Children's magazines:

My dear children have loved getting magazines in the postal mail, so we've tried to make sure that what they do get is something worth reading cover to cover without a lot of advertising.

ASK (Arts and Science for Kids) published by Carus. From their website: "ASK is a kids’ magazine about science, history, and more. Written with 7- to 10-year-olds in mind, ASK magazine is about everything from dinosaurs to cathedrals, from distant stars to microbes...ASK helps kids understand how the world works and how discoveries are made--it challenges kids to explore new ideas. It introduces them to the inventors, artists, and scientists of the past and present, and to their ideas."

ZooBooks published by Wildlife Education. From their website: " Zoobooks is the kid-friendly animal magazine for children ages four to 12. From elementary to middle school and beyond, Zoobooks will teach your children to appreciate animal nature, something most children are already interested in. With Zoobooks, they can learn everything they ever wanted to know about different animals--from zoo animals to wild animals, insects, birds, reptiles, mammals, and more"

DIG published by Cobblestone Publishing Co. in cooperation with the Archaeological Institute of America. From their website: "Dig brings the excitement, mystery, wonder, and fun of archaeology, paleontology, and earth sciences to children ages 9 and older in a style that both entertains and educates its young readers... Dig lets young people share in the thrill of archaeological discovery while learning about the cultural, scientific, and architectural accomplishments of different societies. Recent developments in the field of archaeology form the magazine's core subject matter."

Your Big Backyard published by the National Wildlife Federation. This is for kids ages 3-7, and is the 'little brother' to the magazine Ranger Rick.

Educational DVD Rentals:

FamilyPass From their website: "FamilyPass online DVD rental service offers a large online library of family-friendly entertainment. Our DVD library contains thousands of entertainment, educational, and inspirational DVDs suitable for the entire family. Whether it is supplementing your children’s education, enjoying family movie night, or just wanting some spiritual inspiration we have the DVDs for you."

We've also used parts of these curriculums:

Math-U-See From their website: "The reason we study math is so we can apply what we learn in everyday situations. The students learn their math facts, rules, and formulas, and are able to use this knowledge in real life applications. The study of math is much more than committing a list of facts to memory. It includes memorization, but it also encompasses learning the concepts that are critical to problem solving."

How we use it? In the beginning, we watched the videos together, (not consistently, I must admit) and I let my boys just play with the blocks (the same as Cuisinaire rods and Base 10 blocks, but different colors), but now for my oldest, I give him the weekly test at the beginning of the week and if he answers all the problems correctly, he's free from any math work that week. If he gets things wrong, then I know he needs help understanding that particular concept and he has math work that week. This way, we avoid repetition of concepts he already understands, he's motivated to avoid careless mistakes, and I'm not rushing him through levels of math he may not be ready for.

PowerGlide From their website: "The Power-Glide Spanish Children's Course was designed for children Pre K - 3rd grade. Course activities are designed specifically with these learners in mind and include matching games, story telling, speaking, drawing, creative thinking, acting, and guessing--all things which children do for fun."

How we use it? Well, I really enjoyed it, and listened to it when we would go places. My children, on the other hand, weren't interested. I'm not sure if it was the methodology, or that they didn't want to learn another language. We're saving our pennies to try Rosetta Stone next. This is one area that I would really like for my children to learn that I didn't. I did take French classes in middle and high school, but it never was a language that was in current use in my life. My father was from Mexico, but never taught/spoke Spanish at home. I would like for my children to be multi-lingual if they can.

Alpha-Phonics by Samuel Blumenfeld From the website: "Anyone who already knows how to read can teach reading using Alpha-Phonics. It is easy to use and free of the professional jargon characteristic of so many reading instruction books. Parents who wish to teach their children to read at home will find Alpha-Phonics particularly useful, as it does not have a classroom format which would need to be adapted for home-school use."

How we used it? We bought this program back when it still had cassette tapes to accompany the book, so we listened to the tapes and read the book at the same time. Again, I must admit that we were not entirely consistent in our schedule, but we did make it through the first half of the book. By that time, though, my oldest was reading independently and sounding out words he didn't know, so we stopped using the Alpha-Phonics book in favor of reading real books. My second son is having trouble with phonics, so we're currently using the McGuffey's Readers to help him learn the fundamentals of reading.

McGuffey's Eclectic Readers Sold on the CBD website: "If Rev. McGuffey were teaching today, he'd still focus on godly content that promotes moral growth and a well-developed mind! Introduce your children to his 19th-century classics, which stress phonics, memorization, and progressive vocabulary building. Students begin with the alphabet and one-syllable words in the Pictorial Primer and by high school they're learning about Napoleon and Wilberforce in the Fourth Reader. Slight clarifying changes maintain the spirit of the originals."

How we use it? We read about 3 lessons a week. I read it to my younger son, he reads it back to me, and then usually he writes the first sentence out, but not always. It's been fun seeing the slightly different uses of language, such as "I am but six." (Meaning "I am only six years old.") It's brought about some interesting conversations about why we use the words and phrases we do. My older son reads his lessons daily, then writes a sentence from the story, and then tells me what is was about.

Ambleside Online This is a completely free online curriculum. From the website: "Ambleside Online [is] a free curriculum designed to be as close as possible to the curriculum that Charlotte Mason used in her own PNEU schools. Our goal is to be true to Charlotte Mason's high literary standards. Ambleside Online uses the highest quality books and costs no more than the cost of texts. The curriculum uses as many free online books as possible, and there is no cost to use this information or join the support group."

How we use it? The book list alone can be overwhelming, but it is chock full of wonderful literature. We are a family of bibliophiles, so most of these books are owned by at least by one extension of our family. We gather them up and read together as a family. We don't have a certain time each day, nor do we stick to any of the sample schedules posted, but we love reading to each other and being read to. Once in a while a particular book goes over like a lead balloon with the kids, and in these rare cases, we put it down and pick up another. Most of what AO is about is the philosophy that education should be regarded "not as a shut off compartment, but as being as much a part of life as birth or growth, marriage or work; and it must leave the pupil attached to the world at many points of contact."

The Core Knowledge Series Sold on Amazon.com: "With its comprehensive curriculum providing a sound basis in the fundamentals of math, art, history, language arts, science, and technology, the phenomenally successful Core Knowledge series has become an esteemed tool for parents and teachers striving to better educate today's children."

How we use it? This is really only a reference for me, I don't use it with my children. It helps me to formulate the education plan I must give to the schools each year, as well as helping me with translating our lives into 'educationalese' for reporting at the end of the school year. I find it rather funny that although I don't use these books as schedules, plan books, or textbooks as they are intended, I find them to be very useful. As my husband has said "These are great atlases rather than road maps." For the bulk of the school year, they sit on my shelf collecting dust, but twice a year, they are an immense help. Incidentally, they're also useful for explaining to curious family and friends what we do in a language that those who are used to 'school life' can relate to.

This is only a very small list of what is available out there for homeschoolers looking for educational materials; there are whole methodologies that I haven't even touched on here. If you click on any of the other state blogs listed to the right on this page, you will probably find lists of other materials that other homeschoolers use in their educational journeys. There is also a new curriculum store on The Old Schoolhouse website. I'm sure the store will be growing as time passes on, but it's a good starting point now.