*EMAIL QUESTION* One thing that I would definitely like to find out though is where I could find a very good curriculum to use? I would very much appreciate any advise that you can provide. Miss Wells Answer: I have and continue to use a combination of Rod and Staff and SonLight Education curricular. The reason I use both is because of the pros and cons of each one: Rod and Staff Pros:This curriculums strength lies in the fact that it is Christian, and in particular the Science subject, which is saturated with Christian principles with every lesson that is being taught. Not only this but there is a separate Teachers Manual, which breaks down each lesson for you as the Teacher, so that you will be thoroughly equipped in presenting the lesson. It also contains a clear answer section thus making marking easy, and helpful in knowing how to grade, and what standard you should be expecting for your student at that stage. We love the old fashioned illustrations, for a picture paints a thousand words, and these pictures do, for they instill god standards of posture, behaviour and character that we would want to see in our young people. I have found that they are cost effective, and living in the UK, getting the material shipped to me from the USA, has not been expensive at all. They also deliver fast. Cons: If you are looking for an SDA curriculum solely, then Rod and Staff is not the one, it is designed by the Anabaptists, Mennonites. I therefore wouldnt recommend to use the religious material, and because they are who they are their name, way of life, and history sometimes pops up in the lessons as an example, and in the questions. We just skip those parts and use different examples, for I have taught my daughter that as much as we are to respect and d actually admire some of the Mennonites morals and ways of living, it is not necessary that we study their teachings. As for Christian principles, unless you use their Science/Nature and Geography courses, you wont hear much of God and the Bible in the other subjects, besides a Scripture that serves as the foundation for the whole Unit. SonLight Pros: I am an SDA and so wanted to be sure that I was going to give my daughter an SDA education, with each lesson founded on and built upon the Word of God, and seeded with the Spirit of Prophecy.... Well this curriculum was the one! At the time when I started my daughter on this curriculum, I had to go around selling my own grown Wheatgrass and Juicer Set, did a Homeschool Workshop where donations were collected, and worked hard in other areas to save to pay for all the material for my homeschool. This was EXPENSIVE back in the day, but the great news is.... it is NOW FREE, and the materials can be downloaded on the computer. Cons: The Teachers section is part of the pupils book, so you can imagine how small it is, so there isnt much there to help you thoroughly prepare yourself for the lessons ahead as a Teacher. That was very important for me because I was homeschooling as a single mother, and prior to getting SonLight, designed my own curriculum teaching ALL of my daughters lessons literally STRAIGHT FROM THE BIBLE. It wasnt enough for me to have an SDA currciculum, I, with all the workload I had as a single mother, and previously planning all Rachels lessons from scratch, from the Bible, needed all the help I could get with teaching! So in addition to the SonLight Curriculum, I started investing in the Rod and Staff curriculum again. I say again, because a friend of mine donated some of the colouring and activity pre-school books for me when my daughter was small, so I was familiar with their material. I didnt start Rachels formal education until she was seven years old, but really, according to the counsels I should have waited until she was eight. Finally, I didnt like how the lessons were not divided into categories of some sort: no units, sections... nothing, so you dont know how many pages there are for each lesson. Also so many new concepts were jam packed under each title, rather than taking one concept at a time and expounding on it through pages. I specifically found this troubling in the Math series, where it seemed like every level of Multiplication was sprawled out on one page! There is no section for the Teacher to help you understand the lesson. Its either you learned this at school and remember it, or you didnt! So why do I still use it? Mainly because of the spiritual quality of the curriculum. It covers the book, The Desire of Ages from cover to cover, by taking a chapter and letting that be the foundation that a number of lessons are built on. These are the two that I have used, and will continue to use.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 19:44:32 +0000
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