Let me start by saying this...I'm NOT getting paid to do this. I'm not linking up to anything or anybody in this post to draw traffic. I'm not asking for a recommendation. I don't even want to go there:-)
Everything about my blog is completely user-shared. Meaning this...there is not one post about something on my blog that I have not personally done or do not personally do every.single.day. I'm not here to give you ideas on what you CAN do, but am here to share with you what I HAVE done. :-) When I'm looking for information, I don't want a multiple choice list with 30+ ideas on it. I want 1 or 2 suggestions that someone else has done, had success with it, and is still continuing to do it. I don't want their one-time-use-here's-a-review approach on something. Now, that's just me. :-) That may not be you! You may like the multiple choice approach and that's great! This article can still be for you :-)
READ ON......
Five years ago when my oldest daughter was entering 3rd grade (she is now in the 7th), we needed to try a different home school curriculum with her. We had been using BJU Press and loved it, but felt she needed something a little more student-guided and not parent-fed :-) BJU makes schooling very easy for the parent, but sometimes too easy for SOME (and I say SOME) children. I am not bashing BJU PRESS because I have used it for my second child too. I feel they teach things very precisely and in a very organized fashion, laying the groundwork for middle school very well. Anyways, we felt the need to try something different. So we tried this...
Switched on Schoolhouse is put out by Alpha Omega Publications and is a Christian based curriculum that offers the five core subjects, Math/Language Arts/Science/History/Bible, in a format that is fun and easy to use!
Your child will have to know how to type as this curriculum is done exclusively on a computer and the child will be required to type in their answers to the problems in their lessons. A fun way to teach your children to type is
here and this is what we used with our oldest and are now currently using with our second child who will be going into third grade next fall. She will begin using SOS for her schooling so we are getting a jump start on her typing! Both of our girls love the Typer Island and our oldest still "types" through the games often just because they are that fun!
How the program is laid out:
This is a completely customizable system. You can purchase your childs grade in either a 4 or 5 subject set. The 5 subject set includes the Bible curriculum, the 4 does not. You can also purchase each subject individually for your child's particular grade. LOVE this option! The curriculum comes with an installation disc, but you can read all about that on AOP's site
here :-)
The curriculum is set up with a student log on and a teacher log on. The teacher part has EVERYTHING a homeschooling parent ever dreamed of! Customizable school calendar, grade and record keeping, tools to customize each subject to the needs of each of your students, and the list could go on and on! You can print off report cards and quarterly reports to help you have paper records to file for your homeschool record keeping. I did a post a while back about organizing the record keeping aspect of homeschooling and you are welcome to read all about it
HERE!
Each subject in Switched on Schoolhouse that is required for state testing (Math, Language, Science, History) is covered very thoroughly, enabling the student to be very prepared to take their yearly state tests.
The lesson format is set up in the form of the student reading all of their lesson material and then having 10-30 questions that they have to answer from the material they just read. It takes the student a few weeks to get the hang of being solely responsible to retain the information that they read :-), but once they figure that out, it's easy as pie!
The best part of using SOS is that you can load this entire curriculum on a laptop and take it on the road. For families who are in ministry and travel a lot, or for military families who need to move often and don't have places to set up a great homeschool "room", or for the family who is at home and needs a more flexible form of schooling, Switched On Schoolhouse is a God-send! Even though we don't travel and I stay home full time, I did teach College Music at a local College for two years and I took my oldest daughter with me sometimes and she would do her schoolwork on her laptop while I taught. It worked very well for us and she didn't miss any school! We now have our schooling set up with our oldest working on the computer in the kitchen while my husband and I work with the others at the kitchen table....perfect!!
The subjects come very equipped to teach the student not only through reading, but through hands on experiments and projects. The student will be required to write research papers, complete hands on science projects, and make other projects pertaining to each subjects requirements. The nice thing about it is that the teacher can log in and change the project settings for each subject. Some things are just not necessary for certain age levels and you can "un-assign" the things that you don't feel are important for your child to complete.
Switched on Schoolhouse also offers a wide variety of Electives for students in Middle to High School with a few language electives for the elementary grades. Here is an exerpt off of SOS explaining the various electives they offer...
"Switched-On Schoolhouse offers a variety of elective courses to diversify your student's study. Mostly designed for middle and high school grades, these courses are made to enrich Switched-On Schoolhouse's core subjects. Here is a list of electives offered in this Christian homeschool curriculum:
American Literature (7-12),
British Literature (7-12),
Business Computer Information Systems (9-12),
Civics (7-12),
The Civil War (9-12),
College Planner (9-12),
Consumer Math (9-12),
Earth Science (8-12),
Elementary French (3-6),
Elementary Spanish (3-6),
Essentials of Math (8-12),
Family & Consumer Science (7-12)
, Foundations for Living (9-12),
French I and II (9-12),
GED Preparatory History & Geography (9-12),
GED Preparatory Language Arts (9-12),
GED Preparatory Math (9-12),
GED Preparatory Science (9-12),
General Science III (9-12),
Health Quest (4-7),
High School Health (8-12),
Pre-algebra (7-9),
Secondary French (7-12),
Secondary Spanish (7-12),
Spanish I and II (9-12),
Speech: Essentials of Communication (9-12),
State History (7-12),
The Story of the Constitution (7-12),
Trigonometry (9-12),
Twentieth Century American History (9-12),
Vietnam Era (9-12),
World Geography (8-12). "
Another plus to using SOS is that the curriculum checks for updates made to the curriculum daily. I never have to worry if my child will be learning out of date material or material that is incorrect. SOS does a good job of keeping material current!
Cost Comparison:
Compared to a lot of video schooling out there, SOS is VERY VERY comparable in price. Just to give a few comparisons, I went to BJU Press and looked at their online schooling..here's the breakdown..I used 7th grade as my comparison because my oldest is in 7th this year.
Online with or w/o books - $800-$1000
DVD with or w/o books - $850-$1050
Hard Drive with or w/o books - $700-$900
Switched on Schoolhouse offers 7th Grade 5 Subjects, Brand New, this years current curriculum for...drum roll......$450.00!!! Now that is retail price right off AOP's site, but we never do that. We buy ours off Ebay for 1/3 the price and get the previous year's edition, or off of Craigslist if the seller will ship it to us. This year we bought 7th grade 2012's version off Craigslist for $125.00 :-)
Let's compare that again....$125 for SOS or $700-$1000 for another curriculum. Hmmmm...even if you bought SOS BRAND NEW right off the AOP site, you are still paying a fraction of what it costs to do other options.
$125.00 also means that you have everything you need for schooling outside of printer paper and pencils :-) LOVE IT!
Pros and Cons:
Pros: Covers each subject very thoroughly. Easy to set up. Very mobile, making it a plus for students who need to have a moving school without lugging lots of books around. Keeps the schooling concise without a lot of "rabbit trails" :-) Frees the parent to have more time to concentrate on helping the student(s) with trouble areas due to the parent not having to verbally teach every subject to every student. Covers the subject material very well. EASY parent set-up and is customizable to each students particular needs. Makes it very easy for Moms who need to take a sick day. You can take one and the kids won't get behind in school!!
Cons: I personally have none, but putting myself in another individuals shoes and looking at it from an outside perspective, there might be a concern that it isn't possible to finish a child's complete days worth of schooling in 2-3 hours. Well, we've been doing this for 5 years now and the schooling is finished in 3 hours everyday and her yearly state tests have gotten better and better each year. I have my own personal opinions on how long schooling should take, especially when you are home schooling, but that is for another day :-) If there were any cons to using SOS it would probably take the form of the child having to be able to type well before they start using the curriculum in grade 3. BUT, if you get some type of typing program like the one I listed above, it won't be a problem at all! We didn't start the typing program with my oldest until 2 months before she was to start 3rd grade (SOS), so the first few months of school were S.L.O.W. and tedious because her typing skills were slow :-) After she got better at typing, that problem resolved itself.
All in all, I have been very pleased with SOS and will continue using it for many years to come. If you have ANY questions, please feel free to ask or to suggest any materials you have used for your home schooling that have brought good results! Information shared is a positive to every homeschooling family! I hope that if you are looking to make changes to your homeschooling curriculum, this post has been helpful to you and has given you another option to look into! Happy homeschooling!