L'art de Lire is supposed to be aligned with Ontario standards.

Thank you so much everyone. Home Science Tools definitely has the most affordable supplies! I am in Canada so I'm just trying to figure out how to get it all here without breaking the bank on shipping alone!! Dd reminded me that she did a frog dissection at coop 2 years ago and last year went and observed a sheep dissection. So I think we will maybe just do one actual dissection so she can write up the lab and do the rest by watching YouTube videos and simulations. I would like to get her the microscope and slides though.

Dd 14 is entering grade 9 this year. I planned to do Apologia Biology this year but when I went to order I'm seeing that there are all kinds of supplemental needs, like dissection kits and a microscope and slides. If I buy everything "recommended" I'm looking at $500! My other option is to do an online grade 9 science class through our school board but......I would really rather not. The only pro is that it's free. And I guess that it's "recognizable" and accepted on a transcript. Do I really need all that stuff to do Biology properly for her this year?

That's exactly what I think - no excuse for lies. That's much more upsetting than not receiving the package I expected. I understand that mail delays/losses sometimes happen and it just is what it is. The lying is inexcusable.

Path of least resistance I understand to a certain degree. I guess I'm just shocked that it woud happen 3 times in a row. Not just one "bad" rep. And right up until the afternoon of Christmas day. It makes me suspicious that it was the line they were told to give so people wouldn't cancel orders and/or shop elsewhere.

No, I did not receive an email the first 3 times. I did check a box that allowed the transcript of our conversation to be emailed to me, so I have that (instant chat). I received an email from the final call that seemed to be the most honest - admitted we wouldn't have the items, created a new order that I can see on my account.

Do you have any idea if this would be an appropriate path for Amazon in Canada as well? The rep I talked to at the end sent me an email saying that she had passed on the names of those involved to their supervisors but that's it so far. She did credit me half the purchase price of our order as compensation. I'm still a little skeptical though because that doesn't show up on my account anywhere - she said it will when I order something....

Isn't it stunning?? That's it exactly. It's not just bad customer service it's so strange. Thankfully my kids are older so they'll understand. I did have to run into the mall today to get something for my littlest because his gift can't even be sent now - it's out of stocks.

I completely understand if they just can't make a delivery happen and acknowledge/apologize. But...why promise me something that isn't even on the radar for coming?! It totally baffles me that the lie was continued and built upon by each rep.

I am LIVID. I had a package that was supposed to arrive Dec 20. When it didn't I thought for sure it would in the next day or two. When it still didn't arrive by Dec 22 I contacted customer service. I was told that the package was "lost in the mail" and they would issue a replacement but it would not arrive before Christmas. I pushed and spoke to a supervisor and was told it would be sent overnight to arrive yesterday, Dec 23. When it wasn't here by 6pm I contacted customer service again and was assured it would arrive by 8:30pm. When it wasn't here by 9pm I contacted customer service again and was assured that it would arrive today. I questioned mulitple times how certain this was and pointed out that I had already been told it would arrive and it didn't. I made clear that it contained Christmas gifts and that I would need to replace them if the package was not going to arrive. Twice I was offered a $5 promo for my trouble. Today: no package. I called customer service again and was told that ALL THREE TIMES that I talked to customer service reps in the past couple of days they were lying. Just flat out lying. No replacement was ever issued. Today a replacement was finally issued - I can see it on my account and got an email outlining everything. Nothing is to be expected to arrive until Dec 27-30. One item was out of stock and will come later than that and another is out of stock and had to simply be refunded. I was offered half of my order as a credit on my acount. I asked about the two other $5 promos and was told only 1 is on my account. I'm simply baffled. How can it be that three separate reps would confirm that a replacement was sent and would be delivered on time?? I just don't understand it at all. Unless it was a direction from management? Just placate people for now?? I don't know. It's so so so bizarre to me. And left me scrambling at 1pm today to pick up gifts to replace those which will not arrive. What an epic fail, Amazon.

My 11 year old goes to bed (lights out) at 8:30pm and wakes around 7am. Current recommendations are that an 11 year old get 10-11 hours of sleep per night.

ENT for sure and ASAP.

Ok, thanks everyone. I'm feeling more confident. I also talked to dh who does all math corrections and helps with dd now and he said he feels like she had a solid grasp and mistakes were generally due to fatigue (so many problems every day). And sometimes hormones ;) For some reason I thought it was a 90% average to move up to Algebra. We always do every single problem and correct any that are wrong, as well as the warm up and drill sheet. She's a trooper. We also do all test corrections, so we did the corrections on the 65% test and saw that she knew how to solve the problems. I haven't given partial credit because the Saxon books are pretty clear that it's all or nothing. And I didn't want to skew the result for knowing if she should proceed to Algebra 1. But I agree; I've been tempted.

Okay I went back and checked her scores. Test 15 - 90% Test 16 - 75% Test 17 - 85% Test 18 - 85% Test 19 - 80% Test 20 - 90% Test 21 - 90% Test 22 - 65% Test 23 - 80% So it wasn't the very last test that was bad, it was the second last. And I remember why when I went back and looked - it was a poor choice on my part. It was a busy week and dd wrote her test in the van, on the way to co-op, with her 2 siblings and 2 little ones we were babysitting. She not only made some ridiculous errors she skipped one question entirely by mistake. So does it look good to soldier on to Algebra 1?? Any reason to slow down, solidify things, and do Algebra 1/2? What is expected for grade 8 and 9?