We haven't gone through the MFW cycle yet (we will be starting with ECC next year), but I have looked at all of the manuals extensively. A couple of things I would say would be that first off, MFW K and 1st are very different from the rest. Once you start their 5 year cycle, I don't think you will find it light. The other thing is that I think it would be very easy to just add the VP history cards to MFW, just using them whenever they come up in the history readings. I am planning to do that myself, as I love the VP history cards and think they will add to the program. Hope this helps!!

LOVE this as I am always beating myself up about how far behind we are:) DD 8: finished WWE 2 from last year and completed 3 weeks of WWE 3 completed all of MUS Alpha and CLE Light Units 206 and 207 completed All About Spelling Level 1 finished 30 lessons of FLL3 completed CLE reading units 301-303 completed 8 weeks of WP World Around Me science completed 12 weeks of American Story 1 completed 3 Discoveries in AWANA T&T Book 1 completed 11 weeks of Reason for Handwriting C completed Evan Moor Colonial America history pocket DD 6: completed 12 weeks of WWE1 completed Math Mammoth 1A halfway through All About Spelling Level 1 finished 30 lessons of FLL1 completed all of WP Advanced K Language Arts and moved on to Grade 1 completed 8 weeks of WP World Around Me science completed 12 weeks of American Story 1 completed 3 red and 3 green jewels in AWANA Sparks Book 2 completed 11 weeks of Reason for Handwriting A halfway through Veritas First Favorites book 1 DD 3: completed 11 weeks of WP I'm Ready to Learn halfway through Mathematical Reasoning A blasted through numerous Kumon books:) knows letters and sounds completed 11 Bear Hugs in AWANA Cubbies Jumper book

I love Natalie and Rachel with Sarah. I have a Sarah Nicole if you decided to go with Sarah as a first name:)

HA! I was just talking to my mom about this last night, as I was stuffing the stockings and finishing up the gifts, after midnight of course, and my other half was snoring.... But I, like you, am thankful for the lot of them and all of the blessings we enjoy! Merry Christmas Everyone:)

I can't speak to level 200, but since no one else has piped in yet, I can at least tell you about 300:) Each light unit has 16 lessons, for a total of 160 for the year. I think you could easily start with the second reader and set of light units. The lessons vary, as there is work in the light unit for ever lesson, but there is reading from the reader assigned every other day, so those lessons tend to take longer. If my 3rd grader does it completely independently, it takes her about 35-40 minutes on a reading day. If I guide her through it some, it is 30 or less. Hope this helps!

We are replacing Math Mammoth with CLE 1 for 1st grader. I am also skipping the rest of WP Advanced K LA (she was in week 25) and starting their LA 1. She just all of a sudden took off and was totally bored:) We are also switching the schedule to 4 days of full school and 1 day of them working independently to give me time to clean, do laundry, etc. Hopefully that will help everything run more smoothly!!

THANK YOU LADIES!! Ordering now:)

Can someone tell me how many lessons there are total for the whole year and what lesson light unit 104 starts with? Thanks so much!

Christianbook.com has it for $27 and there is even a free shipping code out there if you do a google search (you have to spend $35 though). There are samples on the Apologia website and it looks great! Coleen

Thanks so much!!! I went ahead and ordered CLE. I got the 2nd 1/2 of 2nd grade as I am hoping to solidify some skills before ramping up to grade level. I really appreciate your responses as I was leaning toward CLE and you ladies pushed me right over the edge:) Oh, and Penny...we have tried every single one of the programs you did, plus Horizons, Singapore and BJU! REALLY hoping this is it!! Thanks Again!

I have narrowed it down to 2 and need help! DD 8 is in third grade and we have tried several math programs. The most recent was Math Mammoth. While I like the way they explain things (kinda Singapore-esque), it makes her head spin. We have tried Right Start and MUS (the manipulatives overwhelm), and we even did BJU for a VERY short time last year. We stopped that because of me...I was overwhelmed with the TM and all that we had going on at the time. Right now, I really just need to find the best fit. I know that BJU is kind of manipulative heavy, but nothing like MUS or Rightstart, so I am still considering it. I am also looking at CLE because so many people seem to like it and it looks solid but gentle. If you have used one or both with a child who has had a tough time with other curriculums, please chime in!! Also, if I do go with CLE, who ships the fastest?? Thanks! Coleen

DD 3rd is just about to finish WWE 2 and we liked it well enough, but I just wanted to see what else was out there. I like the narration and dictation of WWE, but maybe a little more variety would be nice?? Thanks in advance:)

My dd 3rd just finished the Math-U-See book we were doing and BJU 3 looks like a good fit. I bought the 3rd grade worktext over the weekend but passed on the TE. It looks pretty easy to teach just from the worktext, but do those of you who use this think I need the TE? Thanks:)

Mine is Critical Thinking (the Building Thinking Skills books). The kids and I like them fine, we just never seem to get to them! Anyone else??

I HATE that too!! Just had to share....:001_smile:

Thank you!!

Thanks ladies! I hadn't thought of letting her read it herself, I will try that. As far as FLL 3 goes, it isn't the level or amount of the work, I think again it is a listening issue. If she isn't listening to the definition of an adjective, she can't say it with me:) Maybe I will try to let her read some of that as well. Thanks:)

Okay, here's our situation. My 8yo dd is severly ADHD and has some very mild auditory processing issues. We have been doing WWE2 since the middle of last year and are now on week 30. The last couple of weeks, we have hit a wall. She is pretty good with the dictations, but the narrations are a total exercise in frustration for both of us. I will read the passage, and she will remember almost nothing. Sometimes we will read the passage or parts of it 3 or 4 times before she can answer the questions! Then there is First Language Lessons. We have started level 3 this year (she did level 2 last year). Level 2 was fine, but I don't think she retained a whole lot. We are on lesson 13 and are starting to hit a wall here too. The question I am asking myself is am I asking too much or should we just push through? I know there are other writing and grammar programs out there that are less demanding in the auditory department. I hate to switch, but this is getting ridiculous! Any suggestions??? Thanks:)

Thank you SO MUCH to EVERYONE who responded!!! I am going to look over everything in more detail this weekend as I can't seem to find a moment to breathe during the week. You ladies are AWESOME and I am so grateful for the time you took to share with me and give me your ideas. Coleen

Going to make this quick as we are on a little school break:) My 3rd grade DD STILL cannot seem to get basic addition and subtraction facts correct without thinking about them for several seconds (even things as easy as 4+2). We have had her tested for LD and she did come up with some Auditory Processing issues, but not even enough to be labeled a disorder. She has an EXCELLENT memory (which we were told after the testing), so I am not sure what the problem is here. We are doing Math U See, so I know the hands-on element is there, and she does understand how it works. I honestly think her problem is confidence. I think she needs to get to the point where she knows them cold so she doesn't struggle as we get into multiple step problems. She is using Quarter Mile Math, which I hope will help (we just started). Any other suggestions, games, tricks to get us past this hump??? Thanks in advance! Coleen

I just had to share...dd 8 is finishing up WWE 2 from last year (we are on week 26). So we are doing day 1, I read her the passage and was asking the questions. She is quite distractable, so although she usually gets the answers right, it often takes a minute. Plenty of time, apparently, for dd 3, who was sitting at the table and listening more intently than I thought :001_smile:, to pipe up with the answer! DD8 and I looked at each other and enjoyed the moment thoroughly. I guess you could say it is never too young to start em on SWB's methods!

I am not sure about the combining part because we just started FLL 3. I do know about the WWE part though. WWE is narration, copywork, and dictation only, and FLL is memorization, narration, copywork, dictation and grammar. We are doing both and just leave out a most if the narration, dictation and copywork in FLL. I suppose it would be fine just to do FLL alone, depending on what you want. We are doing both as WWE is a much more systematic, thorough approach to the narration, dictation, copywork so I think all of our bases are covered that way. Hope this helps:) Coleen

We will start this year at 8:30 and end at 2:00. That includes 2 half hour breaks and some "fun" things to break it up. I have a 3rd grader and a 1st grader:)

Frog Street Press makes some CUTE big book kits for the little ones. They have one for Fall, Winter and Spring and a Circle Time one. Each book makes 8-10 big books, all you do is cut out the words/pictures, glue them to 11x17 paper and laminate. Some are poems and some are set to familiar tunes. Did I mention how cute they were??;)

Count us in for tomorrow! We don't have Science or Spelling yet, and I won't attempt to really start the I'm Ready to Learn program before the older ones get their groove on, but start we will. We are all excited, which is sooo refreshing:)