One of my favorite themed weeks for Works for Me Wedneday is the backwards theme. It’s the one time when we get to ask what works for everyone else, instead of what works for us.
So, we’d all love to know — what are your favorite pieces of homeschool curriculum or homeschool resources? Maybe it is (or was) a book that you and your kids couldn’t get enough of, maybe it was something that made you super organized, or maybe it is a certain curriculum company that has made homeschooling a little easier for you.
We can’t wait to hear what you have to say!
Angie is the founder of The Homeschool Classroom. She is also the co-founder of Homeschool Lifestyle Media. When she is not busy homeschooling her three children, she can also be found writing at her personal blog, Many Little Blessings, about faith, family, and a variety of household management topics.
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My daughter is 5, so right now her favorite learning materials are games. She loves Junior Scrabble, Silly Sentences, Sight Words Bingo, etc.
She also enjoys the Math-U-See blocks. We don’t have the curriculum to go with it, but she uses the blocks to do addition and subtraction problems on her Strawberry Shortcake flashcards :)
.-= Jenny´s last blog ..A New Year! =-.
Jenny – I agree about the MUS blocks. We’re also not using the actual curriculum, but the blocks have come in so handy when we’re dealing with difficult concepts. It made teaching carrying over numbers SO much easier!
.-= Angie´s last blog ..Looking for Great Low Calorie Meals =-.
My son is 4, but VPK is becoming a pseudo-requirement in my state, so we are working on the school concept with him as he’s interested. His favorite things, so far, the get ready for the code books. He loves them. He liked Hooked on Phonics for learning the letters, but once he moved on to their reading series, he was less enamored with it. He also likes the Core Knowledge series of books.
We have a huge passion for ThinkFun games, too. He loves to do any kind of logic or reasoning puzzle. Quite fun.
For history we liked, Living Long Ago (Usbourne). For Bible time, we read straight from God’s Word, but we also use The Egermeiers Bible Story Book which I really like. My kids enjoy doing worksheets for math, spelling, and language arts from the workbooks that you can find either at Walmart or Walgreens….I can’t remember the name of them right now, but they are usually on sale 2/$5 at Walgreens. I was able to get a bunch for free with my Walgreens Register Rewards a few weeks ago. :)
.-= Sandra ´s last blog ..WFMW: Backwards Edition =-.
My kids have thoroughly enjoyed the Along the American History Trail lesson plans from Elizabeth Foss’s Serendipity website this year. Best of all it is FREE since I am able to get most of the books at the library or at least find reasonable substitutes.
We also like Noeo’s science curriculum. We just finished up Physics I with my 3rd-grader and start Chemistry I tomorrow. It is not free, but my son is a science nut and that is not a subject I am comfortable winging it on so I don’t mind paying for it.
Our day runs so much smoother with our work pockets. You can see them here – http://nogginsandnonsense.blogspot.com/2009/10/work-boxes-to-work-pockets.html
I also couldn’t survive without my library card! We can’t get enough historical fiction!
.-= Dana♥´s last blog ..Personalized Notebooks =-.
We started using WorkBoxes this fall, and it was a life saver! It has made things so much smoother for us.
.-= Angie´s last blog ..Looking for Great Low Calorie Meals =-.
So far we have loved Apologia zoology, Horizons math, Draw write now, CLP nature readers, and Handwriting without tears.
I love anything that livens up our school day. I guess my favorite tool would be field trips- but you’ve read about that before. Some other favorites: I love ordering material from Timberdoodle. They have great reviews of their products and they are normally discounted. I’ve purchased games and books from them since we began homeschooling years ago.
Since we don’t use as much curriculum as we do life lessons and books, I also make my own notebooking pages for the kids to record what they’ve learned. I’ve also found and use the material from Westvon Publishing- The History Scribe (when they were younger) and now The History Scholar.
.-= Tonya Prater´s last blog ..For the love of Paris… =-.
I have younger children and to help with teaching reading I have LOVED< LOVED, LOVED LeapFrog products!!! We started off with the Letter Factory DVD and the kids learned all their letters and sounds within months!! Amazing to hear a two yr do all the letters and basic phonic sounds! Then we invested in the DVD boxed set… great for beginning counting and demonstrations of how letters put together makes words:)
I'm now using the TAG and that library to encourage reading and for reading practice… my tried-n-true reading program is The Ordiniary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading…. but then we use the BOB books and now the TAG Learn to Read Book Sets (I found them at toys r us and used a coupon!!!) for more practcie:)
.-= Kelly@ In Everything…´s last blog ..Sitting Pretty =-.
One of my favorite pieces of curriculum is the DVD that comes with the Math U See curriculum. I can’t believe how much I’m learning about math from this DVD. The teacher on the DVD explains things so well, I wish he’d been my teacher in 3rd grade!
I also love The Story of the World history series. The activities and suggestions for extra reading in the activity book are wonderful.
.-= Marci Johnson´s last blog ..The Simple Woman’s Daybook: Jan. 4 =-.
We are in our fall/winter season of homeschooling, as we only have another 5-6 years to go till our last graduates. Through our 15+ years we have used many different tools for our school. Here is a partial list of some of our favorite must haves:
* Library Card
* Books of tape/cd
* Wipe off boards and good wipe off markers.
* We have pretty much always used the literature approach, so books would are vital. :o)
* Living Room–We have spent countless hours in the living room reading books, doing projects, playing games, watching dvds, and learning tons.
* Large Kitchen Table~ No matter how many times I have attempted to have a “school room” everyone ends up at the kitchen table. :o)
*Poster Board for making posters, games, mini offices, and more. :o)
* Lesson Planner~ I buy a lesson planner from Staples every year and it has never failed me. I am not the most lesson orientated person, but having things written down certainly helps keep me focused.
I am a “newbie” homeschooler, but in our few short months of homeschool, we have really enjoyed Math-U-See. I’m not strong in math whatsoever, and Steve Demme has given me the confidence to teach my son, and my 4 year old even likes to watch the DVD too!
One of my absolute favorite things that I can’t live without (besides God’s Word) is my nifty “The Homeschoolers Journal” that I purchased from cbd.com this past summer. It is simplistic, yet has everything I need to keep track of what we’ve done each day. ISBN 0978541308
I highly suggest having a good magnetic dry erase board, which I found for only $25 at Costco! I write the date at the top, our Bible verse, and use it to “teach” on of a question comes up (usually a math problem, or the spelling of a particualr word).
We are considering the Math U See curriculum simply because my kids do great with hands on learning. I think just the demo simplified things I learn in school, and made them more clear to me. I really think it would be the same for my kids as well. Plus they already love legos, so this would be right up their alley.
We really enjoyed the Bob Books to start my daughter off on reading, and the Now I am Reading series of books inspired my son to read at 3. Now he is nearly 12, and has a real passion for reading.
The kids enjoy our Phonics game as well as a few homemade games we have made. We also like some of the felt sets on http://www.funfelt.com.
We are in transition and seeking out alternative curriculum for the kids currently and I want to thank everyone for posting and sharing!