My dd8 is using BJU Reading 2 and loves it; we used Reading 1 last year. I don't use the TM much, mostly just the readers & worktext. I plan to use it again for 3rd. We also use WWE, FLL and AAS, and it isn't redundant in my opinion; I also pick and choose which worksheets to have dd do since she usually reads the whole story in one sitting (she would read the entire book in one sitting if I let her). I gave dd the option of using SL Core 3 readers for next year, but she likes the looks of the BJU 3 readers that she saw on CBD.com when I was looking at them. I may skip the TM for Reading 3 since I've used it so little the past 2 years. You probably already know this, but BJU reading can be found used for a big savings. I just saw several BJU Reading 3 sets on Homeschool Classifieds. Probably also could find elsewhere too, like on this sale board or Homeschool Reviews Sale & Swap board.

Save your $ for something else. You might find it used and use it as a read a loud. It is a stretch to call it a curriculum. My dd liked the book (it is cute for reading once or twice), but thought the workbook was REALLY boring. I sold both at the end of last year.

I highly recommend using Biblioplan Year 2 with SOTW 2 for more church history. I am using it this year, and wish I had used it with SOTW 1 for more church/Christian history. You can get most of the books BP schedules at the library probably.

I've used BP year 2 this year for a 2nd grader, along w/ SOTW 2 and the SOTW 2 AG (I personally like the SOTW maps for this age). We just finished week 15. I'm not using the other components, because the updated/new things (like PC) aren't available yet. The BP Year 2 I have is the revised version. I really like having more church history than SOTW2 alone. I'm planning to order BP Year 3 for next year. Their books selections are good, and I don't stress out about the few I haven't been able to find from the library. It may be a little overkill for a single 2nd grader but I like having the book list broken up in a bit more manageable way than SOTW AG has it (and I almost always like the BP book choices; not always true with the SOTW AG). We sometimes do the AG activities. If the Cool History packet had been available at the beginning of the school year, I probably would have used it. I wish the Parent Companion was available now, but it will probably come out too late for this year. I will probably get it for next year.

I have two years experience with BJU, and a few weeks with MM (went back to BJU). They are quite different. I have used BJU 1st and am currently using 2nd. It is conceptual and hands on (use a lot of manipulatives) and the TM is scripted. The TM is very well layed out and colorful so it is easy to follow. It is written for a classroom, so you need to pick and choose what is necessary for your child. I hardly ever do everything in a lesson; some lessons we skip because it is too much repetition. There is not a lot of fact drill, but it tells you when to work on what facts. You miss ALOT if you do not have the Teacher Manual. It is not at all difficult to teach; it probably takes me 10-20 minutes for a lesson, then another 10 minutes for the worksheet. I like it because it is hands on, colorful, and it is mastery with a wide spiral (you do a chapter on a topic, then come back to that topic later). It does need to be taught (the workbook is usually not sufficient) but I think that should be the case in elementary, personally. I ordered Math Mammoth for Grade 2 mid way through the fall when I was feeling like my dd was a little unchallenged in math. It was NOT for me, or my dd at least at the time. I have a MS in Engineering so I get math. I did not like not having a TM. I missed the hands on, manipulative aspect of teaching the concepts. I thought the worksheets had WAY too much crammed onto them (this was a problem for DD). I realized I do not enjoy teaching Asian math such as MM or Singapore (tried Sing. last year). I am a traditionalist and I need to teach a traditional math program. A lot of people love MM, so it could be a great fit for your kids. My advice is print the free samples and try it for a while before you commit to it. I also did not like that the review is up to you in MM; it is not built into the workbooks. BJU is really good on the review aspect. Some of it is in the TM, and some is on the workbook pages. There is also an extra Reviews workbook for additional review if you need it. Overall, BJU is a good choice if you want traditional, mastery math. MM is a good choice if you want an Asian math esp. considering how reasonably priced it is. edited to add: the story lines are a big draw for my dd, who is very story-oriented. She really enjoys the chapter stories that then usually relate to the them and word problems throughout the chapter. Its a little thing, but it does make math fun for her.

I really like BP. I haven't used Sonlight, but have looked at it MANY times. With BP, you buy SOTW, the Usborne History Encyc (or Kingfisher), and the rest of the books you can pretty much get at the library. There are MANY more books scheduled than a typical Sonlight core, I think. I really have liked the books BP chooses, and they have done a fabulous job at finding books for all ages. I am using BP year 2 (Middle Ages) with SOTW 2, and I also use the SOTW AG for the maps and review questions. We do some of the activities in the AG, but not many. I am planning to us BP for SOTW 3 and 4. I currently have a 2nd grader. I wish I'd known about BP when we did Ancients last year with SOTW 1, because it looks like it would have been great. I use the SOTW audio and we follow along in the text;I love this option because I get tired of reading aloud sometimes and Jim Weiss is so great to listen to. My dd has listened to the CDs over & over. I really like that BP is chronological following SOTW 4 year history rotation, which is important to me. What has partly kept me from using Sonlight is that it blitzes through world history in cores 1 & 2. If I used Sonlight, it would probably be cores 3 and 4, but I can't tear myself away from SOTW because I like it so much. Some people do SOTW alongside the Sonlight core, which I have considered too. I think it would be nice to have all the Sonlight books sitting on your shelf ready to go, and you can buy a lot of the BP books too if you don't want to mess with the library.

It has been so/so for us. DD8 doesn't really like it but will tolerate it sometimes. At first she loved it, but that wore off in a few days. I ALMOST sent it back within the 90 days. Sort of wish I had, could use that $50 more effectively I think. What has worked better is war with 2 decks of cards -- each person turns over two cards and adds them. Highest sum wins that hand. I also recently got the book Two Plus Two is not 5; wish I'd gotten it last year (1st grade). Abeka speed drills are also good -- only 12 problems at a time to be done in 2 minutes (in the 2nd grade book). I don't use ABEKA math, but like the speed drills book.

I am doing Year 2 of BP with a 2nd Grader. I like it a lot, but am also using the SOTW AG and the maps that go along with that. I think the BP maps are too complex for a 1st or 2nd grader (unless you have an older kid using them too). Also, I made the mistake of buying some of the books that are way too much for a 2nd grader (Famous Men of the Middle Ages for example, plus the study guide;totally did not need this for 2nd grade). If you like the looks of it, I'd say go with it but do what they suggest and just use the K-2 readers and use the 3-5 readers as your read alouds mostly. I've found in year 2 that a good number of the family read alouds are too much for 2nd grader (too heavy of content, for example there is a book about Sheherazade scheduled for year 2 that involved harems. Not what I wanted to be reading about at this age). My advice would be get the spine you want and the Usborne Int. Linked History Encyc. (which is great for this age) and then get the scheduled books from the library but don't stress if you can't find them; for a first grader, doing some of the scheduled books along with SOTW and UILE will be plenty. Had I known about BP last year, I would have used it with SOTW 1 for 1st grade because I would have liked to had more Christian/church history as we studied the Ancients (even though we really enjoyed SOTW).

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I'm using SOTW 2 with Biblioplan, and like it (w/ a 2nd grader). It also includes MOH as an option (in BP. , meaning it is scheduled ), which you may already realize. So you could get both the SOTW and MOH text and do them both along with BP if you wanted. I am also using the SOTW 2 AG. When we started the year, the BP COol History packet wasn't out yet. For next year, I'm not sure whether I'll get the SOTW 3 AG or just use the BP Cool History. I highly recommend BP, esp. for a 10 year old I think you'd really like it. They pick great books.

I agree with the other posts. I highly recommend the Usborne IL World History Encyclopedia, plus the SOTW Activity guide. Don't spend your $ on the extra history books -- use what your library has, unless their collection is really that lacking. Lit -- I can't follow the WTM lists either, because like you found there aren't many books age appropriate in my library (this was particularly true when we did Ancients last year). I have had great success using the books that Sonlight uses, and my library has many of them. For readers, I actually use a reading curriculum (BJU, the readers mostly, not the workbook usually) and the Sonlight readers. For read alouds, I do often use the suggestions in the SOTW 2 AG. Another good source for readers and read alouds is Biblioplan; it incorporates SOTW as the spine. I am using it along with SOTW 2 text and AG. However, I found for a 2nd grader it was a bit of overkill (I'll use it again in 4 years though, and it isn't very expensive). I will probably use it again with SOTW 3 and SOTW 4. I've found that the books Biblioplan suggests are more often ones I like than the ones listed in the SOTW AG actually (and they divide them up by age level a little better than the SOTW AG). I tried doing the WTM science approach this year and last, and found it frustrating, personally. We have really liked Apologia (which we started about 1/2 way into this year), esp. with the Christian focus, if that is important to you. The cost for Apologia is very reasonable (just the text, and the notebook if you want it; we have it for astronomy and like it). I think it is a bit challenging to do WTM style schooling on the cheap, unless you have a great library. I have had some success buying books used on Amazon and at a local Half Price Books store.

We are using FLL2 this year, and used FLL1 last year. They are really easy to use, and go nicely with WWE (which we are also on year 2) and the topics pretty much line up (for example WWE will include the grammar topics that are at about the same point in FLL). I have looked at Shurley (I actually own a copy of Grade 2 workbook, because it is what our umbrella school uses). It looks to me to be too cumbersome for me to want to use it, and it does not do traditional diagramming but instead does parsing. I want dd to do diagramming (which starts in FLL3), so you might consider if that is important to you. FLL is so easy because it is open & go for me since it is scripted. I also like that it includes poetry memorization which I don't think Shurley includes. I love it and plan to stick with it. I know some people love Shurley, too, however.

I'm using it with a 2nd grader for Middle Ages. I like it , but to be honest at times I've wondered why I didn't just stick with straight SOTW 2 and the activity guide. I think it is overkill for a 2nd grader. I do like the K-2 readers list, but I'm not sure it was worth the $ (I just got the ebook, and already had SOTW 2 and Activity Guide). I"m not sure if I'll do it next year to go along with SOTW 3 or not. I think using it with SOTW 1 would have been nice to have more biblical history, but not sure it was necessary for SOTW 2. If I had older kids, it would be nice to do as a family with resources for all ages. It probably would be a good fit for your ages of kids, since you'd have things for the K-2 and 5th grader all laid out for you. Overall, I think it is a very good resource.

I have the book & DVD. I'm really glad I got the DVD, because it motivated me to use the sytem. I'd agree that you don't need to be a CM homeschooler to find it useful; it walks you through how to plan, which is helpful whether you are a CM hs'er or not.

Yes, I bought it last year and we do use it. I should get it out more. The games are simple, but my dd7 thinks they are fun. We do use the tricks in helping her remember her facts (monkey in the middle, for instance). For addition & subtraction facts, it works better for us than the Right Start games did, which I sold. The only downside to depending on games to teach math facts is that it is time consuming, compared to flash cards a nd drills. But much higher fun factor, that's for sure. Another fun fact game is the Sequence one that is numbers.

I can see the virtues of buying all the Sonlight books for a specific core. I am using Biblioplan this year, and getting the books from the library when I need them (and not having them be out), is making me insane. Plus, I have to use 2 or 3 library systems to get them all. I have returned a book to the wrong library more than once, and I check and recheck before turning them in !! I would dearly love to just have all the books and not have to remember to reserve, pick up, and return. We do check out bunches every time we go, but HAVING to get them to be able to do a specific piece of school work makes me crazy. Next year, I'll probably NOTuse a curriculum that requires that. I couldn't afford all the BP books probably, unless I spent time in the summer searching them out used.

You have my sympathies! My only dd, who is now almost 8, was similar at 4. No type of discipline worked for her. We still have an occasional blow up, though not the throw yourself on the floor kind, but in the same vein. I just recently read several of John Rosemond's recent books, and they contained some of the best discipline ideas I have ever read about. They do not involve spanking or the traditional time out. I wish I'd know of them when dd was age four, but I am going to try some now for certain issues we're struggling with. Many of them involve the child being put in their room (for a part of a day, a whole day or multiple days), and/or going to bed early. They also involve a few different "record keeping" approaches to administer the discipline (simple charts or tickets). I'm not saying these approaches or books are the be-all-end all, but they struck a chord for me considering what has NOT worked for us, and I have pretty much read and tried everything else. I found all of the books in my local library. (The titles I read were Parenting By the Book, and The Well Behaved Child; the first one is overtly Christian, the second, not so much). Some people really dislike John Rosemond, just FYI. Even if you don't agree with him 100%, I think there are some good ideas to be had in his books.

:iagree:I did the same thing last year with my first grade dd. I wanted to make sure she didn't have gaps, even though she was reading far about her grade level. She had had a year of basic phonics in K (private), but hadn't gone beyond single letter sounds. I'm now really glad we went through OPG. Like other posters have said, we would often do several lessons in a day.

I agree that WWE 2 is challenging, and we just did that passage this week also. Did you explain what a pilgrim (something like "someone on a journey") meant before you read the passage like it suggested on that day? I usually read the suggested information verbatim, and sometimes I explain more than what it suggests in the TM. I didn't think about it, but we had checked out a kids version of Pilgrim's Progress (called Christian's Journey) a while ago, so my dd already had some grasp of the story so that probably helped. Also, we are always doing a read aloud fiction book (usually a chapter or 2 a day), and the vast majority of my choices have been books we've done in WWE, so I think that may have helped my dd get used to listening to that level of literature. My dd who is almost 8 (but is 2nd grade) has done better with WWE 2 than I expected her too, but I agree that is a jump from WWE1. Actually, I often skip the dictation or copwork in FLL2 if it seems redundant to what we did in WWE that day. Today on lesson 35 in FLL2 there were 3 choices for dictation, and I gave her the shortest one since she'd just done a longer dictation in WWE. At the beginning of the year, I was thinking I might hold off WWE2 till later, and I wouldn't hesitate doing that if I had a child struggling with the passages (or I'd pick my own passages instead).

Actually Vision Forum has some historical outfits for 18" dolls, and they are all on sale with flat rate shipping through tomorrow 12/3. http://www.visionforum.com

Something similar happened to a friend of mine with Russia back when they were still an adoption sending country.

:iagree: I tried for a year to use the RS games set, and finally just sold it because I couldn't stand looking at it. The games manual is HORRIBLE and not at all inviting.

I just saw listed on the Midwest Homeschool Convention's exhibitors for 2011: (I don't know anything about them however). Sew & Sew Sew Teach Me The Sewing Basket My daughter takes a 1x a week class from someone locally who teaches from a curriculum called Kids Can Sew, and it is just great. She just finished the most darling denim skirt, and she's only 7 and has just started. http://www.kidscansew.com/learntosew.html I can sew, but since a couple of friends are taking this too, I let her go to the class. The teacher has done it for a long time, like 20 years.

WWE 1 will get you started in narration. It also includes copywork. The workbook is laid out for 4 lessons per week. I agree you might just want the text, and not the workbook. The text (The Complete Writer) tells you how to do what is in WWE on your own from your own literature ( or history or whatever) selections; the WWE workbooks pick out all the literature passages for you. There is no difference in content between FLL1/2 and FLL1 and FLL2 -- they were just separated and reformatted. And they are almost all grammar. You could use FLL 1 and 2 and then switch to Shurley in 3rd; FLL takes barely any time each day (we do it usually 3 days a week). FLL lays a good, gentle grammar foundation (doesn't start diagramming until 3rd). I started with WWE 1 and FLL1 with a first grader, and we're in level 2 of both for 2nd grade. LOVE them!

We're doing WWE2 and FLL2. WWE2 we do 4 days a week, FLL 3 days a week (sometimes 2 if something goes awry). This is the same pattern we did for WWE 1 and FLL1. They are so easy to fit in -- it probably takes 10 minutes average for each one, and sometimes less. The most time consuming days are day four in WWE2 when it is narration and dictation combined, but still it is pretty brief.