I’m so thankful to be a homeschooler in the internet era. It’s hard to imagine homeschooling without the resources, ideas and support that come from the many sites dedicated to or just available for homeschoolers to utilize.
So for my “W” post in “Blogging Through the Alphabet” I thought I would share a few of the websites that I have found most helpful (and refer to regularly) in my homeschooling journey:
1. Pinterest. Yep, most of you reading this have probably jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon already. If you haven’t (and you think you can use at least a little bit of self-control to not spend too much time there!), you should check it out. Think of it like a virtual bulletin board — you can use it to save favorite sites/pages in whatever categories you choose (and then you have a handy visual reminder of these sites you want to visit again!). You can also search or browse through “pins” that others have saved. I love following other homeschoolers and seeing what great finds they pin! I’ve found some really great ideas and useful resources here. If you are looking for more homeschoolers to follow on Pinterest, check out this link-up — Over 400 homeschoolers have listed their Pinterest url’s in this link!
2. Homeschool Classifieds. Looking to save a bit of money on curriculum by buying used? I’ve had great luck finding things I’ve been looking for here. I’ve never had any problems either buying or selling here (use common sense — it’s not like there might not be a few spammers or scammers hanging out there!), and it helps stretch my homeschool $$.
3. Homeschool Share. This site is full of free lapbooking printables. They also have unit study resources, “five in a row” resources and kindergarten kits!
4. A Book in Time. Looking for books or crafts to go along with world history or American history studies? A book in time has many resources, sorted by era.
5. ClipArtETC. This is a relatviely recent discovery for me — it’s a great source for all kinds of educational clip art. Be sure to check out their Maps site as well!
6. Books Should Be Free. There are quite a few sites dedicated to free public domain ebooks and audio books, but this one is easier to browse than some of the other sites. If the public domain book you are looking for isn’t here, check out Project Gutenberg, LibriVox (audio books), Lit2Go (audiobooks), and the Baldwin Project (online children’s literature).
7. Jimmie’s Squidoo Lenses. Jimmie has created tons of “lenses” (fancy squidoo term for a webpage filled with links and info about a certain topic) on Notebooking, Lapbooking and more. When I am looking for a lapbook on a particular topic or advice on notebooking, I find myself on one of her lenses quite frequently!
8. 1plus1plus1equals1. This site with a funny math problem for a name has some of the greatest printables for tots through Kindergarten age. Carisa has put a lot of time into creating wonderful, free tot packs, preschool packs and so much more. Following those links to her site will get you links to several other sites with free tot/preschool packs as well.
9. Paula’s Archives. While not as fancy and modern looking as some sites, Paula’s Archives is packed with useful info on living books for history and science, movies for history, tips and ideas to entertain toddlers during school time, lunch ideas and more.
10. Guest Hollow. I found a lot of inspiration from this site’s free American History curriculum as I created my history curriculum for this year. Besides two years of free American history plans, Guest Hollow features free curricula for ancient history and various science topics, as well as notebooking pages and other printables.
Those are just a few of the many sites that I have found helpful! The homeschooling community on the internet is so wonderful, and there are so many free and low-cost curricula and tools for all of us to enjoy!
Linking up with…
Homeschool Discoveries 