IMO, CLE’s Language Arts and Reading is plenty for first grade. Have you completed their Learning to Read course? That is where the bulk of the phonics instruction is. There is still some phonics in their 1st grade reading and la, but the LTR is the equivalent of Explode the Code. You will most likely not need ETC during or after LTR. It is very thorough.

I looked at it at Mardel a few months ago. The BJU English text looked basic enough. I think the average 3rd grader would be fine with it. I didn’t look at the other components like spelling, handwriting and reading. Do you have a Mardel you can go to and flip through it? Sometimes BJU’s Homework’s consultants have pop up events where you can flip through things. FWIW I picked the bju readers at a yard sale and my kids loved them. They seemed on grade level to me.

For that age range I would go with something that includes science, history, geography and nature study all in one. Pam Barnhill’s Your Morning Basket/Explorations, Read Aloud Revival Premium, Gentle & Classical, A Year of Tales/Hundred Acre Wood, or something else low key. Even something like Five In A Row would be lovely. It’s been awhile since I looked for something like this so I don’t remember all the good ones, but I would not hesitate to go in that direction for a first time homeschooler with young kids.

It sounds good to me. We school year round, 15 days a month. I like the flexibility of using the summer months.

It was a no for us. My kids zone out with hours of reading aloud. I also lost my voice. 😂 I love the idea of only reading books and just snuggling up and spending time together and it all being school. It sounds dreamy. My boys like to do things though. Worksheets, projects, whatever. FWIW Memoria Press didn’t work out for us either, so take my experience with a grain of salt.

I wouldn’t do anything. If I felt like I had to do something because my kids had very little understanding of basic science and it was bordering educational neglect, I would probably grab a Fun Schooling journal and let them go to town. Maybe some documentaries on Kanopy or other educational shows.

Dead Sea Squirrels (Christian themes) Fort Builders Inc. Investi Gators (graphic novel)

@Servant4Christ Awesome! I think my 4th & 5th grader will like it. We do nature study, but I want a little more variety & depth. My kids don’t seem to enjoy discovery science either. It ends up being me that makes the discovery and they watch me do it. I was hesitant to order it because it doesn’t get glowing reviews, but I like the samples. You sold it to me with your review though. lol! Thanks!

Do you use R&S science? If so, how is it?

@LauraClark We do one handicraft per term. We usually get to it once or twice a week as an afternoon occupation. Sometimes they will pick them up on the weekends if there is downtime. I have Agriscience down four times a week, it will be his primary science. I haven’t really scheduled Small Engines. He and his dad picked this one out. I’ll probably just see how it plays out at the beginning of the year.

We used Oak Meadow for grades 6 & 7, but we’re ready for a change…. CLE Exploring Agriscience CLE Small Engine and Equipment Maintenance Ancient history with younger siblings (Greenleaf and STOC). He really doesn’t need this after OM, but he said he wanted to. We will see if he’s still enthusiastic about it in August. Uncle Sam and You Fallacy Detective CLE Reading CLE Diagramming book (it says elementary but he hasn’t had a lot practice with diagramming.) I might swap this out with something else later in the year. Rod & Staff Spelling Winning with Writing Finish up CLE Math 7 and then decide where to go from there. Ambleside rotation from enrichment. Handicrafts: Machine Sewing, Stained Glass, Soapstone Carving Electives: Robotics, Computer Science, Typing, and Chess. Bible: Genesis (SOAP method). One Year of Church History Devotional (independent) The younger siblings are doing No Sweat Nature Study, he can sit in on that if he wants. Ideally, we could add in a geography course as well. I highly doubt we can get to it, but if maybe we can add it in 2nd semester. Depends on the younger siblings needs.

It’s okay. I think it’s expensive for pre recorded, YouTube style videos. The content is informative and we did like the activities. (chemistry)

Rod & Staff Math math tutoring Rod & Staff English (combined with 4th grader) Pathway Readers with workbooks (pick & choose exercises). Book Club with me Vocab from Classical Roots Pentime Cursive Dictation Day by Day (combined w/ 4th grader) TPT Journal prompts and a few other fun resources. No Sweat Nature Study Ancients (Greenleaf and STOC audio) Ambleside book recs, picture study and composer study loop. Electives: Typing and computer science, chess, and robotics. Handicrafts: machine sewing, soapstone carving, and stained glass. Bible: Genesis (soap method). Not sure if I will add in anything else since the kids do personal devos in the mornings and we do family devos at night. I would like to do an election unit in October/November. I also have materials for an economics unit. We will see if we have time to squeeze it in. I might pause Ancient history. I’m still deciding if we will do Christmas School and fun theme days next year. I enjoy them, but it does take us away from our regular book work.

CLE Math Beast Academy guide books (for fun) Rod & Staff English and Intermediate Language Lessons (we’ve been rotating these about every 9 weeks.) Pentime Cursive Dictation Day by Day and Aldine Speller; assorted resources to study morphology and spelling rules. TPT Journal prompts and a few other fun resources. No Sweat Nature Study Ancients (Greenleaf and STOC audio) Ambleside book recs, picture study and composer study loop. Electives: Typing and computer science, chess, and robotics. Handicrafts: machine sewing, soapstone carving, and stained glass. Bible: Genesis (soap method). Not sure if I will add in anything else since the kids do personal devos in the mornings and we do family devos at night. I would like to do an election unit in October/November. I also have materials for an economics unit. We will see if we have time to squeeze it in. I might pause Ancient history. I’m still deciding if we will do Christmas School and fun theme days next year. I enjoy them, but it does take us away from our regular book work.

And then they ask for a tip! I had a free trial for the Panera Sip Club. I usually just run in and order my cup at the kiosk because it’s faster than the drive thru. Yesterday the self serve kiosk asked if I wanted to leave a tip! It’s a self serve coffee station!

I don’t count fuel, lunch, and clothing as educational expenses. Those are just… expenses. If you have a kid, you’re going to need to drive them places. You’re going to need to feed and clothe them. I don’t count books as homeschool expenses unless they are specific to our curriculum. If the kid wants a book about space, I get him a book about space. He might be interested in space regardless of where he is educated. Curriculum can be expensive. But how do we define expensive? I went to a coffee shop last week and paid $8 for a medium iced vanilla coffee with cream and sugar. Nothing fancy. $8. My aluminum free deodorant is now $12.99. 🤯 Organic Milk is $8.99 a gallon. I mean, honestly, what’s a couple hundred dollars on curriculum? That’s like the equivalent to a month of groceries nowadays. The real issue for us is loss of a 2nd income. However, we also have a breastfed baby and a toddler that’s not toilet trained yet. So I would likely be staying home anyway. Daycare is like $3k a month for two kids. Plus, I would need to update my entire wardrobe in order to look half way decent in a professional setting. And I would need to do something about my hair. I mean, I look cute for library trips, but rolling into a business meeting in a messy bun with split ends peeking out is a no go.

CLE Language Arts covers spelling, penmanship, grammar and composition. Rod & Staff English covers grammar and composition. There is a lot of copy work in R&S so it could be used as penmanship, although they also sell a separate penmanship program. They also sell a separate spelling program. Both are a little light on composition compared to some other programs, but it will be enough if you write across the curriculum or do other supplemental writing activities. Both R&S and CLE have separate reading programs. I haven’t used R&S reading, but we have used CLE. It is very thorough. I prefer CLE’s Learning to Read program over Rod & Staff’s phonics.

No advice, but thanks for giving me a new curriculum to check out! All Ye Lands looks interesting.

I did not connect with other moms at CC. In our small community, the moms were cliquish and already knew one another. It’s hard to make friends with a group that’s been together for years. Just a heads up, because I didn’t really think about that prior to joining. Same for the kids. It’s even somewhat doubled down amongst big sibling groups in the community. Also, the open houses are somewhat staged in terms of how nice and friendly everyone is. They want your money; especially if you’ve got several kids. I don’t have in person homeschool friends. Its fine! I use this homeschool forum (and a few others) and that satisfies my need for homeschool banter.

Thinking of you Ting. Hope you can settle on a plan and find some peace.

It is the Guided Reading Tool Kit by My Teaching Pal. Despite the name, it’s not guided reading as in the “look at the picture, guess the word.”

Oh my gosh! That’s outrageous.

Acellus/Powerhomeschool is huge around here. The other online platforms are popular but Acellus is the one I tend to hear about the most. I’ve met a few families that use BJU distance learning or Abeka Accredited. Someone at the library asked me if I used a homeschool program. I mistakingly interpreted “program” as methodology and started explaining we are a blend of CM & Classical but I like a heavy dose of Waldorf in early elementary. She looked at me wide eyed and said she used ABC Mouse. I felt bad I went in to all that, she probably thought I was condescending. I love that there has been a surge in homeschooling. I love that we now have access to homeschool opportunities we never had before. There are tons of local places capitalizing on the surge in hsing and creating classes and experiences. Our city isn’t that big and opportunities, in general, are limited. I really do love that the increase in homeschooling has opened up a whole new economy for us. However, it is a little frightening that some parents genuinely seem to have no clue. They don’t even seem interested in education. I’m afraid this is going to backfire on traditional homeschooling and we’re going to end up with heavy oversight.

I’ve used a ton of lit guides. They all had pros and cons, some were more academic and some were more cross curricula/ unit studies. This year, I bought a reading comprehension kit on TPT that can be used with any book. It’s perfect, and no worksheets. It’s all task cards/discussion prompts. I also bought a literary elements pack. FWIW We have used CLE Reading and I liked it. My son tolerated it.

I’ve switched from them but my kids were young. We held on to the K-2 enrichment and Bible for a while but eventually I dropped that too. I am using their preschool again and I do like it. I will not be doing their jr.k again.