"I
am in the sixth grade. I use SOS as my schooling after trying
many other curriculums. When I do my SOS it is fun and challenging.
I get to watch movies (on the computer) I also watch "tiny
tutors" which is a real teacher giving you tips or facts.
At any time I may look at my own grades even before my mother.
Sometimes
the computer will give me an F on the problem because I put
down sea and the answer was water.
My mother can go and erase the grade and put in the proper grade
at the click of a button. Even though the computer grades all
the work you still can go and look at all the child's work and
change the grades. The teacher mode is the only section
in the process on which you can change grades and you need a
password to enter this (you pick a password when you set up
the process.) so you can make this off limits to the student.
It
is also very convenient to do a quiz as it will warn you and
let you go and review the lesson. If you go to "review
mode" at the bottom of the page were all the school is
shown the child, not needing any password, can look at her grades
and previous work. However, the child may not change the
grades or answers. SOS is a wonderful program and I enjoy it
very much. It is based on the bible so I get a clear under standing
of Gods word. I highly recommend this program.
Angel
Review by a homeschooling
Father.
We have been a
homeschooling family ever since our oldest was in
kindergarten (he is now in 10th grade). We are a growing family
of a mom, a dad, six sons and two daughters. We have five children
enrolled in our homeschool. Over the years we have tried several
different curriculum packages and several different approaches to
homeschooling. Last school year we started using Switched-on Schoolhouse.
Our motivation for switching to Switched-on Schoolhouse was based
upon the fact that it eliminates 90 - 95% of paperwork involved
with
homeschooling. In other words, homeschool parents can focus on their
children's education rather than on the mound of "busy work"
that can
frustrate even the most organized parents. Parents no longer have
to worry about creating lesson plans or the grading of lessons,
quizzes, and tests because the program does it for you. Parents
no longer need to be frustrated over their children's failures because
with Switched-on Schoolhouse you can have them re-do a lesson, a
quiz, or a test with the click of a mouse
My wife was feeling
over-whelmed with homeschooling up until we
discovered Switched-on Schoolhouse. Now she enjoys being a homeschool
mom. Ienjoy being a homeschool dad as well.
There is one
downside to Switched-on Schoolhouse: Each child should have their
own computer in order to get their work done. If you use all 5
core subjects (Bible, Math, Science, History, and Language) for
each child (and we do) it takes 4 to 5 hrs. a day to complete
the work. Our family owns 5 computers presently. We purchased
used computers via the internet for around $250.00 each which
includes the computer, monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
The Switched-on
Schoolhouse curriculum costs around $200.00 per grade level which
includes all 5 core subjects. It is re-usable over and over again.
If you have several children, this helps with the expense involved
since it can be passed on to another child.
As far as I am concerned Switched-on
Schoolhouse is a blessing from
heaven. So what if they sit in front of a computer 4 to 5 hours
a day! It isa whole lot better than watching TV or playing video
games! Scheduled breaks can take care of those tired eyes.
Sincerely,
Pastor Steve Smith
NEGATIVE: Review by a homeschooling
Mother of four.
I'll tell you all about
Alpha Omega's Switched on Schoolhouse. The graphics are
very interesting, and there is virtually no paperwork for parents
to keep up with. That's really about all the positive
I can say about it.
There is alot
of reading which gets hard on the eyes because it's all on a computer
screen. The child cannot guide their reading with their finger.
The spelling consists almost entirely of crossword puzzles in
which they have to scroll up and down several times to answer
and they have to move the mouse to each square to place in the
letter. Very time consuming and tiresome.
There is no teacher
manual of any kind. In the teacher mode, you can get the
answers, but that's all. You can call the Alpha Omega school
for helps, but most of the time, they wouldn't be able to help
you for several days or even weeks.
Sorry I couldn't
be more positive. Some may love it. It just didn't work
for us.
About
the reviewer--Meloni Cutberth. This
coming year will be her 6th year to homeschool. Meloni has
a 13 (almost 14) year old daughter, 10 year old daughter, 2 year
old daughter, and 9 month old son and their next blessing is due
in Dec. Meloni and her husband Anthony will be married 17 years
this September. They are both born again Christians. Thanks
so much to Meloni for taking time from her busy schedule to give
this review!
Homeschool Mother
of two:
We are currently using Switched on
Schoolhouse for both my 7th and 3rd grader. My children
were very excited about the prospect of doing almost all their
schoolwork on the computer. I was excited about the lessening
of paperwork and grading. Now, halfway through the year
that is but a distant glimmer.
Within the first few
weeks my 3rd grader could not get into some of the Dynamic Learning
areas of his Math program. Call them glitches or what
have you, but they increased over time, as did other technical
difficulties. I would watch him answer a Math problem
or correct an English sentence only for it to be called wrong,
knowing that it was correct. Now, every day I have to
go back through each lesson to check if questions are correct,
or to check to see what math problems my son wasn't allowed
to answer.
My daughter who is
the 7th grader, is also frustrated. Many times
information will come up on quizzes or tests that was barely
mentioned in the previous lessons. While main thoughts
or points are neglected altogether.
I
have been homeschooling for 7 years, this year has probably
been the most frustrating for me. I feel I can't trust
what has been graded, either because the program has incorrectly
marked work or that work that has been done by my children is
not credited as being done.
For those of you who
love this program because of it's ease of grading, are you checking
to see if your children are getting credit for their correct
answers? And that some of their answers that are being
marked as wrong really are wrong? I have no plans to ever
use the SOS curriculum again, it did not provide the ease of
schooling that it promised it would.
