Would you do the vocabulary if you are also doing Latin?

Saxon and Horizon are more typical American style math. The general advice is not to make any changes in your math cirric mid-elementary years. Pick a curric and stick to it unless it's really not working out. I was recently tempted to switch from Singapore but decided a better route would be to supplement where my child needed it rather than try to get her ready to jump into a different sequence. We really do enjoy Singapore and it's working well for both of my children.

If you do the whole sequence, then you'll be fine. They do some things early, others later. Nothing to worry about. Saxon and Horizon do a different sequence. If you're thinking of switching, then yes, you'll need to do some topical work before moving on. But if you're planning to stick with Singapore, then you'll be fine.

I will probably go with Island. Since she's my eldest, even if she breezes through really fast, I've got someone behind her ready to start it in the next year.

I would go with 4 too. I also have a child who was bored through level 3.

So... what would you purchase if you were me? I am happy with our writing using a combo of WWE and Imitation In Writing. Is it reasonable to leave out the MCT writing portion? I would need Grammar & Practice. Possibly need Building Lang and Poetry. We study Latin, so do you think Building Lang is necessary?

I think this is why we got tired of FLL. For level 3 it DIDN'T feel worth it to sit there together. We both felt like it could have easily been written to the student and done independently. That's where the idea of possibly switching to independent work came in. But if it is interesting and worth it... then I'm totally ok with that!

I've used FLL with my kids for 3 years. I have a rising 4th grader who I am looking for something different for. She has been through L3 of FLL. We both got tired of the format of FLL this last year. For years 1&2 it was great, but this last year was a bit of torture for both of us. I'm not certain exactly what it was that was so painful for us. Perhaps the back and forth nature of it? Looking for something that is more student led, or at least is a short lesson followed by student work. I was thinking of trying out Easy Grammar this year as I hadn't found anything that appealed more. BUT, I just saw MCT! It is very different from most. They story format is very appealing! We're fairly happy with what we use for spelling/writing, etc... it's really only Grammar that I'm looking for right now. So tell me, how do you use it? Do you feel like you need the teachers manuals? And what level would you start a 4th grader who has been through FLL3 with? Island looks a bit easy for her so I was thinking maybe town? Do you use the entire series, or do you just use part in your homeschool? Do you feel it's possible to use only parts of the series and not all?

I used the primary guide with my 6 & 8 yr olds last year. It worked out pretty well. I mostly used it for the reading list and questions. But I often combined lessons, omitted some of the assignments, and/or made up my own. I think it's very flexible that way.

Plus, WWE doesn't cover any grammar really. You'd need to add in FLL. My kids felt like doing both WWE and FLL in 1st was too much. They weren't ready. Instead of WWE1 I did something along those lines, but much more informal using the literature we were currently reading. That seemed to work really well. EFTC would also be great! I haven't used PLL.

It definitely will vary. I started it this year with 8 and 6 year olds, both reading well above grade levels. My elder daughter is the one who struggles with spelling, but levels 1&2 didn't pose any challenges. They did however help her greatly with her spelling in general. We only do it twice a week, and if it's a busy week, spelling usually gets dropped. So we only did two levels this year. My 6 year old did one level as I started her once her elder sister was finished. I just plan on slowly going through them about 2 levels per year unless we hit a bump in the road and need to slow down. I figure there's no reason to rush through it.

We tried the Red level this year. It was ok. But one thing really bothered me... when it came to grammar on this level, it didn't call things by their names. For instance it would say "describing words" instead of adjectives. And there really wasn't enough handwriting. For my good speller, it was probably fine. But for my bad speller, the spelling wasn't adequate. Like others have said, it's easy to supplement out of existence. That's why I don't purchase all in one programs (unless I just hear that siren song and can't help myself!). I am too picky to be happy with all in one!

Life of Fred. I do not feel confident in it (and myself) to truly give my kids the foundation they need. It's too outside the box for me. But I feel so uncool for not trying it. I borrowed several levels from a friend and told my kids it's part of their summer reading. "See, we're cool kids too!" lol! Recently Math Mammoth has been tempting me. But I have decided that switching would not be in our best interests (I think). Singapore is working well for both kids, I have most of the elementary levels that I got for pennies. Switching my rising 4th grader would be a pain for her and me at this point since the two don't align. She needs some extra work on division before we can move on, but that can be done with supplemental material. I do not need a whole new cirricula. (I may need to repeat that to myself a few times...) MFW & Sonlight & TOG have always called to me. The idea that someone else already pulled it altogether is so appealing to me. But I KNOW I would hate it. I would not follow their plans. So like many others have mentioned I use them for ideas on book lists.

Hmm... If your family is all doing CC and you are planning to keep doing it, I would stick to their rotation. Otherwise, you could be off their rotation all the time. It would be a major pain to have one kid off of the rotation all the time. Some kids just need time to get the reading thing down. My eldest took a bit of time to really find her groove. I used HOP and ETC with mine. I don't have experience with most of the ones you have tried! I'm probably not much help there!

For kid 1 I used Hooked on Phonics for a while, then got into Explode the Code. For kid 2 I used nothing. Apparently she was listening really well while playing in the distance while her sister was getting the HOP lessons. Because one day she just picked up the hop readers and started sounding words out and blending sounds all on her own. She took off like a rocket. It was particularly amazing because she is a leukemia survivor. More than 80% of female survivors of her treatment have learning disabilities. And she did this when she had just turned 4. It was a miracle in our living room! If I do it again... I will probably choose something else. I think HOP is great for getting them "reading" really fast. But it doesn't hit on details and my eldest was a kid who needed details and rules. That's why we dropped HOP and started in on Explode the Code. We liked that fine although it was a lot of book work for a young age. I hadn't originally planned to homeschool, but my eldest turned 5 while my younger was in cancer treatment. HOP was easily accessible and I knew NOTHING about homeschooling when we started. Things have gone pretty well considering! We're getting ready to start our 5th year already! I can hardly believe it!

I have in regards to one child, and one subject. But the rest is pretty steady. If I were rethinking more than one I think I'd be losing it right now! lol! Thankfully we've found things we like and are just moving up in most of them. Sometimes having so many great choices out there is not in our favor... What are you trying to decide?

I'm packing up what we're done with and getting ready to take it to my local Homeschool Bookshop to sell. When I got to spelling I started to wonder if I will need some of the materials from previous levels student packs. Specifically, with level two, the syllable tags. Do they use them to review in level 3? And if so, in general should I just plan to keep the student packs until we've gone through the whole series?

One more question! Do the dark blue books say what grade level the concepts are taught at? For instance with Early Geometry, it's for grades 1-3, are there sections for each grade or no? Just curious. I'm sure I could figure it out myself looking at the light blue series.

Thanks! Now if only I could decide if I should buy the lt blue grade 3 and use that to brush up on topics (with the idea that little sister may change over to this as well), or... the dark blue.

I am kind of hoping to... but I need to get some things done now if she's to be ready for starting MM4 in the fall and I don't know when SSBC will have it again! Is it on any type of schedule or just randomly?

Thank you. I was planning on using the light blue series next year. I have been debating what to use to catch her up on unfamiliar topics which is why I asked about the other options. She has so many! Yes, gold, not orange! Oops! :blushing:

I look at several lists... online: Logos School Simply Charlotte Mason Ambleside Online My Fathers World books: Read for the Heart Well Trained Mind Educating the Wholehearted Child When I pick and choose from the lists I look for books I think my children would like, and/or topics I would like them to read about for history or to challenge them or inspire them towards something. My children may also choose other books. I'm not very formal about how I do it, but most of the time they have a book that I've suggested for them that they read during assigned reading during the day. Sometimes they have an idea of a book they may want to read and if it's at an appropriate level I will let them include that. For their free time reading before bed, they are free to read whatever they want. I try to balance challenging them and providing quality reading material, while also making sure that their love for reading is growing, not being squashed by horrible assigned reading!

I have been looking hard at Math Mammoth for the last couple of days but I can't figure a few things out... - Are the pages in the Blue Books the exact same material that is in the Light Blue Books? - Are the pages in the Gold 'worksheets' books the same or different from the Blue and Light Blue? Anyone know? I feel like it must say it on the website but I'm missing it. Also, those of you who have transitioned from Singapore to MM, what topics did you need to brush up on? I'm mainly thinking of transitioning my 9 yr old. Possibly my 7yr old at some point too if we like it. She is in Singapore 3a, and is struggling with the long division. I think maybe she needs a step back... review some basics in division, maybe spend more time with remainders, and then reattempt long division. It looks like I could transition her from 3a Singapore into 4th grade MM. The only topic I know she hasn't had enough of is geometry and maybe a bit of the fractions. But it would be good to hear from some of you who have made that transition.

It's hard, especially in the beginning. Some methods work better for different kids. It's also hard to feel confident that you've made the right choice! I've switched... and switched back. And now my eldest asked about another program that her friends use. I am going to let her try it this summer and may implement it as a supplement.

I had this same problem with one of my kids. She could memorize a spelling list, but later had no idea how to spell things. We decided to start using All About Spelling. It has been fabulous. After just level 1 she started spelling so much better that it felt like a miracle! lol! I've also heard that Spelling Power is another good one to try.