I'm going to have to say Rod and Staff. I just wanted to add to the confusion..LOL. This is my first year homeschool my 4th grader and I'm extremely happy with it. I'm getting a great review as I teach it to her. You can do alot of the grammar aloud together instead of writing it on notebook paper. I admit, when I first read this here on the forum, I was skeptical. I almost felt like that would be too easy and my daughter wouldn't be able to learn it unless she wrote everything down. For us, it has worked out really well to do the grammar outloud. My daughter does so much writing with Math that it's a nice change of pace and I can explain why she gets something wrong, see why she chooses the answer she does, and explain it as we go along. We do diagraming on the white board. She doesn't really consider that "writing" so it works in my favor. Of course she does their true writing assignments on paper or on the computer and she does the test from the test booklet on her own. I remind her this is to be done alone so I know I have proof and know that she really understood it and we both feel confident moving on. There is another workbook that we purchased that I occasionally have her do if I feel she needs more practice. Hope that helps- Carolyn

My 1st grade daughter is finishing 1st grade Abeka this week and will be starting Abeka 2nd grade. It has served her well. She understands it, loves the workbook and feels very confident about her math skills. I was wondering the same thing when I purchased the 2nd grade Abeka book as I was contemplating using Horizon's but just went ahead and stuck with what we know. I know she likes the colorful pictures and that draws her in. Carolyn

Thanks ladies for your help. So I should skip the workbook with her and do just the textbook until she has problem, then add workbook? Carolyn

I read and read before I purchased 1A and 1B US Edition but it's not until I received it did I understand why people are having so many questions. My child is already using Abeka 1st grade math and is half way through the book. She knows pretty much everything in the 1A and 1Bworkbooks already. Should I just let her work through them as she can, or do I still need to take some sort of systematic approach and use the home instructors guide and textbook? I didn't start off with 2A because I didn't know if she might miss something and wanted it to be easy at first and learn their method. I hope that makes sense! So my question is, can she work through them as a workbook and I start teaching her when she no longer gets it? Thanks for your help! Carolyn

Thank you NineChoirs. I'm sold! I'm purchasing it this morning. I really appreciate you taking the time to give me the information on it! Have a blessed day, Carolyn

I did mess that one up! I meant Vocabulary from Classical Roots. Thank you for reading my post anyway!! The 5th grade sample really looks great. Carolyn

We use Wordly Wise and my daughter doesn't like all of the writing involved. I'm thinking of purchasing Vocab. from the Roots Up Grade 4. Has anyone used this? If so, would you recommend buying the next grade up? I can only find a sample of Grade 5 online. Thanks in advance! Carolyn

I want to make up my own vocabulary worksheets using sentences with fill the blank vocabulary words. Is there such a website that can help me do this? Any recommendations? Thanks in advance! Carolyn

I found it in the Children's section in the back of the store with all of the other Harry Potter Books on a display table. I hope you find it! Carolyn

I too am thinking of adding a second math. I was just talking to someone today who told me Schiller's Math is the only way to go and her brother-in-law who is this great "Mathy" person says that Saxon isn't that great. I hate hearing the negatives AFTER I've already committed to a cirriculum. If there were only 1 Math curriculum out there then things would be so much easier! :) Carolyn

I know I saw a thread where someone was wanting a writing curriculum based on Harry Potter. I'm not able to find it today. I wanted to share that I bought a Vocabulary book at Barnes and Nobles today. It's called "The Unofficial Harry Potter Vocabulary Builder". I thought I might take a break from Wordly Wise 4, after 1 whole week of using it :001_smile: and try this for a change. It has 3,000 hardest words from all seven books and references the page number and book that each word comes from. My girls are BIG Harry Potter fans. Hopefully this will get my 4th grader in the groove to learn some vocabulary and spelling! Carolyn

Thanks everyone for your responses! I admit, I was having a weak moment! We did Math AFTER Vocabulary. While doing Vocabulary in Wordly Wise, told me she was going to recopy all of her vocab. words so she didn't have to flip back an extra page to find the answers. That would have taken forever. She's a smart girl but time management and speed is not one of her strong suits. We have gone over her assignments tomorrow and I gently explained she would need to write out the problems tomorrow. I think she is also trying to see what she can get away with. After all, this is all new territory for her. Thanks again- Carolyn

We had our first day homeschooling. Very interesting to see how 4th grade and 1st grade daughter handle the freedom of homeschooling. The little things they were excited about cracked me up. Not wearing shoes and chewing gum in class were two they were excited about! However, after today, I'm not sure that "not" chewing gum is such a bad idea after all! Oldest daughter is VERY much in need of doing everything like public school and told me it was very important she do P.E. everyday for at least 45 minutes. I told her to head on out to the trampoline. Seriously, I am going to let them run with me during part of my run tonight. She also can't handle noise but wants to stay in the new school room. (Enter 3 year old brother and active 7 year old sister):) Youngest is more "active" in school than I expected she would be. She doesn't stop moving at her desk. Does her work on her stomach in chair and has no attention span. If I have to turn around and get a different book, she has left the room. But, all and all it went very well. I think they learned a few things and I definitely learned alot about them! Carolyn DD 9 years old-4th grade DD 7 years old-1st grade 3 year old DS

Today was our first day of school. My plan was for DD to rewrite her math work on separate paper. She did her work in the book today and now I'm thinking it might be worth it to let her continue on this way. I realize I will need to buy a new book for the next child but it might be worth it time wise since she is very particular about her writing. It might take days!:) My question is: Do you all allow your children to write in the Saxon books? Thanks, Carolyn

I appreciate all the feedback on this. Do you all buy the recommended posters and flash cards to go with the curriculum and can you make due without them? Thanks, Carolyn