Rod and Staff English 5, Growing with Grammar, and Analytical Grammar are all good choices. I am using Analytical Grammar.

I love the MFW K and 1st programs. They have suggestions on how to combine when you have K and preschoolers or K and 1st at the same time. It's on their forum under Curriculum Archive, I think. The K program could be used for ages 3-5. Some would do the reading and Math portions and everyone could do the activities. I also like MFW for the older grades and how they fold in the younger ones at 2nd grade. It has worked well. I was doing RTR, MFW 1st and K in one year (using their suggestions on combining) and it worked! Now I am doing EX1850 with supplement and 1st. It is going well. Here is what I do for LA and Math After completing MFW K and 1st I use 2nd grade Rod and Staff Spelling 2 WWE 2 MUS Singapore (supplement) FLL 3rd grade and above Spelling Power WWE series and FLL 3 and 4 Writing Strands and/or IEW (this begins in 5th grade) MUS and Singapore These programs have worked well with multiple ages and most of them are reusable so that is helpful. For 6-8 grade I have continued with MFW MUS and Singapore Analytical grammar continue with Writing Strands or IEW add in some Progeny Press lit guides I plan to use MFW high school as well

Singapore and MUS

FLL 3 and 4 covers tenses of verbs and 1st person, 2nd person, and 3rd person quite thoroughly.

I thought Jeannie mentioned on the yahoo group that they would discontinue the free pages after a while, but not immediately. I could be mistaken.

I have 4 children doing this series so I think it will be too much money for me. Once my oldest 2 begin the upper level science (in 2 years) I might get them for my younger 2. Will they really discontinue the free pages? I hope not because we use those a lot.

Level 2 has been perfect for my ds. I love doing it with him!

The main read aloud in CTG is the Bible. I didn't read SOC aloud to them. I read it myself and told them the pertinent info I thought they needed to know. (My oldest was 3rd grade at the time) For your 5th grader, you might assign him to read some of it himself and discuss it. I consider it most appropriate for 6th-8th grade, but I appreciated the background info for myself. I also had SOTW 1 on CD, so they listened to that informally. CTG was a great year for us. MFW is so open and go, not much planning involved. All you have to do is get library books and gather a few materials that are listed for each week. If you photocopy everything at the beginning of the year, it makes it even easier.

The WWE instructors book (the little hardback book) has instructions for all 4 levels with a few weeks of each level explained in detail with the narration and copywork/dictation included. For levels 1 and 2 there are corresponding workbooks that will include narrations, copywork, and dictation for all 36 weeks of school. For those people who are doing Levels 3 and 4, they are doing the weeks included in the little hardback book and then based upon those samples, are having to find dictation, copywork, and narration selections for the rest of the weeks.

The binding changes sound great! Too bad I already own Alpha through Zeta.

My son would never have been able to do MUS Alpha as a 5 year old. He is 7 now and is doing Alpha, lesson 20. Continue using the manipulatives. 5 yr olds think concretely. Can she count backwards from 20? Would just simplifying the 8 facts by saying for 8+5 " Count backwards from 5 two times and then put a 1 in front of it. The answer is 13. You can explain that the 1 represents a 10 because it is in the 10s place or leave it alone if it's confusing. For the 9s. Count backwards 1 and put a 1 in front of that number. If these "tricks" don't help then don't use them. Just work on memorizing a little each day and keep using the manipulatives.

WWE is 1st to 4th grade but can be used for older children. Some people start Writing Strands 3 in 3rd grade but I think it is better to start it in 4th or 5th grade. If you are doing WWE, you do not have to do Writing Strands too. If it were me, I would do WWE in 1st to 4th and begin Writing Strands 3 in 5th grade. Or you could do WWE level 4 3 days per week and WS 3 2 days per week in 4th grade. My dc could not have handled WS any earlier. I think it is best for logic stage. although it does teach different things than WWE.

When I lived in GA declared my school year to be August 1 to July 31 so I would have pleny of time to get in my 180 days. I sent in the monthly attendance and when I reached 180 I quit sending in the forms. The starting and ending dates do not mean you have to school that long. You only do 180 days during that time.

I understand. The year I was homeschooling 4 with a new baby, a move, and my dad's death after a year long battle with cancer was the hardest year of my life. But even when I don't have major life issues I still get burnt out once or twice a year at least. Some things that have helped me are I take a week off. If we are really behind and I can't take off totally, we will do a fews days of fun school. Read aloud all day, a cooking project, go to the library and gets lots of books to read etc. I have also chosen a preplanned curriculum that is open and go, can combine children, and is fun. I picked My Father's World and although it is not perfect, they are learning a lot, school is getting done, and I don't have to plan except to get library books for extra reading. I don't know if you are a believer but it helps me to get alone with God, cast my cares on Him, and ask Him what is truly important in my life right now. Sometimes we put too much on ourselves, and make our burden heavy when He means for it to be light.

We will finish week 14 of our history/science curriculum this week. It has 34 weeks of work. We did 2 weeks of 3 rs before we started this curriculum.

I didn't like it the first time I tried it, but I think I my ds wasn't ready for it. We have started again with it this year and it is going very well. I realize now that it works better if I read the lessons with him and go over it step by step. I also feel free to vary the lessons or change them a wee bit if I need to. I dislike the first exercise in WS 4 and I think that exercise is what causes it to get negative reviews. But I adapted that one to suit me and have been pleased with the rest of the book. I also think WS is best suited to logic stage. It has worked well to start my 5th grader in WS 3. It is somewhat easy at the beginning, but that has given him confidence and caused him to have a positive outlook toward the lessons.

I'm sorry I didn't see your question until now. I did complete PP with my son because he had great struggles learning to read. I used PP for extra practice and review. There came a point where it just clicked and he was able to keep up the pace of MFW. We actually began to do 2 days in one as he was older (8 by this time) . I felt like he didn't need ETC anymore so book 3 was the last one he did. I just used it at the beginning so he could go at a slower pace. I did use additional readers that I had on hand. Pathway readers, A Beka readers, and I checked out some Sonlight readers from the library.

My 9 yr old ds is doing WWE 2 workbook. It is perfect for him.

I start MFW 1st after they finish ETC 3 and about halfway through PP. But I also consider their age and writing ability. The above is a minimum requirement. If they are still young I might wait a little longer. MFW 1st is worth it IMHO for just the Bible lessons and notebook. It's okay to use the phonics as review or as spelling practice.

My son is doing the same thing. We checked out the audiobook kit (with book and tapes) of Pippi Longstocking. He loved it and is listening to it over and over.

R&S 3 and WWE would be plenty as WWE would provide the copywork, narration, and dictation that R&S does not. All 3 programs would be way too much IMHO.

You can also check the FS posts and post WTB if you join the MUS swap yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/musswap/

That is great news! Thank you, Susan for all that you do for us.

I think it would work well if you bought a used (or new) teacher's manual and just did the Bible/science/character/read aloud portion. The activities are fun and there are a lot of additional ideas for each unit on the MFW forum.

I thought I read that it was coming out by the end of next year, but maybe I am mistaken. I just looked at PHP and it was the workbooks for WWE 3 and 4 that were coming out next year. I guess my older dc will miss using it then. Maybe it will be ready by the time my next ds needs it. He is in 3rd grade this year.