UPDATE Still Works great for homeschooling
352370
I searched high and low for the best deal and quality.  Was kind of concerned to get this given no reviews yet but I am HIGHLY satisfied with it.  Magnet part works great, and even my cheap dollar store markers erase very easily.  Make sure you real the instructions on removing the plastic film on top!  If you don't well it just doesn't work as well LOL

6/4/14 I have had this board a few months now and it still works great.  Kids actually hit it today and it fell half way off, but the 1 hanger held on to it thankfully or some kiddos would have been hurt!  Over all I am still very pleased with it!  Thinking of buying a 2nd one
4399795
We are homeschoolers, and I was looking for a nice looking, sturdy map for the wall.  Last year's map was flimsy paper, and was destroyed by being pulled at the tacks in the corners within weeks.  This map is sturdy and colorful, and is a focal point in our homeschool room.  I love that I can write on it with dry erase markers and have it clean up so easily.  I must admit that I passed on the thumbtacks this year, and attached it to the wall using Command Poster Strips.  I highly recommend this map, and look forward to following it up with a matching world map in the future.
2315456
I will update as the year progresses but this is an absolutle necessity to our homeschooling. I was not taught math in this way so it is great to have everything laid out in front of me and helps me stay organized with which learning tool I may need.
2050376
I got this when it was on sale.  I am very pleased with its performance so far - we homeschool and I have laminated several charts and cards.  Glad I bought it!
1184121
I was actually attracted to this product because of its clearance price at a local store and the fact that it included computer software that might entertain my daughter while also being educational in nature.  It wasn't long after this that I started a complete homeschool curriculum program with her at the First Grade level.  I have found this workbook & accompanying software to be great for supplemental activities!  I think it could be a great supplement for a child already receiving complete phonics instruction in the public schools or homeschool programs or as a summer review as needed.  I mainly pick and choose lessons on  the software to reinforce her current phonics lesson but you could use the small workbook and direct instruction of the concepts, too.
I think that this would be too difficult for a Kindergarten reader but right on for a First Grade reader and as Second Grade review.  The computer lessons introduce the phonics element by showing it within words and I think this is very valuable.  For example, /ar/ and /or/ are taught together in order to contrast them. Words used are bark, yard, car, barn, porch, horn, fork, and sport. Then the child does an auditory sorting activity to hear the difference. I think the phonemic awareness element here is very valuable.  The word is spoken by the voice  on the computer (friendly and clear) and the child clicks the /ar/ or /or/ column and the word is reveal for the visual confirmation.  A follow up activity involves putting the given letters in correct order to spell a word.
I think the program by itself as a phonics/spelling curriculum is somewhat limited.  The same activities are used over and over.  But it is mastery-oriented so if you teach the lessons and use the computer for follow-up it would be fairly complete. But, I notice that my daughter doesn't always want to do it because the acvities are the same over and over and I'm glad we mix it with letter tiles and an occasional worksheet or writing activity for variety. Also, the sight words that are included in some lessons (the, come, said, etc.)are excellent for study but not a complete list of needed words. But combined with great instruction in a complete phonics/spelling program, this is a great supplement or review.
4970076
Our family previously had a Kindle Keyboard, and we are loving the updated Kindle Keyboard 3G we have now. We love having the 3G to download books on the go. One of my favorite new features as a mom is ability to have parental controls. We use our Kindle for homeschooling, so I also like being able to send PDF assignments via email address! Our kids love reading and enjoy some of the games and apps as well. Kindle customer service has been truly amazing when we had to call. They really know the meaning of customer service!

The only possible negative is the fee for sending PDF's when not connected to wi-fi. For me that is minimal, I just make sure we are connected to wi-fi first. Since we are at home doing school most of the time I am sending them, this is not a serious problem :) Overall, we love and highly recommend it!
2256922
I love this program for my kids.  I home school and want them to be able to learn to type well.  I just have them go to the computer every day and do this program and voila, they can type!  What more can I ask?  The activities aren't annoying and my children never complain about having to do typing.  I also love that it is compatible with a Mac as well.
50535
Great for homeschooling my 8 th grader this year. Was clueless about what program to use. came highly recommended and it is working super
3584048
We are using Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool for 5th and 1st grade. I love the curriculum, especially the use of the McGuffey readers. All of EP is online for free but we only have one computer so I can't wait to get the EP language arts readers and work books for next yr. It will cost me less than the cost of ink to print everything out.
3740897
Great customer service. The first one was faulty and I was quickly shipped another and it's great! We homeschool so it gets a lot of use!
758808
I bought this to use for history lessons in our homeschool. We use the lapbook method with it. The first day we started with it, my 9 year old, 4th grade son was asking when we were going to do it again! So far, we love it and I am ordering more from the company when we complete this.

They are a bit on the expensive side but honestly, the material is pretty detailed and well put together. My only pet peeve so far is that each item is broken down into individual PDF's so you have to open and close many a documents to print. I wish they also offered the option to have each section in one, single PDF so you can just click print and all the sections needed for a lesson. I find it easier to use the link to their site on the disk and then print from there.

Be prepared to have cardstock on auto-ship and good scissors. You will get hand cramps but it's worth it!
1767225
I borrowed the older, 100 Top Picks, from my local library to see if there was anything I could use before purchasing this book.  My son is finishing out public school (2012-2013) and we will start homeschooling his next grade level.  The 100 Top Picks was such a good book, I ordered the new 101 Top Picks.  I couldn't be happier.  The information for Science is all updated in this newer book.  I could only find used options for the Science recommendations in the 100 Top Picks book.  I feel it is worth purchasing the newer book versus just hanging onto the older book.  There were updates to ALL of the subjects, in addition to a new section on Common Core State Standards.  I am going to purchase the older book since some of Cathy's choices from the first book didn't make it to the new book and I know they are also good solid choices.  Both of Cathy Duffy's Top Picks books are fantastic.  They help guide you to choices which fit learning styles your child(ren) has and indicates religious points of view with each book.  My only wish for a next version of this book would be to list beginning 'grade level' straight away as sometimes the beginning grade level doesn't get mentioned until middle or end of her review.  I'd get excited and then figure out it is a year or two out that I would use that book choice.  But that is more of a learning curve for me as a new homeschooling mom in finding appropriate material.  But still, these books have been so helpful.  My thanks to Cathy Duffy!  I would have been lost without them.
2467963
WE love the Teaching Textbook series! This is the first edition and it is fine. It cost half what the new 2.0 version cost and worked perfect for my daughter. Best homeschool math we have used.
1482342
we use this for homeschool.  i love that it comes with a case to keep it all together.
1063428
I have used several of these books now since January.  The 4 year old that used this book (previous edition, but I scanned through the updates at Sam's Club and there don't appear to be any big changes) has shown significant progress.  She started without being able to write any letters or numbers and without being able to identify any written numbers.  Within the last 5 months and fully completing this book, and some supplementary reading lessons she is able to recognize and write numbers 1-14 fluently as well as recognize most letters although she struggles with the sounds that many of them make.  She grew bored of all the coloring in the book and started scribbling instead of coloring on some of the pages (which I allowed as long as she scribbled or circled only the ones starting with the correct letter).
The one thing that is frustrating is that there aren't many reading lessons built into the workbook.  However the last few pages assumes that the child can read.  In addition, the first grade book goes to fast with the assumption of reading for the beginning reader.  There needs to be a smoother bridge for this series.  Also the first grade book (both this addition and the previous edition) have some sheets which have confused both children with the subtraction problems as they draw out objects for the numbers on both side of the subtraction sign.  Those should really be revamped (for the one that already new subtraction I told her to ignore the pictures and just look at the problems and for the one just learning subtraction I crossed out all of the second set of pictures and had her cross out the number of pictures that we were subtracting using the numbers in the problem).

For the struggling first grader in first grade the first grade book worksheets are either too easy or really hard.  The first grade book doesn't have enough word problems (she does word problems that include multiplication and division at school and this doesn't stand up to it).  However, lessons like the clock lessons made her have a great day while other students in her class were struggling with it.  She (and her grandmother when she visited) really struggled with parts of it like the synonym unit and which one doesn't belong because they aren't always straight-forward for some
people -- like what is a synonym for "dimes"? Coins, change, money, currency...how do you teach how to come up
with stuff like that to someone else? Or that you can list a type of store for a synonym to it (not 100% true, but what the book expects).

Once you get past the super-fast reading primer the first grade book looks similar to the second grade book (with more reading in a paragraph form for the second grade book).
400460
I wasn't sure what to expect with this game, but I was pleasantly surprised!  I homeschool and am always looking for fun games to learn concepts rather than just worksheets.  This game is perfect for working with fractions and learning how the parts relate to the whole.  The pieces are much larger than I was expecting (the base circle is 4 inches in diameter) and a very heavy plastic.  The spinner is part of the lid (so one less thing to lose) and the container and lid are very sturdy.  My seven year old likes to play the game, and my 4 year old plays with help.  They both enjoy playing with the pieces just for fun and they are a great math manipulative.  For the gameplay, 4 players can play and each starts with the yellow whole piece.  You spin to determine which piece you take and when you collect enough pieces to make a whole you place them on your "tower".  They pieces all have a raised circle in the center so they nest together and accidental spills are minimized.  The person with the tallest tower at the end of the game wins.  The game could run a little long, but just using a timer and ending after ten minutes or so would solve that.  My only minor issue is that there are three spaces on the spinner that are not accounted for in the rules, two knights and a Rapunzel looking character.  We have added that landing on those allows you to take any piece you need from the draw pile but you could also steal pieces or lose turns.  I also don't think the pieces will fit into the container without stacking them up, so cleanup is not very quick or easy for younger players on their own.  A plastic container to just dump them into would solve that problem.  Overall, this is a great game and fantastic math manipulative that I am glad to have as a homeschooling parent.

Update: After having and playing this for a few months I have figured out resolutions to our issues.  The storage tube is so nice and sturdy and as I said before, the spinner is built in, so I was very happy about that.  But after more than one occasion of getting that tower all stacked up only to knock it over before getting it in the container we gave up and put it in a plastic tub.  Frustrating because now we have to keep the big lid only for the spinner.  And the spinner caused more frustration than it should have.  You will get stuck towards the end (as I said before, the game can run long) and keep spinning only 1/4 or 1/5 when there are still eight of the 1/10 pieces left.  We usually take turns taking the pieces that remain at that point.  Well, today I was checking out the Educational Insights Fraction Formula game (it looks like a similar style and fun game) and they have a deck of cards to determine which piece you take. A deck of cards for this game would have solved the "getting stuck spinning the same number 20 times" issue.  I am considering making up cards to go with it.  Other than that, the game has held up beautifully and is very durable with 2 boys that like to turn the wedges into star wars ships and shoot down towers that they build.
4011136
Works great for keeping my homeschool papers to grade organized and mobile! I love that it came it with the right size stickers for each tab. :)