According to the Memoria Press site, their MP D'Aulaires Greek Myths Guide is recommended for grades 3-6. I used it a couple years ago with ds and will use it this coming year with dd10, and IMO the ideal range to use it would be about 5th-7th, in terms of how much the average student will get out of it. The students have to remember a lot of details (including names/places on the maps) for the tests, from what I remember. So for a 5-year-old, I'd definitely just read it aloud and have fun with it! HTH!

...dd will do BF Geography this coming year, and I'm so excited! I love the maps, too. Other BF stuff we've used: Early American History - Primary Early American History - Intermediate (5th grader did this while 3rd grader did the Primary) History of the Horse We liked it all! I added a bunch of independent readers, sonlight-style, to our early american history year, and we ended up not using America's Providential History. But I liked doing American history where the topics are arranged mainly by biographies. A couple years later, ds did US history using the textbook approach, so it was great to do both methods. HTH!

[***Well, I looked at your post again and realized you were asking for world history, not US history...sorry!***] Hakim's History of US was the main "textbook." After reading a chapter, ds would write a summary or write an outline on it. We didn't do this for every single chapter of all eleven volumes, of course, but I tried to assign one or two short writing assignment on most weeks. The chapters seemed easier to outline than the DK History Definitive Guide text (I bought this, too, but ended up not using it). I also had him do a paper on FDR. You could easily add in more writing assignments on people and/or topics a la WTM. Since we were also doing SOTW-3 with dd10 (SOTW-3 was done independently...didn't try to coordinate any topics, etc.), I gave them some of the SOTW-3 tests, too. Here's the course description I made for ds's transcript: History: U.S. History, Culture & Government – 7th grade Course description: This textbook-based course covers American history from pre-colonial times through modern times. The student learns about the form of government, political achievements, and the changes and developments that take place in American culture over time. Both primary sources and secondary sources are utilized. Methods include independent reading, discussion, writing assignments, a research paper, and tests. Curriculum: A History of US (11-volume set) by Joy Hakim Colonies to Constitution (Book 1 of “Critical Thinking in United States History” series) by Kevin O’Reilly Plus: Custom lessons Book list (supplementary reading): The Lost Colony of Roanoke by Jean Fritz What’s the Deal? Jefferson, Napoleon and the Louisiana Purchase by Rhoda Blumberg Make Way for Sam Houston by Jean Fritz Mr. Lincoln’s High-Tech War by Thomas B. Allen On His Own by Horatio Alger Franklin D. Roosevelt (“United States Presidents” series) by Karen Bornemann Spies The supplementary reading book list was mostly random, as the Hakim book was our main text. I just included whatever books he read this year that had anything to do with US history. If I could do it over again, I might purchase some tests to go along with History of US. Ds enjoyed reading it, and I plan to use it with dd in a few years. HTH!

I volunteered my dd, too, without permission. :)

This is the course description I recently wrote for his transcript: Medieval Studies: Europe & Asia – 6th grade Course description: This is an integrated course that covers the literature, history, and cultures of the period which begins with the fall of the Roman Empire and goes through the Protestant Reformation. Key influential figures, civilizations, and significant events that shaped this period are studied. Literary works are from or about Britain, Europe, and Asia during this period. Cultures studied include ancient Romans, ancient Celts, Byzantines, Vikings, Muslims, Mongols, English, French, Germanic peoples, and Spanish. Methods used include independent reading, group reading, discussion, comprehension questions, writing assignments, and map work. Credits: 1 literature credit and 1 history credit. Curriculum: Tapestry of Grace – Year 2, Units 1 & 2 by Marcia Somerville (Lampstand Press) Book list (partial): Retellings : Beowulf: A New Telling retold by Robert Nye Beowulf the Warrior retold by Ian Serraillier The Story of King Arthur and Other Celtic Heroes by Padraic Colum Canterbury Tales adapted by Barbara Cohen Saint George and the Dragon (from Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen) Aladdin and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights retold by N. J. Dawood Shakespeare Stories retold by Leon Garfield Whole books, literary (fiction) : The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Gray Grimm’s Fairy Tales by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm The Yellow Fairy Book by Andrew Lang The Green Fairy Book by Andrew Lang The Children of Odin by Padraic Colum The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow by Allen French The Hidden Treasure of Glaston by Allen French The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff The Shining Company by Rosemary Sutcliff The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli Men of Iron by Howard Pyle Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly Whole books, historical and cultural (non-fiction) : The Ancient Celts (“People of the Ancient World†series) by Patricia Calvert The Art of the Catapult by William Gurstelle Cathedral by David Macaulay Castle by David Macaulay Art of the Middle Ages (“Art in History†series) by Jennifer Olmstead Augustine Came to Kent by Barbara Willard Son of Charlemagne by Barbara Willard Saladin, Noble Prince of Islam by Diane Stanley Joan of Arc by Diane Stanley Marco Polo (“Groundbreakers†series) by Struan Reid The Man Who Laid the Egg by Louise A. Vernon (about Erasmus) Thunderstorm in the Church by Louise A. Vernon (about Martin Luther) Morning Star of the Reformation by Andy Thomson (about John Wycliffe) The Bible Smuggler by Louise A. Vernon (about William Tyndale) HTH!

SOTW-1 thru SOTW-3 text: Excellent! SOTW-1 thru SOTW-3 Activity Book: Excellent! I especially appreciate having the discussion stuff...review questions with answers, guided narrations with sample answers. This has been our main program for narrations. SOTW-3 Tests: I probably wouldn't use any history tests with a 1st grader, but would likely wait until 3rd or 4th grade, or even later. FLL1/2-FLL4: Loved FLL-3 and FLL-4. Okay with FLL-1/2, mainly because I'm not totally convinced about starting grammar in 1st grade. If I had a 3rd child, I might skip this and just start with FLL-3. Whether everyone likes SOTW or not....certainly some don't care for it. However, I recently started working at a local homeschool store which has a huge selection of used books. The owner told me that the used copies SOTW texts and AG's consistently get snatched up right away by customers. So, apparently a lot of people like it! HTH!

I have the Prealgebra "Special Second Edition for Chalk Dust Company" version. I don't have any of the DVD's (or the solutions manual), so I have to teach the lessons myself. Also, ds was getting ready to take a standardized test at the beginning of June, so we were actually kind of cramming key parts of the text for about 3 weeks (he had been using Singapore Math's NEM-1 before we switched gears). But here's how I think I'd like to do it with my 2nd child: Each Chapter consists of several Sections (Section 5.1, Section 5.2, etc.), and each Section usually has several Objectives (Objective A, Objective B, etc.). I'd generally aim for one Objective per day. We might do two Objectives in a day if the concepts seem easy enough. I think there are about 132 Objectives. Also, we'd spend a day on the Chapter Summary (chapter review) and the next day on the Chapter Test. The day after the test, we'd do the Cumulative Review. Then the day after that, we'd start the next chapter. I think this comes out to about 33 weeks (including 3 days for the final exam and reviewing for the final). I'd skip many of the word problems in each chapter (since we've done a lot already in SM), and am even fine to skip some parts of the Statistics & Probability chapter. Since there's a lot of review from what we've covered before this text, as long as my student shows competence and mastery in a particular topic, we just skim it quickly or even skip it (esp. in some of the first four chapters). About assigning homework: I like for the student to work the "You Try It" problems first. After checking how well he did (showing steps, correct answer, etc.), I decide how much to assign. So if he missed all 3 You Try It's in the Objective A, we'll work 2 or 3 more problems together. Once he shows me that he's on the right track, I'll assign something like all the odd-numbered problems in Objective A (e.g., in Sec. 1.5, Obj. A has 42 regular problems plus 4 Critical Thinking Problems, which I usually skip). If he misses too many problems, I'll assign some or all of the even-numbered problems; this might be on the same day or on the next day...it just depends. I try to make sure he really understands the concept before we move on. So if we need to spend 2 days on an Objective, that's fine. HTH!

Ds did the following in 2007-08: Math Language arts (grammar/mechanics, writing, spelling, vocab, penmanship) Reading & Literature Classical Studies: Ancient Greece Social Studies: Early American History Science Art P.E. Current plan for dd for 2010-11: Math Language arts Reading & Literature Classical Studies: Ancient Greece Social Studies: World History - Modern Times Bible Science Art P.E. Here's the description of the Classical Studies course I put on ds's 5th grade transcript: Classical studies: Ancient Greece – 5th grade Course description: An introduction to the literature and history of ancient Greece. A range of literature is read – mythology, retellings of epic poems, fables, and short biographies of key figures in Greek history. The student learns about the Greek gods and goddesses, Homer, Achilles, Agamemnon, Odysseus, Jason, the Hero of Marathon, Socrates, Xenophon, Alexander the Great, and others. Methods used include independent reading, discussion, comprehension questions, writing assignments, map work, and tests. Credit: 1 humanities credit. Curriculum: D’Aulaires’ Greek Myths Student Guide by Cheryl Lowe and Leigh Lowe (Memoria Press) Plus: Custom lessons on remaining literature Book list: D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff The Wanderings of Odysseus by Rosemary Sutcliff The Children’s Homer by Padraic Colum The Golden Fleece by Padraic Colum Famous Men of Greece: Greek History by John Haaren and A. B. Poland, edited by Leigh Lowe Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick Aesop’s Fables

Here's a link to a brief description and some reasons I like AP: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=321838#poststop I haven't seen or used Meet the Masters, so I can't compare. I guess one possible con, or issue, with AP is if you were looking for a program with a lot of crafts, as in a large variety of craft-oriented art projects, you might want something else. AP had enough variety for my kids, but it was certainly less variety than what I had as a student in a well-equipped public school art class (leather crafts, variety of inks & paints, 3-dimensional work, etc.). One of my favorite parts of AP is how it connects the learning of an art concept with a recognized work of art in its historical context. That's one thing I never had in my art classes...I don't think I studied any recognized works of art until my art history class in college. HTH!

Have you seen The Baldwin Project site? They have a lot online books that are geared towards children. One of our favorite authors for tales & myths written for children is Padraic Colum. Here's his page at Baldwin.... http://www.mainlesson.com/displayauthor.php?author=colum HTH!

Here's an example from the McGuffey reader I have: "The woods must be very beautiful to-day, and how I should like to be in them!" Though "to-day" was acceptable at that time, it would be incorrect now, as far as I know. One example is the word "website," which used to be two words. It used to be correct to write it as two words and incorrect to write "website," but now the one word is acceptable. From a recent article: When the AP Stylebook announced via Twitter that it was changing the style for "Web site" to "website," some users let out shouts of praise: "Finally!" "Yes!!!" "Yeeha!" The reactions aren't surprising, given how many people have asked the AP to change the style from two words to one word, arguing that "Web site" is an antiquated way of writing it. The change, which was formally announced at the American Copy Editors Society conference Friday afternoon, is effective Saturday and will appear in the 2010 Stylebook, which is slated to come out next month. "We decided to make the change because 'website' is increasingly common," said Sally Jacobsen, deputy managing editor for projects at the AP and one of three Stylebook editors. "We also had invited readers and users of the Stylebook to offer us some suggestions for a new social media guide that we're including in the 2010 Stylebook, and we got a very good response and a large number of people who favored 'website' as one word." Here's another example from McGuffey where we can see the difference in the use of the colon: "Why, Susan is to wear it, of course," said Rose: "is she not said to be the best girl in school, and the most obedient at home?" I think you could still use the McGuffey books; you'd just want to be aware of the style differences so that your student doesn't copy the outdated parts. HTH!

The King of Ireland's Son by Padraic Colum The Story of King Arthur and Other Celtic Heroes by Padraic Colum The Boy Who Knew What the Birds Said by Padraic Colum -- a collection of tales, including The Stone of Victory The Girl Who Sat by the Ashes by Padraic Colum Mabinogion In Chimney Corners: Merry Tales of Irish Folklore by Seumas MacManus Donegal Fairy Stories by Seumas MacManus HTH!

My favorites: For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay...My biggest paradigm shift for what "education" is, or can be, resulted from reading this book. The Well-Trained Mind by SWB 100 Top Picks by Cathy Duffy Others I enjoyed: Educating the Whole-Hearted Child by Clarkson You Can Teach Your Child Successfully, Grades 4-8 by Ruth Beechick Books Children Love by Elizabeth Wilson A Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola

FLL 1/2 does not have any accompanying workbooks. FLL-3 & FLL-4 each have accompanying workbooks that are necessary, IMO. If you didn't have the workbooks, you'd have to write out quite a bit as preparation for each lesson, plus draw all the "branches" for the sentence diagramming. Students are asked to circle words, underline words/phrases, draw arrows between words, etc.,...all these things are done with sentences printed in the workbooks. HTH!

BTW, I have incorporated some elements of your planning/scheduling process. Plus, I also feel more free to customize my kids' schoolwork, especially in literature, history and science. Thanks!

This is from the old WTM boards. Some of us were asking you questions, and you gave us very helpful answers! Q: I have been trying without success for years to put together my own TM. I get frazzled with my materials and then buy a prepared curriculum or tweak the heck out of the Ambleside Online schedules. I always end up tossing the tm I bought and then flying by the seat of my pants because I find that my family does not mesh with someone else's idea of how our day should look... So, can you please tell me the method you use to put your stuff together and what you include in your teacher notes? A: My kids would say that my process is to go utterly berserk and trash the area around my desk!! ;) While I agree with the external assessment, much more is going on!! My first step is to find the book or main books I plan on using as spine(s). This year I am using 2 main books as spines.....The History of the Church and A Little History of the World. (We are doing a quick review of Augustine and Constantine and then covering the Middle Ages/Ren through 1600s) I pre-read (surface skim) my spines as I am going along. I make notes of people, battles, key events, etc as I read. I use these notes to help guide my literature decisions. I then generate a huge list of possible books to read to accompany them. I list everything chronologically. I then research my generated list and narrow it down to the titles that I like the most and are realistic to cover. I do not write detailed plans like the ones you mentioned [e.g., SL, MFW, TOG, et al] for the full year ahead of time. I simply create my scope and sequence and booklist first. Then I write my plans in 5-6 week segments. (we tend to do school for 5-6 weeks followed by a week off. during that week off, I write my next set of plans) During my planning time, I focus specifically on what we are getting ready to cover (the notes I wrote earlier keep me targeted as we go through our sources) and make notes to the kids in their planners. For example...who/what to place on their timeline, what to map, questions to answer, or notes about X they need to take to write an essay, etc. This yr I am writing 3 different grade levels for the same time period. Each child's "notes" will be different b/c they will individualized for their skill level. I literally had about 40 books scattered around me on the floor as I time-lined them and decided on the reading "grade" level (that was really arbitrary since it is based on their reading ability not real levels.) I added in some Time Life books on Islam, Byzantium, audio files I found on the internet, and Teaching Co DVDs.....and that completed my list. I write their specific titles, pg #s, etc in their planners. I read aloud the spines to everyone. The older ones watch the TC DVDs (I don't have the younger ones do that.) Q: When you prepare your kids' schedules for the next 5/6-week period, are they detailed, like what each student should do each day, or do they show the assignments for the week (not broken down into daily lessons/assignments)? What kind of planners do you use for your children? Do you have to read all the non-spine books ahead of time in order to schedule them? I'm not sure how I'd figure out how to pace ourselves. And about how many hours does it take for you to do this planning every 5/6-week period (not including the initial set-up)? A: I write our plans for daily assignments. I really don't have any choice b/c our life is so chaotic and busy that I need daily plans to stay on track. I know how to guage the abilities of my kids. (this is why I also only write 5-6 weeks at a time so that as skill levels change, so do their daily assignments.) So, I know my 8th grader loves to read. She will be reading 3 books simultaneously. I do not write down her page numbers but simply write finish the books in 5 day or 10 days or whatever for the reading. For my 6th grader, who does not like to read, I write specific page numbers that I guage will take him 30-45 minutes to read. For other subjects, I write down exact page numbers, "see me"s---(they come to me so that I can discuss specifics with them), read aloud pages w/ specific numbers for me, etc. My summer planning is the longest. My first 5-6 weeks also takes longer than the rest of the year. Once I have a firm handle on our routine and their pace (which is being fudged the first 5-6 weeks b/c of summer vacation and getting back into a daily rhythm)....the plans get easier to write. I would say on average it takes about 3 hrs to write my older kids plans for the 5-6 week period and less for the younger kids. Q: Is this all just for history, or is this history and literature (not necessarily composition, though)? And do you fill in your kids' planners with assignments in other language arts as well? A: I fill it out for evey subject. Keep in mind that I have been doing this for 13+yrs, have taught every grade level at least once, and have a degree in elementary ed :) When I first started doing this, it *did* take me much longer.....but I was also recording How to Teach Spelling dictations for each individual child, too....so I am not quite clear as to how much longer it actually took b/c that took a HUGE chunk of time to do. It really isn't that intimidating. Just plan for your children's abililities and realistic time goals. For example, don't schedule so much work that it will take 3 hrs to finish history. Make realistic goals and remember that you have through 12th grade to reach your objectives. :) Thanks for taking the time to share your experience!

These are my favorites, too! I agree...they're my top recommendations for a a new homeschooler to start reading. Some curricula that I often recommend...(as in, I could be a rep for them :)): FIAR & Before FIAR HWT (for K & 1st grade) Singapore's PM SOTW with AG's FLL-3 & 4 R&S English 5 & 6

We did middle ages with a 6th grader and 4th grader. The purple font items would be among my favorites to read-aloud with a 4th grader & 2nd grader, the green font items would be among my top choices for the 4th grader's assigned reading (though I really like everything in this list): Non-fiction Usborne I-L Medieval World SOTW-2 Famous Men of the Middle Ages The Ancient Celts (Scholastic) The Viking News Castle by David Macaulay Cathedral by Macaulay Activity books Days of Knights and Damsels The Art of the Catapult Coat of Arms (w/stencil) Marco Polo for Kids (used this as a read-aloud; didn't do any activities) Historical/realistic fiction The Shining Company (600 AD Britain) by Sutcliff The Lantern Bearers by Sutcliff Beorn the Proud Son of Charlemagne (Bethlehem Books) Augustine Came to Kent If All the Swords in England (Bethlehem Books) Men of Iron by Howard Pyle The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle The Red Keep (Bethlehem Books) The Hidden Treasure of Glaston (Bethlehem Books) The Lost Baron by French (1200AD, Cornwall) The Minstrel in the Tower The Sword in the Tree The Door in the Wall Adam of the Road The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow (Bethlehem Books, or online @ Baldwin Project) Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess Folk tales/fairy tales/legends/myths Stories of Beowulf Told to the Children (online at Baldwin Project) Beowulf the Warrior (Bethlehem Books) Beowulf: A New Telling by Robert Nye The King of Ireland's Son by Padraic Colum The Story of King Arthur and Other Celtic Heroes by Padraic Colum East of the Sun and West of the Moon (Norwegian tales) The Children of Odin by Padraic Colum Aladdin and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights by Dawood The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (Classic Starts series; nice-sized font for younger readers; might be a bit on the easy side for your 4th grader) King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle (we did this as a read-aloud and enjoyed it, but it's very long, perhaps too long for most 2nd graders) Robin Hood (a DK book with illustrations and sidebars) The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning (though written in modern times, its setting is medieval) The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang The Yellow Fairy Book The Green Fairy Book Grimm's Fairy Tales Andersen's Fairy Tales Canterbury Tales (edited by Cohen) Picture books Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges Leif the Lucky by D'Aulaires The Apple and the Arrow A Medieval Feast by Aliki The Making of a Knight St. Francis by Brian Wildsmith Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village Saladin, Noble Prince of Islam by Diane Stanley Joan of Arcby Diane Stanley Johann Gutenberg and the Amazing Printing Press Marguerite Makes a Book HTH!

The SM Teacher Guides that I have (PM-2 through 6) show what to do for each day...there's a schedule-chart at the beginning of each unit, so I can see how many class days we'll spend on that unit. For each class day, the TG shows the Textbook pages, the problems in the Textbook (worked examples and the Practice problems), the Workbook exercise(s), and suggested activities/games. I add in some extra work from IP and CWP. I know that the PM-1 teacher guides do not have a day-to-day schedule (the TG's published by Rosenbaum Foundation). But I thought that the HIG's told you what to do for each class period, too...maybe that only starts with PM-2? The Standards Edition probably has daily lesson plans, too, even starting at kindergarten level.

He also did 2 streams of history this year; one was lighter than the other. With History of US, I asked ds to read about 2 chapters per day, though he often read more (and finished the whole series a couple weeks ago). I'd just assign various things like: Select a chapter that you read today... to make a list of 5 to 6 important facts to write an outline to write a summary I tried to give 2 short writing assignments per week, but I think it averaged out to 1 per week. So, he didn't write for each chapter of the entire series. Right now, he's working on short report on FDR using a couple of library books. Other things that could be added but we didn't do: maps, timelines. HTH!

Same for us...R&S-5. It worked great with ds, and dd will start sometime in late fall.

Ds finished Winston Grammar (Basic) and then started R&S-5. For us, R&S-5 worked very well. We slowed down on some of the topics that were unfamiliar to him, spreading some lessons over 2 days or more. The textbooks provide a large amount of exercises, as it's designed for a classroom, so we feel free to skip parts (e.g., just do the odd #s) if things are clicking along. Also, you can do a lot of the lessons orally, even the written exercises. Ds is now in R&S-6 and should finish in the next few months. We ended spreading R&S-5 and 6 over 3 grades. I don't think it matters too much if you finish Winston or switch immediately. There's plenty of coverage in R&S-5. Just camp out on things that need a little more time...for us, we spent extra time on simple subject & simple predicate. A few weeks ago, ds took a practice SAT at Princeton Review. During the scores-back session, the instructor gave a sample sentence for a common SAT grammar question. Ds figured out what was wrong, and it was exactly the stuff he had learned in R&S. [it was something like: what, if anything, is wrong with this sentence?--The range of mountains outside my window were so beautiful that I ...(forgot the rest)....] Interestingly, two other students first gave incorrect answers, and I know one of them is in an AP-English class at his high school. So I really like R&S even more now! :) HTH!

The basics: PM-5A & 5B Textbooks (PM-5 TB) PM-5A & 5B Workbooks (PM-5 WB) PM-5A & 5B Home Instructor Guides (HIGs) or Teacher's Guides (TGs)...HIGs have more solutions than the TGs; both of these contain a lot of info that is not in either the TBs or WBs, e.g., specific learning objectives for each topic, what the student should already know before starting the topic (in case he's coming from a different math program), suggested games & activities to reinforce new concepts (we probably do only ~10-20% of these but I've found them to be very useful). Intensive Practice 5A & 5B (IP-5A & 5B): Most exercises and problems are at a noticeably more difficult level than the ones in the PM TB and WB. Here's a sample page from IP-4A that dd recently did; the topic is perimeter and the figures are noticeably more complex than the ones in her TB & WB. Most topics also have a word problem section. We also use these: Challenging Word Problems 5 (CWP-5): Most or all topics start with a few examples worked out for you, step-by-step, which has been especially helpful for the bar-diagram problems. Extra Practice 5 (EP-5): We use maybe 20% of the book for times when we need to work more problems similar to the ones in the PM-WB. My Pals Are Here! Tests 5 (no longer available at singaporemath.com): I like to give unit tests and exams (mid-term and final). HTH!

You said you're able to teach well with MM, so it sounds like you're "getting" the math via MM, right? So maybe go with what's already working? It's important to pick a math curriculum that clicks with you as well with your student. Yes, it'd be easier to learn the SM way if you start at PM-1 with the HIGs or TGs. (But I think that's true for most math programs.) Having used PM-1 through 6, I found that PM-1 was the most difficult in terms of getting my brain around their approach to math because it was so foreign to me. I've found the explanations and suggested hands-on activities in the PM guides to be thorough and helpful. It'd be great if you could get your hands on some HIGs to see the explanations yourself. One of the things I like about the HIGs/TGs written by Jennifer Hoerst is that they're written for teachers with no math teaching experience, and especially with no Singapore math experience. I have no idea if one program is better than the other for a mathy student, as I haven't used MM. Regarding the SM supplements (Intensive Practice, Challenging Word Problems)....both are arranged by topic that corresponds (for the most part) to the order of topics in the PM U.S. series. Since they're arranged topically, you could easily use these to supplement most any math program, IMO. The CWP books provide examples, showing you how to do the bar diagrams. But the IP books show very few examples; for some students & parents, this would be fine, but others would need more instruction, I think (I wouldn't have been able to figure it out). So then, you might need to get an HIG for that level to figure out what their approach is. HTH!

I recommend the following for PM-1, at the very least: - PM-1A & 1B Textbooks, Workbooks, HIGs or the teacher guides that go with your series of choice - IP-1A & 1B I also like Challenging Word Problems (CWP-1). But if you can only get one extra, I'd get Intensive Practice over CWP; it has various kinds of math problems, many that are similar to the format in the PM Workbooks, and most topics have a section of word problems that similar in difficulty to the ones in CWP. Other SM supplements I have and use, but use less frequently (you can do without these): Extra Practice Mathematics Counts i-Excel HTH!