Resources for Beginning Homeschooling

I’ve had some people ask me about beginning homeschooling lately, so I put together the following list, which I hope will be useful:

 

Beginning Homeschooling:

1.       www.iche.org  (Illinois Christian Home Educators)—request a beginner’s packet from them (only for Illinois residents).  There are other useful links on their site (such as to different curriculum vendors).  Also have a sample letter for withdrawing a child from public school (in Illinois).

2.      www.hslda.org  (Home School Legal Defense Assn.)—find out what the homeschool laws are for each state (or country)

3.      www.youcanhomeschool.org  Gives lots of answers, explains a little about the different methods of homeschooling (traditional textbook approach, classical, unit study, Charlotte Mason, unschooling).  Then you can do more searches on each method to learn more.

4.  

5.      My favorite books and resources:

For the Children’s Sake (Susan Schaeffer MacCauley)

Teaching the Trivium (Bluedorn)  www.triviumpursuit.com  Especially the article on “Ten Things to Do Before Age 10”

A Charlotte Mason Companion and A Pocketful of Pinecones (Karen Andreola)

Homeschooling With a Meek and Quiet Spirit (Teri Maxwell)

Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms by Mary Jo Tate

Magazines: The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and Home Educating Family

6.       The resources I have used for preschool and K-2^nd grade are:

Handwriting Without Tears for handwriting, TATRAS and Alphaphonics for phonics, All About Reading and All About Spelling for my daughter with dyslexia, McGuffey and Rod & Staff Bible readers, and Bob Books for read-aloud practice, Egermeier’s Story Bible and Leading Little Ones to God for Bible Time, Answers in Genesis (answersingenesis.com) and Apologia elementary science books for science materials, Story of the World and Mystery of History for history, lapbooks and unit studies, and lots of free resources from the internet and library!

Homeschooling Sites:

Homeschool planners: HEDUA

Read reviews of curriclum:

For notebooking and lapbooking ideas:     www.homeschoolshare.com                        http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com   http://lapbooklessons.ning.com/                www.donnayoung.org      http://www.notebookingpages.com/             www.handsofachild.com    www.knowledgeboxcentral.com    http://www.liveandlearnpress.com/index.php  www.currclick.com   www.notebookingnook.com

Story of the World correlations    www.redshift.com/~bonajo/SOTWmenu.htm  

For worksheets/activities/crafts:    www.activitiesforkids.com   www.dltk-kids.com   www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/papercrafts    www.buildpaperairplanes.com  www.thecoloringspot.com      www.homeschooling.about.com  www.school4Jesus.com       www.montessorimaterials.org

Oceans      www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov

Free McGuffey readers      www.ignitethefire.com/oldfashioned.html  

Math ideas         www.livingmath.net  

Home With the Kids–free stuff www.hwtk.net  

Bible helps/color sheets:    www.EBibleTeacher.com/children       http://children.calvarychapel.com/site/curriculum.htm                                              www.scripture4all.org  gives the Greek and Hebrew for all Bible verses  http://www.akhlah.com/aleph_bet/aleph-bet.php    Hebrew  www.inthebeginning.org/ntgreek/lesson1/gl1.htm   Greek  www.classicalacademicpress.com/FLASH/lfc_intro.html    Latin     www.reformed.org/documents    catechisms

Charlotte Mason’s ideas (includes free curriculum): www.simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/memorysys      www.tanglewoodeducation.com            www.oldfashionededucation.com

Preschool curriculum ideas:    www.letteroftheweek.com      www.starfall.com     www.crayola.com    Nursery Rhymes   www.smart-central.com  lalalogic.com

Creation Science:   www.jonathanpark.com    http://www.answersingenesis.org/kids

Sign Language videos of all words     

Free MP3s of classic books read aloud    

Join this Homeschool Buyers co-op for great group buys, and make a free homeschool ID  

Create Handwriting Sheets:       www.kidzone.ws/tracers       www.handwritingforkids.com/handwrite/index.htm  www.donnayoung.org/penmanship/index.htm      www.worksheetworks.com   also math  www.writingwizard.longcountdown.com/handwriting_practice_worksheet_maker.html  www.handwritingworksheets.com         http://frogacademy.50webs.org/index.htm   www.teachinglearning.com/freebie_generator/index.php

Download fonts:     (Cursive= Learning Curve,    Print= Print Clearly)

Free Practice Tests for ACT, SAT, etc.

Linked up at

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