I need to order soon! We are starting school in a couple weeks and I need to get my stuff together! I am so off track this summer. I am using HOD Bigger with my two older children and am looking for something for my K'r. I am stuck between FIAR and MFW. I was going to order FIAR yesterday, but then had posted here and was told that some of the books would be more difficult to find. I would be fine for Vol 1, but if I decide to continue with Vol 2, I don't want to be scrambling trying to find books. Anyways, then I took a peek at MFW like some here at suggested.....and...I THINK I LOVE IT! It has phonics intertwined in the program which I love. It seems like a fuller program then using FIAR and I can just order everything from one place which is a plus. I just wonder if it is as open and go as it looks. I really need something open and go. It states on their site that it takes 60-90 minutes/day. Is this how long it takes most of you that use it? I also went and did some searching here and noticed that a lot of you start MFW K with their 4 year olds...someone even said they were going to use it with their 3 year old! :confused: Is it going to be enough for my K'r who is just learning to read and hasn't had a whole lot of math at all? He knows how to blend sounds to make words. He can read things like Bob books and some Biscuit books. He was just reading the old Sonlight readers from a few years ago (only the beginning of book 1 though). I would love to hear some reviews. It looks like a great program, but would love to know more before ordering tomorrow. Can you please tell me about your experiences with it? I want to have a great non-workbooky open and go K year!

Thank you for posting this. It's been very helpful. I'm going to start with Volume 1 and just add extra activities I find online and take it really slow. I'll probably just get Volume 1 to last the entire school year.

So the Volume 1 set on RR doesn't include all the books for Volume 1? There are 18 of them? Is one missing since it's a 19 week program?

My 8 year old DS enjoys rock collecting. He is always picking up rocks while we are out and about no matter where we are and keeps then in an IKEA bin in his room. He also loves drawing with those kid's books that teach them how to draw simple things. His most recent and loved activity is mountain biking which he does with his dad. I love it because it's great exercise for him and a great example for us to set for him at a young age. It also gets him outdoors, as well as getting quality alone time with dad. There is so much more.... What about skateboarding, basketball, Pokemon, card collecting? The list goes on and on and on.... He may be one of those kids that is just not into anything. My oldest daughter was like that until she was about 12.

What reviews are you referring to? I have read nothing but good reviews. The not so great reviews I have read are from those that have used it with older children (2nd or 3rd graders) complaining that it is not meaty enough. I have only read wonderful reviews from those using it for K.

RR has the literature sets for each Volume.

Three guides?? I couldn't even imagine! You need the Homeschooling Mommy of The Year Award! :)

I am trying to finish up the last of my shopping and getting ready to place my Rainbow Resource order. I am looking at FIAR as others here have suggested for K. It looks wonderful! I was thinking of just getting Volume one and going at it slowly instead of completing it in the 19 weeks suggested. Do you think that adding this in for my K'r would be too much if I am already doing HOD Bigger with my older two?

What is CW?

I have tried to view the samples of FIAR on their website and it's not showing up for me. Wondering how I would see a sample. Hmmm.. Maybe it's only temporary and their site is having issues.

I am looking at Sonlight for my upcoming K'r. I have looked at both the Core package and multi-subject package. It looks as though I am getting LA with the multi-subject package which would include phonics? Does Sonlight include their own phonics? I see in the samples that the multi-subject LA includes copywork where my DS would be learning his letters and sounds, but what about learning to read? Is this included? Do I have to get the multi-subject K package to get the reading and phonics? I am a bit confused! I don't really care to have Science for a K'r, but would like him to have great read alouds for history/literature, and also get his phonics, math and handwriting. My 2 older children are doing HOD bigger, but I don't think he is quite ready for HOD Little Hearts and I'm sure Little Hands would be way too easy and not interest him since it reviews the alphabet which already knows. He is now reading some CVC words and understands how to blend the sounds to make words. I am just really unsure where to place him, Sonlight or not.

I'm having issues getting to their site as well. I know their address, but really meant directly to these books. :)

Do you have a link for the CLE workbooks?

I'm adding a K'r this year and am looking for curriculum suggestions for everything (Math, phonics, history, or anything else). I have been enjoying my summer and just today realized I haven't even finished buying curriculum or even thought about it! I rearranged my entire schoolroom today organizing all the old and new books, cleaning like crazy, and it just hit me! I haven't done much of anything yet and we start school very soon! :glare: I'm using HOD for my rising 3rd and 4th graders and am pretty set with what they will use, but I'm stumped for my K'r! What is planned out, easy to teach, and just flows??? I'm nervous about adding a third child to the mix this year.

I hadn't thought of CLE! We use CLE math here and love it, but not sure about my DS using the LA too if its like the math because he takes over an hour to complete his math lessons anyway. It's gotten to the point where I need to cross out problems and it's still taking him forever.

If your child knows how to write and can recognize numbers 1-9, then Alpha.

I have homeschooled now for 11 years and have already graduated one. You would think I wouldn't be nervous, but I am! How did you deal with it of you had to add a third child? I've always homeschooled one or two. My middle two have always been easy because they are pretty much in the same place skill wise. I've been trying to come up with easy ways to add in a K'r this year, but in still nervous. I dont think I want to go all out with him. Maybe just some handwriting, phonics, and math mostly with manipulatives. My older two will be doing HOD which will be new for us so maybe that's why I'm so nervous.

I see you are also using WWE. Do I need to add a writing program along with it too?

As I said in my original post, I'm trying to switch from GWG.

I would look at the curriculum's website that you are interested in. Most have placement tests.

I'm looking for suggestions for a grammar program to use other then R&S. I need to decided by Friday because our homeschool curriculum book fair is coming up. I am looking for something that won't be repetitive of HOD and what it has to offer (i.e., copywork and writing assignments). I love the way Queen's Language Arts program looks, but I think the copywork sections would make it too repetitive. I used GWG last year, but want to switch this year because after using it for two years in a row, my children just are not retaining and it feels like such busy work now. I want something that is going to be a bit verbal that we can do together and the children will enjoy. I know GWG is supposed to be independent more or less, but it never ended up that way. If I'm sitting with the children anyway, I would rather it be quality time with a quality grammar program where we can discuss things. I love the picture study idea for discussion, but the copywork in most of those programs would be redundant. Is there anything like this?? I know I can do R&S verbally, but I have looked it over and I'm just not sure my DS would enjoy it as much as something else. What about FLL 3? Does this have a lot of copywork? We started 2 and never completed because I was trying to do two grammar programs and ended up sticking with GWG which I probably should had done the opposite. My children did love it though!

McRuffy would be fine even if your DC knows some CVC words. I've used it for 2 children for K amd 1st. In starting my last with the K in the Fall. All my children will learn to read with McRuffy and the 2 that already used it still talk about the readers and the characters like they know them. My 5 yr old is already trying to pull the K readers off the shelf so I need to get with it and order the workbooks. It really is such a fun program.

These would be great to laminate, put magnets on them, and keep for a magnetic dry erase board activity!

I am using Level 2 and Level 3 with my DC. The Level 2 just seems like busy work to me and I really don't think my DS has learned much from it. It is so easy that he is finishing all 5 days in ONE day!Level 3, on the other hand, my DD is learning something. It just seems as though it is the same thing over and over. Beginning sentence, middle sentences, and closing sentence. It basically just teaches the basics of how to write a paragraph. It is extremely repetitive in the 2nd semester. We are both very bored with it. I will be putting her in an outside class next year for writing that uses Writeshop, but I'm not sure what I will use with my ds yet. Something that is pretty important to know is that WWW is A LOT of repetition of GWG. We do still like GWG, but WWW just seems like a lot of busy work.

If your going to use MUS, then it's probably best to stick with it since it has a different scope and sequence then other math programs. MUS is wonderful in that it really helps children who need to SEE math GET it. I used it for 3 years with my visual child who never understands math and needs all the extra help she can get. It really helped cement everything in her head mathematically, but it took her doing Alpha and Beta over twice. When she was tested for two years, she was very behind. I don't think it was MUS. I think it was my child who just doesn't understand mathematical concepts very well without lots of repetition. I have since switched to CLE and she is making leaps and bounds with math. Yes, she still struggles and is still behind, but with CLE it's much easier for us to work on catching up. We are so happy with CLE here and will never switch math programs again. My children have learned so much since we have switched. All things they never learned with MUS. we got half way through Gamma with MUS and are on light unit 305 in CLE. I think it all depends on what your looking for in a math curriculum as well as what type of learner your child is. CLE is more spiral whereas MUS is more mastery with some review stuck in.