Well, I know all about trying to save a few pennies. :) If you are referring to English 3 Beginning Wisely TM, I have it and would be happy to give it to you if you pay to have it shipped. The pages are all clean and the inside cover says "seconds". Just PM me as I'm headed to the PO this morning to send some other items.

I've used Genesis and really like it!

IMHO, the plus of CLE is that it will teach fractions (and other math concepts) in bite-sized chunks then it provides practice and constant review which seemed to help it stick for my dd. The whole lesson is not on fractions, but fractions will come up in most lessons. CLE provides variety rather than sticking to one topic a child may struggle with so the student can "move on" in math knowing mastery will come in due time.

Ditto! We began using CLE this year, too, and though I LOVE it, my dd is not fond of workbooks. She is a story kind of gal so MCT seems like it may resonate with her so yesterday, I took the plunge and ordered the Town level to take a look. I feel the same way! I already own next year’s CLE LA so wondered about combining the two although perhaps I’ll feel differently when I actually see MCT. I really appreciate hearing this since I just pushed the “buy it†button on MCT. Thanks for sharing!

If the student needs more review than CLE seems like a great choice with its spiraling review. We used MUS Alpha and my dd was in tears because she just couldn't master her addition facts so we were "stuck". We switched to RightStart and completed Level B & C. RS was great but my dd still didn't have her math facts down and she really need more review/practice in order to cement things so we moved on to CLE. She's not crazy about CLE because it requires more of her (4 pages versus a one page worksheet in RS), but she is learning and her math facts are sticking!

Looks great! Wish I could be there but I live out in the wild west. :) Do you know if MCT ever runs a sale on their Level 1-3 products like free shipping, etc.. at various times of the year? I plan to order Town Level for the fall and just wondered if there is an optimum time to buy it to get the best price break. Thanks!

Thanks Jen! Am I correct in understanding that your dc did LOF Fractions in conjunction with TT 6 & 7? My dd is finishing CLE 400 and will start 500 next week. I wasn't sure how far one should have progressed in CLE before introducing LOF Fractions. I want LOF to challenge her, but not in an overwhelming way since math isn't her thing. She LOVES stories so I think she'll enjoy LOF plus it provides a way to apply what she has learned in CLE.

Thanks Wendi! Do you plan on using LOF and CLE together or will you drop CLE for LOF?

Thanks for the info. It was helpful! I don't know if I'm sold on MCT since I don't have it in my hot little hands yet so the draw toward buying the posters is the fact that they are on sale this weekend. Does anyone know if they'll offer them in the future as a digital download so we can print and laminate ourselves?

What level (or Light Unit) of CLE did you complete before introducing LOF Fractions and LOF Decimals and Percents? Thanks!

Can someone confirm that the Home Posters are in the Town level books which I plan to order this weekend? I have a laminator so it'd be easy to make my own if they are the same. Thanks!

Yes, costs do differ depending on what zone you are shipping to unless you use the flat rate box. Last time I checked flat rate box prices they were as follows: Small box in $4.95 (fits a VHS tape) Medium box $10.70 Large box $14.50 When I sold math manipulatives, I was shocked at how expensive shipping was when I couldn't use Media Mail. It was even more $$ because the person buying the item lived across the country. I had to "live and learn" as I didn't make much profit on that sale so you are wise to factor shipping into your price.

When I used RightStart, I did not supplement. This year we used CLE without supplementation and all is well. :)

We've done Level B & C. It is not hard to teach once you are familiar with their methodology, but it does take time to teach it.

Perhaps you've answered your own question! :) She's already getting solid grammar with R & S so it's not like you NEED Grammar Town, but it sounds like your dd would ENJOY GT if you want to fork out the $$. I feel the same way about giving up traditional diagramming. We use CLE so my dd has learned diagramming and I'd like her to retain that skill but I'm intrigued by MCT so I'm thinking of doing it along with CLE. I copied out a GT sentence from their online sample and dd diagrammed it easily. If you want to add GT, you could switch it up by having her analyze some of the sentences the "MCT way" and then diagram others. That's what I plan to do until I decide to stick with one and let the other go or keep both methods.

When my daughter did the placement test she scored a 70-71 which indicated she could go into CLE 500 (barely) so I had the same dilemma as you. I could tell by looking at what she missed in the test that they were concepts we had not covered yet (study skills, dictionary skills) so I knew we could easily catch up. I started her in 500 and it was the right decision. My understanding is that Math is the only subject that treats the 01 Light Unit as a review of the previous level's work. I don't think LA 401 was a review of Level 300.

:thumbup1: Thanks for sharing!

Yes, I would if I felt it was a better fit for my student. We used GWG 3 & 4 then switched to CLE 500. I really like both programs but they are different. GWG is more of a mastery approach in that each chapter covers a main topic. In GWG 4, Ch 1 Sentences, Ch 2 Nouns, Ch 3 Pronouns, Ch 4 Verbs which means student doesn’t learn about Prepositions until Ch 7 (the end of the year). In CLE, they are learning bite-sized bits of information about every part of speech throughout the year. GWG has a review page in each lesson, but my dd needed more practice than GWG provided in order to make it “stick” and CLE provided that reinforcement through its spiraling review. Often, she would forget what she had learned in GWG because it had been taught months ago and hadn't been reviewed in awhile whereas CLE seemed to keep the concepts before her more often. Does that make sense? I'd go with the approach you think would work best for your child (spiral vs. mastery) and ignore the number on the front of the book. As a side note, just this morning I looked at GWG samples for Grade 6 & 7 to see how it compared to CLE. From the table of contents, it looks as if CLE 500 has already covered what GWG 6 teaches, so if I were switching back to GWG (I’m not), I think I’d skip GWG 6 and move my dd from CLE 500 into GWG 7 which would put her "ahead" of grade level. The number on the front of the book isn't what is important, IMHO. :)

It is not uncommon for a child to test into a lower "grade" level in CLE because it covers some math concepts earlier than other math programs. My dd tested into CLE 400, but I started her in 306-308 just to give her a feel for it and to help her be successful. After completing CLE 306-308, we jumped ahead to 402 because she passed the test in 401 with flying colors. We are almost done with 410. When I viewed Saxon's online placement test, I think she could easily pass the 6/5 test so if we were to switch to Saxon, she'd go from CLE 400 into Saxon 7/6. Just wanted you to know that so you won't be discouraged if she tests lower in CLE than you expect. This fall, my dd will be a 6th grader in CLE 500 and it doesn't bother me a bit that she is not in Level 600. I love the color of BJU, but I know my dd would freak out if she had to copy all of her math problem on paper every day which is one reason we went with CLE. The problems are beautifully laid out on the workbook page so there is no extra copying (less chance of making silly errors)! :) I wish you the best and hope that BJU will be just what you've been looking for to help your dd! :)

:iagree: CLE and BJU have an entirely different scope and sequence so they will cover math topics at different times. We are finishing CLE 400 and I have a BJU 5 textbook that someone gave me. I haven't used BJU to supplement CLE but I can see how it would work if I chose to because BJU is mastery. Each chapter in BJU focuses on ONE main math concept (Decimals, Fractions, Metric system). A lesson in CLE will contain problems on SEVERAL concepts such as fractions, decimals, multi-digit multiplication, long division with remainders, the metric system, etc... If your BJU lesson has not yet covered that concept (decimals), then your student would have difficulty doing that type of problem when she encounters it in CLE. Does that make sense?

For CLE Math 300, the Teacher's Manual contains the answer key as reproduced pages from the student workbooks with answers filled in. So if you use 300 and want the Answer Key, you need to buy the Teacher's Manual. For CLE Math 400, the answer keys ($6.40) can be purchased separately from the TM ($7.00). The answer key at Level 400 gives answers only. The student pages are not reproduced in the key which is why it is less expensive than the key you buy for Level 300. We are finishing up Level 400 and I did not have the Teacher's Manual nor did I feel it was necessary. I only used the answer key. The first Light Unit (workbook for the student) in every Math course only (not other subjects) is a review of the previous year's material. Math 401 tests the students on their mastery of what was taught in Math Level 300 but it does not include instructional material. For example, it will test on decimals, but it does not give the students instructional material on how to actually work with decimals because instructional material is contained in Light Units 402-410, NOT in 401. We are almost finished with Level 400 so I'll be selling my Answer Keys and an unused 401. If interested you can PM me. Hope this helps!

Have you considered Old Sturbridge Village, a large outdoor history museum? http://www.osv.org/

I need one, too, but after checking my usual resources, I can't seem to find one.

We are in LA 508 and though I have the TM, I haven't really used it.

We use CLE 500! It's independent and very thorough.