Isn't it lovely, in all of its nearly 1,400-paged glory?
But I'm being good about sticking closely to my original list of resources and supplies, despite, as Rudyard Kipling would have it, my "'satiable curtiosity."
The trouble with being, at heart, an eclectic homeschooler (albeit with a decidedly classical bent), is not that I see value in so many methods and resources, but that I always wish I could employ them all. Some weeks, we're literature heavy, other weeks we're more hands-on and crafty. Ah, to be able to do it all at tandem.
In an effort to illustrate how easily I could be manipulated into wanting the latest and greatest thing on the market, I had been thinking rather seriously of using MCT language arts with my younger two this year, but I ultimately decided against it. I was mature enough to realize that the only reason I had been seduced into considering it at all was because of all of the wonderful things people were saying about it. I've no doubt that it's a wonderful program, but really, the eclectic mix that we have been using all along for language arts has been working well for us, so switching wouldn't really make much sense, regardless of how wonderful MCT seems to be. I think that by now, I have effectively exorcised myself out of that mindset. Besides, I've been homeschooling long enough to realize that there's always a bigger, better program on the horizon. Tangentially related, I visited the Well Trained Mind boards again not too long ago, after having been away for a while, and experienced a bit of acronym shock. Once upon a time, I just knew that "TWTM" = The Well Trained Mind, that "LCC" = Latin Centered Curriculum, and that "ETC" stood for Explode the Code. I used to be "in the know." But when I got there, I found a whole new set of acronyms to wade through. It took a while to figure out what was meant by RSO, CLE, and HOD. What?!?!? After some digging, I learned that these are Real Science Odyssey (Secular), Christian Light Education, and Heart of Dakota (Christian), respectively. All received glowing reviews. To be clear, I at no time considered any of these. Frankly, I've got enough options to wade through.
And just because I mentioned which of the aforementioned programs was secular, and which were not, I wanted to add that as a not-so-consistent rule, I do often tend to avoid a lot of Christian curricula, regardless of denomination. The "not-so-consistent" part comes in when it comes to grammar. I love Rod & Staff Grammar, a Mennonite program, and use books three through five. At those levels, the sample sentences are kind of generic Christian, and I don't mind that. At those levels, there's no particular doctrinal bias that I can see. I've read that this changes in the later levels, so I don't use those. To me it's just the best grammar program I've ever seen, and I love the teacher's guide layout. I wish all teacher's guides were as well put together. My teen is using Seton's Grammar 9 (Catholic) now as well, and really likes it, and the doctrinal bias in that case, is not a problem for us as we're Catholic. That said, it's not my favorite, but it gets the job done. When it comes to other subjects and materials written from a sectarian point of view, I find that often the religious content (yes, regardless of denomination) often seems tacked on and really reaches to fit the spirituality into the lesson. The way I see it, if the connections made make sense and are organic to the lesson, it should be seamless, and it seldom is.
Off to peruse the catalog a bit longer. Just in case.
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