Nonfiction Books

This product is great. It is all laid out by days so there is not guess work on what he needs to complete. It also gives a variety of subjects per day. Great book.

I am a student who wants to get ahead anyway I can. This book has a lot I need to know and is time eater. The book has all subjects, and does bring you ahead. I hope you enjoy this book too. Have a great school year.

My children have been using the Summer Bridge books since elementary school and they have really helped them academically. I highly recommend this resource to others (even adults would benefit, if you are in need of a refresher course).

I did not find this workbook relevant to 7th/8th grade curriculm for science or social studies and overall way too basic for math or english at 7th/8th grade. More for elementary school 3,4,5 grade.
As far as a "summer bridge" I would suggest that you encourage your kids to playing games and activities outside or board games on rainy days than this book.

This is the only word book I remember reading with my mom back in the early 1980s. I still have my old hardcover edition after more than two decades. Every few years, I dust off the cover and go through the pages to look back fondly at the all-too-familiar pictures. Someday, I hope to pass on this book to my kid/s who will probably enjoy it as much as I did.

I can't forget this book, because of it had several great factors. It covered almost every place a kid may see, with it's name to know what the object is. Each page shows kids different work spaces, lands, city life, even inside a home, room by room.
This would be an excellent book for preschoolers, and even younger as well. Children and their parents may create their own stories with the detailed scenes.

I had this book as a child, although the version I had was longer and more PC. This is a great word learning book. The only drawback is that all the characters are animals, so it has to be for a child who knows the animals are simply playing people roles and doing people things. I would recommend to anyone with kids. You cannot go wrong with this book. The older version is better since it has more pages (20 more pages), but it is hard to find in good condition and at a decent price.

I always purchas this book for baby showers and any gift for very young children. It is wonderful to use for early language development or anyone wishing to learn the English names for nouns. My son wore out three copies and I always kept at least one copy in my classroom as well as my home. Cheryl White

This was a favorite book of mine growing up. I just bought it for my 21 month old son, and he loves it as well!! A classic that every child should have!

This would probably be a useful book for children under 12. Changing behaviors is always best done at an early age.

The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

Hi. My son is 9 and has difficulty with anger which has been a continuous but generally not overwhelming problem. After an episode where he broke his brother's favorite video game we had a chat and then I showed him the book. We went over each chapter after he read it but he said it didn't really help. He said it was boring and he didn't see how any of the suggestions given could help him. I thought it looked pretty good and I will pass it along to our school psychologist. Perhaps in a more formal setting it would be more effective.

As a retired elementary school teacher, I wish I had had What to Do When Your Temper Flares during my teaching years. What an incredible resource for children and their parents, as well as teachers and anyone else who works with kids. This book gives children the tools they need to deal with anger in a step-by-step way while keeping them engaged in the process of learning. Full of great information and useful strategies, this book is easy for younger children to understand, while remaining interesting to older children and respectful of all. I plan to keep it available for my grandchildren - it's a keeper!

Of all of Dawn Huebner's books, I like this one the best! As a therapist this book provides a multi-sensory approach with lots of options and choices that the kids can make in learning to control their anger. I had one child this week really get into the relaxation techniques, and I love the "vacuum cleaner" concept of not getting "sucked in" to anger.

I agree with most of Harris' thesis and was sympathetic to those views of which I am not in agreement up until Harris' argument regarding moral equivalency. Of course a moral equivalency between the bombing of the pharmaceutical plant in Sudan during the Clinton administration and the events of 9/11 is an atrocious argument to make, but I think Harris betrays the intellectual justification for his entire thesis by glossing over and discounting the discussion here.

As enlightened as contemporary Christian nations may be when compared to their predecessors in centuries past, it is impossible to ignore, as it appears Harris does, the clout the idea of heaven has for American Christians. Harris implores his critics to simply take Muslims at their word and look at the motivations they espouse as justification for their actions, but then when it comes to Christianity and the West he ignores those same motivations. The implicit understanding in Christian cultures is not far off from that of the Muslims.

With the same degree of certainty as the Muslims, American Christians feel that they are justified in their transgressions against humanity so long as they can hide behind a thin veil of rationalization regarding their intentions. "We weren't trying to kill thousands of people, so killing thousands of people is ok." You see this argument repeatedly advocated by our President, the one who thinks he talks to god, and other Christian politicians and pundits. They tend to think that since our crimes are crimes of the heart rather than crimes of the mind, that we had good intentions but the result turned out bad, we should be absolved of moral responsibility. Harris makes the same argument in this book.

This arrogance and ethnocentrism leads us to pursue policies that we know will result in innocent death while providing our minds with a supposed moral disconnect from reality that allows us to believe that our crimes are not really crimes at all since we were well intentioned. All of your objections to the contrary notwithstanding, it makes no difference to the mother of a child who was killed in an air raid whether or not you intended to drop the guided bomb unit on her child's school. And then when, rather than accepting responsibility for it, you as a nation attempt to rationalize and justify this reprehensible act, you breed the hatred and contempt that is felt for the West, the United States in particular, in the Muslim world.

Although a moral equivalency does not exist, we must realize that we cannot simultaneously preach the tenants of modern liberalism/libertarianism while arrogantly spreading that ideology through force and ignoring the negative consequences of that policy simply because we are not as morally reprehensible as the other guy.

As much as I agree with most of Harris' arguments so far, his errors with respect to this topic have biased me against his subsequent contentions.

Having read Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens and Russell, Harris' conclusion regarding mysticism and spirituality devoid of dogmatic religious faith is what makes him stand out among the crowd. What I find most frustrating about End of Faith, even more so than the problems I mention above, is that Harris concludes with that remarkable argument, but does not do it justice. Having established that dogmatic religious faith is a detriment to human happiness, his proposal of an understanding of our existence based on empirical evidence, rather than ignorant superstition, is the most valuable contribution of this book. Compared to the extended lengths to which he goes to establish his argument against Islam, he merely glosses over the concept of Eastern mysticism and a legitimate connection to our existence that transcends petty terrestrial bickering. He sells himself short on this front. Hopefully once Mr. Harris completes his doctoral work on neuroscience he will release a follow-on title elaborating on this topic.

I wanted to like this book, and while I did agree with some of what Harris has to day, it seems superficial in many ways, particularly where he says:

"It seems that if our species ever eradicates itself through war, it will not be because it was written in the stars but because it was written in our books; it is what we do with words like 'God' and 'paradise' and 'sin' in the present that will determine our future"

In the not too distant past, I can cite the Vietnam War as one that had nothing to do with religion or god...and there are other examples to be had...perhaps if he had phrased this to mean it this has been the case in the past (but not exclusively) and will likely be the case in the future, especially given they myriad of conflict we are now enmeshed in. I think Harris book would have been much more effective had he stuck to the negative effect that religion can have/is having on our government (or any democratic government for that matter), which was, I feel founded on reason and logic. I also can't get 100% behind the idea that if we just got rid of those particular books and God that there would be no more terrorism or war in the world, I think it's in human nature (religion aside) to be warlike, selfish and cruel at times. I agree with him that it seems unbelievably foolish to think that any book contains the literal word of God, but that has been written by men. The idea that after 2000+ years they are in no way in need of updating and revising to take into account advances in knowledge and human understanding, is simply ridiculous. Overall it was an interesting read, but I don't think I'd recommend this or want it for my permanent library. I give it 3 stars.

I don't normally write book reviews, even for books I enjoy. However, after having read "The End of Faith", as well as many of the reviews of it, I just HAD to recommend it. Apart from being an excellent writer, Mr. Harris' logic is so sharp and compelling, so utterly brilliant that I read most of it in absolute awe.
None of the more negative reviews that have questioned his arguments have been in the least bit convincing, in fact, most seem to miss the point entirely. One reviewer mentioned all the good that is done by religious organizations and all the evil committed by atheists as though Mr. Harris doesn't even address these issues (which he does).
The End of Faith is not just an argument against religion. It is an argument against FAITH. Blind, unverifiable, faith, in anything. This is why he mentions The Holocaust and other atrocities committed by "atheists". These people may not have believed in religion, but they're evil acts were committed as a result of unverifiable, illogical beliefs, that have a firm background in religious premises none-the-less. Furthermore, while many religious organizations do help others, public service and helping others would still occur even without faith, and for better reasons.
In the end, this book makes so much sense that it's scary. This is probably why so many people of faith have found it so threatening. If you have even the slightest interest in the future of our species, please do yourself of a favor and read this book.

My sister (an atheist) gave me (a practicing Catholic) this book and asked me to read it. She said someone at a bookstore thrust it upon her, practically begging her to read it and write a review of it. "No one reads this book," he said, "but everyone should!" My sister doesn't have time to write reviews so she gave it to me. (That's her story and she's sticking to it.)

I have to admit, it's a lot better read than "The God Delusion," which I just finished struggling through. Harris is not as angry as Dawkins, and he has a solid background in philosophy, which is conspicuously absent in Dawkins' works. (In their own ways, they're both very good writers, actually, but Dawkins' anger really turned me off.) Harris is erudite, often open-minded, humorous and has a gift for language. He also addresses many of the counterarguments to atheism.

That said, this book has glaring lapses in rationality. Harris is a good thinker on relatively small-scale matters but comes to bizarre conclusions on the big stuff. He's very good transmitting what he's learned about philosophy and neurobiology, but in regards to human history, either his knowledge is spotty, or he wears blinders when he reads. He asserts religion is an almost-altogether evil influence and must be abolished if the human race is to survive. He provides lots of evidence of the evils of religion: the Spanish Inquisition, of course, and the Holocaust (which, though Hitler called Christianity a religion of weaklings was, according to Harris, Christianity's fault because it encouraged Antisemitism). He spends a lot of time on Islamic terrorism. But for every example he raises, another one clearly could be found of religion's good effects: the brokering of peace (the Pope, Jimmy Carter, etc.); the protection of the defenseless (the Jesuits in the New World, etc.); the grass-roots works done by religion in inner-city schools, soup kitchens, hospitals, clinics, leper colonies....

Harris argues that the few good things religious people do is not due to religion's effect on them: that they would still do good if religion didn't exist. So religion gets full credit for its failures and no credit for its successes? Not exactly rational or fair.

The religionist's reply to the Spanish Inquisition example has always been that, in the 20th century, far more innocent people were murdered by atheists (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Mussolini) than by religionists. I give credit to Harris for naming this objection, but his reply is inadequate, to my mind. He says that Stalin and Mao created movements that were religion-like. In other words, these atheist movements were capable of evil because they were really religious movements. But isn't that argument fallacious? Couldn't he, using this method, label anything that weakened his argument "religion"?

And what about other examples of atheist violence? Marat, who perpetrated the September Massacre during the French Revolution? the Hebertists during the same? These men clearly had little creed other than, perhaps, anarchy. And what about the Bolshevik terrorists? Wasn't the word "terrorism" first used during the French Revolution and then coined during the Russian?

Do we now have to relabel the international worker's movement a "religion"? Maybe we should just condemn all gatherings of people (other than at universities, of course).

I remain entirely unconvinced that the world would be a better place without religion. Being religious is an aspect of being human. It's a tool for good or evil, depending on how we exercise our (God-given) free will. You could just as easily argue that art should be abolished because of what the Manson family got out of the song "Helter Skelter"; or the human family because of child and spousal abuse; or even science, because of global warming, Bhopal and Chernobyl, the ozone layer, antibiotic-resistent germs, the dangers of cloning,...

Harris also seems to have some quite odd ideas on other matters. On page 52 - 53, he seems to say that it is okay to kill someone for having dangerous ideas. Could it be that I misread that? But what about pages 192 - 199, where he argues for the morality of torture? or pages 199 - 203, where he writes that pacifism, on the other hand, is immoral? and the long section (pp. 158 - 164) in which he shows complete disdain for opponents to the legalization of drugs - surely a debatable issue? - and blames drugs'illegality on, irrationally but not surprisingly, religion's influence on our society.

At the end of the book, Harris offers his substitution for religion and his cure for the evils of the world: mindfulness meditation. He praises Eastern religions for having invented it and suggests that, if we adopt it, we'll find happiness and become more empathetic and, therefore, more moral. (He seems to see no problem, by the way, in reaching these states by using hallucnogens. Ever study the Mayan and Aztecan civilizations, Harris? They took a lot of hallucinogens, too, and were really into human sacrifice. A connection there? Possibly?)

I myself meditate in the yogic sense as well as pray in the old-fashioned, Christian sense. But if meditation works so well, and the East has had access to it for thousands of years, why isn't the East a happier place? How did Mao, Pol Pot, the Japanese Empire, etc., rise to power? And there are many reports that life in some monasteries and ashrams is often no more admirable than in some of their western counterparts.

I have a lot more to say but, alas, no room. I would recommend this book to others, as long as they're capable of questioning what they read.

Okay, Sis, I've written my review. And I've got a few books to send your friend in reply: William James' "The Will to Believe" and "The Varieties of Religious Experience": Stephen Jay Gould's "Rock of Ages"; Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamasov"; and a historical movie: Anchor Bay's "Amazing Grace." I wonder if your friend will read (and watch) them?

This book is a must read. I encourage everybody who apologizes for every religion (especially Islam) to read Sam Harris. I found Chapter 3 to be most entertaining; it's called, "The problem with Islam." Harris provides a long list of quotes from the "religion of peace."

I encourage everybody to buy this book, read it, and then pass it to a friend or family member. If you've got any questions, please email me at the below email address. Thanks!

Zach Watkins
zachw2007@gmail.com

Really enjoyed this book! Most adults-- never mind kids-- don't have a sense of how the bits and pieces of the Bible fit together into an integrated whole. Boyd addresses this need for children in a thoughtful and powerful way. Children will be able to get a sense of the big picture of Revelation, having a new frame of reference for all the little pictures they see when the many and diverse biblical stories come before their eyes.

I purchased this book for my children because it tells the story of the bible from beginning to end in a way that can be comprehended by even the youngest of children. This book is helpful for the adult as well, because it help's us what God's intentions are. This is a wonderful way to share Gods Way's with your children. I plan to give this book as a gift, and to keep my copy for my future grandchildren. This is book is a keeper.

I've given this book to several parents with young children, and the parents seem to benefit as much as their children! Why? The story line of the Bible is unfamiliar to alot of adults -- even adults who read the Bible regularly or attend a Bible study group. They may have a good grasp of Bible books like Psalms or Romans. But it's a challenge to see the big picture. Boyd's book provides the 'big picture' view for children and adults.

i am 26 years old and this book really reached out and grabbed me. even though it's a 'kids' book, don't be deceived. all walks and all ages can benefit from giving this one a read. the way 'what God has always wanted' is written takes the Gospel message from beginning to end and translates it on a child's level without diluting it!! the amazing thing is that after reading it, i didn't feel like anything was lost or looked over in the very fundamental truths addressed. i felt as though i had taken a step out of critical and opposing theological points of views and various other 'issues' that are haggled over and debated in many of the circles i find myself in, and gotten back in touch with the core message of what the Bible is saying to us. all that to say, this is an EXCELLENT children's book that i plan on reading to my kids one day, but will continue reading for myself, the 26 year old, until that day comes.

In Postmodern Children's Ministry, Ivy Beckwith writes of the danger of reducing the Bible to "doctrinal tenets, moral absolutes, tips for better living, or stories of heroes to be emulated." Instead of using the Bible to "teach children moral lessons...we need the Bible to introduce children to God, God's story, and God's ways."

That's why I was excited to discover Charles F. Boyd's book, What God Has Always Wanted: The Bible's Big Idea from Genesis through Revelation. It answers the question, "What's the Bible about anyway?" and introduces the story of Scripture to children.

Boyd says, "I believe we do a good job teaching children Bible stories, but we haven't done as good a job of teaching the Bible's story. By setting the gospel in the overall storyline of the Bible, I believe children can better see how Jesus and His friendship is truly what ties the Bible's story together from start to finish."

Boyd clearly presents the story of Scripture from creation and fall to Jesus and the new creation. It invites children to become participants in the story by becoming friends with God. Boyd also includes a helpful glossary to help adults answer questions that kids might raise as they read the book together.

Here's the real genius of the book: it's not just a children's book, it is a "parenting book disguised as a children's book." It equips parents and teachers to share the gospel with kids in a way that they will understand.

There are lots of entertaining books, movies, and curriculum for kids. What God Has Always Wanted moves beyond the normal approach of telling individual stories and teaching moral lessons, and tells God's story. This is a very encouraging book for kids, and I highly recommend it for churches, parents, teachers, and grandparents.

This book series is the perfect balance between a scripted, rigid history program and a completely unstructured approach to teaching history. I use it in a homeschooling history coop group with 6 girls, age 5-8. We have a great time. I use the study questions, we fill out the map, and then we do a craft. We enjoyed forming the Nile river with dirt and rocks, building an "ancient home" structure in the back yard, and creating hieroglyphics in clay. I like a lot of the books she recommends as supplements. We use the coloring pictures to add to our timeline we are creating that encircles our homeschooling room.
The coloring pictures are simple, but I think thats better for boys who sometimes are not into detailed coloring. I purchased some extra coloring books for my daughter who loves to color.
Finally, I am a devoted Christian who appreciates the flexibilty to add biblical content as I see fit.

We have tried several hs history curricula and this is the first one that has captivated my children. I would highly recommend this!

Overall, this is an excellent resource, but there are some inaccuracies. I still recommend it, just examine maps carefully. Ninevah is on the wrong side of the Tigris river on two maps. We aren't finished either, so it is possible there may be more errors.

Love these books. Don't buy just the textbook and not the activity. Its worth it. Only thing that would be nice would be if the pages to copy were preforated for easy pullout. Otherwise, no complaints!

I wish I had purchased the Activity Book when I purchased Story of the World or at least soon thereafter. Even the most creative parent or teacher could use the assistance this provides in guiding the history lessons and providing projects and worksheets and additional reading for the student. And c'mon! it gives you directions for how to make an actual mummy!

I'm getting married in Punta Cana in a few months. I don't have time to learn everything so I am extremely happy with this series of CD's because it starts me off with the basics that I will most certainly need when I travel. I can definately recommend this system.

I really enjoy this CD series. It is very easy to understand and I highly reccomend it.

It is fairly difficult to learn only by listening, but these CDs will make a long commute to and from work worthwhile. This set should only be an aid to learning Spanish and I would not recommend it as a single source of learning Spanish. You will have to go through each CD a couple of times to memorize the phrases and vocabulary words. The price makes it affordable.

These cd's use rote memory and repetition to teach. This is the best method I've found for learning a foreign language. The pharses used are of the type that you would use in normal conversation. They do not take a lot of time explaining a lot of abstract consepts and useless history.

Between the initial lessons covered so far (Level 1) and Level 2 lessons (tape 2) there are several editorial errors. In some cases the response made in the CD has no connection with the initial phrase or it is in the wrong person or verb form.

Such errors would be particularly confusing if one were driving in a car and counting on a correct response without reference to the accompanying booklet. When using the booklet concurrently, the confusion is minimal.

There are also errors in the booklet, where that response has no connection with the initial phrase.

Also, in the many cases where the anticipated response is fairly long on the part of the listener, not enough time is given for the listener to frame his/her reply either out loud or in his/her head. One or two additional seconds would help.

If you are an atheist this is a good book for you, but Richard does not really try to convince us that there is no God, his arguments are of a different kind.

I was an atheist and I can understand Richard, but there is a higher place from atheism which pictures "God" in a different light than the classical one (bible). The progression is like this: God (bible) -> no God (atheism) -> new God (revelation)

The book was a page turner at some points, in average about 100 pages were the good part. Sometimes I found it rather boring.

A good book in average, but not what I expected, his aim was more to point out the flaws in religion (good arguments) than to prove that there is no God, purpose, etc.

As a former Catholic Christian fundamentalist, Richard Dawkins book has aided me immensely in removing the "immoveable, unchangeable" blocks to reason and truth. Especially helpful are the sections treating "natural selection". I could see the light as I gradually floated upward toward the oxygen I needed to recover from the abuse I suffered about eternal damnation, fear, and "suffering is good". Regardless of the outcome, I can encourage others who have suffered the same, to let his book speak to you. "the truth shall make you free". Also recommend Christopher Hitchens - "god is not great".

The God Delusion is a book that really ought to be read by open-minded people of faith. My favorite point in the book is the idea that having two views, God(s) and no God(s), doesn't mean we have a 50/50 toss-up.

As far as any kind of a "call-to-arms" goes for secularism I'm still on the fence. I'm convinced that pure fundamentalism is terrible, and that we really need to keep "Intelligent" Design out of public schools, but I attend a more moderate church with my family and I see no real dangerous delusion, just some intellectual inconsistencies.

I don't believe that there isn't a god, I'm CONVINCED there isn't one, (a subtle difference.) I put it like that for personal reasons which I think anyone who reads this book will understand.

In the end religion is going to be around for a long time. Maybe forever as someone like Chomsky or Hitchens would argue. Atheism/secularism may be loosing the masses of the layman but I don't think this is true with the masses of higher education and people who really enjoying asking the tough questions.

Read this book. Sit down with your friends, and yes your family too, and have a civilized conversation about Dawkins brilliant collection of ideas. It's awkward and tense at first, but you'll find that as you argue your viewpoint you'll learn more about yourself and what you believe. I don't think we have enough of that these days...let's shake up the boat.

Wouldn't it be nice if all disagreements were expressed over coffee and book swapping?

Though he has received highly virulent criticism for his books and opinions, (I think) Dawkins does a remarkably fair job of presenting his views on religion and god(s). It is simply a result of the fact that the issue itself causes a great deal of argument and disagreement that it can be difficult to discuss. Dawkins, however, does a wonderful job in being non-offensive in his remarks - if the evidence requires it, sometimes one cannot avoid being rather blunt in showing it.

If anyone actually takes the time to understand/read his work, one can clearly find a well-reasoned and thoroughly researched argument. Indeed, in this book, Dawkins continues to present the case in such a way that I am constantly amazed that anyone can presist in disbelieving in evolution.

I find, more often than not, that Dawkins has the ability to present evidence, logic, and (quite simply) common sense in ways that make me say, "yes! that is exactly how I feel!"

Now in my late 40's, I grew up quite literally in the shadow of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, OK--the epicenter of American Evangelicals. My Mother was Roman Catholic and my father Southern Baptist. It's taken many years and Herculean effort to escape such an auspicious orbit. And I thought I had long escaped. I eventually settled into a live-and-let-live, middle-of-the-road agnosticism.

Then I read this book. And I realized that that passive acceptance, that "live and let live" approach to American Fundamentalist Christianity I'd held, was itself dangerous. By not openly refuting something so blatantly ignorant and destructive, I was passively contributing to it. I now realize this to be clearly true and I thank the author for this powerful distinction. Especially as I reflected back on my own religious indoctrination, as a very young child, I desperately needed even a wink from a wise soul, as if to say, "Don't worry son, the smart ones don't actually drink the kool-aid." Only after reading this book, I realized, I had to start standing up for what I believe in. And especially, for what I don't believe in.

Those schooled reviewers who criticize Dawkins as being too hard on religion or especially personal spirituality are still missing the point. If you believe in anything other than a Fundamentalist, Literalistic interpretation of religious texts, you are abjectly hypocritical. If forced to accept your own believes literally, you would abandon them. Moreover, by accepting them as being divine but also vague, you accept that any interpretation is acceptable--it's a personal choice (and yet, a divine overarching truth). You might then say, those choices, however, have limitations--say laws to prevent inspired apostles applying their personal interpretation as to fly planes into tall buildings. But then you're saying religious texts are superseded by laws, composed by sober societies. So your religious ideal is now relegated to a very vague, still divine, but not proscriptive idea, which you're entitled to because it makes you feel good. Like smoking pot. And yet, indulging even privately in that inebriant is illegal.

I highly recommend reading this book in corroboration with Letters to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris and Misquoting Jesus by Epstein.

This book is important. If you love religion, read it. You've nothing to fear. Right?

It's a good book. Offers pronounciation, definitions, synonyms, and antonyms, as well as good practice. Chances are there are at least some words you'll learn from the book, even if you do well on the diagnostic test but I still suggest that you take that test to see if you should get a higher level book.

I have used this at almost all the middle school and high school levels. It is ok, but if a student is not great at memorizing, or is not already a great speller, this is not as helpful as some other books. It is a very typical, rote way to learn. Worldly Wise is organized and structured in a much better way. It is especially great for teaching spelling/definitions, etc. to dyslexics or children with other minor learning issues. I also think Worldly Wise does a better job at showing definitions, showing how words are used in sentences and paragraphs, and also at showing homonyms, etc. Vocab. Workshop is great as an extra tool.