I liked Las Puertas retorcidas, although my children didn't. I thought it was really cute. I tried the Pobre Ana series, and one child read through the first book. I can't say he thought it was "fun" though. Both are available from Amazon. Both of those are more for reading practice. You could do fun cultural activities, like cooking or celebrating Spanish or Latin American holidays. (El Dia de los Reyes is coming up!) There's always watching movies with the Spanish language track turned on. We did a ton of that.

the page numbers not lining up has been a major problem for us this year. I just don't even bother trying to find quotes in the text any more unless it's really important, since the page numbers just don't match. It's so bad that I would suggest someone try to get the first version, assuming they lined up in that version. As it is, it would definitely dampen my enthusiasm about recommending the program. It's still pretty good...don't get me wrong. I am not totally convinced I got my money's worth, though.

:iagree::iagree: The text looks/is very simplistic but the child is expected to do analytical thinking in the written work. I tried MPH 4 (older version) a few years ago with my dd (then 7) based on the look of the text and it was a total bomb because she couldn't make the cognitive leaps required in the written work. I'm doing it with her now with BFSU 2 and she is just now able to do the written work of 4 without a lot of handholding. She's ahead of grade level on math and reading, too, so I found the whole MPH thing interesting. So I would recommend you get MPH 3/4, whether or not it lines up perfectly with BFSU. By the way, although I'm doing the combo you are wondering about, I have to admit I'm not spending a lot of time making sure it all lines up, and I just kind of alternate which program I pull out. I enjoy having a variety of things to talk about, and I have been trying to line it up but it's not a big deal to me if one program is talking about the circulatory system and the other one density. I enjoy using both programs just because they are so different; it mixes things up a bit.

NanceXToo, what a great blog! Thank you for sharing. Your full descriptions with pictures helped me visualize how this would work in our family. I think OM might be a very happy switch for my youngers next year.

Since you speak French I suggest Alex et Zoe. It is not particularly workbooky (I do sometimes make up and assign additional writing exercises) but there is an emphasis on spoken communication and listening comprehension. The accents are French, not Canadian. My 9 yo loves the program and I think she is doing very well. You need the Guide pedagogique to make the most of the program, and a lot of the content and exercises are found in there. I'm not sure if you would consider it too cutesie...there is a fairy-tale theme in the first book and similar themes in others. It hasn't been overmuch for my daughter. There are 3 levels of Alex et Zoe and then the course is followed by Amis et Compagnie by the same author.

We loved the Field museum and the Museum of Science of Industry. I hadn't seen those since I was a child and I was impressed with how they had updated the Field museum. The Museum of Science and Industry did not strike me as being as updated. Still fun, though. Also, if you like Indian food there are a ton of great restaurants on Devon Avenue. Also Sari shops, etc. I also had to make a pilgrimage to the American Girl store when I last visited with my daughter.

Tom Cruise. But only the on-screen persona. :001_smile:

Jodie Foster. And I'd get to spend lots of time with her so she could research her role, right? But my dh says Holly Hunter. I think he's blinded by love.

Well, it's true that mine done yesterday at 375 were not as crisp as when I did them last time about 425. However, the lower temp kept my goat cheese from burning, so instead it got all melty. At 375 they did have a good texture, but if I weren't using goat cheese I'd definitely put it above 400, too

I just did this tonight for dinner! It was so delish. I chopped them into cubes, didn't even peel them, drizzled olive oil all over and tossed in sage and sprinkled on salt and pepper. I crumbled some goat cheese in there, threw it in the oven at about 375 for, I dunno, 45 minutes, and it was wonderful. My guest had 3 helpings! I got this recipe from a friend a few weeks ago and I am so glad...it's a keeper!

Yeah, 6 seems really young for CL. What's the rush? LfC is a good program, and fun, too. My ds begged to drop LfC because he thought it was just boringly easy, and now he's flying through CL. But he's 12! For your child, a LfC / Minimus combo sounds both fun and full. I think a language-loving 9 yo could handle CL, slowly, but 6 seems to be pushing it. Don't know quite how gifted your child is, though, so you'll have to search inside the books at Amazon to see how you think it would work in your situation.

You know you have to do the second test after the first general survey test, right? The second test is supposed to refine their level.

The word "haut" is one of those so-called aspirated h's, and it's not a quality of the word tres but a quality of the h. Like, you would write "le haut" and not "l'haut" whatever. A hyphen wouldn't change the pronunciation. The hyphen would only go there anyway in the phrase "most high," which makes sense since you're singing a hymn.

Yes, there is built-in review, even between levels. And the beauty of this program is that if there are words that you feel your child should be tested on (like words missed on daily work), just add them into the list. I write mine in the margins, or sometimes just do a whole day on a custom list. I also like the glossary-list of words and their levels in the middle of the book. That way, if my level E daughter misses a word in her daily work, I can look it up in the list. If it's a level D word, I definitely include it in the next day's spelling test. If it's a level F word, I just don't worry about the misspelling and know we'll get to it soon enough.

My daughter loves Rod and Staff. She usually does it the night before to get a jump on the next day's schooling, and frequently tells me how much she loves it. She likes it because she can work independently, she understands it with very little input from me, the lessons are very manageable for her, and she consistently feels like she's learning something new. Although I love MCT, I'm going to keep this child in Rod and Staff for a while because it clearly works so well for her.

When my dh was in basic about 6 yrs ago, the only way we could communicate was by pen and paper. It was awful! I don't think they allow any goodies at all during Basic. You've gotten some really good ideas. If it's in your budget, small electronics would be great for after Basic (and maybe AIT). Laptop, ipad, book reader, any gaming system... Those are good for most 19 yo boys, and there's a lot of boredom in Army life, esp when deployed I think. Good running shoes are a good idea, too....my dh went through them quickly in those days.

Thank you, Merry and Boscopup. I took your approach and sent an extremely non-confrontational email with the feedback. While I was at it, I also talked about Illuminated Lettering, another book they label as consumable that really isn't. I know they make a higher profit margin on self-published books, but I think they're not helping their business with this particular practice. Thanks for giving me a way to constructively channel my feelings!

aren't a lot of GT kids differently abled in different subjects? I was under the impression that OM was a boxed curriculum and therefore wouldn't nec be a great choice for GT kids... If it is a box, you might want to consider whether all subjects would be on the appropriate level for your dc.

:001_smile:

All of my kids have just loved these comics. There is definitely conspicuous consumption in them, and also some kidnappings and heists. But still, they honed their reading skills on these vintage comics bought in bulk off ebay. I second the Shannon Hale Rapunzel's Revenge/Calamity Jack series, too. My daughter really likes the Betty and Veronica stuff, too, but I have mixed feelings about that so I wouldn't exactly recommend it.

It's a pretty hefty book, and it's not written for children at all. It's more visually daunting than many high-school history texts I've seen. I think it would be a challenging read for many high-school students and it would not surprise me to see it on a college survey class reading list. That said, if your child reads at an 11th-grade level and loves history, I'd say go for it. It's definitely comprehensive.

hmm, that's a good idea. See, it takes a calm perspective to come up with an idea like that. :001_smile:

Yeah, I guess I could complain to WP. It's just that I bought it in March and am just now using it. Seems crazy to ask to return something or even complain so long after I bought it. I wish I had thoroughly examined everything. I am trying to analyze why I don't want to write to complain, and I think it's because I've always felt kind a personal connection when doing business with them. I mean, the dad handles business calls, the daughter helps fill orders, and the mom writes the stuff. How can I call and gripe? But that's also why I feel so let down now, I think. Hey, I thought we were family and now you go and do this? kwim? Also, I think I'm so used to getting curriculum and then having it not quite work out --- in which case of course I'm usually just out of luck --- it honestly didn't cross my mind to complain to the company. I suppose it couldn't hurt. I hate conflict, though. Luckymama--aww, :blush: thanks. I have learned so much from people on this forum who don't even know they've helped me. The work I'm doing with my twins (all the humanities and history) is basically all derived from recommendations from this board, and with the exception of the history (when I went against the Hive and got WP) everything is going great, but I am not sure how much I can contribute that's new. Others who use, say, LLfLOTR or MCT generally respond quickly and thoroughly. But, ok, I'll try to chime in more. :001_smile: My dh, though, could contribute a lot if he were into this sort of thing. He's doing the science/math portion of the schooling and I don't even understand what they're doing any more. Talk about lucky--he actually takes the boys for 2 or 3 hours every day to work on math, physics, and computer science. Anyway, whatever happens with the Geometry stuff, I feel better knowing you all empathize. :001_smile:

This is my first vent here, but I could use a little commiseration. So I bought 2 copies of Tips and Tricks to Gothic Geometry to use with WinterPromise QMA, and the website said they were consumable...They so totally are NOT! At $14 a pop for a plastic bag full of a mostly black and white printout, I am sitting here stunned to realize there is nothing at all consumable about it. It's directions on how to make some of those figures, and kinda neat for the right kid I guess, but it's hard for me not to feel lied to when there is no reason at all they couldn't have shared this one. Grrrr. So now, when I see that in fact my kids are not going to use this after all (not their cup o' tea), I've actually wasted double the money. :mad: Thanks for listening. I'll go back to mostly lurking now. :tongue_smilie:

Well, actually I don't know, because I've not done 2 or 1+2, but I've done 1 and 3, 4, 5. Core 1 was quite light last year for my 2nd grader, so it doesn't sound like a good fit for your older daughter at all. If your younger dd really hates reading it might work, but honestly you might want to keep curriculum shopping b/c it doesn't seem like this is the answer to your issues. What about SOTW? That's world history, and maybe a better match ability-wise.