Thanks KAR1000. A positive review from a fellow UU is perfect.

This is a great thread! Thanks everyone for the resource info - I'm loving it.

Good point, Lorel.

And just to support the point, neither of my kids ever used workbooks. They just weren't workbook kids. Even now, DS7 doesn't love them. They're totally not necessary.

Lorel-

I do like the "If You're Trying to Get Better Grades and Higher Test Scores You've Gotta Have This Book" books for science and math because I think they give good advice for preparing for tests including tips for getting motivated and setting goals, getting organized, and even mentions the importance of staying physically and mentally healthy.

I was looking for something like this because my son has no experience taking tests unless you count the WIAT that he took several years ago.

I liked the fact that the science book includes formulas, measurement tools, units of measurement and says if you're going to be successful with investigating science questions, you'll need to have these firmly planted in your mind. I think it is a good book for my science loving kid who is not as interested in math. It includes formulas for electrical energy, electrical current, mechanical advantage and others. I don't think my son likes it as much as the Ed Zaccaro book that we are reading, but I really like it and I am surprised that there are no reviews of the books on amazon.com. Oh, and I also like the cartoons and illustrations in the books.

Kriston-

Neither of my boys were into workbooks as early as my girls were, but there did come a point where Hector decided that he liked them. He was around four and a half, and we'd found the gifted and talented workbooks that used to be published by learning tree. I don't think they make them anymore, but they were fun. Of course even with those, we learned to buy "up" a bit.

Lori-

I'll have to look those books up; they do sound interesting! Thank you for the detailed explanation.

I thought of another question ...

I know someone on here talked about teaching cursive handwriting? Was that you Kriston? DS7 is begging to learn cursive. Although maybe that would be novel for about a week. Are there any "rules" (or suggestions on at point kids can learn cursive? He is an adequate printer, and honestly I think he was better a year ago than he is now. I thought maybe we should just do some printing for a few months and then think about it. I'm also letting him start to learn to type with the free BBC game, which he likes!

DS6 is learning cursive, but it's because he has trouble with print. His print is illegible and he can't write long before his hand hurts, but, he has beautiful cursive and can write quite a while without complaints. I've read that it's easier for kids to learn cursive writing first because the loops and connections are easier than the straight lines and separate letters of print. I know I learned cursive in pre-K (I remember because I switched from private to public school for K and got in trouble constantly for writing in cursive).

We did a letter a day using the free curriculum I posted about, went through the whole lower case alphabet and now we're practicing copy work (and picking up the uppercase letters as we go). Once he gets fast with his copy work I'm going to have him strictly use cursive for writing. I don't know if that's the "right" way to do it, but it seems to have worked out ok.

Yes, I am one of the people thinking about teaching cursive, and I think LMom also talked about it, right? Or am I remembering incorrectly? I thought there was one other person besides M&M and me...

My DS7 has also been talking about wanting to learn to write (vs. print), or I probably wouldn't go there yet. However, as our school system teaches kids the D'Nealian style of letters (which is sort of midway between printing and writing), I don't think it's going to be that big an issue for him. Plus, DS7 has actually been writing his own version of "cursive"--basically printing with the letters hooked together after the fact--for a couple of years now.

Even so, I've been dragging my feet on teaching him the real thing.

I don't think I'll start the year with cursive, but I think it might be a nice change of pace in Nov./Dec., when DS7 tends to be tired of the same-old and wanting a new challenge, but I tend to be too overwhelmed by all the holiday stuff to research much that's new.

I haven't done any research. I was just going to use the website that M&M suggested, and if it didn't go well, I'd look into "Handwriting without Tears," which everyone who uses seems to love. I'm assuming they have a cursive version, though again, I don't know for sure. I'm flying by the seat of my pants on it right now!

Oh, here's a site where you can make D'Nealian practice pages. If your child hasn't been using this style of writing, it might be a good midpoint? Or not? I don't know if that would be more confusing or less...

http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/denelian-1/make-d.htm

It wasn't me. I didn't do it I don't think I am ready for it.

Like you I would like DS6 to start using a typing program to be able to type faster on the computer. I think that's where my name came up. I am not sure DS6 will go for it though.

I am sure Handwriting without Tears has a cursive workbook.

We make occasional forays into cursive... DS likes it for about a day and then loses interest. But he's doing Cyrillic (Russian) cursive now - does that count? LOL