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The lessons are easy to teach & understand utilizing a spiral learning format, so the lessons are taught then practiced over and over. It challenges students to go farther than other curriculums. It uses sentence diagraming at a higher level, but easy to teach and learn. It is so easy you could basically pull out the workbook lesson and the child can teach himself.

I used "First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind" for grades 1 and 2 and was thrilled that Jessie Wise came out with a book for grade 3. I wasn't, however, thrilled that I now had to purchase a second "workbook", but I did it anyway and BOY! am I glad I did. This workbook makes grammar a breeze. It is well worth the money. Trying to duplicate everything on paper would be more headache than I am prepared to put up with (I homeschool more than one child and time is treasured). The text itself is very comprehensive and challenging. We are into our second week of school and I am loving this product. I highly recommend.

This is a very well written book and just as fun as the First Language Lessons for 1st and 2nd grade. We love it!

This book is a good foundational way of introducing all the grammar lessons. It's not too labor intensive, yet it repeats enough to achieve mastery.

I am a homeschooler and have tried several grammar books and programs before purchasing this one because this level did not exist when I originally started searching for a language program for my children I'd previously used level 1 & 2 of this program.

I purchased Easy Grammar Daily Guided Review grade two and the author of that great program said to use it for grammar warmups. The search was on and I discovered that this book exists. Volume 4 is in the stage of being created now.

I give it 5 stars because it is an exceptional language arts program, it teaches the 8 parts of speech, alphabetization up to the third letter in a word, dictionary skills, letter writing and many other important skills. For a comprehensive list and overview see [...]. If you go to [...] they have a 50 page student book and a 89 page instructor's manual so you can try before you buy.

For variety I sometimes use worksheets from softbasics software and find that I will have more than enough materials to last two or more years. When I combine that program with this book I know that I am giving my children a well rounded langauage arts program that I can be proud of for years to come.

This Audio CD is a useful supplement to the Ordinary Parent's Guide. You may be suprised to find you actually don't know how to pronounce many of the letters of the alphabet correctly. It is very important you teach them correctly to your children, especially if they have any speech difficulties. For example, 'D' is not pronounced 'duh'. Teach your child the wrong pronunciation and they may wind up having some difficulty sounding out words. The CD will model for you the difference between the voiced and unvoiced consonants, which will be invaluable. There are also some fun song tracks, and the complete Consonant Rhyme, which is learned in the book. You can just turn this on, and Presto! It isn't meant to listened to beginning to end, however.

Parents must be part of the education of their children early on if children are going to learn to read and enjoy it.This book gives some great tips on exactly that. Also a must-have for parents are two lovely pieces of children's literature which children really enjoy. The 10-page scripted guide allows parents to start teaching reading skills early on:Life's Little Lessons: An Inch-By-Inch Tale of Success
and The Big Squeal: A Wild, True, and Twisted Tail.

So far, my kids are learning and reviewing the letter sounds and are enjoying the lessons. The rhymes are helpful. It is basic and easy to teach, and foundational for reading.

We are just beginning learning the sounds of letters, and what great focus this book gives you as the teacher. It guides you throughout the studies and combines the lessons for review. I have been pleasantly surprised about how thorough this book is.

After completing 89 lessons in this book, my daughter and I are calling it quits. We've worked on it on and off for over a year (she's 5 now), and for the sake of preserving a love of reading, have decided to shelve it. This book has been helpful in a number of ways; it is great for giving a parent the sense that they can indeed teach their own children, that reading is easy, and laying out a path for doing so. I have found it useful as a reference book, i.e. to show me what to introduce, remind me what the actual "rules" are, and give me direction for our lessons. However, there have been some significant problems.

1) The layout of the pages is daunting for a child. There are lots of words, no pictures, nothing to visually set apart the words that the child reads except that they're a bit larger. It seems overwhelming and very un-child-friendly.

2) The practice stories often make no sense, and fail to capture my daughter's interest at all. An example from today: "The black snake did wish that he had a snack of mice. The snake did scan the grass to prey on mice. The grey mice sat on the rock and ate nuts. The snake came to the rock. Hey! The mice fled. They hid in holes. The snake will have no snack this day." Awkward wording, nothing particularly interesting about that, no pictures. The optional follow-up activity is to illustrate this story and label the items.

3) The practice sentences are way too long, and overwhelm new readers. For example, the child has just been introduced to the "fl" blend (lesson 50), and reads the sentence, "Ducks in flocks flit and flap on the flat pond." This sentence is too long, has onomotopeic words with which they may not be familiar (flit), and makes them use the new rule 4 times!! Very frustrating for a child struggling to learn a new rule. This was one of 6 new blends introduced in this one lesson.

4) Exceptions are often introduced before rules. For example, today we learned that the vowel pair "ea" can sometimes make the long-a sound, as in great, break, steak. Okay, so my daughter goes to read "please", and says, "place". Of course! She's never been taught that "ea" USUALLY says the long-E sound. The old "when two vowels go walking" would have been helpful to learn first, not later. Also, today she learned that "ey" can say the long-A sound. So "smiley" is smilay until a later lesson... you get the picture. This has come up more than once.

5) Very rigid rules, introduced in a logical, but not necessarily helpful, order. Much more actual reading could be possible much sooner if they'd go ahead and introduce some of the more helpful rules out of sequence.

6) It would be helpful to introduce a number of sight words much earlier. Kids learn sight words very quickly, and a few of them up front can make many more books accessible.

If your child is VERY motivated to learn to read, I do think that this book will work. My 3-year-old son has this drive, and the first few lessons (we skip the letter-learning part) have taught him the basics of CVC words. But he would learn that just as easily if I just stuck some magnets on a board. My daughter is very global in her thinking, and is more interested in the content of stories than in mastering reading technique, and this book sends her running for cover. Honestly, I dread it, too. Fortunately she is now at the point where she can read basic easy readers, so we're going to drop this book, use it as a reference tool only, and continue with McGuffey Readers, Bob books, and everything on the library's easy reader shelf. For my other 3 kiddos, I'll be investigating other options.

It is a must for anyone wants to start training at home!!

It was easy to read and very clear. However, the only disadvantage is that it doesn't include a section about nutrition and dieting.

boring book to read...... not interesting at all. I read a few chpters and then bought the lean & hard book.

Well I have some experience with working out and seeing that this book is aimed at beginners , it does not do justice in many ways.
Cons :
1.It does not explain clearly what exercise trains what muscle group
clearly.
2. There is no information on Exhale/Inhale(Very important for exercise).
3. It take for granted that people will know certain postures etc and does not explain in detail as to what Barbells to use.(Ez,Straight,etc)
Pros:
1. Lot of exercises.
2. Good routine to follow.
3. Decent information for beginners.
Well this book has its flaws but it is a lot better than many books out there.

This book is a great resourse. It has so many exercise and four different types of resistance each in its own section: no equipment, dumbbells, barbells, and crossover. It also list exercises based on experience, in the catogory of beginner, intermediate, and expert. My biggest complaint about this book is that it doesn't specifically tell what muscles are being worked for each exercise. The exercises are put into catogies and are not narrowed down any further than "knee dominant" or "hip dominant". Which is fine I guess, but how are you going to know which exercise works which specific muscles? There are some sample routines in the book which are okay, but if you don't have the equipment there aren't alternatives sugguested. Which leads back to complaint number one. Tell what muscles are worked and I can find an alternative exercise with what I have to work with. All and all a great book! It is a great companion book to The Body You Want in the Time You Have by Matt Murphy which is 2/3 of the 350+ pages are rountines based on the how many days and how much time. That book does tell you exactly which muscles you working, but only includes 48 exercises and not all the great alternatives and of the Homework Bible.

This book is really the Bible of workouts. After applying the exercise with my dumbbells and bench at home, I decided I did not need to pay all that money to the Gym anymore. The text is very descriptive on all exercises. Highly recommend.

Started homeschooling last November. Wish I could have started with this book in my library! If you are seriously thinking of homeschooling and need a place to start in deciding on materials, look no further than this book! To Mrs. Duffy, thank you for taking the time to make homeschooling one step easier!

This resource has been very helpful to our family in attempting to find the right homeschool curriculum fit with our children's learning styles and personalities, along with our own learning styles and personalities as parents. It gives easy to use charts, and has been helpful through the process of choosing the right fit.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the information I have gained from this book. I am somewhat of a "seasoned" homeschooler, yet I found the insight about the learning styles, teaching philosophies, and curriculum choices invaluable. I highly recommend this book!

As a newbie to homeschooling, this was an excellent book that really helped me decide which curriculum to use with my children. It helped me narrow down which curriculum fit us and then I was able to go to the websites to find out more about the ones I had picked out. And it was such a help to have read this before I attended my first homeschooling state convention. That way I wasn't swayed by every vendor's belief that "their curriculum is the best"; I had already decided in my mind what I needed. I would highly recommend it to anyone as a starting point when you are trying to determine the homeschooling curriculum best for you and your family.

I bought this after 19 years of homeschooling just for a little fresh input. I found by doing the exercises in the beginning it helped me to really see why I was conflicted about my expectations and the reality of our homeschool (6 children at home presently)It has helped me to look for a happy medium between my ideals and what can realistically be accomplished with 5 boys and 1 girl at home all under 13 years of age. Very helpful book-plus lots of extra reviews by the author are free online at :http://cathyduffyreviews.com/

I have always been very organized until I had my second son. I am not sure what happened but I lost control of everything in my home. This book is quck and easy to read. The best part is you don't need any hard to find or expensive items to put this system to use. I can't say enough about this book. I even used it to organize my homeschooling lessons.

I initially bought this book 15 years ago and my home was so organized, even with three children. I bought it again recently because we downsized homes and everything was chaos. My home is in order again, and it isn't even difficult! Great plan!

Easy and entertaining read, plus tons of great, practical ideas for getting your home and life, organized!

Loved this book. It's an easy read and I've implemented the organizational strategies immediately for my whole family. It's working so far!

I've read many books on organization (and hope to someday accomplish all I've read!), but this book will always be my favorite. Pam and Peggy have "been there." There's nothing worse than an organization or "decluttering" book that's written by someone who was born organized (or a "B.O." as Pam and Peggy would call them!). You have to have walked a mile (or waded through the clutter) in the shoes of someone who is easily sidetracked, organizationally-challenged, and wasn't born with the organization gene. Pam and Peggy make you feel like you've found a kindred spirit who somehow waded through all their stuff and found a better way! I wish they'd re-release their original kit that included a de-junking video and a few other goodies!

The sloppiness in the spreadsheets on the included CD is incredible and extremely frustrating. There is some value in it, however, in that it forces me to figure out how to make the example agree with the text. Still, I'm sure there are better books out there.

The book was in excellent condition and I received it in a timely manner. It was exactly what I was looking for.

A great book for review, concise,and easy to read. Provides one with multiple shortcuts and practical ideas.

This book was a solid introduction to Excel 2003. I have used Excel since about 2000 and found the first parts of the text to be information I already knew. Even so, I went through every single exercise and picked up a few shortcuts - mainly right click tips along the way. The introduction to PivotTables was helpful. Also, importing and exporting data is a good introduction. Toward the end of the text, as expected, the exercises get a little more challenging. The breadth of the text is good. I'd recommend for beginners. The back of the book says for Beginning to Intermediate users, which is accurate. There are very few typos in the text. Opted to buy Excel 2003 Inside Out for more advanced Excel knowledge.

As with many Microsoft products, this book comes very close to being a useful tool, but fails because of the lack of attention to the little details.

The first place you see this in the book is the Microsoft Office Specialist Skills Standards section.

Each of the skills tested for on the MOS exam are identified by their Skill Number and description, and a page number directs you to that skill. That's the theory. About 20% of the time, the phrase is mentioned on that page with no detailed explanation or there is no mention at all. That is just sloppy proofreading.

As has been mentioned in other reviews, the instructions in many sections are wrong. Either there are flaws in a formula or a description of the results does not match what you see on the screen.

In at least one section, the spreadsheet used to illustrate the problem is not the one that you are instructed to open for that task.

The section on XML was useful simply because it seems to be one of the few available. But even here, there are flaws in instructions and a disconnect between what you see on the screen and what you are told you should be seeing.

The best thing you can do with this book is go to the library and photocopy the Microsoft Office Specialist Skills Standards section. At least you will know what you should be studying and you can find it in better written books or online.

This book was the first book I read on natural childbirth. It altered the way I looked at giving birth and ultimately being a woman. I was not pregnant or even thinking about being pregnant at the time I read this book, but it did open my eyes. Parts of it may seem dated to some, but actually giving birth in the U.S. has regressed. What was once a natural and beautiful experience, has now become akin to having a disease and that is just a shame. A must read for anyone who is thinking about natural childbirth.

Thank goodness for this book...I have read it since the day I got it and it keeps me on track for rethinking my ideas of the birthing process....I want a calm and natural birth and for the hundreds of women who shared their stories of childbirth, this gives me hope that you can indeed survive childbirth with your attitude intact. It also gave me even more belief that my midwife is a better option for me and that I can count on her for the support I will need to deliver my baby without medical intervention unless it is necessary.

Easy reading. It is a history of midwifery from the 60's about women wanting a birth different from the standard hospital birth. A must for those interested in midwifery, or birth with other options.

This book reminds me why I became a midwife to begin with. To be with women through this journey of pregnancy, childbitrh and parenthood is a priviledge to often overlooked and I love this book for that reminder!

Excellent overview of the reality or birth... the pain and the joy. what to do. How to ebrace the experience and to better repare your self or those you love. Timeless womens bonding.

This book is full of practical recipes for almost anything you need, and safe for the environment as well. I use it like a recipe book, whenever I need to mix a cleaner or make a product, I look up the thing that I need, and the variations of it, and make it with the basic supplies that I bought. I am really enjoying it, and feel like I'm making a small difference for the environment, and a big difference for detoxifying my home.

This is an absolutely great book for anyone interested in "greening" their home. Their recommendations are great for the enviornment, for your health, home and save you money!

It's amazing all the products you can clean with that are already in your kitchen and, more importantly, not toxic.

This is a great book. I got it not really thinking I would use it as much as I have. I use it for body creams, cleansers and moisturizers AND I use if for household cleaning, furniture polish, sachets, and more. And her explanations of how different ingredients work is also very helpful. I now buy very few commercial cleaners (Bon Ami, Ecover laundry detergent) mostly because I can't find washing soda anywhere locally.

This book is filled with natural and non-toxic cleaning products, personal care products and more. I have made a number of cleaning potions from Better Basics and am loving the way my house smells when I clean it! Meaning...instead of the old days using harsh chemicals, my home smells like almost nothing--just clean!

I was going to post a review for Annie Bond's Home Enlightenment: Practical, Earth-Friendly Advice for Creating a Nurturing, Healthy, and Toxin-Free Home and Lifestyle, but noticed it is no longer in print. Too bad, because it was good. However, if you want similar information, check out Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify and Energize Your Life, Your Home and Your PlanetBoth of these books deal with the next steps to take once your home is non-toxic, including ways to make your home your sanctuary.

Very easy to read. Helpful, practical information. Many chapters with good advice on working with parents. Some information on home visiting. I definately recommend this title.

While useful and informative and, indeed, a must if you buy coins, this book is quite outdated. Since the price of gold and silver have gone up considerably and change daily, the effect on coins is intense in many cases.

There are several sites online where you can get more up-to-date information. Yet having this handy is a good idea. I like having something near my work area and in my hands so I can quickly look up the information I want. Then I can follow that up by going to one of the Web sites.

-Susanna K. Hutcheson

This handbook (The Blue Book)provides a good target price representing dealer's cost for all the US Coins listed in the corresponding retail value Red Book. Invaluable reference tool for quick evaluation of a seller's coin price markups for the casual collector who doesn't need up to the minute price changes. Use it with the Red Book to establish a range for buying and selling.

The Bluebook is an invaluable reference when you are selling coins (along with the Redbook when buying) since it tracks what coin dealers pay for coins. You need to keep in mind that in a "hot" market prices change rapidly which can make the Bluebook "dated" fairly quickly. In any case it does provide a baseline indicating what others have received for coins in specific grades over the past several months giving some indication of what you should receive from a coin dealer.

If you are interested in what you can expect to pay for a coin you want to buy then use the Redbook which tracks the amount dealers charge for coins in specific grades.

The difference between the Redbook and Bluebook indicates the monies retained by dealers for the value they add to collector's trades. So, if you are trading collector-to-collector with no dealer involved, the two references can serve as the high and low bar for the negotiation process.

Easy to use
Contains all information you need to assess any coin
A wise purchase

This book is nice to use when you are wanting to sell one of your coins. It would be a better book if it would come in spiral bound so that it is easier to use.