I am on the fence for science next year. My dd is excited about studying insects, and we are going with Memoria Press for most subjects. To be honest, I just can't see the benefits of studying insects for a whole year. It just doesn't seem like very good preparation for future science studies. Any thoughts on this? My other choice is Rod and Staff Science. I like their scope and sequence, and my dd likes their books. Yes, we are becoming more and more traditional and "boring" as time goes by, but we're finding that its actually what we like best!

Homeschool Buyers Coop has some good freebies for Mother's Day. Any other great discounts anywhere?

I want to have some printed out ahead of time to work on, because poetry is the kind of thing I tend to forget about as time goes by. Maybe being more prepared will help us next year!

I'm totally addicted to buying these books. We've read and read them, and I can't find any other science that presents information in such an easy to understand way. Has anyone taken these books and organized them into a total science curriculum? I'm wanting to use them with a 3rd and 1st grader.

Like others, we do the 3 R's daily and vary with other subjects. I consider Latin a fourth "R" (Not sure how it make it start with an R). For other subjects, I honestly don't think it matters a ton how often you get to them in these years. I would say that you need to add reading really good books to the core subjects daily, whether that be history related or something else.

Math: Rod and Staff 3 Grammar: Rod and Staff Spelling: Spelling by Sound and Structure Latin: Latina Christiana Reading: Pathways Grade 3 History: SOTW 3 OR a one year tour of world history using USB as a spine OR just Memoria Press's Greek Myths with study guide Science: Rod and Staff 3 This girl LIKES textbooks and workbooks. She reads wonderful literature all the time and remembers everything, so we're going pretty traditional for most things.

We like Elemental Science, but another favorite is just using Let's Read and Find Out science books. We can't get enough of these books, and I really feel like they build a pretty solid foundation for most science concepts.

We are using it for writing. We also do daily copywork, but that's more like scripture, poetry, Latin and things we want to learn or become familiar with (the beginning to the Declaration of Independence, etc.). Once in awhile we also do dictation from our literature, but I'm not very good at doing it often. R&S is meant to be a stand alone grammar/ writing program, and I think it does a very thorough job.

Well, I guess I'm in the minority but I'll reply just in case it is helpful to some reader out there. We are really enjoying PL in second grade (but I do have an extremely "literate" girl who takes to grammar, spelling, and languages). Latin is a focus of our day. We do it as often as we do math and language arts. I think that it would actually be more difficult for her if we did it less often, but this way there is constant, continual review and she finds it pretty easy to remember. We do play games quite a bit, and we are moving pretty slowly through the course. We'll move on to LC when we finish, but my plan is to take that very slowly as well, maybe even spreading it out over 2 years. I may wait until 3rd grade with my ds if he doesn't seem as ready in 2nd. I agree that Latin requires a fairly thorough knowledge of English grammar, but you can also take advantage of the opportunities for teaching and reinforcing that grammar through your Latin studies.

My current plan is to just use R&S for grammar and writing. We do add daily copy work and weekly dictation from our history or literature, but don't have any other writing curriculum. I have bought and tried two levels of WWE (1 and 3), and each time I come back to the simplicity of what I'm doing now.

Thanks. I decided to ask my dd what she prefers, and she says she wants to stick with the Pathway readers. She is a voracious reader who has never met a book she didn't like. Since I'm not worried about us having enough of quality literature, I'll go ahead with those readers. They are less expensive, too.

Ok, I know most people here don't use a "reading" curriculum in early years, but my dc really like doing them and I want to continue. So far we have used, and loved, BJU reading and Pathway readers. We are moving more towards Memoria Press for many subjects, and I'm debating whether to use their lit guides or continue with Pathway readers for next year. One downside to MP is that my dd has already read the books several times. Part of me thinks I like saving novels and real books for enjoyment reading, rather than turning them into schoolwork. However, I also know eventually we want to move into in-depth studying of literature, via MP or something else. Any thoughts comparing the two methods? Thanks!

I'm considering ordering a few of these. I know I have read that others do most of the guides orally. If you use them that way, do you still purchase both the teacher's and student's books? Would it be fairly easy to just use the TM for discussion, and sometimes assign written work on separate paper? Thanks!

We have completed all the grades 1-3 history pockets and my dc really like them. We're about to study the American Revolution and I'm wondering whether the history pocket for that would be appropriate for my dc. My dd is almost 8 and pretty advanced with reading and writing. My ds 6 probably wouldn't do a lot of it, just some coloring of the more interesting crafty things. Has anyone used these for a second grader?

Thanks for the replies! I'm feeling reassured. I know R&S moves slowly, and technically she could do the grade 3 one. She can do double digit addition and subtraction, but still needs to count on a hundred chart to do the basic facts. It looks like R&S 2 works on cementing those facts, and I think we could probably go through it somewhat quickly if its really easy. It is just so hard to watch her cry over not understanding the math problems and I think she really is just not getting it. She does all of her school happily and rarely complains, but really struggles to understand math. Any more advice before I purchase?

Math has caused tears for my very bright dd7 since the beginning. We completed Saxon K-2 (using it a year ahead), and then tried Math Mammoth for the last 6 months. I went back to MM 2 because math has continually been such a struggle for her. The tears and frustration have only increased, so now I am looking at Rod and Staff math. I think she needs to cement the basics and build confidence, so I'm actually considering using R&S 2 to accomplish that. Does that sound too crazy for a student who has already completed Saxon 2? Please give advice, I'm beginning to feel a bit desperate!

We did add handwriting to Saxon Phonics because there is not a lot of actual instruction for forming the letters (although there is lots of practice!). Other than that, I think you're fine with FLL and just reading aloud a bunch.

We're expecting on September 3rd! Plan to start up our new year on July 8 so that we'll have time to get into a good groove and make some progress before he arrives.

You really can not learn Chinese without having feedback from a native speaker. Rosetta Stone is great for latin based languages but, IMO, totally inappropriate for tonal, character-based languages. People underestimate how important it is to pronounce those tones correctly. If you say them wrong, you can completely change the meaning of what you are saying! The only way to learn them correctly is to have a native speaker patiently work with you in training your mouth to form those sounds. A computer program just cannot offer you that kind of personal feedback. I'm saying this from experience- 5 years in Thailand learning Thai and 5 years in China learning Mandarin.

I don't really plan at all for reading, math and writing because they are all just "do the next lesson." History and science take a bit more planning, but not much and I don't do it that far in advance. Basically, I have an outline of what I'd like us to cover when. Then, I plan those pretty loosely a week at a time. I say loosely because it depends on what library books we've gotten and whether we feel inspired to do extra projects or not. I could never plan very far in advance because too much would change. BTW, even though I don't really plan these things out, we've ALWAYS finished everything even earlier than I had hoped. We are very, very consistent in doing every subject every day. If we struggled a lot with consistency, I would try to plan more to keep myself accountable.

Well, I am planning to try it with my ds 5. He did Saxon K last year for pre K, and we've done lots of MEP Reception and playing with rods, so I'm hopeful that he will be ready for it.

This has been a huge priority of mine this year, since we live in Asia but will be in the US for 8 months of the schoolyear. Cheap and not big or heavy (we have to bring it all in suitcases, and also need room for less important things like clothes, medicines, toys, etc. My plan is: Math Mammoth ($51 pdf download grades 1-3) Rod and Staff grammar (this I got used for $8, and is the "biggest" thing I'll have to carry) SOTW $9.99 on kindle, if I want the Student Pages download that will be another $10 Literature- all from the library or free books on kindle Spelling- I already had Spelling Workout, its not really that big. I think we'll finish it there and won't have to bring it back. Writing- I just use SWB's methods from her lecture, without WWE. We do copy work, dictation and narrations. Science- this is a hard one to do super cheap. We'll use library books a lot. Art- get books from library for project ideas, check used bookstore for good deals Latin- another expensive subject. I think I'll just have to be ok with spending around $45.

Well, my dd will technically be a second grader, although she wants to be in third (and my dh wants her to be, too). We'll be doing: Math: Math Mammoth 3 Language Arts: Rod and Staff Grammar 3, Spelling Workout E, WTM style writing from literature and history, Prima Latina (second half) Science:Elemental Science Chemistry, some unit studies per request (plants, light) Literature: keep on with Greek Myths and Stories from Shakespeare, lots of early modern books, AO year 3 literature History: SOTW 3; Complete Book of United States History; Maps, Charts and Graphs C; History Pockets (Explorers, Colonial America, Revolutionary War) Other: Art projects from Art Lab for Kids; Learn to Draw in 30 Days (Kistler); Classical Kids

We will be using R&S 3 and just do dictation and written narrations on top of that. I just pick dictation from what we are reading that day in (mainly) literature, history, and science. I don't even do this in advance- as I read I just notice when a great sentence comes up.

Ha! This actually does help me:). We live in Asia and it really helps me with the temptation, because by the time I order something and figure out how to get it over here, months have gone by and its lost a lot of its "new luster." If I had 2 day shipping from Amazon, boy, I'd be in trouble!!!