If so, can I ask you a few questions? The best I can tell, it basically a more conservative boy scouts?? Right? How often does your group meet? What do they do on a regular basis? I see that the main focus is the father in this group, do mom's do anything? There is not one super close by, I wanted to see about starting one in my area (or having my dh do it anyway). It needs to be affiliated with a church? Is that right? If you have ever started one, was it a very difficult process? Any thing else I might need to know?

I am still working out what to do with my son for next year. I have never really considered AAS, but since he will be done with Abeka phonics for 2nd this year, I thought AAS might be a good option for spelling since it reinforces phonics rules. I was wondering though, since he learned phonics with Abeka, will AAS mesh well with this or will it be confusing in some way? I just didn't like the thought of a workbook for spelling, I'm trying to lighten up on workbooks this year. My second son is working on Abeka Phonics K. Would reading eggs be a fun supplement for him? I just don't want anything that might confuse them with the way they are learning phonics with abeka. Any thoughts on any of this is appreciated!

Background: planning for my son's 3rd grade year, he will be a young third grader. He will be 7 2 months of his third grade year. He has done fine working at this grade level, but we are feeling a bit of burn out this year. This was the plan I was aiming for for next year MP literature guides Something for grammar?? R & S spelling ZB cursive Writing - I am torn. I am looking at CAP W&R, MP & IEW. As I look at mp, the things they have for third grade say they are for grades 3-4, cap writing and rhetoric tables is for 3-4. I was thinking of putting off these plans until his fourth grade year and trying out ELTL as a bit of a gentler year. I feel he is so young I just am not sure either of us are ready. I don't know, as I plan, it just looks like a lot, it looks hard lol. I guess I am asking "permission" to slow down a bit for third grade. Do you think ELTL would be the gentle year I am looking for? Do you think the plans I have made will be fine to pick up in 4th?

So glad you asked! I'm not sure. I like the idea of it, but I can't get a good feel for what a days work would look like. I'm a bit intimidated by latin and if it takes up too much time I just can't. My 3rd grader is my oldest. I will have a 1st grader, a wild, crazy, demanding 3 almost 4 year old and a 1.5 year old next school year so...yeah I'm feeling crazy just teaching the basics to my boys, I'm not sure I can do latin even though I would love to.

Thanks. I was considering FLL. I Have not taught grammar formally yet. He knows what a noun, verb, adjective adverb is from doing mad libs stories, but that's it. From what I understand, I should be able to jump in at FLL 3, would you agree?

Can I ask what you are using for grammar? That's the other subject I just can't decide on.

I'm making the same decision. I have an upcoming 3rd grader with no writing background. I am really drawn to mp these days and I am really interested in introduction to composition especially since it ties into the lit guides we will be using, but I am more drawn to cap so, idk. I am not at drawn to iew, but still have it on my mind. Also, just feeling really nervous because he will be 7 for the first 2 full months of school, he is a very young 3rd grader. Sigh. I think I will do mp intro to composition for 3rd and then start CAP for 4th, BUT the mp dvd's sway me toward choosing mp though.

I have used abeka phonics 1 and 2 for my first son and am halfway through k5 with my 2nd son. I love it, it works for us. I modify it some to make it not so busy for us. I know not a lot of people love abeka, but we do. Anyway, I was just curious what other abeka fans do to make abeka work for them. Also, do you use the language along with the phonics. I just feel the letters and sounds, language and spelling all flow wo nicely for grade 1, but I'm just not sure I will have ds 2 to do language 1 workbook, maybe just the lessons as it was pretty basic ,stuff and quite repetitive the best I can remember . Thoughts? Do you do tests? If you don't do you skip the workbook that day too?

Great. This is what I was hoping. He won't be going to private school until 7th grade at the very earliest if at all.

Thanks this all makes sense!

I have hesitated asking, but I must ask you all about this. I cannot decide on writing curriculum. I have always been a traditional homeschooler. I never really looked at the classical approach very much. How I ended up on these forums? I'm not sure. lol Anyway, recently I have been looking in to CAP Writing & Rhetoric and MP Classical Composition and IEW. These programs look much better to me than what I had been planning on. Here's the thing. I just honestly don't understand the big picture of it all. I have looked at the lower 3 and 4th grade levels and it looks great to me. The part I am unsure is how this approach compares to how kids would do things in school. For example, if I decided for my son's 7th grade year, if I enrolled him into the local Christian school (which has been my plan all along, just homeschool k-6, but who knows) would he be able to jump right into a traditional curriculum with no struggles or should I include typical writing assignments too like book reports and such. Are book reports and research papers and typical school papers included in classical writing curriculum like this? I guess I just can't get through all the levels and really understand what all is covers. Like I said, I apologize for being so dumb, but I am NOT a writer. I hated writing in school and struggled. I just don't really know what all he needs to know. All I know is he needs to be a better writer than me. lol Thanks I hope I was able to get my question out clearly. I am sure CAP and MP produce great writers, but I just wasn't sure if it was a slower and more gradual approach than what is typical for schools. I just want my guy to not struggle if or when he goes to private school.

BJU Math 1 Abeka Letters & Sounds 1 Abeka Readers Abeka Spelling 1 ZB Handwriting I am unsure if we will do Abeka Language 1 work book each day, I think I may just go over the lesson orally. Memoria Press First Grade Enrichment and additional science, history and geography books, but nothing formal. Song School Latin 1 (I am not sold that first graders must have latin. I have started with my older son 2nd/3rd grade doing song school latin and will continue to let my first grader work through with us. Heck, the 3 year old is also learning latin!) My kids love it! He will be tagging along sporadically with my 3rd grader for some subjects, but he is not required to. It's great I have been there and done that, I feel so much more confident going into first grade. It seems so easy and doable for us. I was so stressed out when my oldest was in first grade. sigh.

Math – BJU Math 3 DL Language Arts – MP Literature Guides (completed orally) MP Introduction to Composition FLL 3 Spelling Workout C ZB Cursive History – Veritas Press Self-Paced Course New Testament, Greece & Rome Geography – EM Geography Workbook (maybe) and continuing to work through Little Passports + supplementing Science – Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy P.E. – Twice a month homeschool gym days Bible - AWANA & Daily Devotions Song School Latin 1 - He may be considered too young?? BUT he is loving it, so I don't really care.

I keep thinking grammar might not be a high priority for us right now. When do you suggest picking up grammar? What does an ideal third grade look like to you?

Will take a look.

I just took a look at this! This may be what I am looking for!!

Yeah my third grader is my oldest of 4, so yeah...

For my son's third grade year we are doing: MP lit guides ZB Handwriting Still deciding on spelling Writing & Rhetoric Fables I was thinking of doing BJU's English, but I haven't decided. I once thought of doing ELTL, but I felt like it was not for me. I did like how grammar was done. It seemed effective, but not a ton of work. Any curriculum that is just grammar that looks like this. I have considered FLL, but where do you start for third if we have not done any of the levels before, 1 or 3? R&S seems pretty thprough, but it seems kind of bori g and a lot of work maybe. Honestly, I have no idea what I want, I just know it when I see it.Any idea what I might be looking for?

I have the reviews book but don't use it. If my son got hung up on a topic I might, but he hasn't yet. We just do the front and back of the student workbook after I teach the lesson. We do the chapter review, but we don't do the tests.

Huge BJU fan over here!! I started out with Singapore, but there were many things that made it feel like not the perfect fit for us. What I like about BJU I like that the student's work is the same each day. I do the front side with him and he does the back on his own. I didn't like the multiple books involved with Singapore. I felt initially overwhelmedby bju's teacher's manual, it is very busy, but I really have gotten good at including what I want and weeding out what we don't need. Since you have taught math, I dount you need it, but BJU tells you everything to say and I really need that. I feel BJU is a good curriculum for us because Singapore was a bit too rigorous, not enough practice and a lot of other curriculum I looked at had lots of review and was spiral and seemed to have a heavy emphasis on just memorization. BJU seems to be a good compromise between these two styles. Also my son really looks forward to it and feels a lot more cofident with bju. He did well enough with Singapore, but I felt my instruction was lacking and left him scratching his head sometimes. He loves bju's characters and stories. After a BJU lesson he has not had a single day where he didnt understand his work. I sometimes feel guilty for not sticking with Singapore because I feel it is "the best" and you want your kids to have the best, but I he and I are so much happier with BJU and I know it is a solid program so I try not to feel guilty.

Yep!! We also do school at the kitchen table!! We simultaneously have a snack going, school, play doh, legos, you name it. Lol Not to mention my washer and dryer are in my kitchen so I'm folding laundry in there too. Ugh. We did recently get a puppy so the floor is less crumby than it used to be. Lol

Thanks fornthe reply. To make it clear, I am not supplementing because bjubis lacking. Ds just likes the math stories and asked if there were more math stories like the ones in bju at the start of the chapters. So, I am just following his intetests.

Ds is using BJU math 2 this year. It is a win for both of us. The beginning of each chapter starts with a little story to introduce the concept that chapter is about. Ds told me multiple times he loves the math stories and wants more. I have seen life of fred mentioned. I showed it to him and it looks good and I will likely buy these. My question is about beast academy. The best I can tell it looks comic book style which also looks pretty cool too, but I can't tell how casual it is. Does it feel very school-work-like or is it enjoyable? I see they have an online program too. Is it the same as the regular curriculum or something different? Any other suggestions he might like more?

For third grade my plans will be BJU Math 3 We did Singapore for K and 1st. I wanted to love it, but I didn't. He did fine with it, but I did not feel good about it. We switched to bju for 2nd and it has been a great fit for both of us. For history we will be doing VP self-paced history new testament and ancient rome and greece. He adores this program and asks to do history. I love that because I hated history in school. Geography- still working through little passports and supplementing. Maybe an EM workbook. Science - Apologia exploring creation with astronomy Mp literature quides Spelling Power ZB handwriting W & R Fables BJU English 3 My son has been asking for a foreign language since kindergarten, but I just have not made that happen yet. He also wants learn sign language. Latin has always been something I wanted to teach him too, but we have been too busy. I may take a look at the curriculum you suggested.

Glad I could help! Can I ask all your curriculum plans? It sounds like we may think alike!