Thank you for sharing. In fact, I do have some Chinese workbooks already, so I'm going to take a closer look at them later. But Ms. Ma's website is completely in Chinese, right? I don't even know what button to press to place the order :D. If I did order from her website, I could find someone to teach while I watch and learn. Oh yes, I remember I had a question: Does Ms. Ma's program have a CD?

I think ChildBook has free shipping over $25, but I didn't see anything like that at Better Chinese. Did anyone else decide to try the program? I'm about to make a purchase for the 36 books and level 1, but was also looking at mzchinese.org which is only about $15 per level and haven't yet found an English manual.

Tracy, thank you for explaining this book in more detail. ATCL would probably be better for a child that is more comfortable with drawing and not having to follow a step-by-step manual. I definitely would like to use this book in the future but DD is not at that level yet. This was a child who did not like coloring until now so her maturity level hasn't reached the point where she will have the patience to analyze fine art. It's good enough that she can sit and follow Masiello's books.

Tracy, this does look quite good. Will it help a child go through each drawing step-by-step? We've been using all of Ralph Masiello's drawing books such as this one which does help a beginner with each step, so now DD can draw dragons, bugs, ocean creatures, pyramids,etc. It's not an art appreciation book but more of a wordless, instructional manual that will have anyone drawing in 5 minutes. In fact, Masiello's books are great when the parent needs a break; it's that independent and there is no preparation involved except handing over color pencils and a sketch book. However, Art Through Children's Literature is a step beyond Masiello's books since the author teaches technique, so it's a more sophisticated art book.

Wapiti, did you figure out google e-books? I looked but didn't see anything more on buying it as a book. If it's possible to print out the book in a larger font size, that would be helpful.

As I mentioned in your other post, we were able to use Henle right after using GSWL and we started when DD was kind of young, probably around 4.5 and she's not gifted, so in my mind I really think a child of any age can tackle it but it would have to be an older child if there hasn't been any other book before it. She just happened to be an early reader, so reading English or reading Latin was not really a problem by that time. I think it would have been a lot harder if we didn't use GSWL. The transition was surprisingly smooth. I'm always on the lookout for other Latin curricula, but so far, I haven't yet found anything as thorough and straight-forward as Henle. We're not really into Latin puzzles, games, or songs, but if your child is, Henle won't work and it would definitely be better to choose another program that would get the kid to study Latin. Henle is just, well, a bunch of sentences to translate, but the fun part for us is actually translating correctly. Finding the words in a puzzle or singing a song in Latin wouldn't give us the same sense of accomplishment. There is limited vocabulary, but that's the benefit of using Henle. I don't think it would work as well if each lesson had too many new words to learn. Maybe a better format would be MP's First Form since it reflects Henle's format, but it's expensive. Also, since the font is small, the parent could also use Henle orally or use that pdf file, which doesn't contain all the exercises. We've done it orally for quite awhile.

Is every verb conjugated before it is introduced in a sentence? Or at least eventually? I didn't see an example of this. I can see that all the nouns are defined. I'm hesitant to use a program that is immersion-based since my Spanish is weak. I like GSWS because it is thoroughly explained and the author takes an incremental, grammar-focused approach. I was planning to use Las Puertas Retorcidas with SYRWTLS after finishing GSWS, but REAL Spanish might be a good supplement for DD to do on her own since it has games. I wish the author would provide more samples so that I can see whether the verbs are fully conjugated like in GSWS. I suppose I could always look them up and have DD memorize them. I like a program where I can see the bigger picture (is that whole to parts approach?).

I was thinking of using Galore Park's So You Really Want to Learn French after using all the levels of Nallenart D'art Lire. If you choose Galore Park, you can order the books/cd/tests from http://www.horriblebooks.com with free shipping and 20% discount.

It can't be later than us. I told DH that we could never go to school because of our late evenings, late mornings.

Christopher Paolini should make room for little Satori soon!

Oh another thing is that I didn't introduce all the languages at once. First it was Chinese, then Spanish (but then dropped it for a while), Latin, back to Spanish, and now French. We only do short lessons every day, so it's actually possible to get 4 languages done within 1 hour and that's with a child that runs around while translating. It's not ideal, but it's the best we can do for now.

As I said in my P/M to you, the siggy looks great but in fact it's not as impressive since I'm not good with languages and that hinders DD. With GSWL, we finished within 4 months, but with GSWS, we are taking time because I really need her to speak it well and repeat it after me only after listening to me once. She is not allowed to read the book. I can't carry a conversation in Spanish, despite taking a few classes over the years, but I can pronounce the words well and read it aloud fast, so I'm hoping that this method will help her understand someone else one day. As for Chinese, I wish I could put more time into teaching her characters, but for now, we are focused on speaking it and expanding her vocabulary. Those Chinese characters are just so difficult to remember so in fact I don't know if I can actually memorize enough to correct her work, and so the procrastination continues.

We're on lesson #101 in GSWS and I really love it! I think DD would love it more if I allowed her to translate from the book, but I think with any language program it can be made more effective if done only orally if the child can already read the words fluently. I did have DD initially read the sentences aloud, but then it was just too easy for her to translate and it was an easy way out of really listening carefully without visual aid. You don't need to know Spanish and the author provides a pronunciation MP3 file. Some kids may not like the approach of GSWS and GSWL because it's really a no-nonsense, grammar-focused book with no drawings and lots of white space. But that's the only way I can teach and this book will give any child a solid beginning to another program. As to which program I will use after this book, I wish I knew and may post this question in a couple of weeks. I'm going to go through GSWS again after we are finished but this time only having her translate from English to Spanish. Now if only the author could write one up for German and French.

The link is in this post.

I have MP's guide, but I will be buying the Seton answer key which is supposed to contain all the answers to every problem in Henle. I'll send you a P/M with an attachment since I can't seem to find that website. If I can find it again, I'll post it here.

Thank you for posting this! DD loves Khan but I recently forgot about it until your posting. We're starting 3A Std. soon (if I can find a used textbook) and having someone else explain concepts will be especially helpful.

She thanked you?!?! And she doesn't want presents too! I kind of stopped reading to DD when she learned to read chapter books because I just couldn't read some of them aloud (e.g. Geronimo, Magic Tree House). DH loves to read aloud but since I'm the one that spends most of the time with her, I should have read more often during the day, but I didn't unless it was a book that I never read and it could hold my attention. I thought it was fine since she was an advanced reader, who happens to read really fast, but I think younger kids should not read constantly due to vision problems and should not be reading so quickly. So in the last several months, I've limited DD's reading time and whenever there is free time or when I need to do some work, she listens to an audiobook, which turns out to be about 3 hours per day. Recently I downloaded a free lecture from IEW's website called Four Language Arts and Andrew Pudewa emphasized the importance of reading aloud - that it's vital to a child's education, specifically writing skill and other skills that I cannot remember right now. However, he did say that it was also fine to play audiobooks. I'm also making more of an effort, but normal books take time and it can be tiring on the voice. So if you can't read aloud, I think it's perfectly fine to play an audiobook and listen to it together. Maybe even pause it after every chapter to talk about it if she likes. ETA: I now bring my Kindle everywhere we go so whenever there is any waiting time, I read to her, even in public. ETA part 2: You can also read longer picture books to her even if she is kind of past that because I tried that last weekend with DD and those books still captivate her.

Hmm, I'm not seeing the teacher's edition on bookdepository.com. I wasn't planning to order it but still would kind of like to know why I can't find it. Did you order the teacher's manual from this site just this evening?

You have a very sweet child. What about something like CitiBlocs? I bought that recently for DD and she's been able to sit by herself and listen to audiobooks while building structures. I tend to gravitate toward educational toys without batteries and ones that require a child to work on it for at least 30 minutes. I also have a box of Haba's Ball Tracks that use marbles. I noticed that DD loves to color while listening to audiobooks, so I purchased 3 of the Ralph Masiello's Drawing Books. They are simply wonderful because he teaches step-by-step how to draw ocean creatures, bugs, dragons, etc. So for someone who used to only draw stick figures, she is now drawing so many wonderful things.

There's a 10% sale at bookdepository.com which ends today, so I may order Skoldo. But is the teacher's manual necessary? The answers are apparently on the back of the student workbook and it comes with a CD. I just downloaded Nallenart D'art Lire Level 1 and I think it will work for us, but I would like to add something else as well, like Skoldo. I think my plan will be to finish all the levels of Lire and then move on to SYRWTLF.

There still ARE lovely kids in the U.S. who don't want more things! I completely understand you - I also have a daughter like that and as a parent I would like to give her some presents for her birthday, but kids like that really only want a lot of family time, like chasing around the dining room table by monsters (ahem, us) or snuggling together to read a new book.

Do you think they are homeschooling their kids? Wouldn't a lot of English graduates qualify? I thought most Europeans speak at least Spanish and French and are required to study Latin and Greek before entering an English university. A lot of moms on this board would qualify as well.

We just began, but each lesson has taken just about 15 minutes, including dictation and copywork, although for the latter, it depends on how focused DD is at that moment, so in fact it could extend by another 5 minutes. But I'm sure you don't have that problem of a wiggly child, right :D?

What Piano Adventure books would you recommend that we purchase? Is there a need to purchase the entire set (e.g. Lesson, Theory, Performance, and Technique and Artistry)? I was thinking of only buying Lesson, Theory, and maybe Technique/Artistry books. I plan to continue with Alfred 2A as well so that I can compare the books and may eventually stick to only one. Thank you for taking time to share your experience and love for music with us.

Is Skoldo Book 1 grammar-focused? I can't teach using immersion-type books, especially since I don't speak French.