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Just for Fun: Which Programs That You Don't Need Are Calling Your Name?


Crimson Wife
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I can't be the only one feeling the siren song despite needing another book on [insert topic] like needing a hole in my head. So 'fess up!

For oldest DD: the Arbor Center middle school math series (Jousting Armadillos, Crocodiles & Coconuts, Chuckles the Rocket Dog) http://www.arboralgebra.org/

For DS: Classical Academic Press Writing & Rhetoric

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I can't be the only one feeling the siren song despite needing another book on [insert topic] like needing a hole in my head. So 'fess up!

For oldest DD: the Arbor Center middle school math series (Jousting Armadillos, Crocodiles & Coconuts, Chuckles the Rocket Dog) http://www.arboralgebra.org/

For DS: Classical Academic Press Writing & Rhetoric

 

I could have written your post exactly!

 

Oh, wait, I don't have a son :D. Well, I still want Writing & Rhetoric and Jousting Armadillos etc. :lol:
 

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Well, I'm sure we really do *need* them :) I have a HUGE list of Algebra and Pre-Algebra books I'd like to check out, but I know I don't need all of them but it is hard to tell what would be a good fit. I'm eyeing Partnership Writing and Jot it Down for next year although I have TWJ and right now we are busy enough with the writing programs we do have.

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Yes, the Arbor Center products here, too!

 

And MCT. I have Island and I like it. I just don't like it THAT MUCH to fork out over $150+ for the next level. Yet it calls for me....

 

I also want to check out Language Lessons through Literature. I will probably go ahead and try this one.

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I can't be the only one feeling the siren song despite needing another book on [insert topic] like needing a hole in my head. So 'fess up!
 

 

Exactly. 

 

I've been looking at science. I already decided I could easily develop a science resources problem. I've been looking at McRuffy science, BFSU (always wanted that book but restrained myself), MPH, and the Holt middle school textbooks. 

 

None of it is needed. Really. 

 

ETA: An MBtP---for some reason I always have to have a little moment every year researching and reading about that.

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I can't be the only one feeling the siren song despite needing another book on [insert topic] like needing a hole in my head. So 'fess up!

For oldest DD: the Arbor Center middle school math series (Jousting Armadillos, Crocodiles & Coconuts, Chuckles the Rocket Dog) http://www.arboralgebra.org/

For DS: Classical Academic Press Writing & Rhetoric

 

Never heard of the algebra books.  What grades or ages are these supposed to be for?  Does the website have more of a homepage?  I didn't get much math in high school...so this stuff looks way over my head.....so I'm kinda scared to even consider it.
 

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I absolutely don't need to be buying books for the year after next, or the year after that, but I just want to hold them and read them and make plans with them. Beast Academy, BFSU 2, MCT Island... I will need to buy another bookcase before I start getting that far ahead of myself, and the cost is prohibitive.

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Never heard of the algebra books.  What grades or ages are these supposed to be for?  Does the website have more of a homepage?  I didn't get much math in high school...so this stuff looks way over my head.....so I'm kinda scared to even consider it.
 

 

Middle school.

 

I want Armadillos too, and Gelfand's books, but just not spending the cash on something that's for personal gratification at this point.

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You guys are cracking me up - I bought both JA and CAP's WR!!!!

 

What's calling me that I don't really need yet?   Hmmm.  AoPS Intro Algebra for sure.  The next two JA books, even though I already have Jacobs, so I don't know if I need them.  But Shannon loves JA, so it's tempting . . .

 

BA 3C, 3D, and 4A.  Even though my kid is in 2nd grade and just slowly starting with 3A.

 

I'm panting for the next CAP W&R books to come out, even though we haven't done the first two yet.  

 

Oh, and CAP's Art of Poetry, too, though that's clearly a high-school level program and we're still working through Figuratively Speaking.

 

But I'm on a strict budget.  I've already spent my allowance for January . . . and for February!  :leaving:

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This is a dangerous thread.  I want rightstart math for my daughter (didn't know about it when I started with my son.)  I want bravewriter for my son (even though he doesn't want or need more work).  I want mapping the world with art.
I have limited library access and it's not in my town.  It's in the next county over.  I'd like all the books on those living math lists, Zacery Zormer shape transformer, Jack and the Measure of a giant, and Sir Cumference and the knights of pi, and the list goes on.  I'd like some of the do it yourself suziki violin programs, even though we all have ukuleles and youtube, and my son's getting skyppe piano lessons from grandpa.  I'd like another supercharged science subscription.  I'd like the horrible histories set.  I'd like that book, I forgot what it's called but it's $80 for spelling bee champions that explains all the rules and all the exceptions to spelling.  I'd like all the Older than the stars, what do you believe, and our family tree evolution books.  But how many times would my kids read them before they outgrew them, same as the living math books, money better spent elsewhere.  I want BFSU, questioning if I need it, we have microscopes, and a garden, and a chemistry set, binoculars, maginifying glass, and mr q's free life science book download, and a stack of national geographic books for kids about all the plants, animals, weather, etc.  (BFSU only goes to 2nd grade, but it's supposed to be so good- I want it!!!)   At least I'm not the only one.

 I want all the draw write now books, but you can look up how to draw things free online.  

This is the short list of some of the stuff I don't need, but really want.  Let's not get into the list of stuff I don't have to have , but plan to buy anyway. 

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I thought maybe they'd suggest them for more of a specific grade...like 6th, 7th, and 8th maybe.  My dd is in 4th, and if she went to our local public school she'd be in middle school (which is a frightening thought! :eek: ). 
 

 

Sorry, I forgot.

 

Could be used for 6-8 grade, could be started slightly earlier if the child is advanced, especially if the parent is willing to use it as a supplement and go very slowly.

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Heaven help me, I can't stop buying writing books. One day someone is going to find me suffocated under a pile of fallen writing books...

 

Also the Jousting Armadillos and the rest of those books. Very attractive. But considering I just dropped a pretty penny on all Danica McKellar's books, my math budget is too puny to consider it right now. Yanno...like right now. Next month maybe... :lol:

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All of them!

I was pointed in the direction of homeschooling just under a year ago. Both DH and I are on board, but there is just one major problem. DD is only 2. All of this glorious curriculum is still a few years down the road (or as in the case of the Latin programs I drool over, several years down the road). I have a whole list of programs to keep my eye on and examine more closely in the years to come.

 

I look up something homeschool related at least once a day.

 

It is pure torture, but I can't help myself

 

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Lol! I will not click on that link!

 

Said in my best Sherlock voice. "You know you love it." Do it! Just do it!

 

Heaven help me, I can't stop buying writing books. One day someone is going to find me suffocated under a pile of fallen writing books...

 

This. I have been reading threads on here too much!  :glare:  I refuse to admit how many writing books I've ordered this week and are on their way to my house. I also refuse to confess how many writing books are still on my wishlist. 

 

You can't make me talk. You CAN'T!

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Also the Jousting Armadillos and the rest of those books. Very attractive. But considering I just dropped a pretty penny on all Danica McKellar's books, my math budget is too puny to consider it right now. Yanno...like right now. Next month maybe... :lol:

I have the Danica McKellar books on my list as well (I have some on the way ILL to check out before purchasing- trying to be responsible :) ), I also have LoF Intermediate, JA mentioned earlier, Jacobs- Algebra and MHE, Foresters and Dolciani, along with a whole stack of living math books and more games, although I've already bought a good amount in the last month. I just bought MM g4-6, although the format isn't the best for ds I've been looking into something to use for a main program in between BA books and all things considered this will work w/ some tweaking(teaching from the white board and enlarging for printing). I'm thinking of doing it w/ the LoF Intermediate mentioned earlier but then again I don't know if we have time or need for all of it. 

 

I do have WR but we are using (and loving it here- on W8 of book 2) so that doesn't count since we are using it. 

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I want things that don't exist :lol: (science like Education Exploration...for chemistry)

I WANTED CAP's Writing and Rhetoric so much that I went ahead and ordered it...we finished the first week today ;)

 

I suppose you don't want to see this either ... http://www.whfreeman.com/Catalog/product/explorationsinphysicalchemistry20-secondedition-depaula/about/features

 

Have you looked at GEMS?  http://www.carolina.com/stem-science-technology-engineering-math-curriculum/great-explorations-math-and-science-elementary-curriculum/gems-elementary-chemistry-curriculum/10797.ct?mCat=10796

 

While we are "dreaming" .... it can't hurt to just look.  Right?

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All the Horrible Histories, Murderous Maths, etc.

I have bought all the murderous maths books I have, and the science ones, used. ;) So about half-priced for most of them. I found one or two at a library book sale, but I just realized I own two copies of a few. Ha! So much for saving.

 

Those Arbor Algebra books look neat, but the section I opened up quoted from Mathematics: A Human Endeavor, which I already own (I think I got it at a used book sale for cheap!), so maybe not. I have way, WAY too many math books. Including all of my old college texts!

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I have bought all the murderous maths books I have, and the science ones, used. ;) So about half-priced for most of them. I found one or two at a library book sale, but I just realized I own two copies of a few. Ha! So much for saving.

 

Those Arbor Algebra books look neat, but the section I opened up quoted from Mathematics: A Human Endeavor, which I already own (I think I got it at a used book sale for cheap!), so maybe not. I have way, WAY too many math books. Including all of my old college texts!

 

Right! It's kind of a mind-meld between Jacobs Algebra and MHE.  And i only had Algebra, not MHE . . . so it makes sense that I bought it, right???

 

However, I am trying to talk myself out of buying the next two, because I really want AoPS Algebra (for me, even if dd doesn't end up using it) and I think that between it and Jacobs and LOF and Zaccaro RWA, I've *surely* got Algebra covered.  Right? Right? 

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Heaven help me, I can't stop buying writing books. One day someone is going to find me suffocated under a pile of fallen writing books...

 

Also the Jousting Armadillos and the rest of those books. Very attractive. But considering I just dropped a pretty penny on all Danica McKellar's books, my math budget is too puny to consider it right now. Yanno...like right now. Next month maybe... :lol:

 

 

Oh, JA is so much cooler than Danica McKellar's books . . . . which dd really likes, and I've been having her read them.  But today we compared her explanation of LCM to the one in JA, and JA is soooo much more thorough and conceptual.  

 

Oh, and I just got a *really* cool new writing book:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Extraordinary-Essays-Strategies-Succeeding/dp/0545058988

 

 

Just call me "the enabler"!!   :lol:

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I have the Danica McKellar books on my list as well (I have some on the way ILL to check out before purchasing- trying to be responsible :) )

 

I read Kiss My Math and had a 'meh' reaction. The math was good and it was very engaging. I can see the draw. But I decided they weren't for us. For one, my boys would never be interested. Of course, they aren't the target audience. Secondly, I thought they were too girly/boy crazy/teen magazine-ish for my dd. I have never heard this complaint, so I may be alone. But it includes comments like: (paraphrasing) you know how when you are on a date, you pop in a breath mint in case he goes for the kiss.... Blech. We aren't there yet, thank goodness, lol. I could have done without that stuff, ymmv.

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I read Kiss My Math and had a 'meh' reaction. The math was good and it was very engaging. I can see the draw. But I decided they weren't for us. For one, my boys would never be interested. Of course, they aren't the target audience. Secondly, I thought they were too girly/boy crazy/teen magazine-ish for my dd. I have never heard this complaint, so I may be alone. But it includes comments like: (paraphrasing) you know how when you are on a date, you pop in a breath mint in case he goes for the kiss.... Blech. We aren't there yet, thank goodness, lol. I could have done without that stuff, ymmv.

 

Oh yeah, I find them totally unreadable.  And my dd isn't girly or flirty at all, but she likes the explanations of the math.  But after the LCM thing I alluded to above, I think I'm going to have to look at them a little more closely.  I think they lean a little heavily toward the "tips and tricks" side of things at the expense - sometimes - of conceptual understanding.  

 

The fact that I find them so impossible to read makes it difficult for me to say for sure, though  :glare:

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Oh, and I just got a *really* cool new writing book:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Extraordinary-Essays-Strategies-Succeeding/dp/0545058988

 

 

Just call me "the enabler"!!   :lol:

Maybe one day soon it will show up in the Scholastic dollar days sale!!! :) I got a few nice writing books for $1 there.  Of course, they no longer even show up in the catalog, so maybe not. sigh.

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Just call me "the enabler"!! :lol:

keep it up and you'll be called "that lady I'm not supposed to talk to" :lol:

Seriously, I only have three of those red storage bins of books that don't fit on my two full sized bookshelfs I already have. I think the problem is I need more bookshelves. It's fashionably decorating my house if I line one wall of my hallway with bookshelves, right?
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This is a dangerous thread.  I want rightstart math for my daughter (didn't know about it when I started with my son.)  I want bravewriter for my son (even though he doesn't want or need more work).  I want mapping the world with art.
I have limited library access and it's not in my town.  It's in the next county over.  I'd like all the books on those living math lists, Zacery Zormer shape transformer, Jack and the Measure of a giant, and Sir Cumference and the knights of pi, and the list goes on.  I'd like some of the do it yourself suziki violin programs, even though we all have ukuleles and youtube, and my son's getting skyppe piano lessons from grandpa.  I'd like another supercharged science subscription.  I'd like the horrible histories set.  I'd like that book, I forgot what it's called but it's $80 for spelling bee champions that explains all the rules and all the exceptions to spelling.  I'd like all the Older than the stars, what do you believe, and our family tree evolution books.  But how many times would my kids read them before they outgrew them, same as the living math books, money better spent elsewhere.  I want BFSU, questioning if I need it, we have microscopes, and a garden, and a chemistry set, binoculars, maginifying glass, and mr q's free life science book download, and a stack of national geographic books for kids about all the plants, animals, weather, etc.  (BFSU only goes to 2nd grade, but it's supposed to be so good- I want it!!!)   At least I'm not the only one.

 I want all the draw write now books, but you can look up how to draw things free online.  

This is the short list of some of the stuff I don't need, but really want.  Let's not get into the list of stuff I don't have to have , but plan to buy anyway. 

 

La Texican, I bet you were one of those kids that took forever on Santa's lap...making all the other kids wait in line. 

 

"I wanna Zacery Zormer shape transformer, and I wanna Sir Cumference, and I wanna ____."

 

Sorry, couldn't help it.  :lol:

 

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For some reason, I really want to buy Moving Beyond the Page 9-11 for my ds. It just looks like something he'd really get into. But I can't get past the price tag!

 

ETA: And also, it doesn't look realistic for us, as far as me spending that much time with just one kid when I can combine content subjects. But I still feel tempted.

 

 

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I was doing sooooo good until I saw your post!  That is some cool science stuff!  Ugh, I just ordered several new things earlier today.....so this will have to wait.

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I have the Danica McKellar books on my list as well (I have some on the way ILL to check out before purchasing- trying to be responsible :) ), I also have LoF Intermediate, JA mentioned earlier, Jacobs- Algebra and MHE, Foresters and Dolciani, along with a whole stack of living math books and more games, although I've already bought a good amount in the last month. I just bought MM g4-6, although the format isn't the best for ds I've been looking into something to use for a main program in between BA books and all things considered this will work w/ some tweaking(teaching from the white board and enlarging for printing). I'm thinking of doing it w/ the LoF Intermediate mentioned earlier but then again I don't know if we have time or need for all of it.

I do have WR but we are using (and loving it here- on W8 of book 2) so that doesn't count since we are using it.

If your kid can handle BA, you don't need the intermediate LoF books. You can skip to fractions.
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If your kid can handle BA, you don't need the intermediate LoG books. You can skip to fractions.

Thanks, I'm anxious to check out Fractions and see if it will work. Hopefully it will come in soon from the library. Reading his site I was thinking Intermediate would be best as he has not totally mastered long division, we've done it some but it is far from mastered.

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keep it up and you'll be called "that lady I'm not supposed to talk to" :lol:

Seriously, I only have three of those red storage bins of books that don't fit on my two full sized bookshelfs I already have. I think the problem is I need more bookshelves. It's fashionably decorating my house if I line one wall of my hallway with bookshelves, right?

 

OMG, you should see my house - there are piles of books everywhere!  1100 sq feet, 4 humans, 1 dog, and several thousand books.

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I suppose you don't want to see this either ... http://www.whfreeman.com/Catalog/product/explorationsinphysicalchemistry20-secondedition-depaula/about/features

Have you looked at GEMS? http://www.carolina.com/stem-science-technology-engineering-math-curriculum/great-explorations-math-and-science-elementary-curriculum/gems-elementary-chemistry-curriculum/10797.ct?mCat=10796

While we are "dreaming" .... it can't hurt to just look. Right?



Ok, I am not understanding the first link...I will go back when I have more time ;) the second one...the kits look good. I have looked at the ASK chemistry kits for next year and they look great as well...I just keep wondering if a coulpe of kits are "enough". (I want it to be!) ;) I am an overachiever at will and a slacker at heart. :lol:
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Exactly. 
 
I've been looking at science. I already decided I could easily develop a science resources problem. I've been looking at McRuffy science, BFSU (always wanted that book but restrained myself), MPH, and the Holt middle school textbooks. 
 
None of it is needed. Really. 
 
ETA: An MBtP---for some reason I always have to have a little moment every year researching and reading about that.


You don't actually want MPH science. BTDT and I wouldn't recommend them.
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