Homeschooling Resources and Recommendations

I recently spoke at the first Santa Cruz Un-Conference and thought every homeschooling family could benefit from the resources I shared; homeschooling books of inspiration, learning styles, homeschool methods including unschooling and TJed,  math games, reading games, online resources for educational videos, free homeschool curriculum, online learning games, audio books, and even some local resources for my nearby homeschooling families. Much of this is especially useful for beginning homeschoolers.

I hope you find at least some of this helpful.

Here is a list of home school resources and recommendations

Deschooling Gently

by Tami
Takahashi

The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World As Your Child’s Classroom

by Mary Griffith

Carschooling: Over 350 Entertaining Games & Activities to Turn Travel Time Into Learning Time – For Kids Ages 4 to 17

by Diane Flynn Keith

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Prepared for Life

by Peter Gray

Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

by John
Ghatto

Thomas Jefferson Education
by Oliver DeMille

Games for Math

by Peggy Kaye

Family Math

by Jean Kerr
Stenmark

Games for Reading

by Peggy
Kaye

The Story of the World History for the Classical Child

by
Susan Wise Bauer

Online resources:

List of Education videos on
Netflix http://edexcellence.net/introducing-netflix-academy-the-best-educational-videos-available-for-streaming

Learning for free:

List of free websites that
teach: https://www.bluemanoreducation.com/pages/Websites_that_TEACH

Free curriculum online: http://homeschoolfreestuff.wordpress.com/

Free learning games online:
http://www.gcflearnfree.org

Free learning games
online: http://powermylearning.org/

Free curriculum: http://www.homeschoolfreeb.com/

Ted Talks: http://www.ted.com/talks/browse

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ there are tons of educational “channels”

Audio Books- Libravox https://librivox.org/

 

Fun ways to learn

Make it relevant &
meaningful. Hands on if possible, allow/incorporate movement. Show/explain why
it’s important to know. If you can’t, don’t bother with it.

Field trips- library, homeschool days at museums, nature walks, beach explore, hikes, historical landmarks

Board games & other
games

Group fun- book clubs, art
class, get a group together to work on a project or learn a subject .

Read constantly, Libravox,
library audio books

Video games- Reading Eggs, Teach Your Monster to Read, Minecraft, BrainPop

Videos, documentaries,
Netflix, YouTube, Library

Let child choose how to
reaching goals- ie, reading- how do you want to practice reading today? We can read
signs, read a map, an early readers books, write a pen pal letter, “activity” books (I
try not to call them workbooks)

Math- cooking, measure
jumps off a swing or how far a paper rocket can go, add/subtract/divide snacks

Unit studies on subject
the child is interested in

Library “read-to-me” bags

Local (Santa Cruz, CA) 
Local Museums: www.santacruzca.org/media/pdf/SCZ-Brochure-Media-Hi-Res.pdf
Local field trips: http://www.sandytoescreations.com/2012/05/local-treasures-great-fields-trips.html

Santa Cruz Public Library:
http://www.santacruzpl.org/ also see their Discover & Go program for free
tickets to museums and more

Inspiration & local happenings:

Sandy Toes Creations Blog http://www.sandytoescreations.com 

Sandy Toes Creations FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/sandytoescreations

Homecruzers FB Page:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/HomeCruzers/

Discovery Learning Center website:  http://www.dlcsantacruz.org/

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