10 Week Curricular Round-Up Pt. 3: Misses

Over the past few days, I've been doing an assessment of this year's curricular materials after 10 weeks of use. On Monday, I discussed the "hits". Yesterday, I discussed the "mixed bags". Today, I'm going to finish up with discussing the "misses". Fortunately, there have not been too many of these.

History Pockets: Ancient Egypt and History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations from Evan-Moor. I had thought DD would really enjoy using these to make lapbooks but she has not shown much interest so far. She did a few of the pages & quickly tired of all the cutting and pasting.

Can You Count in Greek: Exploring Ancient Number Systems from Prufrock Press. This workbook had looked like an interesting way to integrate subjects by examining how ancient civilizations did math. It covers the number systems of the Egyptians, Sumerians, Greeks, Romans, Mayans, and Hindus. I tried doing one of the Egyptian pages with DD and by the 5th problem she was totally balking.

Illustrated Book of Saints by Rev. Thomas Donaghy. This book manages to turn even the most interesting saints' stories into a snooze-fest. Definitely one to avoid!

Barbie Practice Printing workbook, Dora the Explorer Lowercase abc's workbook, Crayola Alphabet Activities Poster workbook, Kumon Write & Wipe Alphabet Cards, etc. I've tried a number of different penmanship materials and none have panned out. DD does much better with Charlotte Mason-style copywork. She still hates it but at least she's making some progress with it.

Overall, I think I did fairly well in choosing which materials to try this school year. Most of our main curricula have been "hits" or at least their benefits outweigh their flaws.