This thread will give you a lot of info. We just started looking into it...but I am really liking what I see.

So sorry about that! I'll remove that link asap. I assumed it was still available, but I shouldn't have since I've never actually used it. Contact paypal asap to facilitate a refund. If the account is no longer active they should be able to do that...but unfortunately paypal takes 2 to 3 days to actually put the money back into your account.

My dd found Grammar Island to be a lot of fun. You might look into MCT. We used it as a "fun" break from our main grammar program. Also, many people have been discovering Sentence Composing for Elementary School by Killgallon which seems to be a fun addition. You can search for Killgallon and MCT here and find a lot more about them.

I LOVE their corebook. We use it as our daily planner. ETA: DO NOT TRY TO GET PDF FROM SITE..read on through thread as it is apparent they are no longer offering the pdf. I've also used some of their book recommendations, but not enough to really comment on their program.

Great minds... :)...slow typing fingers...

Getting Started with Latin There are extras to go along with the program here online for free.

I'm pretty certain they do not have an annual sale. If you are going to a convention where they will be as vendors you can order there and save shipping costs. That is my plan if I can't find what I need used before then.

I haven't seen the guides, but I'm assuming that would be a good plan. Since they also split it up into three years, the children should be spending much more time in each individual story. We are planning to use Walking with Jesus from the Noah Plan. I bought this a long time ago because I really liked the looks of it, but next year will be the right time to use it. It will hopefully help her to begin to dig deeper into the scriptures on her own.

By the end of the 30 wks you will have read the entire Golden Bible, so it will definitely present all the material of the three books, just in more of an overview format. You won't have a series of questions pertaining only to the Bible passage like in the three-year study, but you will be able to take it deeper if you want to by discussing the stories and addressing the questions that come up. We have greatly enjoyed this format, and dd and I both have learned a lot. :)

I agree with Karen. You should have no problem using it for this purpose. Basically you will just be reading the major Bible stories throughout the Old Testament and New Testament retold very closely to the originals without added commentary. There are memory verses, but you could easily skip that if you weren't interested. Most of the questions pertain to the Roman history portion, but those about the Bible passage will not be preachy in nature.

I'm so sorry I'm only just now seeing this! This is the one we have. I must admit I didn't get very far in Vos, so I'm not sure how it is after the initial stories. There was a reference she made early on to something that was not necessarily untrue, but was obviously based on her opinion/interpretation. At that point I just decided I'd prefer to find something that simply retold the stories without adding any commentary/interpretation. That was years ago and I used the TG of MFW 1st grade coupled with the Bible Reader for dd instead. MFW also just provided a strict retelling of the story. I stayed away from the Golden Bible for a while...I think maybe because of the discussions I'd read about the golden-haired Jesus pictures :)...but I'm so glad that I gave it a chance. Not only does it stick closely to scripture, but it tries to capture the language of the KJV--again, we're not sticklers for this particular version, but the language is beautiful. We are using it with MP's Introduction to Classical Studies...I don't know if I would have even tried it otherwise, but, again, I'm so glad we did. I haven't read Egermeir's so I'm not certain how the two would compare. I hope this helps! Please feel free to pm me if you have any questions...I sometimes forget to check threads I've posted in.

I think it is a great resource. We are using it and have been since the end of last school year. I think that while it is possible to use it in addition to the others you may decide that you don't want to. I had planned in way too much history this year and have scaled back. I cut out CHOW and decided dd can read through that next year. We're still doing American history read-alouds and readers. I have felt the Bible time has been sufficient for our studies. The readings often lead into deeper discussions over biblical issues, so it makes for a solid Bible time for us. I've been very pleased with The Golden Bible. It sticks closely to the scripture and doesn't add commentary. Some other things that I have liked about the program: The memory work and "facts to know" section is great. I love having memory work that folds so nicely into what we are learning. Also, I love that it is set up on a four-day-week schedule. That makes it so much easier to catch up when life scoots in--sick days, field trips, etc. Dd has very much enjoyed this addition to our day. I agree with the pp about less stress with having to fill in all the blanks. You can pick and choose from the list of questions and discuss them orally.

I'm thinking that it would depend on what your idea of "theologically accurate" is. :) A lot of these recommendations have a reformed slant, which I agree with...but many may not. During school time, I prefer a Bible storybook that sticks as closely to the stories as possible without added commentary. I've been very pleased with The Golden Bible. I did not like Vos' version because of all her added commentary; however, that is just a personal opinion.

Story Starters might be a fun addition.

My dd loved books by Clyde Bulla. Sonlight uses several of his titles. Also, The Littles series. Another thought might be the Eddie books by Carolyn Haywood. Haywood's Betsy series really sparked my dd's interest, and she ended up reading all the books by her she could find. She really enjoyed the Eddie books, too. These are likely all on the easy end, but were greatly enjoyed here. I tend to follow the Sonlight reader recommendations, and except for only a couple they have been hits.

My dd did not like OPGTR. We used an eclectic mix of Primary Phonics plus Rigg's Institute's (The Writing Road to Reading) phonogram cards. I also just started compiling a basket of good books at her level. Primary Phonics is by the same people who put out Explode the Code. Primary Phonics has a set of 10 storybooks that correspond with each level/workbook. The main difference between the content of PP and EtC is that EtC requires less handwriting. PP has the child writing out words and simple sentences. If she prefers workbooks, one of these might be a good fit. I plan on trying OPGTR again with ds when he is older, but it just was not a good fit for dd.

:thumbup: here, too, for No Stress Chess. Even my 2 year old (at the time we started playing this) picked up very quickly on the names of the pieces just by occasionally watching Dh and dd play it. It is a great introduction to chess.

Congrats on your find! Your post reminded me of my own dd8's comment after reading from a 1912 edition of the original Elson readers: "They just don't write stories like this anymore." :)

:grouphug: Welcome aboard! You most definitely do not need to worry about the three year old for these reasons. Have fun, read lots of books, talk about lots of things...he's (or she's :) ) going to be fine. Just because you're homeschooling doesn't mean you have to use a curriculum...if you want to teach him letters and letter sounds use flash cards and/or magnetic letters on the fridge. The Leap Frog materials and movies are also very helpful. Shaving cream on the table...salt on a small tray to draw in. Hope you have a great first year!

Times Tales is not a tool for teaching multiplication; it is a tool for aiding in the memorization of the tables. My dd had no problem with the concept of multiplication, but understanding it did not make her able to proceed through the tables without thought--which will be as necessary to higher math as understanding the concepts will be. Times Tales did help her some, but ultimately it has been practice that has improved her memory of these the most.

Take a look at these resources that have a ton of activities for studying a letter a week: Confessions of a Homeschooler, Delightful Learning, and Serendipity. We will be doing a lot of fun, purposeful activities, including Montessori inspired materials, but to him "doing school" is his pencil time with his book. He begs for that time as it makes him feel big like his sister. As long as it is fun for him and building writing and pre-reading/arithmetic skills, I'm happy to add it in. R&S's program costs less than $20 in its entirety. We will be adding it in as he is ready. It is a very gentle introduction. Currently he is finishing the last book of the prior R&S series. While I don't think you should push a curriculum on a child in the preschool years, I also don't think you have to deny them if they are ready and asking for it.

Just a supplemental idea, but she might be interested in the resources found here and here regarding Letter of the Week/Alphabet Path ideas. For $10 you can instantly download all the wonderful resources put together in the first blog. We'll be going through the Rod & Staff A-B-C series while adding in ideas from both of these blogs and also the Delightful Learning blog.

Definitely don't rule MCT out based on my review...I've only used the first level, but I can fully understand why people love it. My plan is to hold off on it for a while--I think they are updating a lot of the levels anyway--and use it again starting in middle school. I think he has received a great deal of feedback since introducing the program to the homeschool community, and I think it is great that the company is listening to that feedback. You may not have the same issue I had, so do search through (as I'm sure you have :) ) the threads by the faithful users. I haven't looked too closely at R&S, but my guess would be CLE is a lot easier to secularize. Some of the penmanship has been religious...scriptures, proverbs. But, a lot of it has been poems, facts about animals... You can see a good bit of samples here. Choose the level you want to look into. Once you've chosen that level there will be a row of numbers which represent the lightunits--for example 501-510. Click on those individual numbers and you'll get a sample of that lightunit. You should be able to see a sample from every lightunit. That should be helpful in deciphering...I have levels 3 and 4 and can look through them further if you're interested after seeing the examples. Just pm me as I may not see a post here. Hope this helps!

MCT may or may not meet your needs. It definitely will not cover spelling, so that would need to be added. A lot of early grammar books cover not only grammar but also mechanics and usage. I personally like this and think these things--capitalization, punctuation, homophones, etc.--need to be practiced for mastery. I didn't feel these things were adequately presented in MCT at the Island level at least, but that was a matter of personal preference. Many people have introduced these things prior to starting MCT and aren't bothered. Many people have come to trust MCT enough that they are comfortable with his scope and sequence plan, and apparently he does spend more time in these issues in later series. I would want to supplement these, at least in the earliest level...and that is the only level I have experience with. When it comes to presenting the eight parts of speech, I feel MCT does a brilliant job. My dd loves the fun delivery of the material and retains a lot. I think the four-step analysis is very effective. It would be easy enough to add in a simple punctuation, capitalization supplement if you felt your child needed it. CLE is what we use for our main language arts program. It definitely would need secularizing as it is a Christian (Mennonite) material. I like that it is thorough, provides review, and also has spelling and penmanship lessons included. My dd learned cursive through CLE and it was all she needed. She does well with the spelling, but many people have to supplement the spelling for children that have difficulties. Even though we weren't having problems I still added in the spelling rules cards from SWR just to give added tools with spelling. MCT or CLE could be an answer for you; however, as with a lot of materials, you still may find yourself tweaking them to best suit your family. Are you going to a homeschool conference this year? There are several big ones coming up...Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Memphis, Greenville (NC). If you have one near you, I would definitely make plans to attend. Both of these vendors as well as many others will be there. Sometimes until you hold something in your hands you don't know if it will work for you or not.

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