B&T guides really are not needed. SU is written to the student. I actually think the books are better without the guides.... more systematic and I feel B&T adds fluff and not as systematic. Just add in some Geomotry pages from a workbook every now and then. I would start the 5th grader in book 2. I think it is about right, you could always skip over some sections not needed.

Are you familiar with those concepts? Would you be able to talk about them when they come up? Homophones I find come up pretty naturally, you can point out a to and ask if they've ever noticed them spelt differently. My children now sometimes point them out and say it's spelt that way because... (insert relevant context), or I'll prompt them about it. I think when they're familiar with the concept, they'll observe them the more they read. I talk about other literary devices when they come up. Sometimes we'll make up our own version orally, making allowances that are phonetically plausible where relevant at their current ages. Sometimes we'll talk about a character, and I ask them to tell me a story about what happened next, or if they went on an adventure elsewhere. Or if we weren't keen on a story, an alternative ending. This will transition into writing prompts when they get older. On longer pieces we can about plot, beginning, middle, end, did anything surprise you. Maybe I should create a guide of what you could potentially do with each piece, I have no idea whether or not there are any on the market. If there are, hopefully someone else can point you in that direction?

I have looked at the program briefly, though I'm not very familiar with it. From what I recall, I liked it but preferred the look of the higher levels and something I would consider further down the road, probably when we've done the first 3, or maybe all 4 volumes of FLL. Not to say there is anything wrong with the lower levels, I'm just fairly sure personally I preferred the look of it after the first few levels. I think it looked like a fairly similar version of what I'm doing. They read and do some lessons based on what they read. My children really enjoy the simplicity of that and a great blend of CM/Classical. I haven't done a ton of research on other programs as I know I want to continue having a large focus on mcguffeys at present. I'm finding it short, effective and inspiring a love of reading good quality literature and poetry. Reading progression and understanding is really clear as you work through the volumes. It's working very well so no need to fix it. I do sometimes look at literature based programs but just for ideas of books to put on the bookshelf to read whenever they want or for me to read aloud for fun. If you know that you want to do mcguffeys, maybe you could work on them for a week and then look at the two programs again, seeing what you feel would work best with them? I think with ELTL you'd probably prefer to use the mcguffeys for your little to read aloud at bedtime, or whenever works because it is more time consuming. But with FLL, there would be more time to work out of them as part of your lessons.

Oh my children enjoy reading classic literature and poetry for fun, fully accredit the mcguffeys for that. For years, they're reading classical/more traditional/harder children's literature, meaning it is not intimidating but also enjoyable. The mcguffeys do take them to a very high level, whichever edition you use. There's a good variety of literature, more so in the revised in my opinion, and I feel inspires them to read good quality literature for fun. My kindergartener is reading the secret garden for the second time. I think they're great to have even if you just use them for daily reading and a separate Language Arts curriculum

Oh and another thing I love about mcguffeys, particularly for the revised, is there's a good selection of literature and poetry. (this is why we're switching, the originals are too Christian-mythos heavy, the revised are much more well rounded with a greater variety of literature)., So anything else you read is just for fun, because I feel it's enough to have you covered.

1. Why did you decide to use the Mcguffeys? They were given to me by an older more experienced mom who loved them for an elementary reading program. Her youngest had just finished 5th and was done with them. She'd used them for all her children and they were all strong readers, which appealed to me. They work. No workbook so easy to progress through them at child's pace, spending as long as needed on each story. 2. How did you learn/know how to teach the way you did with them? I create my own math for the kids as that comes super naturally to me. But teaching language arts and having a guide of what to teach does not come naturally to me with LA. (Which is ironic as I freelance write and love it.) But developing a thorough understanding of the English language in our kids is important to me. I looked at various reading programs, I liked the ones that came with reading books rather than just learning it in a workbook as they co-ordinated perfectly. So I decided to just base phonics and sight words as they come up in the readers. I had them, they went to a higher level than other reading programs. When they were immediately reading and understanding what they were reading I knew they needed more. So we started exploring literary devices more. This comes naturally to me, math doesn't and we use MWC. If you need hand holding more, I would start the lesson with FLL which is very quick, then do a mcguffey lesson. Ask the child to point about a noun in the story they read aloud to you. Then perhaps do copywork of that sentence. That is what I plan to do, as I'm weak on naming grammar terms and they'll work together very well anyway. 3. Have you used anything alongside McGuffey? Not yet. But as above I will be adding in First Language Lessons. I am currently using the originals, I have bought the revised set secondhand, when they arrive I'm going to decide where to place them, probably in the second reader. Then we're starting FLL.

We use mcguffeys as soon as they can blend CVC words,basing phonics and sight words around them. My kindergartener and first grader are both very strong readers and we're past needing to stop to practice certain blends / sight words now, which is amazing. We used to stay on a story, doing copywork and word building with letters, other activities to practice blends/sight words until they could read the story fluently, then oral narration (questions can be used as prompts) and move on. We're spending more time now discussing the piece, metaphors or smilies, punctuation... Feels really natural / organic. I think it would be very easy to add FLL and talk about what you're learning in the mcguffeys. I plan to add in FLL in a month or so and add that to our language arts over the next few weeks. You could use word lists for vocab, spelling/dictation (reading the word and having them write it, copywork if wrong), identifying which are say nouns, getting more complex with categorising them as you move through FLL.

UK Year 9 is US Grade 8. So he is only about a year ahead, not ahead enough to worry.

Yes, mine do. (1st grade, K and preschooler). We have a few children's cookbooks, including a winnie the pooh one. I actually make sure every week they do something one to one (we do things together too), with as little help from me as needed. Sometimes I assign something, other times I will say pick out a breakfast / lunch / dinner/ drink / bread or sweet treat to make this week whilst I'm planning the upcoming school week. They love looking through the books. I did my planning yesterday, this week I asked them to pick out a drink as we haven't done those for awhile. This week my elder 2 picked a smoothie and my youngest a hot chocolate. They'll all make enough for everyone and then they'll chop up some fruit, or maybe set out a cookie on a plate or something for everyone too as a snack.

I agree - math is important! We have just switched to Math With Confidence 2 after nearly finishing another Grade 1 curriculum with some concerns and help from here! I actually didn't know Science wasn't that important at this age. I won't stress about it again! Thank you. :) I am taking 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it!' on board. 😁

Thank you, this has been very reassuring. We will carry on unless it stops working then. I tend to do a lot of the writing for them at this point. They really enjoy the experients, recording it in their student books etc. It is so hands on and fun. I feel pretty solid too.

Hi, we are currently in the grammar stage of Elemental Science. I saw on another thread someone said it was weak. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this? It doesn't seem to be a popular curriculum or suggested very often. Is there a reason for this or just not one of the 'big' names? We've really been enjoying the program and planned to use it all the way through. Now anxious I'm setting them up with a weak Science program incase they do want to pursue something in a Science field when older.

Can I ask why you feel Elemental Science is weak? This is what we use and felt it was pretty solid, although we are only in the grammar stage.

We are used to reading lots of traditional fairy tales, I wouldn't shy away from it personally. There is value in it and meaningful discussions to be had. You have mentioned doing social studies instead history, this will split them now and I would just jump straight into having 2 history cycles. Start with ancients again for younger one amd carrying on with older one. You could assign SOTW for reading for older, or listen to audiobook and do activity book together. Or you could skip over that bit and plod along, reading the chapter seperately. The real one and the edited one.

No - I hadn't! They look great. She is currently using the Schoolzone Big Preschool workbook and really enjoys the mazes and things in it. Obviously that is very colourful but I prefer plainer resources. I might order these to add into the mix. Thank you!