As I've mentioned before, Jay and I home school our 5 year old daughter. There were many reasons why we chose to do so, which I will save for another post but it has been amazing so far and she is learning quite a bit. The best part is, I have yet to have to spend any type of significant amount of money on school materials and I'm going to share with you my favourite websites to get free (or nearly free) home school materials! This is even great for people with children in school because you can find material to keep your children's minds fresh over the Summer holidays. So in no particular order, here are my favourite websites for home schooling!

 

1. TeachersPayTeachers

This website is not only a great place to buy lessons but to find free ones as well. I think this has to be one of my most visited sites by far. I love that the material is made by educators all over the world and that I can browse numerous subjects to find exactly what I need. The fact that there are so many different educators sharing their ideas makes it easy to find approaches that you may not have thought about on your own.  I am actually considering designing and creating my own lessons and sharing it through the TeachersPayTeachers website.

 

2. Teach Your Monster to Read

This website is the main reason that Ouks has been reading for the last two years. It’s an interactive game where your child finds themselves helping their monster though numerous areas in search of parts of their spaceship so they can get home. Your child collects coins as they go along and can customize their monster to their liking.  They won’t even notice that they’re learning while playing this one. I love that they have certificates of completion for the different levels and the best part is it is FREE!

 

3. Free Homeschool Deals

This website covers just about everything. Free homeschool material, homeschool deals and coupons, educational apps, free and cheap kindle books, tips on affording the homeschool life, easy homeschool meals and homeschool inspiration! All of the best sources for homeschool material is rounded up and share right here all in one easy convenient spot!

 

4. Educents

This site is a great place to look for full curriculums! They have great deals and have made sure that finding whatever you need, whether by grade or subject, is simple.

 

 

So there you have it, my most frequented and favourite websites for homeschooling.
What are your favourite educational websites? Do we share any of the same?

In light of school starting in our area tomorrow, I thought I would give you a glimpse into what our plans are for our homeschooling this year. I'm not going to go into the specific materials that we will be covering just yet but I will be doing a separate post in regards to curriculum and units we will cover. I will also be attaching a free blank version of the schedule I have made.

The first thing I'd like to address is that I do not have designated times for each subject as I plan on taking it day by day and by how Ouks is feeling. I also find when I use designated times, it starts becoming stressful if we fall behind for any reason. Things start getting rushed and that means we lose quality.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Foreign Language
Geography
Spelling
Science
P.E.

We've also decided to go with a Monday to Thursday schedule and taking Friday off. Saturdays Ouks will be going to gymnastics in the morning from September to November so I thought having a break on Friday would be good for her, and it also gives me some time to work on my own stuff.

Here is a picture of the schedule I ended up designing. I had a pretty plain one designed before but I thought it would be nice to have something that was pleasant to look at.




Here's the link for the blank version of this schedule. Let me know if you end up using it and if it helps you out!
Thinking, Dreaming, Living Schedule Freebie


What's your homeschooling schedule like for this year? Be sure to leave a comment and let me know.