I'm not sure about Sonlight since I have limited experience with it. Though I'd probably lean toward P 4/5 as the core. With HOD have you looked at the placement chart? http://heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php The most important section when placing a child is the first section. I would think that you could use Little Hearts and maybe add some of the books in the appendix from the library. They tend to have more pictures in them if you need more visual books. Then by the end of the year, the kids would be ready to move onto the stories in Beyond. You are right that HOD does include narration and copy work (or handwriting suggestions) in their manuals.

The schedules listed in the yahoo groups are for the older versions of what is now the P 4/5 used to be Pre-K or Core B. The OP was looking for the P 3/4 books to be scheduled and I don't think many of them were used in the older versions of the program.

Julie, This is exactly what I've been looking for. This is the second time you've been about 2 steps ahead of me. I'd love to see this schedule if you don't mind. (By the way, the math booklets were great!)

We are learning about the different habitats around the world using an older version of WP Animal's and Their Worlds as a base. Then I added the book Children Just Like Me (one child per week to match as best I could the habitat we're in) and a few resource ideas from Galloping the Globe. But since my kids are 7 and 4 our main theme is animals.

Winter Promise uses lots of visual books in their younger programs. The adventure reading doesn't have a lot of pictures, but most of the history books (at least in AS1) do have at least one picture on each 2 page spread.

HOD is Heart of Dakota CTC is one of their programs Creation to Christ

Carmen, I worry about the same thing. I love the idea of HOD, but am having a hard time committing to it solely since my DD is so loving WP AW this summer. My problem with WP is that it's so expensive for just one subject. Where HOD gives a more balanced approach to the school day. I'd be interested to hear others experiences.

The most recent people ordering have started having good reports about faster shipping. At least that's the word on the WP boards and yahoo loop.

Could you do a review of WWE 3 once or twice a week just to keep it fresh? That way you wouldn't be starting something new, but also not losing ground either.

For the very reasons you mention that you don't like the WP Quest programs are the very reasons I am looking forward to it. I'm just glad that there are so many options out there for homeschooling so that I can choose what fits our family's beliefs and you can choose things that fit your family's needs better.

Thanks for the info. I don't know how I've missed that bolded phrase after being on the website and reading the catalogs so much. I'll have to check with DH to see what he says now. I understand the theory of multiple years in Beyond then Bigger, but the first 13 weeks became almost painfully long in the Pilgrim coverage. So we had to move through that a little quicker than the scheduled pace.

There is a yahoo group (HomeschoolingHODMoms) where some moms have come up with supply lists for each of the guides.

Am I reading this right that the upper (newer) guides flow much better and that some of the older not yet revised guides are still choppy? I know we've taken the AW resources and some of the guide to use, but we throw out or rearrange a lot of the guide. I have a 2006 AS1 sitting here, and I'm certainly not happy with the MYO pages. Though I heard they have been redesigned this spring. I'm just wondering if it's going to have a nice flow to it, or should I spend the summer rearranging the guide?

So do you feel that Bigger with "A Child's Story of America" brings the program into the same categories as the 2 year programs such as Sonlight and WP?

:iagree: This happens at our house too. Our little guys loves to play with them while DD and I are working. But I have to be sure to that they all get back in the drawer when he's done.

We bought the set and my DD enjoys them.

Thanks for the help. Last time we went, we saw the Museum of Natural History. The kids thought it was ok, some parts were good. But this time we thought we'd try something different which is why DH thought Air and Space would be fun. I'll have to take a closer look at the Smithsonian links for teachers.

We are planning a last minute trip to Washington D.C. and are looking for some info we can use for a few days before our trip to get the kids ready for what they are going to see. We'll be visiting the Air and Space Museum and the American History Museum as well as the zoo (we've got the zoo learning covered). Thanks for your help!

Julie, I'd love to hear more about the booklets you're thinking of making. My DD is so creative and artsy and I am not, so teaching her has been a learning experience for each of us.

What's strange is that Abeka is always known for it's "drill and kill" method. Which was one of the things my DH loved about it. He thought a kid would certainly memorize all the information using the program. Yet so far, they drill her on things she's already good at, but left her very little time to memorize things like the subtraction problems before the added another set for her. It's almost as if they spend so much time reviewing, she doesn't get to spend enough time on the new concept.

Thank you both for the input. Mariann, my hubby would have enjoyed talking to your friends since he also believes that the American school systems are continuing to dumb things down for our children. Which is just one of many reasons we are homeschooling.

Julie, I'm not fully understanding why people make the switch from Abeka after grade 2 but I have seen complaints that Abeka 3 moves too fast, so that may be why others make the switch before heading into level 3. That being said, why would I want to continue on to use level 2 if I'm going to end up switching at the end of that level anyway?

Now I understand why people are using 2 different math programs. Things are starting to make sense. Now I just have to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and see if it makes a whole picture.

Bill, that sounds a lot like MUS except they use blocks to show all this regrouping. So maybe MUS concepts and Singapore could be matched together for a nice program?

:bigear: My 4 yr old is like this.