I thought I'd share some of my favorite resources and materials I use for our cottage school/home school.  (I teach my own three boys and a handful of others at the church everyday.)  My own children have learning issues.  My twins have autism and are developmentally delayed by about three years.  So I am very much into modifying and adapating things for them and for my other special needs students.  I have students who have ADHD, MR and other emotional problems that keep them out of a typical classroom. 

We study in a one-room-school environment, are classical/Charlotte Mason/Trivium in our approach and philosophy and it is very easy to teach multiple grade levels using all the following materials.  I have students from Preschool through 10th grade.  Here is what we do and use!

1.  Nature notebooking.  We do a lot of nature walking and studying what we find and draw, etc.  Every student has a blank sketch pad at the beginning of the year and we fill it up!  I glue a big envelope to the back inside cover for them to put their finds in and study them when we get back (things such as leaves, twigs, nuts, etc.)  They also have bug boxes  that I got at the dollar store.  These have little magnifying windows in them to look through.

2.  Grapevine Bible Studies

3.  Math U See

4.  Art of Eloquence

5.  I have used so many different things I love for for English and language.  Spelling Power,

Daily Grams,

and Writing Strands,

and this year I'm going to use Institute of Excellence in Writing.

6.  Fallacy Detective (for logic).  (http://triviumpursuit.com)

7.  English from the Roots Up; Rummy Roots.
8.  Hey Andrew!  Teach me Some Greek! (http://greeknstuff.com)

and Latin

9.  Greek Alphabeterian and Huppogrammon by the Bluedorns.  (I use a lot of the Bluedorn materials, actually.  I love them all!)

10.  KONOS -- I love this program.  I have taught it all in the past, but for now I use their ideas but do not follow the curriculum completely.

11.  Empty notebooks for journaling daily.  Sometimes I give a topic and sometimes I don't.  Sometimes I give an opening sentence.

12.  Empty notebooks for copying quotes from great writers and thinkers and for dictation.

13.  I use the SAT vocab list that you can get on to practice vocab.

14.  Thomas Kinkaid's art currciulum from Alpha Omega publications.

15.  Suzuki violin method.

16.  Mystery of History; Timelines; History of the Ages; Notebooking pages (I just ordered an ebook full of great templates), History Scribe (love this program -- my kids wrote their own history text books last year), and I use Story of the World by Susan Bauer as an extra resource.

17.  Christian Kids Explore Biology from Bright Ideas Press.  This is a really fun program.  My kids loved it.

(I pretty much design my own science and history program from "real" books.  For 10th grade this year I think we might look into Switched On School House.  I haven't decided yet!)

18.  Doorposts -- all their stuff is wonderful.

19.  I like everything and anything from Bright Minds.

20.  Hold that Thought products -- we are going to use their ancient history cut outs this year and their world timeline book is so reasonably price for this year's timeline.

21.  I read out loud a LOT.  I read out loud several hours a day-- usually out of two different books.   We usually read the classics.  I haven't chosen my classics for this year.  What do you recommend for a read aloud for ancient history?  (Historical fiction.)  The Henty books are awesome, and since I have mostly boys in my cottage school, they work out wonderfully.  I also like Nancy Rue's books but they are out of print now. 

We love the Thornton W. Burgess books for nature and Gene Stratton Porter's books are also my favorites for nature studies here in Indiana since this is where she lived.  I actually live not very far from where she grew up.  We go to the state forest a lot and the kids love imagining they are in the Limberlost.

I want to be able to afford to give my kids cameras they can use that take good pictures.  I think that's such a great way to notice details around you.

These are just a few of my favorites. I have so many!

 

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Posted by mamma1420

into someone else's homeschool! I think your children are going to have a lot of fun and you too!
Read alouds for Ancients:
Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide by Broida
The Story of the Greeks by Guerber, H. A.
The Story of the Romans by "
The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt by Payne
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Lasky
Tutankhamen's Gift by Sabuda
The Odyssey by McCaughrean
Black Ships before Troy by Sutcliffe
Pandora by Burleigh
Favorite Greek Myths by Osborne
The Five Chinese Brothers by Bishop

Hope that helps! Blessings,
Jessica

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Posted by hskubes

We enjoy using the Bluedorn's books, too.
We just finished their Greek this past year and are still working through The Fallacy Detective. We also are using I.E.W.
We will be using the Burgess' Books this year AND I noticed that you mentioned the Gene Stratton Porter's books. We will be reading aloud "Girl of the Limberlost" and "Freckles" this year.
And thank you for sharing the History Scribe link. It looks very interesting.
I've enjoyed visiting your blog... and I love the screen name! I have a love for books, too!
Have a great week!

~ Christina
HsKubes HomeSchool Haven
HsKubes Haven for Home
Christian Military HomeSchool Mamas

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Posted by

Those are great resources, but so many! Do you plan to use a bit here and there or will you cover most/all in entirety? I have many of those books and wish to have some of the others but we just don't have enough time to cover what I already have. Especially since we read aloud also. We also use and enjoy Bluedorn's materials but just can't keep anywhere near to any of their "suggested" schedules.
Sounds wonderful. Can I come to school with you?
I saw your name on Suzanne's list of friends and your username intrigued me so thought I'd take a look.
Melanie

Edited by imlne on Aug. 3, 2006 at 11:46 PM

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