That is a fantastic idea! I love it! I am going to try this!

Thats good to know, I had no idea! Thanks for your reply

Yes exactly, I feel comfortable with math but I am not the type of person that could just wing it in elementary without a curriculum. I have heard people say they do, wish I could be more like that, but I just am not that type of person. And i really want to make sure there are no gaps at all. I felt comfortable teaching saxon so far so I may just stick with that. My daughter did well with it. I think i may do the morning meeting as our first thing for the day. Then jump to another subject and later do the lesson and one worksheet. Then at the end of the day she can finish the other worksheet. If she doesnt like black and white worksheets, oh well. Maybe ill entice her with more art projects and fun things throughout the day after she does her black and white sheet lol. I like the script aspect, I didnt read it word for word, but it kept me on track with what to do next.

That definitely makes sense and is good advice. Pick a program I can teach well in elementary and then for middle and high take into consideration what the child needs at that point. You have been very helpful, thanks a lot!

What do you switch to after algebra 1?

i know, i need to stop getting catalogs in the mail and researching curriculum choices! Lol

I hear you, a saxon lesson can take quite long, especially that darn meeting every day. When we tried a light unit for CLE i just set a timer for 30 minutes and we got through 2 lessons in CLE. And i think my child might like the tiny workbook aspect too. Rod and staff is now intriguing me after I stayed up last night researching....oh decisions lol

Thanks for your reply. So would it be safe to say to try and stick with a program for elementary, a program for middle, and then a program for high school? I have been reading that Saxon teaches such a different approach that its hard to move into but others say its fine. I think i read so many forum posts and so many opinions Im confusing myself and just cannot seem to make a decision. I just found rod and staff math last night that i am told is mastery with review. I like the traditional math aspect. I know its great that homeschoolers have so many choices in programs.....but it also boggles my mind that their is so much to pick from!! Asian math interests me but i dont know if i can do just an asian program, maybe i will supplement with a challenging word problem book or something like that. So what factors for elementary math should i look for? I guess something easy for me to teach, makes my child solid in arithmetic and math facts, and lets my child like math. I cant really tell if a program will fit unless we try it so I guess I will just have to try them out to see what fits. I tried saxon k and 1, I have some light units for CLE, and I am going to buy the teachers manual and one workbook for rod and staff i suppose and try them out i guess. So maybe take a month and try CLE, take a month and try rod and staff, and then evaluate at that point. If we need to move back to saxon then we can jump in at saxon 2 and school through next summer to finish. Thanks again!

Okay so my soon to be second grader has done Saxon Math K for kinder and Saxon Math 1 for first. We have about ten more lessons in Math 1 left. I was thinking about switching because she might like something more colorful. She has done well with Saxon. I ordered a light unit and the teachers manual for CLE and she seems to like it she says its more colorful even though its only black green and white. It might also be that the work is easier than what she has been doing. I asked her if she got to choose between Saxon or CLE what would she pick and she says she would pick CLE. I do not want to switch math much at all if I can help it that is why I picked Saxon. I know with CLE I will have to switch to Saxon eventually anyway. I was thinking of buying stickers and putting them on the Saxon worksheets to add some color and such. We have moved our Saxon lessons to the whiteboard instead of both of us at a desk and she seemed to like that much better. I just dont know what to pick. I like Saxon more because of the extreme script it provides as well as just being used to it. I know CLE is semi scripted too though. I have spent hours and hours scouring forums to see what people use and what people like more and why and I am still just unsure.

Thank you for your reply to my post! Yes I am new 🙂 I have been reading posts for awhile now but have just started asking my own questions 🙂 I will look into FLL and WWE, definitely like the scripted aspect. And I will look into the Teaching Writing program you mentioned! Thank you! And yes, it is what you are describing exactly. I want to start with some sort of intro to grammar before grade 3 just so my daughter can have some exposure and it might make it easier when we start saxon grammar 3. She is reading at about a 3rd grade level, maybe a bit higher, so I am going to continue with her reading a lot, start AAS, and then choose something for grammar for 2nd grade. Then start Saxon grammar. FLL might be a good fit, especially if it is scripted! Thanks again, these boards have been tremendously helpful! I only have a soon to be 2nd grader and an almost K'er so I still feel like a newbie homeschooler 🙂

I am wondering what people use for grammar and writing before the saxon program. I would like to use it starting with Saxon Grammar and Writing 3. I emailed the publisher and Mary said that you could start it with a second grader but then Cathy Duffy's review said it was an advanced program so I am not sure if I should wait until 3rd grade to start it and do something different for my second grader. We have not done any grammar, we dabbled in alpha phonics almost completing the whole book, a little saxon phonics k, and clp adventures in phonics k. After that we used phonics pathways along with the clp readers. So no grammar instruction so far. I am a big fan of scripted type programs, bju press grammar intrigues me the manual looks partly scripted.

I also may just buy both programs and try them out and see which one my kids take to better. I found the NL Science 1 teachers manual for extremely cheap so I would just need to buy the material supply kit and student materials. It looks like NL is 3 days per week and Mcruffy is scheduled 2 days per week. So we can try both for a few weeks and then drop one if the kids prefer to. I dislike decisions lol.......

These are the two science programs I am looking into. I have a K and 2nd grader next year and I was planning on using NL Science 1 or one of the Mcruffy Science programs (not sure if I should use both Mcruffy science programs for my kids or combine them into one). I like how they are both scripted type programs and come with material kits. I have realized I am not a very Charlotte Mason unit type person for some subjects, science being one of them. I did MFW this year and the science barely got done. I need a more structured science program. Has anyone tried both these programs or at least one of them and has a preference? Thanks for the help!

Im glad it was a pretty seamless transition. I had my daughter do Saxon K and Saxon 1 but now I am starting to look into different options. I love scripted programs which made me pick Saxon but the lessons get to be too long at times and my daughter is very artistic and would appreciate some color and finds Saxon to be pretty dull even though she hasn't really struggled at all. I think sticking with an incremental spiral type program would benefit her. So I was looking into Mcruffy and CLE. I printed off the first 5 lesson samples of Mcruffy and the first day we got done with lesson 1 and she actually asked if we can do do more and do lesson 2. She would have never said that with Saxon. And I also just bought the first workbook from CLE which was extremely cheap. I know it is not as colorful, but I am going to dabble in the two programs over the summer to see how she takes to both and then we can decide if we will stick with Saxon or change to Mcruffy or CLE. I wish they made a colorful version of Saxon lol. Thank you for replying, this forum is so very helpful!

Thanks for your reply!!!! Was it a pretty seamless transition? Was the switch from Mcruffy 5 right into CLE grade 6?