Your ideas are so helpful and really have me thinking. I had never heard of the Bonnie Landry booklets but I definitely want to look into the dictation one more. I would like to have a better idea of how to do dictation effectively. In looking into Writing With Ease, I think we do a lot of similar things already with our literature, but it might be nice to have it all ready to go and incremental. I also think my girls would love the excerpts she chooses because many are from books they have listened to or read. I have also looked more at Writing and Rhetoric and really like the look of that for my 3rd grader, but I think I want something I can use to combine the two oldest so I might put that off for now until my two oldest are both ready. I hadn't considered that it might be best to wait and see on spelling, but I like that idea. Right now, it seems like they need it, but I feel like it might click as they keep reading and writing regularly. You are right that they are young and we could definitely hit it more later if needed. Thank you though for the spelling suggestions. I will definitely keep those in mind. I had looked at Climbing to Good English, but wasn't sure if it was secular. It seems thorough but I am not sure if my girls would like it. I am definitely going to look at it more. Thank you again!

I have been using the Phonics Road for my daughters in K, 2nd and 3rd grades, but I want to consider other options for spelling and writing that are more independent and require less teacher prep. I have 5 children, 9 and under and we are expecting twins in a few months, so I just want to keep things as simple as possible. I prefer secular materials so our charter school can purchase them. I also need to provide paper samples of their work so I don't want an online program. I am thinking of using Analytical Grammar when they are a little older so I don't know that I need to cover grammar right now, but I'm not ruling it out. I have been looking at Soaring with Spelling and Vocabulary. I have also looked at CAP's Writing and Rhetoric for my 3rd grader, but I'm guessing that is not very independent. I like the look of Cottage Press's Language Lessons for Children, but of course that is not secular and I would still want to cover spelling separately. I like aspects of Brave Writer but it just isn't planned and prepared enough for me right now. I have also used Logic of English Foundations in the past and might use that for my K student since it is more open and go than PR. My 2nd and 3rd graders are good readers. My daughter in K is reading beginning readers. They struggle a bit with spelling and writing confidence, but they are good at narrating and very creative. They love beautiful language, and enjoy reading and listening to books. I am drawn to Charlotte Mason materials, but also just want to do what is effective and works for us in this stage of life. I am always amazed by the knowledge and ideas offered on this forum so I know you all will have some great ideas I am not considering or some feedback regarding the programs I am. Thank you!

This is one of my favorite homeschool blogs. http://joyouslessons.blogspot.com/ She is Catholic and she just posted about her morning time.

Card stock, computer ink, paper, Jim Weiss downloads, history unboxed?

This article, written by Laura Lund who visits the boards, helped me get a better idea of what it is and aims to do. Being LDS, I feel like there are plenty of great options for approaches and curricula out there without this needing to fill a niche in the LDS community. Perhaps it appeals to some LDS people because it has the end goal of creating leaders or people who can influence for good which is a strong value of the LDS faith. Whether or not it actually does that seems uncertain from what I have read. I also think it just spread throughout the LDS community by word of mouth and as it became popular, people took comfort in feeling they were joining a like-minded group. As we know, homeschooling can feel a bit outside of the cultural norm and perhaps intimidating at times so receiving validation from one another must promote it. I must say, there are plenty of LDS homeschoolers, including myself, who are inspired from other approaches like TWTM and Charlotte Mason.

Thank you so much for sharing. Some of these bring back lovely reflections and there are so many I look forward to reading. Thank you for sharing something so meaningful to you.

Another book that left me changed was "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl. I am curious about people's books so I can add them to my future must read book list.

I will start. Some that have influenced me most profoundly are Les Miserables, To Kill a Mockingbird and Jane Eyre.

Phonics Road 2 Nancy Larson Science 1 and begin 2 Bookshark grade 2 history and reading along with classics for read alouds Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization Math Mammoth- just continuing on Memoria Press art cards Artistic Pursuits book 1 Memory work Art class and Suzuki violin

I think the originals are from Academic Success For All Learners. Click on "all products" and they have the original, non color ones. I recently ordered the first two sets for my daughter and she is enjoying them too.

Yes, I was also going to mention Bookshark.

I ordered Teaching the Classics!

I am excited to look more at each book. I agree about buying hardcover versions of classics. I definitely prefer that as well. It is never a bad time to think about Christmas :)

Yes, I agree. It seems many could be used at earlier ages. I really like the novel and picture book sets for third grade. Do you think they could be used as early as 1st grade? Some I have already read to my children so I know they would work but I am not sure about others.

They have read-aloud sets for each year up to 6th grade. Here are the 4th-6th grade selections. You can click on any grade level to see the lower grade selections as well. There are so many great classics and there are a lot of fun picture books for the earlier grades. What do you think? I love the idea of ordering a package of really wonderful books but so many literature packages have a lot of books that do not appeal to me. I am not familiar with all these books but many seem excellent. In the end, I would probably just choose some from the list to save money but it seems like a good selection from which to choose. They also have these K-1 "Supplemental Science & Enrichment Sets" that look intriguing.