Recent finds

Best online dictionary for kids: WordCentral.com

Best all-inclusive Social Studies curriculum: Heritage Studies by BJU Press. This curriculum includes Geography, Economics, Government, American History, World History, and Culture, so you don't have to worry about finding a separate curriculum for each. Available for grades 1-12.

Best states & capitals games online:

• SheppardSoftware.com - a range of difficulty levels and different styles of games. The most challenging states/capitals games here challenges you to choose the correct capital for a given state from the entire list of 50 displayed capitals - surprisingly very difficult. There are also many more geography-related games and resources on this website.
• YourChildLearns.com - this states/capitals game gives you a capital which you must drag onto the correct unlabeled state - very challenging. This website also has many other geography puzzles and games, which can be found here.
  
• KidsGeo.com - this is a nice multiple choice option which shows you a given state, and asks you to choose the correct capital from 4 options. Again, many more geography games and resources are on this website, and worth looking at.
  

Sylvan workbooks - vocab and spelling

I recently discovered Sylvan's line of workbooks, while looking for a new vocabulary workbook. The vocab workbook we had was super simple and streamlined - A Word A Day. I figured it would be easiest to cover vocab that way, since a) ds9 had a fairly good vocabulary to begin with, and b) we had so much else on our homeschool plate. But my theory backfired. Our vocab book was SO simple and SO streamlined, that ds9 found the new vocabulary words completely uninteresting, and thus had difficulty retaining what he had learned. Knowing my ds9, I should have known. :) Then I found Sylvan's vocabulary workbook. The word lessons are not only very well-organized by categories that obviously should be learned together, but the workbook is just CHOC FULL of games and puzzles and challenges that are interesting, exciting, and truly creative. Vocab has gone from one of ds9's best subjects, to one of his worst, to one of his most favorite subjects - and he no longer is having any trouble retaining the new words he's learning - AT ALL. And even though it's a regular workbook with pages for ds9 to complete, it's taking hardly any time out of our homeschool day - one page a day is all it takes (would only take a page every OTHER day had we started at the beginning of the year, even!), and he whips through them like they're CANDY. :D

This got me thinking... What ELSE does Sylvan have up its' sleeve? Turns out, they also have workbooks in their same very fun yet very logical approach, in the subjects of Math (K-5), Reading Skills for 2nd grade and below, Reading Comprehension for 3rd grade and up, and Spelling (1-4). While the math and reading books appear to be really neat, I think I'm still happier with the Math and English workbooks we're using by Bob Jones University Press. However, Sylvan's Spelling workbook has caught my eye, and I just might give that a try next year. It meets and masters all 3 of my criteria in a Spelling curriculum: 1) the words are sorted by similar spelling types or tactics - *check*, 2) there's emphasis on spelling rules and tips/tricks to make spelling easier - *check*, 3) there's fun (super fun!) games and puzzles and challenges to hold ds9's interest and aid in retention - *check*! I'm gonna have a hard time choosing between Sylvan's Spelling, BJU's Spelling, and Purposeful Design's Spelling next year. Ultimately, I'll probably let ds9 pick - whichever he thinks is "funnest" based on the sample pages. We'll see. :)

Critical and Creative Thinking Activities

One area that ds9 and I and much of our extended family is weak in is "critical thinking". What IS critical thinking? Well, Wikipedia has a fairly comprehensible generalization of it. "Critical thinking clarifies goals, examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, accomplishes actions, and assesses conclusions." Basically, it is active thinking - as if interacting with the problem in one's mind. But more than that, it is the skill of actively deciding HOW to think - that is, deciding how to look at or approach a given problem.

There are countless examples of educational exercises which require critical thinking. Story problems, analogies, riddles, visual puzzles, code breaking, and so, so much more. And there are tons of workbooks out there with activities designed to help kids develop these thinking skills. But nearly all of these workbooks concentrates on just one area, such as thinking skills that relate to words and language, numbers and math, or geometry and visual perception skills. And very few workbooks have any exercises at all that challenge students with creative and abstract questions, requiring students to step back and actually decide how to think about the problem - which is the one area my ds9 needs the most help with. (And I know he's not alone in this!)

Evan-Moore's Critical and Creative Thinking Activities workbook is the exception to every workbook trend in this category. Not only does it have a HUGE variety of activities that exercise kids' critical thinking skills in every way imaginable, but it consistently goes about it in a way that requires kids to think outside the box a bit in order to come up with an answer. It's difficult to explain just how special and challenging these activities are - but if you sample the pages for yourself, I have no doubt you'll see what I mean. These are 3rd grade activities, and I find them challenging. Of course, that could be saying more about me than about the book... ;)

With kids like my ds9 who a little too bright for their own good and have a very black-and-white way of looking at the world around them, these types of activities are ESSENTIAL to help develop the part of their brain that is weakest, and can reap benefits to them across the board. There is no doubt in my mind that Evan-Moore's Critical and Creative Thinking Activities workbook is THE MOST VALUABLE WORKBOOK WE HAVE IN OUR HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM. Needless to say, I highly recommend these workbooks. :)

Note that these workbooks are available for grades 1 through 6! Yay! You can sample these books almost in their entirety on Evan-Moore's website, but cheapest prices with free shipping are always to be had on Amazon or elsewhere.

Handwriting fonts

Handwriting fonts are great for printing out your own handwriting practice sheets. For this purpose, I have researched handwriting fonts extensively - and the options are numerous. Following are the best free or cheap options, in a wide range of styles. Note: if a font is available in a lined or dotted variation, it will be displayed as such.


Print Clearly - Free - available in 3 variations here





Trace Font - Free - available here in this variation only






Jardotty - Free - available here in this variation only






AbcDN - Free - available in 6 variations here





JoinIt - $30 - 30 variations available as a complete package available here







AbcCursive - Free - 6 styles available here





Maternellecolor - Free - available in 5 variations available here, including a font of nothing but pre-writing shapes that are perfect for preschoolers








Spelling Bee - Free - available here in this variation only







And, for your reference, here is a collection of 20 fonts that are used by various handwriting workbook publishers and school systems. They are downloadable, for $50 EACH, which is a bit much. But what's useful about this page is comparing all the widely used options out there. Very handy if you're considering purchasing a handwriting workbook or curriculum.

SpellingCity and workbook options

The turkey's in the oven, dh is ahead of schedule on the food prep, and I actually have some spare time.... to tell you about SpellingCity.com! I have explored many MANY spelling websites, because when we first started homeschooling I had no idea what curriculum to use, and I was hoping I could find a website that was worked well enough that we wouldn't need to purchase a curriculum. And after trying out everything I could find, there is no doubt in my mind that SpellingCity is the best there is on the net - that is, the best there is for free or cheap, which was what I was looking for.

The website is well-designed, visually engaging for kids, and easy to navigate. The website is not cluttered up with ads, like so many others (though there are a few low-profile ads that you probably won't even notice). The primary "teaching" activity teaches one word at a time, spelling through and displaying each letter one at a time while it says the letter out loud. This method is great for kids who have a disconnect between their "eyes and ears", or have difficulty tracking the letters in a word as they sound it out. But that's not why I love it so much. What I love are the games and the customizable lists. You can enter in your own words, either individually or in batch-entry for bigger lists, and then set your child free to play several fun and effective spelling games with just those words. Your child can also do the "teach me" spelling activity with your custom words, or even take a regular test on that list. Additional noteworthy features include several sets of ready-to-go word lists for each grade level in various types of groupings, and fun games activities that quiz you on vocab and writing skills.

Because I tend to need something more tangible to guide my teaching, we opted not to use SpellingCity as a primary curriculum. We do rely on it heavily, though, for practice sessions on trouble-spot words, and for those times when I'm short on time and want to have the computer give him his test. I find consistently that ds9 retains difficult-to-spell words VERY WELL after having some time to play with those words on SpellingCity. Love it!!

So, now you want to know what primary spelling curriculum I DO use, don't you? :) Okay, here goes. There are many different approaches to spelling - literature based, spelling-vocab combo, chanting, handwriting, application through sentence writing, sequential spelling, etc. The method I decided on is phonics-based, and the two workbooks that I thought just nailed this method, were by BJU press, and Purposeful Design. With both, each word list emphasizes one main phonics group or spelling rule, and teaches helpful new info about the phonics group or rule whenever applicable. Both workbooks also incorporate a variety of fun activities designed to grow visually familiar with the words, and mentally familiar with the spelling rule or letter combos. Ultimately we picked the Purposeful Design workbook for this year, but it was a close call.

Note on spelling rules - there are MANY websites out there that provide useful info on spelling rules. If your child has a question about spelling, such as when the letter c makes a hard sound vs. a soft sound, simply do a google search for your question, and behold the wealth of information. I have not yet found a SINGLE website that comprehensively covers all the spelling rules out there - I have an easier time searching for spelling rules on an individual basis, as needed. But rest assured, if I do, I will surely let you know. :)