I'm debating between sticking with BJU reading distance learning (a $300 price tag!!!) and switching to CLE reading for my 4th and 5th grade girls. It's much cheaper, looks great, and the girls are both great readers. Reading is a weak spot for me, so I really want to stick with a curriculum for now. We will also be reading Sonlight Core D readers throughout the year, but will not be doing Sonlight's LA. We will be doing CLE LA next year for the first time. I'm wondering, though, if doing both the reading and the LA is too much of the same type of workbook and whether or not it would become too monotonous. I'm planning to do Writing and Rhetoric with them as well. The CLE reading schedule would work really well with W&R as both are half year courses. Any thoughts? Michelle

My kids are 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. I'm planning to use W&R with them in the fall, but am debating between Book 1 Fables and Book 2 Narratives. I think they would most enjoy the Narrative book, but am not sure if I should skip Fables and whether or not they would miss something important by doing that. Any thoughts?

Looking at all of this has put me into overload mode! :laugh: Seeing the price of so many other curriculums that look really great makes me wonder why I'd pay the price for the BJU reading. My kids love reading so much that I could probably give them anything and they'd be happy! For a fifth of the price that I would pay for the BJU DL reading, I could get CLE reading which looks very good. Even less for the Pathway Readers which people seem to really like. I feel like my kids still need the extra input for vocab and deeper understanding of what they are reading, as this is something I'm actually really weak in, so even though they are good readers I'm not ready to drop a reading curriculum at this point. The CLE LA also looks great, but what I'm leaning towards is Climbing to Good English. While the curriculum looks so outdated, the content looks fantastic! Was trying to narrow things down, and now I feel like I have more to choose from! :lol:

Love these suggestions! I'm sifting through them to see what might fit well with what I've already chosen for next year. Wow, this really is very affordable, but also seems to be thorough! What do you use for your writing?

I am going in circles trying to plan our LA for this next school year! Some background... We used BJU distance learning for Reading and English last school year. We started with both of those this school year, but a month in the kids were all whining and miserable. They LOVED the Reading, not the English. We dropped the English, did some simple workbooks for grammar and some story writing which they have loved. We have used Sequential Spelling this year for all three of them, and while a couple complain that it is too easy, it's actually been really good for all of them. We use Sonlight for our history. Next year we will move into Core D which is the first year that the history core and the readers are aligned. I considered using the Sonlight LA next year b/c they are aligned, but when I look at the samples and the scope and sequence, I'm not loving it. Lots of different types of writing, but only a week on each. I don't see how most of it can be done well in a week. There's no writing process happening which is something that has worked so well for my kids. A little background on the kids for next school year... 3rd grade boy, super bright, excellent reader and spells better than either of his sisters, writes well but with much less depth than his sisters, still working on higher level thinking skills 4th grade girl, excels in all LA areas, really struggles in math 5th grade girl, my worst speller, a good reader, and an average writer though she loves writing and is constantly improving Thoughts I've had... 1) Stick with BJU Reading distance learning because my kids have enjoyed it so much. They are doing really well with it, so if it isn't broken, why fix it? Use the Sonlight LA b/c we will be reading the readers anyway. 2) Just try to keep things simple and do only SL LA. Maybe I will grow to like it. What I'm leaning towards... 3) Stick with BJU reading DL, again b/c the kids are so happy with it and it's worked. The kids do a ton of reading on their own and love it, so we'd still read the SL readers just not do the LA. Possibly continue with Sequential Spelling. Add something else in for writing and grammar that is more structured and systematic than what we used this year. Something that I've looked at and think my kids would really enjoy is Writing & Rhetoric. I'd like to add some grammar in with that, though, and that is where I'm getting tripped up! I know that I want something with built in review/taught spirally. I want it to be enough that the kids learn the grammar well, unlike the simple workbooks we've used this year. However, I don't want something that is going to bog them down as we'd do it along with the BJU and W&R. Programs I've looked at and seem that they would fit my teaching style and the kids' learning style well are Easy Grammar and CLE. Easy Grammar feels like it would be a good supplement to W&R without bogging the kids down. CLE seems to be the most thorough, but it also includes spelling. I'm not sure it we'd just skip those parts, do them just because they are there, or if we would ditch SS and keep things simple with CLE. The kids have no experience with diagramming sentences, so would that be a difficult program to start with at say a 4th or 5th grade level for the girls? If we did it with my son, would he be bored with the spelling or other parts of the program that he's mastered b/c he typically works at the same level as his sisters but may not be quite ready for the same level as them? Of course there are other great programs I could add for grammar, but I'm feeling overwhelmed looking at all of the options. If you've found something that may work well I'd love to hear! I need something that is at least somewhat independent as I've also got a 4th child with learning disabilities that I'm teaching but who is unable to do most of with the other three are working on, and then there's the toddler. :) I'm grateful for any advice or help, even if you think my plan is terrible. :) We ditched probably 50% of what we started this school year with, so I'm hoping to get it a little closer to right from the beginning for next school year. Thoughts on anything? Thanks so much! Michelle

Great! Just wanted to make sure before I bought. Thank you!

I'm starting NAC with my 2nd grade boys next school year. Book 1 says that it is written with 1st graders in mind. Do I need to do book 1, or does book 2 stand alone and start from the beginning if I start there with the boys? Thanks! Michelle

Thanks for your input! As I've been looking at what others are using, I have decided to go with My Father's World Adventures in U.S. History. It incorporates both science and ss and will work great for the ages of my kiddos! Thanks!

I'm definitely okay without complete or perfect. I just don't want to have to curriculum hunt for every subject and every topic every year. I'd like something that if we like it can be continued onto the next year. Make sense? Christian is great, but not a definite requirement. I won't use anything that is explicitly anti-Christian. Hands on is very important! My upcoming 3rd grader is super creative, always wanting to get her hands on anything she can. I'll consider textbook for these subjects, but feel that she'd love it so much more if it wasn't. American history is fine one year or multi-year. I'm looking for more history than govt/culture. While I'd love something that I can continue, it's more important to me that my kids learn some basics about America. I would feel much better moving onto to something else next year if they at least knew the basics. For a long time I thought I would use Sonlight, but I really hate the way it jumps from book to book all within the same day. I also struggle to read out loud to my kids for long periods (headaches), so didn't think a curriculum made so much of read-alouds was a great fit for me. However, I do love pulling literature into what we do. I simply cannot do that for hours a day. Thanks!

Hi, I'm new to homeschooling and starting in September with a 1st grader and possibly a 2nd and/or 3rd grader. We live overseas and some of our children are in local schools, but not all and not necessarily next year. The one curriculum I've decided on for all of them is using BJU language arts/reading as well as reading some great books. LA is my weakness and I need a program that is very structured and complete. I'm hung-up on what to do for science and ss/history. I have Story of the World and it just doesn't work for me. Also, b/c we haven't ever lived in America with kids, they are completely clueless to some of the simple things that kids learn as early as kindergarten in the States. :) For the SS component next year, I'd love something America based so that they can learn more about their home country. I'm ashamed to say that all 4 of my kids can belt out every word to the Chinese national anthem, but not one of them can make it through the entire American one. I'm not opposed to textbooks, but think they would enjoy something different if there is something that would work. For science I definitely want something hands on but haven't found just the right thing yet. One thing that is important to me is that I'd really like to use a program with a predictable scope and sequence, something that if we continue year to year, but the end of their elementary years, they will have hit everything they should know without me having to piece other things together to fill in the gaps. It's filling in the gaps that overwhelms me. I also want something that will work as multi-level as I have kids in 1st through 3rd grades next year. I know that obviously I may start something, not like it, and need to switch. I also know that there may not be something perfect that has everything I'm looking for and I may need to reconsider after a year or two. I'm just trying to avoid something in these subjects that will require me to start from scratch year to year...if I need to I will, but want to consider more complete programs first. Make sense? Thanks so much for any suggestions!