Sometimes Overlooked Homeschool Resources

While textbooks make up the key portion of conventional schools’ learning materials, when compiling the best homeschool curriculum it’s important to not forget that there are other useful homeschool resources. Workbooks can add a very effective tool to your homeschooling arsenal. Whether used as a direct teaching resource, a teaching supplement, or for review, they provide a more kinesthetic/tactile approach to teaching your child, and they should seriously be considered as one of your homeschool resources parents that want to deliver the most effective education as possible.

WHY USE ADDITIONAL HOMESCHOOL RESOURCES? 

Traditional textbooks are a great source of information, but they are only one of the many potential resources available. They also deliver information extremely well to visual learners, but they may not be the best delivery system for auditory or kinesthetic learners. Workbooks can be great homeschool resources to the parents of those who learn better through listening or writing, and for those who are easily put off by traditional textbooks.

 A key aspect of many workbooks is writing. For young learners, there are usually many simple activities that require circling correct answers or matching exercises. More advanced learners often must compete short answer activities, or answer open-ended questions and write longer essay style replies. All of the writing may help them remember and therefore recall the targeted material better than simply reading it. A hidden advantage of adding workbooks to your homeschool resources is that they also provide more opportunity for students to ask questions, which can be an invaluable bonus.

Some workbooks may also come with an audio CD, or with access to online audio files. Anytime an auditory learner gets the chance to listen to material instead of only read it, the potential for retention increases. Audio files can also act as a great reinforcement tool for visual or kinesthetic learners. For the extremely motivated parent-teachers, you can also create your own audio files as a supplement and additional homeschool resources to the standard textbooks or workbooks that you use.

Regardless of whether or not you decide to add workbooks or other homeschool resources to your homeschool supplies, supplementing some form of auditory teaching can have substantial positive effects. Besides catering towards the strength of auditory learners, listening activities and exercises can help change the pace of a lesson, or regain the interest of a bored child. They can also act as well-deserved break for parents that need a short rest due to fatigue or have the need to manage another household activity that is unavoidable during a lesson. You can never have too many homeschool resources.