All in one prep workbooks?

[Cera]

Any suggestions for a good all in one (all skill subjects) workbook, or series of workbooks, for a public school kid whose parents want to work with them a little during the summer?

 

A friend asked and I wasn't sure what to suggest. I am not averse to recommending one thing for math and one for language arts if there really isn't a decent comprehensive option.

 

Thanks

[Writerdaddy]

don't know the age, so that's a big blind spot.

 

but critical thinking's mathematical reasoning and language smarts are two books with a lot of variety, also colorful.

[malleyfam]

We like the Brain Quest workbooks. Also, I've heard that Harcourt workbooks that you can get from Barnes and Noble are good.

[Dolphin]

age is a big factor. For instance if you had a third or 4th grader I would suggest Beast Academy for Math. Other than that, Take a look at Life of Fred. It will get them looking at Math in a different way, and it has some science, history, and other subjects in there.

 

I would look at MCT grammar. From what i remember when I was in public school they do all the plot, main character and spelling lists, etc... but are really light on Grammar. It is a fun and colorful book. For a summer just reading and working through Grammar Island would give you child a good base in Grammar and that will spill over into other subject. Just get the teacher manual, you don't need the separate student text. When you get to the few written exercises you can just write them on a separate piece of paper.

[Cera]

I completely forgot about age...5 and 7 (so going into K and 2nd).

 

They seem a little behind to me, especially the younger one but I have a hard time judging that kind of thing because my kids are different.

[Dolphin]

Ok, with those ages, start with Life of Fred Apples. It is math, it is fun and your friend can all cuddle and do it together as a read aloud.

 

They will get more from going through that with you then sitting and doing a workbook over the summer. They won't even realize it is school. My son is 9 and Life of Fred is his bribery to get his work done. Once he has finished he independent work he gets to do a chapter of Life Of Fred.

 

What subjects are they worried about. If they have boys especially they tend to take a little longer to get going with Language Arts. I would get Honey for a child's heart or the Jim Trelease read aloud handbook and sit and read to them every day. Read good books, some with pictures, some without.

 

That way it is fun. It is time spent with mom and dad and should still have them refreshed going into the school year.

[nansk]

What about the Spectrum workbooks? I've seem some people use those to prep their kids for tests or to fill in gaps.

[librarymama]

I second Brainquest and Spectrum. Both you can probably find at a big box bookstore. Brainquest is all in one and probably more fun than Spectrum, but my son likes them both.

[Mrs.Gregg]

I like Flash Kids, Brain Quest, Spectrum and Evan-moor. We've used all of these at some point. I tend to keep some on topic work books in my "mom" bag because sometimes we leave for an impromptu trip to Nana's which is 5 hours away and usually involves travelling Thursday and Monday. I don't want to miss some schooling time, plus it keeps the kids busy in the car. We don't do dvds in the car and my CD player is dead.

[Dmmetler]

My DD likes the Evan-Moor Summer workbooks as an all in one-she uses them to "play school" with her stuffed animals. I also have some Summer Bridge ones that I got cheap when Borders closed, but she doesn't seem to like them as much as the Evan-Moor.

 

For both Evan-Moor and Summer Bridge, look at the content, not the grade level. I think they run at LEAST a grade behind the grade level on the cover-that is, the 4th-5th is more like 2nd-3rd or maybe 3rd-4th at best.