Way back when I first started my homeschool journey (about 13 years ago !?!) I was like many other new homeschoolers. I wanted my school to be perfect. I wanted the very best curriculum but I was completely overwhelmed by the choices. I didn't know my homeschooling style, I didn't know my children's learning styles and I didn't know how to tell what curriculum would work for us. So I bought an expensive boxed curriculum package that was pretty much totally wrong for us. About half way through the year, I chucked my beautiful curriculum back into it's beautiful box and started wandering through the homeschool maze on my own. Thankfully, my oldest child was in preschool and we had some time to learn the ropes.
Enter The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Somewhere in those first couple years of homeschooling, someone introduced me to The Old Schoolhouse. I was hooked. This magazine helped me realize that I was not alone. They showed me I wasn't the most inept teacher on the planet - even though sometimes I felt like it. They helped teach me about learning styles and gave in-depth reviews on great curriculum choices. So many of the books and curriculum I now recommend were things I first saw in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Over the years, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine has continued to be one of my top homeschooling resources.
And now that I have students ranging from preschool through high school, the Old Schoolhouse Magazine is still my standby. Somehow they manage to cover all that ground in a way that actually helps me. I always find wonderful things.
Take the Nov/December issue, for instance. It's 180 pages of wonderful. And it's all FREE! Want to know how to use the local library to create your own curriculum? It's in there. Want some help teaching your child to read? That's in there, too. We make Character Training a daily part of our homeschool and our lives -- and there's an article to help me do that, too. There are articles for college prep, dual-enrollment, art, video and music. There's even an article on 3D computer modeling with Blender (perfect for my budding computer programmer). And for my preschooler, there's the article "Creative Letters for Preschoolers" so I can teach Pickle Mickle her alphabet, give her a strong foundation in phonics and have lots of fun in the process. They also have fabulous articles on history, parenting, reading, creative writing, product reviews to help us unravel the curriculum maze -- there is just too much to do it all justice. And did I mention that it's TOTALLY FREE?
If you don't homeschool, that's okay. Check it out anyway so you can figure out what makes your homeschooling friends so strange (you know you think we are -- snicker). Actually, there are lots of wonderful things for you even if you don't school your children at home. In the Nov/Dec issue, there are several Christmas related articles including "Make Your Own Candy Cane Cookies" (I am totally planning to try those with my kiddos this year) and "Making Holiday Fun with the Littlest Ones" that has fun project ideas for your tiny tots. There are also good parenting articles, and last time I checked, you don't have to homeschool in order to be a good parent.
So drop your coffee and jump over there to see why I like this magazine so much. And just in case you think that you will sign your life away by clicking the link, The Old Schoolhouse is always free and they don't harass you. You can get there by going to www.TOSMagazine.com or get your app at www.TOSApps.com. When you finish reading the magazine, you can read even more from the Schoolhouse Review Crew here. Have fun!
