A lot of times we drop something if it uses an inappropriate amount of our precious time.

We are using the 3rd grade plans this year. We use the Latin, Literature, Greek Myths, States & Capitals, Astronomy, and Christian Studies, though not always as designed. We don't use the grammar, spelling, or math. We also add in a VP self-paced history class. I really like the manual because I feel like it gives structure to my day and keeps me on track. I like knowing how to teach the Latin lesson over five days and how to space out the other books appropriately. I also really like the week-by-week recitation included in the guides. MP schedules only 32 weeks of class, so I know that if I get behind I can have a "make up" week. They are also willing to mix-and-match subjects for you if you are using a different level of Latin, lit, or whatever. Oh, and their Friday usually consists of review or independent work, so it is easy to make it work for a four-day week. Maybe I just like checking boxes, but I'll be ordering again next year!

We used the workbooks for the first couple years so that I could understand how to approach writing. This year we have transitioned to our own material from reading, history, and science. I still have The Complete Writer for reference, but I feel much more confident now.

We love the Yesterday's Classics version too! I would also recommend the Audiobook from Jim Weiss. My kids just love hearing about the elephant's child getting spanked repeatedly!

My goal is for my kids to know the letters and their sounds before they are four. This is done in a very informal way by pointing out letters and words in everyday life. Once I see evidence that they are able to blend, I'll make a new word or two on the refrigerator each day until they are good at it. Once they can blend well, I'll spend about 5 minutes a day on formal lessons. For us, the key is a little every day.

I also wanted to mention that there is a big difference between MP's K-2 and 3rd grade and up packages. K-2 are focused on basic math, reading, and writing with supplemental read-alouds, art, science, etc. Starting in 3rd grade they add in Christian Studies, Classical Studies, Geography, and Science in a more formal way. With four kids to juggle, I think this is a great use of time. We are still using R&S English for grades 2 and up, mainly to emphasize usage rules such as apostrophes, commas, and quotation marks. I'm not comfortable enough to give these up yet. Maybe in a year or two...

We use a little of both. We use VP's self-paced history and pick from their literature & history choices for our assigned reading. We love their history & bible cards and their memory songs. I would describe VP as "a lot." A lot of reading, a lot of writing, a lot of everything. We mostly use MP for other subjects: Latin, Bible, States & Capitals, Astronomy. I would describe MP as methodical and thorough. They teach way less material, but use the time to thoroughly dig into it. For example, in the Greek Myths guide you memorize the main figures, then you learn all new vocabulary in the week's reading selection, then you answer the comp questions, then you analyze the pictures and interpret what each part of the picture represents, and then there may be further analysis of the passage or an additional reading that ties into the topic. These are the big differences to me. MP focuses your time on basic skills and treats the other subjects as extras. VP spends a lot of time on history (and everything else). However, we don't use either for first grade. My first grader reads a lot (used ETC until he read well), does GWG1 (will move to R&S in 2nd grade), All About Spelling, HWT cursive, Singapore math, and tags along on his older brother's history, science, and Bible. We move into MP and VP in 2nd grade for bible, science, and history. The main reason is that the reading/writing levels haven't matched what my kids need. We use the MP guides, but I'm very interested in the VP Scholars plans too...

My 6-year old is using: Sonlight/VP reading lists Cursive Instruction GWG 1 WWE 1 AAS 1/2 SM1 & MUS Beta Daily Geography Practice Apologia Astronomy (with brother) Ancient Greece & Rome (with brother)

I'm no expert, but I think the suggestion is to concentrate your time on phonics until your child is reading fluently. Once phonics is done, you can spend that time on Latin, which is a sort of "next step" after phonics.

The course includes some mapping activities, but only on the area they are studying (Egypt/Mesopotamia area). If you want something else, you will have to add it in.

What kind of recitations are scheduled? There are recitation questions scheduled for each week that cover all subjects. Every morning you review every question up to the current week. Are there teaching helps in the Lesson Plans or is just the weekly schedule? There are some general teaching helps in the beginning in the manual, including how they would recommend scheduling your day. More specific lesson plans are provided in the teacher's manuals for each subject. The curriculum guide also provides final exams for the subjects. Are you using their read aloud lit lists and lit study guides? How do you feel about the amount of writing required? We don't exclusively use their read-aloud list because I have four kids to combine, though we do take them into account. We use the lit guides, and it does look like a lot of writing, but they are supposed to be used in place of a writing program for younger children. From what I understand, the student says what he thinks the answer should be, then you help him formulate a decent-sounding complete sentence, then you write it on the board (or dictate it), and they write it down. It's supposed to follow SWB's WWE program. In the curriculum guide, sometimes a chapter is completed over two days, so it's not too much writing (for 2nd grade). Are you using VP self paced or are you teaching it? We are using the self-paced class (5 days/wk). Then we do corresponding reading in SOTW one day/week to practice summarizing & to do the activities during the history block. Could my rising 4th grader start the 3rd grade now and perhaps eventually work his way to being on MPs grade level track? I don't think there would be any problem making it work for the individual. They only schedule 32 weeks, so if you work more than that, you should be able to catch up quickly. Hope this helps answer your questions. The samples of the curriculum guides on their website are exactly what you get, so it should give you a good idea.

We are using the 3rd grade package, although we do substitute for our own math (SM) and history (VP). I love how they have the latin all mapped out. One of the other great features is that they came out with their own grammar for 3rd grade (and up?) that coordinates with the literature selections. The curriculum is designed in LCC style, with Latin, Math, LA, and Literature every day. Then History, Bible, Astronomy, and States & Capitals are scheduled for one day a week. This gives you five "work" blocks per day. Another plus is that they provide a weekly recitation to review with your students every morning to solidify what they've learned. I find my 5-year old reciting what my 8-year old is learning. So, in essence, it's well laid-out, efficient, and no frills. That is, as long as you want to focus on latin, math and LA and not history or science. We intend to continue to purchase their grade-level packages.

When my boys were 7 and 5 we listened to the SOTW audio cd while we colored the activity pages (usually we needed to listen to it twice in order to finish the page). Then I asked the comprehension questions and had my older give a narration. Now my 8 year old reads it himself, but my 6 year old still listens to the audio. Even though he can read chapter books, it is much more enjoyable for him to listen to the cd.

We felt the same way too, and the random passages were starting to drive me batty. Once we got into the swing of things, we switched over to doing the same type of narration/dictation/summarization tasks with our history and science texts. And I don't call it "writing" any more. It's called history and science, which makes my boys feel better.

From what I've seen, GWG 1 & 2 are a good intro to grammar for young kids. My oldest started R&S3 in January and I really like it. We may use GWG differently from others, though. Before each grammar lesson, we recite the previously-learned info, such as: 1. What is a sentence? (A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought) 2. What are the two parts of a sentence? (Subject and predicate) 3. What is a subject? (A subject tells who or what a sentence is about) etc. This seems to really help solidify the info. I guess this is my pull-in from FLL, but we really need the written exercises too. I can see how R&S is more in-depth and demanding than GWG, but this doesn't really start until grade 3. I will probably use GWG for grades 1 & 2, then shift to R&S for grades 3 and higher. As for AAS, I think that level 3 is vital and at least half of level 4. My son loved the Silent E book. I'll probably finish Level 4 in the future, but every kid is different, right? I was the same way with WWE, but as I add more kids into the picture I am trying to be more efficient with my teaching time. Reading random passages in the workbook and dictating random sentences did build skills, but I could see how it would be more effective to incorporate it into our real readings. Blessings!

We just finished up 2nd grade, so here's what I'd recommend based upon our experience. First, pick a language. If she's reading chapter books, drop the phonics and keep her reading. She will pick up on higher level phonics through her reading (or ask you when she encounters it). If you want to pick up another language, choose one. We finished up AAS 4, and now my son's working through a workbook-based spelling program. This is for the exact reason that you stated. So far, so good. We switched from the WWE workbook to just the general methodology. We were able to incorporate the narration/dictation into his science and history. I like to think of this as more of a "streamlining" approach to writing. We also moved from FLL 2. It was too oral and my son needed practice with the new concepts. We moved to R&S 2, but my younger son has been using GWG 1 this year and I might continue it for him next year. Everything else looks good. We find that SOTW and Apologia science are easy to adapt to the narration/summarization/dictation method described in WWE, but I bet you can work it into any program. We also have younger students who tag along. I generally teach to the oldest and let the others pop in and out when they are interested. Best of luck & don't stress too much!

We are about halfway through the States & Capitals book. It is very straightforward. You first review continents, oceans, time zones, etc. Then you learn the states by region at a rate of about two a week (and the Great Lakes). For each state, you write the states that border the selected state on a map, you write the capital, postal abbreviation, state motto, and a fun fact about the state that you can find in the 50 states book. After each region is finished, there is a quiz. There is a test at the end of the year. We try to review the states every day during our recitation time, and we are very pleased with the retention. My son really likes the book and counts it among his favorites. It takes about 20 minutes once a week. I am really excited about the Geography I course next year.

We've been to Disney twice with large groups and found that our best option was to rent a house nearby. On our last visit, we had 14 people (7 adults & 7 kids). We rented a 7 bedroom house in Emerald Isle with pool and hot tub for $1400 for a week. We booked through homeaway.com and they have tons of houses to choose from. Enjoy your trip!

We haven't used these before, but we're looking into the ones for third grade. I believe they follow the methods used in WWE in the younger grades when used correctly. For first, second, and third grades, the parent helps the student formulate the answer to the question and then they either have them copy or write the answer through dictation. I'm not sure about the narration part, but I can see how this can be added in, so it would essentially eliminate the need for a writing program. Also, in the grade-level guides they only schedule about a page a day, so it's not too much writing at once. Hope this helps,

I believe that Memoria Press reformatted the books and added a more comprehensive teacher's manual. They start the program in 4th grade, and it should be scheduled in their 4th grade guide. We haven't used it before, but we're seriously considering it for next year in 4th grade.

ETC Book 1 teaches the short vowel sounds and uses them to blend together three-letter words. You should be able to move directly from A, B, and C to book 1.

We are using MP Astronomy and I've never opened the Teacher's Manual. I do work through the material with my son, though, so I know when he's getting the right answers.

We just started 3rd grade in Jan. Here's what we're doing: Math - Singapore 3A L.A. - WWE3, R&S English 3 and spelling 4 History - VP self-paced New Testament, Greece, & Rome Science - MP Astronomy and RSO Earth & Space (as a family) Literature - VP grade 3 list Latin - Latina Christiana I Geography - MP States & Capitals That's the core of our week. We are trying to add in piano, but it's been a no-go so far. Maybe next month...

We have used (or tried) most of the products from K though 3rd grade. We weren't a big fan of First Start Reading because there was too much writing for my kids. We used Phonics Pathways and ETC instead. Storytime Treasures was ok, but again, there was a lot of writing. However the Lit guides from 2nd grade up are great! Although they are still developing the grade-level packages, much of it is streamlined between subjects. For example, their grammar is based off of their literature selections and there are cross references between Greek Myths and their Astronomy guide. We have enjoyed Prima Latina and are enjoying Latina Christiana I with all the supplements (Ludere Latine, Lingua Angelica, Cumulative Review Worksheets). We are currently using most of the third grade package and my son loves the Astronomy, the Greek Myths, and the States & Capitals guide. Although we don't use R&S math, I love their teacher's manuals. These explain how to schedule Latin (and the other subjects) to make the most of the materials. They also include the weekly recitations, subject tests, spelling drill sheets, and a host of other materials that are totally worth it. I am so excited about them publishing the Classical Composition series and look forward to their 4th grade package for next year. The only drawback is that the curriculum is a lot of writing. We do a lot orally, but this will probably have to change as more of my kids join in the fray. Hope this helps!

I know that Memoria Press is developing their own Geography program. I believe the first year is States & Capitals, the next is Europe, North Africa, & Middle East, and the third year should be the rest. You can check it out here: http://www.memoriapress.com/descriptions/index_American-Modern.html Good luck!