24 September 2008

Sonlight and Singapore Math.

I think the people at Sonlight were specially waiting for my order. I think the second I hit that purchase button, about five of the employees there started screaming, "Order in the hoooole!" and scurried about gathering supplies from hither and yon like crazy squirrels at a nut festival. I mean, it arrived at my door about 48 hours after I placed my order. That's insanely fast. But they got the order right anyway. I think my favourite part, though, was being able to check with their "curriculum advisor" to make sure the stuff I was getting was the right stuff (she was precise about it right down to the pencil in the triangle set case, I think because I told her I HATE hate hate HATE ordering stuff only to find out I need more stuff...a CD this or reading book that...). I could figure out the math stuff with a little help, but if I ever wanted to figure out "core" this or that and select stuff from the head-spinning variety of things in the catalogue, I'd have to have a ten-minute exchange back and forth for sure. Have you ever been on their website? Their choices are kinda dizzying. Right now Emperor and Elf are very enamoured of their Vroot and Vroom programme for "maths." Emperor is now known as "Ver-oot" and Elf is "Vroom." (There is a bit of a disagreement as to how to pronounce the names.) They're little space men who do math problems. If I could rent a Vroot and Vroom costume and have them appear at a party, I don't think you would ever find two happier little boys.

8 comments:

  1. Oops! I do this all the time. I am missing books for history, English & music. *sigh* I love Sonlight but I always end up terribly confused. Does it show?

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  2. I only order after I have talked to people who use it and then I mark it on the list. But since I am cheap I usually check them out from the library or buy at the library used booksale for 50 cents a piece.

    I hope Singapore math works out great. I haven't even rally looked at it, but I know several people who use it and they love it.

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  3. I just love the folks at Sonlight. It has never taken more than a week for me to get my order way over here in Japan. I won't tell you how much my shipping costs, though!

    It takes me forever to finalize my order and hit that button. I am so afraid of forgetting to order something, and having to pay that crazy shipping fee again!

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  4. I'm so glad you are pleased with the service you got. I was not one of the five people who yelled "Order in the Hole!" but I do believe I remember hearing something crazy going on in the warehouse... [smile]

    And, yes, we are very aware that the ordering system is, well, confusing. I am personally working very hard with our web team to keep improving this area... unfortunately, our web designers have to do a few more things than just do what I think would be cool/useful... you know, practical things, like making sure stuff works and the like.

    Thank you all for your enthusiasm. It makes my day to be able to read this kind of thing!

    ~Luke

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  5. I just wanted ot add that the high shipping fee is no fault of Sonlight at all. Actually, their fees are more reasonable than many others. It's just the cost ofliving so far away.

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  6. How cool that someone from Sonlight posted a comment ! :)

    Do you use Singapore Math for all your boys that you hs?

    I'm using Lifepac Curriculum, from Alpha Omega. I like the lesson outlines they provide, but I'm finding I have to type out just about all of the sentences I say and directions I give him... m y son's attention span isn't all that great these days.

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  7. I use AO Lifepac curriculum for science. My only complaint is that sometimes on the tests they require reasoning "jumps" that I'm not sure my children always make. And God is referred to pretty generically, which can be great if you're not Christian and doing the curriculum, not so great if you want to be very specific that Jesus is Lord. You can skip the "God" parts very easily, whereas with something like Bob Jones it's so intertwined you can't teach it without mentioning Jesus.

    We're starting our Singapore stuff soon. I don't know if it will work well, or if we'll have to review a bit first. I think we'll try to get our feet wet and see.

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  8. Dear Math Enthusiast,
    Hi. I am a Middle School Math teacher. I spent the summer making a website geared directly for grades 1-8. I want students to have a site where they can practice their math skills while still having fun. I have personally made most of the games.
    If you have a place on your website to put a link, please do so. My site is located at: www.HoodaMath.com
    Feel free to email me back with a link or a suggestion.
    Thank you,
    Michael Edlavitch

    www.HoodaMath.com

    ReplyDelete

Non-troll comments always welcome! :)

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