There is no color in Saxon. The Saxon Intermediate is a gentle transition for those who need an extra year before 5/4. It is more similar in style to the upper math books so it will give you the best sense of what to expect. Saxon 3 is Teacher-led and scripted. It is written by a different author. All of the worksheets are pre-printed so there is no copying. There are lots of manipulatives and it goes over addition, subtraction, multiplication and division incrementally with the first part being review. There are also fact sheets with 20 or 100 addition facts. These can be overwhelming for my child sometimes. I think the fact practice is integrated into the power-up of Intermediate 3. There is not too much difference in the math concepts between the two, just the way it is presented. If your youngest is ready for this level and no longer needs manipulatives, I think you could put them both in Intermediate 3. Maybe get the practice workbook so there isn't so much copying. There is a lot of review. It starts out with addition, so I think you'll be fine. You can always go at your own pace.

What about doing Science in the Ancient World and maybe adding a book to give more historical context or even an ancient history encyclopedia.

I'd look through the booklists of some of the curriculum like TOG, Sonlight, Ambleside Online, Beautiful Feet, etc. and start checking out the story and Table of Contents and reviews on Google Books. The D'Aulaire books have been very good.

We use SOTW, and it is adequate, IMO, for younger years. but we plan to switch to TOG in 5th because that is what speaks the most to me. There's a possibility that we wouldn't use it in high school, and we discussed it. My husband said this was a little pricey, but it was for all our kids who would use it in subsequent years, which made it more worthwhile. We plan to purchase the digital edition, but perhaps you could purchase the printed edition so you could resell it if you think you will only use it a couple of times. Or you could buy it used. Trying to buy all the books and not use the library would make it much more costly to me. But we use a ton of library books with SOTW too from the Activity Guide suggestions. To me, that's an essential part of a literature-based history that I want.

We are doing Shurley, which is secular, but we plan to eventually switch to Michael Clay Thompson, which is very different from R&S. I just looked at Hake, and it reminded me way too much of Saxon math (which I also use.) If I had to do two Saxon type texts daily with each child daily, I think I would hate my day. I like it for math alright, but I don't want to teach grammar the way I teach math. If you use a different type of math, it may not matter to you. If you hate Saxon, make sure you take a good look at the sample.

I was planning to do Drawing with Children this year along with Discovering Great Artists, but Artistic Pursuits caught my eye today. I like that it gives overview of artists and types of art, teaches the elements, and allows the student creativity to plan their own subject to implement the lesson. Does anyone else have experience with this one? We have been most fortunate to have an excellent art teacher at a private school do an after school class for homeschoolers locally, but we are moving. We will miss her. My son loves art!

We just finished second grade. We did Writing with Ease and Shurley grammar for Language Arts. I liked the jingles for memory in Shurley, and it is scripted. I used the Instructor Guide for WWE, not the workbooks. We will transition to CAP Writing and Rhetoric in the future. We did our own spelling, but we will switch to a workbook next year. We did SOTW and our own science. We are switching to Elemental Science next year. It looks more open and go, which I am finding I need more for science. We did Saxon math, which is scripted and uses lots of manipulatives. We also did not do formal reading as my son took off reading and reads multiple chapter books a week on his own. We did Pentime cursive (the transition book), which he really likes. While wanting to go classical is a good thing, and I appreciate you recognizing its newness to you, I would encourage you not to become a slave to that term in curriculum choices. Think about things more at the macro level and then find the curriculum that best suits your goals, needs and your style. Imagine yourself doing something with your child each day and see what your thoughts are about it. Don't go with something just because it is labeled a "classical" curriculum.

I use the guide and not the workbooks so I have freedom for my own reading selections. The biggest thing in level 3 is that the copy work and dictation get incrementally larger as well as the reading passages. Also, the instructor guide can be helpful to give the plan for what to emphasize, such as action verbs, commas, quotations, etc. Sometimes, this annoys me as it doesn't fit the literary passage I want to use. That's why I imagine they wrote the workbooks. Then parents do not have to look for a weekly passage that fits.

I don't have the book, although I have considered it for the future. However, I have read Jay Wile's blog a lot, and he makes it very clear that he is a scientist who is a Christian, not a "Christian scientist." He believes in YE because he finds that most evidence supports that, but he does not think old-earth creationists are unbiblical or implausible. That is what I glean from his writings. I would assume that his book will have a different flavor than AiG. He did write the high school Apologia books as well, and I do see that he discusses the evidence against evolution in this book. I wouldn't rule out text that supports young earth. However, why don't you ask him? He has a "Contact Me" with curriculum questions on his website. He could probably give you the clearest answer to what you can expect.

I am buying Veritas Press' book Bede's History of Me and History of US. My older son is doing SOTW 3 with heavy supplementation of American history so it dovetails nicely with what he is doing, and we can join in when age appropriate. I am thinking of making a play neighborhood and focusing on some other things like fire safety, health, etc. And I will talk about our country. In first grade, when my older son is doing Modern Times, we are going to study the countries that go along with what my oldest is studying with food, geography and culture.

I have not used this, but I have been mulling over Artistic Pursuits. Their 4th and 5th grade books cover American artists. I heard one review that recommended combining/alternating between the two books as one is black and white drawing and the other incorporates color.

We are using Song School Spanish next year and then moving on to Spanish for Children.

Check out CAP's Writing and Rhetoric. It can be independent. It's creative, and she could move through the first books at a faster pace if she likes.

I am purchasing it this year for my third and K boys. It looks like a fun, engaging program that will keep them interested in learning, and learning through song works really well in my house (which is why we use SSRW, Shurley jingles, math songs, etc.) We were initially thinking we would do Latin with my oldest, but he really wants to learn Spanish. We will also be moving closer to the southern border where it will definitely be useful. Plus I read from a few Latin teachers than starting in middle school would be fine for Latin. Most students who have Latin instruction at younger ages show little difference with those that start studying it in middle school. However, I felt that Spanish was a spoken language that my young ones would benefit from hearing at an earlier age, especially in fun song and games, and we can do Latin later.

We are planning to use the Biology curriculum this year. Looking forward to it. It looks very similar to what I attempted to do this year, but it is all laid out for me in advance. I am hoping that will help science get done more regularly. The author is a Christian but claims to write from as neutral as a perspective as possible.

Memoria Press always seems appealing until I read the sample, and it looks so boring and dry. We are trying several of CAP's programs next year (writing, Bible and foreign language). I also do not do boxed curriculum because I am particular on what I like exactly. However, we are strongly considering TOG after SOTW, which is sort of boxed, but not really.

I don't know much about the looseleaf preschool pages except that it's generally coloring letter pages, etc. For preschool this year, I just started my son with the first K book. I don't have the readers either because I have some others from a different curriculum that are similar. So in answer to your question...a new Raceway book should be fine imo.

Shurley English and Building Spelling Skills from CLP. Also, CAP has Spanish as well as Greek and Latin.

I did second grade and K-4 this year with a one year old. Some days, we were still working later in the afternoon, but we never start as early as 8 am, and we really take our time. I have a serious dawdler. We did all the language arts subjects too, but we did not do separate reading/phonics because he is a fluent reader. I feel he gets this in spelling. AAS and AAR does take a bit longer than other curriculums, but it sounds like this is where your focus needs to be. I would say that you can do all these things, but you don't have to do every thing every day. That is going to make for a long day, and they are still learning through play at this age. Combine some things. Do narrations from your read-alouds. Maybe do a 4-day writing schedule every other week. Alternate cursive writing or do 2x per week. Maybe relax a bit on FLL until they are better readers. I think reading should be the primary LA focus. Yes, these other LA subjects are important, and I certainly do them. But reading is the main goal right now, and it's hard to understand where a noun is in a sentence if you're still learning to decipher what the sentence says. When they're reading on grade level, add the grammar and writing back in. I don't know what you are using for history, but SOTW has geography built in. I also don't know what science you are using, but this could be once a week, especially if you're doing nature study too. Art and music can also be weekly or even every other week. Don't feel tied to what a curriculum outlines even if it takes more than a year to finish the book. Stick to daily math, reading and Bible and balance the rest. Hope this helps!

Honestly, it was just a few months. He had this idea in his mind that chapters were too long, and he couldn't finish the story. Plus he liked more pictures. This was last summer just after first grade. We are just ending second grade now, and he got Narnia in November. We started reading out loud, and he took over. It was a story that really interested him. I just kept explaining that chapters just give the reader a natural resting point and that you don't have to read it all at the same time. It was a mental maturity block. He still loves picture books and reads them to his siblings, but he is always reading. I think Highlights magazine helped too because there were stories without tons of pictures that were short enough.

I was going to suggest Natural Speller to go over any gaps. My other suggestion would be to look at some vocabulary programs. At her age, she can start vocabulary using classical roots, and it will help her with spelling as well.

We have it and use it. But as someone said earlier, you have to erase everything.

My son loved the Explorer's Bible! All sorts of fun extras, and he started reading it every night.

My son was the same way at first. He read well above grade level, but he "hated" chapters. I just took him to the library and tried to pick one or two and let him get whatever he wanted. I also tried very colorful books that were not chapters or easy readers such as Aesop's Fables. He loved Aesop's Fables. We also did the Frog and Toad books and Amelia Bedelia because some of those are chapters and some aren't. He wouldn't read the Frog and Toad ones that were chapters as much. He didn't feel like it was a continuation of the story, but choppy. I just kept telling him all he was missing from chapter books. Then, it just clicked for him and he took off reading every chapter book he could think of. They weren't the same ones I was peddling like Encyclopedia Brown, but he loved the How to Train Your Dragon books and the Easy Classics and took off with Boxcar Children, etc. Now we can't get him to stop reading chapter books, including harder ones like Narnia and the Hobbit. Sometimes it helped that he had seen the movie. He liked the Ramona books. My advice would be to follow her lead. Sometimes it's not an ability thing but a maturity thing. Give her a little time and allow her to pick some of her own books so it doesn't feel like a chore. When she finds a story that interests her with the maturity to imagine the pictures, it will click.

I think you could go to real books vs. readers when the child is ready. Maybe have him read aloud every so often so you can evaluate his reading. WWE2 is not too different from WWE1 except that the dictations and passages get a bit longer incrementally. I just have the teacher's guide and not the workbooks and choose my own selections, so it is really easy to tailor to your child if he's not ready for longer passages yet. As to the art and music, only you can answer whether or not your child needs it this year. My oldest is very artistic and musical. We organized a group of homeschoolers and approached a local private school art teacher to teach a class for us after school. Worked out really well. We are moving away next year, and I am going to do some things with him on my own for a year and then find a class. A year off isn't a huge deal. We haven't started his formal music lessons yet because a family member will provide them once we move. Think about how much your child will enjoy them. It sounds like you don't really want to teach them these subjects so it will probably be good. Although that drive sounds long too. I don't think there's a wrong decision here in first grade.