We haven't used MUS, but we do use CLE, so I can speak a little about the independence. I do need to prepared for and involved in teaching the lesson. The basics of the lessons are written to the child, but you'd still need to teach the lesson from the teacher's manual first. It will direct you what to write on the board and when to use simple manipulatives (like beans) to explain something. As @HomeAgain expressed, it's not designed to be entirely independent. There is a small amount of new information each lesson, and then about 2/3 of the lesson is review, which they call, "We Remember." This part of the lesson I assign as independent work. I work outside the home some days. I teach the new material and have my child do that section with me right there. I then assign the We Remember section for when I'm not home. In this way, I love the independence of CLE, but still have to be involved in teaching. We haven't supplemented with another program because we haven't found the need to, and I like to keep things as simple as possible. The lessons can also be a little long, so adding more math would feel like a lot. Eventually I might get to the point where I don't want to be so involved in teaching math, especially if it starts to be over my head, and at this point I'd look to outsource it entirely, such as to an online class with a live teacher.

We used Memoria Press exclusively for three years (Jr. K, K and 1st) and mostly MP for our fourth year (2nd). We will be moving away from MP for 3rd, minus a few subjects, for the following reasons: 1) There is a ton of writing. So much that it seems unnecessarily time consuming. 2) As a homeschooling parent who also works outside the home, and as a family who thrives having a co-op day once a week, it is very difficult to schedule the amount of work MP requires, even into a full calendar year. Many of their subjects are also teacher-intensive and not as independent as we need, since I'm not always around to teach. Some parents outsource to the online academy or cottage schools, but we do not. 3) It is important for us to do non skill based subjects, such as history , science, and Bible, as a family, but MP separates these subjects by grade. Sure, it's possible to figure out how to use MP materials for the whole family, but why go through the trouble when there are other curricula made use with multiple ages? That being said, I thought Jr K through 1st grade were wonderful. My children have a strong foundation in reading and phonics thanks to MP. Their literature selections, especially in the younger grades, are fantastic. Their customer service is also superb. I think MP gets to be a bit much around 3rd. We just can't dedicate the amount of time needed to get it all done. Kids who are educated with MP materials have an incredible education, but it costs a lot of time and effort, as well as some sanity. We prioritize a great education, but we also prioritize rest, and time together as a family. Nobody who uses MP does "all the things," but it's very stressful to figure out what to cut and how to adjust. So, we've benefitted from what we've used, but it's just too much after a while. I have much more peace using materials that actually get done.

Thanks a lot everyone. My daughter loves the MP literature guides. It's only a few books a year, and the rest of the time we do read alouds for enjoyment. I think we'll keep this up. MP has such a strong program, and the selections are good. We can always start doing more study on literary terms, etc. closer to middle school.

@ScoutTN I appreciate this perspective. We read aloud a lot and I don't require any written work for history, science or Bible. I don't like busywork and I believe all work in the homeschool must serve a purpose. I find my child thrives on carefully selected published resources / workbooks for language arts. Often she'll have little to no recollection of books we have just read and discussed, but the books we have studied through literature guides, she remembers very well. I only have her write answers to 2 questions that I select, and the rest we do orally. Thanks a lot.

@Insertcreativenamehere I've heard before of moms really liking it and kids not as much. I think it takes a lot of stress off mom. I might have to check out the reader first before deciding to get the whole thing. Thank you.

@AnneGG Thank you. TPT has great resources. I often turn to it when looking for resources for co-op lessons and forget I can utilize it for home, too.

@Zoo Keeper It looks like CLE's Reading becomes a half year program in 4th grade. Would you wait until 4th? I'm wondering if we'd be "missing" anything important to build on if we started then instead of 3rd, when it's still a full year program. But I'm willing to start in 3rd. I looked more into the Center for Lit course mentioned above, and the thing that concerns me is it would be mom-dependent. With CLE, it is easy for my husband or a grandparent to oversee school work while I'm at work, without knowing the material. I just have to say, "Language Arts: Do lesson 4; Math: Take quiz 1. When I get home, it's done. I like knowing that even without me there, we can stay on schedule with math and language arts (and potentially reading). That's the nice thing about using CLE. So I guess I have figured out I want to use CLE for reading, but am not sure whether to start it right away, or wait until 4th when it becomes a semester long program. I'll definitely take a look at the talk you linked. Thanks a lot.

@Clarita Thank you. The Center for Lit option might be what I'm looking for: classic literature, thorough literary analysis, and no additional workbook pages. I remember coming across it before and thinking I didn't have time for the Teaching the Classics course, but my kids were a bit younger then. If we're going to homeschool long-term, it may be a good investment for me to educate myself to educate my children. I wish they'd offer streaming without a membership (who uses a DVD player anymore?) but checking out the monthly option might be a good way for me to see what it's about. Thanks for the suggestions!

We've been using Memoria Press literature guides with my daughter (going into 3rd next year) because we started homeschooling with MP in Jr. K and went along with their suggestions each year. Due to the amount of work Memoria Press requires and my realization that their materials are written for a brick and mortar school environment, we gradually dropped a lot of MP, including switching Math and Language Arts over to Christian Light Education (CLE) and are very, very happy with the change. CLE is much less stressful for me as a mom who works part-time outside the home. It's open and go, with less moving parts. I don't know what to do about Reading for 3rd. I'm beginning to doubt whether to continue with the MP literature guides. They don't seem to be comprehensive in teaching children about literature. They're mostly vocabulary and reading comprehension, and don't seem to fully cover literary devices and terminology. I like that CLE Reading covers literary analysis very well. However, I prefer living books and classic literature. I'm considering switching to CLE Reading to round out the LA curriculum in a cohesive way, and doing the MP literature selections as family read alouds. So far we've loved everything we've gotten from Christian Light. But I don't want CLE workbook overkill (we're already using Math and LA), and I love how MP uses real literature. I'm wondering whether anyone else has been in a similar situation and can offer some advice. Thank you!