If you are looking for information on the Internet regarding homeschooling, A to Z Home’s Cool Homeschool website is the place to start. This community site offers help for home educators of students from preschool through high school with articles, lesson ideas, books, materials, and curriculum, as well as links to many other online homeschooling resources.

New to homeschooling? You’ll find articles about what homeschooling entails, why you might choose to homeschool, and how to get started. There’s also information about planning, record-keeping, and getting Dad involved. If you’re bringing your child home to educate him after he’s been in a traditional school, you’ll find articles to help you with that transition as well.

But that’s not all. A to Z Home’s Cool also provides information about teaching methods and philosophies, homeschooling gifted children or children with special needs, and preparing for graduation and beyond. You’ll also find curriculum reviews and suggestions. The best part is, if the article is not on the site itself, A to Z provides you with a link to another site containing that article. Not only are you looking at the resources available on this site, you’re also plugged in to resources from all over the Internet.

Another interesting feature of this site is its community focus, as it works to connect homeschooling parents with other homeschoolers. With the blogging tool, you can join in by reading the blogs of other homeschooling families on the site, or you can start your own. You’ll also find forums and a chat room in which you can discuss particular topics with other homeschoolers from around the world.

This website is a resource filled with resources — there’s so much there, it would take hours to look through it all. It’s a good place to start when you have questions or concerns, or if you just need some fresh ideas.

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Homeschooling Reading and Math Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Story Time – Stories for Kids

Homeschoolers in our state are responsible for their own record-keeping. Lesson plans and assignments need to be written down and the number of school days recorded. I’ve used several different methods to keep track of the work each of my children has completed.

When I had one child doing schoolwork, I used a spiral notebook to keep track of the lessons. Each day I would write down what we did on a fresh page, recording the date on the top. This system usually worked well, unless I misplaced the notebook and had to write the day’s entry on a separate sheet of paper. That was alright, though, as I would staple it in later.

When I had two in school, I used teacher plan books to keep up with what we did. I wrote each child’s assignment in a different color so I could tell at a glance who was supposed to be doing what. I also wrote our school day number at the top of the entry, so even when we missed a day or made some up, I’d have an accurate count.

When my third child started school, I found the spaces in the plan book were just too small to write in three different sets of lessons. I then switched to another system which has worked well for us ever since. On my computer, I type up a page for each child listing the subject areas they need to cover during the week. These subjects are listed down the left-hand side of the paper. I leave an empty line or two between each one to ensure I have enough room to write the assignments. At the top, I type “Date” and “School Day #” so one glance will tell us how far into the year we are.

Once a week, I print out five pages per child. Beside each subject, I write in the day’s lesson plan. Some subjects aren’t covered every day; I leave those blank or draw a line through them. As the children work on their schoolwork for the day, they place check marks beside the completed assignments. At the end of the school day, I punch holes in the paper and add it to a three-ring binder. I keep one binder for each child each year.

There are many other ways to keep up with schoolwork. The important thing is to find a method that works well for you.

By Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell