Yeah not a FIAR lover... Way too unstructured and too much prep involved... But I do want something with great lit. like that. You've talked me out if the grammar, and our phonics has plenty of hand writing. For my oldest... Phonics and math... That is doable! For us all... A lit core, bible and Fun...like art, games and such For the big boys... Letter of the week Monday and Wednesday... No school on Fridays. I think that might work. I think I decided on the 4 day kindy core with sonlight ... It is about exploring the world... Seems like a perfect theme for our year. Any REALLY fun other things you've enjoyed doing with lots of littles? Thanks SOOO much for the ideas and perspective!!!

There is no 2 yo... Just haven't updated my signature in a while. I'll have: 1st grader 2 four year olds 3 yo 8 month old The letter of the week is really activity based... And self directed. I see it more as a help to me to keep them busy. It is easy enoug for an upper three yo to do. But... I still appreciate the perspective... :D Any more thoughts?

So I just can't figure out what direction we should take next year in our curriculum. I am currently hs our 5 almost 6 yo girl... But by this fall we will have two 4 yo boys, a 3 yo girl and a new baby. One of the 4yo is adopted and will be learning English. But he is a smarty and I think will benefit from school. He is closer to 5 in his skill level. Everything we've been doing in school I don't like. It is boring and tedious. My thought for the 4 y olds is a Letter of the week program that was donated to us. Then the join in a core program that we'd all do...3 yo too. Wed do bible and art all together too. I want this to be the hub of all we do. Then I'd do phonics, grammar and math with our 1st grader. Does that sound good? Then to choose a core... I had written sunlight off as being too pricey, but as well all do it together...4 children I could stomach that. Any other recommendations?

Thanks very helpful. HOD - I will keep checking it out... I do know what I want to do for all other subjects, so I don't know if it is a good fit for us. FIAR - Yeah, not for me... We've tried it. :-) BF - Joy, that is exactly what I needed. The lit is what attracted me... I think it would be good for our little ones, then my big girl and I can do the journal type stuff. Ambleside and the other - I'll check that out! Good idea... Thanks ladies! SO helpful!

Hi there! We have a somewhat unique situation. Next fall I will have a first grader and 3 pre-schoolers ( a 3, 3.5 and 4 yo) I might also mention a 1 yo. But, I am having to totally re-evaluate my plans with the addition of the 3.5 yo and 1 yo to our family. The 3.5 yo will not speak english to begin with, but I do just want to include him in all we do, because I figure that will be the best way for him to learn... and I am sure that it won't take long for him to catch on either. So, I have a plan and found good stuff for everything except our Core... history, lit and that kind of stuff. I want to find something that we can all do together... this is SUPER important to me. The lit. needs to keep little ones attention, but also teach our big girl the things she needs to know. (And all I intend for the little ones to do is listen to the reading part). I would like it to be American History, but I would take other considerations. I have thought of Beautiful Feet's Am. History program... it seems to be good primary level literature that would probably interest the little ones... but I don't know, because I haven't used it either. Any thoughts? I have also considered HOD... but I don't need all the other stuff... and it seems like they are "text books" which doesn't really interest me.

Sorry... new at this. What is WTM recs? :-)

Hi there. Well, when I thought I was all decided on what we'll be using next year (Heart of Dakotas) a friend told me about Beautiful Feet... Love it! I do prefer that HoD has more subjects included, but I really like what BF does... If you use BF what do you do for other subjects? What do you use for math, bible, science and if you more than that? Thanks!

What do you think is a reasonable amount to spend on one student for one year? Say a 1st or 2nd grader? My research... History/Lit./Bible... $300 (curr.) + $300 (books) Math... $90 Grammar/Spelling... $70 Other Misc... $50 Total= $800+ This seems like alot... I know much of it will be used again, but how can you cut costs??? Or is this just part of the "package" of homeschooling?

I'm trying to figure out what I want to use starting in 1st grade... I really thing TOG could be a good fit for us... but I hesitate. I'll just have my older dd using it for 2 years before her younger siblings are able to use it too... is it worth it to use it that early. Most families I see using it have older children. Does it work for 1st graders well??? I would hate to use a 1st grad specific program that would end up going to waste because only my dd would use it... it just doesn't seem to make the most sense...any thoughts on that? Thanks!

Come on... spill it. :001_smile:

Anyone, use SCM? (or even Ambleside) Do you feel like it is a lot (too much) of bookwork? How do you do at making things interactive and fun? Does this method help you think of and plan fun activities and find ideas? Do you follow there guide exactly, moderately, minimally? What do you think is the best about this method/currc.? Do you use their planner? What do you think of it?

Thanks, very helpful! I'll just need to wait and see where we are at the end of the year... but this is a good option.

I use to teach K and when I first looked at my friends material for K I thought that MFW K is more like pre-k and the 1st is more like K material... but it seems like the rest of MFW is just about right... I don't want to over load her, but really what we are doing this fall is equivalent to MFW 1st... I jsut didn't know if the reading load would be do-able for her... Thanks for the responses. I am also looking at TOG... but it seems a lot more $$ and I'm just not sure...

Bump???

I am doing Phonics Museum with my dd this fall, but she is already reading and we are probably going to skip ahead a bit. I am thinking about switching over to MFW in 1st or 2nd grad... I am wondering if doing Adventures in MFW would be a good place for her to start in 1st grade? It says it is good for 1st graders that are reading and writing well... has anyone done this? What were your experiences? Thanks!

For those of you that have done SCM... do you feel that it is more time consuming ... prep wise... than a curr. like Sonlight or TOG?

Hum... such good thoughts... thank you! Man, I still just can't decide! :glare: How did you ever make up your mind? I think I am leaning towards TOG, MFW or SCM... but still not sure...

That is good to hear... about MFW. I'm also looking at Simply Char. Mason and it looks good... Like I could do it... any one doing that???

So I am just starting up "officially" and we are all set for K... But, it gets me thinking about 1st and beyond... I am stuck between loving... - Veritas press - Sonlight - Tapestry of Grace - My Father's World Honestly, I like different things about all four... and dislike different things... it seems like none is a perfect fit. - Sonlight is out of our budget. - TOG seems complicated - MFW seems not as accedemically challenging - And Veritas isn't good for keeping everyone on the same unit Help me see what you like about each one and how you chose between them... Also, for those of you that do a self planned system what do you do? I've also thought about doing History of the World... but what else do you do? does it have reccomended readings (like lit.)??? I am not a great planner and tend to let things slide if it isn't clearly planned for me... Thanks! Also, any good beginner piano programs you would reccommend?

Does anyone use this? We just got it... I think we will love it! How do you use it... weekly, daily...? Any tricks or tips to share?

So, I'm all set for next year... K. We are doing Phonics Museum, Saxon K, literature lists and lots of fun stuff... But I really want Bible to start our day off... to be the most important part of our day and I am not really sure what to do. We have the Children's Illu. Bible and stuff... but other than just reading it I don't know what to do. I want it to be a bit more than that. What do you do? Is there a guide or something that would give us memory verses, or questions or application??? SOS! :D

My dd is 4 almost 5... in the past year we have read aloud the following... Little House in the BW-Plum Creek Kirsten American Girl Series A Child's Garden of Verses And several other shorter books What's next? I am wanting to wait to go farther with Little House. What would be appropriate and interesting for her age? Needing ideas...

A friend of mine uses that, I think we may take another look at it later on. Thanks!

Well, after talking to my dh we decided to go with VP... I feel good about it. We bid on a Phonics Museum on ebay... Thank you all for the info... it really was helpful and helped me think outside the box a bit. :D

One thing I have thought of is to get the bigger set and stretching it over 2 years.... However, after looking at it all I am leaning toward doing Veritas Press and just getting SL's Bible program... I still miss the schedule, but I am sure I could manage with out it.