How far is the mailbox?

Wow- what exactly do you mean? We all have different taste levels so I'm wondering what you mean- how explicit are we talking? I'm still in SOTW and haven't had so much as a kiss, so can't fathom...

Thanks for all of the input! I'll look through all of this! They've been in a pinyin-based learning environment with characters introduced slowly alongside more rapidly-aquired pinyin-based vocabulary. So I'm not sure that a purely character-based method would work for them to switch to at this point. Anyway, I definitely will look through these. Thank you! I wish my Chinese reading were stronger! I get so confused when the characters are more complex- slight differences in two characters can make such a difference in meaning!!

Okay, here's the deal- my kids were in a private Christian school and used Saxon math curriculum from junior kindergarten through mid-1st and mid-2nd grade when we moved to America and began homeschooling. Their school in China was a year ahead of the US schools, so my 1st grader was in Saxon 2 and my 2nd grader was in Saxon 3. I started using Math-U-See and put my 2nd grader in Gamma (*) and my 1st grader in Beta (+/-). We've been hs'ing for about 10 weeks now and they're both 2/3 of the way through the Math-U-See book. I can see that this isn't going to work for us long-term for several reasons. I don't use the DVD as I don't like his teaching methods. I don't like the multiple pages of identical practice work. And it probably isn't fair to judge the book since we're coming in mid-year, but we're flying through them a little too fast. I also don't feel like it is comprehensive enough in scope and sequence for the year. Do others feel this way? If I had been given the luxury of time to really seek out the best curriculum I would not have chosen Math-U-See in the first place, I don't think, but it was a very rushed move and this was just one more decison to be made as we moved from China to Kentucky to Florida with jobhunting in between. So, now I'm debating if I want to go back to Saxon- what my girls are used to and have used all along- or if I want to try Singapore. I have read some reviews of both and it seems like people say Saxon is confusing for kids because it spirals. Both of my kids have done well so far with it. I just read some reviews of adults saying they hated how Saxon taught them and they don't know math now, and I don't want to do that to my kids! So now I'm all confused again. Is there any perfect answer here?

We needed something proving we lived here- for us it was just a piece of mail from anyone that had gone through the mail to the address we live at now. We moved from overseas and had very little to prove we lived here. It was no problem though- which was a good thing- cause our licenses are all out-of-state, our car is tagged out-of-state, our everything is not from here... Anyway, my daughter's card from her grandma proved we are residents enough for the local Florida library! :) Kimberly

Not right now- but we hope to move closer into Orlando in the next year- at which point- yes, there should be.

That's a great suggestion with college students! After we're a bit more settled into our new American home, that is definitely something we'd like to do! Thanks for the other recommendations. Is the Stanford program completely written in Chinese characters? My reading skills are terrible.

Thanks! I'll look at that one! I'm pretty much fluent (orally) and can read a small amount. We've taken to just having conversations in Chinese to maintain our Chinese levels, but I know they need practice outside of that to build vocabulary and such. I'll look into this one.

Our plan for next year: Saxon Math 3 Story of the World 2 Sequential Spelling 2 Apologia Zoology 1 Elementary Spanish Chinese of some form (continuing) First Language Lessons (3) alongside older sister Correspondence (handwriting letters to extended family members 3-4 days/week) & lots and lots of great books

Hi all! I'm new on here. We just moved to Florida after 3 1/2 years living in China. Our daughters (6 & 8) attended an international Christian school in China. We are at home now and loving most aspects of it. I'm still searching for the perfect Chinese language program to maintain their Chinese language skills. We've dabbled with Rosetta Stone, BYKI, and Better Chinese. I'm not in love with anything yet. Does anyone know of any other programs for Chinese (Mandarin)? Our daughters had 5 days/week of Chinese and of course lived in China, so they understand quite a bit so I want to take advantage of that and not lose that! Thanks! Kimberly