These Are a Few of My Favorite (Homeschool) Things!

This week's Homeschool Crew blog topic is, "What are your favorite resources for the ages and grades that you are teaching?"   When I read the topic, I knew I had to post on it!  There are several resources that I am using with my two 8th graders and my 3rd grader this year that I would love to tell you about!

I have probably mentioned (maybe more than once) that I love Apologia for science.  In particular, I love the elementary level books by Jeannie Fulbright and the upper level books by Jay Wile.  There are quite a few books written by Jeannie Fulbright for students from about 2nd-6th grades.  For younger students, the parent will probably need to help read the material to the child and help her do the "experiements," etc.  Students who are 5th or 6th grade could probably do these books more independently.  I recommend working with your child even if she is capable of doing the work independently, though.  To me, an important part of homeschooling is building relationships with my kids.  By working with them whenever I can, it is definitely easier to build relationships with them while getting a good idea of what they do or don't know. 

The elementary level science books are all called the Young Explorer Series:  Exploring Creation with . . .  The books in the series so far are Exploring Creation with Astronomy;  Exploring Creation with Botany;  ECW Zoology 1;  ECW Zoology 2;  ECW Zoology 3;  and ECW Human Anatomy and Physiology.  My 3rd grader and I are doing Exploring Creation with Zoology 1 this year, and we are both loving it!  The lessons are interesting to her, and she is learning a lot just because the information is presented in an interesting way.  It is written in a kind of "conversational" style that is easy for her to understand.  She also loves the activities and experiments.  None of them require lots of time or materials, and they are all pretty easy to do.  We are also using the Notebooking Journal this year (that goes along with this particular book), and that adds even more fun to the study.  We are absolutely planning to do as many more of these elementary level science books as we can--hopefully all of them.

For my 8th graders, we are using the junior high and high school level books written by Dr. Jay Wile .  They also begin with "Exploring Creation with . . ." but these are not part of the Young Exploreres Series.  Last year (for 7th grade), we did Exploring Creation with General Science.  This year we are doing Exploring Creation with Physical Science.  These aren't as much fun as the elementary books, and they require a good bit more effort and study.  That's just the way it is, though, as students get a little older!  This is a fantastic series and contains so much wonderful, interesting information!  I especially love that both the elementary and jr. high and high school books are written from a young earth, creation viewpoint.  These aren't just books with lots of Bible references and a bit of science thrown in, though.  These are quality, top-notch science books with Bible references and lots of "real-life" scientific information included to reinforce that God created the world and made it an orderly system.  I always recommend these books to Christian families who are looking for great science materials.

I also really love what we are using for math this year.  I am doing Math Mammoth with my 3rd grader.  She is not a "math person" at all!  She is great at all subjects that require lots of reading or even writing.  Math, however, is not her favorite, nor is it her strongest skill.  I love using Math Mammoth with her because it has proven to be just right for her.  It's not too terribly difficult, nor is it too terribly easy.  It seems to progress at a nice pace, too, so that she isn't frustrated by feeling like she's progressing too slowly and needs to be moving faster.  I tried several other math curriculums with her, but this one is absolutely the best one for her that we have ever tried.  I plan to stick with Math Mammoth right now.  I may re-evaluate as she gets older, but for now we are sticking with what works!  Another great thing is that the books are really inexpensive and are sold as downloadable products.  I don't have to spend a lot of money on them, and I can print them out as I go along so that I'm not spending a lot (even on printing) all at once.  I feel like she is getting a very good, basic math background right now so that, if she begins to like math more and want to do a more difficult curriculum later, she will be able to do that.  If not, then she will at least have a good, basic math background. 

My 8th grade son uses Teaching Textbooks.  He has gotten to a point where I can't really help him much with his math unless I really study and prepare a lot ahead of time.  Since I don't often have much time for that, I decided to try out Teaching Textbooks this year with him.  He watches the lecture/explanation part of the lesson (from a DVD) on his computer.  Then he does his work out of the textbook.  Then he uses another DVD to check his 5 "practice" problems before completing the 20 or so "lesson problems."  Then I check the lesson problems for him (so I know he did them correctly and to keep him from being tempted to peek at the answers instead of working the problems himself).  If he misses any, he has to re-do them once, and then I check them again.  If he misses them a second time, I have him use a separate DVD to watch how to correctly work the problem(s) that he needs to correct.  Every single problem that he has to do is on one of the included DVDs so that, if he doesn't know how to do any problem in the textbook, it can be found and he can watch the correct way to work it.  This has worked well for him!  It allows him to be much more independent with his math, and I don't have to worry about whether or not I know enough to help him!  :)

I suppose I could keep going and mention some more of the resources we are using this year, but I won't right now.  I don't want this post to be too incredibly long!!  I will mention very quickly, though, that I will be doing a review of the online classes that both my 13-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter are using for history this year through Veritas Press.   I will let you know about that review later.  It may end up being included it the "reviews" section of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine later this school year.  :) 

To see this blog cruise topic addressed by other Crew members or to see some of the other blog cruise topics covered this year, click here.