Megs and Cintinative - Your responses were incredibly helpful. Thank you so much! I'm very appreciative.

We are new to MP cores this year, and I'm using MP Core 1 with my 2nd grader. She was a slower reader, and really needed to go through 1st grade material. But the pacing...it's waaaay too slow for her. I called MP to help with how to speed her up, and they gave me great advice! And they're incredibly kind. Now I have a plan to get her through Core 1 at Christmas, and hopefully move to Core 2 for 2nd semester. It may be worth a call to MP to hear an alternative schedule (ie: faster) for your K'er, particular to your situation. But honestly, it sounds like you have many frustrations. I'm sorry. Yes, sit and drink an Americano (my fave!) in the peace and quiet. And hugs. ETA: I agree with the handwriting portion of the MP core. I have many years of HWT under my belt which contains LOADS of instruction, and the MP manuscript and cursive have very little instruction. I'm giving the cursive for my 2nd grader a few more weeks before we head on back over to HWT. Maybe that type of writing works well for some kiddos, but I've found my children need constant reminders with letter formation, how to hold a pencil,etc. ?

Thank you! That is super helpful. Looking at sold items is a great tip.

I've never sold anything on Ebay, but I have quite a bit of new and used curriculum I'd like to sell. Do you have any general tips for selling on Ebay that are specific for homeschool curricula? I'll definitely take great pictures and write a very detailed description. Any other advice? I'm also interested in hearing: -- if it's better to sell sets (book plus workbook) or individual items? -- do you set a 'Buy Now' price? Or do you let it go for auction? -- Our local homeschool store sells at 2/3 the original price, (usually) regardless of condition. What do you suggest? How do you price new-but-never-used material? -- Are there better places to sell besides Ebay? Thank you for any help you can offer.

I have no experience with SSL, but we've used MP Latin for years. It is a methodical, disciplined approach to Latin and it is a beautiful fit for my kiddos. I usually don't start Prima Latina until 3rd grade with my children, but my 2nd grader will start after Christmas because "I just can't wait!" For whatever the reason, daily Latin recitation never seems to be a chore and my kiddos thrive with MP's approach. Just wanted to give you our perspective as you make a decision. I'm sorry I can't address your questions about vocabulary. If I were in your shoes, the first thing I would do is read up on Latin and its benefits and see if that is something you want to make a priority in your homeschool. MP has many wonderful online articles that could help you make a decision: https://www.memoriapress.com/articles/ The work in PL and CL is "fun" and different, however, it does certainly get more challenging as you enter the Forms series. A long(er) range view might be helpful in deciding where you want to go for the coming year.

I'm sorry you're struggling with finding the right approach. Boy, I've been there done that. Sigh. My oldest is a very natural speller, but the next three in line? Not so much. I've been a faithful user of AAS for 8+ years, but I had to change this year and see if another approach would be better. My 6th grader is using Megawords and I'm not sure that's such a great fit for her, but we'll see. My 4th grader is using Rod and Staff Spelling and my 2nd grader is using Traditional Spelling from Memoria Press. If you only knew how I loathed having a list of spelling words to work through each week, you'd be shocked at these choices. ? But the way I'm making it work: My 4th grader and I go over the spelling rules provided in R&S. I find the teaching of the same rules in How to Teach Spelling and use their method to supplement. We go through the practice words in HTTS, and use their dictation one day per week. Between the two resources, her spelling has definitely improved. I'm thrilled with her progress so far, and we're in the 6th week of school. Traditional Spelling is a lovely program, however, it still uses a spelling list. As we move through, I just teach my daughter the spelling rules from AAS (Find Gold, for example), as we come upon them. Her spelling has *drastically* improved. Both my 4th and 2nd graders needed to work with words and analyze them in a different way than what AAS offered. They both learn better writing and using their pencils and not using letter tiles or the letter app (despite how we enjoyed the change of pace!) I love AAS and its rules and how methodical it is, but I needed a different approach for these particular children. See if you can find a cheap copy of How to Teach Spelling and see if it would work. It is just the right fit (for now), when combined with a spine-type program. (If I had known How to Teach Spelling had an accompanying workbook before buying R&S, I would have tried it first.)

Your son sounds like my oldest boy when he was younger. ? He had quite the love for non-fiction! The Horrible History books are fabulous! Always a hit here, but a little hard to find. My son LOVED and devoured any Usborne encyclopedia I would buy, especially the Ancient World and Medieval selections. The New Way Things Work The Little Square science books David McCaulay books - Pyramid, Castle, etc Any atlas that has blurbs about each state or country Allowing him to browse through the topics that interested him at the library was always a good method for him.

I am sorry you are having such a difficult time. I truly understand how difficult it is to school the others while being overwhelmed with a child that demands attention. It's enough to wear a mama down. ? Honestly, I'm not sure there's a whole lot that can be done independently with a 6 and 8 year old. My oldest child is very bright and a voracious reader (even at 6), but there still wasn't much I could give him independently at 8 that didn't involve a screen of some sort. (We are a pretty screen-free family, too, until 5th-ish grade when they take Latin online). What subjects would be ideal for you to foster more independence? Math? Grammar and writing? Let us know what those are and then we can help you brainstorm. I will also just say this gently: It's hard to give up what we consider to be the 'best' homeschool philosophy because we just can't make it work. Believe me in that I completely understand. 5 sweet kiddos just demands a different kind of time and attention, and that doesn't lend itself well to super teacher-intensive curricula. It's hard.

We're in our 4th week of 6th grade. Here's what we're working on this year: Math: R&S 5, and heading into 6 after Christmas English: R&S 5, and heading into 6 in a few weeks Composition: Classical Composition Fable for 15 weeks, and then Narrative for 15 weeks Spelling: Megawords with How to Teach Spelling for trouble spots Literature: 1st semester: CLE Reading 6; 2nd semester: 6th grade Lit from MP Bible: Bible Study Guide for All Ages during our morning Bible time and Who is God? plus notebooking journal independently Latin: Memoria Press First Form Science: History of Medicine and then What's That Bird? Geography: MP's States and Capitals 1st semester and Geography I 2nd semester History: Memoria Press' Greek Myths and Famous Men of Rome; American history readers from MP She's also in her 5th year of violin.

YES, I have found this to be true as well. I have 2 children that are intense energy suckers and it has taken me a long time to figure out how to manage. In fact, my oldest was only homeschooled through 6th grade (now going into 8th) because I didn't understand how he worked. He needed frequent breaks with a LOT of mandatory physical activity. A LOT. There were also other things there - attention issues, poor executive function skills, etc. I wish I had known then what I know now. But I didn't know to break up seat work with physical activity. But now I know better in how to manage the day of my other intense kiddo. She jumps on the trampoline, rides her scooter, etc right after our Bible/memory work in the morning. Then she starts her independent work after we go over it. I'm at elbow with my 2nd grader during this time who isn't independent at all yet. And running behind the 18 mo Room Destroyer. 2nd grader takes a break mid-morning and I squeeze in Latin recitation and any Latin help needed with this child. Then she goes back to independent work. I finish with 2nd grader and by now it's lunch. We eat, I put the toddler down for nap, kiddos go outside again for 15-20 minutes. Then we do our afternoon class time,which she participates in: writing class and then either Greek Myths or science. After that is her math lesson. I don't like doing her math at the end of the day, but I don't have anywhere else to sneak it in. I have a lot of kiddos that need all of my attention. This is what's working for us right now. It's all subject to change tomorrow. ? Hugs to you. It's exhausting.

As I enter our 9th year of homeschooling, 2 stand out in my mind: Memoria Press Latin Rod and Staff English Both are tedious and require a lot of memorization, but are incredibly worth it! We started with Rod and Staff Math this year after doing years of Singapore and MM. We just finished week 4, and I am so pleased with the result so far! I have a feeling it will go on this list as well.

Also, I did not buy the books for the enrichment program because money is a factor. I've been reserving them at the library. But I would totally just buy the whole package if I was able! Then it would be REALLY open and go! ?

We are finishing up our 3rd week of using Memoria Press' 1st grade enrichment with my 2nd grader. She is going through their 1st grade core at double speed (she needed a bit more time with phonics, solidifying reading, and a few 1st grade math concepts), and the enrichment came as part of that package. I truly thought I would just toss the enrichment aside and get to it if we were able. Boy, was I WRONG! That enrichment is so fun and gentle, and not too much. I have been quite impressed with the pacing of the whole program, including the enrichment. The style is Five-in-a-Row-ish in that you read the book every day (usually just 3 days a week for us because I have 5 kiddos and lots of moving parts to our day), and do associated activities with the book. There's a classical music piece and an art piece, both with background history, for each book covered. There's a craft, other books you can add if you have time, and a poem to study. There is always a smattering of history & culture and a science lesson if you choose. This enrichment has been one of my favorite pieces to our homeschool this year. I wanted a small subject that just my 2nd grader and I could work on together, and this has been the perfect fit for us. In fact, it makes me a bit sad that my olders didn't get to enjoy this when they were younger! Did I mention it's essentially open and go? The best! That's what makes it so doable and fun for me. I've planned for years, and I've really enjoyed having such a rich resource without spending a ridiculous amount of hours putting it into place.

We have used BSGFAA for 8+ years. I've tried other programs off and on, but we always come back to this one. There are so many things I love about it. We started with it when my youngest was 2nd and my #2 was in K. We did Beginner sheets as long as possible (like ByGrace3 up there ? ) because it gets l-o-n-g when you try to add in another level and one of those is not an independent reader. In those younger years, we usually did the front side of the page 1 day and the back side on the 2nd day. I read the Scripture before we completed any pages. If it was long "heavy" type reading, I tried to find the account in our children's bible. (Illustrated Family Bible Stories is what we used) Once we could no longer do the Beginner sheets together, and I increasingly added more kiddos to our homeschool, we've transitioned to using the actual family Bible study together. There are excellent coloring pages that you can print and the youngers can use while the olders follow along in their own Bibles. Those coloring pages are also great for narration, summarizing, and re-telling the Bible account later as a review. We still listen to the CD and we LOVE it! We are a singing Southern family, and they sound a lot like us, so we enjoy it for that reason. ? We don't listen to it during Bible time though. We often play it in the afternoon when I'm fixing dinner, kids are emptying the dishwasher, etc. We never used the Beginner Timeline, but I always wish we had. We do use the memorization helps and a few of the fun games listed in the family download.

My kids really like flash cards. ? Maybe we're just weird! In fact, my 4th grader is having a super hard time remembering grammar rules and asked if I would make her a set this weekend. We work on "group" flash cards recitation-style in the morning after we finish our Bible time together. Sometimes I hold them up and they all answer at one time, sometimes we go round-robin style, sometimes the kids quiz only me, etc. If it's just a short stack, I go through it with each child.

Have you considered Classical Composition's Fable? Does the progym appeal to you at all? Take this with a grain of salt since we are only in the beginning stages of Fable (for my 4th and 6th graders)... In my understanding, the gist of the program is that you take a fable and manipulate it many different ways. For example, in one of the exercises you spend the class time brainstorming synonyms for particular words. Then you rewrite the fable based on those tweaks. Another class time, you brainstorm how to add 'figures of description' which describe various elements of nature, etc as to paint a better picture in the mind's eye. Another class, you rewrite the fable with the sequence in inverted order. The child writes a final draft based on just ONE of those elements (inverted order OR using the figures of description that have to deal with nature, etc. NOT both) The synonym work sounds like it would be helpful to break him out of the "cool" words. I will be honest that it's taken me working through several lessons myself to wrap my brain around how this works, but so far I LOVE it. With my older boy, we used SWI-A and SICC and the dress-ups just became to much for us. It made his writing very tedious and formulaic. I just couldn't bear to carry on with it through another level. Maybe this could be an option for you to research. I also second Megawords. Another idea is to look into How to Teach Spelling and use the workbook along with it. I am using How to Teach Spelling to supplement Megawords for my 6th grader and R&S spelling for my 4th grader. It's working beautifully for them, of which neither are natural spellers. If I had known about the HTTS workbooks before buying Megawords or R&S Spelling, I would have just done that to make it easier. Lauren

R&S English Grade 5 is a super solid grammar course, imo. I realize your boy is going into 6th and might balk at the 'Grade 5' on the cover, but it would easily fill in any gaps. There are many sections he could do totally independently just by reading the day's lesson and completing the work you assign. This might appeal to his desire to be more independent. Even though R&S English includes composition, you could just skip those sections and continue on with the IEW that you already purchased. Add in a spelling component (Spelling Workout would be fine if he's a natural speller), and you'd be set. As far as your son wanting something more and to be more independent...I just went through this last year with my then-5th grader. She would come home from church feeling down about what she didn't know and feeling not as smart. We buckled down, she worked HARD, and I feel like she's up to speed now. Most importantly, her confidence in her own smarts has grown by leaps and bounds. It's been wonderful to see!

YES. I have found this to be very accurate as well. ---------------------------- I have the hardest time in the K-4th-ish range because there are unlimited options, and they all seem to be not good but BEST. I struggle with that decision fatigue each year.

Mental Math was really hard for my 9yo. We worked slowly through MM 2 during her 3rd grade year, focusing on the mental math strategies outlined in that level of Math Mammoth. Maybe try looking at MM 2 and see if it would be a good fit? You could also have your DD watch the free videos on mental math. They are very helpful, imo. https://www.mathmammoth.com/videos/grade_2/math_videos_2nd_grade.php If you sign up for the email list, you also gain access to tons of free worksheets you could use to work on those strategies.

I don't have a lot of experience with Pre-Algebra, but my oldest is working through MM 7 this summer. Here are a few thoughts: 1) We did 6A and part of 6B after using Singapore since 1A for my oldest. The structure seems to change a bit once it gets to 6A and the HIG isn't as helpful. Like you, I really relied on it, so I was at a bit of a loss when the HIG didn't meet my needs. We dropped Singapore and went straight into MM 6 and finished the year with it. It was an easy transition and I'm thrilled we did that. 2) For 7th grade, my son attended a private school where he learned minimal math. They used Saxon and there was no new material for him (plus the sprial-ness of it made him crazy after the mastery approach from Singapore for 6+ years). As a result, I am having him work through MM 7 this summer, to prepare him for Alg 1 in the fall. In reference to one of your questions above, if your child works through MM 7, it will be over-kill to repeat any other Pre-Algebra course the next year. We have found MM 7 to be challenging, thorough, and a great fit for my son. Hope that helps some with your decision making. ? ETA: I really appreciate the extra (free!) videos from Ms. Miller for each level of MM. They are excellent in solidifying concepts: https://www.mathmammoth.com/videos/

Teachermom - mind giving an update on how your daughter did with the DVDs? I'm preparing to use Fable with my 4th and 6th graders this year and have a couple of questions: 1) Is there a breakdown of times where each portion of the lesson begins? (like in IEW's SICC, etc?) I've looked and can't find a video guide. That would be really helpful! 2) One lesson is scheduled for two weeks in the guide. Did you find that to be a good pace? 3) You mentioned that you sometimes watched the class with her. On the times you did not watch the class, were you able to edit and grade her work effectively? It seems that Fable is fairly redundant. I'm hoping that once I get the hang of it myself, I won't need to watch every DVD lesson. Thanks for any thoughts or advice you can offer! ? P.S. I see that you want to move towards online classes for your child. My 5th grade DD took Latina Christiana I online with Dr. Drey at MP this past year and it was nothing short of phenomenal. She thoroughly enjoyed it and learned an incredible amount of information, both Latin-related and general info to broaden her frame of reference. Just wanted to encourage that MP academy worked extremely well this year as you look towards online classes. ?

I had this exact same question about Uncle Sam and You and also America the Beautiful. From looking at the online samples, it looks like a lot of reading for one lesson. Then multiply that times 5 days a week, and that seems like a ton when you factor in reading and work from other studies. I'm considering doing America the Beautiful over 7th and 8th grades with my daughter. Three days a week with added in living books and videos seems like plenty. In your experience, do you think this would be a better experience than over 1 year? I wish we could add in Uncle Sam and You this year, but I think it would stretch us too thin. It looks like such a fun study!

This looks AMAZING. Sadly, I've never heard of it. Like the OP, we've done AAR 1 for 18 months now with little success. My 7 yo (8 in Nov) is reading CVC words, some blends, but it just hasn't clicked yet. I actually bought MP's 1st grade core with their phonics set for the first half of her second grade year. But I sure do wish I had seen this first. It looks like just the fit for her. Thank you for sharing it! OP, I totally understand your issue, and I'm right there with you. AAR worked for my other kiddos, but definitely not for my current beginning reader. It's incredibly frustrating to make such minimal progress when she works so hard. Like your daughter, I also think mine would place into level B. Here are the samples I found (scroll towards the bottom): http://www.abcdrp.com/level-b-2-1

Excellence in Writing might be an option. Grammar and writing are in bite-size chunks with short videos for most lessons. I've only previewed it and haven't actually used it yet, but it looks streamlined and very do-able.

I actually just had my 3rd and 5th graders take the placement test last week. I downloaded it from here: https://www.clp.org/store/by_grade/21 We decided to stick with MM for now, but the placement test was very helpful.