Saudi Arabia/High school books in Jubail

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Expert: Mark Lasater - 1/24/2013

QuestionHello.  My family is living in Jubail while my husband works.  We have to home school our two kids one needs eighth grade material, the other tenth grade material.  Do you know any place in the Jubail\Dammam\Khobar area where we can get proper school books?  We have been to the Jarir in Jubail and there was nothing. The Obeikan store was closed out of business.  Any other suggestions please? 

AnswerI think collecting paper and ink books that you are only going to use for a year at a time is a waste.  After that, it depends upon the age of the children.  I think High School texts are still simpler to find than the elementary ones, but you should be able to locate them.  Many textbook publishers now have an online edition of most of their books. 

We've used the McGraw Hill "Treasures" series in the past for Language arts instruction.  This is the link for that site: https://www.mheonline.com/onlinesamples/index.php.  I think this will be your best bet for k-6 text books. 

www.time4learning.com -- all online, no textbooks needed, but, they claim to only be a supplementary curriculum and only go up to 6th grade. 

www.k12.com -- is the biggest online education site in the US, they also have a regional office in the middle east.  You do have to order textbooks but maybe, since they have a regional office, you might get some help in doing it.  They are k-12, accredited, and have both AP and IB courses at the HS level, but they aren't cheap. 

http://is.byu.edu/site/ -- at the high school level, nearly all of their textbooks are online and included in the cost of the course.  They make an effort to use books that you can find online or order cheaply.  I've never had anyone use their elementary programs so I don't know what those are like.  They have k-12 programs and you can take courses for university credit up to your sophomore year. 

I also don't know where you're from.  If you have a residence in British Columbia, Canada, you can do public online programs there for free, the State of North Dakota and a few of the more rural states have the same offer.  The Florida Dept.  of Education also has a great online program for state residents.  So, even if you aren't a resident of one of those places, you might look a bit and see what you can find. 

Lastly, you might try Aramex's Shop and Ship service.  Once you sign up, they give you an address in New York #or elsewhere#.  You buy your textbooks where ever and ship them to the address, Aramex wraps them up and sends them on.  It will double the price of your textbook, but it arrives in about two weeks. 

Mark Lasater

Expertise

All kinds of issues dealing with children transitioning to Saudi Arabia (specifically Yanbu and Jubail).  This is particularly the case if your moving from the US.  Can I find special ed.  services in Yanbu?  How do my child's High School credits transfer from or to an American or Canadian school?  What kinds of activities are available either independently our through schools in the Yanbu/Jubail area?  What are the schools like in Yanbu and Jubail? 

Experience

My wife and I have spent the last four years in Saudi, three years in Jubail and one in Yanbu.  We both work for the International Schools Group.  I'm a counselor/vice-principal and my wife is a teacher.  We've worked abroad now for 8 years, spending four years in Taskent, Uzbekistan before coming here.  However, as I'm part of ISG, I have access to a vast range of experiences and knowledge.  ISG has several hundred employees in seven campuses, if I don't know the answer about something educational, I can find somebody who does. 

OrganizationsNational Education Association(NEA), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), National Association of School Counselors (NASC)

Education/CredentialsBachelor degree in Elementary education-Licensed in Kansas to teach math, reading, science, elementary counseling and secondary counseling (12 years experience in the US), Masters Degree in Counseling, Certified Professional Counselor (Kansas Licensed), currently working on an administrative degree.  My Wife-- bachelor early childhood special ed.,  Masters in Early Childhood Education, Masters in Early Childhood Special ed.  8 years working in early childhood Special ed in the US-- We both have course work in ESL, enough for a license endorsement, but we've not actually done it