Supplementing Your Homeschool Curriculum
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Each spring, I research and purchase the backbone of our homeschool curriculum for the next school year. You know, reading, writing, and arithmetic…and science.
This to me is a chore. It can be time consuming and stressful, but when it’s done I get to work on the fun stuff!!
What Are Curriculum Supplements?
Cake is good. I like a really moist white cake that you get at weddings and graduation parties. But no matter how good that cake is, a good icing makes it great! A great white cake with buttercream icing…. Those are the cakes people talk about.
Curriculum is like cake. Even if it good and the kids enjoy it, adding icing, I mean supplements, can make it great! Your kids can enjoy studying dolphins in their science curriculum, but add some notebooking pages, extra books, and videos and the kids will love it!
We often add an additional biography, a mapping project, an extra experiment, art, games, or a lapbook to spice things up and dig deeper.
Choosing Those Homeschool Extras
I try to add fun extras into our lessons. I’ve loved looking for extra experiments, scientists biographies, and videos to go along with our kids’ science lessons just this week. It adds interest for the kids and myself. Plus, it helps them dig deeper into subjects.
When choosing curriculum supplements, I choose what fits their age, their curriculum, and their interests. Both of my children are different. What works for one might not work for the other.
I grab some supplements right when I choose their curriculum and then make notes to keep my eyes out for other interesting extras. There are times, like this week, when I get a great idea and scramble last minute to put something together. Thank goodness for the internet!
Where To Get Curriculum Supplements
I think most homeschool moms have their radar tuned into whatever their children might learn from. (If you spend more on books and math manipulatives than your mortgage, you might be a homeschool mom.)Â
Some of my favorite sources for curriculum supplements are:
- Homeschool conventions
- The local nature center gift shop
- Libraries
- CurrClick.com
- NotebookingPages.com
- Harrington Harmonies
- Amanda Bennett Unit Studies
What are your favorite homeschool supplements?