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Friday, August 22, 2008

Searching E-Bay for Homeschool "Stuff"

I turned in my plan for Tom's homeschool program last week... it's similar to last year's, with a few exceptions. Here's the bare outline (much more to come):

Math - Upper Level Touchmath + weekly tutoring
Reading - List of 6th grade novels; reading comprehension with Edhelper.com
Writing - Eclectic - Writing Strands, Edhelper materials, etc.
Music - Clarinet (and possibly piano) lessons, some kind of ensemble program
Art - Mostly built into unit studies
PE - Tennis, bowling, hiking, cycling
Units (history/geog/science) - Birds, Impressionism, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, North/South Poles, Water, The American West, Sound/Music

We (Tom and I) were lucky enough to discover a discounted cuisinaire rod set, a set of science materials and a KONOS kit with all kinds of cool stuf inside, and it inspired me to search Ebay for homeschool goodies. I've already ordered a pile of videos - but am surprised at how little seems to be available that's anything like the KONOS box. Somehow, I expected homeschoolers to be out there creating amazing kits full of wonderful art materials, science stuff, explorations... But it all seems to be books, software and videos with an occasional lapbook or something added for good measure.

For all you veteran homeschoolers out there - what's great?? And what's especially great for a kid who needs lots of inspiration when trying to stay on task doing anything with his two hands? I'm collecting Usborne and DK books and videos... using Edhelper and Enchanted Learning online, and of course making good use of all kinds of local programs, events and resources. But with all that, I'm kinda feeling uninspired, and hoping to find some great hands-on kits.

Am I missing something terrific??


Aut-2B-Home
Power By Ringsurf

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been following your blog for a while now. My son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS about 3 years ago and had done early intervention with him and he made quite a bit of progress. Last year we made a cross country move and the school system ended up not being a good fit for him (actually it was a horrendous experience). So now we are homeschooling. It is going very well but I am trying to find a curriculum to get math concepts across to him. How is Touchmath working for you and would you recommend it?

I enjoy reading about your experiences with Tommy. We have had some similar ones and it is always nice to read of someone else who is experiencing a similar life.

Thanks,
Jacque

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I forgot to include contact information. You may email me at brettandjacque@yahoo.com

Thanks,
Jacque