This is perhaps a more general thought than you are looking for, but I think whether "stuff" is educationally valuable or not depends on what the student is actually thinking about while using it. For example, a moveable alphabet seems potentially useful because it mostly requires thinking about letter-sound correspondences and how words are built, with just a little effort thinking about manipulating the "stuff" itself whereas with a lapbook about apples or some other /a/ sound words or something, that is reversed - the kid is mostly thinking about manipulating the "stuff" (cutting and pasting, etc) and only thinking a little bit about letter-sound correspondences.

I know you said not a formal translation BUT Emily Wilson's recent translation is quite accessible and just as readable, I think, as some of the retellings. My husband did the whole thing as a bedtime read aloud with a wide age range.

Familia Romana (the first book of Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata) covers all the Latin grammar but in a somewhat unconventional order. As a general rule, in most high schools - regardless of what program they use - Latin grammar is covered in Latin 1 and Latin 2 and then you really start reading "authentic" Latin texts in Latin 3. In our homeschool, my students take about three years to go through Familia Romana starting the 6th grade, and I call the years Latin 1/2, Latin 1, and Latin 2. The second LLPSI book is Roma Aeterna, which starts with prose-ified Vergil and goes from that on to authentic Latin texts. There is an accompanying exercitia book. If your daughter is comfortable with all the rudiments of Latin grammar and can read lengthy adapted Latin passages (like the last chapters of Familia Romana), it's a very solid next step and will give her exposure to a wide range of Latin authors.

We like Tom Holland's books here.

Why Our Children Can't Read and What We Can Do about It by Diane McGuinness Elementary Mathematics for Teachers is OOP but used copies still float around, and it's a good companion to the Liping Ma book, especially if you actually do the problem sets. Why Don't Students Like School by Dan Willingham

I definitely think you could use Athenaze as you planned to use Wheelock's. Get the workbook, too. I'd also add some audio recordings to get the Greek in your ear (Luke Ranieri's are good and, I believe, still available for free on his patreon), and if you find you want more reading practice, the Italian edition of Athenaze has excellent additional text. If you wanted a self-paced video course, you might look at Seumus Macdonald's. We haven't used this particular course, but have been happy with his live classes.

Tom Holland's Dynasty - my high schooler has read another of his books and enjoyed it. Holland also co-hosts an entertaining podcast, The Rest is History. Barry Strauss's Ten Caesars. Mary Beard's new book Emperor of Rome has been getting good reviews, but tbh, I found her previous book, also critically acclaimed, a total slog, so I haven't looked at it yet.

If you need to go even simpler, there are several easy readers for mythology: https://www.amazon.com/Trojan-Horse-Greeks-Step-Reading/dp/0394896742/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3QKKKMZO493EO&keywords=step+into+reading+mythology&qid=1702402282&sprefix=step+into+reading+mythologoy%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com/DK-Readers-L3-Greek-Myths/dp/0756640156/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2FJU25VPP3O6E&keywords=easy+reader+mythology&qid=1702402310&sprefix=easy+reader+mythology%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com/Surprise-Trojans-Trojan-Ready-Reads/dp/1481420860/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2FJU25VPP3O6E&keywords=easy+reader+mythology&qid=1702402310&sprefix=easy+reader+mythology%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-2 https://www.amazon.com/Super-Readers-Level-Greek-Myths/dp/0744072352/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2FJU25VPP3O6E&keywords=easy+reader+mythology&qid=1702402310&sprefix=easy+reader+mythology%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-3 https://www.amazon.com/Do-Not-Open-Ready-Reads/dp/1442484977/ref=sr_1_10?crid=2FJU25VPP3O6E&keywords=easy+reader+mythology&qid=1702402310&sprefix=easy+reader+mythology%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-10

8, since i know you have had an even larger-age span than I do, do you have an advice for managing the younger kid noise factor when everyone is working at the same table? My 15yo looks for the slightest pencil tap or paper shuffle to claim it's too distracting to work in a common area.

We have Charlotte's Web read by E.B. White himself, which is fantastic. William Stieg's books that I think of as kids' novellas: Dominic, Abel's Island, and The Real Thief. The Paddington books read by Stephen Fry The Children of Noisy Village is my actual favorite Astrid Lindgren book and not too long, but there's also Ronia the Robber's Daughter and, of course, Pippi Longstocking. Rosemary Sutcliff's epic retellings aren't too long: Black Ships before Troy, the Wanderings of Odysseus, and she has a Beowulf one too. Roald Dahl

My son went straight from MM7 to Dolciani Algebra 1 with no problems and zero need for any supplementation or gap-filling, and I plan to do the same with the rest of my students. We used the 1981 edition.

This is true, and I'd reiterate that my 15yo started Latin grammar study in 6th grade - we have not spread grammar study out slowly over years and years. Still, it seems to me if there is value in starting a modern language in elementary school, there can be value in starting Latin then if the methods you select are appropriate.

Yes! There's also a really good, but not-as-scripted, book from the Polis Institute, Unus Duo Tres. And ever increasing amounts of simple comprehensible Latin on youtube. I made a list of some of these resources a few years ago, but it could use updating - the 12yo mentioned there is now a 15yo heading into AP Latin this year. Tempus fugit!

I want to add that I agree with what 8 says above - if you are going to follow a traditional grammar-translation approach to Latin, which is what the vast majority of Latin programs do. I have seen many, many homeschool families start Latin young and burn out in late elementary/middle school years. However, there are ways of teaching Latin that approach it more like how we teach modern languages, and I think these can be appropriate for younger children. But there are not the same number of easy-to-use resources available to homeschoolers to support that approach. The new program from UD that I linked to is one, the most complete that I have seen and also totally scripted, which is why I am very excited about it. There are additional optional grammar lessons with it, but you don't have to use those and I do not with my elementary aged students. No one here gets formal Latin grammar instruction until 6th grade.

I'm using UD's new Latin through Stories with my 6yo.