We started with the primers when my daughter was 4 (she's 7 now) and wanting to learn to read, doing them at her choice of pace (everything from a few parts of one page to most of the book at a sitting). We added in Bob books partially through ETC 1 and then combined those with Dolch sight word flashcards and Dick and Jane books. The addition of the sight word work helped her a lot in fluency and confidence. As she took off early with reading and does very well, I stopped after ETC 4 and was going to switch to Spelling Power, figuring it would take less time. She saw the ETC books and begged to go back to them because "they're my favorite!" (how do you argue with that?:)). We just finished up book 8 and have gone back to Spelling Power. I used one of the half books when she needed extra practice, but I can't remember which one (likely 1 1/2 or 2 1/2). I never used a TM, though I did pick up a pamphlet that was designed for something like levels 1-4 giving the sentences and words to use in the post-test. I agree that there were some pictures that just didn't make a lot of sense in the early books, but either there were fewer of them later on or we just got better at figuring them out. I didn't find the sections on open and closed syllables in ETC 4 very useful, but that could be because she is a very natural speller and was reading well by that point. I only used the first Beyond the Code and quickly figured out that it is not correlated to levels of ETC (BTC 1 is a good bit more advanced than the skills taught in ETC 1). I felt like the BTC ones I saw weren't meaty enough for the money, at least for our use, but again reading came easily for her. My daughter really found writing to be an incentive and help in learning to read (Phonics Pathways and 100 EZ Lessons were both pure torture for us) and adores workbooks, I think because she can be more independent with them. Those things made ETC a great choice for us. We started out doing the pages together, but she gradually became more and more independent with it.

Afraid I don't have the game but if no one has the game, here are a couple of ideas: You could try calling Hasbro and asking. The directions for the game give 888-836-7025 as the toll free number to call customer service. http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Chronicles_of_Narnia_Lion_Witch_and_the_Wardrobe.pdf is the link to the pdf for the instructions. They may be able to tell you. Unfortunately, that is not one that comes up automatically as having replacement parts available. Alternatively, you could simply make up your own special abilities card based on her character from the book and the cards for other characters, then decide that that is what you will use going forward. I tried the various game sites that I know of and no luck. Sorry and good luck.

Based on my remembrance of conversations with a friend years ago who was a theatre manager, the theatres themselves depend on concessions to make their money, not on the tickets, which goes to the distributer, producers of the movies, etc.

I have a friend who told me that many folks with dairy issues can also have issues with bananas (he has dairy issues, also can't tolerate gluten). You might find this interesting http://foodallergens.ifr.ac.uk/food.lasso?selected_food=5 seems a banana allergy may be related to a birch allergy or to latex allergy (the latter involving other fruit as well). Doesn't mention any link to dairy though, so I don't know if my friend was correct. The cross reactions are interesting---one friend could have most nuts but not cashews because they were related to poison ivy and she is severely allergic to poison ivy. Good luck with the diet and testing.

One daughter, age 7, who loves anything to do with horses or comics (Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, Foxtrot, Asterix, TinTin, Far Side, etc). Princesses, Playmobil and Barbie are now in second place, except where they intersect with horses (which is quite frequently:)). She's taking aikido and enjoys Girl Scouts. She went to a small preschool from 2 1/2 to 4, hsed rest of the way. The only thing we've done in terms of testing are a couple of streamlined WJIII achievement tests for planning purposes, and she had scattered scores at the end of last year (age 6) from 2nd up into 5th/6th grade depending on topic. Her passion is for reading (her best areas are reading and spelling), not so much on the math or handwriting end of things. I have gone back and forth numerous times on whether there is a point to doing an IQ test on her as we don't have any specific program-driven need at this point or any concern about learning disabilities (her achievement scores are quite scattered, but I don't think it is likely LD-related). I have a suspicion of where she would fall based on knowing my and my husband's scores and observation of her (and that would not likely be in the profoundly gifted range), but not sure we really need to shell out for formal testing just out of curiosity. We have the typical issues periodically of emotional and social maturity being closer to her chronological age than her cognitive skills and that gap being an issue, but she has a group of friends, is very outgoing and does well. I'm actually not sure how two introverts ended up with such an extrovert, but it's an interesting journey!:)

Looks like interpretations vary: http://etext.virginia.edu/users/morford/augimage.html The statue of Augustus from Livia's villa at Prima Porta is a marble copy of a bronze statue that celebrates the return in 20 BCE of the military standards captured by the Parthians in 53 after the defeat of Crassus at Carrhae. It was probably set up in 15 CE, the year after Augustus' death. It is 7 ft. (2.08 m.) tall (Augustus was 1.70 m., about 5'7") and shows him as a young man (perhaps on the model of Alexander the Great, who died when he was 33), in military uniform. He is barefoot (a sign of divine status) and Cupid (riding on a dolphin beside his right foot) reminds the viewer of Venus, the divine ancestress of the family of Augustus, the gens Iulia. Augustus holds a spear in his left hand, and his right hand is extended as he addresses his armies. His stance is that of the Doryphoros (spear-bearer) by the fifth century Greek sculptor, Polyclitus. http://web.mit.edu/21h.402/www/primaporta/interpretations/cupid/ A small support at the base of the statue depicts Cupid riding a dolphin. The figure of Cupid could remind the viewer of Augustus' lineage connected to Venus through the Iulian line4. Others have proposed the figure of Cupid is based on the likeness of Gaius, Augustus' grandson born near the time of the retrieval of the Parthian standards. If the sculpture was constructed by Tiberius to assert his right to the empire, this would seem unlikely, as Gaius would already have died and Tiberius would not have wanted to suggest he was not the rightful heir of Augustus1. The dolphin may refer to the naval victory at Actium1. Others claim it is a reference to the birth of Venus, rising from sea2. Also interesting is that the right hand of the original statue was never recovered and the current position is one designed by the restorer. There's a question as to whether it might have originally been holding a lance. http://web.mit.edu/21h.402/www/primaporta/interpretations/hands/

We've just finished the last of the ETC series of workbooks plus the primers and went through FLL last year. For learning to read, it was a combination of ETC, Dick and Jane books, Dolch sight word flashcards and lots of reading aloud with her. She also played a bit with http://www.starfall.com, but it wasn't a major component Now we are on a combination of: Growing with Grammar 3 Spelling Power (started today) lots of reading audio books a second grade writing book Reading Detectives reading comprehension (the last two are done periodically as the mood strikes, as her comprehension is very good and her independent writing is really just emerging--she's 7, so the fine motor is a bit behind the comprehension and a lot of the work we do already requires writing as she adores workbooks)