homeschooling on a shoestring

I have preached to several people who are just starting out homeschooling with their little ones do not buy a full curriculum. In my humble opinion, I think it is a waste of money. I do think a good phonics program goes a long way. Other than that, all you need is a library and some creative juices. Oh and I relied heavily on the internet. I still do, for worksheets, exploration sites, games, and ideas. So, I wanted to share a few of the internet sites that I have used over the years. Some of them have membership fees or are not free, but if you are going to use them regularly it is worth the fee, to be able to print off worksheets, lesson plans and the like.

Enchanted Learning has tons of printables for Pre-K through 3rd grade. I used them extensively during those years with Chance and Michaela. 

Homeschool Math the place to find homeschool math worksheets through the 4th grade. I have used them off and on. 

Bigbrainz has a really fun multiplication game... and they have a free trial. We have only used the free trial version and the kids love it. 

Garden of Praise I just found this site and will use it extensively next year with the kids. My oh my, what a wealth of great information to use. Check out the artists page, we are going to be using it and the biography pages as well, amongst other things. 

Homeschool Share lapbooks, unit studies, and more lapbooks all for free!

CurrClick This site has tons of things to use as well. Lapbooks, unit studies, handwriting pages, journaling pages. It is not a free site, but if you set up an account and then sign up for their news letters you will receive offers free items monthly. I just downloaded 18 free items today :)

Free classic Audiobooks just what it says free classic audiobooks to listen too. 

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.. free as well.

This is just a small sampling of sites I have used or will use. The internet can be a huge resource in your schooling. I literally have thousands of sites in my folders, all organized for next year. When you are searching out things do not forget about popular sites like Discovery Channel for Kids, National Geographic for Kids, and Scholastic (you can use the teacher information found on scholastic.) Also remember that many federal site have kids web pages too like National Agricultural Kids Page, National Parks Service, or The Library of Congress. Also, do not forget about city sights. Look at the great sites I found for The New York Philharmonic and the San Fransisco Symphony.

Be creative and have fun- Lisa