Are the Spectrum books ie Math Reading Science Test Preps good for homeschooling?

Answer 1

Our first year homeschooling we picked up all sorts of books from different publishers and Spectrum is the one that one out for us.

We are on our fourth year using the Spectrum series of books. I have been quite happy with them so far. The Spectrum books we use are as follows: Spelling, Reading, Language Arts, Phonics, Science Test Practice, Writing, Vocabulary, Math, and Geography. They are well organized, progressive, on target for the age group, but still challenging. It also makes planning much easier from one year to the next when you can stick to the same curriculam.

The only draw back that I have found is something I have come across with many publishers. The Science Test Practice is just that, test practice. You need a good solid science book to back it up with. We picked up The Usborne internet-Linked Science Encyclopedia (ISBN 978079450331-4) and that seemed to really round things out quite well. The cool thing about the Usborne book is that is written on several different levels and you can keep coming back to different aspects of the book for a few years. It also has a list of recommended internet links for each subject on every page.