I have been reading as many of the comments in this thread as possible. This is just what I needed tonight. I use MFW & have followed their recommends pretty religiously - out of a weak math background myself. I have been doing just as you said, learning it along with them. I used Singapore - which is good - but has sometimes been rough to teach. However - I think it is getting easier. My son - entering 7th next year - has struggled with math from the moment I began with him. I pulled him out of public school after 3rd & started him in Singapore 2A - as he didn't seem to be where he should have been. I have worked slowly with him & we are getting through 5B now. He is grasping much better. We did venture off Singapore to do Life of Fred Fractions for awhile as fractions seem to give him more trouble than anything. He is getting stronger. I have Saxon 87 now as they recommend - after laboring through tons of reviews for MUS, Teaching Textbooks, Chalkdust, etc. Price was an issue - and Teaching Textbooks seemed a perfect fit - but I was concerned about so many reviews that it lagged too far behind.

My daughter is much different mathematically. She is soaring through Singapore. She started 1A this year in 2nd grade - which I wanted to have her do to make sure I'd covered all I should last year because I used The Complete Book of Math & a self made type curriculum. She is almost through 2B and is really good at math. She grasps the mental math concepts so much easier, and seemingly naturally, whereas that wasn't the case with my son. I wish I had checked RightStart more thoroughly - however I think a few years ago I checked it and price was a factor. Still yet - your very first comment gave me a boost. I also think I will check out the Key books you mentioned. So many other great ideas have been posted on this thread. I appreciate all of them. I will keep learning this as I go with them - and hopefully it will work out.

I also hope that Saxon will not be a bad choice for him. I am concerned - but now I broke down & bought it at the convention out of feeling like I could never be sure which was right. I think that Singapore has laid a decent foundation - although I had to find practice drill type sheets sometimes because it did not have enough of that on some things that a few problems was not enough practice. For instance, larger multiplication problems (like 3, 4 or more digits in both factors), and long division, was really just not worked on. I found that some free practice sheets I found online really helped him with this. Anyways - I am getting WAY more long-winded than I meant to. I really just meant to say thanks for the valuable advice. I guess I still worry that I am truly preparing them well and it nags at me!!

Thanks for bumping suzukimom, I would have never seen this otherwise. This was very helpful!! :)

Bumping this up too

Also bumping this up again because of the recent math questions.

This is so great! Wow, what a resource.

This is wonderful. Thank you so much! I'd also love it in Excel Format if possible. I'll send you a PM with my info.

How did I never see this treasure of a list?! Thank you!

Done. :)

Wow, this is just what I was looking for!!!  To the original poster, Christie, do you still have your master booklist, and if so, would it  be possible to get it in an excel format??  I'm PMing you, as well.  Thank you so much for sharing this wealth of information!!

So glad this got bumped up! Thank you!!

Oh my goodness. What a treasure!

There are differences, yes. The supplies I use from Demco are (supposed to be) archival. They do not yellow or crack as they age which is very important to me for preservation of these old gems. I use Demco's laminate for the same reasons. When I was a music major back in the early 80's, I used contact paper to laminate some of my piano collections. Today the laminate is cracked and yellow and has even seemed to smear some of the ink on the cover. Book repair supplies are expensive, I admit. I cringe every time I place an order but so many of my books are difficult to replace so I bite the bullet and make the investment.

This is an old thread so I see I need to go back and update some of the info. :)

Robin, is there a difference between clear book tape and shipping tape bought at Target/Wal-Mart? And does clear Con-tact paper (sold with the shelf liners) bought by the roll work for laminating, or should I use the laminate Demco sells instead?

Nice!

Wanted to bump for those planning picture study and music study this coming year.