I'd use Heart of Dakota!!!! :001_smile:

We're going to use it this year with my rising 5th grader. It is a highly recommended program and we're looking forward to it. I have heard good things about how well students writing progresses through the year. And, yes, it's a one year course. We're going to use it with HOD CTC this year and next year we're using Medieval Writing Lessons for HOD RTR. The author of HOD gives it a strong recommendation, and it's worked well for her sons. HTH! :) ~Momtofive

Really just a side note for your information. I don't know if this will make any kind of difference, but we have switched our pre Saxon years over to Christian Light Education. They have a nice program with light units that are like little workbooks to go through. It's a spiral method of math. A lot like Saxon's approach in my opinion. It instructs the teacher, but is not teacher intensive. They give you direction in teaching, but not overload. They also have the student do flashcard reviews regularly. I tend to skip that kind of stuff, so it help's me that it's part of our lesson. Speed drills are also included. So we do CLE 1, 2 then 3 and then over to Saxon 5/4 and up. It will make a nice transition to Saxon in fourth grade. Just a thought as you said you might be looking for something else for the younger years! :) P.S. It's quite economical too!! :) ~Momtofive

One thing to keep in mind is that he'll be seeing a lot of those concepts each day as they spiral the material back to him. He'll get lots of practice that way. :) We used Saxon for first grade and then switched. I love Saxon math, but at fourth grade and up it switches to a different format and we like that format better than the K-3rd grade. The earlier years are more teacher intensive. It takes about an hour to do each day. The teacher's manual is scripted and there is a meeting book as well as the lesson to do each day as well. It was a really good program, my son learned a lot that year, but with other smaller children in the house, I just couldn't spend that much time on only one subject. So in fourth grade we switched back to Saxon and are loving it. :) I don't know if this helps you at all, but I just thought I'd chime in with a little more info on Saxon. ~Momtofive

We used A Beka for about five years. We started with Abeka and now are ending Abeka. We are switching to something totally different! Seeing that you have eight kiddos, maybe you might also think about something that could combine some of them. Maybe MFW or HOD? I understand that option might not be available to you. I'm just putting that out there because I know what the cost of ALL the materials for Abeka would cost---it's a lot! And for eight kids! :001_huh: My personal choice between the two would be BJU although I've never used it. I have heard some really great reviews of their material, especially their heritage studies. We found ABeka to be a lot of sit and read the textbook, memorize this and that, and never a hands-on project of any kind! Very boring-from my experience using it. For almost every subject you needed to buy: the textbook, test book, answer key for tests, and a curriculum/lesson plan book. It seemed like so many books, and sometimes we didn't even need some of them! If you use the curriculum/lesson books (which they highly recommend), they tell you to use many different kinds of flashcards (math and phonics) and other visuals that also cost a lot for what they are. I know many people who LOVE Abeka and have used their material for a long time, and will use it for a long time. If it's working for them-GREAT! But if this format is not what you're looking for, then you should keep looking around. Really check these materials out. Abeka has material displays all through the summer at various places. Give them a call and find out where they are in your area. Go check out their books and then maybe you'll know if it will be a good fit for your family. I'm sorry I can't give you more info on the BJU, but as I mentioned, I haven't used it at all. Again, this is only my opinion from our experiences with using Abeka. I know that this will not be the case for everyone. But sometimes it helps to hear from others on how it worked/or didn't work for them. Blessings as you decide! ~Momtofive

oops!

:iagree: I have to agree with the previous posters who recommended HOD. You will feel like you're "cheating", it will be so easy to give your little ones a great, wholesome curriculum tailored to suit each of their needs and yours! It is very open and go, giving you a chance to just enjoy teaching them and not worrying about scheduling everything in. Each day of plans can be spread over a day or done in one sitting. The author has already done all of the leg work for you and you get to reap the benefits!! :) I only wish that we could have started out our older kids with this curriculum! It's great! :) If you have questions about anything, hop on over to the HOD message boards. There are a lot of great ladies over there that are very willing and knowledgeable to help you. Blessings as you decide! ~Momtofive

We, too, will be doing HOD this year!!! :001_smile: We will be doing LHTH for my two youngest, Beyond for my next two, and CTC for my oldest. I have to agree with the previous poster. There is a big jump in skills from Beyond to Preparing. The author has very carefully designed each program to build upon each other, so kiddos are ready for each level when they get to it. My suggestion would be not to skip Bigger. It looks like a great program, and will do LOTS toward preparing your kiddo for Preparing!:) Even if you did LHFHG for your Kindergartener and Bigger for your third grader, you'd still have a break between the two so you wouldn't be teaching back to back guides! And Bigger has an extension pack for kids that need a little more challenge. Blessings as you decide!:001_smile: ~Momtofive

I just bought this book to go along with our HOD Creation to Christ program we'll be starting in the fall. Yes, the book is in black-and-white AND in full color. Some of the pages are black and white. You know, I never even noticed that until now. It's a GREAT book, full of lots of great studies. We're really going to love it. It also comes with a CD in the back that you can print off maps, travel log sheets and notebooking pages. It even has printable recipes that go along with the studies. Hope this helps!:) ~Momtofive

I'd look into Rod and Staff 2 for second grade grammar. You'll find that they have a gentle approach, while being a very sound, foundational program. If you do 3/4 of the lesson orally and let them do the last bit of written work on their own, it's a very manageable lesson. Only like 15 min. or so. For first grade, copywork sounds great. It will gently work on areas like handwriting, sentence structure, spelling and vocabulary. A really great intro to grammar in second grade, while not being overwhelming at such a young age. It helps to get "their feet wet" so to speak, for grammar the next year. Just a thought! :001_smile: ~momtofive

For sound instruction in grammar and not a lot of cash, go with Rod and Staff. I'm thinking the level 5 does a lot of instruction on sentence diagramming! HTH!

I have used Saxon for first grade and found it to be a very good math program, however, a VERY time consuming one at that. To the point that it was burning out our then first grader. I switched him over to Abeka and that was a lot better for us. (Although I did miss the thorough explanations that the Saxon program had.) That worked fine for a few years. I always wanted to switch back to Saxon because I loved their program, and in fourth grade they switch gears. (Not scripted or so time-consuming.) The program is a well explained lesson (written to the student) and then practice problems and then the lesson problems. Really a very good program that was easily managed at this age. That little first grader is now going to be a fifth grader next year. He has mastered his Saxon 5/4 from last year (fourth grade) and is looking forward to Saxon 6/5 for next year (fifth grade). They also offer DIVE cd's for teaching instruction for fourth grade and up! I am actually making a switch for my younger children to CLE math and really like the layout. They will do CLE math for first through third grades and then move on to Saxon for fourth grade and up. I feel this is a good plan for my situation, however if it's the comprehension you need, maybe Saxon for K-3 would be a good way for you to go. They have a scripted teachers manual and they do a lot of review. Although it was very time consuming, I felt as though my child had a good strong foundation in math that year. Sometimes we do need to take the extra time to make sure they are "getting it" and that will make the years to come a lot easier!!:001_smile: Good luck in your decision! I hope I've helped a little, even through my rambling! :001_smile::001_smile: ~momtofive

Hi, back to give a little more info! :001_smile: I mentioned above that we are spreading R&S 5 over two years. That is only because we are also doing a very comprehensive writing program also and doing both at once at full speed would be an intense amount of work for my fifth grader. HOD recommends it this way, only because they are coupling the two programs together. If I were not doing HOD, I would just get the R&S English 5 and pace it out to be finished in a school year. I truly believe with your child's background (like my child had), that they would do fine with going into R&S 5 and doing it all in one school year. R&S presents their material well and if you do some of the lesson orally with your child, it won't be overwhelming at all! Hope that helps, and good luck with your decision! :001_smile: ~momtofive

Amen to what the pp's said. :iagree: It's R&S all the way from now on! We've used Abeka up until now. My oldest just finished the Language A in Abeka and while he did well with it, he had a hard time understanding the explanations in the book. A LOT of busywork! I just realized that my second child who has just finished second grade, has no idea what a noun or a verb is. Abeka doesn't start teaching that until third and fourth grade. R&S starts kids out with a firm foundation in R&S 2. We are going with HOD this year and no Abeka at all. The author of the HOD program gives a lot of great info on their boards about the R&S program. She has done a LOT of research and knows the program well. R&S offers a MUCH shorter lesson, with MUCH more "meat" to it than Abeka. You can also do the R&S lessons mostly orally which, I think, gives kids a better understanding of the material. There is a little written work at the latter part of the lesson. As the grades advance, so does the work. It is a great program and one that meets all our needs!:001_smile: ~momtofive

Last year my son also completed the Abeka Language A as a fourth grader. I agree it was a rigorous program and he did great. This year we are moving over to HOD and believe that it will be the best year of homeschooling yet. The plan for this year is to do R&S English 5 with him. The Creation to Christ program he will be in this coming year, paces the english instruction at half pace. He will finish English 5 at the end of next year as a sixth grader. This is because (according to the author of HOD, whom has done extensive research in this curriculum) R&S 5 is a foundational year in the instruction of grammar and diagramming. This could be a tough year if not done at a pace the student can handle. R&S English is a very advanced curriculum, to my understanding. It is recommended that students complete R&S 6 by eighth grade, as the levels 7 and 8 are considered credit worthy for high school english! Hope that helps! :)