We are finishing up Animal Worlds and really enjoyed it. We have covered it over two years because I like to add things to it. Suzanne

My daughter and I are almost finished with Animals and their Worlds. We have really, really enjoyed it. She is in the first grade. We used it for science and spread it out over 2 years so we could add our own fun projects and explore other areas. I highly recommend it! Suzanne

We like Noeo too! We are using Biology one this year and really enjoyed it. My daughter is in first grade. We added some readers and other fun things, but that is just because she is an eager learner who loves science. We purchased Chemistry One for next year and it looks good too. Suzanne

Hi - I have the Live and Learn set for Land Animals. I have been doing them with my six year old daughter. We have really enjoyed them. For us, they have been worth the money. I plan to purchase a set for Zoology 1 next year. You can see samples online. I usually cut the booklets out and assemble them, but my daughter does the written work. Due to her age, I help her with the harder ones, but she has done really well with them and she enjoys them. She wanted to continue using them next year. Suzanne

The reason I love Sonlight is the books! The read aloud books and the readers are fablulous. We did all of Core C last year. We also read many books from their lower core. This year we are doing Core 1 and we still love it! I do tweak it a bit, but I do that with all curriculum. Suzanne

We use and love growing with grammar. We are using the 1st/2nd grade book. The lessons introduce the skill and give the children examples. Then, there is work to practice the skill. I just received the third grade book. It has a separate book that introduces the concept. So far, my daughter has done almost all of it independently. I usually just look over it after she finishes. If she makes any mistakes, I discuss it with her. I think they have some samples on their website. The samples might help you decide. Suzannne

You might could just dilute some regular glue. We do that with a lot of craft activities. Suzanne

You might try liquid starch. It is recommended in our La Clase Divertida curriculum for a pinata. Suzanne

I have History Scribe too and I like it, but I like the pages that I got from Notebookingpages.com better. She has an ancient history bundle. Hold that thought also has notebooking pages. We looked at the samples, but my daughter loves to draw so they weren't a good fit for us. Suzanne

La Clase Divertida would be another option. I don't know how it compares to Puertas Abiertas. La Clase Divertida is in the same price range. I think you can get it a little cheaper from Rainbow Resource or maybe CBD. It has a CD that you listen to and DVD's with all of the lessons. My daughter loves it and it is very appropriate for young learners. Suzanne

I bought a set at Michael's using one of their 40 or 50% off coupons. Suzanne

I agree. I am only using Pianimals to introduce my daughter to piano. If she continues to enjoy it, we will eventually transition to formal lessons. Suzanne

You could try Pianimals. I am using it this year with my daughter. I took piano briefly as a child and I don't remember much at all. Nevertheless, I find pianimals easy to use. We are using the first book - I'm not sure how hard it will get or how long I'll be able to continue. It is possible to teach some simple songs using it. They have samples on their website. Check it out and see what you think. Suzanne

Thank you so much for your awesome list! I am just starting to look over STOW 2 and plan extra reading. This list will give me a great jump start. Suzanne

We are just finishing up the first level of La Clase Divertida. We have really enjoyed it. It is fun and my daughter enjoys it. She heard my husband and me talking about Spanish for next year and she insisted she wanted to keep doing La Clase Divertida! Suzanne

Hi - Next year my daughter will be required to take the Stanford 10 Achievement Test. She will be in second grade. I am wondering about the science and social studies section on the test. I usually use Apologia and/or NOEO for science and STOW for history. In order for her to do well on the test, do I need to consider something more traditional for those subjects? I am just concerned that the questions will focus on an area we haven't covered during the year. For example, this year we focused only on Biology. For history, we mainly focused on Ancient History. Any advice or information you can give will be appreciated. Suzanne

Thank you all so much! The CD's are exactly what I was looking for and more. I also appreciate the website and I signed up for their e-mails. Suzanne

Thank you so much! I thought it looked like narration, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I have never heard it called a reproduction before. Suzanne

Hi - I am looking for a good quality CD for teaching my daughter common hymns. We attend a contemporary church so I want to teach her some of the classic hymns at home. I am thinking maybe we will focus on one hymn a month. Does anyone have a good CD that they could recommend? Thank you, Suzanne

Hi - I just received my copy of Primary Language Lessons. I ordered the one by Hillside. It looks really good, but I have a question. How do you do the "Oral Reproduction" lessons? Thank you, Suzanne

I haven't used that brand. But, we did do a Young Scientist Kit that had a geode inside for us to break open. My daughter really enjoyed it. She still has the broken geode in her room. Suzanne

I think it is totally worth it. We did Core C last year and we are LOVING Core 1 this year. We also read many of the Pre-K titles because I couldn't stand to miss them. My favorite thing is the read alouds. They pick books I might not otherwise pick, but we have truly loved the majority of them. I think they are a wonderful company with a great product. Suzanne

Hi - I used Animal Worlds last year with my daughter. I do not think it would be too much. You can easily customize it to fit your son. For example, we didn't do most of the read alouds. I liked Sonlight's read alouds better. We focused only on the animal resources and loved it. We didn't finish it last year, but we were also doing Sonlight Core C. We are finishing it up this year. You can also pick and choose the activiites you think your son will enjoy. They recommend that you don't try to do everything. We mostly concentrated on the Animal Encyclopedia - you could summarize it if it is too long and the One Small Square books. We also really enjoyed the "At the Zoo" book. Suzannne

My six year old daughter loves them. We have read the Ancient Africa one. She loved it so much that we ordered the set. Suzanne

My six year old loves it. We use the CD version. The CD was disappointing to me, but she really likes it. At the end of each lesson, you can take a quiz. She does really well with it. We also use STOW, but she really likes history so for us it works well. Suzanne