Double Latin, Double Math?
I'm looking at next year's schedule - we're going to be doing PL here at home and hopefully taking a Minimus class w/ some other homeschoolers. I do intend to go over anything she's learning in Minimus at home at some point during each day, but not at the same time we're doing PL, which means that basically, we'll have two (three, if you add recitation) Latin 'sessions' each day.
So now I'm considering doing the same thing for math. We'd do our primary math curriculum as one of our three first things (recitation, Latin, math), and then use our secondary curriculum, as well our extra stuff for drill during a second session. Sometimes, ideally, we'd mix up what was done when - maybe more formally (i.e. primary curriculum first thing MWF, other math first thing TR, or primary first thing MTWR, other math first thing F).
I should say here that dd (who'll be 6/1st grade) has a real flair for math. I hesitate to use the word gifted, because I really don't know, but she thoroughly enjoys it and seems to grasp the concepts easily.
Am I crazy to even think of this? Has anyone tried something similar?
I'm doubling too, though....
My plan is also to use two programs for Latin and Math, but this is just a plan at this point (I haven't implemented it yet). We will start First Grade in September, and my dd will turn 7 in October. But I don't really plan to use both programs every day; we will alternate. I don't want to give her too much "seat work" during the Primary years. We'll take them pretty lightly, and then get more serious in the Grammar years. But that probably depends a lot on the kid and whether they are ready. I just think that my dd needs plenty of outside, unstructured, play time right now. At the same time, I really like the idea of using two programs for these critically important subjects, because I want to make sure we're covering all the ground we need to cover. So we will do just that, but take it slow.
I think PL and Minimus is a great mix
And frankly, as long as the kid tolerates it, I don't think you can do too much Latin and math!
We kind of double up on math with my oldest. He uses Singapore, but I also have him "sit in" on his brother's Right Start lessons. In this way he often has two math lessons a day. My younger son also uses both Singapore and Right Start, but only one or the other per day.
We do "doubles" as well...
For Latin there's recitation, our "home" program (finishing LC2 and starting Henle soon) and our "class" program (last year Minimus, this year Minimus Secundus at a class I teach with other home schooled kids)... For math, there's drill, Singapore, and Horizons -- and also some math games and supplements (Primary Grade Challenge Math, The Number Devil, etc) for fun. As Steph put it, "As long as your child tolerates it, you can't really have too much math and Latin"...
I don't do much planning in terms of "this first this day, that first on those days", etc. We just do it... There are days when we don't do both programs, but it seems to work out over time.
Not exactly the same thing...
but we do a lot of math and Latin around here, and we always seem to be using at least two programs. My 5yos is actually working through three math programs right now: MUS, Singapore, and Miquon. I had intended to drop Miquon when I bought MUS for him, but he requests Miquon fairly frequently, so we've continued using it. I haven't started Latin with him yet, but I did both PL and Minimus with my oldest when we started Latin. It worked out fine for us, and I intend to do the same when I start Latin with my 5yos. Actually, come to think of it, my 9yos technically does three different math programs, too: MUS, Singapore, and he's working on some of the Key to... series booklets as well.
We don't have a real strict schedule for working through multiple programs. Sometimes we may work on more than one program in a day, and sometimes we may focus on one program for a while, then switch to the other for a while. Usually, we hit each program at least once or twice a week.