Final decisions have been made so I thought I should update anyone who is interested. I really like Teaching Textbooks for math but the level my son needed isn't being released until Feb. 2010. I really like CQLA but I know we needed more phonics instruction to help Joshua's reading along even more. I was in our local homeschool store last week and happen upon Saxon Phonics and Math. I was really impressed with their Phonics so I researched it a bit more at home. I also gave him the placement test for Saxon math. So last week I bought the Saxon Phonics and Math and we started them last week. Saxon has computer CD's that are very similar to Teaching Textbooks starting in 54 so that is covered if I feel like I need it. I have decided to wait on CQLA and see where we are at the end of this year for that. At a bare minimum I see myself using Meaningful Composision in the future. Then again I might just go back to CQLA. I just feel like we might need a bit more formal grammar than CQLA gives but that is easy enough to rememdy with CLE or ACE English. I am very pleased with the Saxon at this point. I was somewhat of an anti Saxon person so this was a pleasant surprise for me. I'll try to start doing a weekly update and give my opinion of the Saxon Phonics (and Math too).
We are using Heart of Dakota for our history and science. I love HOD so this is working out great for us. I am looking into using BJU science in addition to HOD's though. I think HOD's science is fine but Joshua is science minded so I think using a formal science might be a good idea for him in case he ends up in a science career down the road.
We are also starting Notgrass's Celebrate Thanksgiving unit study this week. This is super fun and we are looking forward to doing this over this month. We will also do their Celebrate the Savior study over December. I will post our Advent plans very soon since it starts here in a few weeks.
My computer's hard drive is dying so I am borrowing my neighbors laptop to update here. I hope to have a new hard drive put in my laptop soon so I can get back to business.
