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Canadians - where to buy curriculum materials?


wathe
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Newbie here.

 

Where do you buy your curriculum materials? 

 

1)  I'm specifically looking to purchase the Singapore Process Skills book, level one.  I'm having trouble finding a Canadian source on-line.  I will willingly pay a reasonable shipping costs,  but i don't want to be gouged! 

 

2) Generally, what are your favourite places to purchase materials?

 

I'm in rural Ontario.  So far most of my books have come from Amazon.ca, but they don't carry everything I'd like. 

 

Thanks for your help.

 

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When we lived in NB, we'd have things shipped to the nearest US border town.

 

Sorry if that doesn't help, but it was our only choice. In-country options just didn't exist, or were 2-3x the price.

 

Fwiw we declared everything, every time. We never had a problem.

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There are a couple of options that ship, but I don't see that particular book on either.

One Stop Learning is wonderful.  Order quick, they're shutting down in a month.   :crying:

In Kelowna there's Cornerstone Learning Resources, and in Calgary there's Canadian Home Education Resources.  Ontario seems to have A+ Books Canada.

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I live close to the border so I order from the US and have it delivered to an American address.  The money I usually save makes up for the pickup fees.  My favourite place is Rainbow Resource.  With the dollar tanking, you will need to do some math to see if it's worth it or not.  Keep in mind their is no sales tax on items there - just exchange and a pickup fee and shipping if you place a small order.

 

If I was just ordering one book, I might order from The Learning House, but shipping for one item is expensive.  I live close enough to possibly pick it up, but it's not convenient.

 

Here is another place I might order from:  http://www.canadianhomeeducation.com/default.aspx

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One Stop Learning is my favorite, but as a previous poster mentioned, they are shutting down.  The Learning House is also good, as is Heritage Resources.  We also order from Chapters.ca & Amazon.ca. 

 

Christianbook.com carries tons of curriculum at great prices.  Even with the cost of shipping to Canada they are still way cheaper than most stores here. 

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Thank you.  This is helpful!

 

Unfortunately, I'm nowhere near a border.  I've never ordered form a US site before.  I worry that customs and international shipping will be complicated.  Might be time to give it a try.

 

It's generally not complicated at all.  They charge you extra for postage, and it shows up at your door.

VERY occasionally, you might get charged extra for brokerage fees, which means it shows up at your door with a person who won't give it to you until you pay them more.  But they take credit.  ;)  So it's not complicated, it's just sometimes more expensive, that's all.  And it takes time.  Expect 3 weeks for most things, and if customs gets it through faster, do a happy dance.

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If you can get the American company to ship USPS, then there shouldn't be any extra brokerage fees. You can get hit with a big(gish) bill for brokerage if it's delivered via UPS or FedEx. Rainbow ships USPS and I use them for most curriculum-ish things (we use lots of trade books here, too, which I mostly get from Book Depository). The service is good from Rainbow, albeit slow (I agree that 3 weeks is about par for the course for orders from the US). Oddly, shipping from the UK is hugely faster; I have often had things in 48 hours!

 

I have ordered a few things from Canadian homeschool suppliers (Smarts, CHER, Blue Mantle), but when the dollar was near par, it was just so much more expensive to order from Canadian suppliers. Now that it has gotten so much lower, it might be worth looking at Canadian sites again. Of course, their costs for importing their stock just went way up, too, so it may be a bit of a wash in the end.

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Thank you.  This is helpful!

 

Unfortunately, I'm nowhere near a border.  I've never ordered form a US site before.  I worry that customs and international shipping will be complicated.  Might be time to give it a try.

 

I always have the same worry but we've never had this problem with Christianbook.  They have always shipped via USPS, so no "surprise" fees when the package arrives. 

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