Who?

I can assure you that any teacher that has started out having illusions of developing critical thinking and reasoning skills had the truth revealed within the first year. I don't think I have a single student that can memorize facts, let alone piece together facts to come up with a new idea. It's extremely frustrating.

Sorry HDT, his family supplemented his Walden life with food and goods. Read the unpolished version.

When I was in elementary school, I was taught under a curriculum known as the A Beka Program. It dealt with a high amount of memorization, and a lot of linking stuff together, like James referenced. If the program is instituted when the child is young, between the ages of 4 and 7, it works great. I never had trouble studying for a test. I found myself bored out of my mind in college because they were teaching us stuff I learned in junior high. The bad thing is, though, kids that came from a public school to my school did really poorly. They either failed completely and had to repeat the grade or they barely skated by with high D's and low C's. Memorization, reasoning, and critical thinking among students is a possibility, but only if we start it at the lowest level.

i mean no offense, but i don't really consider you a poster child for creative thought processes

What qualifies you to make that judgement? Honestly, I imagine you lack any such qualifications which makes your opinion hollow and it's understandable why offense wouldn't be taken.

I'd say I understand how the universe works pretty well, just can't remember certain specifics alot, like where are my keys!

you don't know me so that doesn't offend me

o, i kno rite?

A Beka is utter crap. It's worksheet-based rote dribble, with little to no critical thinking involved. IMO, they're more concerned with busywork than anything else. Also, the young earth creationist slant to their science textbooks is atrocious.

This post has been edited by Spectatrix: Nov 11 2008, 10:01 AM

I think the early A Beka books are good for those learning to read and spell, anything past that and I don't see the usefulness.

Possibly so. To be fair, the Seton curriculum we used after A Beka wasn't much better. The only benefit I saw was that Seton allowed us to mix and match grade levels for subjects (so I was in advanced math, for instance), whereas A Beka didn't allow that at the time.

Guh... as much I view homeschooling as a positive thing, most of the prepackaged curriculums out there have severe drawbacks.

I agree. I was homeschooled for a good portion of my younger years and always found that I moved ahead in certain areas and fell behind in others but the curriculum did not really match or allow for change.

what the heck are you guys talking about? Is this a texas thing?