When we first began to homeschool and even now as we continue to homeschool, I have found so many resources to help along the way, there are so many resources out there! At times and even now I sometimes find it overwhelming trying to pick and implement new programs, activities, learning styles, worksheets, workbooks, and even just different things in the community that work best for us because of all of the options!
But what I try to keep in mind is that this is all new for me and my kids. I am learning that this is literally a learning process for me and my children to figure out what we like, what’s going to work for us and begin to work with that. I was not homeschooled and while my two youngest have never been to traditional school, my oldest has. He went to preschool and kindergarten before we decided to homeschool, so it’s been quite an adjustment with that as well.
During these last couple months between the weather not being the best for us to get out in, attending births and my kids hitting new ages, we began to explore different resources online and around us and we have found a few that we have been using lately.
So, in this post I will be sharing with you some online resources and other resources that have been helpful for us this far! I share these with you in hopes that you can find these helpful in your journey but also keep in mind that if they are not, there are plenty of more to choose from!
I have also included a video down at the bottom of this post that I made before this post if listening to this content would be more convenient.
The first one I have is a website called, www.tlsbooks.com. I found this website on one of my late-night homeschooling scrolls and it great place to go for free worksheets! The only thing you will have to worry about and may have to pay for is printing the worksheets out if you don’t already have a printer which you can do at the library, office depot or even a friend or family member who has a printer.
This website has worksheets for all different subjects for grade levels pre-K to fifth grade! I use the worksheets from here as a supplement to our workbooks we work in and sometimes to get ideas on different subjects to create activities around! What I do then is print the worksheets out from my printer and then save them in a binder so we can reuse them again.
Sometimes I will make copies of the worksheets for my kids to work on or other times I may just use pieces or equations from the worksheets for a learning activity. However, you can do whatever works best for you! There are so many ways to utilize this free website full of worksheets and it’s free!
The next resource I have is www.readingeggs.com. This is an online learning program that has activities that promote reading, spelling and also math! You can go on the website and create an account for all of your children, I signed up all 3 of my kids for the same price. Now this resource is not free, there is a monthly price you can pay, or you can pay for the whole year which is 69.99 but there is a free 30-day trial which is what I did before deciding to invest in this program. I heard of this program through a website I am subscribed through and decided to check out the free 30 days and tried to test it out with the kids as much as possible during those 30 days to see if they liked it or not. After the 30 days was over with, turns out they really enjoyed it and began asking to play it so I went and signed up!
Once you are signed up, your kids can create an avatar and they can begin exploring different areas and levels on the program and has access to all the learning activities that help practice with spelling, comprehension, reading, letter sounds, math etc. My oldest really enjoys the customizable avatars and this program has really allowed him to work on his comprehension and spelling more. There are also books and learning videos and this area is where my 5-year-old and 3-year-old spend most of their time at.
Then there is www.Boddlelearning.com. This is similar to the last website I mentioned, except it focuses more on math. It has interactive games as well, around adding, subtracting, multiplication, and many other math subjects depending on the age of your child. We do not get on this program as much, but in the next few months I do plan to bring it back into our routine. It will serve as a good review and a way to go over the things we are learning but in a game format which works for us because my boys love games!
The few times we did get on this website, my kids enjoyed doing it, my 5-year-old actually liked the activities on this program more than on any others because the avatars can play basketball after finishing each level. Overall great resource to add into the day or supplement the stuff you have been learning and it is FREE!
Then there is a really fun, interactive website called www.gonoodles.com. This is a website that has a full library of videos for kids about a variety of topics, from mindfulness, science projects, to spelling, music videos, games and so much more!
I actually first heard about this website from a cashier at the grocery store earlier last year. I was talking with her as I was checking out and happened to mention that I am homeschooling, and she told me I should check out gonoodles and so I did just that. I checked it out the next day and turned it on for my kids and we have been using it ever since! All 3 of my kids enjoy the different videos on here and I really like this website because it allows me to step away for a little bit if I need to do something around the house, take a shower or if I’m cooking and not worry about something popping up that I don’t want them to watch because its kid friendly. We usually put this on at least 3 or 4 times in the morning during the week and my oldest is in charge of changing the videos. Check it out, its 100% FREE and it’s for a mixture of age groups which also makes it very convenient!
WWW.Numberrock.com
Here is another website, www.numberrock.com, and this website has music videos that teach math in songs for grade levels Kindergarten to 5th grade! I think these videos are a great way to introduce and supplement different math subjects that we are working on! We actually found number rock on YouTube, when I was making playlist of learning videos to help out with my morning flow and the kids really started to enjoy these number rock videos. I would hear them singing their songs throughout the day and they would ask in the morning if they could watch the videos. As we continued to watch their videos, I decided to check out their website and this is where I found their subscription plan.
So the number rock videos are FREE but with the subscription plan you can pay a monthly price or pay 29.00 for the year and get access to worksheets, games and flash cards that go with each video! I thought this would be a good idea to go and head and subscribe for the year and see how we like the additional items that correspond with the videos! So yeah defiantly check this one out, it keeps math fun while throwing in some music for the day!
Last, is a very resourceful place and that is the library! I feel like the library is a forgotten treasure, they have so many resources to help you rather if you are homeschooling or not! We have used the library for all kinds of things like, books, eBooks, online resources, events, like the time we signed our kids up for free events they have, free museum passes, printing, computer access, reading programs, tech classes, learning kits, renting out rooms to have meetings, etc. There is so much the library has to offer besides checking out books!
When I first started thinking about homeschooling, I was in Florida at the time, away from my home state and staying at home with my 2nd born at the time. I wanted to get out and meet other moms, and I began going to the library in my city and they had toddler reading sessions, and as I continued to go I met more moms and found more things for me and my son to do.
Then similar to Florida, when we then moved to Alabama, and I was making the transition into homeschooling, I had just had my daughter and really jumping into what staying at home mom life was all about plus throwing homeschool into the mix. So again, I found a closes library near us, and they as well had many toddler programs and I also was able to meet other homeschooling moms which was super exciting! During this time the library served as a way for us to get out, meet people, learn about different events in the community, explore reading and we really enjoyed it. It became our little routine every week!
Then we moved again and when we settled, I think the library was one of the first places we went and that’s when I realized how much resources they have not just for our kids but for me and my husband as well. We found a computer lab where my husband could rent out cameras and camera items, they had video tech classes my husband and boys could sign up for, I used the library heavily for printing when I first was starting my business, I even rented out a room before for a women’s meet up, completely free by the way. For the kids, we were able to sign them up for two events, one was a craft session and another one was a reptile man came and they got to see snakes, and alligators, they really enjoyed it! The library became a great place to use for a lot of different things and we use till this day.
Local libraries offer so much for homeschooling families!
Well, those are all the resources I have brought to you this time! These resources above that I have listed are all great for a variety of age groups and majority of them are free and affordable to get. I really hope that you find this post helpful and please leave comments down below and let me know your thoughts and if you try one of these!
Stay tune, in tune, and forever evolving
Stephanie
Leave a Reply