How we Homeschool: Book recommendations!!

I wanted to post about a few series of books we use in our homeschool that have been helpful to us as we study!!

Math - 

My husband is a high school advanced math teacher, so we are super picky about quality math books!  These all have his "stamp of approval" as being good for developing good thinking and problem solving skills, and they are also "kid-approved."

Life of Fred     I can't say enough good things about this math program!!!  It is fabulous.  It approaches math from a lighthearted "story book" approach, yet it incorporates so many advanced topics and problem solving skills.  Kids are introduced to hard topics very early in a completely non-threatening way.  That way, as they get older and deal with harder topics, they are already familiar with the basics and are not intimidated.  While you do need some "extra practice" for basic skills, Life of Fred is a thorough, well-written series.   We love Love LOVE it!!!

Sir Cumference   This link is to the whole set, although we ordered ours separately from Amazon. These stories are set in the time of knights and dragons and provide clever stories associated with math topics that make them easy to remember.   One of our favorites is the "Dragon of Pi" book.   The end of the books sometimes have activities or suggestions for more reading to further your study of the topics in the book, which is great for any non-math parents. ;)

Math Start Series, by Stuart Murphy  This series has books on nearly every elementary math topic, in levels of progressing difficulty.  The stories are "real-life" applications of math, but are kid-friendly and engaging.  Each book also has discussion questions, activities, etc. for parents and children.  our library has these, and we often have checked out books on specific topics just to add some emphasis to a given topic.  

History/Geography

The Carole Marsh Mysteries series called "Around the World in 80 stories" is fantastic.   The kids are based on a real life family, and they find mysteries all over the world. I guess I'd call them historical/geographical fiction, yet thee author sneaks in all kinds of REAL facts about the countries, their food, their customs, etc. while weaving an engaging mystery for kids.   We use them in conjunction with countries we are studying, and my kids (and I!) love them.  She has several other series about places in America, some scary mysteries, etc., but right now this series is our favorite!!