Thanks for the feedback (and the levity). This is a class with an instructor (and an excellent one) so from what people are saying, I have the feeling that it will work for her. It did look pretty step by step online, which is good for DD right now. We don't need a rigorous curriculum so much as a sane one.
As for common core, I don't think it can be blamed for much of anything (I've read the standards and can't make much of them -- I never took educationese in college). Clearly our local district was into picking "dog opera" curriculum before and seemed to simply add more of the same for common core.
