Yeah, I used an Alfred the Great one this year (borrowed from a friend) and was disappointed. The content hasn't changed in 20 years, I bet. For the price, you ought to get nice-quality detailed color pictures and plenty of information. I was very disappointed, and won't be buying any.

With my 2nd grader: We alternate weeks between R&S 3 and Classical Writing (Aesop A), and we also do Latin (LC1)--slowly but surely. Also Spelling Workout and plenty of copywork.

I've heard you can get a free sample DVD for Math-U-See. The other day a mom was telling me about how her daughter hated Saxon, was having a hard time, and when she watched the Math-U-See sample it all clicked and she's been using it ever since.

We just watched it and it made me laugh, esp. since I told my kid about it not two days ago. I told her that 6x7 is one of my favorite multiplication problems...

I've always been dangermom, but it's been a while since I posted. I've got two daughters: a 7yo in 2nd grade and a 4yo in pre-K. Both of them are into horses and unicorns right now. 7yo loves to read and make things out of paper, fabric, and whatnot. Her favorite subject in school is Latin (LC1), and she also loves CW Aesop and science. And history. She's a very enthusiastic kid, but inclined to perfectionism and gets easily discouraged when she makes mistakes, so I'm always telling her to relax and that mistakes are good. She's slowly getting there. 4yo is learning to read and likes to do "kindergarten math" but mostly goes to a small preschool group 4 days a week, which she loves. She likes horses, knights, and bloodthirsty fighting with knight and horses. I sew and read a lot, besides trying to squish in all the school and activities and play.

I do know what math the schools use, but I can't remember the title right now. I've looked through them. They're OK, but so colorful and full of sidebars and pictures and samples and whatnot that it's quite difficult to see the pages. I have a hard time reading them!

For our 2nd-grader, we just started astronomy and are using a basic book with 2-page spreads on each subject, plus books from the library and trips to the observatory (well, when it's not cloudy and freezing!).