Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Clementine

So far, my girls have been completing two levels of MUS each year. We supplement with Daily Word Problems by Evan-Moor and flash cards. You can print extra practice sheets off the MUS web site but we haven't found them necessary.

My oldest loved Daily Word Problems (Math) by Evan-Moor. It was just an add-on to our regular math curriculum.

So far my kids have worked through Primer, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. We have only used the MUS blocks. We did buy the extra set of MUS blocks so we can build 1000 with the 100 blocks. We also made a large poster for Decimal Street.

I downloaded schedules for grade 1 and grade 3. http://www.hmheducation.com/sciencefusion-homeschool/science-textbooks-grades-k-5.php

I am so excited Colleen! Thanks so much for organizing this. I sent you a msg and an email. :)

My Daughter's school used the GB+ leveled readers. http://serveur1.odilon.ca/gbplus/ If you are teaching French as a second language I also recommend "Coup de pouce - Lexique thematique." It is a beginner dictionary grouped by theme. http://www.cheneliere.ca/main+fr+01_500+Francais_COUP_DE_POUCE_lexique_thematique_-_manuel_80_pages.html?DivisionID=2&ItemID=5100 It is used in the French Immersion programs. If you go to the French Resources tab and then click on "HOME" on the Canadian Parents for French (Ontario Chapter) web site you will be linked to lots of useful information including French bookstores and publishers. Hope this helps! Feel free to msg me if you need more information. :)

Champlain PLace is right next to Crystal Palace... just sayin'. ;)

Also, word of caution... some of the texts are actually translations of English books. I would try to stick to "original" French texts whenever possible. Some of the translations are awkward... even for francophones! My eldest daughter went to a francophone school before she began homeschooling. Also, my husband is francophone. Rebecca

I have. :) You need to contact customer service and provide proof that you are a registered homeschooler. (We provided a scan of our registration letter from the school board.) After they confirm you are a registered homeschooler they will give you an account number. Once you have the account number you can contact customer service again to set a password. Feel free to msg me if you have any questions. Rebecca

We have had excellent success with the VDB as well. Again, I bought the entire package but have used nothing but the actual book. The worksheets, cd, etc. were all a waste of money for us. It really does wonders at increasing fluency.

Thanks for all the great suggestions. My main reservation about ordering from France has been that the readers and workbooks tend to use cursive. I am not sure how my daughter would make out with this as she is only used to manuscript. Anyone have experience with this? I wish that there were more local resources so that I could page through them first. We will be in Moncton later this summer so I will be taking a look at some bookstores there. Thanks again for all the helpful links and ideas!

I need help finding subjects (other than French) in French. Most of the materials I have found at homeschool stores are aimed at teaching French to Anglophone children. I am not looking for a conversational French program. I am looking for materials, including workbooks, that are in French and are aimed at Francophone children. My main priority would be French reading/writing/grammar/spelling. My daughter is reading fairly well in English so I would like to work with her with her reading in French. She can really only read by "sight" in French. She is 5 and a half. Some of the French "reading" programs I have seen online have the children translate from Enligh to French. I don't really want her to translate if possible. I would prefer that she just operate in one language or the other... if that makes sense. Is there something like the OPG or Phonics Pathways in French? :) As an aside, it is fairly easy to have her do math in French. Even though we are working with Math-U-See, there are not a lot of word problems, etc. She just completes the activities while speaking French, etc. For Geography, I was able to find a Canadian Map Book in French at Scholar's Choice. Thanks so much!

I really like Sara Jordan's cds. They are slow and clear enough that you can actually pick up the phrases quite easily.

My daughter used the Usborne books... How to draw animals, How to draw people, etc.

I haven't personally read Winds of L'Acadie but have heard good things about it: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Winds-of-L-Acadie-Lois-Donovan/9781553800477-item.html?ref=Search+Books%3a+%2527winds+of+l%2527acadie%2527 Band of Acadians, another novel, is scheduled to be released this summer: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search?keywords=band%20of%20acadians&pageSize=10 Hope this helps!

I don't think you can talk about the expulsion without reading Evangeline by Longfellow. (It isn't a novel but a poem.)

We are using OPG mainly as a supplement. We use ABeCeDarian as our main reading program. My daughter is reading Primary Phonics readers, etc. When I go through the OPG with her I review the rule very quickly and then get her to sound out all the words herself. I don't read them to her because she could just spit them back at me without even looking at the page. I don't do a lot of review with the OPG. Before we start a new lesson I just pick a portion of the previous story for her to read. Hope this helps.

Hi Tammi, In my opinion, K12 Science is a light. While it is broad in scope, it doesn't really delve deeply enough into any one area. Mind you, I only have experience with K and 1. Can you talk to a star and get a demo account? You will probably get a better idea of how suitable the science would be through the demo account. K12 History (K), is really a basic geography course. It is sort of like A Trip Around the World. We really enjoyed it though. It was nice having everything laid out. Starting in 1, K12 starts its 4 year world history course. It follows SOTW fairly closely except 1 ends before the Roman Empire is examined. A lot of the map work and activities are similar to those in the Activity Guide. Other than the studet pages, I think there are only 4 books included with the 1 level course. I can't remember them all off the top of my head but they are basic readers with the exception of the Egyptian Cinderella. There are, of course, other recommended readings in the online lessons. Hope this helps!

I haven't reread it since I was a child but I loved The Peterkin Papers.

Pattern blocks! Both of my girls love playing with pattern blocks. Whether it is sorting, making designs, making patterns etc. My oldest even made a diorama of ancient Egypt out of pattern blocks.

Have you looked at the Victory Drill Book for increasing fluency? It may not be "fun" so to speak but it doesn't take very much time every day.

I know, I know, who picks a username after an airport code? There are so many Rebeccas on boards I tried to pick a username that was unique. It was the first thing that popped into my head. Both of my girls are named after important literary figures. They even came up with their own names for the board (see signature) but I pick an airport code. ;) p.s. I am about 25-30 minutes from the airport.

I am of absolutely no help but felt compelled to respond when I saw other Nova Scotians here. ;)

Words of similar shape have worked very well with my daughter. We are using AaBeCeDarian and it also uses a lot of words of similar shape. I made the mistake of teaching her to read using key words. Now, we are working with phonics. With my youngest, I will use strictly phonics. To be perfectly honest, before I started homeschooling, I hadn't heard of phonics. I was raised as well using key words. Go figure.