Unfortunately I am in the same boat. Finally completely decided on all curricula for next year but shipping for a few of those items to aus is incredible!

thanks

We are just finishing up the ETC primers and will be starting OPGTR in about a week along with ETC1, my DD turned 5 last week. Looking back I would have started the primers earlier (4.5ish, maybe just 4) rather than nearly 5. I will definitely be starting them next year with DD2, she will be 4 and 3 months at the start of our school year.

No idea but thanks for the link!

Sounds normal around here too, both my girls started doing that as soon as they could talk well enough (about 18 months)

LOL, always great to read what others are doing with gifted kids. Yes I have done square roots and square numbers with the 5yo - actually she discovered pretty much all of it herself and told me all about them at 4yrs and 2 months, after she coming racing up and explaining it all well we just had to explore a little further... haven't been there really with the 3yo because it hasn't come up in our games but she loves making square numbers out of MUS blocks (one of her favorite toys!).

Great to hear, just recently ordered for DD1 and waiting for it to arrive. Will I need 2 sets (are they consumable?) or will 1 do both girls???

My DD (3 in november) generally just potters around next to us. She does a lot of "work" with tangrams, pattern blocks, MUS blocks, geoboard etc and does heaps of drawing and colouring. I am in the process of ordering her a few workbooks for next term, I am thinking I will get 1-2 work books for each of the areas she wants to work on (maths, beginning phonics, fine motor skills).

thanks for that review (and I have now wasted an hour or so perusing your blog after reading it...). Reading your review and consideration of the other responses I am thinking that just turned 5 might be a great age to start Fred with my (gifted) daughter but I am now thinking I will throw in my (highly gifted) 3yo into the mix, she may as well listen to to stories too and boy does she love math! (BTW if anyone has suggestions for math work for a 3yo working informally but already at a 2nd grade level i am all ears, atm she is just playing with manipulatives and chiming in with the correct answers when the 5yo gets stuck, she wants a math program but so far all i have done with her is games)

Thanks, I am going to order the full set right away, nothing worse than speeding through it only to have to wait for the next one to arrive (and I am trying to save on postage to Aus, cheaper to get full set posted than buy individually here)

I recently acquired 365 things to make and do (Usborne activities) and I can't recommend it highly enough!!! My kindy DD (turned 5 2 days ago) and littler DD (3 1/2) LOVE it. The pics are great, bright and colorful, the activities are all doable for younger kids although they will need help with some of them and best of all, pretty much every single activity in the book requires stuff you most likely already have, the only thing we have needed to buy so far is tissue paper and we have done heaps of the activities already. Also, so far none of the activities have required any prep work (except for saving some egg shells) so I don't pre-plan their craft - I let the girls flip through the book and find what they want to do that day and 5 minutes later we are under way. Honestly, best book craft ever for kindy ages (in my opinion, all 3 of us are in love)!

Woohoo, thanks all, off to order fred now!!! (somehow i thought she might be too young, guess I was wrong)

I am so looking forward to doing LOF with my daughter, from the online samples it looks to be right up her alley and I really think we will both love it. She is only just 5 and doing K but is 1-2 years ahead in math. I was thinking about starting fred next year at age 6, 1st grade. Is 6 a good age to start fred or would i be better waiting another year before starting? TIA

When i asked DH what my budget for school supplies was for the year he told me $2000, nearly fell over!! We are currently in our first year HS with a K-er and one pre-k. So far I would guess I have spent about $100 on art and craft supplies and general office "stuff". Then add to that about $500 in books and curricula, about half of this is quality books for our library that we will be using for the next 15 years or so (reference and literature) and the other half in curriculum but again, I will be re-using most of this with the next 2 children providing it suits their style (which I am sincerely hoping it will). We are now almost done with some of our workbooks so I will have to purchase the next levels in these very shortly, and we will be starting AAS soon so maybe another $100 but this should all last us until the end of this calendar year, maybe even most of the next one as I already have a lot of stuff waiting at the next level.

I am after suggestions for LA for the coming year. Preferably I would like a complete program with all components rather than having to use many separate programs (although i will be using AAS in addition). Are there any complete LA programs for 1st that cover all aspects of LA? Suggestions? Are any of these scheduled/scripted? If not one complete program, then what separate programs would be best to cover all areas thoroughly? TIA

My dd is in her first year of school and making good progress with the get ready for the code books which we will be finishing within a few weeks. I feel we are now ready to move on to reading and would like a "reading program" to help us both in this stage. I am planning on continuing onto the ETC series and will start AAS after she has started reading but would like something more in the mean time. I am considering phonics pathways but am definitely open to suggestions for programs specifically teaching reading at this stage. Recommendations please, what worked for your children.

My DD1 is currently in her first year of school (K) and incredibly good at math. So far we have done school for 6 weeks and already in this time she has finished 2 K level math programs (MUS and a complete math program used by our local school). We will obviously move onto grade 1 math but I am after suggestions for the best fit for her that maybe we have not yet tried. I currently have MUS alpha and singapore 1A and B which we will be giving a go. I am after suggestions for the best math program with the following criteria: 1. minimal parent "teaching", she is very independent and wants to do it all herself which suits me as I have a preschooler and a small baby (MUS does work well, I just hand over the book and off she goes) 2. Thorough and rigorous but not overly repetitive. She gets math very quickly so i want something that covers everything well with enough repetition for mastery but not enough for boredom 3. Will provide her with some challenge and extend her math skills, so far everything is too easy, she gets is instantly and doesn't need to think. Something age appropriate but more challenging would be great. And finally one last question. What math program have you found to work best with your math talented children? TIA