I don't believe A Beka English was mentioned in the grammar-level section of the latest edition WTM; R&S is, though. Another series recommended in WTM was Voyages in English, which would be good for those who didn't want the religious content of R&S. Since A Beka English was recommended in previous editions of WTM, I'd be totally comfortable using it. Maybe they were just recommending their top picks for grammar (besides FLL) -- one that was Christian, and one that was more non-sectarian? I don't plan on going past R&S-6; we'll switch to something else, either Warriner's or Analytical Grammar or A Beka or any combination. HTH!

I plan to use R&S-5 for dd after she finishes FLL-4, which might be around November. That's one of the WTM recommendations, and I really liked the program when I used it with ds -- user-friendly, efficient, effective. When ds was starting 5th grade, he had not had much formal grammar or writing before starting R&S-5. We didn't rush things, sometimes dwelling on a topic for a little while before moving on. We do most of the lessons together orally (~15-25 min.), plus a short homework assignment on most days (usually ~15 min. or less). He's going to end up spreading R&S-5 and R&S-6 over 3 years (5th-7th grades), and that's fine with me. It's a pretty advanced/accelerated program, IMO. Ds recently took a practice SAT at Princeton Review and did well on the grammar section; much of the credit goes to R&S. Here's a brief comparison of FLL-4 and R&S-5 in terms of format: - R&S has more exercises and more problems in each exercise...helpful if the student needs extra practice to "get" the concept. You'll have to gauge when to skip some if it's too much. FLL-4 has fewer practice sentences (problems). The amount of writing is much less, though it's easy enough to adjust R&S to do more of it orally. - FLL-4 is scripted. If you'd like assistance in doing the Q&A for parsing sentences, then this would be very helpful. R&S doesn't have this, but not everyone needs it. Have you seen the sample pages of FLL-4 at the Peacehill Press site? That might help you decide if it's appropriate. HTH!

NEM-1 and 2 have solutions manuals, not HIGs. These are written by Jennifer Hoerst, who wrote the HIGs for the PM series, so they're similar in some ways. What the NEM solutions manuals don't have: daily lesson plans and suggested hands-on activities that coordinate with the lessons. I have NEM-1; its solution manual is 223 pages of detailed step-by-step solutions for all the problems of the Exercises, the Revisions, the Miscellaneous Exercises, and the Assessments in the textbook. There is also an NEM-1 Teacher's Manual, a thin booklet with answers and some solutions to the remaining sections of the textbook: the Class Activity, Challengers, Problem Solving, and Investigations. It also has a scheduling grid for the NEM-1 textbook over two semesters, a total of six pages. From what I remember, NEM-1 and 2 are the only SM secondary math series with solutions manuals written by Jennifer Hoerst. Here's a comparison at their website. It looks like the Discovering Mathematics series has solutions in the Teacher's Guide. HTH!

Don't know if you already saw this, but Hillside Education has the PLL answer key/teacher guide available online for free here. I have the Hillside version of PLL. It's easier to use for copywork, since it lies flat. We don't use it as our English program. Mostly, dd looks for poems in it for memorization and/or copywork. HTH!

Well, I still can't figure out how to insert an image in my post, but here are the links to the images in googledocs: Here's the word problem... and its solution (problem #45., near the top of the page).

Yes, MPH Tests 4-6 have solutions to the word problems. Each test has a word problem section, and the answer key shows the bar diagram, labeled, and some math sentences. So, it's not quite as step-by-step as the worked examples in CWP series, but it's definitely more than just a final answer. The MPH series has some of the more unusual word problems, too, compared to the PM and CWP series. If I can figure out how to show a scanned image of a page from MPH-Tests, I'll try to post it....

I enjoy them steamed, too. Great with salmon. Sometimes, I make a sauce to go with both (served on the side): Hellman's mayo and some Grey Poupon dijon mixed together. Roasted asparagus....preheat oven to maybe 450-500 degrees, peel lower part of stems or as much as needed, place in oven-proof pan lightly tossed with olive oil and salt. Cook in the oven, shaking the pan every now and then, til they look done. My favorites are cream of asparagus soup and chicken crepes with asparagus & mushrooms.

Don't know if you've already seen this, but you can listen to samples at PHP's YouTube channel. (I haven't used them, though.) HTH!

That's pretty much the way I did it, but I was only ahead by a day's worth of work, if that. Many times, we just figured them out at the same time...both of us for the first time. The model diagram (bar diagram) problems started getting quite challenging for me in level PM-4, primarily with problems in IP-4, CWP-4 and My Pals Are Here! Tests 4. If you really wanted to get more ahead than that, you might consider just getting the Challenging Word Problem books for levels 4-6 when they come out. They have a lot of worked out examples of the model method problems. Also, the CWP problems are more difficult than the corresponding ones in the PM books. The IP series also has more difficult word problems than the PM series, but no solutions are given and very few, if any, examples are worked out for you. And I think there are a handful of IP model method problems that are more challenging than those in CWP, but overall, the problems are similar in level of difficulty. HTH!

At first, I didn't really understand the part with 6-3=3 and then 10-3=7. But now that I think about it, it sounds like she's finding the difference between the ones digits first. It's like she's doing 3 - 6 = -3 but without using the negative sign. She then puts the negative sign (minus sign) in front of it when it follows the 10: 10 - 3 = 7. It's probably fine for her to keep using that method for now....it sounds like she already knows how to do the SM regrouping method as well (if she didn't know how to do the regrouping, then you'd want to spend time on that). So she already has two methods in her repertoire. But I'm not sure that her negative-number method will work for problems with larger numbers, esp. with 3 digits. There's probably a way for it to work, but it would eventually be too cumbersome compared to the traditional method and the regrouping method. The first way you described, where she worked out the problems on paper the SM way....that's what my kids did for awhile, too. Later, SM introduces other methods of solving 2-digit subtraction problems, including the traditional way with the problem written vertically and with borrowing and carrying. HTH!

I used TOG last year and appreciated having the teacher's notes. But because I'm a slow reader, I also knew that I'd only be able to read a small percentage of them. I was looking at TruthQuest the other day and noticed they also provide teacher notes that go beyond giving instructions. Background information and Christian worldview/perspective is also provided, much like TOG. The tone is kind of on the chatty side. I haven't used TQ but wanted to let you know that their teacher's notes reminded me of TOG. I couldn't tell if there was any writing instruction built in or not (seemed like it was not). HTH!

You're welcome!! I should've made my own teacher's notebook for the more difficult word problems the first time through PM (esp. starting around PM-4)....that's a great idea!

Here's one way to do it using bar diagrams: Combo #1 is the 4 lb fish and 5 lb prawns for $66.70, and combo #2 is 5 lb fish and 4 lb prawns for $62.00. Each "f" stands for 1 lb of fish and each "p" stands for 1 lb of prawns. When setting up the bar diagram, show each pound of fish and prawns: Combo #1: |-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|---p---|---p---|---p---|---p---|---p---| $66.70 Combo #2: |-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|---p---|---p---|---p---|---p---| $62.00 Rearrange the f's and p's into bundles (each bundle contains 1 lb fish and 1 lb prawns), and you can see which ones match up between the two combos: Combo #1: |-f-|---p---|-f-|---p---|-f-|---p---|-f-|---p---|---p---| $66.70 Combo #2: |-f-|---p---|-f-|---p---|-f-|---p---|-f-|---p---|-f-| $62.00 [More simply, rearrange them with the first 4 f's, then the first 4 p's, and finally the two different ones at the end. But sorting them into bundles may help the student figure out how to match them up.] The only thing different between the two combos is combo #1's one "p" and combo #2's one "f." So, the price of 1 lb of prawns exceeds the price of 1 lb of fish by $66.70 - $62.00 = $4.70. Now you can replace each "p" in the bar diagram with "f+$4.70" and then total the four $4.70's of combo #1 ($4.70 x 5 = 23.50 and $4.70 x 4 = 18.80): Combo #1: |-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|-------23.50-------| $66.70 Combo #2: |-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|-f-|-----18.80-----| $62.00 Then, find the unit "f" in the usual way....work with either combo #1 or #2. E.g., $62.00 - 18.80 = $43.20 = 9 units "f" $43.20 / 9 = $4.80 = 1 unit "f" Therefore, one pound of fish costs $4.80. HTH!

Yes, we use the tests (Ds is in VfCR-A). There is one test for every two lessons. Also, ds copies the roots and their definitions for his notebook. Another option is to copy them onto index cards. We're only on Lesson 12, but I guess things seem to be working okay. HTH!

I don't remember how it came to my attention, but I stumbled upon this article on the inappropriate uses of Comic Sans....there's even a group, Ban Comic Sans (I'm not a member :)). I totally agree that it's easier for a beginner to read this /a/ than the traditional /a/.

...and then R&S-6 (the two programs spread out over ~3 years). I believe SWB is currrently working on the next level(s) of the writing program that will follow WWE-4. Maybe it'll be called Writing With Skill? HTH!

I am bothered by Comic Sans font...the overuse of it in homeschool materials. Even more annoying is the use of one column instead of two (e.g., one column of text with rather narrow margins on 8-1/2 x 11" pages). Makes me feel like my head is an old-fashioned typewriter every time I get to the end of the line.

A Child's History of the World A one-volume narrative history for the youngest reader, compared to everything else you listed. Story of the World A four-volume narrative history for ~1st-6th grades (and even older). This is my favorite. Our Island Story (click on title to read online) We used this last year; I didn't care for the tone. It seemed racist and also more biased in favor of Protestantism than I'm comfortable with (we go to a southern baptist church), IMO. Ds & I noticed these instances and discussed the way the author's bias showed up in her writing. So it might be useful that way. Since it's about British history, the topics and geographic locations don't jump around as much as the first two narratives, which also means you won't cover other parts of the world. This Country of Ours (haven't read this) Discovery of New Worlds (haven't read this) HTH!

There's a list of questions for evaluating primary sources. Plus, there's a list of history topics to write about. These aren't specific questions for specific topics, but rather questions that can be used on most topics. If you're designing your own program, these might be more adaptable to your topics and resources. HTH!

That's kinda what we did for ds, who'll be in 8th grade/modern period next year. In 5th grade, he read some fun books on the ancients...D'Aulaires Greek Myths, Black Ships Before Troy, The Wanderings of Odysseus, The Children's Homer, and more, while I read-aloud SOTW-1 to him and his younger sister. Have fun!

Since she'll be in 5th grade, it's a great time to start with the ancients. Then y'all could do medieval in 6th, renaissance/early modern in 7th, and modern in 8th. If you'd rather do an overview, it might be easier with a shorter book or series than SOTW. Here's one way to do it: Read the SOTW-1 passage, write a narration/summary on it, then read some other books on the topic. Then do some additional writing on related topics as directed in WTM. The SOTW Activity Books have lists of suggested books for each chapter of SOTW. There are probably hundreds of suggested books in each Activity Book, and many are for grades 4-6, not just 1st-4th. Another source of book lists is the WTM -- you could check out the history and literature/reading lists for ancients (SOTW-1), both the 1st and 5th grade lists. The 1st grade lists have a lot of books meant to be read aloud to 1st graders but would be just right for older students to read independently. You can gradually move your daughter into logic-stage skills (outlining, summaries, short research topics, use of primary sources, et al, as described in WTM) without having to first do an overview. SOTW-1 is a great place to start! HTH!

Compared to my grammar education, the grammar content of FLL-4 seems to easily be at least 5th grade level. It has topics that I didn't learn until 6th grade or later. So I would definitely be comfortable using it with a 5th grader. I haven't seen GWG to be able to compare, though. HTH!

Dd finished FLL-3 and is now using FLL-4. In FLL-3, most lessons took ~15 min. A few of the longer lessons might have been 25-30 min., but were easily split up over two days; this was just a handful of lessons. I sit with dd for the entire lesson, and once we're done, she has no homework or assignments or independent work. It seems that the FLL-4 lessons might take ~15-20 min. each, on average. IMO, it's time well spent. I don't have to grade/check any of her work later, as I check during our time together (I really, really dislike grading/checking papers). And I believe the retention is better when I can work with my student one-on-one, esp. since students are required to memorized grammar definitions, lists of verbs & prepositions, etc. HTH!

...now I see SOTW-1 your siggy! :blush: My dd also likes to retell most every detail; she's always done it that way. So after a couple of years of doing SOTW, she's better than before. But she still wants to include most of the details. This hasn't been an issue at all with ds, who can easily pick out the most important parts. I think for some it's a much more gradual learning curve.

We use the SOTW & its AG for narrations, too. It's the only resource (other than FLL or WWE) I've seen that provides specifics to the parent/teacher on how to guide a student through a narration. For every single passage of SOTW, there are several questions in the AG for you to ask your student. These will help her narrow down the scope of the passage, guiding her towards the main idea. We started with SOTW-1, using it as part of our composition exercises, not our history as we were already using something else. Each level increases in difficulty. By SOTW-4, the students are outlining the passages. HTH!