These worksheets are like the ones mentioned up above but each page has an answer sheet. http://www.harcourtschool.com/teacher_resources/math04_ancillaries/index.html I was just fiddling with the page and found that if you click Edit, then Copy File to Clipboard you can paste into an email and it looks correct. It pasted only the one page and I couldn't get the answer key for some reason but it might still save you some work.

Not exactly real life math but Ko's Journey covers middle school math in a storyline about a native American.

We have gotten half a dozen from the library to see what we like, but I will keep Sayers and Tey in mind for later. Thank you.

Wow, so many options! I knew there had to be quality mysteries out there but didn't have time to slog through the not so good stuff. I am sure we will find something amongst the suggestions. Thank you!

My older girls are well past Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys but do enjoy reading a good mystery. They have read the original Sherlock books (well my oldest has read them all). We all would be interested in a light hearted mystery series that isn't murder every single time. I have read the Cat Who mysteries but even they get quite the body count in a few of them. We have read Murder on the Orient Express but I don't know a lot about Agathe Christie other than what I have seen on BBC. Teen level or adult doesn't matter. We would rather skip really gruesome descriptions and lots of foul language. Thank you for whatever suggestions you can throw my way!

Some language kids really like Life of Fred. Some find him weird. See if the first book is at the library and give it a try. You are supposed to start at the beginning to get used to the new way of doing things and starting out super easy might build confidence.

I have a kindle fire and a free app called Note Anytime Free. I can write on the pages and they are saved. I plan on using that so I don't have to print at all.

I haven't used the history or science but know those who have. The general consensus has been that its a little slow/boring. I used the first three math books in an accelerated schedule. Like silver said, they were ok but not great. I did the first book really fast over the summer to introduce the characters to both my daughters. My more mathy daughter went through the second book fairly fast. She was a first grader at the time. My less mathy daughter (third grader at the time) did the third book pretty fast until it started introduing the multiplication facts. Then it went a bit fast for her and we switched to something else to really work on those. The story was nice - and not as weird as Fred - but only one day a week. Occasionally there was a craft that wasn't as math related as I would have liked. I think the amount of work was fine for an average kid but slow if yours picks up on math quickly. It was easy to skip porblems though when needed. One major beef I had was that the whole book was consumable but 1/3 of it was the story, so a lot wasted for the next child. We did a lot orally or I rewrote problems so that we could reuse them (but ended up selling). You have no permission to copy the pages even for your own family. In general I found them fine but not exceptional. But I could see how they would be great for a math reluctant child.

I need a "no buying curriculum unless I plan on using it tomorrow" challenge. I tend to buy things I think will be useful for next year or later and then change my mind when we actually get there.

If you want longer verses don't bother with R&S. Many of the verses are just partial ones in the early years and then repeated later in a longer section.

We have had both (and several other reader sets), we still have the pathway readers. They are the only ones my children enjoyed to just read for fun. The pathways have more sight words at the beginning than say the revised McGuffey readers. Not sure if that fully answers your question, but hope it is helpful.

I have used them in the past. I found them good but each one had a wide range of difficulty. It seemed a couple would be really easy, a couple right on the level of my daughter, and some would be too hard. So we didn't make extensive use of them at the time and then they got forgotten on my hard drive. My daughter was an average student and slightly math phobic, if that helps.

Anybody have any other ideas for easily-transportable math? Math Dice You can Google lots of games but in one game you roll two 9-12 sided dice and three regular dice. Multiply the multi sided dice together then use three regular numbers to try and reach the same number. You can use any combination of adding, subtracting ,multiplying or dividing to do so. It's an easy way to to drill addition or multiplication too. No bulky flashcards just two ten or twelve sided dice.

For something similar but cheaper try looking at Kitchen Table Math by Dr Wright. You could use the books to present the material then use what you already have for the occasional review. I have not actually used either programs. But since you described yourself as a "scrooge" (I am right there with you), I thought I would mention the books.

I used the Spectrum Test Prep for a few years. I actually found that Spectrum was harder than the test. At least for grades 3 and 5, we stopped practicing after those grades. You can also find old versions of the Texas state exams if you just want something to practice on.

I have two matching shelves in the living room. One has fiction . They are roughly organized by age with easier books lower down and older ones at the top. I keep sets together. The other shelf is non fiction. History, science, biographies all have their own shelf (or shelves). A couple shelves are various topics. I only buy, store books that are favorites or difficult to get at the library (ie science books from our particular world view). I don't have complete sets of the cotton candy variety but might keep say the first of the Boxcar Children. We can get the rest of them at the library. Although we do have a complete set of Nancy Drew and Tom Swift and are working on Hardy Boys but those are on different shelves. I like knowing roughly where a book I want is. I also like looking at neatly organized shelves. It's a calming affect within the chaos (at times) of six children. :party:

Thank you for the heads up. There are so many options out there. I appreciate the honest description.

Does Thinkwell actually use the books? I am guessing it's a solid program then? Thank you!

Thank you for the link and the reminder about the library! I will let dd take a look at it and see what she thinks.   :thumbup1:

I agree that sometimes the cutesy pictures and color is over the top. I am leaning toward the Dolciani texts. They are colorful but also not crammed. It can be scary to see 70 problems (that all look the same) packed on to the end of every topic. I want to physically hold the Jacobs Algebra before I buy so I am hoping that I can find one at our local used sale. Thank you everyone for the suggestions and information!

I have considered Jacob's, but I will admit that it kills me to pay $50 or more for a text that is 35 years old. :confused1: I do like that the Dolciani texts (the ones quark mentioned) go up to Algebra 2, so I won't have to search next year..again....hopefully. I understand that some children get distracted by extra colors/pictures, but it is frustrating that it seems you have to choose between a solid text OR a nicely laid out/visually interesting text. I think in the last 10 years companies have switched to adding multimedia elements instead of designing a good textbook layout with a variety of interesting problems.

That looks promising. Thank you for sharing!

I am looking for a visually interesting (colorful) Algebra text. It doesn't have to be of any particular worldview. I picked up an older copy by Lial but am more interested in something not so overwhelming. Her texts are written to college students and the material just seems packed in. My daughter did like the style of writing though. My daughter is average - doesn't want an advanced text that is like AOPS but doesn't need a "gentle" approach either. Is there anything out there like this? We want a physical text, with an engaging layout and the instruction in the text. I don't really want to *have* to have a teacher's manual to be able to teach it. I understand algebra and don't need a lot of hand holding. I can find online videos for free all over the internet, so don't need a multimedia component either. Thanks!

I really like simplicity. I am a minimalist in many areas and attempt the same pattern in homeschooling. I had been straying though, so I appreciate the recent threads that have reminded me of what I really want to accomplish.     I think when the child is young, it is better to set work based on lessons or pages rather than time. If something is taking too long then you need to reduce the amount of the lesson. Although I have a couple highly distracted one's that could easily waste time looking at everything except their page. I also only schedule non-fiction reading. Most of my children, even the lowest reader will read fiction on their own. So I don't really define that as they will read whatever is supplied by our bookshelves (I buy high quality books and let the library supply the cotton candy books). If I had a non reader I might require a certain amount of classics along with nonfiction reading. With older children/teens I might set a time or a deadline. Like, that book needs to be done by the end of the week or you need to be reading nonfiction for an hour. But it very much depends on the individual child.

Mastering Essential Math Skills or Arithmetic Made Simple