Not having done Adv. I can only comment that we found a lot of "buswork" in ECC as well. I did love the K and 1st program, however! I did contemplate Adv. but decided to go with Heart of Dakota for a variety of reasons. MFW's bible felt more "academic" while HOD's Bible section felt more "heart oriented" if that makes sense. I also prefered the layout of the guide in HOD than MFW. I suppose I am more visual and the boxes in the HOD manual really appeal to me. :) That's not to say that MFW is not a great program...in fact my oldest dd is using the high school program from MFW.

We did K12 with PAVCS and then Agora (2 years) in PA. I do like the curriculum. I found it to be very solid and engaging however there was a lot of what I would call "busywork". I had 3 enrolled at that time with 3 other younger children. I found it "doable" only b/c my oldest dd was fairly independent with all of her work (she was in 4th and 5th). My sons were in K/1st and 2nd/3rd and I combined them in History and Science and Art and Music. That is the only way that I could finish school in a reasonable amount of time and not go insane! We had a fun 2 years until PAVCS started becoming a bit too intrusive and over-the-top in the "extra" requirements. The teachers would assign extra work above and beyond what was already assigned in the curriculum. :001_huh: And the curriculum was full. Also loved the online school and having my day already planned for me. Only thing I miss now! At the end of those 2 years, I felt confident enough (and fed up enough with the instrusiveness and "brick and mortar"esque feel of it) that we ventured out on our own using WTM recs. We, too, wanted more Bible and a curriculum that taught from a Biblical perspective (esp in Science and History). We used MOH for History and Christian Kids Explore the first year out and then switched to MFW ECC (which bombed here at our house :glare:). Fast forward to today and we are super-excited to have found Heart of Dakota! :D Biblical, Christ-centered, full, challenging and is a great mixture of all that I love about the WTM classical method and the Charlotte Mason method. Perfect fit for us. (Dd13 is using MFW for high school, though, bc I do love that program). I forget how many kids you said you have enrolled, but you might try to see if you can combine any of them for History/Science/Art/Music to make your day a bit less stressful and long. Teach the older ones to use the OLS independently (with supervision of course). Do not try to do EVERYTHING in the curriculum b/c if I remember correctly...there were options. Give it a go since you already have the materials. You might really enjoy it.

Geesh...never expected it to get this long! :tongue_smilie: Thanks for all the opinions. There is never a lack of them on this board, huh? :) Well, I do apologize for coming across as judgemental. It was. I went out walking with the Mom tonight..to try and get to know her better. We are different...and we are different in our parenting, standards, rules, etc. That's it. I have friends who are extremely opposite of me (including an Amish woman whom I adore) but who do not make me feel so "judged" for my choices or the way I parent or do not parent. I guess part of me was just feeling "spiteful" and felt like dishing out some of that same judgement. Bad call. I'm sorry. Long day for me, too. I will, in the future, take a :chillpill: before I post. I still can't get over that "creepy" feeling but my dd loves her dd and so...what can I do? Anyway, fwiw I now agree with the "my pool, my rules" thing. And I get it. I guess I should have seen it coming b/c she will not let her dd11 come to our house b/c we have "so many boys". :001_huh: All 12 and under, btw..but this woman has some issues with boys/men that I won't get into. And also, fwiw...she is not on this board. But that doesn't matter. I was wrong to be so judgemental. People think we are weird b/c we don't eat pork products, homeschool, don't use artificial sweeteners, leave our family size to the Lord and well, so many other things I can't count. Most of all...I hope I didn't offend anyone here....especially you, MommaDuck...I've never thought you or your family "weird" or "odd" or anything like that. I'm sorry.

Okay, it was a bit judgemental of me to make the comment about "covering his eyes." Agreed...I apologize. This whole family just creeps me out though. This dress code was simply the straw that broke the camels back for me. I would do the same as you, Imp...re: the offensive t-shirt or shirts too low cut. But the thing is...my dd doesn't dress immodestly! We are conservative here. Her skirts are not "too" short, her tops are not low-cut (not that she has cleavage yet, anyway) or too tight. Umm...aren't bathing suits tight? So, this is wear I take issue. Mom is judging US by setting this dress code. I've heard her dd make comments to my dd about her outfits before and how she would NEVER dress like that. "Oh goodness, those shorts are WAY too short!" or "I'm not allowed to wear halter tops. They are soooo immodest!". Stuff like that. I won't get into the other stuff. Too weird. But, I do have a choice here, you are all right. I can send her over to play or not. I'm leaning toward not from now on.

The tankini that dd has actually covers MORE than her one-piece. The bottoms are like "shorts" and the top part is less low cut that her one piece. Mom was concerned b/c when dd lifted her arms her abdomen showed as did her "hip area". Umm...okay.

:lol: Glad I'm not the only one with such thoughts... Oh, and btw...the whole "dress code" issue isn't the only one to surface. My ds12 told me that the mom told him that if he didn't call her ds13 EVERY day that he wasn't a TRUE friend b/c TRUE friends call every.day. :001_huh:

Agreed on the pool thing. Otherwise...:001_huh: I just don't get it.

So, here is the scoop. Dd13 has recently made friends with another homeschooling girl in our neighborhood. The girl is 11 and has a brother who just turned 13 and a baby sister who is 9 mos. Christian family (as we are), but very "legalistic" and extremely strict with the kids (to the extent that my dh and I are concerned sometimes for their emotional well-being). Anyway, the girl is a very modest dresser and has her own strict rules for what she wears (no short skirts, tight blouses, sleeveless blouses, etc.). So, dd is leaving this evening to go to said girl's house and I noticed she had changed her top. She was wearing a tank top that was a bit "form fitting" but not so tight that I "vetoed" it, kwim? We are rather conservative and modest in our dress as well. :) Dd told me that she changed b/c she isn't "allowed" to wear a top like that at their house. :001_huh: I'm like, "you are not ALLOWED?". She said she isn't allowed to wear tight tops, skirts shorter than 3" above her knees, or 2 piece bathing suits when swimming in their pool b/c of the 13yo brother that lives there. :001_huh: She recently got a "tankini" which covers her stomach except a tiny bit when she lifts her arms. So, I called the mom. I was ticked. She said, "our pool, our rules...my ds is 13 and I don't want him seeing girls in 2 piece bathing suits or immodest dress.". OKAY. Well, are ya gonna shelter him for the rest of his teenage years? Give me break. What do you do when you go out? Cover his eyes with a blind-fold when you pass a woman dress immodestly? And besides, my dd does NOT dress immodestly. She is Godly young woman who happens to be very tall for her age and very attractive. So, is this weird...the dress code thing? Or am I just crazy? BTW...she lets same son come to our house to play with my ds12 frequently so obviously she isn't that concerned about how dd dresses when she is home!

Sorry Imp! I should really start typing the whole title out at least once. HOD is Heart of Dakota. Preparing is one of their programs called Preparing Hearts for His Glory and LHFHG is Little Hearts For His Glory. :)

Not sure if it covers mechanics but the free grammar program I know of is KISS grammar. I used it for part of last year for my ds9.

That is so true. I could just do that. I could always just include an index card with the "extra" assignments like Spanish, Science, Latin, writing, etc. that dd12 has to do. Okay...thanks!

We are using HOD next year (Preparing and LHFHG) and for those that are familiar with that program, it is pretty open and go. I am making weekly schedules for each child (the ones who can read!) and find myself copying lots of the info from the guide onto the schedules. Am I wasting my time? I am also copying the guide for my 7th grader who would like to be more independent with his work. Is it redundant to make a weekly schedule for him when i am giving him the photocopies of the guide anyway? I do need to schedule things like math and grammar and his additional science b/c those do not have a schedule already included in the HOD guide for his level. Any thoughts? Oh, going to give that nifty filing system a go as well...wish me luck!

I am starting a system that a read about in a book. Basically, a child's allowance is based on a point system. I know this isn't exactly what you were asking but I thought I would share. Each day, the child has the opportunity to earn 4 points. One each for completing chores (daily and weekly chores), doing schoolwork w/out an attitude, and bedtime routine (b/c that is a disaster around here!). You can choose your own activities for points. Each point is worth a certain amount per age of child. Around here it is 5 cents/point for ages 4-6, 10 cents for ages 7-9, 15 cents for ages 10-12 and 20 cents for ages 13-15. I made up a small, index card sized table that i will have laminated and give to each child to check off the points that they earn each day. At the end of each "pay period" which is 2 weeks here, a parent will sign off on the "allowance card", tally the points and give out the allowance. Not sure how it will work, but it was intriguing to me! Oh, on the back of the allowance card is a list of each child's chores so they have a reminder of what to do each day. Around here, we just don't have the money to do a "treasure box" AND an allowance, kwim? Hope this helps somebody...sorry it was not exactly what you were asking. :)

I know that there are some people on here that are very passionate about certain curriculums b/c of the positive experiences that they have had. And, I do know that the authors of certain curriculums are on this board but that typically they do NOT push their own curriculum...just answer questions if anyone asks.:D I appreciate that! I always thought it so generous of SWB to maintain this board as is...complete with people talking about other curriculums besides hers, kwim? Other boards will delete message that even mention another curriculum. But, who knows? Anything is possible, right?

Mallorie, you know your children best but I wanted to suggest this: I have 7 children. My 7th, 5th and 4th grader will all be doing Preparing Hearts this year. The 7th grader will use the extenstions, do additional science (he will use The Rainbow) and obviously use higher math and LA. I LOVE Preparing. I don't know where your kiddos placed on the placement chart, but Preparing is quite doable with those ages. My 4th grader is even a bit "behind" in some areas (writing, spelling) but Preparing has dictation exercises from the very beginner through a more advanced (older) student. The History, Bible, Science, Storytime, Poetry, writing exercises are all a good fit for most 4th graders. As for your 1st grader, check out LHFHG. We are using LHFHG with a 5yo and 7yo (2nd gr). Again, you know your kids and their abilities. HTH

So glad Crystal chimed in here...she is a wealth of info. re: all things MFW! She has been so helpful to me in the past (even though I didn't always use her suggestions or take all her advice :tongue_smilie:). We have used K, 1st and ECC and I really don't have anything negative to say about MFW. I loved K as did my dd4. She loved the worksheets and didn't seem to mind/notice that they were all the same (pretty much) for each letter. She liked the consistency. The manual is laid out in sections and really isn't that difficult to figure out. I used post-it flags to mark each section for ease in flipping back and forth. Once you get into a routine...it's a snap. LOVED how science and art and Bible all meshed w/ the letter the child was studying. 1st I found a bit more cumbersome to use and thus didn't use it all as planned so I really cannot comment on it fairly. ECC was a bomb for us although many absolutely RAVE about it. I think you will enjoy K!

Not sure, but I have been waiting on a curriculum package for about 1 1/2 mos. now. Some people "forget" to mark the books as received. Is it past the time that they allot for delivery? Can you contact the recipient?

:iagree: We are using LHFHG this year with a 5yo and 7yo. Depending on ability you could use LHFHG or Beyond Little Hearts.

My oldest (9th gr.) starts on Aug. 9th. All the others start on the 16th. That's the plan anyway!

We are doing Preparing and LHFHG and will be doing LHTH once we get into the swing of things. Ds is only 2 so LHTH can wait if I get overwhelmed. I am so excited to start! Donna, does Julie have a schedule for Preparing or LHFHG as well? She is so organized!

Just thought I'd bump this up for anyone who didn't see it!

If you live near Northeast, MD this might be of interest to you. Sandy Cove is a Christian Retreat Center located right on the water (it is gorgeous). They are having a Homeschool Mom's Retreat on Aug. 20-22 with Maggie Hogan of Bright ideas Press as the main speaker. She is a great speaker and a wonderful woman. I am planning to go to this and was hoping to find at least 3 other women from this board to come with me. Quad occupancy in a room is only $221 for the entire weekend, including 6 delicious meals. Our family has been to the Homeschool Week twice before and I can attest that Sandy Cove is a wonderful place. You can find more info. on their website http://www.sandycove.org. If you are at all interested, please PM or email me b/c I would love to get a group together to qualify us for Quad occupancy (savings of about $100 over single occupancy). Thanks!

We used AAS along with MFW 1st last year and my ds loved it! He didn't think AAS was schoolwork b/c he loved the letter tiles and spelling words with them. I don't think it is overkill at all!

Wow! Sounds awesome. Not ready to give up Singapore/Miquon yet but I am def. interested in adding MEP now! Any more reviews?

I was reading the large thread about Miquon and went ahead and got the entire set (90% of which I got on paperbackswap! :D). I noticed that Bill (SpyCar) also talks very highly of MEP so I checked that out as well. We currently use Singapore and I think Miquon is the perfect complement. I like what I see of MEP as well. Can you tell me how you use MEP...as a stand alone, supplement (if so, to what?) or along with 1 or 2 other programs...each carrying the same "weight" in your math curriculum. Is it easy to use? Solid? If you do use Miquon and Singapore as well, how do you add in yet another program w/out it being overkill? I would tend toward that extreme. :tongue_smilie: Thanks!