Today, I am sharing five of our family’s absolute favorite and completely amazing homeschool resources.
These five resources have been game-changers in our homeschool. They have enriched our lives, lowered stress, and helped us to make family memories.
These Five Amazing Homeschool Resources Will Make You Smile
When you are finished reading this post, I’d love for you to leave a comment with your family’s favorite resource. Let’s help each other have a fantastic homeschool year!
1. Audible
I am continually amazed by the growth I see in my children when I add high-quality books to our existing curriculum. Our family was new to Audible last year and I cannot believe it took us so long to join!
Here are some of the titles we absolutely adored this year:
- A Bear Called Paddington
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (narrated by Scarlett Johansson)
- American Tall Tales
- Because of Winn-Dixie
- Doctor Dolittle
- Ginger Pye
- Holes
- Misty of Chincoteague
- Mr. Popper’s Penguins
- The Bad Beginning (Lemony Snicket)
- The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place (6-book series)
- The Jungle Book
- The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale
- The Sign of the Beaver
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (narrated by Anne Hathaway)
- Trumpet of the Swan
- Wonder
We have listened to dozens of books while driving!
I love to listen to classics on audio, or anything that I know will make me cry (I’m looking at you, Wonder!), or anything with dialect and/or sound effects.
Our favorite Audible experience- by far- has been The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series. I’d love it if you could leave me your family’s all-time favorite Audible experience in the comments below!
Do you love to homeschool with incredible books?
You might like this related post:
Also, be sure to follow us on Instagram because once our homeschool year starts, I’ll be sharing our daily Coffee and Books and gameschool routine!
2. CuriosityStream
Over two years ago, I was introduced to a fantastic educational video streaming service called CuriosityStream.
And it was love at first sight.
Our family still uses CuriosityStream all the time.
CuriosityStream is the best $2.99 I spend each month.
For less than the cost of one of those fancy Starbucks beverages, our family has access to high-quality on-demand educational documentaries without commercial interruption.
But you don’t have to take my word for it.
CuriosityStream offers 18 of their top documentaries for free (without any personal information required) and after you watch those, you can sign up for a FREE 7-day trial.
I am in the process of writing a CuriosityStream series. My goal is to show others how we use this amazing homeschool resource in our home.
Do you want to see what we have LOVED on CuriosityStream?
Check out our living list of CuriosityStream recommended documentaries here:
3. Exploring Nature with Children
We are outside every single day, in all sorts of weather, but I am not very good at planning nature studies.
And that’s why I was so happy when my homeschool sister, Kara, introduced me to Exploring Nature with Children: A Complete Year-Long Curriculum.
It was love at first sight and we’ve been using it ever since.
Exploring Nature with Children is exactly what the title says- a complete, year-long curriculum. It contains 48 weeks of material, starting in September and continuing throughout the year, but you can jump into the curriculum at any point during the year.
The book is completely self-contained, housing all the information you need to make nature study a part of your family’s routine. It would work for both those comfortable in nature and those new to nature exploration.
If you love nature, too, here are some related articles and resources:
- The Best Nature Journaling Books for Creativity and Inspiration
- How to Make Homeschool Nature Study Incredibly Fun
- 5 + Nature Games for Your Homeschool
- Exploring Nature with Children
4. Around the World Stories
Around the World Stories is one of my favorite go-to learning resources.
Let’s face it: raising globally-minded children can be a challenge. Very few of us are able to travel the world with our children in tow, immersing ourselves in various cultures. I wish I could, but it is just not possible right now.
Around the World Stories meshes so perfectly with our homeschool lifestyle and homeschool rhythm. I have been using these stories in conjunction with Jamie C. Martin’s book, Give Your Child the World and Pin It Maps– geography has been a blast!
And, for those who love art, Around the World Stories also has an Artists Around the World story pack.
Here are some posts I’ve written about this fantastic homeschool resource:
- 5 Ways We are Using Around the World Stories
- Artists Around the World: A New Series from Around the World Stories
5. Seesaw
Seesaw is a free app that helps you to create digital portfolios. It is super easy to use, so easy that kids can use it immediately.
In fact, Seesaw encourages children to participate in the development of their digital portfolios. My kids love to add videos, artwork, experiments, piano performances, and more.
Moreover, Seesaw is completely private. You do not have to share it with anyone other than your evaluator. If you wish, you can choose to invite people via email (grandparents, for example), but you get to choose.
Read more here:
Would you like to read more about our family’s favorite resources and curriculum?
- Gameschooling 101: How to Homeschool with Fantastic Educational Games
- Our Curriculum and Homeschool Routine
- Gifted Homeschool Curriculum: 2nd, 3rd, and 5th grade
- 2017-2018 Gifted Homeschool Curriculum
- 2016-2017 Gifted Homeschool Curriculum
- 2015-2016 Gifted Homeschool Curriculum
Want to add more JOY to your homeschool routine?
Do you want to see our homeschool in action?
Be sure to follow My Little Poppies because we share snapshots of our homeschool day… and all of our favorite resources!
Do you love to homeschool with books?
You are invited to join the {Virtual} Family Book Club at My Little Poppies, a private Facebook Group for parents who love to read fantastic books to their children… and chat about them!
Do you love to homeschool with games?
You are also invited to join the My Little Poppies Gameschool Community, a private Facebook Group for parents who wish to add more play to their family and/or homeschool routine.
My girls are 14 and nearly 6 – quite a difference! The audible books that they have both enjoyed are the Ramona Quimby Audio Collection, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz narrated by Anne Hathaway, and Charlotte’s Web narrated by EB White. Those were all new experiences for my younger child while my older daughter got to re-visit some old favorites. I think Audible is worth it simply because there is no bickering when we are listening! It is my sanity saver when they are sitting next to each other in the back seat!
These are so great! You always have such great suggestions. Right now, our best homeschool resource is Amazon Prime Video. We have access to tons of videos and documentaries that we wouldn’t get elsewhere. It was something we stumbled upon when my husband got Prime and learned he could connect it to our tv. Awesome stuff!
Our favorite resources so far are the grammar island and paragraph town books from MCT. They make us laugh while learning something new. But we also learned about CuriosityStream from you and enjoy that as well…so thanks for that! As for our favorite audio book it would have to be the phantom tollbooth! Thanks for all that you do!
We really enjoyed the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory audio book. Our go-to homeschooling resources are the Sparkle Stories podcast (especially Martin & Sylvia) and Art For Kids Hub on YouTube. The drawing lessons are awesome and very well taught.