Yeah, we're using Visual Latin along with FF. VL is based on Lingua Latina, and dd has made it through about the first 20 lessons of VL, so for a change of pace (and because VL was starting to get to be too heavy on top of FF), we went back and she is taking a couple of weeks to go through the first chapter of LL. I also have the Mac CD that includes all the pensa and exercitia and she really loves working on that. If it works out, I might continue to move her through LL slowly until the summer when we'll likely take a break from FF and work more in VL/LL. More than you wanted to know, but anyway, fwiw...:tongue_smilie:

Have you looked at Minimus? You could get just the student book since you'd be using it as a supplement. Also, Ecce Romani would give you some lighter reading practice. Here's a couple "]Latin Readers in PDF form that you can download, recommended by the Visual Latin people. There's also the Bolchazy "I am Reading Latin" readers if you're not already familiar with them. Easy, but fun.

Here's the advice from the Singapore website:

The Timberdoodle website has some good tips and ideas, with links to curriculum.

I've never done this but I would have the same concerns as you. We're kind of taking a middle ground. My son learned manuscript through Memoria Press' First Start Reading, but in MP's first grade curriculum they begin teaching cursive with their New American Cursive program. This is what we are planning on using, and it seems like a good compromise.

First Form uses ecclesiastical pronunciation, but we use classical with it. When we switched to LL I chose to begin using classical, and then when we moved into FF, I asked dd what she preferred and she chose to stick with classical. We don't use the DVDs or CD so it hasn't been an issue. Although, IMO, the difference between the two pronunciations are not great enough to matter. Dd liked LL but also really likes FF. We use Visual Latin too just to add in more translation work and b/c dd is actually a better whole-to-parts learner. As far as which level to go into, MP has the Table of Contents up for both FF and SF on their product pages of their website. Here's a listing from their description of what FF covers: the six indicative active tenses of the first two verb conjugations five noun declensions first and second declension adjectives 185 vocabulary words. My first instinct would be FF, but idk what LLBB2 gets into, and it depends on how well your dc mastered the material. For my dd, the first fifteen or so chapters had a good mixture of review and new material. Now in Unit 3, we're back to mostly review (1st and 2nd decl. nouns), but before long we'll be adding in the last three declensions. FF has really been the perfect way to review and solidify material, without being too slow or boring. IMO, I don't think you can OVERlearn the foundational material in Latin. :)

LC I would be quite a step back from the middle of LL BB2, so it's possible your dc is likely bored. We finished LL BB1 and went right into First Form this year for 4th grade. LC I was pretty boring (with not much practice) even when we tried it in 2nd grade before we switched halfway through the year to LL. I think First Form is far superior to LCI, so if you wanted to continue with Memoria Press' products, that would still be an option. You could even go ahead and switch over now, no problem. Latin Prep would be another option for this age, but I've never used it myself.

Wow, what a wonderful story!! I love that he's taking such an interest in his own education! Truly fantastic!

Ooh, that Hobby Engineering site looks great! Thanks for posting! It looks fine to me, if only a little monotonous...I assume your dd enjoys workbooks? If you wanted to start Latin for that age, you could look at either Latin Prep by Galore Park (I've never used it but many here do and enjoy it) or for a more traditional grammar-based instruction, First Form Latin by Memoria Press. We're using that this year for 4th grade and it is very nicely laid out. Lots of review and easy to teach. There are also videos if you wanted some help with the teaching part. Lively Latin would also be good for 5th grade; it's slated for 3rd-6th graders. We used it before FF but it would not be too easy as a starting place for 5th grade. It has more variety than FF and also includes Roman history, if that's something that interests you (or easily skip, if it doesn't).

Guesthollow American History 2 has some good suggestions for online activities, books, videos, etc with reviews. Here's a link to the resources for the five weeks spent on the Civil War

I think anything could work if you write it down and label or diagram. I use Winston with my dd, but I don't know if you can get a more visual learner than myself and the best grammar program I ever used growing up was Shurley. Writing the sentences on the board, seeing the labels (you could even use different colors), seeing the parentheses around the prep. phrases, etc. was perfect for me.

The Ecclesiastical vs. Classical debate is just in the pronunciation of Latin, and is really quite minor. The vocab is the same.

Also, have you seen the sample schedules on the TOG site?

Yes, Tanya has mentioned on their forum that she hopes to have guides for 7th and 8th grade out by next school year (so this spring/summer), and the high school guides possibly out the year after that.

I'm a huge MP fan. Their First Start Reading has been fabulous for my boy who is a late reader. We used Prima Latina with older dd, started Latina Christiana I and weren't thrilled with it, so moved away to use Lively Latin. After finishing BB I in the Spring, we're back with First Form Latin, which has been great! We were already using Classical Composition Fable when they published their Teacher's and Student's guides for it, but I went ahead and bought the Student's Guide which has been helpful in implementing the program. I actually love the science choices for 3rd-6th grade as I prefer a more living books style science for that age. We recently started the Insects books, and I love the emphasis on memorizing and labeling diagrams. I'm also really excited about the grammar books coming out as First Language Lessons have seemed overkill with the amount of Latin we do. I may incorporate some of the literature guides into our curriculum in the future as well. I've been very tempted by the curriculum packages although I would switch out the math, but can't bite the bullet as I'm already too attached to our four year history cycle and my dd is a huge history fan and The Famous Men books just wouldn't be enough...If I ever needed to move to a packaged curriculum though, this would be it. Plus, you can't beat MP's customer service. Tanya on the forums is amazing.

http://rapidtyping.com/

My dd is enjoying Apples & Pears and The Star-Spangled States book and workbook, as well as MP's First Form Latin. She also liked (and wishes she was still doing) the Didax Editing books.

I started it last year with my probably-dyslexic dd9. I used the placement test and dd placed about 3/4 of the way through Book A, so I bought the entire set (Books A-D). Because she's older we do a whole lesson at a time, which takes us about 20-30 minutes. We do spelling only twice a week, and it's working well. We're now about half way through Book B. We'll just keep going until we finish the program.

We are Latin- & math-intensive here. My plan is to take the two weeks off. However, dd will be doing her recitation for her grandparents over the holidays, so I will have her go over it a few times beforehand. Also, I've found that often a break will allow things to solidify in her mind and concepts that she was previously having trouble grasping fully will have 'clicked' in a way during the hiatus. I don't understand it, but I've seen it happen with math and Latin. Also, I don't think 2 weeks off is too terribly long. My preference is no longer than a week, and I wouldn't go longer than 2 weeks without doing something, but I think anything that would be forgotten in that 2 weeks probably needs to be gone over again anyway.

Same thing here. I'm thinking about using TOG Year 1 next year with HO as our spine. I bought HO used to check it out and I really like it so far. :bigear:

I do not like SM 1. My ideal math curriculum would be RS B, then onto SM 2. Unfortunately, having four children makes using RS very difficult, so right now I'm making do with MM1 using the abacus, part-whole circle concept for +/-, and other math language from RS.

Yes, this. Both the 1st and 2nd editions are on my bedside table and I refer to them religiously. 2nd edition is more mainstream, but I love :001_wub: the first edition--especially the two-strand history and the science recs.

I don't have anything to say about BB2 because we decided not to use it, but I thought I'd update on our situation since I commented earlier in the thread. After we did our review of BB1, dd started doing Visual Latin over the summer slowly. I had looked ahead and saw the first 10 lessons were mostly review of what she already knew. The focus on the bigger picture was a wonderful change of pace. When we started back to our full school schedule in August, dd started First Form without the DVDs or CDs since we used Classical pronunciation with Lively Latin, although she mostly understands the differences between the two pronunciations and we switch between them depending on what we're saying (Latin prayers, grammar recitation, etc.). Now, dd is doing First Form and Visual Latin weekly. They are a wonderful combination and complement each other beautifully--the strict grammar-translation method of FF and the long translations/inductive-type learning of VL. Dd is really enjoying both. I'm very happy with the decision we made to move on from LL although it might have worked fine if dd had been a little bit older when we were ready to move into it.

An update on me: This thread by GretaLynne was so timely and helped in starting my family on a new path, and this thread by JenniferB revived our initial searching. We have since become catechumens in the Orthodox Church and are being chrismated next Sunday! Thank God for PJ and Milovany and all the wonderful ladies on the EO board!

We live in the country. Our outside cats are excellent mousers (and catch birds and snakes as well :001_huh:). In fact, just yesterday I walked out the front door to a huge 6-8 inch mouse being eaten on my door mat by my momma kitty. :ack2: For the couple of mice that have made it past the cats to get inside, snap traps with peanut butter have worked every time within 1-2 days. Just make sure you check them every day, 'cause they STINK if left for a couple of days. Good luck!