Computer Based Curriculum

I got a request for a post on computer based curriculum. I am so excited. I got a request! I wasn’t even sure anyone was really ready this thing..

We have used a computer based curriculum by Alpha Omega called Switched on Schoolhouse. I was very excited about getting it and really liked it for the first couple of months we used it. It did everything for me. It teaches the lesson, keeps up with the time the kids are actually working and even keeps the grades. You hear that? It grades for you! It seemed to be so simple and wonderful. I was picturing myself watching t.v and eating bon bons being able to keep a spotless house while the kids dutifully did their school work. Ok, not really.. but you know what I mean. I really thought it would help simplify a large portion of the homeschool process.  Have I mentioned that I really like trying new things?

So we are using the program and I think everything is just dandy. Every once in a while, I would go on to the program and just check to see what the girl’s grades were looking like and I would ask what they had been learning about. Their grades always looked good but they never could tell me what they were learning about. Uh, oh. Red Flag. Then I started to worry.  The kids were always able to tell me or their dad about what they had been learning when I was teaching and doing our hands-on activities. I started to sit next to them while they worked to see why. It was *yawn totally uninteresting!! No wonder they couldn’t remember anything! After 15 minutes I was bored to tears.

After some serious thought about what I was going to do since I just dropped close to $1200 on this program that was going to essentially be a complete waste of money. I realized that Bible should be just that, sitting down with God’s word a real Bible in your hands talking face to face with your child about God, sharing your experiences and knowledge. There should be no substitutions.  Science is not nearly as fun on a screen as it is in real life. History was just..blah..on the computer when in fact history is fun and exciting and full of interesting stories and characters. The math worried me especially, it seemed to have no orderly sense at all. It was all over the place. My kids love to use the computer, they love learning games and “doing research” and they liked some parts SOS, just not that much. Definitely not enough to get them excited about what they were learning about or to keep their love of learning alive.

So we went back to our hands on approach to learning. The kids became excited about learning again and couldn’t stop talking about what we were doing. I was thrilled my children were thriving again. At the same time, I was quite sad. I have always struggled with keeping up with lesson planning, grading ( and reporting my grades on time) and I loved that SOS did it for me. I had to figure out a better way to keep up with that. I had to stop being so lazy laid back about it.

We do still use the computer for learning.

I have really had my eye on Power Speak French. It looks like a really good program to me. Maybe they will see this and send me one to review. I can hope. Right?

These are some of the programs that we use to enhance learning:

There is an award-winning drawing program called Tux Paint that you can download for free.  My kids also like to use it as a word processing program. They love when I let them write their reports with it.

The time tested Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor.

Math Facts in a Flash a great way to supplement learning of the math facts. It even has progress reports for each child.

We also have quite a few educational websites that we like to visit.