I'm using Saxon 1 for K this year (along with RSA, SP EB, and some Shiller) and am trying to figure out if I will stick with it next year or go to CLE (I want one "traditional" program). I thought I needed the Saxon script but it is really TOO much and makes it hard to jump ahead in a lesson/see what the flow is. For example, my daughter understands patterns very well and doesn't need me using the calendar script to that detail every day. I do not care for having to rip out the worksheet pages, either, which never tear out cleanly and it drives me nuts. And the paper is so thin that it tears easily if you don't erase carefully, which is hard for a Ker to do. We didn't start until Nov. and don't do it every day, so aren't very far in, around lesson 20, so it's a little hard for me to have a feel for it yet. I love the workbook setup of CLE and how clearly laid out everything is. I can look at it quickly and tell what is going to be covered and how. I've read the reviews of both and seen comments like Saxon does a better job giving you a lesson number to refer to, while people seem to like the CLE drill setup better. I feel like Saxon would probably give me as the teacher better instructions, and CLE can sometimes not have enough instruction. I've also heard several people not like that sometimes CLE seems to be teaching a straight algorithm, although it seems like sometimes it's only because they've already addressed the concepts in previous lessons/years. But if you're coming in new to a year, you might have missed that. Anyway, my main question is if you've left Saxon for CLE (especially Saxon 1 for CLE 100), and you returned to Saxon, what was your reason? What did you miss from Saxon that CLE did not have? Thanks!

Thank you everyone, for your replies. HOD users, at what point do you feel the history and science become more engaging? I don't feel my daughter has been drawn in by the CLP books. I'm trying to determine how much longer it will be before it becomes "interesting" and something that really excites her/inspires her to learn more about a topic. I know we would have CLP for both history and science in Beyond. At least the Storytime literature would ramp up in Beyond and provide more interest and variety there. How are history and science after Beyond? Does it get better each year? Thanks! Kathy

Hi, For those of you who have used HOD and SL in the elementary years, which one did you feel furthered your child's love of learning and discovery the most and why? I'm not looking for how easy it is for the parent to use. HOD wins hands-down for me on that. I mean which one had your child excited about what they were learning, wanting to share with others what they had learned, wanting to know more about a subject, wanting to go back to the books again and again, that type of thing. I think the other HOD years would be different for us because they use more books and a wider variety of them, but with LHFHG I don't think we'll be wanting to reread the Thorton Burgess books (even though we've enjoyed them) or the CLP history and science books, which got me to thinking about the love of learning aspect. I would say the activities have been the most enjoyable part of school, but I'm trying to assess to what extent the love of learning and discovery has occurred. Thanks! Kathy

I'm right there with you, Sue. I just finished drawing up my HOD, SL, and MFW pros/cons lists. I couldn't be more confused. Have you considered meshing Adventures with Beyond? That is what I am considering doing. I would use Beyond for history, geography, poetry, math, emerging readers, and storytime (I believe all the Adventures read-alouds are included in HOD at one point or another). I would use Adv. for science, bible study, music (my daughter really wants to do the Nutcracker study), art, and the state study. I plan to use AAS instead of Beyond's spelling. And I plan to use ARFH so may not do the copywork in Beyond. I like the scripture CD in HOD and since MFW doesn't have that, I might do the HOD scripture. If I feel up to it, I might add in the HOD art and science, but wouldn't feel like I had too, just if it looks interesting. And I'd leave the history project open, too. I might try to add in some of the info. in the second history book in Adv. if it's not too much trouble to line it up. I think that covers everything. Anyway, this is what I am considering. Then I might do Bigger and then ECC. At that point I would have a better feel for HOD and MFW and could decide which way to go the next year. I wanted to give us an extra year before Preparing, anyway. HTH!

Do you consider the CLP (Christian Liberty Press) texts providential? Thanks

I've seen threads mentioning providential history lately. What curricula do you feel slant in this direction (only)? Thanks!

We are using LHFHG this year for K and are wrapping up Unit 19. It started off very well and we enjoyed all the activities. Lots of picture taking opportunities! We liked the Family Time Bible (which we recently finished using) and the scripture memorization CD. The layout of the teacher manual works well for me. I like the math activities that Carrie has written to go along with SP Earlybird. (We, too, have been using RS A, by the way.) The Thorton Burgess books for Storytime took some getting used to for my daughter, but now she loves them. I suggest you stop frequently at first to make sure your child is understanding what you are reading, since the phrasing is sometimes not what children are used to hearing these days. The history book can take some getting used to as well. I like the key ideas that Carrie includes in the teacher manual for each subject. Oftentimes, however, I have found the "theme" for the day/connections to be a stretch. I think that is inevitable when you are always trying to make connections, though. The cons for me include the lack of K literature outside of the Thorton Burgess books and the Beatrix Potter compilation. There are recommendations in the back of the teacher manual, but so far they have been bible related and aren't to be found in my library. Another con is the lack of music and art appreciation. I have resolved this by using Memoria Press' K guide. (I also use it for more literature.) I also feel the science is very light and don't like the way the CLP books are used. My biggest issue has been with the devotional. I would caution you to pre-read it before using it with your child. There were several times when I would read something and think, "That doesn't quite sound right to me." That I can overlook, but I did have quite a setback with the story of a child soldier being whipped to the point of death to try to parallel the sacrifice of Christ's death on the cross. This devotional is on p. 99 (and is used in Unit 16, Day 4) and I strongly encourage you to take a look at it before reading it to your child. I was blindsided by this one and it really caught me off guard. The use of a devotional like this has made me question whether or not HOD is going to be a fit for us. But when I posted a head's up on the HOD forum, I got feedback that others did not share the same concern. So I would just take a look and decide for yourself. We don't use either of the reading programs but are using OGPTR. ETA: To answer your question, I do feel it is a solid K program. There is more depth to HOD than appears at first glance. I like that I have been able to finish each day's worth work of work very efficiently. The layout of the manual really matches my teaching style. I've had issues with the content moreso than the overall setup and layout of the program.

I'm curious what options are working for you now? Thanks

Thanks, Melissa. I appreciate your reply. Can you pls. elaborate on this part? Thanks!

After looking at the 3-week sample for Sonlight Core K, I would say it asks a lot more open-ended "what do you think about..." or "why do people do this?" or "Does the bible say this?" type questions than HOD from what I've seen so far in LHFHG. I find the LHFHG history and devotional to be much more of a lecture style than a discussion. Questions are asked but they generally have a specific and obvious answer. I noticed Carrie is including "Who Is God and Can I Really Know Him?" from Apologia's "What We Believe" series in the next guide, which I actually would like to do. I'm not sure how much of that is discussion, but I'm hoping it's in there. Looking at Sonlight's sample got me to thinking about the other HOD levels and what the format is. I believe she includes a lot of character analysis, but I don't know how much of that is framed within the context of what is the "right answer". I'm hoping those who've used the other levels can provide feedback on this as I've decided it's an important factor for me. I have a friend whose daughter used SL through Core 100 and she credits SL with her daughter's ability to think for herself and formulate her own opinions. She is also very strong in literary analysis, which my friend credits SL for as well.

This might seem like a very strange question, but a friend and I have been talking about HOD and SL (we're both currently using HOD) and after studying SL and talking to people that use it, I've gotten the impression that SL tries hard to teach you how to think for yourself and doesn't try to tell you what to think. I'm on the fence about HOD because I am just using LHFHG this year and only have some early conclusions. Can anyone comment on this who has used HOD in the later years, and especially if they have used SL, too? Do you feel HOD tries to draw you to the "right answer" or does it encourage you to figure out why you believe what you believe? Thanks!

Thank you, Katrina! This is exactly the info. I was looking for!! I really appreciate your help!

Sorry for the late reply, I was unable to access the website last night. My daughter will be in 1st grade next year, but will be 7 in October, so is in the older age range for her grade. We are doing LHFHG this year. I am looking at doing Beyond w/Adv. for 1st and Bigger w/ Adv. for 2nd. I'd like to use the science, bible, art, and music in Adventures. My daughter really wants to do the Nutcracker study. I'd do the reading, read-alouds, math, LA, poetry, and probably the history from Beyond, and probably the same with Bigger in 2nd. Having two years to spread out the Adventures components would lessen the pressure of using parts of a second program. Would the state study work better in Beyond or Bigger? My daughter is into the states and birds, so I think she would enjoy it, especially if we keep it from being redundant. Thanks for your help!

I know some people have done this or were considering doing this in previous threads. I am looking for an update on how well this has worked and in particular, how you handled the history. I'm thinking next year we'll use Beyond for LA, storytime, math, and possibly the bible verse memorization. I'm considering using Adventures for bible, science, music, art, and the state study. That leaves history, which I'm not sure how to approach. I'm thinking I would use Beyond and then Bigger for that, but would like to know what aspects of Adventures to add. Also, I like that HOD uses the CD for verse memorization. Is the verse memorization in Adventures tied into the bible study so much that we really should do that one instead? What would we miss in Beyond by not doing the verse? Would the state study be better to do in Beyond or Bigger? Should the science be split out (from what I understand the bird study goes with the state study)? Any insights into how to lay this out would be much appreciated! Thank you!!

I am still using it for Copywork, Recitation, Poetry, Read-Alouds, Music, and Art. We sometimes do the Social Studies and Science. I have never done the phonics program because my dd was further along than where it starts and I didn't want writing tied into phonics. We tried R&S math. I liked the first 10 lessons; it has the best approach to writing numbers that I've seen yet. But after that it focuses on writing addition facts ad nauseum, and my dd isn't ready for all that writing. We were going to be doing that for several months before we would hit anything new like money or time, and that just wasn't the direction we wanted to go. So we dropped it. I like the recitation a lot. It reminds me to teach her things I wouldn't always remember to add in. She LOVES looking up the artwork each week and listening to the music. The poems have been fun, too. The copybook is good but I might have waited to use it until next year if I had looked at it more. She is just learning to write with ARFH K, so it is a little advanced. But she is doing well and likes drawing the pictures to go with it. We have dropped the memory work because she was already memorizing scripture in HOD. To me it is worth the cost of having the TM even if you use very little of it. I really like the questions they have for music and art appreciation. We have gotten a lot out of those. And the customer service is excellent!

Thank you, everyone! I have another question. How did you handle the overlap of science between SL and MFW at the lower levels? I see they use the same Usbourne experiment books. Did you repeat the experiments or skip them? Thanks!

So does Singapore provide step by step solutions manuals in 1st-6th grades, or just the answer keys? Thanks

Thank you! Do you feel there is enough practice with math facts? How does it compare in that area with Primary Mathematics? Also, you said "I enjoy the layout of MIF more than PM. PM always felt like we were hopping around." Can you please elaborate? Thanks!

For those of you using Math In Focus, can you pls. give an update on how it is going? Do you still like the materials? What level(s) are you using? Do you use the teacher manual? Is it hard to adapt from a classroom focus to a homeschool focus? Are you using it with other math programs? Which ones? Do you prefer it over Primary Mathematics or Math Mammoth? Thank you!

I just wanted to say I'm right there with you. I have a K'er and a 2 yr old. I know I can't plan everything out now, but in some ways what you use now depends on where you're headed. So you kind of have to work backwards to use things at levels that make sense long-term. I'm trying to figure out a very loose plan myself, just to have a sense of direction and that we are working toward our long-term goals. But figuring out learning styles and teaching styles can quickly derail plans, and then you're back analyzing everything again. I'm getting pretty tired of curriculum research and need to make some decisions and then let things go for awhile so I don't miss "now". It's a very delicate balance to be aware of the options and their benefits/flaws, and yet not be consumed with research. I think finding something to try and then staying away from the forums until it is not working is going to be what I shoot for, so I don't get "the grass is greener" syndrome.

Thanks, I realize that she wouldn't be "behind" starting Core K now as far as the maturity level of the core goes, I just meant is it possible to do Cores K-2 in 2.5 school years to be able to do Adv. and possibly Core 3 in 3rd? Thanks!

Thank you for the replies so far, everyone! I have a few more questions. Can Adv. be combined with Core 3? I realize Core 3 would probably be a lot harder but they both cover U.S. History, so can these be tied together? Has anyone done this? I'm thinking I want to start Adv. in 3rd because my other dd would in K and would probably get a lot out of it. Can someone chime in with the pros/cons of this lineup? Core K Core 1 Core 2 Adv. (possibly with Core 3, or at least Core 3 readers) ECC Decide to continue with SL or MFW I'm thinking this would give me a feel for each program so that I know which one I prefer. Thank you! ETA: We are currently in K and are using HOD LHFHG. If we start Core K in the next few weeks, we would be about a half year "behind" the above schedule unless we catch up over the next couple of years (meaning in order to start Adv. in 3rd, we'd need to move through Cores K - 2 in 2.5 years, roughly). Is this doable? My dd is on the older side of her grade (Oct. birthday, so is 6 most of her K year, 7 most of 1st, etc.).

What order would you use these in? Are there any you would eliminate (because too redundant) or combine? Thanks! SL Core K SL Core 1 SL Core 2 SL Core 3 MFW Adv. MFW ECC

Have each child take 100 footsteps and mark where that is. Count 100 items. Draw 100 of something. Collect 100 items outside.

It's my dd6. She's currently in K and I'm looking ahead to next year. She has an early fall birthday so is on the older side of her grade. Thanks to everyone for the replies so far!