Disappointed in Switched on Schoolhouse (SOS)

by Sue T.
(Alabama)

Switched on Schoolhouse
Language Arts, math, science, history, and Bible
3rd, 6th and 7th grades
2005-2007

Switched on Schoolhouse is an all-in-one, homeschool in a box type curriculum. While you can purchase individual subjects, I'm sure it's sold most often as a full year's curriculum. It seems like an excellent choice, especially for busy families or parents who are having to school multiple grade levels. You must have a computer to use Switched on Schoolhouse, although if you love it, Lifepac is Alpha Omega's workbook form of Switched on Schoolhouse.

I don't like SOS. I was disappointed in nearly every aspect of it. While it promises to make homeschooling easy, it was an absolute pain for my family.

The student reads and answers questions daily in the computer program, but because it is a computer and not a person, problems arise immediately. Students are required to type an answer into a blank field, but even if their answer is technically CORRECT, if they enter an answer that's not identical to the program's, the answer is immediately counted wrong. Your student can spend hours pouring over the material in search for the correct answer when they were right to begin with.

For example, if the computer wants the answer to be "America's commodities" then "america's commodities," "America's products," "U.S. commodities," "Americas commodities," or even "America's comodities," would all be counted wrong.

On top of this, I have found that the program tries to trick the child into giving the wrong answer. I have no respect for a curriculum that TRIES to make my child feel like a poor learner.

While SOS is high quality and colorful, even I found it to be an incredible bore. Since my goals in homeschooling involve teaching my children to love learning, SOS simply doesn't make the cut.