Didn't work for us do to internet reasons. We even tried the library, it looked good but we ended up going the Romans Road Media w/Wes Callihan (don't have to worry about internet issues). :) And it was quite a bit cheaper. :)

For early elementary I think Simply Charlotte Mason is good however I never thought it was enough maybe because I work my kids too hard. :-/ Anyhow, I am looking into Wayfarers it looks really good I have never used it but am possibly considering it for my youngest when he gets to that age. TOG I feel is too time consuming I bought one of the older versions and even though looks good I know it would be too much planning for me with my kids spaced out too much. You could look into Easyclassical.com I used that for my two oldest and liked it well in elementary. The format is very easy to follow but is more of a classical feel then CM. Good luck!

My son took off after using Reading Eggs. He wasn't interested in me "teaching" him out to read he wanted to do it on his own. He was 3 at the time. So between reading eggs and Bob books he figured out blending and now is working on special sounds. When fall comes and he is 4 1/2 we will sit down and do some formal learning but for now these two have worked amazingly!

My two older boys I read about 1 1/2 hrs. a day and we do this during our "morning time" we use the Bible, novels, character studies, poet/musicians/biographies, Shakespeare. My 4 yr. old LOVES to read and so he has always wanted me to read to him for LONG periods of time even before he was 2. So we read about 1 1/2-2 hrs. a day usually on average I know he would prefer more but then I would never get anything else done! I will occasionally read a book here and there. I incorporate reading throughout the day during breakfast, and lunch but our long stretches of reading happen right before "rest time" in the afternoon and before bedtime with periods lasting from 20-40 minutes. There have been occasions to lengthen to an hour but then I need a rest. :) Quiet activities while reading: I suggest eating if they have a hard time sitting still, puzzles, legos, magnets, coloring HTH

We test with Stanford, but I do know that all that needs to be completed is the standard core not history and science. I always test mine and then black out the results before submitting. HTH

My son is taking Pre-Calc this year with Derek Owens. We have taken math through him the past two years and my son has done really well. It works great and you can work at your own pace (love this). The program is very hands off for us busy parents.... my son does everything on his own and I haven't had to do anything.

Yes, I agree with the majority if I had to go with a box it would be Memoria Press :) Good luck!

I agree!

To add to what has already been listed off the top of my head :) Easy Classical Wayfarers (new but looks really good)

EndofOrdinary~ We got our VanDiver courses from the library. It had a booklet that came with it giving information on how to break up the course in regards to time, a little summary of what each lesson was on and that was it. Maybe it was because it was an older version? Never saw what you are talking, sounds great though!

Yeah, needed a price break! :) Thanks for sharing! :hurray:

Great deal, we took advantage of it! We did part of the Greeks this year and are doing the Romans next year. :)

My son just turned 4 this past month (April), and we did MP Jr. K this year. He loved it so even though I did not want to do anything too heavy for Pre-K and K I am going to go ahead and follow the path he is on. I am planning on implementing slowly and taking his lead if he doesn't feel like doing it that day I am not pushing him. I don't plan on doing "school work" longer than 30-45 min. a day (not counting reading time). I know I am overthinking everything it is hard to hold him back too much since he is already reading and he is very mathy too. Huhhh...decisions. I am all ears if anyone would like to send advice. :) Tenative plan for Pre-K MP KindergartenLots of Read alouds, this kid LOVES to read (has been reading for long stretches of time talking 1-2 hrs. at a time since he was 2) :) Nature time outside, continue our nature journal and science experiments with brothersWill continue Song School Latin, (just listening to the songs and books on tape that are Latin and German) Muzzy videos (German)AWANA - did this last year and did awesome so we plan on continuing (he really enjoyed this)Going to try to continue My First Piano Adventures Book

Answers to your questions: 1. It depends on the day as to how long it takes and it varies. It is meant to do daily. To give you an idea the videos are @ 30 minutes, questions could take about 30 min. or so and reading days can vary from 30 min.- 1-1/2 hrs. 2. Yes, I agree with Pronghorn....each year is meant to be 2 credits one for literature and one for history if you did what it states in the guide. I believe it would be way too much to do two years in one granted some days are shorter than others and so I have doubled up some things to leave a day off here and there or to have more time working on his paper. 3. I didn't see a need for a text, either but I do have my son put dates of author's studying or works in his timeline book and will have him look up maps, etc if needed. I will also have him read from Spielvogel's Western Civilization and the Timetables of History as a reference sometimes as detailed in The Well Trained Mind book if I want to add more. HTH My son also is taking a full credit Rhetoric class on top of this for Literature and I did have him do a little Biblical Archaeology as a bit of an add on because I wanted it to go together as we were reading the OT through and I wanted everything to link together. As a family we also did some poetry study on the side and did 3 Shakespeare plays this year. You could add other small things to it as well but it is not needed.

FWIW, my son did Vandiver's Iliad & Odyssey which he liked okay granted it is not from a Christian point of view and my son labeled it as public school learning. Ha! It worked well and I know he learned a lot but it wasn't complete and I had to come up with my own essay questions, tests and papers. However, when I found out about RomansMedia and we tried it for the second half of the year (he did the Greeks Philosophy unit this past term) we were sold. My son is really enjoying his lectures and even though he doesn't go quite in depth as Omnibus does with Veritas in regards to religious issues he does bring them up and discusses them were he sees fit. I love the layout and how the tests, planning and papers are already done for you so there is no prep work. yeah!! For me I am spending the money on it next year as we do the Romans year and the price is right for this month at homeschoolbuyerscoop at 30-40% off! HTH

Thanks for all of your stories! I am all ears....:)

Thank you OneStepAtATime...I need luck, prayer, and soon an intervention....ha!

So those who voted other I changed and added a few more options if you would like to revote. Thanks again!

Thanks ~ Onestepatatime

Ok, so what is CLE? Thanks for the tip on the older version price. A bit better but was not planning on spending more than $50 on math for a kindergartener. :)

:scared: Right start is STEEP! Am I missing something? Over $250 for the books and kit....

:willy_nilly: Okay...my brain is spinning and I hope it doesn't fall off. Not too familiar with a lot of curriculums that you all have mentioned. Conceptual math, etc. I am not a math major and I need to teach my little one math for elementary. We always did Saxon but it was SO time consuming. Right Start, Beast, Math Mammoth....I am starting to think I live in a jungle world. :laugh: Clear the light for me! Who has used their favorite curriculum all the way through elementary and their kids are thriving in advanced math in HS or beyond and always scored well for standardized testing (we need it for our state) Any takers!? :)

Would love to see the favorite on the hive... :) Thanks! Edited for others to add what seemed to be some other favorites if you would like to revote instead of other. Thanks everyone!

Thank you for all your comments. I am confused as to why they said BJU Science wasn't rigorous. I heard it was rather good for a Christian text and is more rigorous than Apologia which a LOT of people use. Is this what you all have seen? Thanks again!

Thanks for your comments...