One of the questions I get asked the most in regards to homeschool is–“what curriculum do you use?” This question comes right after–“Why does your family homeschool?” Since that question would take far too long to answer (I touch on it briefly in a post from last year) today I’ll sort of answer the first one. I say “sort of” because currently we’re not using a particular curriculum. Since my children attend on-site support classes for some subjects I support the teacher’s curriculum at home for those topics. So to support what they’re learning on site I mostly rely on workbooks and websites based on the topics they’re studying. Today I’m going to share some of our favorite workbooks for our homeschool days, because all workbooks are not created equal. This post is in collaboration with TinkerActive and Moms Meet. Some links contain affiliates, all opinions are my own.
where to buy workbooks
Sure, that dollar store workbook might be a good deal, but it might not actually be age appropriate for the grade it indicates. But don’t be fooled into thinking that you need to go to a specialty teacher supply store to find a quality book either. Oftentimes you can find great homeschool workbooks if you just spend an extra minute to look through them.
I try to find workbooks that will really help them learn and not just be “busy work”. Take a flip through any book you’re looking at and think to yourself–“Is this really helping to reinforce a concept? Is this showing them a different perspective? Could I easily replicate something like this with a paper and pen?” Some of my favorite places for buying workbooks are:
- Costco
- Amazon
- Walmart
best homeschool workbooks
For science and social studies especially I find that my children learn best from hands on projects and field trips. This year they will be taking a Science class on-site but we’ll be covering Social Studies at home. I’ve already planned out monthly field trips for different Social Studies topics and I’m so excited to get started. When it comes to supporting their ELA and Math studies though I mostly rely on homeschool workbooks.
TinkerActive
I just recently learned about TinkerActive but since then I feel like I’ve seen them everywhere (you can find them wherever books are sold). Remember when I said that I prefer hands-on learning activities for my kids? Well, TinkerActive combines the simplicity of workbook pages with tactile learning for a totally unique experience!
These books are organized into chapters which include curriculum-based activities to encourage them to literally tinker and use the concepts they just learned to solve problems hands-on. I love the layout of the books and wish that they went past second grade! (Currently TinkerActive workbooks cover Math, ELA, and Science for Kindergarten through second grade).
Explode the Code
We’ve been using Explode the Code since my oldest was in Kindergarten. Well, technically for that age it’s called Get Ready for the Code. The Explode the Code series only covers ELA and is simple phonics. The pages are simple for your kids to complete but help reinforce simple phonics and concepts taught.
Kumon: Summer Review and Prep
These books were suggested to me at the end of last year by one of their on-site teachers and they were so helpful this Summer! There are 45 days worth of review lessons, two pages per day (one for Math and one for ELA). It was something small and simple for them to do each day to keep learning during the Summer. And it was really easy to bring it along with us in the car on all of our trips!
Brain Quest
I really like the BrainQuest books for younger kids. The simple pages and bright illustrations are fun for little ones to complete. Their workbooks are also neatly organized so it’s easy to find the subject and topic you’re looking for. You can often find these workbooks are Costco.