Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Favorite Homeschool Curriculum and Resources of 2020

text: Favorite homeschool curriculum and resources of 2020; background blue/gray; A Mom's Quest to Teach logo

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We had the privilege of reviewing many different homeschool curriculum and resources during this past year while being members of the Homeschool Review Crew. One of the traditions of the Homeschool Review Crew is to select their favorites and award them a Blue Ribbon for such topics as favorite math curriculum, favorite science resource, or favorite elective. While our family has not reviewed every product and vendor that was reviewed by Crew members this year, we did review quite a few and selected our favorites. 

Language Arts-Related Favorites 

There were many awesome language arts resources reviewed by Crew members this year that we also count as our favorites, including: 

Reading Eggs – Both our younger children love working through the various parts of Reading Eggs such as Math Seeds and Reading Eggspress. They have enjoyed the addition of Fast Phonics, as well. Even though we did not write a review of Reading Eggs this year, it is no surprise that it was chosen for more than one Blue Ribbon by Crew members. 

The Boxcar Children Early Reader Set – With reviewing this early reader set perfect for younger children – we were introduced to the Boxcar Children series. We have since purchased one set of the books and checked out several more from our library to read. I love that the stories are simple and easy to read aloud. 

Text: Favorite Homeschool Curriculum and Resources of 2020; language arts, mathematics, history, and more!


Mathematics-Related Favorites 

It was very easy for our two younger children to pick their favorite math curriculum/resource. They both agree that they love CTCMath. In fact, our daughter asks to work on her CTCMath on a daily basis (although she does add in an extra TC to the name). In addition to the complete online math curriculum of CTCMath, our youngest also said that she loved working on the materials from Page A Day Math,    which made me very happy as practicing math facts to work on math fluency is important. 

craft of windmill in Holland with three tulips
One of the projects from Let's Go Geography


History-Related Favorites 

As a history major and former history teacher, I love it when the Crew reviews history-related curriculum and resources. We started the year off reviewing SchoolhouseTeachers.com and then reviewing Let's Go Geography, which was a wonderful addition to our homeschool year. Then, we spent time reading about C.S. Lewis and his place in history, learning about elections, then the American Civil War with Home School in the Woods, and finally spending time with a family favorite – Drive Thru History®. 

Let's Go Geography – While our second grader has spent the majority of the time completing the lessons of Let's Go Geography, his sister was able to join in all of the different fun crafts. I really like the fact that both our children can work together on this geography homeschool curriculum. 

Home School in the Woods – We have used a number of resources from this great company over the years. I love how they truly bring history to life for those using these homeschooling resources. For example, they provide period crafts and recipes in addition to readings and projects to complete. 


General Homeschool Resources 

There were also a number of wonderful resources that were reviewed by Crew members that I found to be valuable additions to our own homeschool this year. About the time that I joined the Crew Admin team, we received a subscription to Super Teacher Worksheets and then My Teaching Library. I have been incorporating materials from both these sites into our younger children's homeschool day on a regular basis ever since. 

Super Teachers Worksheets – From seasonal worksheets to grammar and mathematics, there are so many useful resources for our homeschool at Super Teachers Worksheets. We have incorporated mostly grammar into our second grader's homeschool day along with some fun coloring sheets for our kindergartner. I love the ability to search for items easily with their menus. 

My Teaching Library – I have been able to find so many great resources to use with all three of our children, from a study on Beowulf, which our senior read at the beginning of this year, to monthly skills workbooks that I am using with our two younger children. I love that I can find seasonal worksheets to include in their homeschool day. It makes our weeks fun and exciting. 

Halloween and Fall-themed worksheets from My Teaching Library
A few of the worksheets from My Teaching Library


Complete Curriculum 

There were several products that really stood out for our family in terms of complete curriculum. We were chosen to review My Father's World: God's Creation from A to Z  as well as Focus on Fives from BJU Press Homeschool with our kindergartner. Both these curriculum have really helped our daughter blossom and develop a love of learning. And for our younger son, I have been using materials from Homeschool Easy for grammar and mathematics, but they have a complete curriculum for grades 1 to 5 with reading, social studies, science, and writing. 

God's Creation from A to Z – We were blessed with being able to review the complete kindergarten curriculum from My Father's World. This meant we added a great number of children's books to our homeschool library, as well as were able to incorporate important religious instruction into our homeschool day. I am eagerly awaiting starting the Christmas unit after Thanksgiving – it looks like so much fun! 

Focus on Fives – This has been such a fun curriculum to use in our homeschool. I love how we have been able to incorporate the holiday-themed lessons from the last Teachers' Guide – such as the one on Easter and now Thanksgiving – into our homeschool day. And our daughter loves her 'bunny homeschooling.' 

Other Favorites 

There were several other family favorites that I must simply mention. From fun games to learning a new language, we have added a lot of cool resources into our homeschool day. 

Geography and mathematics have been studied in our homeschool, courtesy of two fun games from Byron's Games. Our entire family has enjoyed playing both Continent Race and Math Sprint this year. I love that we have two more board games that we can play – and they are educational, too!

Memoria Press – I have been circling the Prima Latina in the Memoria Press catalog ever since we started homeschooling. I really wanted to learn Latin alongside our younger children (our oldest took French in high school, like I did). So, I was very excited when we were given the chance to review the complete set! I love the organization of Prima Latina. It has been an excellent addition to our homeschool journey. 

Continent Race board game box - front and back of box


A Fun Homeschool Year 

With all the bumps of 2020, we have been blessed with many great homeschool products to review in our home. The companies have been very gracious to share their wonderful resources with the Homeschool Review Crew, so we could review them and share our thoughts and opinions with you. I know that over the course of the past two years of being a Crew member, I have found several companies that I will be patronizing in the years to come. 

If you are curious about who was awarded Blue Ribbons by the Homeschool Review Crew, I urge you to visit their post. While you are there, don't forget to check out the other Crew's posts as they share their personal favorites from this homeschool year.

2020 Blue Ribbon Awards click through logo from Homeschool Review Crew


8 comments:

  1. Definitely lots of great products from lots of great vendors. We had several favorites in common between our families and I enjoyed reading what y'all chose.

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    1. Thank you for reading. There were so many great vendors this year.

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  2. I love seeing other curriculum! I’m a mega school nerd.

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    1. Right? I love looking through curriculum catalogs, pinning ideas, and seeing what people are using on their blogs and Instagram.

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  3. I would love to try My Teaching Library to enrich our homeschool and provide fun supplemental material!

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    1. I am so glad we have access to it - I think it is well worth the price, too. She adds to the content on a regular basis.

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  4. This seems wonderful. Ive never heard of the homeschool review crew, do they normally focus on religious curriculum or a good mix of secular and religious?
    Thank you for sharing.

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    1. I would say the majority of the products reviewed are of a religious nature however there are exceptions - like the board games or books by Carole P. Roman we reviewed this year and last year.

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