Michael Olaf Publications
Free etext downloads of Michael Olaf’s The Joyful Child (birth-3), and Child of the World(ages 3-12+) are used as parent and teacher manuals, and as accessible introductions to Montessori philosophy.

Montessori for Everyone
As a Montessori teacher, I know that a prepared environment filled with high-quality, beautiful materials produces children who are curious, independent learners.

Montessori Reading
A series of books that introduce phonetic letter sounds, phonogram combinations, reading simple sentences, and reading and writing words that name everyday objects. A teaching guide and a child’s journal are included.

Montessori Services
Our expanding collection remains true to Dr. Montessori’s vision of transformational education, offering hundreds of Practical Life items and more-choices that will help you nurture your children as they grow and flourish.

My Montessori House
These beautifully-animated cartoons combine Montessori reading and math instruction with classical music and instrumental sounds, providing young minds with ideal instruction at their own pace.

ShillerMath
A learning kit with activities, sensory components and guidebooks, inspired by Maria Montessori.

Trust Tutoring
Commercial site featuring Evaluation of Basic Skills: A standardized test of reading, writing and math skills for ages 3-18 for those wishing to apply Montessori principles to basic skill development.

See also: Montessori Homeschooling

The post Montessori Homeschooling Materials appeared first on A2Z Homeschool – THE A-to-Z of Homeschooling.

What is “Curriculum?” It is not just a set of books, but a plan for achieving the goals you and your children set forth. Here are essays that will help you with choosing curriculum for homeschooling.

What is the best homeschool curriculum?
I get this question so often and without any supporting information that I thought I’d post an analogy.

Funderstanding
This company advises other companies about trends in children’s learning. They even have a website where they can “watch” kids try out new online programs. If you want to get an idea about how modern curriculum is created, this site can give you some eye openers! Now includes information on AI learning.

A Textbook Example of What’s Wrong with Education
Every time a friend with kids in school tells me textbooks are too generic, I think back to that moment. “Who writes these things?” people ask me. I have to tell them, without a hint of irony, “No one.” It’s symptomatic of the whole muddled mess that is the $4.3 billion textbook business. By Tamim Ansary

Advice on Where to Purchase

Big Chains, Big Savings?
Okay, I’m biased. As a small independent bookseller, I don’t like what the big chains are doing to the bookselling business, but at least they save you money . . . don’t they? The Family Unschoolers Network.

Buying Used Curriculum
If you would like to know more “behind the scenes” of the homeschool authors and suppliers that are serving you and making these products available to you, there are three articles right here. By Barb Shelton.

Why Don’t You Discount?
If you find a company [or author ] you really believe in, a company that has ministered to you and met your needs, a company you think fills a unique “niche” in the home schooling market, a company you would like to see grow and flourish, then buy from them. By Chris and Ellyn Davis of The Elijah Company.

Assessment

Figuring out where your child is at helps avoid tears for starting too hard or boredom for starting too easy. It also helps you determine your child’s learning style.

Assets 4 Learning
Teach to your child’s strengths. He’s intelligent in his own way. She has a style of her own.

Learning
Understand how learning happens.

Math Assessment
Ways to find out just what your child has mastered in math and what math to do next.

Reading Level Assessments
Two assessments to help you figure out the reading level of your child. Explanation of the RL code on books.

Build in Flexibility

Homeschooling has the big advantage of being able to quickly work around bottlenecks.

Curriculum To Unschooling
AN A TO Z ARTICLE
From off-the-shelf to creating your own, to letting your child lead the way.

How to Create More Dynamic Learning Environments
Dynamic learning environments are more active and engaging for students than the traditional, factory-era model in which students sit facing the front of the classroom while the teacher speaks. They are more likely to help students learn key 21st-century skills that are necessary for success in the workplace today, such as communication, collaboration, innovation, critical thinking, and creativity—and they can lead to better academic outcomes as well. By School Specialty

Advice on What to Purchase

Words of advice from a wide variety of experienced homeschool parents.

Choosing The Right Homeschooling Teaching Material
There are plenty of resources available that can help lead concerned parents to the appropriate teaching materials and methods that work best for their family. By David Dunlap.

Conference Conundrum
AN A TO Z ARTICLE
One way to view curriculum before you buy is to attend a homeschooling conference, convention or curriculum fair.

Don’t buy a curriculum -Do this first!
Curriculum can throw off your child’s learning by making her believe that the way you are teaching her is the way she should learn. In other words, it’s the same paradigm of school, a learning box the child must fit in.

Getting Started With Choosing A Homeschool Curriculum
Five questions to ask yourself before you choose a homeschool curriculum.

The Great American Textbook Scandal
Why you probably won’t want to buy a science text book used in schools. Use hands-on or primary sources instead.

How to Choose the Best Homeschool Curriculum
Many homeschool parents start with the question, “What’s the best homeschool curriculum?” A more productive question is, “What homeschool curriculum is the best fit?” The Homeschool Mom.

One Stop Shopping, or Eclectic Education?
The homeschool shopping season has begun. Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you select materials. From Kathryn Stout of Design-A-Study.

The Relevance of Materials and Classes to Real Learning
It’s so hard to let go of the notion that children need to be led through all that stuff in order to learn what it has to teach.

So you’ve decided to homeschool
Karen Gibson reminds new homeschoolers to take it slow, to do your research. Note that Karen is from Alabama where one must have a cover school. This is not true in most other places.

Step 6: Managing Materials
As tempting as it is to jump right in and start scouring the suppliers’ catalogs, if you don’t know what you are looking for, you may never find it. Laying the groundwork for a curriculum search may take you more time now — but save you time and money later!

What curriculum should I choose?
The choice of a curriculum is based on your educational philosophy and the learning styles and developmental stages of each child.

The post Help Choosing Homeschooling Study Material appeared first on A2Z Homeschool – THE A-to-Z of Homeschooling.

Free Homeschooling Curriculum Materials
ThisA2Z page has internet locations for ordering physical materials, curriculum and supplies. Get homeschooling and educational supplies for less.

Apple Education Community
Need a quick lesson idea that you can use with your students tomorrow, or new ways to take your own ideas further? Get started with these great resources.

Discovery School Lesson Plans
Find hundreds of original lesson plans, all written by teachers for teachers. Use the pull-down menus below to browse by subject, grade, or both. Also lesson plans to support Assignment Discovery and TLC Elementary School programming.

EdHelper.com
Worksheets – Teacher’s Lesson Plans – WebQuests – Primary Teacher Resources – Math – Writing – Reading – Science – Technologys – Social Studies.

EdSitement
From the National Endowment for the Humanities. Lessons and units for art and culture, literature and language arts, foreign language, and history and social studies.

Education World Lesson Plan Center
A resource for lesson plans and research materials.

Educational Resources and Lesson Plans
Over 1000 links to lesson plans and other resources of potential use to homeschoolers. It also includes lesson plans and resources unique to this site.

Educator’s Reference Desk
This collection contains more than 2000 unique lesson plans which have been written and submitted to AskERIC by teachers from all over the United States.

File Folder Farm
Sets of learning games to print out and store in file folders. Topics are Pre-K through 2nd Grade.

Fresh Plans
Cross-curricular lesson plans on all sorts of fascinating topics.

Google for Educators
This website is one of the ways we’re working to bolster that support and explore how Google and educators can work together.

Homeschool Huskies and Ponies
Sets of workbooks and projects in different topics. Patches given as awards for completion.

Homeschool Launch
At this point there are several hundred files (forms, unit studies, lapbook templates, worksheets, etc) created and uploaded by various members of the site – with several more being added each week.

HomeSchooler Network: Lessons & Activities
Find innovative ideas for learning at home with our large inventory of resources and materials. Search by subject and your child’s age.

I Love That Teaching Idea!
Worksheets, reproducibles, newsletters, books, lesson plans, ideas and more.

Ideas For Homeschoolers
Marty Layne, of Victoria, BC, posts her monthly newsletter in her delightful writing style that will delight and enthral you.

iTunes U
A part of the iTunes Store featuring free lectures, language lessons, audiobooks, videos and more, that you can enjoy on your iPod, iPhone, Mac or PC. Explore over 200,000 educational audio and video files from top universities, museums and public media organizations from around the world.

K to the 8th Power
Over 600 lessons which are organized into integrated and cross-curricular lessons. The integrated lessons teach a computer skill and apply it to grade level academic content.

Layers of Learning
Layers of learning refers to the scaffolding all people need as they learn. The more we can connect ideas together ast teachers, the more meaningful the ideas become.

Learn NC
A program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education, finds the most innovative and successful practices in K-12 education and makes them available to teachers and students.

Learners Online
Each week there’s a new online lesson that takes learners on a thematic journey across cyberspace. Lessons are tied to current events and help learners extend their knowledge on a wide range of topics. Small monthly subscription.

Lesson Bank
The Teachers.Net Lesson Bank is your opportunity to share your most precious asset – your teaching ideas and lesson plans.

Lesson Plan Center
Let TeacherVision.com help you create innovative plans quickly with our large inventory of ideas and materials.

Lesson Plan Page
Far more than just a “page,” this site has plans in all typical subjects, as well as holiday units, computer science, and even PE. Add your own plans to the project.

Lesson Tutor
Free reproducible lesson plans, unit studies and print ready worksheets for all levels, all abilities and all subjects of Grade School and High School. Featured articles will give you general teaching and learning encouragement, references and support.

Thinkfinity Newest resources
Check back each Monday to see the newest lessons added to the Verizon Foundation content.

Newton’s Apple: Teacher’s Guides
A complete collection of Teacher’s Guides from season 9 through 15 is available. Mostly science lessons, though a few from other topics as well.

NY Times Lesson Plan Archive
The archive contains hundreds of free lesson plans for grades 6-12. You may perform a keyword search to retrieve a lesson, browse the archive by subject, or scroll down the page to view the most recently published lessons.

Outta Ray’s Head
A collection of lesson plans with handouts for writing, literature, poetry, and using the library, by Ray Saitz and many contributors.

PBS Teachers Source
Updated monthly. Resources so you can integrate PBS shows with your unit studies.

Praetor Education Technology
How to use open source software to develop free curriculum online. Free Java lessons for educators. Good math and science resources already developed.

Pronto Lessons
Each scripted lesson already comes with fully-inclusive content developed around a single homeschool curriculum, the hours that you would have spent putting these lessons together yourself represents time saved for you. Covers some topics in American history and science.

Read Write Think
Access to the highest quality practices and resources in reading and language arts instruction through free, Internet-based content.

Scholastic Lesson Plans & Reproducibles
Pick a grade level pre-k through 8th grade and then a topic to locate a variety of lesson plans teaching that skill.

School Express
Free weekly units, free worksheets for online and offline study, and software to download.

Smithsonian Education
Arts, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies plans.

Teach-nology
Offers teachers FREE access to lesson plans, printable worksheets, over 150,000 reviewed web sites, rubrics, educational games, teaching/ technology tips, advice from expert teachers, and more.

Teach With Movies
Through movies, introduce children to major events in history, principles of science, extraordinary people, literature, drama, dance, art, character development, and ethics. Low annual subscription rate for hundreds of movies.

Teacher Created Materials
Free monthly activities, lesson plans, and brain teasers. New each month as well as archives.

Teachers Corner
Lessons categorized by monthly and holiday or date themes, mostly for young children.

Texas Instruments Activities Exchange
Browse by subject area or submit your own activity ideas. Learn to use TI calculators to solve real-world problems.

Today is Fun
The ideas here will keep kids happy and occupied for hours on end, without you having to spend money or buy more stuff. The tips are always entertaining, often educational and developmentally appropriate.

Worksheets for Kids
Take the work and expense out of doing school at home with our VAST collection of free printable worksheets. We have over 1 million pages of free worksheets.

Youth Learn
Relevant, creative materials that can help you make good use of new technology. Look here for planning guides, teaching techniques, activities, projects, and more.

The post Lesson Plans for Free appeared first on A2Z Homeschool – THE A-to-Z of Homeschooling.

Supplies for home schools. This page has internet locations for ordering physical materials, curriculum and supplies. Get homeschooling and educational supplies for less. Free material that is available online is under the relevant page elsewhere on A to Z Home’s Cool. Use the site index or search engine above to find free online resources.

Multiple Topics

Described and Captioned Media
Provides services to benefit students who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind. Available to schools and families and are a free-loan library of described and captioned educational media and information related to accessible media. U.S. Department of Education funded.

Consumer Information Catalog
Free or nearly free booklets from the US government bookstore for learning activities, college planning, parenting concerns. Cover a huge range of subjects for families, homeschooling, bullying, colleges, distance and local school type activities.

Free Teaching Aids
Resource books, that aren’t free, which list lots of things that are available to homeschool parents as well as teachers.

Freecycle Network
Made up of many individual groups across the globe, it’s a grassroots movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is run by a local volunteer moderator (them’s good people). Membership is free.

Lesson Plans
Websites that have planning home schools can use. The structured lesson plans are helpful. Usually these have goals and objectives and meet state standards for home schools.

Animals & Pets

Bear Safety in Alaska packet
Booklet and sticker to send for, or download pdf file and print for yourself.

TeachKind
Kindness to animals. Videos, DVDs, lesson plans, worksheets all free to network members. About how to affect the kind treatment of all animals.

Arts & Crafts

Free Art Supplies, Craft Supplies and Free Craft Samples
This page has so many links to internet sites that offer free craft samples and free art supplies. Take a look at what you can easily find using a computer.

Computing

Free Color Printer from Xerox
If you are running a home business, an association or large support group, a resource center or cottage school, you may qualify. You must buy all ink through them, and report on your usage. Homeschooling is a perfect enviroment for learning the value of utilizing business resources offered to the educational community including home schools.

Free Computers for Homeschoolers
Here is a list of options that can be availed to get Free Computers for Homeschoolers.

Freebyte’s Guide to Free Computers
Free used and recycled computers, mostly for schools, non-profit organizations and disadvantaged individuals.

Health & Safety

FEMA Publications
You can order printed copies of materials related to individual and community preparedness through the FEMA warehouse using our online ordering tool.

Safe Kids
Order free booklets about safety around electricity and natural gas.

Will Rogers Institute Educational Resources
Educational material on health issues for teens.

Homeschool-Specific

Tip: Many books specifically on home schooling can be found under the Dewey Decimal call numbers 371.042 and 649.68at your public library. Check with your library to see if they have a free mobile app for borrowing ebooks, audiobooks, and videos for free. My favorite is Libby.

101 Ways to Save Money on Homeschooling
This free e-book by Carletta Sanders can help you save hundreds of dollars by showing you what to buy, where to buy it, where to find freebies, how to have fun on a budget, and how to earn income from home.

Math, economics, journalism

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Free curriculum about money, monetary policy, banking supervision, financial services, and more for elementary through high school students.

The post Free Homeschooling Curriculum Materials appeared first on A2Z Homeschool – THE A-to-Z of Homeschooling.