As summer is coming to a close, it is time to gear up for a new school year. We are an eclectic homeschool family! We look for and use materials that fit into our schedule and what each person wants to learn! We already have a lot of materials and resources but these are the things I would like to add. My wish list for my teen homeschooler.

We take a break from school, so to speak, during the summer. Learning is ALWAYS ongoing but we don’t worry about lessons and assignments during the summer. We try and keep close to the school schedule, because it helps us stay on track and the kids can go do more with their public schooled friends when their breaks are around the same time.

 

A Few of Our Homeschool Favorites

All of our girls love to draw and so sketch books in several sizes are a must. We have a neighbor who is a very talented graphic artist and he has talked to my girls many times about their art. He told them to draw all the time. He said to find references and practice drawing what you see. All my girls do this and so sketch books in several sizes for each one are good to have around. They have a small book that they take to church (and everywhere for that matter) and bigger ones for more in depth projects at home. We like the spiral bound ones because the pages don’t come loose and it is easier to flip through and see past attempts, projects and how much they have improved!

My sister-in-law gave us this book, one year for Christmas and I love it! I wish we would have had it to read with our older girls! In fact, I loved it so much, I sent one to my daughter who is in college!

I love learning games and this is a fun one that is different, every time! This game teaches about economics (supply and demand), as well as strategy, the goal of the game changes each time you play. It took us a while to figure out the rules but it is quite fun to play.

Settlers has become a family favorite! We have used the robber in the game to talk about communism and how the robber can stop all progress. Rules have been made up, by our family, to make it even more like a communist ruler has taken over and how cards are or aren’t distributed when the robber is in play.

Did I mention I love games?! Boggle is a favorite and my girls are challenged to one day get more words than I do. This post is about other word games we enjoy and materials we use/have used for writing, grammar and reading.

 

My Homeschool Wish List

It can be expensive to homeschool! I have collected things over the years and every year we add more because each child has some different things they want to learn or learns in a different way.

Books

I also love parenting books! I have some other parenting favorites in this post. Unfortunately, parenting doesn’t come very easy and each kid is different and so books like this are really helpful. After all, we were all raised by first time parents who were going off of what they learned from their parents.

Getting help on how to better manage our family and work together.

This looks like a great book about how we see the world and what limitations we may be putting on ourselves and our kids. When we strive to self improve, our kids will too!

There are so many different ways of doing things and yet we get stuck in a rut and sometimes believe we have to do it the same way everyone else is or we and our kids will fail. I would like to help my daughter get a little further ahead during these high school years. This book is really high on my list, this year! I should just order it!!! (But I have already spent so much money today, I need to wait! Need to get it off of the back burner!)

Shortly after we began homeschooling I got really sick. I wish I would have had the capacity to do more with TJED! However, it is never too late and I believe things can be implemented in a way to work for us!

Ohhh! This would be another fabulous book to have! This youngest daughter of mine has always been a leader and has a take control kind of personality. However, as most teens grow they start to doubt themselves and be less sure of what they can do.

What we want is for our children to grow up and take responsibility for themselves. The teen years are a great time to give them practice in a controlled environment. Education is an individual activity. You can lead a child to the book but you can’t make them learn from it! This is a must have on my homeschool list for this year!

The teen years are a great time to learn time management. It is something I have worried about with some of my older kids as they have gone off to college. However, a resource like this could ease some of that worry.

I read “What Color is Your Parachute?” when I was in college and have talked about this and had some of my older kids read this book too. I am excited to find that there is one geared toward high school students!

Homeschool Writing

Writing is the struggle I am currently having with the youngest daughter! I’m hoping to light a fire under her, help her to see how writing can be an outlet, learn how to express herself and so much more!

One of the thinks I would love for my daughter to do is to start a blog! I think there are so many things she could write about! I have learned so much about my blog; it isn’t just about writing! There is the whole back end side of things with a blog.

Problem Solving, Math and Business

I want this book to see if the methods and tricks in this book would better help in understanding math. I wonder if this would bring a new element to our math studies and help put some perspective and fun into the subject?

I couldn’t find a picture ad to go with this book. It is very intriguing to me with all of the hacking and problems that accompany using the internet. Many companies and self employed opportunities are available online and it is good to know how to protect yourself against these modern day practices.

A Practical Guide to Teen Business and Cybersecurity – Volume 1: Cybersecurity and best practices, Great Leadership Qualities, How to Write a Press … Against Zero-Day Attacks, and much more.

Science

My daughter loves electronics! This has been on my list for a while and I just ordered it! I will do a review on it after we have used it a bit!

Tackling physics can be daunting. I am strongly considering this for one of our resources this year!

With the meteor showers in August and so many great celestial things to study, a telescope is an awesome tool for learning about the stars and night sky! Many telescopes can be hooked up to a computer or a camera to discover and photograph even more!

Foreign Language

Fun way to learn a new language. We also love using Dual lingo and You Tube!

Projects

I just might have to get this for my husband’s birthday! He and my daughter are always looking for projects to do together. They are currently planning an animatronic project for Halloween.

Games

Fun way to learn about the Constitution of the United States of America.

 

Great for all ages! Dice can also be used for other activities and games!

Just for fun!

This shirt is awesome!!!!