thanks

These ALL sound great, thanks! I will have to try some of the other ones personally soon :) But I decided to go with coleslaw. None of these people like mayo, so I'll make my other version-where you boil veg oil, white vinegar and sugar, cool it just slightly, and pour that over the cabbage. Then let it sit overnight in the fridge. Yum! And prbly even cheaper than the mayo kind!

It has to be a cold dish because we are going to church first and then a two-hour drive and eating as soon as we get there, so I can't keep a hot dish warm that long, and won't have time to heat it up when we get there. Also needs to be easy and inexpensive, and able to be made the day before. I thought of pasta salad, but by the time you add cheese and pepperoni and roasted red peppers and all that, it gets $$. It doesn't have to go with any particular meat or whatever-not sure what they're serving.

Sorry, I guess I was generalizing to say "engineer types", but *my* engineer type is not wordy and also not a strong reader (which we are working on) so this would have him in tears. I was looking at the Pre-Algebra for him for 7th grade. It helps to realize it's for a quirky subset, thanks! I still may consider doing it together, with popcorn reading it at first (he reads a paragraph, I read a paragraph) and see how it goes.

Grrrrr....sorry for the vent. Anyone else have this problem? I am looking at it for my mathy, engineer-minded boy and even MY eyes glaze over, and I am a word-oriented female!! How do you make this work for non-wordy boys?

We're into Algebra 1, but I want to at the same time do some review each day on previous topics to help her remember them and solidify them and keep them fresh. I'd really love something that has spiral practice of the basic topics-percents, ratios, decimals, higher level fractions, statistics/probability (like whisker plots, etc.)--not so much a topic heavy thing like the Keys To...series. Any ideas? Online or book form is fine. Thanks!

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Thanks, Dee-yes, I can see how it would be hard to tell which program(s) actually contributed to his success! MR is still one of my top choices-still deciding. Hi kiana! No, I didn't think you were stalking me-lol-in fact, I appreciate your input so much! I like your ideas for math progression. I never planned to have her *just* do Alg 1-she will do Geom and Alg 2 and then we'll see where we're at after that-how it's going and what other math after that seems best. I ordered Fresh Approach to take a look at it, mainly bcuz it was cheaper. She needs a little refreshing after the summer on fractions and such, so we'll prbly do those lessons and see how she likes the format. After that, if she likes it, we may just keep doing that. I do think FA looks like it may include more topics than MR. Also, dd is saying she wants to continue w/ Foerster's, but I think she will likely hit a wall in that before long, so I think we'd be better off w/ MR or FA. We'll have to see what clicks with her best so she can get a solid grounding in Alg this year. Thanks for your help!

Thanks for the review, txhomemom-I'm grateful you took the time to post! Please keep us updated as to how it's going! I went ahead and ordered it to take a look at it. I am still up in the air between this one and Math Relief, and now dd is saying she wants to continue w/ Foerster's. :glare: But I can see she is going to hit a wall at some point w. that one, so it may be better to pick one of these others instead.

Thanks, Ruth-Lori had linked me to the first one, but I didn't see the second one-just read it and it's fantastic, thank you so much!

Thanks for chiming in-helps to hear of others who have used it! Deeinfl-that is a great post-good to know it works well! I'm happy to know about the word probs so we can supplement. Did your kids feel they tested well after using it? I wasn't really worried about people frowning on *me* using it, I was wondering if there is some fatal flaw in the program that I don't know about that is the reason more people here don't use it! Like it is missing major topics or whatever.

It is a high price, but I don't even care-lol-if it would help her get through and understand Algebra, it's worth it to me! It is a great idea to just try the first module. Keys to is a good idea too to shore up those areas, thanks!

I actually used this in high school back in the late 80s and it boosted my vocab and SAT scores. BUT we had to study the words all week for a weekly test, so retention was pretty good. I can't remember much now about the program, but I'm not sure how retention would be with just doing the workbook. If you've used it, what are your thoughts on the program, and how was retention? Thanks! Oh, and what edition is best? Would newer be better to match up with the newer SAT tests?

See, I would not have known that-I guess we should be doing something then to keep middle school math fresh? One good thing is I will not worry about having them in my Algebra 1 course!

Answered you on other board, thanks! :)

Thanks, 3Only. Like the post I just added explains, it's not so much *getting* him to read, but how do I get him more proficient at comprehending quickly, fluency at understanding non-fiction, etc. Like you would expect to see with a good reader.

Thanks, Lori, for the awesome idea-as usual! And I will read those great links too, thank you! He does ok with listening to the books on audio, but the problem is more the reading it himself-he would rather play Legos :) No interest at all, and because he hasn't read a lot, it's a chore for him. I want him to get more like a "skim reader" like good readers are, where they can assimilate the information, both fiction AND non-fiction, more quickly and efficiently. I'm not sure how to get him to that point. I think the popcorn reading is a great idea, and then I almost feel like he needs something "more" also to get him to the point I listed in the previous paragraph. He gets really bogged down in non-fiction too, which is scary with starting into textbook reading!

Hmm...yes, I just looked and even TT Alg 1 has it. Foerster's Alg 1 has probability but not statistics. I was looking at doing Math Relief Algebra 1, but it doesn't have it :( Neither does Algebra 1: A Fresh Approach. And those were the Algebra 1 options I was looking at. Thanks, Arcadia-it looks like it must vary amongst curriculum providers. Interesting that AoPS doesn't have it! Maybe I'd do better to pick an Alg. 1 that has those topics.

I don't even know-I was looking at a graph that showed frequency of topics on SAT and I saw that statistics and probablility and ratios and data interpretation and such show up a lot on the SAT, and I thought we briefly covered that stuff in 7th grade; I'm sure she's forgotten it, and I don't see it in the Algebra 1 S+S and it certainly wouldn't be in Geom, so are they expecting these kids will remember it from 7th grade for the SAT (if you take Alg 1 in 9th grade, you won't have had all of Alg 2 before the SAT)? But I haven't done high school math yet so maybe it's in there somewhere? Thanks.

Ds is a rising 6th grader who has never enjoyed reading, doesn't read for pleasure, etc. I haven't pushed it, but I am seeing gaps now that he's entering middle school that older older dd (strong reader) didn't have. He doesn't have the core knowledge base that an experienced reader would have built, plus he reads slowly and gets overwhelmed with more difficult books, long descriptive passages, etc. He is an engineer type-lol. It is so hard for me to know what to do for this, as I was born with a book in my hand, and my only other student was too! He has no problem with the mechanical part of reading-can physically read any word just fine . But how do I scaffold him in all areas of reading (comprehension, fluidity, etc.) to get him able to read tougher books over these next couple years before high school? Also, is there a curriculum or book that could maybe help with this? xpost

Ds is a rising 6th grader who has never enjoyed reading, doesn't read for pleasure, etc. I haven't pushed it, but I am seeing gaps now that he's entering middle school that older older dd (strong reader) didn't have. He doesn't have the core knowledge base that an experienced reader would have built, plus he reads slowly and gets overwhelmed with more difficult books, long descriptive passages, etc. He is an engineer type-lol. It is so hard for me to know what to do for this, as I was born with a book in my hand, and my only other student was too! He has no problem with the mechanical part of reading-can physically read any word just fine . But how do I scaffold him in all areas of reading (comprehension, fluidity, etc.) to get him able to read tougher books over these next couple years before high school? Also, is there a curriculum or book that could maybe help with this? xpost

Ds is a rising 6th grader who has never enjoyed reading, doesn't read for pleasure, etc. I haven't pushed it, but I am seeing gaps now that he's entering middle school that older older dd (strong reader) didn't have. He doesn't have the core knowledge base that an experienced reader would have built, plus he reads slowly and gets overwhelmed with more difficult books, long descriptive passages, etc. He is an engineer type-lol. It is so hard for me to know what to do for this, as I was born with a book in my hand, and my only other student was too! He has no problem with the mechanical part of reading-can physically read any word just fine . But how do I scaffold him in all areas of reading (comprehension, fluidity, etc.) to get him able to read tougher books over these next couple years before high school? Also, is there a curriculum or book that could maybe help with this? I'm asking on this board too since I figure y'all have been there, done that already :) xpost

I see it is on the SATs but I don't know where they cover this in high school-is it in Alg 1? I don't see it in the scope and sequences usually. It wouldn't be in Geometry, I guess. First time doing high school, and I don't feel like my student will be prepared :(

I have a struggling math student-it's always been so difficult for her (although she is extremely advanced in other academics). Even TT Algebra 1 was hard for her, so we dropped it. I am looking at Math Relief Algebra 1 and it looks really great-the teacher on the dvd explains it thoroughly and I like that it has all the solutions, etc. But I want her to have a solid and thorough algebra base, as she is an aspiring nurse and they use LOTS of algebra, plus for the SATs, etc. I really need to get her through Algebra 1 in a painless but thorough way this year so I can't afford another flopped algebra program. Is Math Relief frowned upon by most WTM'ers, and if so, why? Is it not thorough enough, do kids not test well with it, etc? Thanks!

I like that fact too, that it would only take (hopefully) about 129 days and then we can get on to geometry. Keep us posted please! Good luck with it!