I posted this on another thread...I'll have 1st grade twin boys in Little Hearts. I will be choosing my own LA and math as I will also with my 8 and 10 year daughters using Bigger. For the boys, I'm using All About Spelling(they can already read), BJU Reading(although just reading books would be sufficient, I just like the structure of a reading program at this point), First Language Lessons, Writing With Ease, CLE Math 1. Ann

Thanks for the advice! I decided what to do.... AAS level 1 (spread out over the whole year) BJU 1 reading First Language Lessons and Writing With Ease CLE 1 Math For all else - Heart of Dakota - LHFHG (I realize my boys could have placed in HOD Beyond, however after looking at the books I received, I think Little will be perfect for them considering they have not studied any history or science yet. I think it will be a perfect introduction.) Ann

Wow, thanks for all the great advice. I bought CLE a couple years ago and sent it back. I wasn't too comfortable with the spiral approach. It seemed to me that you would have to keep re-teaching concepts since the curriclum is spiral and doesn't spend too much time on one topic. Do you know what changes will be made in the new editions? I've been using Rod and Staff English/Reading for the past 3 years for my older girls which I really liked but they are happier with the workbook approach with BJU and the reading is easier for them in BJU. My dyslexic dd was having great difficulty completing the readers and workbook assignments in R&S. I have looked into DITHOR and for this year I prefer sticking with bju reading but will not rule out DITHOR in the future. Years ago I used LLATL 3 years for my oldest who are now in high school. That is a regret of mine b/c they feel it was too light of a curriculum. That is why I am tyring to be very careful with my curriclum choices and why I hesitate going completely with the HOD LA/Math choices. I want a very strong LA and for math we'll be using Teaching textbooks b/c it works for my kids and it frees me up to teach other things. About choosing HOD Little Hearts....after I got it, I started to wonder if I made a mistake in placement for my boys . I placed my 8 and 10 year dd's in Bigger and then wondered why the heck didn't I put them into preparing so I wouldn't have to mess with all the extensions.(My 10 yr dd is dyslexic and behind in reading so I prefered putting her lower in level). I wonder if I should e-mail Carrie and reasses my decision. Since my boys haven't learned any of the phonics "rules", I would be more comfortable with them having instruction in that area. I briefly looked at Adventures in Phonics and it looked pretty simplistic. I'm not looking for the bells and whistles, just a simplistic good education for my kids. I may need to look into CLE again. Could the 1st grade CLE LA be used independently from the reading program? I am quite happy with the bju reading. I looked at the yahoo group files and it looked that the changes being made would be something I'm interested in. Oh, and is the 1st grade the 100 series? Thanks, Ann

I am in desperate need of curriculum advice. My upcoming 1st grade twins will have finished "The Reading Lesson" by this fall. I will be using Little Hearts for His Glory from Heart of Dakota with them this fall but I will be choosing my own math, English and Reading. I recently ordered and received BJU for all these subjects. After previewing, I like the math and reading but am COMPLETELY overwhelmed by the Phonics/English course. It has WAY too much prep and fluff and TOO many workbook pages(4 each day!!!). I'm schooling 3 other kids and I don't know how I'll be able to fit everything in with using the BJU phonics. I'm considering sending the BJU phonics/english back since I have 30 days to decide. I do use AAS with my other girls and was going to wait until my boys finished 1st grade to start them however since I would prefer not doing bju phonics, do you think AAS would suffice for their 1st grade phonics instruction? "The Reading Lesson" teaches them to read but it doesn't teach any of the rules. Or is there any other 1st grade phonics you would suggest for a child who is already reading? In addition I was thinking of adding First Language Lessons. What do you think? I'm also wondering about the Writing with Ease and whether or not that would be necessary at their age. I don't thing HOD LHFHG has any writing at that stage. Please share with me your thought/opinions on this. I am so confused right now. I just want someone to tell me the best thing to do for my kiddos. I do prefer an open and go type curriclum without much prep. I also like taking a more traditional approach to teaching English, Reading, and Math which is why I chose BJU for these subjects and a more classical approach to everything else. I LOVED the 3rd grade on up for English/Writing but I think it might be best to using something else for 1st and 2nd then put my boys in BJU English. Any advice would be appreciated. I need to make a decision soon as to whether or not to send these books back.

Thankyou ladies for your thorough responses! You've helped solidify my decision. I'm going to go ahead and order:001_smile: Ann

I am very close to buying the BJU 1st grade phonics/english along with the reading course for my twins. I would like some questions answered before I proceed. My 6 yr old twins will have completed "The Reading Lesson" by the time they start BJU phonics this fall. I really like what I see with the BJU samples but I need to know exactly how time consuming it is to teach that course with a student who can already read at a 1st grade level. I have used many other phonics programs with my other kids(PP, ETC, SSRW, A Beka, Rod & Staff, Calvert..) however, I am very drawn to the BJU program for my boys. As I look at the online lesson, it doesn't look too difficult to teach and I love the workbooks they do for reinforcement. Although it's difficult to make a decision by looking at a few sample pages. For those of you who have used this program, can you please share with me your experiences, thoughts, opinions? Thanks, Ann

I vote for BJU. I also have a daughter who struggles with reading. She should be going into the 5th grade but I just purchased the 4th grade BJU reading. I haven't used it yet but I thoroughly researched the curriculum and I am very impressed. I like the fact that they still review over phonics in the 4th grade which will be helpful to my daughter. We formally used Rod and Staff reading but the workbooks were too difficult for her to complete. I also bought and sent back CLE readers which was even more difficult than Rod and Staff. BJU is quite expensive but I think well worth it.

Our youth group as it about 3 times a year (whenever there is a 5th Sunday). My kids love it. It's a great way for them to learn more about the saints. Ann

I had 2 dd's I used 5th and 6th grade last year but that was they're only year. This year I have them doing a charter school at home. It was becoming too difficult to teach all of my children well. However, I will more than likely continue with the kids I'm teaching now through at least 8th grade and I plan on using R&S all the way through. Ann

Yes I have some ideas. First off, many of the reviews I read about MCP is that the kids don't retain the material as well because there isn't any built in review. My kids did not retain the concepts as well over the year when we used it. I've had kids use up to 6th grade R&S math and I just have them write whatever they can in the book and use a notebook for problems that won't fit. The books are so cheap it's not worth the frustration of having them write everything out starting in 3rd grade. The oldest I have now using it is in 4th and she's able to use the book for most of the problems. She tells me every day how much she loves her math. Also, I don't always assign every problem. Especially in the 2nd grade book, there are like 4 pages that include extra work. I only have my daughter do the 2 main pages. I think that's plenty and she's learning quite well. The older they get the more problems there are, so assigning every other problem is an option. I never did use the blacklines. I just stick with the basic lesson and the speed drills. After 10 years of homeschooling I am just ecstatic over finding R&S. It teaches the kids so well.

I've used both and I highly recommend R&S. With R&S your child will certainly get his math facts down. I've used a number of math curricula the past 10 years and for our family R&S tops them all. I don't ever plan on changing again. My kids who have used purely R&S are so much better at math than my older ones who used Saxon/teaching textbooks. R&S is mastery based with review built in which has proven to be more effective for us compared to spiral. MCP is also mastery based but I much prefer R&S. Ann

Just a warning about the magnetic tape. I bought the tape at staples a year ago, cut it all up putting it on the back of all the tiles and they kept falling off(the adhesive didn't stick well enough). It was so frustrating. I finally went to a craft store and bought the flat sheets of magnets and they work beautifully. Ann

I have used a number of Seton's materials in the past and since I've discovered Rod & Staff, I'm using most of R&S material. I really tried to like Seton but for us, R&S works best. I think R&S's english is far superior to Seton. I'm getting much better results with R&S. I know many people who use Seton exclusively and love it. R&S was just a better fit for our family. I would like to add, I was never enrolled in Seton but only used their books. If you were enrolled, you would get the teacher guides which adds more to the student's education. I don't think just using their books without the guides is a complete education. Ann

After the student does the lesson for a particular amount of time, they can click on a link for games. A large list of game sites come up that the student can pick from. When you set them up, the parent goes into her account and decides how long the student needs to work before the games are alowed and how long they are alowed to play the games. Ann

I used the books a while back so i can't remember exactly but I think online is very similar to the books with the exception of updated colorful pictures. Sometimes I do need to explain to my kids what a picture is. Colleen, You didn't sound cranky at all:001_smile: Linda explained it very well. Something I'll add is that I don't think this online curriculum is good to be used alone for teaching reading. I use it for reinforcement to my spine program. I certainly think it is helping my children learn to read better but I wouldn't rely on this program by itself. It's easy for mom to use b/c it's independent and the computer does all the correcting/proper placement. I don't think any computer program should be used as a spine to teach reading. In my opinion, the best way is one on one teaching with mom and child. I also think this program may be better suited for age 6 and up depending on the readiness of your child. My 5 year old's are beginning to read with bob books and first reader but I don't think they'd be ready to do etc online. Ann

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. My dd's have been doing the program for 6 months and when they get a problem wrong, the program tells them they are wrong and they keep trying till they get it right. Ann

My girls and I absolutely love it! They did not like the books at all but look forward to the online. Since it's $60/year, I'm having them work year round. My oldest will definitely get all 8 books done within the year and it will be close for my youngest. I talked with the guy who runs the program and he said if I only need a few more months beyond the 1st year that we could work something out so I wouldn't have to pay the full $60 again. How I have my girls do it is that I require them to each have 4 butterflies(which means good) before they stop. There is also a lightening(for speedy fast) and a lady bug and fly for fair/poor work. Of coarse if they get a lightening, which is rare, that would count for 1 of their 4 required. It doesn't usually take them more than 15-20 minutes to complete my requirement. I really like that the program will automatically place the child at their level. If they're stuggling on a number of lessons, the program will take them back some lessons until they master that material then they'll move them back up slowly. I find this is really helping my girls solidify the information. If you have any other specific questions, please let me know. Ann

I started out with the workbooks several years ago and my girls did not like them. We switched to ETC online in January of this year and my girls love it. My one daughter is dsylexic and she has responded very well to the program. I find they're able to move quicker with the online version. My 9yr old dyslexic dd is already finishing up book 5 and my 7 yr dd is finishing up book 3. I definitely plan on finishing out the program with the girls and using it for future children. Ann