LifePacs or Christian Light Education?

[Vipers_Princess]

We are going to be homeschooling starting this fall. We had originally planned to use Switched on Schoolhouse but have heard and read that it takes anywhere from 3-5 hours per student per day to stay on track/complete even with the vast majority of quizzes and tests are 'deselected' and that the program lacks repitition...

So we thought we'd just use the Lifepacs. In looking into the reviews we see alot of people saying the same sort of things about concepts not being explained fully, not enough repititionto create a lasting impression, etc. Alot of these same people are encouraging using Christian Light Education. I've looked at the samples for both and alot of them look to be the same sort of thing, so I'm stumped.

FWIW- no matter what we choose in the end for 'book based education' we are still going to be going to science camps, day of learning at the zoo, {formal program} getting involved in the local homeschool groups as available, doing homeschool PE program at the Y in addition to middle dd's karate and so forth. So mostly we are looking to the book side for structured study/education on concrete topics especially Math and Language Arts.

Thoughts, ideas, experiences?

[Vipers_Princess]

bumping because I need to get this figured out pretty quickly so I can start ordering placement tests and whatnot

[mom2boys]

We've used both-I prefer CLE because it's cheaper, honestly. The content is the same-in fact, the older series of CLE workbooks were just the old versions of AO. CLE is now rewriting them and making them their own, but the higher level stuff isn't done yet, so it's still the same as the old AO books.
The only problem I have with CLE is it's designed to be used in a classroom, so there's a lot of workpages per lesson. We skip around, but it's very hard for me methodical son to NOT do EACH and EVERY problem on the page, and then he gets all bent out of shape when I tell him to only do the odd problems, for instance. We will use CLE for math all the way through his schooling-I like the way the concepts are introduced and repeated, and I like the inclusion of daily drills. I think daily drills are important to learning math-I feel that memorization is necessary in mathematics and arithmetic.
what level are you looking at buying? I have a lot of reading and misc books that we won't be using I wold be willing to part with. :-)

[Vipers_Princess]

I have one that is on the verge of being 'retained' in public school grade 2 due to her reading skills who also struggles in math and the other is passing 5th grade with As & but having trouble with fractions and geometry

[Titus2Momof4]

Well, one thing to consider is that both SOS and Lifepacs are produced by the same company (AOP) so that might explain why they seem very, very similar in content. I'm assuming you knew this, though, since you were considering SOS originally.

CLE is *way* cheaper....although if money is an issue, you can just buy 1 Lifepac book at a time. Have you considered buying just 1-2 of the Lifepac books and 1-2 of the CLE Light Units and compared that way?

I have looked at both of those in the past, and of the two, was probably going to go w/CLE for just a couple of subjects. (I, too, was originally considering SOS for a couple subjects, but really didn't like the idea of everything being on the comp.)

[Vipers_Princess]

Yeah I know AOP makes both, I had planned to use LifePacs long before we found out PS'ing was going to be a part of our life.

It's a financial consideration to a point, because with less expensive text & work books we have more money to spend on other things like hands on home projects, museum memberships and visits, and that sort of thing. But I also need to balance those desires with making sure they can stay on target to pass mandated testing if we move to a testing state. {dh will be in school another three years more or less, then we'll likely be headed for NC or SC but only God knows where we will actually land, kwim?}

[ShangriLewis]

Have you considered any other options :giggle

[Vipers_Princess]

Alot. I have picked up things here and there and mostly have the curriculum I'd use if it weren't for accountability already on hand. If you can call it that. Ability appropriate science, math and english paperwork and hands on activities. Classic novels and creativity kits geared toward their personal interests abound around here. I'm looking for something to 'meet or exceed that which is taught in the district in which the child would normally be enrolled.' as the guideline says, and something that preps them for standardized testing should they need to take it.