide and books for the kids (their old science which are being updated.)
I never say never (except abeka 😂) but I try to really weigh if it is going to be a good fit as I don’t have the funds to really change things out.
That's awesome when you can say that a resource even EXCEEDED expectations--how cool! With us being overseas and often having to purchase for future years in advance, it's also hard to change things out (one of the reasons why I did Abeka for all my high school years even though we weren't huge fans from very early on. My mom switched back to Sonlight and used other math programs for my younger siblings.) At least with the rise of digital PDFs for curriculum, it is easier for us to change some things sometimes.
I think for the 'target' audience of gather round (several children, using it for entire school other than math) the pricing is more reasonable. I would also say, to be fair, that every unit could go in so many different directions that where one would go with it another wouldn't choose to. I think for a particular audience it works really well! That said, we have tried it and decided not to utilize it again either. The breadth of ages being taught together is hard to address, in my opinion. I would have loved for it to work though- seems ideal, except it didn't work for us 😅
Yes, if you were using it exactly as intended, and if you have a good library to pull extra books in from, it would be more affordable. Gather 'Round clearly works well for many, many families who use it long-term and love it...it just wasn't really a good fit for us, although we did try several units (and Artists was by far the favorite--a real favorite). My family has wide age gaps (I'm 15 years older and 19 years older than my two youngest sisters...with a bunch of other kids scattered around in between...) and "family style" learning rarely worked super fantastically with our range of ages and range of interests.
We love Robinson curriculum and Saxon math. :)
I used Saxon in elementary as a kid and liked it! I have heard of Robinson but don't know much about it.
@@SevenInAll it focus on the 3 Rs and it’s extremely affordable
Excellent and thoughtful reviews 👍
Thank you for taking the time to watch!
Same! I wanted to LOVE GR. But it just didn't fit us and I was bummed it read like alot of facts. Rebecca is such a natraul conversationalist and I had hoped that would come across in the writting. My children didn't like the workbooks at all so it felt like a waste of money and printing. We only finished 1 whole unit of the 4 I bought 🤦♀️. I do like the letters and numbers workbooks but the stories and Bible were very lacking and didn't keep my littles attention. I love the heart of the company but we ultimately went with MFW (Preschool/kinder/history cycle). We learn better from living books I have realized.
Also, I have tried TGTB SO many times. I want to love it. I tried. .. but it doesn't work for us. To school like I guess. And the math was too over crowed it overwhelmed my children sadly. (Its so beautiful 😫🤣)
We really enjoy Apologia Math and just started my kinder in Math with Confidence and love that one as well. Both are short/fun lessons. But really build a good foundation.
Living books are definitely where my heart is for homeschool.
We loved the idea of Gather Round so entirely that we bought many of their units. We did not like any of them. We felt like we could have gone to the library and read random books based on one theme and it would have been more than what we got with Gather Round.
That had to have been a frustrating experience! It can be tough when you spend the money only to realize that a resource is a bad fit. I think trying out some units from Gather 'Round helped me to identify what I really like and what I don't enjoy in regard to themed studies--and yes, actual books related to a theme fit my own style better.
Abeka is a wonderful private school curriculum. But it has all the same flaws all curricula designed for schools have.
Yes--homeschool students learning advanced math are doing it without a teacher to 'bring it to life' and to ask questions of, without peers to work on projects with...curriculum that's designed for that specific situation might end up being a better fit.
We are a bit all over the place. Woht my oldest having what I call extrem adhd she has such an aversion to school that I’ve just had to pick a curriculum on the daily that fits her mood. It’s honestly been mostly Gather Round and Bookshark bit Bookshark has too many moving parts I’ve noticed and not a lot of them interest her :( we are thinking of trying campfire curriculums next bc I’m at a dead end. The constant complaining is so hard. I watched your video about one of your sister and it was eye opening but practically speaking I don’t know what to do. She has to be doing school so for now I just say well you can hate it but we still have to do it.
Constant complaining is indeed a joy-sucker, and I would be very intentional on working to change that culture. I do have a video about when your kids don't want to do schoolwork and complain about it: ua-cam.com/video/wwKz8gkhlJo/v-deo.html
My mom likes to say that as parents, we're probably expecting too much if we want our kids to do what they ought to do (i.e. schoolwork, chores, etc.) AND expecting them to genuinely like it and be super excited about doing the right thing. She says it's enough for them to do it--after all, we all have to do things that are the right thing, they are a necessary task of life, but we don't LOVE them and feel so excited about them. However...when we do those unpleasant, necessary tasks...(taxes, scrubbing toilets, etc.)...we're not complaining about them, are we? No--at least, we shouldn't be, that sucks the joy out of life.
When you're dealing with complaining and bad attitudes about doing these necessary tasks...we can expect our kids to learn to do their jobs without complaining. I would have conversations about how life has plenty of not-so-fun parts, and that complaining about these not-so-fun parts doesn't have any benefit (to anyone! not even to the complainer!). You can talk about how everyone has a job to do, the job of kids is to go to school--and its your choice whether to see it as a good thing or a bad thing...but complaining is not an appropriate response to the natural truth of life that everyone, including you, has a job.
I do prefer the Campfire to Gather round. Every sample I try is so dry and boring. I bought the Campfire Thanksgiving unit and the writing is truly living book style. I think it’s because they consult with experts in the field. My 7 year old son would do their core connections for fun while I cooked dinner! I still think you’d have to supplement for older grades. It also asks important Socratic questions too.
@@ravenbird3014 Good to hear that review of Campfire! I think that consulting with experts in a specific field can really make a difference.
Thank you! It’s been such a work in progress as she is the oldest her Aristide sets our day and I’ve seen it trickle into my youngest attitudes :( I know my daughter is brilliant and so loving and kind she just hates school so much. I’ve watched every video you have on school and struggling kiddos. I’ve said everything you can’t think of to help her understand. I think for is it’s time to bring someone else in bc even for Bible she complains. She is an amazing daughter so loving and kind but there is something else I can see that I don’t have the tools for. If she wants to know something she is far more motivated to find the answer and we talk ALL the time I’m just sad and also don’t want to take time from my other kids that need me too. Man parenting is hard work and I’m so glad to have people to bounce ideas off of.
I love tgatb we're on maths 1 now but, I don't feel it lays the foundation well. I feel like it assumes a lot. We'll rush through it and go to maths with confidence grade 1. My son actually likes tgatb but that's not enough.
"assumes a lot" is I think a good summary of my frustration with using the math....I saw it assuming that skills didn't really need to be explained or practiced when my son did need that. If you're going to switch, I would definitely look at the scope + sequence to see where to place your son--not all programs teach the same things at the same grade level, and it can be helpful to check out the scope and sequence first.
@@SevenInAll oh yes. Thank you for the advice. I have been looking at the scope and sequence for math with confidence and I I'm comfortable with it. We used maths with confidence K, and I really liked it. Because we still had time, we added tgatb K, just rushed through it and it filled in some gaps and my son liked it a lot . Also, because we're not in the US, downloading tgtab maths 1 was easier, so we started with it. We're in the 43rd lesson now but we will run through it, and we will return to maths with confidence 1 and start afresh. Like redo the maths school year by God's grace.
Yes about gather round. There are so many other issues with the company in general that I won't ever waste my money there again. Tgtb is so hit or miss with our family. We love the handwriting and science but the la and history are a big nope.
I think it can be helpful to get to a point where you realize that nope--these resources aren't a good fit for what I'm looking for...it helps you save money for resources that ARE a better fit.
@@SevenInAll yes absolutely. 3 kids being homeschooled here and we've been through the nope a lot 🤣
I believe the curriculum in my elementary private school was Abeka. I loved the school but the curriculum was very boring. I don’t remember much at all. I think they used it for science and history. That’s why I won’t even look at it now 😂
I think science and history are where Abeka is the weakest--their LA is instructionally solid. Their high school math simply was not designed to be done without a math teacher teaching it, and caused me many headaches because of that. lol!
Totally agree about Gather Round. We are currently doing the Christmas around the World unit and it’s just okay. I got it on sale but it was still pricey and I didn’t even get the extras! I really like Apologia’s deep dive and conversational style - I wish they would do more units (even mini ones) and maybe branch out into arts and other sciences.
I completely forgot when I filmed this video but we actually did the "first" Christmas unit by Gather 'Round as well, several years ago...and "just okay" would have been my review of that after using it, as well. Not something that made me want to try another one...actually, I ended up creating my own "Christmas school" unit to make one that fit my vision for Christmas school.
I like that idea of Apologia branching out into the arts and humanities...that would be really interesting to see!
TGTB math….
I see your point. I chose it for my middle child bc she needs the fun. But even with her math, we’ve skipped some of the games and the she always skips the coloring. If it’s merely busy work “fun” she’s not into that. She wants learning to be fun. But she doesn’t want fluff either.
My youngest is doing just fine with Singapore math which is for the mathematically inclined. It’s black and white pages. Even the preschool/kindergarten Singapore math Essentials program which I loved. Very straight forward. My youngest flew through it. I let her do as many pages as she wanted in a day and many times she did 5-6 pages!
I’ve never heard of the math that you’re using now. Is it only for kindergarten and younger ages? Or what grades does it include??
I was strongly considering Singapore Math before I fell into Math with Confidence...which has some similarities but is overall cheaper, I'd say, and that was definitely a motivation for me. Math with Confidence is published by the Well Trained Mind and thus far has only been released as far as 2nd grade, though their schedule has them releasing levels up through 6th grade. Hopefully it will continue to be awesome and we'll be able to stick with it through the years! We shall see!
If math was easy for you in college, maybe that might mean Abeka did a good job preparing you. 🤔
Every academic subject in my life has been easy for me (I'm what's labeled as "gifted" in traditional schools, and I share about gifted homeschooling in other videos)....other than Abeka math, and that's because the textbooks were designed to be used WITH a teacher, not for the student to use on their own without teacher's explanations--that was, I believe, my struggle with their math resources. Back then there wasn't really UA-cam or Khan Academy or the resources we have nowadays to look up explanations when we're struggling with a tough concept. For my own kids, I'd lean toward math resources that are more friendly to math instruction outside of a traditional classroom.
We are same, we love team study 😊
Great video🙂
Glad you enjoyed it!
If your child loves art they will love the math tgtb we love it
If you are aware of how the curriculum could have gone to be in a better direction for a few units then you doubt the curriculum as a whole for other units.
Yes, I think that's very much my experience...just don't really feel the need to take another gamble on another unit.
We got good and beautiful didnt work for my kids
It's very frustrating when you invest in and prep a curriculum and it's just not what you end up needing or wanting. But it happens to everyone.
Not sure why this came into my UA-cam recommended videos, but as a Christian high school teacher, perhaps there is some overlap. May I take this opportunity to beg homeschooling parents to educate their kids well. In my 22 years of teaching there have been so many occasions when homeschooled students start coming to school, usually in grade 8, 9, or 10, and have big gaps in learning that makes it so hard as a teacher. Most of my classes have different grades and streams and are very inclusive to different learning styles and levels; however, trying to catch up homeschool kids to basic skills like writing paragraphs, grammar and punctuation, essays etc, has been the most exhausting and frustrating journey. Please don’t take shortcuts and then expect a teacher to fix it all for you later on. For the love of all that is good and right and true….
I fully agree that homeschool parents need to take the job of homeschool very seriously and be committed to excellent education for their children. I grew up homeschooled and felt like college was "easy" after my own homeschool experience...but I know that that is not everyone's experience. My husband is currently writing his thesis and is doing research into the experience of homeschooled kids transitioning into a traditional high school.
@@SevenInAll Thanks for your reply. It is a complex and individual experience, for sure. Some homeschooled children enter the classroom quite capable, and further along in many areas. One situation that seems to repeat itself though is when homeschooled students transfer in, they struggle with deadlines, or totally ignore deadlines as if they don’t apply to them. This is ok for awhile, but it can be taxing always having to check in with those students. They also expect me to help them at the drop of a hat - anytime of day or night, sending emails on weekends or late at night and wanting a reply. I try to always be there for them and assist, but gently help them realize that I’m not their mother and I do in fact have children and a separate life of my own. 😄 God bless your family.