Three Down... Thirty-Three To Go

In honor of three fairly successful weeks of homeschooling this schoolyear (and in spite of the fact that Benjamin has already lost his handwriting book) here is a meme for homeschoolers:


1) ONE HOMESCHOOLING BOOK YOU HAVE ENJOYED

I have enjoyed "The Well-Trained Mind" by Susan Wise Bauer and I used it quite a bit before I joined our homeschool co-op. It's Classical Education without the intimidation.

2) ONE RESOURCE YOU WOULDN’T BE WITHOUT

I use Tapestry of Grace to teach history at co-op, but even if I didn't have a co-op, I'd be using it as the framework for all of our history, literature, writing, geography, vocabulary, hands-on... everything except math, science and a foreign language! Although it took me a while to become comfortable with using it, I love it!

3) ONE RESOURCE YOU WISH YOU HAD NEVER BOUGHT

I have to admit, I'm pretty good at buying only what I need now, so it's been a long time since I've made a big boo-boo. Switched on Schoolhouse did not work out for us at all, and it was expensive! Fortunately, I only bought four CDs. Whew! Other things that have not worked well for us are "Spelling Workout" and the Lyric Language "French" and "German" videos. What was I thinking... I had no intention of ever teaching French or German!

4) ONE RESOURCE YOU ENJOYED LAST YEAR

History Pockets, Moving West, Grades 4-6 (History Pockets)

I love history pockets! It's probably something to do with the fact that I still love to cut and paste, but you get to make the neatest notebooks! Actually, "Moving West" is not my favorite History Pockets book, but it's the one we used last year when we were studying Pioneers.

5) ONE RESOURCE YOU WILL BE USING THIS YEAR

I never ever in my wildest dreams imagined that I would like this, but I do. It's the Homeschool Minder that allows me to keep all my homeschool records fairly painlessly. I have found it easy to use and now that I'm close to high school transcripts, I am delighted to have found something that is functional and gives me professional-looking reports. I don't use all of the available features, but I like the ones I use. I never would have tried it, but I got it free with my HSLDA registration. The downside is that you have to pay for it by the year, which I find irksome but will probably end up paying for anyhow. Yes, they sucked me in.

6) ONE RESOURCE YOU WOULD LIKE TO BUY

I have to admit, I am blessed to have a husband who allows me to get whatever I feel I need to teach. Sure, I could make a dream list that would include a school-only room, rather than the kitchen table, a new computer, more bookshelves and so on... but in reality, I am content. I have what I need this year and that is the point when I put away all the catalogs so I am not tempted to purchase more than what we need or could even use. (Frankly, I already have more stuff than I need or can even use!)

7) ONE RESOURCE YOU WISH EXISTED

Rosie the Maid from "The Jetsons".

Or self-grading papers.

8) ONE HOMESCHOOL CATALOG YOU ENJOY READING

Hands-down, Rainbow Resource. I also enjoy Veritas Press and Sonlight, though I don't order from them (please don't tell them!)

9) ONE HOMESCHOOLING WEBSITE YOU USE REGULARLY

Hmmm... it would have to be Tapestry of Grace. They have links for supplemental material for almost every subject and chapter, plus great discussion forums (which I rarely have time to visit.) When I need to buy or sell used curricula, I hang out at Vegsource.

10) YOUR TURN!