In addition to our math curriculum for individual children, phonics for the littles, grammar for the bigs, etc., we use carefully curated homeschool resources, which I make available to all of our children (who have learned to care for them properly). These are a variety of items, from games to textbooks.
Grab the FREE Homework Bingo for Independent Learning PDF to help your child develop their own learning habits!
This is NOT a complete list of everything we own that falls under the category of “educational resource”, but these are the favorites that we use again & again. Homeschooling several children from toddlers to teens at once, these have been loved by them all AND the parents (me)!
Homeschool Resources My Children Use To Teach Themselves
Games:
Biblical History from FunHill Games
On Assignment With National Geographic
For God and Country (Adventures in Odyssey)
The Mystery of History Volume 1, Audio Book Set (10 Audio CDs)
Jonathan Park: The Adventure Begins – Series 1
Under Drake’s Flag: The Extraordinary Adventures of G.A. Henty
Mike’s Inspiration Station 6 DVD Collection
Life of Fred Elementary Series Complete 10 Book Set (Life of Fred)
Audio:
(history) (science) (history, literature) (science) (home ec) (history)Books:
Life of Fred (math)
YWAM (history, Christian missionary bios)
Exploring Creation with Zoology (science)
Encyclopedias (geography, history, science – use with parental guidance)
Emma Leslie Books republished by Salem Ridge Press (history)
Read more about how we embrace a Lifestyle of Learning and how we encourage Delight-Directed Art.
This means that my children rarely walk around saying they are bored! They are so used to grabbing a book, game, CD, or DVD from our shelves of pre-approved resources, or they will spend time cooking/baking in the kitchen, exploring outdoors (that often leads to hands-on educational experiences), and more.
Plus, they know if they DO say they are bored, mama will have them fold a basket of laundry or organize their closet! There’s my large family mom-tip of the day. 😉
Speaking of chores, you may want to read 6 Daily Chores That Must Get Done or How To Teach Children New Chores In 5 Steps
We also have several other historical fiction books like part of the Mandie Series, Imagination Station Series, The Little House Books, G.A. Henty, and more. One way we quickly built our home library was by using Tapestry of Grace for our history (geography, literature, social studies) curriculum.
Read how I encourage independent learning in foundational subjects for my upper elementary children HERE.
The above list not required reading, listening, or watching for my children but are made readily available for them to use on their own – and they do! I have linked to all of the homeschool resources found on Amazon for your convenience!
Your shelves look so neat, mine start that way…please tell me mine are not the only ones that do not stay that way! Lol
The shelves in the living room are often a mess! 😉
Looks so organized! I would love for you to link this post up with us when we tackle homeschool areas in our 34 weeks of Clean series. You have done a great job of showing homeschooling is do-able, even in a small space. Way to go Clarissa!
Thanks, Michele! I will link up if I remember! 🙂
IVE found that my daughter learns SO much more when I let her go down rabbit trails! thats what homeschooling should do- teach kids to love educating themselves!
We love many of these same resources! Probably the Tapestry of Grace connection. 🙂 We’re just getting ready to start our 3rd trip through and begin working with my first Rhetoric level student, yikes!
lots of reason to buy….great value
I’m the same way! If my girls say they are bored, to work they go! 🙂
I loved the board games you mentioned we had several of those growing up when I was homeschooled and I had forgotten about the.m. I added them to my Amazon list for the future.
Thanks for the game recommendations I. always on the lookout for educational games!
Thank you for your posts!
This is awesome! I was just looking at all the books I need to get for the children this year. They have been getting into reading this summer and it is making me so excited!! Thank you for this opportunity!
Great list! Yes, I use the chore threat, too, haha. They are almost never bored.
Thank you for sharing your lists! Greatly appreciate them!
I think my family would really enjoy some of the games and dvds you’ve listed. I’m going to have to check them out!
I need to do a better job of using games in our homeschool. Even games that aren’t technically “educational” still provide practice on important life skills. Our favorite games are Go Fish and Memory with my son’s speech cards and Sleeping Queens for practicing math facts.
Great homeschool resources to look into. It is so much out there. Thanks for sharing! God bless you and family!
I still remember Adventures in Odyssey from when I was a kid.
We use a lot of the same resources! My kids love Adventures in Odyssey…they have learned so much spiritually and academically! 🙂
These are excellent resources, some of which we have and more that I would like to have someday, and all organized so beautifully on those shelves!
We are just beginning our journey in home schooling. This post helped me see we need and can use more than just books in our home.
We love many of these resources as well. Love being able to give our children the opportunity to participate and enrich their own education!
Yes, it is so wonderful to be able to help and provide resources for our children to learn extra things on their own. Love to see how they blossom and enjoy learning!
Thanks for this article. I have homeschooled since my 32 yo son was in 5 th grade but have gotten burned out and forgot the important things like reading to them and getting them interested in educational dvds and books. This was a great reminder. I feel I have kind of failed my youngest set in this.
Every day is a new opportunity! I’m sure you’ve given the younger set lots of good times and precious memories, homeschooling allows that regardless of method. 🙂
Thanks for the article. I love using Rainbow Resource. They’re always so helpful.
Thank you for this post. I will be saving it for all of the resources you listed. My son loves Jonathan Park series and Imagination Station. I’ll be looking into the other history series that you shared. Thank you so much.
Rainbow Resources has been my favorite resource for homeschool material since about 2005! Their customer service is the best; the variety and price of materials they offer is the best; the explanation they print for each item is super helpful. You cannot go wrong purchasing resources from Rainbow.
Great encouragement! Thanks for posting this!
There are some resources in your list that I am going to have to check out. Thank you!
We excited for this new year of homeschool to start! Love your blog.
I love it when I catch the kids learning on their own! So many great resources on this list.
Rainbow Resource has always been my go to for curricula, and I really appreciate the chance to enter the contest.
My 12 yo DS son loves Superbook and Donut Man videos Homeschooling my twelve has been an eclectic adventure!
I think I am about ready to conquer our next homeschool year. I like your resources list. Thanks for the info.
Many wonderful suggestions and recommendations to use and try! And the bookshelf is nice and neat. I will be reorganizing mine soon! 🙂
I love that homeschooling allows opportunities for children to learn independently and at their own pace. My children have embraced this and are learning even beyond the curriculum material. Such a joy to see them love learning by reading books we borrow from the library or through playing games.
Just got the new Rainbow Resources catalog and saw lots of good things. This would help A LOT with our homeschool plans:)
I love to incorporate games into learning for my kids, Scrabble is a favorite here. I will have to look into some of these options as they sound interesting. I am also trying to grow our small library, and my kids love historical fiction. Thank you for your suggestions, they will be going on our wishlist!
We have been working on building our library too using Living Books for History and quality creation-based science resources as the library doesn’t even offer those! Love the resources for more independence 🙂
Thank you for sharing these wonderful resources!