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This is absolutely a Catholic program. The religious views are a focus of this program. So definitely, make no mistake about the intention of wanting to promote a specific religious view.

Arithmetic is not yet available. I believe it will open for enrollment late in the summer. I do not think the geography lessons are nearly as intense as the grammar/vocabulary. It is my dd11's favorite class. My dd9 does fine in that class as well. There is no time limit on how long a class takes to complete. I do not know how many lessons are in each class, but an approximate would be a year's worth of material - maybe 30 lessons? The school has not even "officially" opened yet. The first real school year will be this fall. So, many of the classes are being tested (and some even written) as they go this year. I believe Mr. Michael is going to try and have a S&S for each class before the end of the summer. Every lesson must be passed with 100% accuracy. I think vocabulary is the most difficult class, but it is also a very rewarding class. It covers quite a bit of ground with each lesson. My dd11 spends approximately 1.5-2 hours daily on grammar/vocabulary, 30 minutes per day (3x weekly) on geography and 15-20 minutes daily on catechism.

Nope, all of the lessons are just like the samples. :D This is a very traditional, memory-focused program. There are no bells or whistles of any kind. My kids have not found the lessons boring (but they also like Saxon K-3.) The lessons are very intense. There is a great deal of information to commit to memory. In Grammar I the child is able to recite John 1:1-10 from memory in both English and Latin and write it from memory in both English and Latin by the end of lesson 6. Lesson 7 introduces all six Latin noun cases and all uses for a noun. It is too challenging to be boring. But the format never changes so it would be monotonous for some children.

The Petty School that will open for registration in the fall is a kindergarten or pre-CLAA program. There are children as young as five in the regular CLAA classes. That said, my dd11 is finding the level one grammar and vocabulary classes to be challenging and my dd9 is going to wait for fall to take those two classes because I really don't think she is ready.

Not having read the main books, it is hard to say. You could use Dante for your third term literature. I haven't planned out the middle ages much but I do plan to have a book on Marco Polo, maybe his book or maybe a biography. There is Tennyson's Idylls of the King and the Song of Roland. But it is impossible to do everything. You have a great layout already.

Edgar Eager (Half Magic) has several other books Carolyn Haywood has quite a few in her series The Bunnicula series Childhood of Famous Americans series

HITS online school for Latin, Greek and Geography - love the school and a huge sigh of relief from me, not having to teach these any more Singapore math - always a hit Saxon math for younger grades - always a hit Oak Meadow - always a hit FLL - always a hit Hooked on Phonics - always a hit Excellence in Literature - new to us this year - really love it Sequential Spelling - new to us this year - love it IEW - new to us this year - it will work TRISMS History Makers - plan to use TRISMS throughout high school PLL/ILL - went back to this recently (used years ago) Song School Latin - the little ones loved this (the big kids didn't mind it either) Things I still hope to love, but didn't find time to really dig into this year Classical Writing - Poetry RS4K - levels I and II Artistic Pursuits Fix-it! grammar The Easy French Jr. Misses Phonetic Zoo - too time intensive that online history program - History at Home or something like that? - not for us Trail Guide to U.S./World Geography - several years of not being able to make these work for us

We will need to replace our MPV in the next year or two as well. I am very disappointed that they were discontinued. I love the large front window. I am short and really dislike feeling like I can't quite see over the dashboard and hood while I'm driving. It has been a great vehicle for us and I haven't yet found anything I like as well to replace it. :glare:

Oak Meadow Laurel Springs

I had never imagined that my kids could have the level of Latin and Greek that they will have before even entering high school. My older two daughters have been plodding along with me the last couple of years and we have made moderate progress. But I really didn't know what I was doing to a great degree - especially in Greek. It is very different having someone who knows what he is doing setting up a course of study and being available to answer any questions - often within the hour. Dd11's Latin has surpassed my own already, as it should have a couple of years ago. I am very excited about the kids being able to discuss philosophy and theology (especially Aristotle) with someone other than myself. I love to read and study myself, but I do not have the level of education I wish I did. I also really like having a group of kids online that are working through the same subjects with them that they can also discuss with. Mr. Michael and his wife have been working hard to not only set up the curriculum, but to set up a children's forum and family forum and even a competition forum for children that would like to display what they have learned. They are working toward an online academic (and religious) community for the students. We have never had like-minded homeschoolers around us and I think this is an area that was lacking in our studies. The kids didn't have anyone to share all of their studies with. Finally, I have moved my focus more toward Latin and Greek. It has always been our goal to help the children become truth seekers as opposed to obtainers of information. We come from an extended family of philosophers at heart. I just haven't been able to figure out how to make that happen in our homeschool. I had not planned to reach philosophy at the level CLAA is teaching during our high school years. I also have not found any online program that teaches languages to the level they can now reach. Most latin programs would not even accept students below 7th grade, except for a "fun" introductory Latin program and very few teach Greek at all. Not knowing what the end results would be with me trying to teach them Latin and Greek, I didn't want to put too much time into that area. I feel much more confident in their overall schooling now that I have the opportunity to pass the Latin, Greek, Logic, Rhetoric, Philosophy and Theology portions (and maybe even math!) into more capable hands. It leaves me to focus on History, Literature, English, French, athletics and fine arts. All areas in which I have much more confidence in my ability to provide an excellent education. I have very high hopes for this program. So far, it has exceeded my expectations!

My kids attend and I love the program, as do they. My eldest daughter has been in the program for about three months. It has been a wonderful addition to our homeschool program and completely changed my plans for the kids' future schooling. I only have great things to say about it. Having said that, it IS religous and it IS Catholic. Mr. Michael's focus is on providing a Catholic classical education. I think it would be difficult for those of other religions to enjoy this program. Mr. Michael is very good about answering emails if you have any questions and there has been some discussion of this program on the Latin centered yahoo group run by Andrew Campbell (Plaid Dad.)

Thanks for the suggestions so far. This house is a rental, so I hesitate to put anything in the walls and we only have one bathroom. I already have floor to ceiling shelves on the only wall of the dining room (pine boards and cement blocks - not nice built-ins.) I really love the cement block bookshelf. We put them up everywhere we move. Unfortunately, they need to go against a good sized, floor to ceiling wall and the dining room is the only room in this house where I can put one. (I have already decided that my next couch is going to have storage space in place of springs. :D) But, I do think we can custom make some shelves to go on top of each dresser. I have one row of books on each dresser, but I hadn't though about having two or three rows of books on top of each. We have four dressers that we could add shelves to, so that is space for another 100+ books! I also found that I can tuck our last three shelf book case into the back of the closet and still fit the vacuum, so another 50 books there! I'm getting there. :)

I am out of book space. I cannot fit another bookshelf in the house. I've gotten rid of any books that I felt I could spare. (Our last two homes have been in areas with terrible library systems.) I really need suggestions on creative places to store books. I still have at least a dozen boxes of books that I want to unpack from our recent move. Any ideas?

I would say that I use it as it is. The only changes I have made: I read the books as well, in order to discuss them with her (the program is written to the student so this isn't necessary) I oversee her work (not necessary with the program) I spend more time on each unit than is suggested I introduce literary terms with each unit (not in the program - although there are suggested books for kids who need work in this area) I helped her with the first couple of writing assignments (there are instructions and samples of each type of writing assignment in the back of the book) My dd11 was thrilled to finally be reading books with some "meat" in them. She doesn't love the writing parts, but I think it is necessary and will make writing author profiles and approach papers a simple task when she enters high school.

Definitely read How to Read a Book. It is in my top three as far as homeschooling helps. Here is what I have decided to do (FWIW.) For literature I am using Excellence in Literature by Janice Campbell. I really, really like this program. It has almost everything I was looking for. She suggests one month per unit, but we spend two months and I add an extra book. So every two months we cover three books from the same author or literary technique, one biography and a TON of context information. She provides links to music, art, poetry, short stories, interesting tidbits, etc. She provides some areas to focus on while reading just to get us started, two or three smaller assignments and one larger essay per unit. I pull information from Perrine's and Teaching the Classics because she assumes the student has more knowledge of literary terms than my daughter actually does. I like it so well, I am spending the summer taking her ideas and figuring out how to bring them down to the level of my younger kids. :D For history I have decided to write my own. We do two strands of history at once - ancient and American/world. I just finished an outline for dd11's (will be 12) ancient history next year. She will be doing ancient Greece. Books at (or below) her reading level for history focus: Story of Greece - MacGregor Famous Men of Greece (I have the guides to go with this to make sure we get our history down. I may have her take the quizzes, still undecided on that.) Context material: Story of Philosophy (Part one) -Magee What Life was Like at the Dawn of Democracy I will also be adding four or so biographies that focus more on the math and science of the times. I haven't decided yet what those will be. Higher level focus: (these materials only require reading, listening and some discussion - no writing at all) I am in the minority in assigning these books to my dd at her age. But, my philosophy and end goals are different than those of the WTM and most of the people here - so there it is. I have come to believe I am not asking too much too soon, taxing my daughter's brain before it is properly developed or prepared, creating undue stress, assigning what I want to read rather than considering my daughter, taking away from her childhood, or any other of the gently given suggestions I have been offered the last couple of years. :D (The people on the WTM forums have been very gracious when suggesting I am being overly ambitous. I really appreciate their consideration, but still tend to disagree.) Teaching Company DVDs - Famous Greeks Hamilton's Mythology (first three parts) Iliad Odyssey Plutarch's Lives (Greek lives only) Oedipus Rex Oedipus at Colonus Antigone Last Days of Socrates Heredotus' Histories (only a few sections) For American/World history she will be focusing on 1600 through about 1820. But, I haven't written that one out yet. (We school year round and six days, so there isn't as much here as it would seem for a student only schooling five days and/or 36 weeks.) If that rambling post wasn't especially helpful, I am happy to attempt to clarify. :)

We use Sequential Spelling. I think it would take a long time with a 5 year old and it would probably become very boring, very quickly. My 5 year old dd likes to sit in on the first lesson of each group (without the endings.) She will get about halfway through the list before she leaves. I won't let her sit in on the others because the older girls like to be done with spelling in about 10 minutes. It takes us at least 20-25 minutes with the 5 year old sitting in on the first half of the list. If she likes to write, I would encourage a great deal of copywork at that age. My five year old likes the Draw Write Now books (but she also likes to draw.) She also likes to copy poems, her sisters' school work:confused:, and information off cereal boxes or clothing tags or other odd things.

I went with other. Mine watch about 3 or 4 hours per week. Less than an hour a day, but more than no tv ever.

Thanks for your thoughts. Do you still sit in on the lessons? I wasn't excited about that aspect of Suzuki. I really prefer music lessons to be something the kids take on as their own responsibility. I do think she is up to date on her training. She taught Suzuki violin lessons at a local school until she had a new baby a few weeks ago. She gave me the school as a reference. It won't hurt to double check though.

I voted 5-10 but that is almost all my dh. :D Our only TV is in the master bedroom. We have dish because we can't get any channels without it. My dh watches about four or five channels - a couple of sports channels, a couple of nature program channels and HBO. The kids watch very little unless dh invites them to come in and watch a nature show with him. Everyone has to pile on the bed. I have a weakness for football games and usually watch 1 or 2 a week during football season. (I will also watch the NBA playoffs this afternoon with dh. :tongue_smilie:)

What have been the long term results of having your child take Suzuki (or Traditional) violin lessons? I lean more toward Traditional - I do know the general differences. My eldest daughter has taken traditional lessons. But, now that we have moved I have found a violin instructor (homeschool mom) that only teaches Suzuki and will begin both girls (11 and 9) at the beginning level. I'm on the fence about this. Has anyone had great results using Suzuki - especially with older children? Or should I keep looking for a traditional instructor? I'm off to do much more research, but would appreciate the thoughts of any who have BTDT. :) Thanks!

I haven't had any trouble without it. But I have watched the TWSS program and still have to look back to the TWSS workbook from time to time. I wouldn't have given the vocabulary quizzes anyway, so that wasn't important to me. All of the vocabulary definitions are in the back of the student book.

I really like the K-3 program. If you do the whole lesson every time, a child should leave level 3 with a SOLID base - especially in math facts. The repetitive lessons are fun for my younger kids. It moves slowly and steadily. My kids enjoy the meeting book: checking the weather, filling in the calendar, patterns, word problems, the whole lot - they like knowing what is going to happen next on a day to day basis. They like that they "know" much of the lesson each time. But, we move away from the program after level 3. I found that it then began to move too slowly and was too repetitive for my older girls. What was fun in the early years was now busy work and quite boring. I needed something more challenging on a day to day basis.

We use Oak Meadow's Life Science which is 6th grade. It is hands on and research based.