Letters re: Curriculum

 

 

“GBA really is the Rolls Royce
of homeschooling programs.”
Anna von Marburg

Your program just seems too amazing to be true! I was so excited when I found it. I would love to do this with my son.
Thanks so much!!!
Suzanne Houchin


We are in Botswana, Africa and it is summer here with rains perhaps once a week. We are originally from Port Townsend, WA? There is a serious draught here and we boarder the Kalahari desert. It is into the high 90’s and low 100’s but we have a pool and air conditioning so it is livable? Botswana is a wonderful country with lots of wild animal and open vast spaces. They are trying to form a democracy and are the best example of democracy here on the continent. My husband is with USAID and so we will be in third world countries for several years, moving every few years. This is a new life for us and it has its challenges? Nothing we have seen compares with the beauty of the Puget Sound and the mountains! You live in paradise? Thank you so much for all your help – we are new to home schooling and trying hard to do a good job. So grateful to have found your Academy? Thank you again, Kay Hammond

I want to pass on a discussion with a family friend the other night. He was pretty amazed that Kelsey had read Nichomachean Ethics as part of the Great Books program; even though he hadn’t read it he has a friend who’s a philosopher and had heard of it. My husband Mark and I had told him that it was about happiness. Kelsey came in the room and he said, “So, Kelsey, what does Ethics say that happiness is?” She answered without a pause, “A virtuous activity of the soul.” We were so impressed that the knowledge was in that long term memory!! Kelsey has passed us in her education at the tender age of 14! ! Humbling, but as the saying goes, we want our children to stand on our shoulders! Thank you for all you’ve done.

Also, reading my bible the other night I read in Sirach11:27-28:

A moment’s affliction brings forgetfulness of past delights; when a man dies his life is revealed.

Call no man happy before his death, for by how he ends, a man is known. Sounds like Nicomachean Ethics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With gratitude,
Kathy Weber


I look forward to the possibility of homeschooling my daughter, Michal, for many years to come through the GBA!
Sincerely,
Sandy Marcucci
New Jersey
Thank you very much for your time and thank you so much for putting together such a great curriculum!
Sincerely,
Mag Moutier
This was what we were looking for in a curriculum. It has been developed with the view of satisfying a curious young mind intellect. Thanks for your attention and professionalism regarding our requests.
Thanks,
Aida Vega Aquino, Puerto Rico
I received the quarterly tests, downloaded them, and printed all in 2 minutes flat. Thank you again. We have been having such tremendous success with this program and recommending it to others that it is a joy to speed things along.
Thanks again,
Hrstevend
Hello! I am taking a minute to rave about the penmanship of my two daughters! I used the Spencerian handwriting booklets from your curriculum over the span of two years instead of just one, with just 15 to 30 minute practice sessions each morning. The result is astounding sixth grade writers! They get so many compliments. It is a remarkable program that develops not only incredible handwriting, but discipline, order and perseverance as well. I HIGHLY recommend it to all. They write adeptly in this beautiful handwriting in all their subjects, in their personal correspondance, etc. It is a well formed habit and not just a “let’s use our best handwriting for this particular notebook” kind of program!
Thank You,
Bridget Turpin
Good Morning, You are such a pleasure to deal with. I can count upon you for a prompt answer to any query or problem I may have. Thank you for being so professional in your approach. Have a great weekend.
Jeanette Meditz
Thank you for your prompt reply regarding this week’s assignment. We appreciate the GBA’s staff dedication in working hard to gain further recognition/recommendation for college credits.The level, tempo, amount, and quality of readings and discussions topics certainly exceed that of many colleges–most definitely at the undergraduate level. We wish you well in your endeavors.
Sincerely,
Khadija
Thank you for your ongoing work. The future of our nation depends upon the free-flowing discussion of “the great ideas.” We’ve been homeschooling our kids for about six years using the Calvert School program from here in Baltimore (my son is 13 and my daughter is 9). This year we switched to the Great Books Academy program, and like it very much. Again, thank you, and I hope you have a very meaningful holiday season!
Sincerely,
Mickey
You may not remember me, but I was a student of yours during my freshman year of your Great Books Academy program online. First of all I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for mailing out my transcript to Connecticut College as well as the other schools I am applying to. All my interviewers who read the transcript for the class I took with were very impressed, and I think it will definitely give me an edge in the college acceptance process. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.Secondly, I wanted to take the time to let you know what I have been up to the past few years. As you might remember, I after my first year of the Great Books program, I decided to transfer into the local high school in my town. Since then, I have had a lot of new and interesting experiences, and I have also had the opportunity to take a few discussion based courses, which I think the past experience from your class helped me to succeed in. I firmly believe that taking the online course has helped me to think about things more deeply and to formulate my opinions and beliefs better than I would have otherwise, skills which will come in handy many times throughout the course of my life. I also know that I will always be glad that I spend that year engaged in intellectual pursuits which even as I have gotten older have yet to be surpassed.

I think it also helped me to be accepted to Yale for a summer course.

Again, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you, for both mailing my transcript, and for the excellent experience I took part in three years ago which I still look back pleasantly on.
SIncerely,
Joseph Guida

I‘m very glad that I had the opportunity to work with the Great Books program, with you and Elisabeth and Mary Lee, and with other helpful people at the Academy. Most of all, I’m happy that I had a chance to see how much 50+ CPDLF students got from working with the GBA program. I wish you and your colleagues at GBA much success and thank you for being partners in the education of CPDLF students.
Take care,
Dot Querry

Recieved package. Just delighted to begin reading these wonderful books. I still have to find a shelve to place them on. Thank you all for your time and attention. You can’t beat the sale of knowledge at reasonable prices. God bless.

Eric

“After discovering your program, I was very excited, hoping it was everything it claimed to be, but I really couldn’t tell for sure until I had the materials in my hands to look over carefully. Well, let me just tell you that your materials exceed my greatest expectations! The Philosophy program if fantastic, and Harcourt Science is unbelievably wonderful! It’s more than I ever hoped to be able to find. I was trying to make up a curriculum this good all by myself by collecting a variety of materials and using the best parts of each. It was just too complicated, especially considering I have four children to attend to at different ages and grade levels. It’s so wonderful to know that my best efforts could never have brought me a program this thorough and matching to my standards this exactly, so by signing up my son with your program not only do I gain a superior curriculum, but I get the support gained from the lesson plans (a huge plus!) and all the other services you provide. I am ecstatic! I can relax knowing my kids are getting a truly fabulous curriculum and I don’t have to pull it all together and plan it out all by myself.”
KM

And just to give you an idea that my son is no slouch – he is 14 going into 9th grade and has done some parts of GBA for the past 4 years (since their very first year) and will be doing the High School program this year. He decided that he wanted to take Math this semester at a local community college and went and took the placement exam a few days ago. I fully expected him to place in one of their “pre-college” math course, and he was just doing the English portion because he “had” to since it was part of the test. He didn’t prepare for it at all. He did fantastic – he gotten into a college level pre-calc course, and he passed through the entire English test. Basically testing out of a Freshman English course. Actually his college advisor was amazed by his score -and asked him 3 times how old her really was. His English score was a 114 out of a possible 120 (50 needed to pass). His advisor said that few adults get scores that high! He was told he could take almost any freshman college course he wanted to! He chose just to take math though; he has a full plate. 9th grade Socratic Discussion, College Level pre-calc, a homeschooler’s Japanese class, and Harcourt Brace Science at home with me – the only course I am doing with him this year (he’ll do his science lab course at the CC next year).
Y. T.

“I am really looking forward to beginning to use your courses this year. I am so pleased with the flexibility you offer to parents and your selection and recommendations of what you have found to be the finest teaching materials. I have not enrolled in any particular homeschool program in the past because I was not able to use materials I already owned or particularly liked. I want to enroll her in a classical program where I will ultimately make the decisions in her education, but where she will have accountability outside the home and where she can receive a diploma.”

“By the way, that science text is excellent!! It is the most perfect textbook I have ever found for my autistic son. It relates the part to the whole nicely, is completely logical in progression within the book and between the grades, and provides perfect presentation using experiments first and then the information. I have also heard raves from special needs parents about Shurley Grammar.”

“I really like the science books as a guide to make sure I am covering all areas and they have lots of good hands on experiments…The Good Books are (no pun intended) great! The children love listening to them and I love reading them. They are excellent for CM narration and really help improve vocabulary… To sum it up, I would have to say that the math and science curriculums are good and rigorous. The literature is really nice. Shurley grammar has proven to be very enjoyable…”

 

“Your science curriculum is excellent. I really like it…”

I want to enroll my son Jack(gr.6) and daughter Georgina (gr. 4) for the US September school year. As you know we are in Australia and our school year begins in January and goes to December. I would like to start in September so that Jack can start the Grade 6 socratic discussions from the beginning and then I will just start their enrolment at the same time. I will be in touch with you later about this but I just wanted to let you know that I am quite sure at this point of doing this in the next few months.

 

I am using the entire GBA curriculum now and it is just beautiful. There’s a great deal of work but I’m getting an education as well! GBA really is the Rolls Royce of Homeschooling programs. Thank you for all your help regarding my order.
Kind regards,
Anna von Marburg

With my 14yo son he started out at grade level and hasn’t really had a problem, but one of the best parts of GBA is that you can pick and choose from the grade levels. They have no problem with you doing 7th grade reading and 3rd grade math (for example), you just do whatever level your child is at. They now have placement exams to determine where your child should be (they didn’t have those when I started), and also many of the individual programs also have placement exams on their websites (for example, I know that there is a Saxon Math on-line placement exam).

 

We were actually using Shurley Grammar before we enrolled in GBA. It’s funny, we used it in 5th grade, and then enrolled in GBA for 6th and decided not to use it that year. We picked it up again in 7th grade and then didn’t use it again this year. The reason we did it that way is because Shurley Grammar basically repeats itself from 5th-6th grade and then again from 7th to 8th. I first noticed this on there website that they had the EXACT same table of contents. So, I called them directly. Ann Shurley herself confirmed for me that they are repeat years to review and really cement the knowledge in, but that if you felt your child already had the knowledge, the years could be easily skipped. We thought about moving to the 7th grade program in 6th grade, but decided to do a “lighter” grammar year and to learn traditional sentence diagramming in 6th grade. So we used GUM Middle School Grammar that year (recommended in TWTM). Then this year we decided to again do a lighter review type year so we did “Editor in Chief” instead. However, I LOVE Shurley Grammar. I think it is an absolutely great program, and truly my son learned more grammar in that first year of Shurley than he has in all other years combined. I really feel that a strong knowledge of sentence structure is important to good writing skills so I am so glad I did that program. Josh felt that the jingles were a bit much, so I really just focused on the workbook. But you truly need to do what is best for each individual child. As for starting Shurley Grammar, when I first started it I called them and they told me to start him at where ever he was at reading level. I told them that he didn’t have a good grammar base, but was a good reader, and they said he would do fine at grade level – and he did.Yonit

 

   “Just wanted to drop you a quick note and thank you for all the time you have put into getting me just the books I need. As I’ve told you before, it is this personal attention and consideration that keeps me loyal. I enthusiastically recommend GBA to all my homeschooling friends and associates. Your materials are always of the first caliber and so is your service.
Thanks. Sarah Holt“

“My children are enrolled in Great Books through the CPDLF charter school in Altoona, PA. I am very pleased with all the curriculum I have received thus far.” – Altoona, PA

“We started school on Monday, the 19th as planned. I know it’s early yet, but we sure are finding the curriculum refreshing. The Harcourt Science is quite a program. We plan on using many of the online enrichment ideas.
The Developmental Math is very different from what we were using. Not so colorful, but Jade is excelling at it.

Both of us love Vocabulit. I think it’s a great the way it integrates vocabulary, spelling, and reading. Just what I was looking for.

Shurley Grammar is very scripted and all encompassing. It will take some getting used to but I feel confident we will accomplish a great deal this year.

I am sure this is more information than you wanted or needed to know. I just want you (GBA) to know that we are ever so pleased with our materials. Thank you for everything.

Thank you, ~Linda“

 

 

 

“We are getting excited for next year!  We’ve heard that GBA will be offered by the cyber charter school here in PA.  So our kids can use the program at no cost to our family (besides the fact that we pay taxes) plus he will have a computer and printer and internet hookup. If ANY of you know families in Pennsylvania spread the word.  OR if there are cyber charter schools in your state encourage them to adopt GBA as an option.  This cyber charter in PA hasn’t officially started to enroll students nor have they had any press YET through word of mouth they have 23 students waiting to sign up to use GBA.  I’m so excited for the kids!”

Gwen

 

“I just wanted to drop a line to say ‘Thank You’ to the GBA family. I have spoken or emailed all of you once or several times and I’ve got to say that every single one of you has been very helpful and understanding. It is so refreshing and comforting to be able to call and get a real, live person on the other line. So, simply put – THANK YOU, GBA!”

 

 

 

Jane Forgey

 

“I love what you are doing. Thank you for the great and rich curriculum.”

 

 

 

Lisa Manley

 

 

 

 

 

HOMESCHOOLERS WIN TWO STRAIGHT NATIONAL SPELLING BEES, WASHINGTON
(May 21) – The competition went to a second tiebreaker before James Williams, a 14-year-old from Vancouver, Wash., claimed victory Wednesday in the 15th annual National Geographic Bee.

‘‘I wasn’t expecting this at all, it’s really exciting,”  the soft-spoken James, oldest of six children, said after besting 55 finalists in two days of competition.

The deciding question: ”Goa, a state in southwestern India, was a possession of which country until 1961?”

Portugal was James’ correct answer, netting a $25,000 college scholarship, a lifetime subscription to National Geographic magazine and a week at SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Adventure Camp.

Dallas Simons, a 13-year-old student at Martin Luther King Magnet School in Nashville, Tenn., placed second and collected a $15,000 college scholarship. Taking third, and a $10,000 scholarship, was Sean Rao, 14, a student at St. Gabriel School in Hubertus, Wis.

It was the second straight year a home-schooler has won the bee.
Ann Williams, the winner’s mother, said she and husband Craig had decided on home schooling before they had any children.

 

 

 

 

”We wanted to make learning a lifestyle rather than something you have to do,” she said. It allows the children to concentrate on areas they enjoy and the family isn’t tied to a school schedule, she added.

 

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