No, really, you're all making great points, everyone. Thanks for thinking and commenting thoughtfully about my situation. Farrarwilliams: I think you have a point. I looked at Calvert for awhile, and I thought it just looked way too much like public school in a box. I also glanced at Abeka, and thought the same thing, except that it's Christian school in a box. I do think, though, that it would be best to start with something that's not too huge a transition, and MFW might be too huge a transition (it does look fun, though). I think Oak Meadow and MBTP could both offer something that bears some resemblance to what we're used to while packaging it in a much more creative and fun way. re: Memoria Press - Somehow I missed this company in my curriculum search. The curriculum packages look like they're really well done, and, unfortunately, like they'd be a horrible fit for my son. He still struggles with manuscript writing, so I don't want to introduce cursive, and, since he can barely read English and language of any kind is hard for dyslexics, I don't need to introduce Latin at this point. That said, I'd love to teach at least one of my kids Latin someday. I took it in high school and loved it. In fact, I think a classical education would have been right up my alley. I'll file MP in the back of my mind and look at it again in a few years when DD is four. She looks just like me (DS is DH's little clone), so I'm hoping she thinks more like I do as well :).

Mom2boys: Thanks for encouraging me to just think about what works now. I have this idea in the back of my mind that what he does at the age of seven will somehow dramatically affect his future career plans or something. Surely I'm not the only one on here who's that dramatic?! You're right. What I need to do is just figure out which program looks best for his needs now and not worry about what I might or might not be doing four, five, or ten years from now. JessyC: Thanks for the glowing, detailed review of MBtP! The things you mention loving about it are things that attract me as well, but I'd read too many reviews from people who said it looked good in theory but didn't work well in practice. It's good to hear someone who's posting away from the company's forums and loves it. Coffeefreak: You've put your finger on what was holding me back with MFW and other similar programs. They look great, and they seem to work wonderfully for many families, but they're SO DIFFERENT from what DS has had in school, I'd likely encounter resistance to those methods. Perhaps I could ease into them eventually if I ended up homeschooling long term, or perhaps I'll homeschool my daughter and start her with a method like that, but I really think it could be too rough of a transition at first. What appealed to me about both MBTP and OM was that I could see traces of public school in them. MBTP looks like a more creative, project based version, and OM looks like a more artsy, nature based version. I guess I just need to figure out in my head what type fits ds best, since he has some of all of that. My caveat: Don't take offense loyal MFW users. I'm certain some people have pulled their kids out of public school and used MFW or other Charlotte Mason programs with success. I think coffeefreak is probably right that it wouldn't be the best choice in my particular situation, however.

To start with, I should acknowledge that I am not currently a homeschooler. I have a 7 year old son who just started second grade in public school (I also have a one year old daughter). He's had a lot of rough spots in school due both to his dyslexia (discovered at the end of kindergarten, and no great surprise given that both dh and my brother are dyslexic so it comes from both sides) and also to the fact that he's an active boy and sitting in school for seven hours a day is rough for most young boys. Anyway, we seriously considered pulling him out and I looked at a lot of curricula in depth and never decided which one would be best for sure. However, dh is really pro public school (both his parents are retired teachers), and, though I had a preference for homeschooling, we ultimately agreed to give public school another try for second grade. We'll reevaluate after the first quarter. All that said, I'm a compulsive planner, and would love to have a plan in place on the chance that we either pull out at some point during second grade or go through second grade but then decide to bring him home for third. After much research, I've narrowed my choices down to three pretty different curricula that I like for different reasons (and also dislike for different reasons, hence the lack of a potential plan :)). I'd love to hear anyone's take on these. 1) Moving Beyond the Page, starting with the 6-8 level (if started this year sometime) The project based learning looks like it's right up DS's alley. He loves to do projects. He also loves books, despite being able to read on only a very basic level, so a lit based program seems like it could be a good fit. I'm a Christian, but I'm very open to secular curricula. I figure I'm teaching my son about Jesus while he's in public school and doing a pretty good job, there's no reason I NEED a curriculum that helps me with this. I both like and dislike their approach to history and social studies. I don't feel like a classical history cycle from first grade on is essential (I know this is a classical board, but there seems to be some diversity of opinion on this :)), but it does kind of bother me that he wouldn't have any real history until 4th grade if I stuck with MBTP (which is when he'd hit the 8-10 package, covering early American history). Also, the 7-9 level is a big jump in reading compared to 6-8. Sure, he MIGHT make that jump this year (he's doing tutoring outside of school with Barton Reading and Spelling, currently about halfway through level three, for those who know it), but then he might not. 2) Oak Meadow, starting with second grade if I started this year. I love that creative, artsy things seem to be mixed in everywhere. I love the nature focus in the science, as DS is an animal freak and loves all things related to the outdoors. I also really appreciate that LA and math are taken at a slower pace and some see them as "behind." I think this could be a good fit for a kid like mine who struggles in these areas. It appears to slowly work its way to being pretty consistent with grade level (maybe not in Math, but you can eventually move ahead in that), and a slow progression could be a good thing for ds. Even though it's only Waldorf inspired and not true Waldorf, anything Waldorfy kind of gives me the creeps. I really think I'd like a lot of the practical aspects of Waldorf, but Steiner's worldview was about as different from mine as you can get, so I'm wary of things inspired by his educational program while at the same time liking a lot of what they have to offer. Just as with MBTP, ds wouldn't hit much history in the early years, though some of the ancient cultures studies look fascinating. 3) MFW, specifically Adventures I love that it hits history without delving into the violent parts of history that I think would be difficult to cover with this age. It seems like it would be a good balance of history exposure while still keeping the innocence of childhood. While I don't feel like integrated Bible study is essential, the Names of Jesus study looks really cool. I love that art and music are part of the schedule. These are ds's favorite special classes at school. I think their suggested LA (Serl's language lessons) could be a good fit for DS, especially since a lot of it can reportedly be done orally. Since it's designed for second or third grade, it could work to either start it partway through this year or the beginning of next year. It seems as if there's a fair amount of adjustment allowable based on a child's writing and reading levels, which doesn't seem to be as true for the other two potential choices. I could see following up Adventures with ECC, but I couldn't see sticking with MFW long term because of the strong young earth stance in their history and science. I lean more toward theistic evolution. I feel like I could probably tweak anything YE in Adventures or ECC, but it would just be too much to tweak starting with CTG. This doesn't mean I CAN'T use MFW for those years, but I'd love to just be able to pick a curriculum and use it for many years, and that would not be the case with MFW, whereas it could be with MBTP or Oak Meadow. Any thoughts? Thanks!

I recommend checking out WinterPromise's Animals and Their Worlds program, if you haven't already. You wouldn't want to use the whole program with a preschooler, but it could give you some ideas for resources on a habitat study. In the same vein, check out the unit on the five senses in Moving Beyond the Page's 5-7 curriculum. Again, you may not want the whole unit, but it could give you some resource ideas.

My son (7.5) just started second grade in public school. We've considered homeschooling on and off because he's behind in reading and math and the school isn't helping as much as we'd like, but, overall, we decided the advantages of public school outweigh the advantages of homeschool for our family. It really is a good school, and DS is so social I think he'd struggle at home since his only sibling is a 1 year old girl. Anyway, after drooling over homeschool curriculum and then deciding not to homeschool, I'm considering adding in some official afterschooling and am looking for suggestions. First of all, I don't want to devote a ton of time to afterschooling every week. He should have, on average, about half an hour of homework most days. Three days a week, he goes to a reading tutor after school for 40 minutes (he's dyslexic). With travel time, that actually takes almost an hour and a half. In addition, he'll have Cub Scouts one evening a week and ballet class one afternoon a week. He loves those activities and excels in the skills covered, so we're not about to take that away. His school uses Singapore Math. I know the program is renowned and I'm sure it's wonderful for many, but it's a horrible fit for my DS' learning style. We tried out Life of Fred over the summer, but, while he loved the stories, he was resistant to actually doing the practice problems. If I had homeschooled him, I would probably have used Right Start Math. It seems like it would be good for a visual thinker like DS. Has anyone used this program for afterschooling? Any advice on what pace to work at? In the science realm... it's not that the science at his school is bad, it's just that there's not enough of it. In the primary grades, they alternate science units with social studies units, so he only gets science for half the year at best. He's a science freak and his ideal school would be all science all the time. We check out a lot of science books and videos from the library, but I'm considering doing something more formal that includes fun experiments. Any suggestions? Thanks for any help you can give me!