Ok, we haven't even started MFW ECC yet, but I will be in the same boat you are next year:) I will have a 3rd grader and 1st grader doing ECC in the summer/ fall, and I plan on doing CtoG in 4th. My thought process was that if we did this, he would do ECC again but more in depth in 8th grade. Then he would be perfectly ready for MFW high school Ancient History in 9th grade! I am a long term thinker- always planning ahead:) I just hope we love MFW as much as I think we will!

Thank you all for your suggestions- I will do some research into them:) I just got the IOWA test today and since they have story problems I want to make sure he can get through them- that seems to be the thing he struggles with most in his daily math. I can give him a problem and he can figure it out, but if you put words to it he has a hard time figuring out how to set up a problem to go with it :(

I have no experience with McRuffy phonics (but we do love their math!), but we just started PAL reading and writing and everyone in the house loves it (including my 8 year old, who already knows how to read, and my 3.5 year old who wants to do everything the older kids do!). There is so much to it and they are having lots of fun! The All About Spelling added in is really great in reinforcing phonics, and that may work really well for your son.

I'm just wondering if there are any good math websites, or maybe even a cheap curriculum, that will provide extra practice in solving story problems. My ds8 is strong in math, but I feel he could use some more practice with story problems. Thanks so much for any suggestions!

No problem! Hope they enjoy it!

I would suggest moving ahead slowly with the reading. Heart of Dakota has a great selection of books that get a little bit more challenging with each book but not enough to overwhelm. You don't need to buy a teacher's manual, just look on their website and follow the books in the order they are listed (we skipped the Beginner's Bible and went straight to Owl at Home- it was much easier for my kids to read shorter books than stay in a book for weeks and some of the Biblical names were too much to sound out). Also, I know everyone keeps talking about AAS, but my dd6 really took off in her reading when we started the program because the phonics rules really apply to reading too.

We have the audiobook from the library. It is read by Jim Weiss and published by Books on Tape, Inc. My kids have enjoyed listening to it:)

We haven't officially started Saxon yet, but will be soon, so here is what I know! The homeschool edition is different because the solution manual shows the problem worked out, instead of just giving the answer, making it more homeschool friendly. As far as the worksheets, I don't know if there is a place to download them, but I guess maybe you could type them out and print them that way? I am copying the worksheets, laminating them, and then using dry erase markers so that I don't have to go through so much paper and ink:) I don't see them taking that long either. My son has done a few lessons, and most of them are review for him, but he can easily do 2 lessons in about 30 minutes. It probably will take longer once we get into new things.

You could also maybe just concentrate on the basics for the summer and leave out the structured science and history and just add in things for fun (or read good books!). That way reading, writing, and math could get done and you wouldn't feel like you were doing a full day of school work in the summer.

If the facts are what are difficult, you could try some websites like Xtramath, or Math Drills (I'm sure there are many others too, but these are our favorites!). I wouldn't switch math programs- I think every child tends to go through a phase where math can be more challenging until they have their facts down (atleast both of mine have gone through that). Once your child has the facts down, math should be much easier for everyone:) You may want to take a break for a week or so and just work on the facts and see if that helps.

I have also heard to introduce cursive to children with this confusion because there is no way to confuse a cursive b and d. We are using PAL reading right now and they have letter stories for the letters that might help. d is a dog with a tail on his back, and b is the bomb letter (or you could say it is the ball letter if you don't like the bomb idea). My dd6 still has this problem, but we also have our AAS board on the wall, so she will often refer to the board before she writes either a b or a d.

My son really enjoyed Art with a Purpose in 1st grade. It is more art than arts and crafts, but very inexpensive.

We have used HOD for LHTH, LHFHG, Beyond, and now Bigger. I have been very pleased with it, but I would have to say the science is a little weak, in my opinion, until this year (my kids have loved the science in Bigger). We are not going to be doing Bigger next year because I would have to be teaching 2 or 3 guides, and I am just not up for that. So we are moving to MFW, which I think has a lot of similarities to HOD. Also, we basically only used HOD for science, history, Bible and English (used different reading, spelling, math). If I only had one child or could combine them more easily I might have stayed with it next year, but it just won't work. It is nice to have everything planned out and set in front of you, but I always had to remind myself that if things get done on a different day- that is OK. Hope that helps a little!

I would say plan on at least 3 levels, if not 4. My ds8 is on his 3rd level and we didn't even start at the beginning of the year.

I would suggest not skipping level 1. I know it is costly (we are on our third level this year!) but the first level shows how to break down words into sounds and really set the foundation for the program. The resale for the levels is very high too:)

Thank you so much - that answered all of my questions!

Any one know if there are any other differences besides the number of lessons in each book? We are trying to decide between the homeschool version or the textbook version too. Thanks!

You can always take 7th grade (or any grade, really) as a review grade. Saxon has a way of taking an extra year in 7th or 8th grade by doing both Saxon 8/7 and Algebra 1/2, if your child truly wasn't ready, so you wouldn't even have to switch programs (but I think I'd switch for that year, just to build skills). This is what I have heard people have done if their children need extra review. If your daughter needs practice with her facts you may want to look into www.xtramath.org and that should help her learn her facts. My kids really like it and it seems to work well- and it's free:)

I would definitely look into AAS. I saw dramatic improvements in phonics and reading when we started it, and I was really only using it for spelling:)

I haven't used MFW yet (we are going to do ECC next year) but we did use HOD for Kindergarten, with some of our own things added in. We did enjoy, but I would say the science is very light. If I had to do it again I would probably add in more living science books (maybe Usborne or something similar). I wish I could compare the two for you, but I have no experience with MFW K :( It looks like fun!

Unfortunately I don't know much about PP guides, but my son is reading the Pathway Readers and loves the stories! In fact we went to the library and he asked if there were any of the readers there:) We don't use the workbooks right now, but I am considering them for next year. For now I have him read the stories to all of us and check his comprehension that way.

You to could look at HOD website for DITHOR. The nine genres are listed there and there are grade appropriate books listed.

Yes, they are designed for specific grade levels. A is for 3rd- 5th, B is for 6th- 8th, and C is for 9th-12th. They do have adjustments for the levels if you are using for multiple ages. For example, if you have children in multiple levels they suggest you get B and then there are adjustments you can download that you can use with children that are in the A level. Hope that makes sense!

I am loving IEW for all of the writing (we are using PAL writing for the younger kids now and I am very impressed with it!). For English we use Rod & Staff and I am very happy with that. We are also planning on reading Grammarland this summer.

I don't think any other program is necessary - there is enough phonics review in AAS. When my kids finished Alpha-phonics they went straight into the Emerging readers from HOD. If you want to add writing you may want to look into IEW PAL just for the writing.