I just received and browsed through Paragraphs for Elementary School and I do not seem to see an answer key. I only had a chance to browse through it quickly, so I may have just missed it. Is there any answer key for the exercises or is it supposed to be easy/quick enough to figure out without one?

We love BFSU. I don't find the set up all that difficult at all. For the first volume I didn't do any prep. The only prep I did was write on a sticky the order we would study each lesson. Other than that I would open it up to what lesson we were on glance at it and ask the questions from the book, paraphrase any explanations as I would reading them. Most of the demonstrations were stuff we had on hand so that wasn't a big prep either. It's helpful to order books that go along with the topics if you don't have a wide range of books at home. This coming school year we are moving on to volume two. Not sure yet if it will require more prep work as I haven't started any planning yet.

So far we've used AAS 1-4 and plan to continue with it. I love it my kiddos love it. We do enjoy the tiles, but do not use them every time if we don't have time or just don't feel like it. We also do not use most cards except for the key cards and sometimes the yellow sound cards just for extra reinforcement when needed. We customize it to fit our needs. I thinks it's very easily adaptable to many different learning styles. I've never tried SYS. We do love the rule based phonics spelling. It may seem repetitive, but the better they know it and have it memorized I think it just reinforces things in the long term and continues to help with reading as well.

Thanks for all the input!

I've heard those are great. I'll look up some samples. Thank you.

What should we do for 4th? I do not want to do WWE4 I would like to do something different for 4th and 5th then begin WWS in 6th, so what programs should I use until 6th? I'm contemplating Treasured Conversations or W&R Fable (to start I guess). I also thought about the IEW theme books, but not sure if those are worth it or have enough instruction without having done SWI. I am open to other suggestions as well. Is there a print version of Treasured Conversations?

I work part time. I work from home, but when I work my hubby is with the kids. It can be very hectic at times, but my husband is very helpful with household stuff. I do all the schooling though. We do majority of the wtm recommendations. We try to keep as much of a schedule as possible I think that helps. Sometimes we do have change the schedule a bit if I have a meeting in the morning or something. It is definitely doable, but it can be hard, hectic, and chaotic at time. Having said all that I do enjoy it very much!

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll look into these tonight.

Hello, My daughter is in 3rd grade and has used wwe for writing from the start. I love the program, but I feel she needs help learning how to compose sentences. Is there a program I can use as a supplement to wwe3 for learning how to better form sentences or a program I should completely switch to that would help with this? Thanks!

I also really enjoy OPGTR. It is open and go, effective, has some "games", and very thorough.

We've only used the standards version and love it.

There is actually big differences between the Standards edition and CC Edition. The CC edition leaves out many algebraic concepts in the later levels. It's not just some topics being rearranged they flat out leave important concepts out. And the US edition doesn't cover many things in the later grades as well.

Don't want to hijack the thread, just a quick question :) can you use just the theme books without having used the SWI or Teacher seminar DVDs? Thinking about doing that for fourth and/or fifth before we start wws.

My daughter loves all the Tiny Titans comics and graphic novels.

I third the Prodigy recommendation. It's a great game. I also love that I get to assign certain things I want my kids to work on.

Thanks! I saw this at a local teacher store and thought it looked great.

I don't think they're too young, but I guess it would depend on your kids. We like Roald Dahl. In addition to some of the others mentioned Danny the Champion of the World is a great read aloud.

I love OPG! Some say it's dry, but I do not think that's the case. It has some built in "games", physical activity, short lessons, very effective, and once they're done with it no more phonics instruction is needed.

The scholastic branches books are highly illustrated and are at about a second grade level.

I completely agree with everything here.

We just do reading. Normally, once they finish they're able to read just about anything. So I try to find age appropriate, but challenging books for them to read aloud to me. We also add in spelling.

We use AAS and so far I really like it. It's almost exactly what I'm looking for. I also have HTTS and like it for extra practice, hold us over till we get another level, etc. I like AAS better and it can be used without all the extra parts. HTTS doesn't have as "kid friendly/fun" explanations that I enjoy as do my kids.

She's only five? I wouldn't do a history curriculum she's very young. Just because she's capable of something doesn't always mean she should do something. I would just use the suggested books in the activity guide as a guide for you of when to use them and which books to read.

We do anywhere from 1-3 lessons per week depending on how quickly she masters something or if something she's already familiar with or something that is brand new.

Singapore Primary Mathmatics standards edition. We love it... So far ;)