Posted by Sherri on July 04 2008 at 22:24:55:
In Reply to: Switched On Schoolhouse posted by Trudy on July 02 2008 at 22:43:57:
I used 5th grade SOS with my son, and we managed to get through about one semester before deciding it wasn´t for us. My daughter used SOS Spanish I as a Freshman and completed the year. It worked for her, but she doesn´t want to use SOS (or any other computer-based curriculum) again. I don´t think the problem was the level of the subject matter, but it was the challenge of learning everything at a computer screen.
I´ve also used Calvert a couple of times with my kids, and though I can see how the rhythm of those lessons can get boring, consider that this may be a bigger danger with SOS. After the initial excitement of the first couple of lessons, one of the things my son remarked on was that every lesson seemed the same (in the way it was presented and the way he was assessed).
Some things to consider: 1) Do you have a computer for each child that is dependable? (If the computer crashes, no school for the day. :)
2) Unless they´ve made updates since the 2006-2007 version, you´ll use a LOT of paper if you want to print out lessons to take on the road (a laptop would be an alternative, of course).
3) Are you comfortable with the majority of the assessments being multiple choice? There are some questions which are free-write answers which you may grade yourself or skip, but the majority are filling the blank, multiple choice or checklist-type answers.
4) How sensitive are your children to immediate feedback on each and every question? Though you can adjust the way the computer responds to questions (either giving immediate or delayed feedback, and having a verbal voice telling them things like "Good job!" or "Try again!" or not), my son (a perfectionist) got quite frustrated and upset by the constant reminders of how he was doing, and the fact that if he clicked the wrong answer by accident, he couldn´t change it. So, I changed the settings, which gave him more tries per question, but he could keep trying until he got the right answer, which isn´t a good assessment of what he did understand since most of the answers are multiple choice or something like it. He could just keep clicking until he found the right one whether or not he understood the material.
So, my final conclusion would be this: if you have a child who learns easily at the computer and is motivated to learn on their own, and if you make the effort to do the extra projects away from the computer (which really do require parental involvement unless your child is highly motivated) and de-emphasize the quizzes and tests, then the curriculum itself is satisfactory. If you´re looking for excitement and variety, however, I´m afraid you might be disappointed.
Just my two cents.
Sherri