Sodalitas and Purchasing Curriculum

[JessicaW]

I have a few questions regarding purchases and deals. I will start by saying that when people tell you to buy direct from Memoria, believe them! Last year we were dipping our toe in and only purchased Latina Christiana, First Form Latin, and Music Appreciation 1. Well, I purchased those from a large online company. Never again! This year I decided to utilize February free shipping and we ordered several components of 8th grade, along with 6th Lit, 7th Lit, and the D'auliers set. I was completely floored by the discount when I called to place my order. Plus, the curriculum manuals (which helped give me the deal) are AMAZING. I wasted so much time photo copying my children's quizzes and tests this year only to find out recently that when you purchase direct from Memoria, those are included as PDF downloads! ? I know this is probably old news, but I wish I had purchased direct last year and want to spare readers here from making my mistake. Here are my questions. ?

1- Are there any pros or cons to purchasing things at the Sodalitas conference over purchasing them over the phone this month? I have a few more things I am considering, but I think seeing it all in person might be nice.

2- Is there a place to purchase the accompanying PDF downloads for items you already own?

3- If you are new to Memoria, it is good to wait until after hearing all the information at Sodalitas to make final curriculum choices?

Thank you all!

[Colomama]

You sound on the fence about some specific items....spill the deets.... we'll crowd+source answers to pros and cons of different pieces for different ages and help you decide.

I'm a touchy feely person, I like to see stuff in person, but honestly I haven't really been swayed from my original idea after seeing stuff in person.

And customer service....agreed, it's amazing.

[pickandgrin]

JessicaW One difference from ordering now and waiting until Sodalitas is the time between when you purchase and when you plan to teach the curriculum. If you need as much time as possible to preview and pre-read Teacher Materials, then sooner is better than later. If you have no time to do this until summertime anyway, that difference disappears.

[JessicaW]

pickandgrin, I received most of the things for my 2 oldest who will be in 8th and 6th, so I can start going through it all and preparing. That said, you raise a good point in the benefit of having it all earlier. To be clear, there is no financial benefit to purchasing at the conference, correct?

[JessicaW]

Colomama, I am wondering about some of the "extras" related to First Form or LC. I know each family is different, but wondered about the games book, charts, Lingua Angelica, etc. A lot are questions about smaller items and then in particular about the 2nd grade enrichment book.

On the other hand, I continue to have a whole OTHER thread of thought regarding my younger ones. We did not like where Sonlight (which we've used for the past 3 years) was going in the older grades, which is what led us to purchasing MP for next year for 8th grade. I had planned to just use what we have for our younger 4, since we own it already and like it in many ways.

The deeper I wade into the forum, the MP YouTube videos, and past Sodalitas videos, the more I question what we have used in the past.
The more I understand the scope and sequence of MP and the thought process behind it...
The more I take all of that MP vision and look through the 8th grade materials we purchased and see how it is intentional and purposeful...
The more I think back on how FFL, LC, and Music Appreciation 1 (the only MP things we had used) were the most rewarding parts of this school year for us...
See where this is going? It is HARD to get rid of curriculum. Just me??? I mean, if little elves came and stole it all while I slept and I was forced to buy MP for my younger 4, I wouldn't mind it. Until that happens, I might be here overthinking and second guessing.
????

[Colomama]

JessicaW I'm headed to bed, but wanted to say you will never ever regret jumping to MP for phonics/ reading and spelling in those young grades. Like, never ever. I would bale on Sonlight for MP in a hot minute for those specifically.

Latin games and charts, yep. Lingua Angelica, meh.

The biggest difference between Sonlight and MP is MP goes deep and slow. Sonlight felt like a reading competition, how many books can we stuff into a year, for us anyways.

[tanya]

Hello.

Buying now versus buying at SG is the same - free shipping with both purchases. So no advantage to waiting, unless you want to look more closely at the books in person. And no disadvantage to waiting either, if you are on the fence and want to spend the days at SG garnering more knowledge to make a good decision.

If you email [email protected], they will have the answer for you about downloads. If you bought your books from one of our distributors (Rainbow or Christian Books), we will give you the downloads. If you bought them used, I think you have to pay $2.50 for them. So either way, it's a deal!

Tanya

[JessicaW]

tanya, Thank you! I purchased all three items from Christian Books and am sure I can find my email receipt, so I will send it to the sales email and explain. Awesome that you all offer that.

[JessicaW]

Colomama, thanks for your recommendations! I think I am continuing to move closer to jumping ship on more and more things. ?