Just wondering if anyone has experience with either, or both, of these and an experienced opinion on them.

Would be for a 1st grader.

Dave,

Thank you for the reply.

Neither of these are obscure, depending on the social circle. There's a slight difference in the two (Seton is more foundational and no nonsense in its approach, whereas MODG has integrated some Charlotte Mason approaches -- nature time, heavier on Liberal Arts, etc. while still being structured; MODG is headed by Laura Berquist, whose husband was a founding member of Thomas Aquinas College.).

The main complaint against Seton is it's "strict" for the student whereas it seems like MODG is more intensive for the parent.

However, most "reviews" we could find seem more emotional than data driven. Was hoping to get more of a male perspective since most of the folks who write about this stuff are women.

We have had exposure, but no direct experience.  We (and by that I mean my wife) looked into both and have many friends who use both.  They both seem to be high-quality, but we ruled them out due to the sheer volume of busy work.  For one who has no idea where to start, they're probably both good options since they offer very specific plans, but I would recommend to new homeschooling parents to relax and not burn their kids out.

I dunno about MODG, but Seton specifically states the extra work is not required. It's there for reinforcement. But if that's not needed and they are competent for the tests, that's all that ultimately matters.

This is one of the misconceptions about Seton that steered us away until we realized what it was: a misconception.

Good to know.  It sounds like you like Seton.  How long have you been using it?

ETA: To be clear, my previous comment about not burning kids out was not to admonish against these programs, but if new homeschooling parents start using them, they don't necessarily need to do everything the program prescribes.

We are starting this year w/ it.

Initially we were highly against it because of reviews we'd read. But after actually seeing the materials, knowing folks who went through it in its entirety (all highly competent at academics and life in general), talking with several families who use it in a variety of grades (K-3, K-12 respectively) and having experience with some other stuff to compare it to (my wife homeschooled from 7th-12th grade; we used The Good and The Beautiful for Pre-K and Memoria Press for Kindergarten), we decided overall it was the answer for us.

The enrollment, included lesson plans, books, and grading makes the most sense for us. With 4 kids age 6 and under, it's a good comprehensive package with less original effort required.

We found MODG w/ its emphasis on nature time, etc., pointless. We live on 2.5 acres. Anytime they aren't "in" school it's nature time. lol.

Neither of us are fans of Thomas Aquinas College folks, nor the neo-"Classical" movement, so MODG being associated with that milieu further swayed us away.

ETA: The biggest thing we have seen w/ Seton is the amount of BAD info out there. Of the "bad" reviews we have read, it seems people don't understand that they don't have to do ALL the workbook activities. Those are there for optional and supplemental purposes, with required activities being spelled out. Seton themselves, when one looks at their actual information, is very specific that the curriculum should be made to fit the child, not the child to fit the curriculum.

For a contextual example: The Rosary is what it is. All the extras people throw on (Fatima prayer, litanies at the end, etc.) are not part of it; it can be prayed well in like, 15-17 minutes. Yet people get burned out on what is a fairly short chaplet because they turn it into a Pontifical High Mass levels of production lasting 30+ minutes with drawn out extra prayers, meditation moments (on top of the fact that it's supposed to be meditative), etc.

We just completed the Seton Pre-K curriculum.  Will be doing the K in the fall.  Seems like a good curriculum so far.

Emphasis seemed to be on literacy and religion (which is fine for us).  The "Early Literacy for Young Catholics" book was well done.  I would have liked to see a little more math and science emphasis, but it's pre-k, and nerdy parents more than make up for it.

Don't sweat the busy work.  You will axe some of it when needed.  No big deal.

After a lot of reading on both, we chose Seton to start our homeschool careers.  Our boys are 8, 9, 10 years old, so I'll post updates if thats helpful as we get our school year going.

So far, I was impressed by the mountain of books Seton sent.  It's nice to hear it reasserted that there's lots of optional work included...  We're gonna start simple with core subjects and open it up as we gain momentum