I like the idea in the WTM book of having a math literature day and a math project day each week. I like that this can be done while still sticking to a more traditional program...I'm not ready to let go of a formal math program. I'm sure it can be done, but I'm not the person to do it. lol I'm hoping to make some sort of math-center where my kids can pick a hands-on math activity each day, after their CLE math lesson is completed. Our favorites for middle school-ish ages: Family Math (they have a middle school book too) Compass Drawing--teaches kids how to make fun pictures with their compass, a ruler, and some markers Hands-On Equations C-rods and various books to go with them; we have one called Rod-Clue Puzzles that is for older ages Rightstart Math manipulatives--we had fun with the geometry panels last weekend! Our math program schedules flash cards and speed drills, which I think are also important. They often get our their geometry sets for a problem or two, so I feel like that is covered for us.

I am using the AAR Pre-Level 1 program with my 4yo. There are lots of "pick the rhyming pair" type of games. He is not hearing the rhymes, even with some prompting. One game has me set out three cards, for example: cat, hat, and ring. He will choose hat and ring (or similar). Do you think this is something we can work on or a developmental issue that just needs time? I really don't want to waste time on it if it won't really help him along, but the type A part of my personality is bugged by skipping this part of the lesson. If it's something that just needs a bit of practice, I'd like to go ahead with the games. Has anyone else had this issue? I honestly can't remember when my older ones picked up on rhyming. Ironically, I've probably read more Dr. Seuss books to this kid than all my older kids put together.

We found a cute felt map at Target. It has felt pieces of all the continents and some wild animals.

My kids love the Arkangel recordings. My older ones and I like to follow along with our personal copy of the play. My younger two (6th & 3rd) just like to listen in.

We loved MP's First Grade Enrichment! Nice and gentle, you can do as much or as little as time allows. And they now have a craft book to go with it--I was so sad that it wasn't released early enough for us to enjoy.

My kids balk any time I try to make things "fun". They just want school over with as quickly and painlessly as possible. Fun tends to slow things down. Here are some ideas they do like: Sometimes I alternate two kids, so it's a bit more competitive. They like to get more correct than their siblings. Disappearing memory verse--not flashcards, but still memory work. You write the verse on a dry-erase board and read it together. After each reading, a word or two is erased. After several readings, the board is empty and they can hopefully still repeat it. We do spelling "bees" instead of quizzes. They like these because they are faster and don't have writing. Once again, not flashcards, but a fun way to learn information Have them take a step forward with every card they get right. When they cross the finish line, they win. You can also do this with a basic board game (they move their game piece forward with every correct answer). You can have a pile of flashcards for each kid, so even math facts can be combined this way. Math Wrap Ups are an alternative to regular flashcards. We sometimes do this instead of flashcards. Most days we just go through the cards quickly.

After years of family subjects and learning, I just split mine up quite a bit. Two are using MP cores for 3rd grade and two are using MP for 8th. My two in the 3rd grade core can finish before lunch and are early risers, so I focus on them first thing. They do their own math, Latin, handwriting, and spelling, going at their own pace. Together we do flashcards/review/recitation, literature, history, Bible, science, grammar and writing. After lunch they are finished. My teenagers like to sleep in. They usually sleep in until 9-ish. Before lunch, they work on Latin, math, grammar (workbook portion), and all assigned readings. After lunch, they come to me with any math or Latin questions. We also do some Latin review together, go over our MP study guides & discussion questions, and do some subjects like grammar or writing. This usually takes us 2 hours. I'm hoping after that we'll have a bit of time for art, music, and other enrichment type of studies. We haven't gotten there yet, but our first several weeks are always so hectic! We are just about to start our 4th week, and I'm still working out the bugs, but so far our day has a nice flow to it.

Early Reader: The Story Bible Wagon Wheels (and other books in the I Can Read series) Christian Liberty Nature Reader Ox Cart Man Elementary: The Jesus Storybook Bible D'Aulaire's books (Greek or Norse Myths and/or biographies) Burgess Bird Book I like to do one book from each category at this age: Little House series, EB White book, and Narnia book Middle School: Trial & Triumph Archimedes and the Door of Science Miracles on Maple Hill The Bronze Bow High School: The Screwtape Letters Profiles in Courage Science Matters Hamlet

Prioritize subjects--For us, math, Latin, literature, and composition are daily requirements (phonics would be too if I had a beginning reader). After that, we aim for 1-2 additional subjects (history, science, Bible, etc.). If we complete all of that, we'll fit in an extra like art, logic, or composer study. While I believe the arts are important, it won't hurt them if we don't get to all our art lessons. One the other had, if we only complete 1/2 a math book each year, we'll eventually be in trouble. Don't add, substitute --it's so easy to keep adding, but you really need to take something out of your day each time you make an addition. I like to start with a complete curriculum or plan. It's easy for me to visualize the big picture if we start with a full curriculum (or WTM guidelines) and make changes from it as needed. Otherwise, I want to add in way too much! I've heard to use a "time budget" when planning...and allow for interruptions in this budget (diaper changes, phone calls, snacks, "recess", etc.). Once your choices are make, stop looking at curriculum--nothing makes me more unhappy about my curriculum choices like seeing what else is out there. It all looks so good from afar, but the reality is that we live in an imperfect world (with imperfect children) and no curriculum out there will work perfectly! I'm getting better about this (total curriculum junkie here) and starting to realize how much this harms my kids. They like the stability of knowing what to expect each day!

I need detailed plans or it doesn't get done. Your plans look great too! We just started AAR--I hope he doesn't lose interest! So far so good, but we are only 3 lessons in.

I do have different ages than you. Those toddler years are tough! I am getting to the end of that and have 3 "big kids" to help and I'm not working with any new readers. Those factors make a huge difference! It does get easier. :)

My 4th child used MP's Enrichment for 1st grade. She really enjoyed it. It covers several areas besides history and is somewhat like FIAR. However, I found it much easier to implement than FIAR.

Preschool? I would focus on habit training...which is what I'm doing with my youngest. I neglected that with my 4th child and have regretted it since! Basic things like cleanliness, order, obedience, listening, etc. Reading good books is also important, and I definitely focus on quality over quantity. I was always looking for more to do with my older kids (books, activities, games, etc.), but just rereading a few favorites over and over or playing a handful of games is so good for them! They thrive on that repetition. We are doing a preschool program next year (Timberdoodle), so I don't have a problem with some academics at a young age. I also don't think it's totally necessary. I do feel like we need to spend some quality time together and a program helps this busy mom accomplish that.

Pinterest was my friend when I taught co-op classes. I'm sure there are Pinterest pages other moms have already created for the Modern years.

I try to plan 4-6 weeks at a time. I don't plan "do the next thing" materials like math or WWE or spelling. I just make a place to check off that we did it for the day. Sometimes I write down the lesson number in my plans after we complete it. I spend most of that time planning history & science, memory work & poetry, and literature books & read alouds. I do prep work (library books, printing maps or worksheets, reading lesson materials, etc.) 1-2 weeks in advance. I usually do this over the weekend, but if we have a busy weekend, I start on Thursday or Friday. It usually takes an hour (for 5 kids) and I can break it up over a couple days if I'm really busy. I planned out the full year one time and spent so much time erasing plans and rewriting them! Never again! I do know some people are able to make this work. I suspect they are the people that can follow boxed programs without tweaking every little thing. I'm secretly jealous of those homeschoolers. ?

My DD was a reluctant reader at 6. She loves books now (at 15). Once they build some fluency, it gets to be less work and more enjoyable. I kept her reading lessons very short, even just a couple sentences at first! Eventually she picked up speed. My kids have really liked the McGuffey readers (free on gutenberg.org). They start with just a couple words on a page and quickly work up to little stories. They are really well done for beginning readers. Lots of good ideas here, I just wanted to give a bit of "been there, done that" encouragement!

We like regular children's Bibles for devotions at that age. Our favorites: The Jesus Storybook Bible The Story Bible (Concordia Publishing) Bible Nuggets (CLP)--this one includes a coloring/activity book We've also enjoyed Little Visits with God and Big Thoughts for Little People, which are more of a devotion book than story Bible.

My disclaimer is that we just switched to Bibliplan a few months ago, so we are making adjustments as we go. I have only added the classical studies from MP so far, and we are currently on a short summer break, so we are only 2-3 weeks into it. We have used parts of MP in the past, so I am pretty familiar with their teacher guide layout. We tend to use the guides as discussions, although I do see the importance of writing out answers to the questions, so sometimes we do that as well. I have invested in the flashcards this year because I really want them to have those key facts well learned. I am not lining up MP with BP/SOTW. I plan on going through MP's lesson thoroughly, taking as much time as we need and not skipping anything. I want them to really master that information, hence the flashcards! I'm including Biblioplan & SOTW more as an enrichment, so we will spend a week on that week's lesson plans and move on, even if we don't get to everything. The exception being chapter books & family read alouds. We continue those until they are finished, then pick a new one from the current week's Bibliplan book lists. They have several graded book lists (K-2, 3-5, 5-8, 8-12). We will just keep cycling through this and not bother to line it up with MP (that would drive me totally crazy)! BP schedules a family read aloud and lines up several spines (SOTW, MOH, Story of US, etc.) so much of my planning is just making selections from their lesson plans. We currently use SOTW maps & coloring pages, so I print those out ahead of time. We aren't really using any of the BP extras at this point, just their family guide and Companion textbook (my high schooler's spine). I ordered & printed out MP's digital lesson plans for all the subjects we are covering, so I don't have much planning there either. I like open & go! Our schedule will be Bible (Christian studies), flashcard/recitation, 3Rs & Latin in the morning. Literature (alternating good books with MP's Classical Studies) will be in the morning or early afternoon (depending on how quickly our morning lessons go). Afternoons have history (MWF) or science (T/TH) followed by 1-2 "extras" like geography, logic, art, picture study, or Shakespeare. We have a Bible reading & family read aloud at bedtime. We rarely get to everything each day, but I try to balance things out so we aren't skipping the same subjects all the time. If we fall behind in one subject, I usually just move it earlier in the day. We are coming from a Charlotte Mason background, and I don't worry too much if our books carry out over more than a year. I decided to start my kids with MP's 3rd & 8th grade cores because they seemed like nice spots to jump in with the ages I have. My 3rd & 6th graders will be doing Christian Studies I, Greek Myths, States & Capitals, and Prima Latina. My 8th & 10th graders will use Book of the Ancient World, Book of the Ancient Greeks/Iliad/Odyssey, Geography III, and First Form Latin. We also have MP's 200 American History Questions flashcards that I plan on incorporating to our morning recitation time. My 6th & 3rd graders will use SOTW and A Child's First Book of American History as their spines for Biblioplan. My 8th grader will use Hakim's History of US and Famous Men of Modern Times. My 10th grader will continue with BP's Companion textbook. I have put a lot of thought and time into planning this out! I hope this gives you some ideas.

We will be using MP for Christian studies, classical studies & modern studies next year (plus their Latin). I'm pairing it with Biblioplan/SOTW to give them more of a balanced approach. I will likely stick to Biblioplan & WTM book lists and skipping MP's American supplemental books. I feel like MP & SOTW balance things out...one is strong on memorizing basic facts and the other is strong on giving a big picture of the larger world. I'm mainly adding Biblioplan to give me more options for my oldest two kids and keeping us all on the same page.

I would stick with middle ages for everything--memory work, literature, history, etc. Geography can go either way. We will be doing some MP geography books next year and also add a bit of historic geography as it comes up in our history lessons. So a bit of related mapwork and a bit unrelated.

My oldest two are using WWS. I'm hoping to have them get through books 1-3 before graduating. My 2nd child may have a bit of time for an additional program, but he's a stronger writer than my oldest. My next two are using WWE. We do writing 4 days per week and aim for a creative writing project on every other Friday. My kids are all using Pentime for penmanship right now because I want to solidify their cursive handwriting. Only my 3rd child has gotten to the point where she uses cursive for her other subjects. My oldest two prefer to type, so they don't write as much by hand. I'm working on adding some writing to their history or science lessons following the WTM writing methods. Next year we'll be using Elemental Science, so it will be already included in their science lessons. I hope to add a similar writing assignment for history once a week (dictation, copywork, list of facts, outline, summary, etc). It's hard because my kids are such reluctant writers, but WWE/WWS has been a big help so far.

Have you looked at Biblioplan? We are using their Year 3 Family Guide and it maps out a plan with SOTW, History of the US, and several other spines. It also includes related books for all ages as well as a family read aloud, movies, memory work, and mapping. We just pick and choose from all their suggestions each week. We are still using the SOTW Activity Guide since we prefer the discussion questions, coloring pages, & maps from it. My plan for next year is to have my younger ones (6th and under) use SOTW 3 & A Child's First Book of American History (from Beautiful Feet Books). My 8th grader will use Hakim's History of US series & Famous Men of Modern Times. My 10th grader will continue with Biblioplan's Companion textbook.

It's 100+ pages, between 1/4 and 1/2" thick. The pages are fairly thin like a typical book, not thick like a sketch book. Some of our friends have the Riverbend Press ones and they are sketchbook thick.

This is what I'm doing now, minus the five days to myself. lol I like to read all the introductions and flip through the books to get a feel for each program. I also like to figure out how to pace it. I know we'll make adjustments, but it's nice to have an idea of how many days and how much to aim for each week. I always seem to find more books or supplies that I didn't realize we needed to buy, so I make note of that and get them purchased. I've been working on a memory box and flashcards for my kids, but your kid is likely beyond all that! On those lines for the older ones, I'm figuring out lists of poems to memorize, primary source documents and speeches for them to read, and finalizing history & literature reading lists. I'd also spend some time each day re-organizing our school room, bookshelves, and supplies. Maybe some deep cleaning of the school room or updating posters/pictures on the walls.

I moved my family 2 years ago. I think I called two places and they went over estimates over the phone. I answered a lot of questions about how much of everything we owned (beds, couches, dishes, etc.). It's so helpful to write everything down on paper as they go over it. I had a very full page by the time I got through our move! We ended up going with Pods. We moved it into storage ourselves temporarily, but hired local movers when it came time to move it to our house. There are so many options out there!