Kind of a ditto of many above, but just chiming in to say the we use/used OPG in conjunction with ETC. No coordination, just let her/him do ETC at her/his own pace while we did OPG. My soon-to-be 8yo learned that way and she is a SUPER reader right now. And ds (almost 5) is on his way!

You can get the Galore Park books at bookdepository.co.uk -- I just ordered from them. You get free shipping and it arrived (in VA) within 10 days. (I also ordered the 1st Harry Potter book in French -- something I had always thought of getting. They have all kinds of books -- it is kind of like our Borders or B&N?)

:iagree: This is exactly what I do. I did find some of the things I wanted cheaper on Amazon this year. I also check barnes & noble online (bn.com) -- they have free shipping over $25, too.

I have just let my kids go through them at their own pace and, since they actually like to do them, they go/have gone quickly. But, like the other posters said, you don't just do one a year. I found that 1, 3 & 3 went well with the OPGTR in helping them to read. My dd only went up to 6 because at that time she was really reading well.

We have only done one chapter, but it is funny and the kids like that. I even find it entertaining! It is just for my older dd, but the younger two were listening along, too. We are going to use it as a supplement to TT7. The author says it is stand alone, but I think some more practice would not hurt. :001_smile:

I asked my soon-to-be 8 yo and she mentioned the American Girls (Kit is popular now b/c of the movie, but she wanted me to mention them all lol ), Laura & Mary Ingalls, Hermione, Mulan, Disney fairies -- plus some others already mentioned. She also said Gabriella from High School Musical and Mitchie from Camp Rock (the disney movie that just aired not too long ago)

I got Latin Prep from http://www.bookdepository.co.uk -- you can get the Galore Park books there. They have free shipping, and they shipped quickly. We got it within 10 days.

We just got our Life of Fred books (we got Fractions and Decimals & Percents) in the mail today and, so far (we did chapter 1), we love it! And the author (Stan Schmidt) was very nice via e-mail, and even autographed the books! Thanks to those of you who suggested LOF on various threads -- I am glad we got it. :D

I.....am.....almost....there! Congrats on finishing the hunt. :001_smile:

You can call them the day after you place the order and ask if there are any backordered things. If there are, you can just ask them to cancel those items if you want it to come sooner (rather than them holding the whole order waiting for the items). That is what I just did (only 2 items out of about 22 were backordered). I have never had a problem, even when I lived in Hawaii. (I paid the extra for priority shipping and always got it really quickly.) Good luck!

:001_huh:

I guess I did misunderstand. :sad:

Oh, and I talked with the rep at a convention last weekend. You can photo copy the workbook for your family's use. And we are going to use Writing Strands with it, too. :001_smile:

For what it's worth, I just went back and forth (and up and down and all around!) trying to decide on a grammar program for my 11yo, looking with criteria similar to yours. After all of my research, I did wind up shelling out the big bucks for AG -- it just seems to cover everything I was looking for and in a way I think will work. (I, personally like diagramming and think it helps cement what they learn and AG has some). I may adjust their schedule (speed up over things she knows, slow down in areas she needs help), but they do provide a 2-year schedule that would work well with someone who has had some grammar before.

World map and US map in the basement (aka, classroom). We also have a map that my parents got us when they opened a school in Cambodia -- it doesn't have the US in the center, it has Asia. Different world view. :001_smile:

From reading through the Singapore site and using the books, I think to get full advantage of the Singapore program they recommend that you use the Textbook, Workbook and then the Challenging Word Problems and/or the Intensive practice (I think they suggest "and" rather than "or"). For the younger years, though, I used just the Text, Workbook, and Extra Practice. We started the CWP later. The Home Instructor's Guide came about as a response to the overwhelming homeschool use. It is written to the parent and gives teaching tips, etc., as well as the answers and a rough schedule of when to do what. The Teacher's Guide is what they had prior to the HIG and is written more for classroom use. I found the HIG more useful in the later years. For 1 and even 2 it is pretty easy math and not hard to correct yourself. You may want it for extra activity suggestions. The guides are optional, though. The US Edition includes standard measurement (not just metric) and US money. The standard edition is written for students in Singapore and doesn't include those. I would recommend the US edition. I have not used Horizons, but I think starting at 1A would be best because Singaore teaches the kids to look at math problems in a different manner than most US programs. I have used Singapore 1 - 3 with all of my kids and they really liked it. My ds is using Singapore 1A now and loves it. He is young, though, so we are only doing the workbook. He did the Singaore K program and wanted to continue. HTH!

That was my thinking, but I was just curious. :001_smile: Thanks!

I have gotten this, too, and I just learned what rep was -- so I remember the people I have repped. :001_smile:

I think it looks good! You can always tell them to call you to discuss anything further. Good luck!

When you give your dc the Iowa tests, how do you choose the level? Do you test them at "grade level" -- the grade they would be in if they were in public school? Or do you test them at the level they are working? (If they are working ahead or behind?)

Thanks, Amy. I actually talked to them at a convention I just attended, and could have recieved the 10%, too...but, of course, I couldn't decide on the spot. lol Oh well.

:001_smile: Thanks! Woo hoo!

And I just made 200! :D

So why do I keep seeing other posts popping up on the thread?? Is it just me?? The hive is shutting me out!! :toetap05: ;)

:laugh: Just too cute!!!