Moving Beyond the Pages curriculum?

[Treece]

Does anyone have any experience with this? http://www.movingbeyondthepage.com/

It bills itself as "homeschool curriculum for creative, hands on, and gifted learners." Before I invest too much time into finding the resources (they're available on their website, but I prefer amazon and ebay since they are cheaper), I would like to know hat others think.

What age level(s) did you use?

Did your child(ren) enjoy it?

What program for reading did you use?

Is it worth the money?

What did you like about it?

What did you dislike about it?

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks all!

[kgianforti]

MBTP is a "hit or miss", in my opinion. Many people think it's awesome and others not so much.

My dd worked the 5-7 Habitat Unit (in the Envirnoment Concept) when she was 3.5 years old. It wasn't overly challenging for her concept-wise. I sold it after we completed the Habitat Unit. It just didn't work out for us. My dd was ok with it but I added in extra stuff to go deeper for her.

I do not think it was worth the money. I didn't like the illustrations in the student workbook and I really didn't see how it "moved beyond the page".

I liked the idea of it but it just didn't come together for us the way I hoped. Even if we did like it, I didn't plan on buying it again because of the steep cost.

I'm sure you will hear from people that love(d) it though!!

Good luck with your decision!! Sorry my review of it stinks!

[Treece]

Originally Posted by kgianforti 

MBTP is a "hit or miss", in my opinion. Many people think it's awesome and others not so much.

My dd worked the 5-7 Habitat Unit (in the Envirnoment Concept) when she was 3.5 years old. It wasn't overly challenging for her concept-wise. I sold it after we completed the Habitat Unit. It just didn't work out for us. My dd was ok with it but I added in extra stuff to go deeper for her.

I do not think it was worth the money. I didn't like the illustrations in the student workbook and I really didn't see how it "moved beyond the page".

I liked the idea of it but it just didn't come together for us the way I hoped. Even if we did like it, I didn't plan on buying it again because of the steep cost.

I'm sure you will hear from people that love(d) it though!!

Good luck with your decision!! Sorry my review of it stinks!

No prob!! That's great because I want honesty. No sugar coating please.

[Googy]

I've been using the 6-8 and I love it.  I looked at the 5-7 and agree that it wasn't as impressive (I think they are reworking it for the next school year, actually).  But I really like the 6-8.  More importantly, my daughter loves it.  It is *interesting* and *motivating* instead of just a bunch of boring, innane worksheets.  My daughter has learned about comparative cultural literature, animal habitats and food chains, things she *wants* to learn about, so much so that the looks forward to starting her schollwork everyday.  What is "advanced" about it is that it asks for a lot of creativity and higher-order thing, rather than just drill and practice. 

I did add Right Start Math to it, even though the 6-8 level technically covers math.  The next level doesn't, and I really like Right Start, so I decided to start it now.

In addition I bought a subscription to Explode the Code online, since MBTP doesn't cover phonics.  My daughter thinks its a fun computer game and enjoys doing it. 

The combination of the 3 has worked really nicely for us, my daughter and I have really enjoyed her 1st grade year. 

[~threemoons~]

I'm interested in MBTP as well. I've heard good things about it on another hsing site that I frequent. . . .

[kanga2roo]

I've used the 5-7, 6-8 and now 7-9, but never exclusively. There have been things I have loved about it, and other parts that I think are a waste of time. We use OM as well, and I am very happy with the mix of the two.

  It seems like there are lots of "pages" for a program that says it moves off of them. I understand that the idea is often to offer alternative levels/versions of the same lesson to choose what you think is best for your child but even if you take away those extras it's still a thick book, imo.

  I love teaching/learning through literature. I have had good success finding most books through the library but have found many that we really enjoy and want to purchase. You definitely do not need to own every book- many are only referenced a few times- but unfortunately until you actually see the book and look carefully at the lessons you won't know ahead of time.

  Beginning with the 7-9 there are literature units which go along with the concept. I love this! They are good titles for the most part and offer good activities ( or a jumping off place for me to do more) and ideas for in- depth thought and conversations. There is enough in there to keep you going and feel like you are covering some interesting topics, imo.

  The program doesn't "wow" me. There are annoying typos and in the younger levels the printing on the pages is messy and unprofessional. We use the idea of main lesson books to keep the units together, and are starting lapbooking for the literature units which is fun and interesting for my son.

  There is a yahoo group and lots of turnover so you are able to buy most items used, sometimes even with some trade books included. I've never paid much more than half of the retail price. Hth's...