*this list is a work in progress!*
Here are the links to the curriculum/resources that we use. Please note that I don't use every single thing the way it was meant to be used. I use a lot of resources simply for ideas and inspiration. With many of the books, I read everything myself and then just incorporate ideas into our daily lives rather than using them for formal lessons. But I usually find lists helpful, so I hope you will, too.
Reading
Phonics Pathways: I use this for scope and sequence, plus ideas of how to make phonics more "hands-on" for my kinesthetic learner.
ReadingEggs.com: Darling loves these computer games and asks to play them every day. She loves these games so much, I let her "earn" minutes to play when she completes other lessons.
Progressive Phonics: Darling loves reading these books with me. I printed up four copies of the flashcards on cardstock, then laminated them and cut them apart to make a deck of cards for playing phonics "go fish" and various matching games.
Starfall.com: These are phonics and alphabet games that Doodlebug enjoys. The games are easier for her to do than ReadingEggs.
Various Readers: Darlings will have a a beginning reader book memorized after the second time she reads it, so I have to keep finding new readers so that she will actually practice reading, and not just repeat from memory.
Bob Books
McGuffey Readers
Harriet Taylor Treadwell Readers
Math
Singapore Math: I use the Earlybird Math for scope and sequence, but Darling is bored by worksheets, so we are keeping it more hands-on and are just using the worksheets for occasional review.
Count on Math: This book continues to be a source of inspiration. When I need to explain a concept in a Singapore Unit, I turn to this book and Family Math for the ideas of how to do it.
Family Math for Young Children: This book and Count on Math are my go-to books for how to incorporate math into every day life. The ideas also make it easy to include both Pumpkin and Doodlebug, something I can't do with worksheets and formal math lessons.
Time-Life I Love Math Series: I don't know why Darling loves these more than regular worksheets, but she does. She loves these math games and stories. I can't tell you how many times we done the Zoo Math book.
Honeybee Tree Game: Darlings loves this game. I think she learned how to count playing this game. We also use it to illustrate estimation (how many honeybees do you think you have?) as well as the concept of more and less (which is more: 15 honeybees or 10 honeybees?). It has some poor reviews on Amazon, but I have to tell you that Darling will play this game ten time in a row and then come back the next day and play it ten more times, so it has been a hit with us. Also, setting up the leaves is good for fine motor skills.
Elefun: Another fun game that lends itself well to math games. I also think catching the butterflies with the nets is good for motor skills.
Scoop-a-Bug Game: Outrageously expensive, but quality materials and a lot of fun (you could probably make your own game for less by buying a bag of plastic bugs and the little scoopers). We use this for a lot of sorting games, and it is also really good for motor development. Plus, the kids think the bugs are cool.
Fractiles: Darling is addicted to Fractiles. She plays with them every day. Great for patterns, matching, and thinking skills. Melissa and Doug has something similar for younger children with a magnetic board and magnetic wooden shapes that is easier for Doodlebug manipulate.
Science
Living Learning Books: These units are a lot of fun and easy to do.
Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding: I use this book for a scope and sequence, but I only do the "lessons" as an every day part of life. For instance, I been trying to show the concept of solid, liquid and gas and changing states of matter. So I point out how the butter is changing from a solid to a liquid as a stick of butter melts in a pan while we cook. We make popsicles and I point out how our juice mixture is changing from a liquid to a solid. I point out the steam from a boiling pot of water and explain that that is the water changing from a liquid to a gas. In this way, we do science every day without the drag of formal lessons.
Mudpies to Magnets, More Mudpies to Magets, and Science Arts: I use these books for fun activities to illustrate the concepts from Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding.
Handbook of Nature Study Blog: Home of the Outdoor Hour Challenge. Lots of wonderful ideas on nature study and keeping a nature journal. Much of it is still a bit old for my crew, but I find it wonderful for inspiration.
Literature
Five in a Row: FIAR is a unit-study which I am totally sold on. I think this should be on the shelf of every single parent who cares about giving their child a good education, whether you homeschool or not. The writer of FIAR is Christian, and you can definitely see that, but it does not beat you over the head with Christianity, and any Bible-study or references are easily omitted. We don't use everything that FIAR has to offer. As one of my homeschooling friends put it, "It's more like three in a row".
Audiobooks: This is something we have been doing for a long time. We started with audiobooks of short picture books (Curious George, The Napping House, The Gruffalo), then moved up to collections of Frog and Toad and Amelia Bedelia, then to longer stories like Riki Tiki Tavi, and we are now doing multi-chapter audio books, of which Edith Nesbit's The Complete Book of Dragons is Doodlebug's favorite. Paddington Bear and Winnie the Pooh are also much loved. We also listen to a lot of fairy tales and folklore. There are many quality story podcasts for children, and Librivox has wonderful audio recordings of living books in the public domain available for free. We also adore anything by Jim Weiss (whom I think is a national treasure!). I find a lot of Jim Weiss recordings at my local library.
Read-Alouds: in addition to reading wonderful picture books, I read-aloud from a chapter book every night. You can read my post on this subject here. Some books on our list to read are:
Black Beauty
Charlotte's Web
The Trumpet of the Swan
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Homer Price (already started)
Little House in the Big Woods
The Shoe Books by Noel Streatfield.
