We have used their 3rd grade Astonomy course, their 4th grade Insects course, and are currently using their 5th grade Birds/History of Medicine course. I think these are great books for elementary school science. They are grade-appropriate, they hit all the major elementary topics, and focus on real-life every day science encounters. It's also nice that there aren't any experiments. I don't know about their middle grade science courses, though. As soon as my kids have a good algebra base I want to get them into more mathematical-based science courses to prepare them for high school science, but until then I believe that science is more about learning about the world around you and figuring out about how things work. Hope this helps!

We would wholeheartedly recommend their art cards. And I believe they are working on a church history course. Maybe their 8th or 9th grade package?

We really like Memoria Press's elementary science offerings. There are no experiments or extra supplies needed. Their focus is on learning about the world around you. My oldest has done their Astronomy course, just finished their Insects course, and is about to start their Birds/History of Science course. These courses are not religious-based; just focused on the specific topic.

We finished up around Thanksgiving and usually take December to do other types of activities. We have designated this month as Hobbit December. We are reading through the book as a family and will meet up with a couple other families at the end of the month to watch the movie. We are also working on having the older boys learn to cook meals & bake by themselves. My youngest is practicing his bike riding and shoe-tying while continuing his reading lessons (AAR2). We also do a lot of crafts and Christmas-related activities. This time of year is always a little crazy. Everyone else is continuing Math and having a quiet reading time. We live in the Miami area, so this is a great time to get outside! We use MP's curriculum and love it! My oldest just finished 4th grade and is starting their 5th grade in January. My second son is starting their 3rd grade. They do three blocks of work in the morning (Math, Latin, L.A.) and two in the afternoon (Literature, Weekly Subject). My younger two don't use MP's curriculum yet because their skill levels don't match up. I plan to start them in 3rd grade.

First of all, you can do almost of the curriculum orally. The questions in the guide do have value, so I wouldn't just skip them. From what I understand, in their classrooms they ask a question, formulate a well-structured answer as a group, the teacher writes it on the board, and then the kids write it in their books. You could just eliminate their last step. We use their flashcards and you can practice these almost anywhere in any way! My second son is about to start 3rd grade too! Good luck!

My 5th grader and my 3rd grader will both be using Grammar Recitation book 1. We plan on: Day 1: go over new rule(s) + copywork Day 2: workbook exercises Day 3: dictation of practice sentences Day 4: cumulative oral review of grammar rules From what I can tell, it should take about 10-15 minutes a day, four days a week.

We are just finishing grade 4, and we are planning to start grade 5 after the new year. We use most of the full curriculum. The good news about the workbooks is that the weekly subjects are only once a week! We plan to use Second Form Latin, Grammar Recitation, R&S Spelling 6, the literature guides, 5th grade science, Geography II, and Famous Men of the Middle Ages. We use a different math, writing, and we do Bible as a family. We tend to break up workbook-intensive subjects. For example, we work through Latin together orally, do the recitation and flashcards, and then about 10 minutes doing the daily worksheet. Then they might practice piano or read before the next workbook, etc. We haven't found it to be too much writing, but sometimes we work through the questions orally. If you were looking to minimize workbooks, I'd eliminate Christian Studies. You could also do Geography without a workbook as long as you drill the locations. maybe the lit guides too? The Latin workbook is a must for drilling in the info, and I feel the same way about the history. But, again, a lot could be done orally. Good luck!

74 and raining in Miami.

I think All About Reading could be called: "Stand up in front of the refrigerator and learn to read" We like to keep our tiles on the front of the refrigerator (helps keep them out of range of younger kids). This way we could have impromptu blending practice when they were first starting to read and our jumpy children don't have to sit in a chair. The program also includes activities that you could do on the floor or a table and readers that you can snuggle up with. There are no workbooks and no writing in the program. Reading only.

My 4th grade son started First Form in January and we just finished Quiz 32 today. Two lessons + final test left, so I think we're going to make it. Did you guys do Latina Christiana first? At least half the vocab we learned last year, so that helped a lot. It was nice to switch from verbs to nouns to verbs. During the noun units, you can solidify your verbs knowledge before you start them up again later. And then you can solidify nouns while you do verbs again. The second conjugation verbs at the end of the book are very easy, so you've just got to make it over the hump! What's worked well for us this year is to do Latin every day. Start the lesson off with the conjugation/declension recitation and then do the grammar recitation every day. Then we have done every page in the workbook. It's a lot of writing, but it really helps to cement it in your brain. When we've needed to slow down, we took an extra day or two on that lesson. Usually the lesson after a difficult one would be less taxing, so we haven't been overwhelmed. It's a lot to learn, but it's doable if you put the hours in. But it's definitely more important to get this foundation knowledge down before you move on, so take the time you need! Best of luck!

No, I just need the answers. I have found a couple mistakes along the way, though.

We use MP's curriculum and my 4th grader spends about 30 minutes twice a week on history and about 30-45 minutes once a week on science. Then we review for about 30 minutes on Friday. My 2nd grader does about 30 minutes of science once a week, but no formal history other than SOTW in the car. Both of them read science books and historical fiction/biographies as part of their independent reading time, about 30 minutes a day.

We've used part of 2nd grade, most of 3rd, 4th, and we're about to start on 5th and 3rd again. Before we found MP we bounced around to a bunch of different programs, but we've finally found what's best for our family. What we like: We like the simple, well-organized, and deep curriculum. Following the model set out in the Latin-Centered Curriculum, MP's focus is not on more volume, but on really knowing your subject and spending good quality time with each topic. For example, in Famous Men of Rome, you use the one text for the whole year. Each week you read one narrative about a ruler of Rome. The text is full of rich language, so there is vocabulary work (with some Latin derivatives). And there is a timeline and map work, or course. You really get to know what is going on in Rome and why certain decisions were made. You start to relate with the characters. In addition to the typical comprehension questions, the discussion questions start to expand on the ideas in the stories, like why George Washington is compared to Cincinnatus. The flashcards help cement the most important facts and dates. We also use the history reading to do our WWE-style narrations and dictations. Again, one day of history sounds quick, but it is really very deep. I like to have the basics scheduled and then have time to expand on the topics as time allows. There are no crafts or random activities that take hours to prepare. You don't have to get materials for science experiments. You don't have to feel guilty for dropping the "fun" stuff. Over the last few years, though, I have found that my oldest falls in love with a topic and wants to expand on it on his own. He reads lots of period-relevant material, both fiction and non-fiction. They make their own crafts and games. He really observes and enjoys knowing about the insects he encounters on a daily basis and the constellations he sees in the night sky. It's like the world's secrets are slowly being unlocked to him. We use MP's Latin, History, Science, Geography, Literature, Grammar, Spelling, and Art cards. We don't use their composition or math. We do Bible study as a family. I like the looks of their middle school curriculum, so I plan on continuing as is... What we don't like: MP's focus in K-2 is on basic skills, and my kids abilities didn't align with their grade levels. We still use their recitations, enrichment ideas, and art cards, but the reading, writing, and math didn't fit well (which is the majority of K-2). My second son will start their full curriculum in Jan with 3rd grade after doing Prima Latina this year. Yes, there is a lot of writing in this curriculum, and it took my oldest a while to build up to that volume. However, this also helps make it more independent and allows for lots of practice on constructing good, quality sentences. We started out answering a lot of the questions orally and have slowly built up the volume of writing over the last two years. Hope this helps!

My kids have all been early/advanced readers. The main reason we haven't used much of grades K-2 is that the reading/writing instruction didn't match up with our kids' needs. We start using the complete curriculum in 3rd grade. We use their 3rd grade reading program. Even though the reading is easy, the workbooks add in other literature elements and the 3rd grade composition is based on these readings. We also schedule in 30 minutes reading books that I select that are more in line with their reading levels. The literature selections rapidly start to increase in difficulty later in elementary school and they are reading the Iliad and the Odyssey in 7th grade. Also, the Famous Men books are written at a more difficult reading level. The Form Latin program has also helped with reading level & vocabulary too. In your case, I might wait to jump into MP's program until 3rd grade. That's where it really starts to get good!

For levels 1, 2, and most of 3, we can get through a "step" in one or two lessons. When we get to level 4 we spread one "step" over a 4-day week so it will last most of the school year.