Here you go Stacy:) http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Paths+of+Exploration+Volumes+1+%26amp%3B+2+Set/026977/1294300453-756365

Aime, I don't know about the Middle School Supplement and I see you have older children, but from what we have done with the regular program, I think you could easily use your current grammar and writing program. Following along with the Charlotte Mason philosophy, there is very little formal grammar at this age, so there isn't much in there. You could easily add that if you wanted to. Good luck in your decision:)

We got through 2 units of POE and had to stop, but only because my oldest went to school so I had to revamp things for the little ones. She is home again now, but I didn't want to upset their apple cart again, so we will pick it up where we left off last year. All in all, I think it is a wonderful curriculum! Everything flows smoothly and the kids retained a ton. I also agree with whoever said that if you are using it at the appropriate ages, I don't think it requires supplementation. I added some phonics for my little one, but she was only in second and still needed that work. The only thing we will probably add next year is Apologia science. My oldest started one of the books in school and LOVES it, and the science was our least favorite part of POE. Most of it was fine, but one of the books, the Handbook of Nature Study, we found hard to read. The style of Apologia fits us much better:)

We used 2 units of Paths of Exploration and the stopped, through no fault of the curriculum. Our oldest went to school for about 8 weeks, which is why I stopped that program and just did something else with the younger ones. We will pick up where we left off next year. That being said, I really like the program. The kids loved it and retained a ton. My only complaint was the science. Most of it was fine, but there were some readings and experiments that we had a hard time with. The book it uses, Handbook of Nature Study, was difficult to read and some of the experiments kind of unclear. When we pick it back up next year, I plan to follow the program as written, and just omit some of the science. My dd started one of the Apologia books in school and really likes it, so will will probably just supplement with one of those books. All in all, the curriculum is well put together and flows very nicely. It was a breath of fresh air in this house!

I would agree with Sevilla, it is more like a pre-K program in my opinion, especially in the math department. My dd will be 5 in March, and we started out with MFW K exclusively in the fall. We did the program as written for about 2 weeks, but she wanted more to do (3rd child, wanted more like her big sisters:), so I ordered the Memoria Press Kindergarten. Now we are doing the phonics and math from Memoria Press and the Science and Bible from MFW. We don't do the MFW math at all, but I do give her the phonics sheets because she likes them. If you are drawn to MFW for the thematic portion of it (the science and Bible themes), you could easily beef up the phonics and math. The spiritual lessons in the MFW K program are PRECIOUS and totally worth doing in my opinion. Hope this helps!

We start back tomorrow after 2 weeks as well. My oldest has ended her 8 week stint in a private school and will be home with us again:) Even though she is my biggest challenge in life I am so excited to have her home again, and she is excited to be back home! Here's hoping all of that excitement will make for a much better day than we used to have;)

We are using POE this year and loving it! As for the overlap with Adventures, I haven't used it but came very close so I am pretty familiar with what it covers. POE has 6 units and studies each in depth: Christopher Columbus, Jamestown, Pilgrims, Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, and Trails West. My dd has studies Columbus, Jamestown, and the Pilgrims before with another program, and has still learned a TON more with POE (we just finished the Columbus unit). You will definitely cover things that were covered in Adventures, but with the increased depth and all of the activities, I don't think it will be a problem at all. Let me know if you have any other questions:)

We are using Paths of Exploration this year and loving it! My oldest is in 4th, middle in 2nd. I am planning to continue with their program because it works so well for our family and my kids are learning a ton. If I use their program for the long haul, there will be 2 more years of American History, followed by 3 years of World History starting with Ancients. The point I am getting to is that dd9 hasn't studied ancients AT ALL (knows a lot of the Bible stories, but no Greeks, Romans,etc.) and I am wondering if only 1 year before high school (in 8th grade) is going to be enough. So I started thinking about other things I could do to give her some exposure before then. One thought I had was to read Mystery of History or SOTW as a read aloud seperate from our history studies, explaining that these things happened in Bible times/long before what we are studying. Would that just be silly and confusing or would it help get some exposure since she hasn't had any? Should I forget it and just keep the 1 year of ancients in 8th? Restructure her plan?? What do you ladies think?? Thanks! Coleen

Let's see: DD9: Added Abeka Language to Paths of Exploration, added some CLE math to Math on the Level DD7: Dropped Singapore Math and went back to CLE DD4.5: Started Memoria Press K (original plan was to work through MFW K first) Way less changes compared to previous years. Loving Paths of Exploration and Memoria Press K!

If you already have the reading and singing part going, the Rod and Staff preschool workbooks are fabulous and about $3 apiece:)

Thanks again ladies:) I have been looking at ACE samples and she took some diagnostic tests today and I think we are going to try that route. To OhElizabeth- Thank you for your concern, I do appreciate it! There are definitely medical problems (ADHD at the least) and we are keenly aware of them. We are dealing with them and have been for years, but the fact is that school must go on, and we are finally to the point where something has to change for the sake of the entire family. We really do think school would be the best option, but since that is not an option at the moment, we are trying to find the next best thing.

Thanks ladies! Keep the suggestions coming:). I forgot to mention that we tried BJU distance learning a couple of years ago and I thought it would be perfect:). Alas, several hundred down the drain... I will look into the K12 thing, thanks! I think I will also have her do the ACE diagnostic testing today too.

What would you use? To make a very long story short, dd 9 and I can't work together. She is on the waiting list at 2 different private schools and PS is not an option for us. I need suggestions for something we can use with very little teaching. I know this might sound awful, but unfortunately it is the reality around here these days. We have done CLE Reading and Math in the past, both of which she didn't like. To be fair though, I think I had her at a grade level too high for the reading and she has never liked any of the 556 math programs we have tried, so CLE was no different:). I do think she learned from it though. I am not opposed to CLE, but am also looking for opinions on ACE, Lifepacs, SOS, or anything else for that matter. Thanks in advance!

This is our busiest year yet, but so far not too bad as all of the activities during the school week are later in the afternoon: Monday: co-op 9-3; swim team(varies) 5:30-6; AWANA 6:30 (this day wears us out!) Tuesday: piano 4:20; swim team(varies) 5:30; swim lesson 6:00 Wednesday: swim team (varies) 5:30 Thursday: swim team (varies) 5:30; church commitment (2x month) 7:30 Friday: no commitments Saturday: no commitments Sunday: church (sometimes early); Bible study (2x month) 4:00 Some weeks are crazy with the swimming 4x during the week, other weeks it is only twice so not too bad.

This will be our busiest year yet! We are doing: DD9: Piano 1x week DD7: Swim Team 2-4x per week (schedule varies) DD4: Swim Lessons 1x week All 3: All day co-op on Monday AWANA on Monday night All of the above (with the exception of the co-op on Monday) are at 4:00 or after. Kids and I do not do well with doing something in the morning and then coming home for school.

I couldn't agree more! While it was no fun to ride out the sirens in the high school locker room at dd's swim team practice, we are ALL DONE with the heat around here!!

My dd is 4 1/2 and we started MFW K about 3 weeks ago. As of this week, we ditched the phonics and math portion and we are doing Memoria Press K along with the Bible and science from MFW K. I found myself skippping most of the phonics because she already knew how to do it and was getting bored. Coming into this year, she knew all her letter sounds and did Mathematical Reasoning from Critical Thinking Press last year, so was definitely beyond the counting and such in the math. I agree with the previous poster though...the Bible and science are precious so we will continue that part. Hope that helps some:)

:D

On the getting rid of things end of it, I actually just got done going through my shelves. Things I was sure we would never use again either because they just really didn't work or I cringed at the sight...I got rid of. The other things I think I might use, I took off the shelves, seperated by grade level, and boxed them up. They are in a closet where I can easily get to them, just in case I need something later this year, but they aren't in my face all the time and it really makes a difference:)

My 1st grader last year did WWE1 and First Favorites vol. 1-2. She LOVED both! Her reading grew SO MUCH just working through those FF books, I was truly amazed. As far as redundancy, there was some copywork in FF, and I would skip that if she was not interested because she already did some in WWE1. Some days there was a lot of writing in FF (answering comp. questions, etc.) She did those as written most of the time, but sometimes we did them orally or I wrote for her. Hope that helps! Coleen

I am so very sorry for your loss. Know that our family will be praying for yours, that you will feel God's perfect peace and comfort at this time.

I was talking to a friend today who is expecting her 4th child. This is her first year homeschooling. The baby is due in September, and she is thinking about putting the oldest 2 (who will be in K and 2nd) in PS next year for fear that she will be overwhelmed with having a newborn and homeschooling. Her other little one is 3. She doesn't want to put them in school, but she doesn't really have any ideas about how to make it work. We talked about the fact that because they are so young, everything will be fine. She agreed, but still isn't sure what to use. I have some ideas for her, but I wanted to pose the question here: if you had to teach K and 2nd in the simplest, low teacher prep, semi-independent if possible, what would you use??? Thanks in advance!!

We have used Little Hearts and parts of Beyond and Bigger (if that tells you anything about how much I wanted it to work!!) I haven't read all of your responses, but I will echo the others who said it was just too hard to combine. I always felt like I was hitting the needs of one kid and really stretching to meet the needs of the other (and they are only 2 years apart). That said, I love the older levels (Bigger and the looks of those above it), but the younger ones were tough for us with the science being all over the place and my kiddos not much into the rhymes and a lot of the games. We are using a curriculum next year where I can combine at least the older 2, but I am still looking at HOD for years into the future when there is more independence in my older ones and we could handle seperate programs. Hope that helps! Coleen

Thanks 3Rivers! At this point in our homeschool, returning books to the library is hard:glare:, so finding matching metallic wrapping paper (which my little one would require), is off the list!! Thank you so much for your responses, and especially taking the time to clarify!:D

Thanks ladies:) I think I will go ahead and order as my little one is the "what I do now mommy??" type whenever I am working with the 2 olders. Also good to know there are things in there that might be hard to find. Totally worth the $15 in that case! Thanks again:)