My Favorite Homeschool Resources (Part 1)

I thought on this s-l-o-w Saturday I would share some places that I have found that have great free or really cheap homeschool resources. Now, if you don't homeschool I don't want you to immediately dismiss this post. If you have kids, or know someone who does, these resources are great! They have so many fun things to do that just keep the learning going on and on, well after the school day or school year have ended.

Amazing Handwriting Worksheet Maker is my first favorite place. You can design, customize and print out handwriting worksheets for free. You can have them practice writing their name, a letter or word or even a phrase. They have a few different styles of handwriting to choose from as well.

Starfall a wonderful, interactive early reading/new reader resource. The girls love to play the "games" and they don't even notice that they are learning. It is a phonics-based reading program and has ABC learning, Learning to read, It's fun to read, and I'm reading sections. I love it.

BrightHub is a great place to find whole lesson plans on almost any variety of subjects. Some of them have been a little sparse and I needed to add bulk to them, but they are a great starting point and some of the lesson plans have been amazing! I haven't searched for a topic yet on here and not found at least one lesson plan.

Lapbook Lessons I love lapbooking! I was introduced to it by a wonderful lady (Hi Deanna!) and I haven't looked back. The Little House in the Big Woods lapbook is a great place to start. My girls are in love with the Little House books now and having a fun activity to go along with the book is great. Lapbooking is really nice for kids who are having a hard time concentrating on a task. Plus, when it's all done you have it for years to come to remind your student about the important points in the book. So in love with this type of homeschooling. Try it, I bet you like it :)

Nature Detectives This is a UK based website, but it has tons of ideas for outdoor exploration. You really have to go to the website and see all of the ideas that they have for yourself, because I can't do it justice by simply explaining it. Fantastic resource for making your nature walks a learning experience.

Ambleside Online Love, Love, Love this place. Charlotte Mason style learning with a HUGE resource of living books. I love that they use books that are not dumbed down for our kids. If children 50 years ago were reading these books then my kids can too. Let's not underestimate our children's ability to learn from, read and enjoy good literature. They have lesson plans and great ideas for the new, middle or seasoned homeschooler. I think this is one of my most favorite finds in terms of usefulness. This is what I had dreamed of when I wanted to homeschool and it was great to find a resource that had it all there. A great starting point if you want to see what the Charlotte Mason style is all about!

PE Central when I asked my sister (who is a health and fitness teacher for high school) where to get some ideas for fun PE activities for my girls, she turned me onto this site. I know, I know PE should be easy.....let's go outside and play! But my girls go outside and play all the time and I was looking for some structured activities that had a specific goal. I like this site because you can look up activity by age/grade and they are all there for you. Ideas that are specifically for that age group and the objectives, rules, adaptations, etc are right there as well. Great for ideas for winter/rainy day inside PE activities.

Lastly, Homeschool Freebie of the Day I have downloaded SO MANY free things off of here since I signed up for the newsletter a couple months ago. Oh my goodness. You join the email list, they send you an email Sunday afternoon and it outlines all of the freebies for that week. You go to the site on the days you are interested in and BOOM! download free resources and go on your way. There hasn't been a week yet that I haven't been interested in at least 1 or 2 things. It's amazing. They are also on Facebook if you want to check out their page there.

That's my first installment of what I love. There are so many good resources, I'm sure I haven't even scratched the surface yet. If you have a favorite site would you share?