re you new to homeschooling? Maybe you have a friend who is asking questions. Think About Homeschooling [1] by Sensible Life Publishing is a great resource to have in your library. Sandy Glenn discusses the what, why, and how of homeschool life. Anyone considering homeschooling for their families will walk away from this book with the confidence to step forward and the tools to put a plan in motion. This is also a great resource for understanding a friend or family member’s decision to homeschool. Homeschooling is a rewarding, life changing adventure, and it just might be the best choice for your family!

Reclaiming Education: Teach Your Child to be a Confident Learner [2] from Focus on the Family is a faith-based resource, giving you some useful and practical tools to have in your homeschool toolbox. Cynthia Tobias and Mary Jo Dean encourage you to look at the current state of education and prayerfully consider the best option for your family. This book shows you how to equip your children to be lifelong learners, helping you learn to identify your children’s learning strengths, motivate your learners, and use strategies to provide the best environment for learning. What an informative resource to show you how to reclaim your children’s education!

Thrive: Special Needs Strategies that Work [3] by Master Book Publishers is a practical and comprehensive guide aimed at supporting educators, parents, and caregivers in helping children with special needs excel academically, socially, and emotionally. This resource-rich book offers a wealth of knowledge, instructional insights, and valuable tools to create engaging and empowering learning environments. Written from a biblical worldview, Thrive guides readers in identifying a child’s God-given gifts and provides strategies to nurture and leverage those abilities. With a focus on practical application, this guide is an essential companion for those seeking to create a supportive and thriving educational experience for children with special needs.

If you are blessed with an autistic child, your homeschooling challenges are unique. There is not a “one-size fits all” approach for success, but there is help for your educational journey. Homeschooling, Autism Style: Reset for Success [4] by Future Horizons is filled with practical tips and activities to support parents in the homeschooling adventure. This beneficial resource focuses on maintaining a consistent schedule, incorporating daily themes, and providing suggestions to balance learning and movement. All of these routines have been shown to help autistic children succeed. This resource also offers valuable ideas for emotional and behavioral support. Also, the authors created a personalized homeschooling experience for three fictional characters: Distractable Dory, Hyper-focused Hermoine, and Creative Calvin to help you implement the strategies in your home.

The Myth of the ADHD Child [5] by Tarcher Perigree is essential reading for parents, teachers, and others concerned with children who struggle. It contains a wealth of practical ideas, resources, and approaches to help parents of any learner exhibiting challenging behavior. This text covers the ADHD Myth and its shortcomings, seven reasons why there’s a nationwide and worldwide ADHD epidemic, and 101 ways to improve your child’s behavior and attention span without drugs, labels, or coercion.

Reclaiming Education: Teach Your Child to be a Confident Learner [2] from Focus on the Family is a faith-based resource, giving you some useful and practical tools to have in your homeschool toolbox. Cynthia Tobias and Mary Jo Dean encourage you to look at the current state of education and prayerfully consider the best option for your family. This book shows you how to equip your children to be lifelong learners, helping you learn to identify your children’s learning strengths, motivate your learners, and use strategies to provide the best environment for learning. What an informative resource to show you how to reclaim your children’s education!

Thrive: Special Needs Strategies that Work [3] by Master Book Publishers is a practical and comprehensive guide aimed at supporting educators, parents, and caregivers in helping children with special needs excel academically, socially, and emotionally. This resource-rich book offers a wealth of knowledge, instructional insights, and valuable tools to create engaging and empowering learning environments. Written from a biblical worldview, Thrive guides readers in identifying a child’s God-given gifts and provides strategies to nurture and leverage those abilities. With a focus on practical application, this guide is an essential companion for those seeking to create a supportive and thriving educational experience for children with special needs.

If you are blessed with an autistic child, your homeschooling challenges are unique. There is not a “one-size fits all” approach for success, but there is help for your educational journey. Homeschooling, Autism Style: Reset for Success [4] by Future Horizons is filled with practical tips and activities to support parents in the homeschooling adventure. This beneficial resource focuses on maintaining a consistent schedule, incorporating daily themes, and providing suggestions to balance learning and movement. All of these routines have been shown to help autistic children succeed. This resource also offers valuable ideas for emotional and behavioral support. Also, the authors created a personalized homeschooling experience for three fictional characters: Distractable Dory, Hyper-focused Hermoine, and Creative Calvin to help you implement the strategies in your home.

The Myth of the ADHD Child [5] by Tarcher Perigree is essential reading for parents, teachers, and others concerned with children who struggle. It contains a wealth of practical ideas, resources, and approaches to help parents of any learner exhibiting challenging behavior. This text covers the ADHD Myth and its shortcomings, seven reasons why there’s a nationwide and worldwide ADHD epidemic, and 101 ways to improve your child’s behavior and attention span without drugs, labels, or coercion.

f your child finds a weighted blanket calming, the Weighted Lap Pad [1] by MindWare® is for you! One side has a soft minky-type fabric with soft bumps and the other is velvety smooth. It measures 24” x 19.5” and weighs 5 lbs.

If your child has a sensitivity to noise, fdmt’s Earmuffs [2] by Manimo® reduce noise and protect infants through teens. Available in two sizes, the earmuffs for ages three and up offer an adjustable, padded headband, and soft foam ear protection for wearing comfort. Reduces noise by 27 db. Available in three colors, these earmuffs also clean easily with soap and water. Perfectly designed for infants and toddlers, the Baby Protective Earmuffs [3] feature soft foam ear protection and an adjustable headband. Reduces ambient sounds by 25 db. Each comes with a storage bag.

Provide a tactile tool for calming and reducing anxiety. 12 Days of Fun & Focus [4] by MindWare® includes twelve sensory surprises! Each box has bright colors and a fun little fidgety toy inside. Toys include silicone poppers in fun shapes, colorful zippers, and doodads with interesting textures.

Take decoding, blending letters, CVC words, sight words, and reading fluency—add a dash of silicone fidget poppers—and you get Fidget Games [5] by The Fidget Game™! Using word cards, students use their poppers to recognize letters, read small words and even apply spelling patterns. Each game is very easy to understand and play, yet different every time with the various combinations of cards, colors, and poppers. A QR code on the insert takes you to free worksheets online. Choose from Sight Words, Word Pop, or Sneaky Elves.

Sensory Bubble Poppers are not only for phonics but math too! Hand2Mind® offers a hundred board and ten-frame sets to practice counting and arithmetic. Teacher Created Resources has a 2-pack of silicone circles numbered 1-12 like a clock (3.75” diameter) [6]. Lay each circle on a sheet of paper, roll a die (not included) and place it in the middle of the circle. Now you can race each other to practice math facts! Multiply the die by the numbers on the wheel and write your answer on the paper. When you get it right, push the popper. Try addition and subtraction, too! You can also come up with your own games.

Help overcome speech delays with Mirror My Sounds Phoneme Set [7] by Hand2Mind®. This compact learning tool encourages correct mouth formation to master sounds. Each of the 44 cards in the flipbook models a different mouth shape/sound on one side, while the other side displays word pictures to practice pronunciation of the sound while watching mouth position in the flip-up mirror. Cards are attached to a ring so they won’t come off or get lost. With comfortable side grips and built-in kickstand, it’s easy to carry around and use on any flat surface. Note: Not an electronic device and does not make sounds for you—it just provides tools to help practice speech development.

hildren will beg to do math with these Young Mathematician’s Family Kits [8] by NewPath Learning. The interactive math kits include a variety of games and the necessary pieces to play the games, math minibook templates to assemble, and a Teaching Guide. The helpful guides include introductory information on the program and research, tips for game play, and the instructions for the games. An included QR Code will take you to a video that shows how to play the game. Reproducible Minibooks include short stories and play along activities to reinforce math concepts from the games. Each set includes 7 to 9 games.

Learning Fun Totes™ by MindWare® provide many enjoyable activities for you and your child to do together. It includes a sturdy box with a handle for carrying. The lid is magnetic and acts as an easel when opened, and there is an elastic strip to hold it down when closed. The Alphabet Tote [9] helps kids recognize letters, sounds, vowels, and other alphabet essentials. The Numbers Tote teaches numbers, shapes, counting, and more. Both kits include sturdy magnets, activity-packed learning sheets, and dry erase surfaces to help early learners master basic math and reading skills while having fun! Silicone stickers in the corners of the easel help to hold cards in place.

My First Wrap-Ups® [10] by EDC Publishing are self-correcting, themed sets shaped a bit like a key with notches on the side. Children will be able to wrap the string around from notch to notch to show their answers, almost like a matching exercise. Choose from Colors, Dinos, Farm, Numbers, Ocean, Same & Different, Shapes, and Zoo-themed wraps.

Preschoolers “catch on” to letter names and sounds with this sturdy set of 34 Phonics Bean Bags [11] by Educational Insights®. Phonics Bean Bags are a fun, active way to encourage young learners’ beginning reading skills, especially the ability to distinguish letter sounds. Learning benefits include letter sounds, tactile and sensory play, fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and independent learning. Includes 34 bean bags. The outside is a velveteen material with inside materials of porcelain grain and a crackle sounding paper. Includes a drawstring bag for storage and a teacher guide for different educational games to play. Additional games can be found by using the QR code or at SparkMorePlay.com.

Play a game of dominoes to help with reading skills! Junior Learning® Match & Learn Literacy Dominoes [12] sets each include 28 dominoes and focus on a different skill. Most sets have a picture on one side and a letter, blend, or word on the other side. Place dominoes face down and players take turns matching the end of a domino to form a chain. All sets come with a handy tin box for storing.

f you are looking to add some Bible to your family time, Year of Bible Stories [1] by Barbour Publishing is a darling book of 48 best loved stories from God’s word. This book is divided into sections coinciding with the twelve months of the year. Each section contains four delightfully and colorfully illustrated Bible stories to reinforce the theme and show how God worked in the lives of His people through history.

Non-Prophet’s Guide™ to the Bible [2] by Harvest House Publisher takes on some of the most challenging topics in the Bible. This engaging series explains themes so that readers both understand them and rejoice in how they reveal God’s character. Each book is filled with relatable stories, easy-to-digest text, cartoons, colorful charts and illustrations, and Scripture references. There is also a Guide to Prophecy for Young People [3] option with colorful graphics and concise, clear text to help children understand what Bible prophecy is.

Bible supplements are a great way to incorporate Bible stories into other activities such as game time, art, and reading. Young ones will love Sparkly Sticker Books [4] by Kregel Publications. Each page features a short and simple Bible story with a colorful picture to go along with it. Kids can fill in the blanks of the picture with sparkly stickers of different Bible characters, animals, and more!

Bible Story Puzzle Play [5] by Barbour Publishing features five puzzles made up of four small pieces perfect for little hands! As your child puts the puzzle together, you can tell them the Bible story. A Scripture reference is included on the puzzle, along with the story name and cartoon picture. The ultimate challenge is achieved by mixing all the pieces and figuring out how to divide them up and put them together.

A simple and intuitive game that is fun and encourages your child to think strategically is Bible Animals Click Clack Match Game™ [6] by Bible Games Central. On each turn, you roll five dice, remove the sad faces and try to match the remaining dice on one card. If you complete a card, you keep it and the points on the card go into your total score. You can then roll the dice or end your turn. If you accumulate three sad faces in a turn, you lose your turn. This game is suitable for ages 6+. For 2 to 5 players, with about 15 minutes playing time.

Lion Picture Puzzle Activity Bible [7] by Baker and Taylor Publishing has an activity on one side and on the other side, a coloring page for famous Bible characters like Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David and Goliath, and Nebuchadnezzar. Also included are events and places such as the Great Empires, Bethlehem, Jesus the preacher, Jesus in the Temple, the way of the cross, and spreading the news. This will provide hours of fun and informational Bible stories. An answer key for the activity questions is in the back.

imple art instruction and supplies in these handy-dandy How to Draw Kits [8] by Jr. Rangerland™ show the steps to draw the various critters in your set. You will have a small drawing pad (4×5.5”), a set of 8 Prang crayons, a small pencil with eraser, and a pencil sharpener. Booklets also include a little information on the topic. The carrying box makes it perfect for travel!

These gorgeous, opaque Vivid Pop! Water Based Paint Markers [9] by OOLY® can be used on a variety of surfaces from paper to glass to whiteboards! You don’t have to push down to use them, so they are not messy. Use these for painting rocks or to personalize a coffee mug (without having to bake it). Let the paint dry before trying to erase it on a whiteboard. Use them on black paper or cardboard, too. You will find all sorts of activities for these richly colored markers!

From vibrant doodles to colorful details, this set of Crayola® Sketch & Shade Doodle Pencils [10] offers vivid, highly pigmented colors that will stand out. Each colored pencil features a gel core so that the colors will always lay down smoothly on light and dark paper. Plus, this unique pencil set features 2 graphite sketching pencils to sketch out your designs before adding color. Pair it with a sketch pad or construction paper to get started creating right away or add intricate details to simple line art coloring pages. This set makes a great gift for adults and kids, ages 8 & up.

Learn how to draw a wide variety of animals and flowers with these helpful drawing brooks! Draw 100 [11] by Penguin Random House teaches how to draw each item in just 3-6 illustrations, making this a simple and straight-to-the-point instruction guide. Drawing books are helpful for learning accurate proportions and how to make sure the foundation of the drawing is accurate by first drawing simple shapes before adding details. New steps with each illustration are shown with orange lines, while previous steps have gray lines.

Discover in a whole new way the art and artists who changed how we see the world, from the earliest cave paintings to modern-day street art! Virtual Reality World Art! Kit [12] from Abacus Brand is an incredible interactive experience that lets you step inside the most famous works of art using the included VR Goggles and 112-page interactive DK book. Also includes a mini canvas, easel, and paints to create your own masterpiece. Compatible with all smart phones via access to Google® Play™ store and Apple® iOS app store.

Beautiful, detailed Acrylic Paint-by-Number [13] sets by Fainotoys include a wooden 16”x 20” stretched canvas, 2 professional paint brushes of varying sizes, 1 picture layout, 1 reference photo, and 1 palette of acrylic paints. A great way for young and amateur artists to develop painting skills and creativity.

ometimes, when you have a reluctant writer, they need a little gimmick—a special pen or pencil just for that one challenging subject. Gel pens [1] by Bcmini are squishy gel pens with cute toppers that are sure to be a hit! An enthusiastic writer would get a kick out of this pen, too. The pen itself writes very nicely with a fine black point. Fine tip gel pens tend to create more consistent lines and do not smudge as much as broader pens. The cap snaps on and off. Choose from different toppers like avocado, cactus, hedgehog, panda, sunflower, and more!

Color Shades™ Writing Packs [2] by Pentel® include pencils, pens and erasers all in one pack! Each of these Writing Packs feature a gel pen (0.7), a mechanical pencil (0.7), a retractable ballpoint pen (1.0), a latex-free click eraser, and a Hi-POLYMER® block eraser. The writing supplies in these packs are one solid color, and the pens also have the same color ink as the set. Colors include black, pastel green, pastel pink, sky blue, and violet ink.

Note Pads [3] by array® are a great option for jotting down notes or leaving reminders. Pads are 4 x 6 inches and come in 75 sheets with 5 different colors of paper or 100 sheets of white paper.

If you don’t want to mess with sticky notes, try using a Boogie Board® VersaBoard [4] by Kent Displays, Inc. This unique product is a reusable writing and drawing board that takes the place of a notepad! A built-in magnet allows it to hang on the refrigerator or you can keep it on a counter with the kickstand feature. The handy stylus is used to write on the board’s LCD writing surface. When you want to start another note, just tap the bottom right corner with your stylus to clear the board.

ina Burmeier and her husband homeschooled their three kids using many Charlotte Mason and classical programs. Realizing all three kids were very different, taking an eclectic approach gave them a great opportunity to meet all their children’s needs. For years, they traveled together as a family to homeschool conventions representing Rainbow Resource Center. She has thoroughly enjoyed meeting and talking with many homeschoolers over the years. With all three kids now college graduates, she is a consultant in the office at Rainbow and continues to enjoy helping homeschoolers with curriculum questions. She is very passionate about researching curriculum and learning styles as she helps other homeschoolers find the best fit for their children.

mber Garcia studied Elementary Education and music at Bible college. There she met her husband and began the journey of ministry and family. Giving their four children a Christian education became the focus and they purposed making that happen by putting them in a Christian school where they were teaching some years and homeschooling other years. Now Amber is a homeschool consultant at Rainbow Resource Center helping other homeschoolers with curriculum questions. Amber loves finding the key to help each student learn in their own way.