Surrounded by Educational STUFF

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I do cheap and free.  

Which is good, considering my educational philosophy of surrounding my kiddo with educational STUFF and using whatever is working for her at any given point in time.  And also considering the fact that she isn’t fond of routine and bores easily – she might be ecstatic about a resource today and ready to throw it at me tomorrow.

I’ve gotten so many amazing finds at thrift stores that I don’t have space for them all – hence my preschool clearing space project.  My absolute favorite purchase – an almost complete set of Your Story Hour Bible story tapes that Esmé is wearing out at bedtime.  We’ve scored an unopened complete Hooked on Phonics set, an unused Alpha Omega Gr 1 Science Lifepac, and stacks and stacks of books and games.

Then there is the library, of course.  We have a 50-book limit per card, two cards in our family, and yes, we have maxed them out from time to time.

And then there are the amazing resources online.  If you’ve got a preschooler, you might enjoy some of our past posts on preschool resources:

• Our alphabet approach post – be sure to click through the Linky at the bottom
• Our Head of the Class discovery
• February’s Fantastic Finds from exactly a year ago

Now we’re looking for elementary resources, and here are some we’ve come up with:
Digital books for free.  There are so many of these – and you don’t need a Kindle to take advantage of them!

• Ben and Me
• Walking by the Way
• A Dusty Frame (a list of lists)
• We Give Books (online books)
• The Baldwin Online Children’s Literature Project

Regular emails with downloadable freebie printables.

• Teachers Notebook
• Teachers Pay Teachers
• CurrClick (a weekly freebie, but don’t miss the free section towards the bottom of the email)
• Activity Village (lots of fun cultural/seasonal printables) 

And then there is Homeschool Share - which is LOADED with lapbook materials and lesson plans for a whole lotta topics.  This will be my go-to for our history studies, with lots of appropriate literature-based lapbooks.

What are your favorite resources?  I’m always looking for more to keep a step ahead of Miss Esmé!

While I didn’t make the departure time this week, I do want to point you over to the TOS Blog Cruise for other posts about homeschool freebies and deals – going live tomorrow (Tuesday).