Whether you’re homeschooling, or schooling at home this year, it’s great to have resources at your disposal to help round out the curriculum.
When I was homeschooling, I frequently needed something “extra” that didn’t come with my curriculum. When they were young, it was usually a coloring worksheet for a special holiday or some reading flashcards. When they were older, it was a science kit or read aloud book. I’ve put together some of my favorite resources and there are a lot more of them out there.
If you find yourself teaching your kids this year and you’re lacking something, just start looking around online. There are so many resources out there now for homeschooling families.
Super Teacher Worksheets is packet with – you guessed it – worksheets. It is a membership site that costs $24.95 per year. You get access to download and print any of the hundreds of worksheets on their site. I found they had a great selection for my kids up to about sixth or seventh grade, then it dwindled a bit.
It’s organized by subject, then by grade and topic, which is great when you’re looking for something and wonder if it’s grade appropriate. One thing I loved was their reading comprehension packets. We could read a book and I didn’t have to come up with the questions for my kids to answer. Every teacher needs an easy button!
Home Science Tools has everything science related for all grades. They sell curriculum itself, along with dissection kits (which we have used several of) and some great gifts for any science loving kid. Science was easy to teach in elementary school, but once our kids got into heavier topics, I needed help. I turned to Home Science Tools often for supplementary items.
Spelling Power If you’re having a hard time teaching spelling, or need to help a student who has a hard time learning their spelling words, Spelling Power is a great way to go. There are hundreds of spelling lists at varying levels so you don’t need to buy another spelling book as your kids get older. Each time you work a list, you only focus on the words they misspell. You’re not testing them on words they already know, just working to lock in new vocabulary. It’s faster than traditional spelling programs and each list is grouped by a grammar rule.
CHEC is a non-profit organization focused on helping families homeschool. It’s based in Colorado (the full name is Christian Home Educators of Colorado), but you don’t have to live here to use their resources. They have excellent seminars on learning to homeschool, loads of resources on their website available for free, and ways to connect with other families who are also homeschooling.
Social Network Groups on Facebook or Nextdoor are useful for so many reasons. You can find groups that swap, sell, or borrow curriculum from each other. Some groups are focused on a social outing like hiking or cycling together. Wild & Free is a great example of such a group. There are social network groups that live in the same geographical area, go to the same church/synagogue, have the same interest for their kids, and so much more. When people say that homeschoolers aren’t social, they really just don’t know many homeschoolers. I always told people that my kids were plenty social, they just liked to choose who they socialized with.
Maestro Classics is perfect for combining music into learning. If your child does best when they’re singing or listening to music, or you wish they had more musical inclinations, this is a great resource. There are products to buy, but you can also check out their free resources.
Prodigy Education is a fantastic source for math enrichment or tutoring. It’s a membership site, and can be as low as $4.95/month depending on which plan you choose. Kids play games and earn prizes by playing math games. Our middle child used this through our enrichment program and she enjoyed it so much that I had to make her walk away from the computer to move on to other subjects.
Lastly, I want to mention that while most of the resources I’ve listed are paid sites, there are a ton of great free resources out there, too. Not all of the free stuff is great, however, so be somewhat cautious when you’re deciding what content to use.