Memoria Press- Is it worth it? Something else?

[classicmommy]

My husband and I both work so we share teaching responsibilities for our 1st and 3rd graders. We need a curriculum that is already planned out and easy to implement. I have used a few things from MP and we all loved it. I am considering going to them for everything expect math.

 

I have to hesitations. 1. The cost. I have never spent that much on curriculum. We can make it work. 2. Is there another planned out curriculum (not BJU or Abeka) that I should consider?

 

Thank you!

[3 ladybugs]

What subjects are you wanting to teach? DH and I do what you do and everything I have is pre-planned and most of it is scripted. I pick and choose from all over though, not just one place like that. 

[classicmommy]

Do you do all the planning yourself?

[mommy5]

I LOVE their literature guides.  I am currently using their astronomy and like it.  I'm not familiar with their other subjects...

[3 ladybugs]

It depends on the subject. We use elemental science. That tells us what to do everyday. No need to plan anything as it is done for you. History Odyssey tells you what to do every week. So that takes a bit of planning, or you can just see what your child is up for in a given day and push them on Friday if need be. All About Reading and Spelling I figure out what days I want to pull it out and how soon I want to complete the book and work backwards. If my child needs more time, I push back my date. Handwriting, I do a section a week (for instance with ZB handwriting they group 2 letters and have several pages, so he does one of those a week). Vocabulary tells me what to do everyday, Latin we do one lesson a week. Shiller math I do about 5 lessons a day 3 days a week. 

 

It really doesn't take long for you to figure out how much your child can handle and plan around that. I would look for the best solutions for your child and not worry about the rest. 

 

Good luck!

[purduemeche]

We are not familiar with all their subjects, but certainly the Latin sequence is excellent.

 

 

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[2_girls_mommy]

I have often thought, if the MP full grade currics had been around when mine were starting out that I would use them.  Honestly, I still drool over them. I do like everything I have used from them over the years.  Sometimes it is overkill.  I bought a lit. guide this year to try, and it was great.  But once I used it, I realized it wasn't something we needed to do fully 4-5 times a year.  I can do the same types of things with one or two other books for the year without the guide and without it being quite so much. 

 

I bought the Henle II and Traditional Logic for next year with plans, and I love the way they break it down daily as to what to do.  I think its going to make life so much easier for us. 

 

Before this, Ive used lots of their products, but none with the daily plans. I liked their Astronomy and their Bird Unit in elem. sciences a lot.  I LOVE the latin, and haven't used anything else ever.  I am not a huge fan of the History of (Medicine, Biology, Chemistry, etc.) series as the only science, but done in conjunction with experiments from somewhere else they are good reading. But those are way about the 1-3rd grades.

 

Honestly, If I needed a daily plan MP is the one I would use.  I look at their catalogs constantly to get a feel for what they include each year anyway. I would just say, be prepared to cut out a lot of the writing in the workbooks. They require a ton of writing.  And I am not against writing out answers at all.

[Vida Winter]

I love MP but for my kids the amount of writing needed in workbooks was excessive. I don't know if I could have used it as a full curriculum. As part of our day it is outstanding. We use Latin, various history, and geography.

[Sahamamama]

What MP have you used that you liked? With the lit guides, IMO you only need to do some of them each year, not all. I agree with a PP that MP can be overkill. There is a ton of writing, unless you do a lot of it orally (we do). I wouldn't want to use MP for all of our work, but for some of our work, it's great. We've used MP for:

• Story Time Treasures (all of it, twice -- just wonderful!)
• 2nd grade literature (it was too much when we used it, so we cut some out, but the literature line-up has changed since we used it [i think it's better, but still too much]. We didn't do this the second time around with the twins, though, we just read books and discussed them, without all the work of the guides)
• D'Aulaire's Greek Myths (just read the book several times, without the study guide)
• Prima Latina (twice)
• Latina Christiana I
• Lingua Angelica (learning songs only)
• The Book of Roots (a page here and there, written)
• First Form Latin (only me so far)
• Greek Alphabet (all of us)
• Elementary Greek (only me so far)
• New American Cursive and a few of the copywork books
• What's That Bird? (for science this year, doing it mostly orally, enjoying the whole thing)
• Book of Insects (just reading through some of the resources, not doing the workbook yet; the main text is very old-fashioned, just so you know)
• J.H. Tiner Science books (just the books so far, not the guides)
• States & Capitals (gradually, over the course of about two years)
• Book of Ancient World (we're enjoying this, doing it mostly orally)
• Famous Men of Rome (just reading & answering questions orally)
• Artner's Guide to American History (a quite useful resource when studying US history)
• First Start French (slowly, with the oldest)
• English Grammar Recitation (slowly learning this, while doing First Language Lessons, but we used the wording from FLL instead, because that is what we know best)
• Traditional Logic (only me so far)

Just as another option for an easy-to-implement curriculum, have you seen Christian Light Education? You could try one light unit (workbook) for one or two subjects, just to see if you like them. Very affordable, IMO, and I think CLE is the superior product. Sometimes MP drives me nuts, because it feels like a "beta" version (when it's not), but CLE hardly ever has glitches. CLE is nicely laid out, very clear instruction, and more is directed to the student than with MP (so it's less teacher-driven). But again, I wouldn't want all our work to be in CLE, either. LOL. I suppose there can be too much of even a "good thing." HTH.

Edited April 27, 2016 by Sahamamama

[EmseB]

We did 1st and 3rd grade cores this year and I love Memoria Press. It is deceptive in that it looks like a bunch of independent workbooks, but that's really not how it works. The depth and richness is great for us in 3rd, and 1st grade is gentle but really thorough.

 

You might ask over on the MP forums and see what kind of responses you get for your situation. The ladies and staff there are long time users and are super helpful.

[mamamoose]

I am drooling over MP and really trying to decide between using parts and pieces and going all in! I am going to call this week at some point and see what I can do to consolidate a few things for my kids...

[Holly]

We're going with *mostly* MP for the coming year.  If we were just starting out, I'd probably want to go with the full cores.  However, we already have math, phonics, grammar, literature, and Bible that we already use and enjoy.  I really like how their lesson plans are set up, so I ordered their lesson plan templates.  Now I can merge our materials with theirs!  

 

If it is too much, you can always skip some of the literature guides or do some of the questions orally.  I'm only buying the teacher's guides for some of the programs, so we'll use that for discussion and maybe add in some notebooking instead of the workbooks.  

 

[momee]

I've used many curricula in my 15 years of homeschooling.

We've done Calvert, Sonlight, Tapestry, K12, WTM, MFW and now Memoria Press.

 

The youngest is full core MP 2nd grade, and has finished K and 1.

 

Here were your concerns..."1. The cost. I have never spent that much on curriculum. We can make it work. 2. Is there another planned out curriculum (not BJU or Abeka) that I should consider?"

 

I'll tackle 2 first.  I would not consider any other curricula if I were doing a full program.  MP is designed so nicely, so progressively moving from grade to grade.  It is challenging but we still have time in our day to add in Nancy Larson science if we want to (my child describes herself as a scientist and spy :) .  I will say, instead of Rod and Staff we happily changed to Rightstart.  I chose Rightstart because Rod and Staff is drill and kill, and Rightstart is explore and why's of math.  Sooooo much more comprehension with Rightstart.  

 

1.  You can greatly reduce your cost, especially in the lower grades (which you are using) by not getting a full core and simply eliminating the teacher's guides (you do not need them!)   I am not moving my upcoming third grader into Latina Christiana next year.  We are going super slow and steady through Prima Latina, doing half for second grade and the other half for third grade. So you could eliminate LC in third and just do Prima with them both.  The little will retain some - plug in the cd and do the prayers together :)

 

I get a longing in the spring to change things up - so I do - temporarily. THis year it was purchasing Wayfarers - (WTM chatter got the best of me - roll eyes smiley) Then I go running back to MP because my best laid plans fell apart (I forgot to order a book, I neglected to spend Sunday afternoon planning the week out).  Most importantly I come back because I am very busy and distractable!  I love checking that daily lesson plan box and knowing my kids are getting a stellar education!)

 

Your needs may be different but I'm guessing you are one busy woman.  I don't mind spending time on actual teaching and doing school but wasted hours on choosing, ordering and planning for school - huhuh.  BTDT, I'm done.  I need open/go/learn/excellent, prepared school time.

 

As we go through higher grades (I know, not just saying, because my older daughter did MP online and full 7th grade core) it gets very, very independent.  I need to know my student is going to have her needs met if I end up working or just plain being busy (or getting burnt out) and we can continue with a proven scope and sequence.

Hope this helps.  I am sooooo thankful for MP.  It's kept us homeschooling when I was burnt out, challenged my kids beyond where I would have sent them, and has made me a nicer mommy on Monday mornings knowing I can wheel out the school cart and we're ready to work.