I have fallen insanely behind on this website, I won’t waste time with excuses, but I still have SO many great products to share with you! I’m going to start doing 5 and 10 lists until I catch up a bit! Good for you, because you get 5 great products in one great read instead of me taking forever to tell you about them!
So here goes:
5 Homeschool Products that I’ve tried and LOVED!: (In no particular order)
1. The Man on the Map- a VERY inventive look at our country. The Man on the Map first uses states shapes to create a man, then creates wonderful ways to remember the location of all the states!
It compares states to mittens, foods, clothing, elves, and more. My state is steaming gravy! What’s yours?
Get your copy today at the Schoolside Press, for only $19.95!!!
2. Schleich Toys- You’ve seen these guys before. Hard rubbery-plastic animals that kids (and adults) collect and play with. Hand-painted in realistic colors. Besides the 
quality of the product, the company is even better for thinking of EVERYTHING! They don’t offer just farm animals, but farm workers, farm vehicles,and more, everything you’d need to truly create a mini farm. They don’t just do animals either, I fell in love with their Knights series years ago when a store I worked at sold them. Prices vary based on exactly what you pick and can go from a few dollars to big money, but one thing doesn’t vary, the quality of each individual one! You can find them all over the web, and also a lot of toy or gift stores. My local craft stores even have them! And these definitely aren’t JUST for homeschoolers!
3. Critical Thinking Books- These great workbooks don’t simply teach counting or other lessons they teach you to think! They have a wonderful range of books for all ages. Blu and I enjoy a preschool, age 3-4 year old, Mathmatical reasoning already! (He just turned two) Our book features more then 230 pages! Filled with colors, numbers, size, counting, shapes, and oh so much more! I KNOW I’ll be turning to this company for books time and time again! Our book is a complete curriculum that meets national standards. With Critical Thinking you can teach everything from basic shapes to complex Algebra! If you check them out I know there will be AT LEAST one book you’ll want!
4. Apologia Curriculum- These science books are the best! They read more like a “Eyewitness” book, but features tons of hands on experiments and projects. Blu and I have done several together, but I can truly picture an older kid simply picking up the book and taking off with it! At the beginning of the book there is a list of EXACTLY what is needed for each lesson, and it IS split up by lesson! So you’re not buying a supply in November that you don’t need until March. It even lists if you need water, it is that in depth! One thing I love too is that they help you expand on the lesson to meet the interest level. A website to accompany the book, full of extra material, that helps you add to a lesson, or redo it for a specific area. For example in our book, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, there is a scavenger hunt on page 20, featuring everything from different colors of butterflies, to various leaves, but what if you live in a desert? Go to the website and get a different hunt sheet! Now, this company IS Christian based, and it is mentioned throughout the book (“Some are strange and unusual, but all of them are a result of God’s special design…”) However I still recommend it to everyone! Even with all the books I have (trust me it’s a lot) I’ve never seen one that makes a bird feeder out of a juice bottle. A milk carton, a old box, a soda bottle with an attachment, they all have those, but the juice was new to me. Also it was generally just so well done, and in depth. It covered everything from detailed bird parts, to air pressure, to types of nests (and who creates them.) The book prices vary, our Elementary Science is just $35, but higher levels are higher priced (usually $85) They also offer various lab equipment. Check them out on the web, and at quite a few homeschool conventions.
5. I’ve truly fallen in love with Five in a Row! They are so well set-up and just so easy to put into action! We got Before Five in a Row, which is for a slightly younger crowd. Each book is broken down SO well to cover all the different subjects. For example in “The Quiet Way Home” math is counting daisies in an illustration of a field, science is ears and the human body, to talk about colors simply use the title page! One great thing about it is that is covers everything for the days you just can’t figure it all out yourself, and also to help people who may not be use to dissecting a story this way. It’s a simply way to insure that all the subject are covered without having to even crack open another book! Everything else you do is just extra, if you do anything else at all!! The variety of books cover all the way from ages 2 to above 12! You can find them at their own website, at most homeschool supply places.
So there you go, 5 products I’ve used for “homeschool” (in quotes since he’s only two) this school year, and have loved! Make sure you try them for next school year! Stay tuned for a Top List of items I WISH I had when Blu was a very little fellow!
shoes. Well now she has an organic line! Made from organic cotton, sewn with organic thread, then decorated with hand painted designs. Simply wonderful! You have to 
just toys. Besides the Go Fish! game and Matching game I received they make blocks, puzzles, and magnetic play sets. My impressions of the products themselves were a bit mixed. The products were both cute, really cute. The matching game had sturdier pieces then most cardboard games, but it was still cardboard. The Go Fish! cards were also cute, but not really special in any other way. They weren’t super sturdy, they weren’t some unusual size. Really the products are just cute products. If you want your kid to ONLY play with bible items, then they may be good options for you. I like the matching game because it is simply animals, ark, and rainbow, so even non-Christians will be able to play with cute figures.
