MtnLisa
- Reviewed on Tuesday, May 18, 2010
- Grades Used: 5th Grade AO Monarch
- Dates used: April 6, 2010 - current
We have been using Monarch for about 6 weeks now and I feel it's time for a good review.
We are using 5th grade Science, History, LA and Math. We no longer have meltdowns over math!! My dd is thriving on this program and I'm pretty happy with it, too.
At the very beginning there were a few bugs in the program but those have been worked out and everything runs smoothly now. It was very easy to set up from both the teacher and student standpoints. I love the fact that I paid for it and got it within minutes, the fact that we can use it anywhere there is internet (great for when we travel) and I don't have to keep up with a bunch of discs.
The content of the Math, LA and History has been great. The science is a little drier than what my dd is used to, so that will take some getting used to. But all in all, I give Monarch a thumbs up!
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nsflint
- Reviewed on Wednesday, January 20, 2010
- Grades Used: 8th gr math
- Dates used: 2010
Advantages: Lifepac is definately alluring. The program is readily available at many education stores. Every common subject is available for every grade K-12 in separate boxes per subject and grade. The box lists very clearly all content and is very thorough. Affordable.
Disadvantages: Perhaps if the program is started early it would be easier to follow. The lessons are incredibly short with little detail or explanation. No review. My 14yo and myself found it to be very complicated to follow and keep up with (and I'm a math geek myself). The workbooks canNOT easily be copied for future use; which could be useful for further practice of difficult subjects and/or for younger siblings.
Contriversial: Yes, even the math in Lifepac is full of bible lessons. For some, this could be considered an asset; for others, this is can be rather annoying. Every lesson has some sort of bible question or reference. Most of these are totally unrelated to the math problems being worked, or even to math.
Personally, we only did the first 2 workbooks, then we switched to Saxon and are totally satisfied. I do NOT recommend Lifepac unless for a "dedicated" Christian family starting from the younger grades; perhaps K, 1st, or 2nd...?
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ressonfan
- Reviewed on Thursday, January 07, 2010
- Grades Used: kindergarten
- Dates used: 2009-2010
We have four adopted children with developmental/behavioral special needs (FASD, RAD, ADHD, etc). We've just started kindergarten work with our oldest. We're a little different from many in that we will only 'formally school' math and language arts for our children. 'Social studies' and science will be 100% experiential on our parts, with books in which they express specific interest.
For our son, the slow pace and repetition in this curriculum (Ive reviewed later years) will be key. We actually plan to stretch each year's Lifepacs over 12 months, to slow the pace even more, and allow for repeating a book or doing supplemental review work.
We're very happy with Lifepacs so far and think that they're great, with the built in flexibility that kids with special needs require.
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heksb
- Reviewed on Monday, December 28, 2009
- Grades Used: 1-3 and 9
- Dates used: 2003-2006
My younger children did well with this program, but an older child that I put into some of the parts of the program had trouble understanding some of the terms AO used because they had been taught different ones. I think that many of the books are full of tons of great information in the little space they have to cover it, however, I just didn't like enough aspects of this program to stay with it for the just of any of our curriculum. It didn't work for us, but I have nothing bad to say about it either.
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