Top 12 Favorite Homeschool Curriculums

Vocabulary:

7. Worldy Wise

Wordly Wise vocabulary workbooks are a quick, no-prep way to build vocabulary and reading comprehension skills!  I typically use them for grades 3-7.

8. English From the Roots Up

These little flash cards are awesome–they painlessly introduce Latin and Greek word roots!  I bought both sets and have used them in several ways over the last 10 years.  When my big kids were younger, I’d introduce a new card each week.  We kept a pile of cards on the table and reviewed them casually.  Now, my middle school daughter studies 5 cards each week and adds the roots, definitions, and words to her vocabulary notebook.

Handwriting:

9. Handwriting Without Tears

I’ve always been happy with the simple and straight forward approach Handwriting Without Tears presents handwriting instruction and practice.  The workbooks make it easy to squeeze handwriting practice into a busy day!  (I’ve got two left-handed kids–if you do too, my tips for teaching lefties might help you!)

Reading Instruction/Phonics:

10. Ready for Reading

I designed a beginning phonics program: Ready for Reading!  I created the curriculum based on my years of using Saxon Phonics K to teach four of my kids to read and my years as a 2nd grade classroom teacher. You can find out more about teaching phonics in my posts Best Way to Teach Reading and Choosing a Phonics Curriculum.

11. Explode the Code

Explode the Code workbooks are simple, whimsical, and inexpensive!  They provide reinforcement of phonics lessons and rules–and are perfect for practicing skills over the summer or alongside any reading curriculum during the school year.  When my kids are reading at a 1st-2nd grade level and transitioning out of formal phonics lessons–I use Explode the Code workbooks as my main curriculum resource for providing phonics instruction.

History/Unit Studies:

12. Tapestry of Grace (TOG)

I’ve used Tapestry of Grace for over 10 years–it’s a large, expansive curriculum and probably belongs in a post all its own!  But suffice it to say–you can make it as central to your homeschool as you like.  Tapestry of Grace is a classical curriculum which divides activities and reading assignments into 4 major stages of learning: Lower Grammar, Upper Grammar, Dialectic, and Rhetoric.  The curriculum takes your family through ancient civilization to modern times in a four year rotation.  So in TOG, all your children study the same slice of history at the same time–but each child is doing activities and reading books appropriate to their learning level.  In addition to history, TOG covers geography, fine arts, literature, writing, bible history, and bible study.