Our Homeschool Must-Haves

It’s true that every homeschooling family creates their own rhythm and finds what works for each child based on their personality, learning style, and preferences. Much like parenting, homeschooling is a situation where when you finally feel like you have it “figured out” for one kid, the next kid is the polar opposite.

For instance, Beau, my almost-10-year-old is very mindful of details, believes in order and structure and black and white thinking, is analytical, a creature of habit, and quick to point out errors. He likes to sit in the same spot at our computer desk every day and plow through his work, one subject at a time until it is finished.

He works independently very well and rarely asks for help. I glance over his shoulder and offer my assistance, but for the most part he reads the directions, does the practice problems, asks for help if he doesn’t understand, and then completes the lesson without much guidance from me.

Distractions are his biggest pet peeve, so he’s learned that it works really well for him to wear these bluetooth headphones and listen to the playlist he’s created on Spotify while he works on his cursive or math. That way he can focus and not be derailed by his little sisters’ shenanigans.

Apparently this is the only pic I’ve taken of him using the headphones. I’m sure when he’s 14, he’ll be so glad this photo is floating around on the internet…

My 1st grade daughter, Finley, is intelligent and yet balks at structure. She’d rather hang upside down off the end of the couch to read than sit in a chair. She knows how to spell the words in her dictation exercises, but since plain writing is booooring, she takes her sweet time “writing fancy.”

Fancy writing for OA and OE words.

She would happily skip lunch to keep working on an art project (the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree in that regard), and she loves reading at night with a flashlight, perched up on her top bunk.

Making friendship bracelets under a tarp tent we set up in the front acre.

My PreK girl, Blair, is somewhere between those two extremes. She loves any lessons with manipulatives and games, and she’ll wake up before her siblings to ask if she can be the one to “do school first.” She likes the lessons, and also loves being finished so she can design the rest of her day.

Solving subtraction problems and playing Bingo (The Good & The Beautiful, Math K).

And then there’s 2-year-old Phoebe. She loves to be right up in our space while we are working on lessons, and she’ll often request an activity of her own to do. She’s one of those babies of the family that never really seemed like a baby…she’s been wanting to be big her whole life. So we do our best to include her.

This is our sixth year of homeschooling, so by now I have some favorite resources and tools that have stood the test of time with multiple kids. Of course new things come out every year, and we pivot as needed based on a kid’s personality/learning type, but below are some of our favorites from the past year or two.

MATH

Saxon Math: A spiral method that introduces or builds upon a new concept each day, and then reviews it through daily practice. Very thorough and far-reaching. This was our first year to use Saxon (5/4) for Beau and we will continue with it next year (6/5).

Math-U-See: Based on building a strong foundation in basic principles (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) before introducing harder mathematical concepts, Beau has done Math-U-See every year since Kindergarten.

The Good & The Beautiful Math, Level 1: The Good & The Beautiful is overall my favorite faith-based curriculum. They only just began writing their Math program a couple years ago, so while Beau has missed out, it has been perfect timing for my girls. Finley began with Math K last year and is still madly in love with all the artwork, games, stories, and hands-on activities that The Good & The Beautiful includes in their curriculum.

The Good & The Beautiful Math, Level K: Blair is in PreK this year, but since Finley found the beginning lessons in Math K to be too easy (counting to five), I decided to start Blair on Level K and take a break whenever it became too challenging for her. Well, that was 80 lessons ago (and counting). This curriculum is so good at teaching concepts until they are mastered and then building on them slowly so the child feels a true sense of success. Blair has already been teasing me, saying, “What will I do for Kindergarten math if I finish the Kindergarten math in PreK?!”

“These are easy!” she said.

LANGUAGE ARTS/READING

Across the board, all kids are using The Good & The Beautiful curriculum. Full of stories, history, geography, spelling drills, sentence formation, vocabulary, and writing, this curriculum has it all. My kids are currently on Level 4, Level 1, and the Level K Primer.

We read a particular poem, then Finley (1st grade), identified examples for each part of speech and drew an illustration to go along with the poem.

Beau asked to learn cursive this year, and we’ve been really pleased with the simple lessons in this workbook from Handwriting Without Tears. We’ll continue with it by getting this book next.

We aim to read at least one-two chapter books aloud every month. We are currently reading “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,” having recently finished “Because of Winn-Dixie” and “Holes.” Our most-recent picture book favorites include Judy Sierra’s “Imagine That!: How Dr. Seuss Wrote the Cat in the Hat,” “Be Quiet” by Ryan T. Higgins, and “The Book With No Pictures” by B.J. Novak. We also listen to audiobooks through Overdrive or Libby (free from your local library!) any time we are in the car.

HISTORY

The Mystery of History, Volume One. We are working our way through history from Creation to Resurrection. As Christians, we love the way this curriculum integrates Biblical history (Noah’s Ark, Moses, King David) with world history (King Tut, the first Olympics, Ancient Rome). My kids especially love drawing the cards for our timeline for each lesson, and it’s been really fun to watch it grow over the school year.

ART

We are a household filled with art supplies! The following are some of our favorite purchases this year:

*This self-contained art kit for creating on the go.

*The Creative Arts & Crafts from The Good & The Beautiful. We’ve made a handful of projects from the book so far, and I know we’ll make even more this summer when the soaring temps send us inside to cool off.

*Prismacolor pencils for the two oldest kids (they are pricey compared to “school brands,” but the pigmentation of these pencils is unrivaled!)

*Air-dry clay. My kids have used this stuff to create everything from Pokémon figures to a diorama of Charlotte’s Web.

*Color by Sticker books: find our favorites here, here, here, and here.

*Stamp sets. This bug set is especially fun because the pieces can be stacked to create an unlimited array of creepy crawlies.

*Subscriptions from Kiwi Co. My son gets the Tinker Crate and my 6-year-old loves the Atlas Crates and the Kiwi Crates, and my PreK girl prefers the Koala Crates.

One of the many cool engineering contraptions Beau has built through Tinker Crates from Kiwi Co.

*Sidewalk chalk: perfect for drawing, hopscotch, math practice, and spelling.

*Melissa and Doug Paint with Water books. These have been a great thing to have on hand when the kids want to paint but I don’t want to deal with the mess.

Blair loves the paint with water books.

*My kids love to color but change interests fast, so we’ve found it’s best to stock up on ink cartridges and paper rather than character-specific coloring books. I have a Brother printer and LOVE how many prints I get out of the separate black and color cartridges. So much better than my previous printer that had cartridges that included all four ink colors together.

GAMES & FUN

*Zeus on the Loose: A fast-moving game that helps solidify math concepts. One of Beau’s favorites because he often wins. :)

*Tenzi: A no-skills-required strategy game involving enough dice for 6 people to play (more if you order the expansion pack). This set with the expansion pack makes the fun last for hours and hours.

*Scattergories: One of our favorite word games. The 30th Anniversary edition is more like the original with the buzzing timer.

*Mad Libs: Who doesn’t love practicing language arts skills by making up zany stories?!

*Lego books. We love combining personal interests with learning. My son has several visual encyclopedias including Star Wars, and Lego Minifigure Year by Year, and he also loves the books that come with items to assemble like these Ninjago sets: Nya and Lloyd

*My outdoorsy girl (Finley) loves anything about animals. This memory game challenges players to match an animal to its track. We also have the bird set and the tree/leaf set. Such pretty illustrations and an inviting way to learn.

Matching male/female birds.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

We like for our kids to choose one activity to try each semester. This fall, the girls tried gymnastics, and for the spring they are participating in Ninja classes (Beau and Blair), soccer (Finley) and golf (Beau). Once those wrap up in May, we’ll probably take the summer off to play and swim and read and go on adventures.

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I’m sure our days will look different each year as the kids get older, but for now we are enjoying the mix of book work, games, art, and activities we’ve accumulated over the year. I’d love an answer any questions you may have about the items on my list, and I’d also love to hear what your family’s “must-have” items are, whether you homeschool or not! Every parent teaches their kids at home in one way or another, and I’m always looking for fun games and projects for our family to try. Because every moment is a chance to learn and grow!