Whew! What a topic. I'd have to say that most kids learn to read first, and then write, but is that because we push reading first? I know that AAR recommends that you do their AAR Level 1 first, before you start their AAS Level 1. Then, there's SWR which definitely combines it altogether. In that program a child learns Cursive First and all the phonograms, and begins spelling before they are ever prompted to read a book. I use both programs - shhh, don't tell! My ds7 will be finishing AAR 1 in about one week - it took us 1 1/2 years to get through it. He really had no desire to want to learn how to read, but he can write his name in cursive beautifully!

If it's between Singapore or MUS, I'd go with Singapore. Now, that being said, we use CLE Math and it's what gets done!

Both my dd's 11, and 9, are doing 3D Game Design 1 this year. It's been an up and down road. Sometimes they'll spend 2+ hours working on it, and then will go for several weeks without doing anything, but that does have some thing to do with our computer memory! Make sure that you have LOTS of memory space on your computer! Did I mention, make sure you have LOTS of memory space on your computer! The course they are doing is not online, like I thought it would be. They had to download the programs to our computer, and save all their work on our computer, and then when they are finished, they send a copy of their final work back to Youth Digital. I'm not sure I would spend the money for the courses, but we were lucky in that we are part of a homeschool partnership in which it was all paid for!!! Definitely get the BOGO free option on homeschool buyer's co-op! I would not spend the full price on it! My dds have learned a lot, and there is a lot of hard work involved, but they do have fun with it. And, hey, what other subject will a child willingly spend more then two hours on?!

Essentials in Writing - DVD based, so you don't have to do the teaching.

We have an 11yo who complains about math too, but the thing is, she does just fine with it. It's just not drawing dragons or making pom poms! Ah well....we use CLE and what I do is cross out any of the problems that I know that she knows how to do, and only have her do what she needs to work on. We skipped half a grade this way, and I'm hoping to keep skipping light units (that's what they're called in CLE) as needed. There is a lot of repetition built in to this program, and once a child "gets" a skill or concept and they've seen it enough times (it's a spiral program), I just try to have them review it once every five lessons or so. If you have MM, do you have the dark blue series? You could just use that for areas which are needed or for areas where you can move ahead more quickly, and skip the others. Even contact Maria Miller of MM and ask her. You could make a deal, such as, if you get 80% correct today, you can skip the next lesson, and see how well you do on the following lesson. Or, I'll give you the chapter test, even though you haven't done all the lessons, see how well you do, and if its 80% or better, you can go on to the next chapter or unit, etc.... Another option is to use a different medium on which to do the problems, such as, if you have sliding glass doors, or a nice big picture window, or a lovely mirror, get some dry erase markers or transparency markers and do math problems on the windows or mirror - (I can envision my mother shuddering at the thought)! Do you have a draw program on a computer or tablet? Use that instead of paper or a workbook. Go someplace different, such as the library or McDonald's, and do math there instead. Hopefully you can find something that works!

Thank you ladies. I'm off to sign up for the MP FB page!

Regarding placement, see her FAQ's here: http://barefootmeandering.com/site/faq/ You can always contact the author regarding placement, she's more than helpful! She did tell me that the program in 4th and 5th is a bit more rigorous, and that it's wiser to start one level below grade level, especially if you and your child are new to the program. I'm sure it depends on what you have already done, but we were fairly new to homeschooling and I didn't think my dd's would be ready for it, so I decided not to use it with my 4th and 5th graders, and opted for FLL 4, sometimes I wish I hadn't done that. There's always next year, right? But, I am using Level 1 with my 1st grader and it is quite gentle. It actually works well with FLL 1 (with which I find myself turning pages quickly because it's so much repetition!).

For some reason history seems to be the most difficult subject for me to feel at ease with. I've come to the conclusion that I need a "boxed" curriculum for history, as it just takes too much time and energy for me to put something together myself, or even choose from reading lists, so, I'm taking a serious look at Memoria Press (MP). I'm not planning on using anything else from MP at this time, but may consider doing so in the future. Actually, I'm looking at history for next year already, so I'll have a 6th, 5th, and 2nd grader then. This year we are studying US History as it was more important to me to have my children be familiar with the country in which they live before we go exploring the world. The year before we did go all the way through Greenleaf's Guide to Old Testament History, so I'm not particularly excited about starting with ancient history, or Egypt and the pyramids, etc. I wouldn't mind starting with Greece though. We're approaching our second year of homeschooling, so my children do not have a background in classical studies, and we're not set on that anyway, we're eclectic. My first questions is this: Would D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths along with the MP study guide be sufficient for an introduction, instead of getting their whole Introduction to Classical Studies package? (I have three years of high school Latin and one full year of classical studies in college in my past, so I'm comfortable with pronounciations, etc., and I'm not pushing Latin for my children, just a basics in derivatives and vocabulary I think is plenty - so is their book of roots sufficient for that? or is there a better option?) Next what are the main differences between their "Famous Men Studies" and their books by Dorothy Mills which start with "The Book of the Ancient World, Ancient Greeks, Ancient Romans...?" Are these two series of books separate tracks, or are they meant to work in conjunction with each other? If they are separate, which one is better and more interesting for children to follow? Also, is there enough geography work in either of these programs to not need their separate geography I or II course? Thank you for any input that you may have!

I'm contemplating LA for next year too! I'm looking for 6th grade also, and am considering EIW - Essentials in Writing. Hopefully, hopefully, by next fall they will also have the new program Essentials in Literature for 6th grade done. That's a complete LA program, mostly student lead, no teaching on my part, and I can check it off.

Maybe Megawords? I haven't used it, but keep looking at it as a future possibility.

You could look at "The Progressive Composition Lessons: Book one-[three], third and fourth-[seventh and eighth] years, Book 1" by Ida M. Brautigam, or try looking up William Henry Maxwell - he has a number of books in the public domain. One which looks useful for elocution, and writing, is "Speaking and Writing: For use in fourth year classes, Book Two.

Math Mammoth would work well. The Blue Series comes with teacher instructions, or the Gold Series which does not come with the teacher instructions. You can have your ds take a placement test which will show areas needing more work, and then email the author for her opinion of what she thinks he should work on. Or, Christian Light Education Math has a LOT of built in spiral review - sometimes it can be too much, but use your discretion. They also have a free placement test. Both of these programs can be quite independent.

Put this post on the general board, but no replies, so posted here now. There was a link on another thread to a companion guide, but the link doesn't work.

Has anyone developed a companion guide, that you'd be willing to share, to Richard Halliburton Occident and Orient books? I'm not really looking for a journaling or CM style book, I'm looking more for specifics such as find the following places on the map on the following page, or here are words you will need to look up before you read this chapter, etc....

I've always liked the 2 Q as it seems so artistic and flowing to me. It's used in Cursive First and Modern Style Cursive Connections.

Definitely A, as I can't stand to see the B version!

Just looking on the boards tonight myself. I haven't looked at these in depth, but they're worth a look. Both are online, so not very CM probably. http://mysteryscience.com/plants/life-cycles-traits-adaptations/assessmentsand https://www.mobymax.com/Curriculum/Science

Love the "2" Q, it just feels so artistic. Two programs that use it are "Cursive First" by Elizabeth FitzGerald and a book I found at a bookstore called "Modern Style Cursive Connections" by Kathryn Libby. It's Book B that I have, so there must be a Book A also. The ISBN for Book B is 0-9666572-2-5.

I purchased mine spiral bound. Like it that way so much better, because then it can lay flat and I can fold the book back on itself, and only look at one page if I want to.

A Living History of Our World http://jellybeanjar....of-our-world/.�It's very Charlotte Mason inspired, and she's working on completing the curriculum for world history. Or, America from the Beginning by Answers in Genesis https://answersingen.../?sku=40-1-403. Otherwise, did you know that there used to be a series called "Story of the World" before Susan Wise Bauer ever used that title? You may want to look into those and see if they may be what you want, here's a link explaining more about them, http://www.mainlesso...ain/synge.php.�Hope you find what you're looking for!

Are you looking for World History in chronological order? If you're willing to start with American History then I'd suggest A Living History of Our World http://jellybeanjar.org/product-category/a-living-history-of-our-world/. It's very Charlotte Mason inspired, and she's working on completing the curriculum for world history. Or, America from the Beginning by Answers in Genesis https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/america-beginning/?sku=40-1-403. Otherwise, did you know that there used to be a series called "Story of the World" before Susan Wise Bauer ever used that title? You may want to look into those and see if they may be what you want, here's a link explaining more about them, http://www.mainlesson.com/main/synge.php. Hope you find what you're looking for!

There are a few threads already regarding the abacus or soroban, but some of the threads are three years old and some links no longer work, so I'm looking for new information. Have you used an abacus or soroban with your child? Did you come up with a program on your own, or do you know of a good program to use?

Cursive First - can stand alone, but was developed to go with Spell to Write and Read, then Modern Style Cursive Connections by Kathryn Libby Acacia Publishing, Inc.

***Just so you know, I take no credit for him knowing all his facts already! All I did was sign all my dc up for Xtramath.org and BigBrainz TimezAttack base version. It worked!

You don't need the add/sub cards for CLE 4. You can use the free site Xtramath.org or download the free base version of Bigbrainz TimezAttack for fact mastery practice. You might not even need the mult/div cards! I'm about to move my DD from CLE 306 to CLE 402, because there's soooo much review built in, and she's got her math facts down, no need to waste half a year on it.