My son will be 7 in April. I'm also having a hard time deciding between the two programs. I like that the language arts lessons and copywork are written into the Beyond manual. I also like the poetry studies and the lessons on the 9 different genres of books for storytime. It gives you flexibilty in choosing the titles for the storytimes. MFW Adventures also looks like a fun program also. The book basket sounds neat, but I have read many reviews about people not liking the repetition of the states study. The names of Jesus lessons look interesting also.

http://www.queenhomeschool.com/productpages/History/livingworldhistoryframe.html I saw a preview for the first volume of the history book. It was under the price. I think there is only a preview for volume 1 of the series by Angela O'Dell.

Queen Homeschool has many history books. She has a new, two volume series that is for ages 5-13. It is called, A Living History of our World. Angela O'Dell just finished writing Volume 2. She is a homeschooler herself. Here's the link. http://www.queenhomeschool.com/productpages/History/livingworldhistoryframe.html Here's the summary from the website: "Angela O’Dell’s A Living History of Our World series is a complete year-long history curriculum that reads like a living book! Combining the Charlotte Mason style elements of real, whole books, subject integration (history, geography, art, vocabulary, narration, and more) with a no-preparation, simple to use curriculum that will captivate all ages, this is a history program you and your children will look forward to every day! The accompanying Student Journal gives each student his own place to keep his work, and a treasured keepsake of drawings, copywork, timelines, projects, maps, and original writings when he is finished. Nonconsumable." You could just read the text of the book without using the journal.

Wax paper also works well.

Here's a link: http://www.amblesideschools.com/ambleside_schools.html

I am in a similar situation. My son also goes to public school kindergarten for 2.5 hours a day. I am also afterschooling, and work at home with him on phonics. Although I am not fond of teaching sight words in isolation, I just made flash cards out of the sight words from school and has him work on memorizing them. I just told him that his teacher at school wants him to learn the sight words.

NW metro area. :)

http://crunchydomesticgoddess.com/2009/08/23/mamas-thoughts-kindergarten-public-school-vs-home-school/ Here's a blog post from a mother who just send her oldest child off to kindergarten in a public school. She is questioning her decision and looking into homeschooling her daughter. Here is a quote from the post: "Yet, regardless of all of this, there was something about taking Ava to school that first day that just didn’t feel “right†to me. I’ve made a lot of parenting decisions in the past five years and I have to say I’ve felt peaceful about pretty much every one of them. Sure, I made some wrong choices here and there, but as for the big decisions, I’ve felt good about them. However, there was something about dropping Ava off that didn’t feel peaceful to me."

Thank you for posting this.

:iagree: Amen! Well said!

That sounds neat! Thanks for sharing.

Northwestern College, St. Paul, MN (A small Christian College) B.S. Elementary Education (1998)

http://www.thecompanystore.com/parent/Price+25+to+50/5658/XK02X/&An=102&A=6047 The Company Store has a foldable floor tray table. My 5 year old son loves using this for snacks, coloring, workbooks, etc. Sue

http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Pathways-Exercises-Improve-Jossey-Bass/dp/0787992895/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247277102&sr=8-2 Here's a link to a book called Reading Pathways. It has exercises in it to improve fluency. It is written by the same author as Phonics Pathways. Hope this Helps! Suzanne