Galore Park?

[siblingrivalry]

Hi

DD1 has just left primary school and we are now going to be HEdding her.
I have decided to use Galore Park for English -just a quick question, though.

Does anyone use this and, if so, do you recommend getting the answer book?
When I read the blurb on the website, it said it had 'suggested' answers -so I'm not sure if it will be any good?

Thanks in advance

Sibling.
I think if your English is good and you are not using the books to educate for 11+ entry, there may not be need to buy the answer book.
On their website I have downloaded all the sample pages I can find for all levels and subjects as these are free worksheets if nothing else.
I was disappointed there were no examples of the anser book to look at.
I think you could run away with your finances here though.
Also not sure about the H.ed package, what it contains and if all would be needed and at nearly £50 a subject its very dear.

Thank you
You have reaffirmed my own thoughts-I think we will manage without it.
I'm only buying English to start with, to see how we get on. I will give it a shot without the answer book.

I have bought answer books for maths, science and latin but not for English, French or Spanish. Having the answer book for the above means that my DC can self-mark and if they've made a mess of something, they come and ask me.

Tinuviel. That sounds like a good idea, self marking. I think maybe this would be a good idea for older dcs, I don't think my dd would be capable. Great idea for future, which I will probably pinch, thanks.

If you were to mark the work yourself do you think the answer books would be necessary. I don't mean are you clever enough, more an idea of the depth of answer and if they are straight forward or offer explanation of what answers are acceptble, iykwim

The English books are mostly fine to mark without an answer book, although some of the comprehension answers (a friend has one of the English answer books) are not what I would have answered! But some are fairly open-ended so there could be a number of correct answers. They also seem to infer more than I would as well.

We don't really use the English anymore (am just considering what to use this year) as they are quite repetitive. I may go back to them for some of the work. Although they have sections on grammar, spelling, punctuation etc, they don't really teach 'writing' - just give some titles with no guidance as to how to tackle them.

I don't have any problems with the French/Spanish as I am also a languages teacher!

I found the answer books useful for SYRWTL English 2 and 3, for the comprehensions on poems! Other than that we were generally ok.

Just something else I remembered: each chapter has a list of suggestions for further reading. Most are great but there are a few that I certainly wouldn't recommend - Death of Grass being one that springs to mind (I think it's recommended near the start of book 2) as it contains a lot of violence and a young girl gets raped. It's a thought-provoking book but I wouldn't let my 11 or 12 year old read it.

Thanks for all of the information

I am going to use other things alongside this -I have a lovely book full of creative writing ideas and tips.
I am also going to find some on-line 'revision' type sites, to reinforce what dd is learning.

I think the self-marking is a really good idea-something I might try out in the future.