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Memoria Press and Highlands Latin School


Penelope
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The new catalog: wow!

They have nearly full plans for all the elementary grades now (except for writing grade 5-6 and possibly science).

 

Looking at the Highlands Latin website, it looks like these MP grade plans are pretty much the curriculum the school uses. Can anyone confirm that?

 

I think this is the first time I've been tempted by "school in a box." It just seems so simple and streamlined compared to what I do.

 

Anyone else feel the same?

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I keep wanting it, but then reminding myself how many things we would subbing out for. We prefer CLE for math, need Catholic religious studies (not non denominational), we would have to add a ton more science (their science is crazy weak from the looks of it), and I'm not feeling their grammar.

So why on earth do I keep going back to their site????? I'm a gluton for punishment.

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I keep wanting it, but then reminding myself how many things we would subbing out for. We prefer CLE for math, need Catholic religious studies (not non denominational), we would have to add a ton more science (their science is crazy weak from the looks of it), and I'm not feeling their grammar.

So why on earth do I keep going back to their site????? I'm a gluton for punishment.

 

I could have written your post :lol:, although I would want to substitute Singapore Math and My Pals Are Here Science & BFSU, add Dutch LA and grammar, add English-as-a-foreign-language. Plus I think their Latin sequence is insanely slow. But besides that.....:lol:. Why do I keep looking??? There is something that gives me the warm fuzzies and I don't know what, I don't do anything like they do :tongue_smilie:.

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I'm a huge MP fan. Their First Start Reading has been fabulous for my boy who is a late reader. We used Prima Latina with older dd, started Latina Christiana I and weren't thrilled with it, so moved away to use Lively Latin. After finishing BB I in the Spring, we're back with First Form Latin, which has been great! We were already using Classical Composition Fable when they published their Teacher's and Student's guides for it, but I went ahead and bought the Student's Guide which has been helpful in implementing the program. I actually love the science choices for 3rd-6th grade as I prefer a more living books style science for that age. We recently started the Insects books, and I love the emphasis on memorizing and labeling diagrams. I'm also really excited about the grammar books coming out as First Language Lessons have seemed overkill with the amount of Latin we do. I may incorporate some of the literature guides into our curriculum in the future as well.

 

I've been very tempted by the curriculum packages although I would switch out the math, but can't bite the bullet as I'm already too attached to our four year history cycle and my dd is a huge history fan and The Famous Men books just wouldn't be enough...If I ever needed to move to a packaged curriculum though, this would be it.

 

Plus, you can't beat MP's customer service. Tanya on the forums is amazing.

Edited by mommahawk
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I've had my eye on MP for awhile now. It does all look lovely! I have a question for those who have used it and have multiple elementary aged children. I'm trying to imagine having 4 different tracks (we have 4 kids who will be in 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th grade) all at the same time. Is this the type of curriculum you can do with multiple children or do you combine them for sanity's sake :)

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I have been using the K, I also own the 1st and 2nd grade manuals. I think it would be simple to change the math and add in more science. I really like their science for 3rd-6th though.

It isn't that their science is bad - it's that we are more science centered than history, and there isn't ENOUGH science.

I would be swapping grammar, math, science, and religious studies. Lol.

 

I keep going back to look though :glare:

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I've used their K guide all the way through, and we are in week 25 of 1st grade. I do swap out parts of it, but I'm running both the 1st grade and K guide every week now, and I really like them. First Start Reading is a great phonics program for both struggling and typical readers and both my boys who are very different learners have done well with it. We do different science and history partly for the combining reasons and also because I want more engineering-type science for ds who is a natural tinkerer.

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I am ordering the 4th grade set for my son to start in the fall. We are currently using the same math and English, and I love the looks of the schedule!

 

My son is a real reader, so he'll probably continue with the Sonlight readers as well. We'll also add extra science, but the rest is just happy sigh for me. Excited!

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We used parts of K and are going back for 2nd. I will sub math & phonics, but to have the rest laid out is awesome.

 

Showing my ignorance here, I have never worked with a program that has everything laid out. What do you do if you don't finish everything that is scheduled for that day, or if you do more? Would your schedule not be totally messed up in a few weeks? I imagine myself being on several different days for different subjects, flipping back and forth, driving myself crazy :confused:.

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Showing my ignorance here, I have never worked with a program that has everything laid out. What do you do if you don't finish everything that is scheduled for that day, or if you do more? Would your schedule not be totally messed up in a few weeks? I imagine myself being on several different days for different subjects, flipping back and forth, driving myself crazy :confused:.

 

That's one of the main things that always keeps me from buying a curriculum all scheduled out. If I could buy one where they gave me an editable file for the calendar, so I could cut and paste as we went along, I would probably buy one. As it is, I type up my own schedule every 9 weeks and always have to make adjustments as we go along and get ahead or behind.

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Showing my ignorance here, I have never worked with a program that has everything laid out. What do you do if you don't finish everything that is scheduled for that day, or if you do more? Would your schedule not be totally messed up in a few weeks? I imagine myself being on several different days for different subjects, flipping back and forth, driving myself crazy :confused:.

 

I have different colored flags with each subject written on them. Because we don't operate on a 5-day week and the guides are laid out as 5-day, we do get off as I condense or stretch it out. We may be in week 22 for phonics and week 25 for cursive but the flags keep it straight for me. I just move to the day that is flagged for each subject and do that work. Its really not a big deal and we still managed to finish the K guide in about a year.

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Showing my ignorance here, I have never worked with a program that has everything laid out. What do you do if you don't finish everything that is scheduled for that day, or if you do more? Would your schedule not be totally messed up in a few weeks? I imagine myself being on several different days for different subjects, flipping back and forth, driving myself crazy :confused:.

 

 

You can check out a sample of the schedule on the website. Maybe that will help you visualize whether it will work for you?

http://www.memoriapress.com/images/book_insides/Curriculums/FirstGradeCurriculum.pdf

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I have different colored flags with each subject written on them. Because we don't operate on a 5-day week and the guides are laid out as 5-day, we do get off as I condense or stretch it out. We may be in week 22 for phonics and week 25 for cursive but the flags keep it straight for me. I just move to the day that is flagged for each subject and do that work. Its really not a big deal and we still managed to finish the K guide in about a year.

 

Colored flags! Right! So simple.

 

You can check out a sample of the schedule on the website. Maybe that will help you visualize whether it will work for you?

http://www.memoriapress.com/images/book_insides/Curriculums/FirstGradeCurriculum.pdf

 

I had seen the samples, but had trouble getting how that would work in reality. I began using HST+ this year, I LOVE it, and I re-schedule a lot. Mostly because I'm compacting things, we are not slacking :D, but that would be difficult with a paper schedule. Using colored flags would definitely help. Although I can imagine, that with more kids and lots of colored flags, it could still be cumbersome.

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Guest cindy2010

My oldest son attends Highland Latin School and we absolutely love it. I am homeschooling my youngest (4th grade) using their curriculum guides and we both are really enjoying it. They have an excellent program and it's great that I can duplicate it at home.:001_smile:

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Looking at the Highlands Latin website, it looks like these MP grade plans are pretty much the curriculum the school uses. Can anyone confirm that?

 

 

Cheryl Lowe is the founder of Memoria Press and HLS; HLS is where MP does the field testing of their products. Most of the stuff put out by Memoria has been used and tested and tweaked by the staff/students of HLS.

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I've been very tempted by the curriculum packages although I would switch out the math, but can't bite the bullet as I'm already too attached to our four year history cycle and my dd is a huge history fan and The Famous Men books just wouldn't be enough...If I ever needed to move to a packaged curriculum though, this would be it.

 

 

Yes I would also switch the math and add more science and I do like more history. I love Peace Hill Press writing programs so far. My son and I also do not enjoy fill in the blank type of lit guides... But, but--- it's classical, and it would be all scheduled out, and I could check off boxes and feel like we did enough, because it's very similar to the school curriculum.

 

I think I'm tired and looking for something that is less work for me.

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I'm waiting for them to come out with the music CD for the younger grades so I don't have to go looking for things myself. (Lazy me.)

 

I still have two kids left. :tongue_smilie:

 

This would be the only way I would get in the art/music appreciation for the youngers.

 

I love the *idea* of everything laid out for me. I'm not sure I could handle the application everyday.

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I hope they keep developing complete packages up through the high school level. I'd love it if that was available as an option by the time we get there. Does anyone know whether that is their plan?

 

Lisa

 

Yes, Tanya has mentioned on their forum that she hopes to have guides for 7th and 8th grade out by next school year (so this spring/summer), and the high school guides possibly out the year after that.

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We are using the k and 6th grade packages for K and 7th grade. I switched the math for 7th grade and are doing the rest as written. My son will finish k in March and will start 1st grade then. I like it more than any scheduled program we've used in the past. I plan on continuing with them as long as they keep up with my older and all the way through with my youngest.

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I'm planning on using the 4th and 5th grade lesson plans for next year. I'll switch out the Latin (although I really, really like First Form, my boys have a very intensive love affair with LfC going on...) and the writing (I prefer WWE to CC), but use most of the rest as is. I'm combining the two oldest into the fifth grade lit--I think if I tried to make either of them read Heidi (in the 4th grade lit), I'd have a major revolt on my hands. :)

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Does anyone know how the Literature Guides work? I am wondering why there are only 3 novels for 4th grade? That seems like very few books for a year?

 

Just curious how the guides handle the books, and why there are so few books?

 

Included in the guide is more reading, it's just a separate set. See this example for 2nd grade: http://www.memoriapress.com/descriptions/2ndGrade_Curriculum_Read-Aloud.html

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When I talked to Martin Cothran at our homeschool conference last summer, he said they do a few lit guides per grade as they want the kids to really spend time in those books... But also that they spend time reading a lot of other books too. It's just that they don't expect them to go that into every book they read. If you contact MP and ask for "Martin's book list" they will email you a really long list of books he recommends for every level.

 

I bought the lesson plans but ended up returning them as I realized I would be swapping so much out. But my oldest has loved reading Famous Men of Modern Times alongside SOTW 3 this year, and we are also very happy with their Latin. I am really impressed with the quality of their products and can't wait to use that $10 coupon from their Christmas card!

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I'm planning on using the 4th and 5th grade lesson plans for next year. I'll switch out the Latin (although I really, really like First Form, my boys have a very intensive love affair with LfC going on...) and the writing (I prefer WWE to CC), but use most of the rest as is. I'm combining the two oldest into the fifth grade lit--I think if I tried to make either of them read Heidi (in the 4th grade lit), I'd have a major revolt on my hands. :)

 

Just wanted to point out that I thought the same thing about Treasure Island. I really thought my daughter would hate it. Turns out she loves it. We rabbit trailed over to pirate movies and are having a great time with it.

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I have found that anything that is all scheduled out for me doesn't work for our family. HOWEVER, that being said I love everything in their packages so I buy pretty much everything in the packages and use them how it works best for us. I even use the lesson plan guide b/c we do the recitations in the back and various other things I plan to use it for in the future. I think it is worth the money b/c they will give you an update for free every time they redo it if you ask them to. So I use most of their products our way and it works beautifully. I also add in other things from VP, CC, and PHP but MP will be the bulk of our Latin and handwriting in the younger grades.....

 

stm4him

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Just wanted to point out that I thought the same thing about Treasure Island. I really thought my daughter would hate it. Turns out she loves it. We rabbit trailed over to pirate movies and are having a great time with it.

 

Thanks for the encouragement. MAYBE it is worth a try...:tongue_smilie:

 

 

One thing I am really liking about the lesson plans (at least the samples I've been pouring over), is the amount of work for each day. Very do-able without being overwhelmed. Yes, the workbooks and such can be kind of "dry". But the less is more part leaves me room to add in more (like all my SL lit, or yet another math program...) if I want to, or just be happy with getting done what's in the plans. With 5 little people to manage, I am seeing the beauty of having less to do and then actually getting it done. What a concept. ;)

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Thanks for the encouragement. MAYBE it is worth a try...:tongue_smilie:

 

 

One thing I am really liking about the lesson plans (at least the samples I've been pouring over), is the amount of work for each day. Very do-able without being overwhelmed. Yes, the workbooks and such can be kind of "dry". But the less is more part leaves me room to add in more (like all my SL lit, or yet another math program...) if I want to, or just be happy with getting done what's in the plans. With 5 little people to manage, I am seeing the beauty of having less to do and then actually getting it done. What a concept. ;)

 

Exactly. I am really amazed at how much my youngest has memorized. It's deceptively simple. Everything for my daughter is in beta form and one of the benefits is that I'll get a new copy when they are out of beta that I can use with my son. I wish I had these materials with my older boys.

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Exactly. I am really amazed at how much my youngest has memorized. It's deceptively simple. Everything for my daughter is in beta form and one of the benefits is that I'll get a new copy when they are out of beta that I can use with my son. I wish I had these materials with my older boys.

 

Do they have beta versions of 7th grade available somewhere?

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I keep wanting it, but then reminding myself how many things we would subbing out for. We prefer CLE for math, need Catholic religious studies (not non denominational), we would have to add a ton more science (their science is crazy weak from the looks of it), and I'm not feeling their grammar.

So why on earth do I keep going back to their site????? I'm a gluton for punishment.

 

We sub out the math and phonics for K and I will do the same for next year. This year we have been using Who am I? and next year we will use Faith and Life. I add the catechism questions in with the other memory work.

 

I have the Christian Studies 4 book for my oldest and the only thing I have had to edit so far was a question about the number of books in the Bible. I'm using Faith and Life with him as well. MP has the most Catholic friendly, yet not Catholic program that I have seen.

 

Just in case you want to go look at their website again:lol:...

 

I just wish they had their 8th grade package out in time for my oldest. I will be using a lot of their books for him next year, but it will not be all laid out nicely for me like his younger brother's schedule will be.

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Do they have beta versions of 7th grade available somewhere?

 

You can call or email and ask them. It isn't up on the website, but if you need it now, they may have it, just not formatted well enough to offer for sale. They have been good about selling guides as they were being prepared and then updating as the more finalized copies are printed.

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We are starting our new school year in February and I so want to buy the 3rd and 4th package, but a) I have bought the new books already b) cannot sell them because we live abroad... c) even if I go ahead and buy them they will take ages to come...

 

Booohooo!

 

I just have to wait patiently for the next year... Sniff, sniff...

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Next school year for 2nd grade, we're using many of the items on their 2nd grade list, but I'd also be a tweaker. :D

 

MP's list is in black, our substitutions/additions are in red:

 

 

  • Prima Latina
  • Prima Latina Copybook
  • Copybook III
  • New American Cursive 2
  • Golden Children's Bible Egermeier's Children's Bible
  • SRA Phonics & Classical Phonics All About Spelling

  • Classical Phonics
  • Rod & Staff Math Singapore Math; Math Mammoth; Kumon
  • 2nd Grade Literature Guides (we're saving Little House for 3rd grade, to do along with Farmer Boy; we're adding in a 6-week poetry study)

  • Second Grade Read Aloud Set Our own picks for Literature, Poetry, Geography, History & Science, but similar types of books (some the same)

  • French
  • Musical Instrument

 

It's amazing to me that our 2nd grade course lines up so much with MP's when I didn't even see their curriculum packages/lesson plans until five minutes ago. :glare: Of course, I think MP has done a great job of putting together a nice package for 2nd grade.

 

Question: What is in the back of the lesson plans that you find valuable enough to purchase the plans without actually using them as written? I don't see any mention of what resources are in the teacher's guides.

Edited by Sahamamama
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Question: What is in the back of the lesson plans that you find valuable enough to purchase the plans without actually using them as written? I don't see any mention of what resources are in the teacher's guides.

 

The appendix has recitation, poetry list, literature list, Bible memory verses, and music list. The lit list is on the MP website and the memory verses are taken right from the copybook, so I could have pulled something like this together on my own. But I wouldn't have, and it is getting done, so it is worth the money to me.

 

Science and social studies are scheduled into the week plan. Nothing mind blowing, but I love that it is open ended so we can use the suggestions as a starting point and do as much or as little with it as we want/have time for that week. We plan on using the curriculum in coming years and I will be using more and more of the resources as we go. I am using and have used some of their history/Latin/literature/Christian studies guides for my older ds. I love the format. Having it all put together for me has a lot of appeal.

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So, if I were doing fourth grade next year, but using Christian Studies 1 instead of 2, using a different math, only part of the lit., but doing the Famous Men of Rome, the geography, and the First Form Latin would the curriculum guide be worth it in terms of recitation, memory verses (are the from Christian Studies 2?) etc? I'd love to have all that laid out but I think all my substitutions might make it less useful.

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