Galore Park

[SunnyDays]

Before reading about it here last night, I'd never heard of Galore Park. So I looked it up, and WOW, looks like they have some great things.

 

What can you tell me about it?? What products have you used and liked? How can you determine proper level? And, if you're in the US, do you find that any of it is difficult or doesn't apply to your child, being British-based?

 

I would just love a few pointers to browse their site intelligently!! Thanks!

[Aurelia]

I started using the Junior English (1 and 2) in roughly October, if memory serves. I love it. It covers basically all the English skills except spelling, although I chose to add WWE to it, since my child needed more practice with summarizing and dictation, which aren't explicitly covered in Galore Park's materials. The passages to read are challenging, but interesting, which is actually how I could describe the entire program. It has pushed Ariel to write more, although we do some of the exercises orally, since it's made for private schools and has enough written exercises to keep a room full of students busy. I like that it includes some dictionary work and creative writing, which DD much prefers to summaries and expository writing. I have Junior Science 2, also, but we haven't started to use it yet, as we're still working through a unit on astronomy. I have read through it, and it's a good basic science text, and gives ideas for experiments at the end of each chapter. I've read posts from others who found GP science challenging, and others who have loved their history books.

 

There's very little I've found in their English program that wouldn't be pertinent to a child in the US, although they have some different spellings and refer to a period as a full stop, it's nothing that has caused any confusion here. I can see where some of the history materials after Junior History 2 or 3 might not be super-relevant to a child living outside of Great Britain, since it focuses primarily on British history, but since the US has British roots, I don't see it as a problem.

 

To make it easier to browse their site, I recommend clicking on the Home Educators tab, then selecting the age range of your student and viewing the materials available. Junior level 1 is designed for 7-8 year olds, Junior 2 is for ages 8-9, and Junior 3 is for 9-10, and so on. Their materials for Year 3 (Junior 1) are designed for what would be a 2nd grader in the US, although I think an average 3rd grader would use it more comfortably than the Junior 2 materials.

[Laura Corin]

The way that US and UK levels relate is that US Kindergarten is the age equivalent of UK year 1; US first grade is the age equivalent of UK year 2, etc. Beyond that, I think that looking at the samples is the best guide.

 

We enjoyed Latin Prep, So You Really Want to Learn (SY) French, SY Maths, SY English, Junior English, Junior Maths, their RE programme and their Greek programme.

 

I'm British, so I can't answer your last question.... You will certainly have to adapt the spelling and (some) punctuation if you use the English series. The way that Latin nouns are laid out is different in the US and UK as well.

 

I have a Yahoo group (address in my siggy) for users of Galore Park, if you are interested.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

[Mom0012]

The way that US and UK levels relate is that US Kindergarten is the age equivalent of UK year 1; US first grade is the age equivalent of UK year 2, etc. Beyond that, I think that looking at the samples is the best guide.

 

We enjoyed Latin Prep, So You Really Want to Learn (SY) French, SY Maths, SY English, Junior English, Junior Maths, their RE programme and their Greek programme.

 

I'm British, so I can't answer your last question.... You will certainly have to adapt the spelling and (some) punctuation if you use the English series. The way that Latin nouns are laid out is different in the US and UK as well.

 

I have a Yahoo group (address in my siggy) for users of Galore Park, if you are interested.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

 

Laura, your post the other day about how well your son has done with SY French inspired me to look into SY Spanish. I ordered it yesterday and can't wait to really look it over.

 

What do you think of the Verbal Reasoning books, if you've used them?

 

Thanks!

Lisa

[Melissa B]

We use the English, History, French and Latin exercise books.

 

How we line them up:

 

Junior English 1 - 2nd grade through

GP English Year 9 - 8th grade

 

The history for my younger two:

 

3rd / 1st - Junior History 1

4th / 2nd - Junior History 2

5th / 3rd - Junior History 3 & SY History 1

6th / 4th - SY History 2 & SY History 2

 

 

I used SY French 1 when my older girls were in 5th and 7th. We never got around to levels 2 and 3. I will probably start French 1 with the younger two when they are in 5th & 7th also.

 

Finally, I am using the Latin exercises along with high school Latin - Latin Exercises 1 while taking Latin I, etc.

[PhotoGal]

:bigear: I was just wondering about Galore Park. Going to check it out.

[Laura Corin]

 

What do you think of the Verbal Reasoning books, if you've used them?

 

Thanks!

Lisa

 

I forgot to put those in the list. I think they were efficient and reasonably interesting. If they are expensive for you to source, I wouldn't work too hard to get them - I don't think they are the most special of GP products. We also used the Logic Countdown series, which was good too.

 

Laura

[Mom0012]

I forgot to put those in the list. I think they were efficient and reasonably interesting. If they are expensive for you to source, I wouldn't work too hard to get them - I don't think they are the most special of GP products. We also used the Logic Countdown series, which was good too.

 

Laura

 

Thanks, Laura. I am not sure if I can get them from Ray and I don't see them on The Book Depository's website, so I may take a look at the Logic Countdown books.

 

Lisa

[Violet Crown]

We finished Jr. English Book 1 this year and have begun Book 2. I can't thank Laura enough for recommending these.

 

The only unusable part we've encountered was a chapter with the theme of snow, the writing assignments for which asked the child to reflect on her experiences with snow. Said child never having encountered snow in her life, we had to alter those quite a bit. Similarly, there are throughout the series some assumptions about a child's experience that would probably be fine for an American living in the Northeast, but which bewilder my Southwestern offspring. I think of it as cultural broadening.

[Elfknitter.#]

:lurk5:

Anyone else? I think Junior History might be what my anti-history monkey might take to. The sample for Jr. History 1 made it seem like the presentation is concise and to the point, which I think would appeal to him. He's told me that he's not interested story aspect of SOTW.

[Momling]

We used GP Jr History 1-3 a few years ago. I wrote a brief review:

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143650&highlight=southern+ape+man

 

We're currently using Latin Prep and are really happy with it. I'm also interested in some of the other materials -- the religious ed and English programs.

[StephanieZ]

We use SYR Spanish and it works just great for our family. Dd15 is midway through the 3rd (final) book, ds12 is finishing up the 2nd book, and I've just relented to allowing dd9 to begin the 1st book.

 

I think SYR Spanish is ideal for 11-16 years old. 9 or 10 can work, too, if the child already has a solid spanish background and is motivated, and especially if you are willing to hold the child's hand a bit more and take it slowly as needed. (My 9 yo has had spanish exposure for 7 years, has completed Getting Started With Spanish, and can read spanish fluently, so I am OK with starting SYR since she realllllyyy wanted to. I'd have waited a few more months if she weren't so pushy!)

 

I loooooove SYR Spanish. Only downside is, according to our tutor, it teaches some vocab/tenses/etc that are only used in Spain. I don't see that as a big negative since it covers everything else, too, so there are just a few EXTRA pieces of knowledge in there that might not be useful.

 

My two older dc are now fairly fluent, and, according to their tutor (who teaches in the local uni. and high school), their spanish is superior to the vast majority of uni. and high school students.

 

We've used and like Galore Park SYR Science. There are two books -- so about two years. It is an excellent, easy to use, survey course of general science. I think it is well suited to 6-8th grades. The books are sequential, but they each do cover all major branches of science. Downside is no lab component, so I'd suggest adding some easy to use labs in some way that year. It is very open-n-go and the child can do it nearly 100% independently.

[serendipitous journey]

NOTE -- this an old-ish thread!

 

:lurk5:

Anyone else? I think Junior History might be what my anti-history monkey might take to. The sample for Jr. History 1 made it seem like the presentation is concise and to the point, which I think would appeal to him. He's told me that he's not interested story aspect of SOTW.

 

elfknitter, I have a child with a similar attitude toward history and he's doing very well with the Jr. History 1 that we've incorporated; I plan to finish it this summer and start Jr. History 2 next year. He also likes the Cartoon History of the World, though as we move along in that it may require too much editing (there is some racy humor -- what I've seen is light and will fly over a primary school child's head but perhaps I've missed something). I understand that the focus is VERY British in Jr. Hist 3.

 

ETA: Builders of the Ancient World is going over pretty well so far, too -- it's old (1946) and Western-focused but written with the goal of teaching tolerance, so is pretty usable. I neutralize gender as I read :) .

 

ETA #2: I should say that the Jr. History 1 is much much shorter than Jr. Science 1: it has 8 chapters, with 3 exercises in each and a few extension activities. But, esp. for the non-history-loving child, I'm starting to think the private schools may be on to something -- it is clear that extensive history in K-4 is simply not a priority.

[Laura Corin]

ETA #2: I should say that the Jr. History 1 is much much shorter than Jr. Science 1: it has 8 chapters, with 3 exercises in each and a few extension activities. But, esp. for the non-history-loving child, I'm starting to think the private schools may be on to something -- it is clear that extensive history in K-4 is simply not a priority.

 

 

I think that the history books might be written with the expectation that the 'history' timetable slot in school might be shared with geography, so the materials are shorter than for science. This was certainly the case at Hobbes' private school when he was aged 10-12: they had some kind of block scheduling system where they did history for a bit then geography for a bit.

 

Laura

[Lots of boys]

I just wanted to add that we are really enjoying Junior Science and Skoldo French :)

[NittanyJen]

I have been assigning the 2nd science book to DS12 as supplementary to what I teach, just to cement our discussions. I like the clarity.

 

 

[kiwik]

Before reading about it here last night, I'd never heard of Galore Park. So I looked it up, and WOW, looks like they have some great things.

 

What can you tell me about it?? What products have you used and liked? How can you determine proper level? And, if you're in the US, do you find that any of it is difficult or doesn't apply to your child, being British-based?

 

I would just love a few pointers to browse their site intelligently!! Thanks!

 

 

I'm in NZ not Britain but I can't see that it would be harder for you to use it than it is for me to use WWE for instance. I have to adjust for spelling, a couple of minor grammar points (the differences are hard to pin down), and some terms (period instead of full stop for example). It is not very difficult. US phonics programmes are more of a challenge.