I was talking to a friend yesterday about homeschooling resources and ideas and what we were planning for fall. We both have multiple children we are homeschooling with different personalities, learning styles, and needs. We also talked about our own needs—what works for us, as the people helping them learn. It's so great to have friends to talk to about this. I don't belong to a specific homeschooling group or co-op, but there are a lot of resources here in Portland for homeschooling families, and so when I need to reach out and talk, vent, get ideas, and relate to others in this amazing experience, I know where to go and it is really helpful.
Here's a short list of links and resources we use right now. It changes, but these all have been with us for over a year. We don't use a purchased curriculum, we pull from all over and we learn from everywhere and everything overlaps, it's impossible to list it all. I write a lot about learning from our theme in the Learning section. (we are currently learning about Edgar Allan Poe!)
Here's some links I was going to send her (why not just make it a blog post?) plus some extras. Much of how we learn is by writing, reading, and experiencing life off the computer, but since I was sending links, this list is a bit more computer-y.
Spelling: We use lists printed from this site and I also pull words from their writings that are misspelled and we make our own lists.
Geography: I started with this site for US States and this site later for the rest of the world.
Math: We have been using Teaching Textbooks for a year now for my two older girls (almost 11 and 13) and we are happy with it. I'm holding off with my 8 year old until later.
Books for writing, drawing ideas, and photo Ideas:
Q&A a Day for Kids: A Three-Year Journal
104 Things to Photograph
Art ideas: We all love the art assignment for ideas and art discussions.
History: All the Crash Course shows are excellent. They move fast (we pause it a lot) and are better for older kids, but the humor and presentation style appeals to all of them. There's some shows geared to younger kids, like Sci Show Kids and Crash Course Kids.
Social studies and the world: We love Globe Trekker (better for older kids) Rick Steves and Families of the World. These are all DVDs which we check out at our library.
So many amazing links and idea come from my comments, thank you for everything you all have suggested over the years. Please feel free to add your current favorites!
