Are you just starting out with your
homeschool planning, but not knowing where to turn? I was like that a
couple years ago when we began! I knew we wanted to homeschool, but I
didn't have a set "philosophy" to guide me through those
uncertain first months. Also? I didn't have the budget to just go out
and buy the curriculum that most appealed to me (any of them!)
Here are some of the (free) resources
we've relied on for the past couple of years, and one of the
relatively inexpensive things we've used too!
Free Resources:
Ambleside Online- This is a website
that is based on principles of a Charlotte Mason education.
Admittedly, the first few times I explored this site trying to figure
out how this might work for my brood, I kinda got a little bit
cross-eyed trying to figure out what we were supposed to actually do.
Then I started reading about Charlotte Mason and her ideas on
education. Ah, it made so much more sense after that! That being
said, I don't recommend trying to use this without having read a bit
about Charlotte Mason. This is one you can use for all ages.
Easy Peasy- Easy Peasy has every grade
laid out from preschool through high school. It is a site that is put
together by a Christian mom of many. She wanted the curriculum to be
online to keep track of what her children had done year by year (and
also so it could be reused by her younger children), and made it
available to other parents and caregivers. I like the concept, and
you don't need much more than an good internet connection to use it.
Education.com- This is a great resource
for worksheets and projects to do. I believe you are allowed five
free downloads per month. I've found it easy to locate a good
quality, grade-level worksheet on various topics.
Homeschool Share- Lapbooks and Unit
Studies galore! (Also, they have many resources for Five in a Row, if
you're using that.)
IXL- IXL is math and language arts for
K-12. This is very kid-friendly, and I like that they allow your
child to do 20 practice questions per day. You don't have to sign up
and pay for their service, though if you want to go beyond the
practice questions, you will have to. It is nice to use in addition
to another math program just to gauge where your child is at
currently.
Khan Academy- Khan Academy is a
non-profit that has teaching videos and exercises for math, and many
other subjects. For math, it is the most basic arithmetic all the way
to stuff I never learned, like calculus and other difficult-sounding mathematic disciplines. (Can you tell I'm not a math buff?) I haven't
spent very much time exploring their other resources, but it does
look rather extensive.
Lesson Pathways- This is a good one if
you want a fully guided custom curriculum (for K-5). I like how you can simply
click on certain units to remove them (if say, your child has already
mastered that lesson) and you can move the units around to put them
in the order you want. You can even combine grade levels in a certain
area of study. The only caveat I would offer for this resource is
that many of the outside links are no longer good. This makes it a
little frustrating, but you can easily find alternate projects or
worksheets elsewhere (and you have the option to report any links you
find that don't work). It does help when you want grade-level
appropriate ideas. We've discovered many favorite books and authors
through the ideas on this site. To use it, you only need to register
with an email address. (They have never contacted me or sent me
emails, in case you're worried about that!)
Simply Charlotte Mason- Can you guess
what we're doing this year? Yep, we're inspired by Miss Mason and her
excellent ideas concerning education. I actually have found this to
be a great deal simpler than using Ambleside- at least for the way my
brain works! If you want to incorporate her method into your
homeschool, you just need to figure out what works better for you
(whether Ambleside Online, Simply Charlotte Mason or any other
Charlotte Mason website). I like the more modern books recommended
here, and I like their free curriculum planner. Yes, it still takes
planning, but it is totally guided and they offer sample schedules as
well. (Also, both Ambleside and Simply Charlotte Mason have online
forums for all of your questions!)
Inexpensive:
Five in a Row- I wanted this list to be
full of FREE resources, but I couldn't leave this one out. It is not
free, but you can find the volumes of this book at Amazon for
relatively cheap and find most of the recommended books at the
library. So it's almost free. We love using Five in a Row,
because, well...we love reading. It is not intended to be a full
curriculum, but it does open the
door to many cool educational things to share with your little ones!
(If you like these resources, feel
free to follow my Homeschooling Ideas and Resources board on
Pinterest!)
*Contains affiliate links
Have you used any of these
resources? Which one is your favorite?
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