Well it definitely lacks in color, but it doesn't really matter for Saxon K because there is no workbook anyway. You just teach from the TM and its all hands on. The activities themselves are pretty fun, and I'll even call them "colorful." We added in C-rods because I love them, but Saxon already uses TONS of manipulatives as is.

We've done FIAR and we've done Adventures in America (for history). Other subjects were Saxon Math, MM 1, Elemental Science, OPGTR, Saxon Phonics, HWOT. This is for 2 different kids, I didn't do all of those for each of them !

I preferred SOTW 1 for sure! Volume 2 was good, too, but not quite as good as the first one. We just fizzled out with volume 3. It started to bother me that we were jumping around from place to place so much, and I felt like it got harder to keep track of all the people and events we were learning about. I know its about exposure, but we are "mastery" people here. It bothered us to skim through so much material without really going in depth.

Evan Moor literature pockets? They are for K-1 but I did them with my four year olds and we enjoyed them.

We used them with SOTW 2 last year. I made it an open book test at the end of the week, just to kind of cement the material we had covered. That way it wasn't too stressful, and I felt like it helped with review.

We did this last year and it was fun. They still learned a lot, enjoyed it a ton, and I didn't get bored from being stuck on one topic for a whole year!

We took a break from WWE (which turned into a permanent break, but now we're using a different program :laugh: ) and just did copy work and dictation. For copy work I just let Dd copy her favorite sentence each day from the books she was reading. She loved this, and didn't just pick out the shortest sentences (although to be honest I could see my son doing it that way). It taught her to notice descriptive language and beautiful words. She dedicated a pretty little notebook to it and still likes to go back and look at it.

Sounds a lot like our last year! We had a new born, were traveling a ton, and gave up a day to co-op each week. We kinda sorta did SOTW 3, kinda sorta did US history by reading a ton of books, and kinda sorta did science using an experiment book. I felt so guilty the whole year! Now I look back and wonder why I worried so much. The basics got covered thoroughly, and we read a lot of books. There is no carved in stone sequence for history and science, at least not in elementary grades. What you're doing sounds fine to me!

Copybook Cursive does use KJV. I almost didn't buy it because my dh insists we use ESV everything in our home :). I ended up using it, but I copy the verse for each week in ESV onto a piece of paper for him to copy from. Takes away some of the ease of use, but really it only takes me 2 minutes to write it out. There is enough room on each handwriting page for him to copy it twice, and he likes doing the illustrations. It's working for us.

I have a post about MP fourth grade literature on my blog. We're doing second grade as well, so I'll be posting about that soon.

YES! Move on. His speed and fluency will increase as he reads more and more. Keep reading aloud to him as well, he'll follow along and learn how to pronounce tougher words.

I actually just posted my plans that I made to use with my toddler. I'm calling it Treasured Toddler, and it uses Slow and Steady Get Me Ready and some other resources.

Elemental Science has a fun pre K program using Science Play. It's very simple and hands on. I also LOVE the Lets Read and Find Out science books.

I've been pleasantly surprised by how quick their shipping has been. I have to say they are one of the best companies for customer service that I have dealt with!

We just started MP for poetry (as in, we have only done the first poem!). I really like it. My dd loves to draw, and there is a good sized space for illustrating the poem, then enough lines to copy the poem. The next two pages are really great. There is basic analysis, teaching some literary terms, labeling which lines rhyme, etc., followed by comprehension questions. The book is intended to use over several years, so its not something you would do every day. We are going to cover a poem over a few weeks and work on memorizing it as we go. Hope that helps!

Hopefully someone who has purchased the lesson plans will give a better answer, but I have bought their individual plans for Latin and a couple grades of the complete curriculum plans. Most of their science is once a week. If you look at the fifth grade curriculum sample, you can see what one week of science looks like. The individual lesson plans are just those boxes for the whole year, with a few teaching guidelines at the beginning. Given the low price of the plans, I think they are a helpful (but not necessary) tool for using MP products.

We did Prima Latina and now are halfway through LC. I add games to make it more interesting and to help cement the vocabulary. We spend 30 min. a day on Latin, and usually we are done with the worksheets, CD, flashcards in less than 20 min. That leaves us at least 10 min to play. We do Hangman a lot, making up silly conjugated phrases, or we play the spelling game that they recommend (with the 12 dots that you connect lines between and then write in your initial if you are the last one to close up the square, person with most squares wins). My dd LOVES these games, and actually I enjoy playing them with her a lot, too. There was a blog with a game for PL called Race to the Colosseum. We used to play that, and I have thought of adapting it to use for later levels as well. If anyone else has other game ideas, please share!

We will be starting 4th grade after Christmas, but I just placed my orders since we live overseas and need time for various visitors to carry it over to us in their suitcases. I took the plunge and ordered Memoria Press's complete curriculum, a big step for this mama as I've always planned everything myself. Right now I'm thinking the lesson plans will be a breathe of fresh air, but I'm also nervous they could be stifling. Oh well, we'll give it a try! So, the line-up is: Math: Rod and Staff 4 Grammar: Rod and Staff 4 Latin: First Form Latin Spelling: Rod and Staff 5 Writing: Classical Composition Fable Reading: MP 4th grade Literature and Poetry History: Famous Men of Rome Geography: Geography I Science: Insects Bible: Christian Studies II, plus our daily Bible time we do together. We'll also continue learning Chinese 2 or 3 times a week with a tutor. We're already using Rod and Staff for those subjects, and are doing Latina Christiana and MP Greek Myths so next year shouldn't be too much of a difference.

You're getting some very mixed reviews! I'm another mom who has tried FIAR again and again, and wanted to love it. It just ends up feeling too disjointed and scattered to me. Some of the activities were always beyond my dc's abilities and the others would be too simple. I rarely found them to be meaningful enough. OTOH, I'm not necessarily a fan of SOTW for early years, especially K-1. I love the idea of a picture book a week with related science and social studies. Another option is Memoria Press's Enrichment Guides. They do a picture book a week, with an art print, a classical music selection, a science topic and a history or social studies topic. It looks easier to use, IMO.

I just finished Climbing Parnassus last week, and can't believe I hadn't read it before! I had already committed to Latin and Great Books, but this book challenged me to really make "classical studies" the central focus of our school. We have departed from the 4 year history cycle (not sure I was ever thoroughly convinced on that one), and have "demoted" other subjects to once weekly. We will spend most of our time and most of my homeschool budget on math, writing, Latin and good books. We are going to continue with R&S English, because my dd enjoys it and it takes us very little time. We start our morning with Bible, Latin hymns and prayers, recitation. Then phonics/ spelling/ math. Next is Latin, which I try to spend at least 30 minutes on a day. We do the workbook, games, listen to the CD and flashcards. We do writing and grammar after that. Classical studies (MP Greek Myths for now), Geography and Science are rotated once a week, although we review our Greek Myths information daily. The rest of our "school time" is reading lots of good books. Fine Arts is considered more of an elective and my goal is to do it once a week later in the afternoon once our other work is finished. The kids love art and music, so they're generally happy to add that to their school days.

Thanks, I found it now! So much easier to order from just one place. One more question, do you buy 2 books for a whole year since they are semester courses? That's pretty expensive for one year of writing.

Is the CAP website the only place to order W&R or can you find it elsewhere? I was hoping RR would have it because I'm placing a huge order with them soon, but I don't see it there.

Has anyone used this Latin Hymn program by MP? I'm curious whether the hymns are Catholic or Protestant specific?

For the few of you who have used the complete packages, I have a few questions: 1. Do the Lesson Plans contain anything besides the weekly plans and recitations? 2. Do you have your kids write out the answers to the comprehension questions for each guide? 3. Is the Timeline Program and Poetry scheduled anywhere in the lesson plans? I'm not planning on doing the Lit guides because we have a pretty good thing going for reading and I don't want to risk losing any of the joy of it. I am thinking of getting everything else for 4th grade, plus the Timeline and poetry. Thanks!

What is CAP? I'm about to order almost all MP products for next year and I have to admit I am nervous it will all feel the same and become a drudgery.