Homeschool Haul
Books, Resources, Curriculum & More
Nothing excites a new school year like a homeschool or curriculum haul. I make a couple huge orders in the summer and winter for material to last the semester and year, often with materials to use again and again with my other students. Many of the supplies I get are either books, handwork material or hands-on projects.
I get most of my supplies from a few of my favorite vendors: Rainbow Resource, A Child's Dream, Acorn Naturalists, and Nature-Watch. I also buy from Waldorf Supplies, Barnes and Noble and other vendors. We homeschool using a charter school which provides educational funding to purchase homeschool related materials, so most of what you see in my curriculum and homeschool hauls comes from charter funding.
While this allows me to try out new materials without the worry of cost, the materials do belong to the school and need to be returned to the school when we withdraw from the school. Consumable items are not returned.
Homeschool Hauls
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HUGE Homeschool HAUL | Curriculum & MORE
Grab a cup of coffee or hot chocolate because this is a massive curriculum haul! You won't find a curriculum haul quite like this, I promise. Curriculum for our homeschool is any material we use to enhance our homeschool experience from literature to hands-on materials.
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Waldorf Supplies for Homeschool & Classroom
Hands down the most beautiful homeschool supplies are the ones you'll find at Waldorf suppliers. Not only are the items fairly unique to most academic settings, the colors and materials are breathtaking. You can't help but smile when you see them, and using them will make your heart sing.
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Kindergarten Curriculum Haul | Waldorf
I think the first thing that striking about the KG curriculum in the Waldorf philosophy is the absence of any 'academic' work. There are no workbooks, textbooks or even read aloud books. Instead the curriculum is filled with stories to tell, songs to sing, music to listen to, crafts to do, and toys to play with.
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Art Haul | LOKTA Paper
I love using art supplies in our homeschool. I'm sharing with you some of the products we use often: Distress Inks, non-stick scissors and hand-made paper from Nepal. All the supplies were purchased from Blick Art Supplies.
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Book Haul | The Most Beautiful Books...Ever!
These are arguably the most beautiful books you've ever seen. The books by Katie Scott are magnificent! The vintage looking illustrations evoke a sense of being in a natural history museum. It's captivating and inspiring at the same time.
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Huge Curriculum Haul | Homeschool
We live in California where we have many choices in education. We chose to enroll with a charter school that provides funding for educational materials and classes. Prior to joining our charter school we were homeschooling independently and paying for our supplies out of pocket (or getting them from the library or second-hand).
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Dollar Tree Haul | Dollhouse Furniture
How cute are these dollhouse furniture pieces? And for only a dollar! If you are near a Dollar Tree, be sure to look for this dollhouse furniture because it's well made, made from wood and has exquisite detail!
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Homeschool Haul | This one is really Big
It's that time of year again...back to school shopping! This isn't your typical back to school haul. This isn't your typical curriculum haul either. My homeschool hauls feature everything from educational toys to innovative science kits. I love hands on projects and love adding living books to our unit studies and main lesson blocks.
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HOMESCHOOL SUPPLIES HAUL | MidYear Curriculum Haul
Twice a year, we make large curriculum and homeschool purchases. While few of the items were actual necessities, they are all educational and inspirational. We do a lot of hands on learning in our homeschool so half of what we order are materials for projects and activities and the other half are books!
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DETAILED Waldorf BOOK HAUL + I LOVE These Books!!!
This is more than a book haul. I give you snippets of info into the Waldorf philosophy and how we intend to use these books. The concepts in these books are nothing new to us; we done form drawing, watercolor painting and movement math, but these books are going to help provide more background information and definitely boost the inspiration. I'm super excited about them!!
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US History Curriculum | High School
Finding high school material for a highschooler that wasn't a traditional textbook was not easy to find. This series of books by Joy Hakim covers US history from pre-history to 2008 in 10 well-written and illustrated volumes.
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Homeschool Haul | Living Books + Unit Study + Waldorf Supplies
Oh my! New books are here as well as main lesson notebooks, fountain pens, hands-on kits and much more! Dive into these new materials with me! Many are from Amazon, but the Waldorf supplies are from my favorite Waldorf vendor: A Child's Dream.
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Massive Homeschool BOOK Haul + Price Reveal
Twice a year, we place huge homeschool orders and this time is for a number of books. Curious to see the books and the contents? Plus the total price? I'll show you each book, tell you why we chose it and how it will be used in our homeschool and most importantly, I'll show you the insides of all these books!
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Homeschool Haul | Fun Supplies for HOMESCHOOLING
This may look like a big homeschool haul but compared to my previous homeschool hauls, I call this a medium sized one. I'm purchasing items mostly for our science units. I do stock up on supplies for our handwork projects this year which will include embroidery work, knitting and wet felting.
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Waldorf Homeschool Haul
It's that time of the year again! I place our curriculum and homeschool orders just before school starts and again in the winter. There's no better way to brighten your school with these rich colored supplies! The wool felt our favorite go-to supply for many of the homeschool projects we do
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Waldorf and Montessori Educational Haul | Treasures by Jennifer | Math & Arabic Letters
These wooden educational products by Treasures from Jennifer are some of the most beautiful pieces in our homeschool room. They are well made, durable and all natural. They are also expensive and take up lots of room.
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American History Books | All Grades | Homeschool
Looking for a complete history of the US? I have five American History series that would be suitable for all elementary and high school. The History of US by Joy Hakim would work for students as young as 5th grade through high school. The books are sold separately or as a set and you can also purchase student workbooks and teaching guides to accompany each volume.
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Homeschool Haul
We've come to the end of the school year and with that, the last homeschool haul of the year. While I'll still have other hauls planned for the following year, they won't be as extensive as the ones you've seen in the past. Needless to say, we have more than enough resources for this year and the years to come, and for next year, we have something different planned with our funding.
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Homeschool Haul | Target Dollar Spot
Want to get a lot for a little? Check out the new products at Target's Dollar Spot. There's a new range of school supplies, office supplies, calendars and Valentine products. With most things ringing up at just a dollar, these supplies are worth it!
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Homeschool Haul | Living Books & More!
It's that time of year again...the time where my wishlist is bursting and finally books and resources are being moved from the wishlist to the shopping cart and what follows after that is pure happiness as all these inspiring supplies start trickling in.
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Book Haul | Charlotte Mason Living Books | Homeschool Haul
Everytime I think I'm done buying books, I find more I think I like. In some cases, I see other homeschoolers using these gems in their homeschool and decide we want to add them to our library. Other times, Amazon recommends books based on our purchases and what other customers bought. Enter the world of algorithms.
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High School English Curriculum
When choosing English literature books for my 9th grader, I looked for ones with a historical theme, set in a time period we were studying or were American classics. That way, the books my son was reading for English complemented his US History studies.
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Homeschool Supplies for Waldorf Main Lesson Blocks
This may look like a big homeschool haul but compared to my previous homeschool hauls, I call this a medium sized one. I'm purchasing items mostly for our science units. I do stock up on supplies for our handwork projects this year which will include embroidery work, knitting and wet felting.
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Curriculum Material for Native American Unit Study
I debated whether I should have a separate unit for Native American because the stories and history of the Native Americans spans the whole history of the US. This is a small compilation of supplies that would stand alone as a unit, but what would be more authentic is to distribute these materials over all our other American History unit, as currently each unit only has a little bit of relevant Native American material.
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Summer Read Alouds
Do you recall the opening pages of the book Half Magic? The children trek to the library at the start of summer and collect more books than they can carry. They walk home and set their books up and begin reading.
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CURRICULUM HAUL | Colonial Times Books | HOMESCHOOL
We are kicking off our American History units with the Colonial times. We did an introduction to American History with a small unit on Columbus, but this is our first official unit of a series of units that will span several months.
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What We're Reading in our HOMESCHOOL 2018-2019 | BOOK HAUL
The school year is barely over and already serious planning for the next year is well underway. At the end of the year, a local library bookstore has its annual end-of-year sale (that would be end of the school year sale) where everything is only 25 cents! Woohoo! Homeschoolers rejoice! Not only is it thrilled to hunt for books, but it's double exciting to get them for such a great deal.
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New Waldorf Teacher Haul
I can’t think of more gorgeous school supplies than Waldorf supplies. But these aren’t for me. I teamed up with @achildsdreamcrafts to arrange a special gift for a new Waldorf teacher who just started work at a Waldorf charter school that is only in its second year and still has a lot of growing pains ahead.
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Family Reading Crate | Build Your Library
What if you could cozy up on the couch surrounded by a stunning library and be handed one book after another that is sure to delight you and your kids. Sounds too good to be true? That's exactly what you'll be getting each month with Build Your Library's family book subscription crate.
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Why Buy Books? | Living Books Haul
Why buy books? We buy books for our homeschool main lesson blocks and unit studies. We love books! Granted many of the selections you can find at the library. We did include a few kits in this haul, but primarily, we bought books. We used our educational funding to purchase these materials. We shopped at Bookshop.org, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Treasures by Jennifer.
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Brush Letter ART Haul | CHINESE Painting, SUMI & Calligraphy
Oriental Art Supply carries the most beautiful supplies for Chinese brush painting, Sumie and Calligraphy. The materials look beautiful online, but nothing compared to their stunning quality in person. The book 108 Flowers Book 4 by Ning Yeh shows step by step instructions on how to paint a beautiful assortment of flowers.
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Play Silks | Homeschool Haul
e got play silks from eBay several years ago and thought it was time to invigorate our silks with new ones. The kids use these for dress up, forts, capes and pretend play of all kinds. Our old silks have held up so well to kid play; they've been tugged, tied, draped and pulled and yet have never torn. I have every confidence that these new silks will do just the same.
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Barnes and Noble BOOK Haul | Homeschool
I love books. I love paper. I love pretty pictures and beautiful words. I love it when someone finds a great book and shares it. These books are mostly from recommendations from other YouTubers. Please take the time to check out these other fantastic channels and send some love their way.
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Homeschool Haul | Waldorf Materials + More
The materials from this homeschool haul are primarily from A Child's Dream and Michael's Craft Store, with some books, games and pencils coming from Amazon and JetPens.
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Book Haul | What We're Reading This Spring
Why buy books when you can get them from the library? It's a question I get often, since I tend to buy our books for homeschool rather than check them out from the library. But it wasn't always like that. I used to check them out from the library in the past, too. Why the change? And is it right for you?
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Homeschool Haul | WALDORF Education | BOOK HAUL
Here's one order that didn't come in in time for my EPIC homeschool haul recently. This order is from Waldorf Supplies and includes art portfolios, glockenspiels, books and watercolor paper.
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Homeschool Haul | Books & Kits | Elementary and High School
More books? Didn't I say I was going to ease up on buying books? I changed my mind. At least for the time being. So join me as I walk you through this latest collection of books, kits and other materials for our homeschool unit studies in Physics, Alaska, Middle Ages, Silk Road, West Africa, Literacy, Math and early childhood education
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Book Haul | Homeschool Haul
At the start of the school year, we start receiving a lot of our homeschool supplies that are going to be used for the year in our various unit studies and lessons. This haul contains many books that are going to be used for our Horse unit that I'm putting together for my now 9 year old daughter.
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Homeschool Book & Curriculum Haul
What happens when you forgot you placed a homeschool supplies order? You're a little confused, but you get extra happy mail! And a unique book haul where I say often, "I can't remember this book!"
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Acorn Naturalists | Homeschool Haul
It's time for a new unit! We save our science units for the spring, and to kick off this new unit, I have a curriculum haul to share with you from Acorn Naturalists. Acorn Naturalists is one of my favorite places to pick up curriculum for science. They have wide variety of material.
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Homeschool Haul | Living Books and Hands On Kits
More living books! Yes please. I keep saying I'll divert my funding from books to use for other resources, but here we are, back to buying books. I love books that are engaging, well written and beautifully illustrated. This haul is no different.
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Homeschool Haul
The Westward Movement spans over 100 years in American History, so within this unit, there are other subunits: American Civil War, Lewis & Clark Expedition and California History & Gold Rush. Even so, I still have a lot of material, and may choose to split this unit up further.
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Homeschool Haul | Waldorf
A Child's Dream has some of my favorite Waldorf supplies for our homeschool. This haul includes a charming peg doll book, peg dolls in a variety of shapes and sizes, finger puppet bases, felt, Lyra watercolor paints, soy-based paint, and more.
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Homeschool Book & Waldorf Haul
Even when I'm on a trip or vacation, I manage to make the souvenirs educational based. And I even got to check out a local thrift shop (looking for baskets for my sister who was too ill to go shopping), and found some books to accompany past and upcoming homeschool units.
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Homeschool Haul | Living Books & Hands On Activities
If you want to choose your own books and projects to tailor your curriculum for your child and family, this is just right for you! Choosing material for homeschool unit studies and Waldorf main lesson blocks is one of my favorite things to do in homeschool.
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CW Pencil Enterprise Haul | I Bought Pencils & We're Loving Them!
Well goodness me...here I am talking for nearly an hour about a handful of pencils. Granted these pencils are soooo talk worthy!! But because they are brand new to me, I did give occasional wrong information...sorry.
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Homeschool Haul | Chemistry
Our Fall 2024 Homeschool Haul is primarily composed of books and resources for our two upcoming units of Chemistry and Anatomy. I have separate videos for Anatomy (both the Waldorf approach and a unit study approach) and Chemistry (both the Waldorf approach and a unit study approach).
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Homeschool Haul | History & Science
This is a smaller haul compared to the huge ones I have at the start of the year or mid-year, but it's still a lot of delicious homeschool goodies. We are planning for a few science main lesson blocks: mineralogy, oceanography, astronomy and physics, a few history blocks: Roman history, middle ages and maybe Greek mythology, and we'll round out the year with geometry and maybe creative writing.
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The Best Pencils in {my} World | CW Pencil Enterprise Haul
And here it is! Here is our second haul and after several months of using these amazing pencils from CW Pencil Enterprise, I can tell you we are loving the scented pencils and the Blackwing pencils which we bought in black, white and natural (each having a different hardness or smoothness).
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Homeschool Haul | History Units
Well here we are at the end of the school year and I have just one last homeschool haul to share with you. Actually, just as I posted this video, I saw that I had a few more books coming in so I'll have just a few more books to share with you. The materials in this haul are for our history and science units.
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Curriculum Haul | California History
California history including the gold rush make up this unit. It's a mix of biographies, historical fiction, resource books, kits and a 'how to draw' book. I think I'm most looking forward to the kit we got for panning for gold. We also really like the 'Who Was..." books for their simplicity, content and illustrations.
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Curriculum Haul | American Revolution
Of all the units we've put together, I think I've gotten the most supplies for this one! So much that I had to split it up into multiple units: Columbus, the Pilgrims, the American Revolution, the Civil War & Slavery, the Westward Movement, the Lewis & Clark Expedition and ending with California History and the Gold Rush.
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Homeschool Haul | Living Books
Well it's a happy day when you get a homeschool haul and you didn't realize you even ordered anything, er, I mean you forgot you ordered things...
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Homeschool Haul | A Child’s Dream
When it comes to homeschooling and educational supplies, A Child’s Dream is one vendor I’ve been shopping at for years. As we conclude our final years, I’m sharing some materials that have been especially useful throughout our years of education.
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Curriculum Haul | Lewis & Clark Expedition & Western Movement | American History | Living Books
Pulling together books for our American History Unit, I knew I wanted a substantial amount of material on the Lewis and Clark expedition.
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Homeschool Haul | Ancient China
This is the last homeschool haul of 2020-2021. These last items came in a week or two after my previous haul and were supposed to be part of it. This haul is just books and a few of them are hand-me down.
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Female Role Models in Science & More | 20 Women who Rocked the World | Picture Books
Here are 20 female role models who are sure to inspire girls and women. Women should be celebrated every day, but on March 8th, International Women's Day, it's a must to acknowledge the courage, perseverance and dedication of women in history who have paved the way for discovery and change.
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Physics Lab Materials | Homeschool Science Haul
I've assembled a number of supplies for us to use for our upcoming physics lessons. For physics main lesson block involves doing a demonstration each lesson, followed by drawing and writing about it in the following lessons.
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CRAFT + HOMESCHOOL HAUL | Over The River Felt
Looking for felt that's of better quality than the acrylic felt from craft stores but more affordable than 100% wool felt? How about a wool blend? Or bamboo felt! I found Over The River Felt during a search on Amazon and later contacted the company to see if they'd like to donate products for my felt comparison video.
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Curriculum Haul | American Civil War
While putting together our units for history this year, I discovered that this unit on the American Civil War and Slavery was quite a bit smaller than our other units. After shooting this video, I went to Rainbow Resource and ordered more supplement material to complement this unit. I ordered historical play figures, books and games.
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Yarn Haul
New yarn means new projects, and before I got to filming this haul, we already got started on our new projects. We are busy knitting away during these cooler months with longer nights and cozy days.
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Book Haul
Our homeschool runs on books among other things. Having a home library takes time and money to put together. While there are many books I buy new, there are many I buy second hand from thrift stores or the library bookstore. I have my eye out for certain kinds of books, so it's become easy to for me to browse the books and pull the ones I think will work for us.
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Mercurius Art Materials
Artistic representations of lessons is a common practice in Waldorf education. Often, main lessons will include an illustration. While we have used various art mediums from chalks to watercolors, we often settle with color pencils in middle school and crayons in the early years.
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Ramadan Haul | Islamic Books and Resources
When my children were young, there were a small selection of Islamic picture books for children and a few innovative books and journals for young adults. I'm exceedingly pleased that the variety has grown tremendously in the last couple decades.
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Felt Haul & Sewing Kits | ThreadFollower
Is winter time a creative time for you? With shorter cooler days, I find myself indoors more and having the supplies to get creative helps explore the creative bug that takes over during these months.
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Mini Homeschool Haul
Enjoy these late additions to our homeschool haul! These are a few items I purchased for our Anatomy and Chemistry Main lesson blocks with the exception of Oceanarium which I plan to use for our opening activities.
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HUGE Thrifted BOOK Haul | Unbelievable Price!
Because we buy most of our homeschool supplies through our charter school, I don't usually buy things on our own. Today is an exception! While at the library, we visited the bookstore and discovered they were right in the middle of a huge sale!
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Curious George Early Readers
Who doesn't love the Curious George series! These are the level 1 and level 2 readers from Rainbow Resource. They have simple storylines, bright illustrations and come with activities included at the back of the book that relates to the story.
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STORYTIME + THRIFTED BOOK HAUL
Since starting our unit studies, I know which books to look for. The library bookstore is suddenly a treasure trove of education material available for great deals for those who wish to sift through the thousands of books they offer. I go directly to the kids section and browse the non-fiction books.
Homeschool Haul
HUGE Homeschool HAUL | Curriculum & MORE
Grab a cup of coffee or hot chocolate because this is a massive curriculum haul! You won't find a curriculum haul quite like this, I promise. Curriculum for our homeschool is any material we use to enhance our homeschool experience from literature to hands-on materials.
I’m showing supplies from Nature Watch, Rainbow Resource and A Child’s Dream.
Check out the links below for all the products we got from A Child’s Dream.
Wood Doll with Pre-Drilled Arm Holes – Review this product
Wood Finger Puppet with Pipe Cleaner Arms – Review this product
Extra Paint Jar – Review this product
Stockmar Beeswax Crayons – 16 Colors, Block – Review this product
Stockmar Beeswax Crayons – 16 Colors, Stick – Review this product
Main Lesson or Journal Book – Small – Review this product
Mercurius Blackboard Pastel Chalk – Review this product
Stockmar Decorating Wax – Narrow – Review this product
Wood Acorns (6) – Review this product
Folia Origami Paper – Review this product
Wee Wood Bowls (6) – Review this product
Holland Wool Felt Neutral, Baby Colors, Yards + Cuts – Review this product
Lamb’s Pride Wool Yarn Monochromatic Colors – Review this product
Handpaint Wool Finger Knitting Yarn – Bulky – Review this product
Lamb’s Pride Wool Yarn Doll Hair Colors – Review this product
Knitting Tower – Review this product
Merino Wool Top – Ounce – Review this product
Finger Puppet Bases (5) – Review this product
Felted Treasure Pumpkin Kit – Review this product
Wood Peg Doll – Large (10) – Review this product
Wood Peg Doll – Female (8) – Review this product
Wood Peg Doll – Small (12) – Review this product
Wood Peg Doll – Tiny (12) – Review this product
Wood Peg Doll – Bunting Baby (10) – Review this product
Unvarnished Wood Beads – Review this product
Cotton Pipe Cleaners – Review this product
Alene’s Tacky Glue – Review this product
Corriedale Wool Sampler – Rainbow Jewel – Review this product
Holland Wool Felt Swatch Card – Review this product
Decorating Wax Cutter Set – Review this product
Lyra Opaque Watercolor Paint Set – 24 Colors – Review this product
Watercolor Painting Sponge – Review this product
Wood Bean Cups (5) – Review this product
Fairy or Gnome House Building Kit – Review this product
Create a Story Cards – Mystery in the Forest – Review this product
Race to the Treasure Cooperative Board Game – Review this product
Gathering a Garden Board Game – Review this product
Earth Science Flash Cards – Review this product
Sarah’s Silks Play Silks – Review this product
Wooden Toy Wheels – 1.5″ – Review this product
Wooden Toy Wheels – 1.75″ – Review this product
Short Wood Dowel – Review this product
Wynstones Book: Autumn – Review this product
Wynstones Book: Winter – Review this product
Wild & Tame Needlefelt Animals by Yamazaki – Review this product
Creative Silk Pack – Coastal Waters – Review this product
The Pumpkin Painter – Review this product
What’s Hiding in There? – Lift the Flap Book – Review this product
Mermaid Island Cooperative Board Game – Review this product
Dinosaur Escape Cooperative Game – Review this product
Alphabet Go Fish! Card Game – Review this product
The Fairy Game Cooperative Game – Review this product
The Memory Palace Cooperative Game – Review this product
Here’s what we got from Nature Watch:
Natural Tree Blocks (824) https://www.nature-watch.com/natural-tree-blocks-36-blocks-with-bag-p-979.html
Forest Forever Activity Kits (144) https://www.nature-watch.com/forests-forever-activity-kit-p-38.html
Root Observation Station Activity Kit (154) https://www.nature-watch.com/root-observation-station-activity-kit-p-48.html
Tree Discs (201) https://www.nature-watch.com/tree-cookies-or-tree-discs-or-cross-section-of-tree-p-53.html
The Bumblebee Queen Book (603W) https://www.nature-watch.com/the-bumblebee-queen-book-p-1305.html
Food Doesn’t Grow in Supermarkets Kit (163) https://www.nature-watch.com/food-doesn-t-grow-in-supermarkets-activity-kit-p-1831.html
Explore Honey Bees Book (653A) https://www.nature-watch.com/explore-honey-bees-book-p-1860.html
Forest in a Box (507R) https://www.nature-watch.com/forest-in-a-box-p-436.html
Native Plant Stories Book (601U) https://www.nature-watch.com/native-plant-stories-p-1666.html
Ancient Artists Activity Kit (102S) https://www.nature-watch.com/ancient-artists-activity-kit-p-2.html
Djembe Drum (319P) https://www.nature-watch.com/djembe-drum-p-1843.html
Professor Noggin’s Oceans Card Game (316A) https://www.nature-watch.com/life-in-the-ocean-card-game-p-203.html
Professor Noggin’s Space Card Game (316C) https://www.nature-watch.com/outer-space-card-game-p-205.html
Professor Noggin’s Wildlife of North America Card Game (316E) https://www.nature-watch.com/wildlife-of-north-america-card-game-p-207.html
Professor Noggin’s Geography of US Card Game (316Y) https://www.nature-watch.com/geography-of-the-u-s-card-game-p-217.html
Knot Tying Kit (502W) https://www.nature-watch.com/knot-tying-kit-p-1341.html
Meet the Planets Book (603Z) https://www.nature-watch.com/meet-the-planets-book-p-1334.html
The Barn Owls Book (603X) https://www.nature-watch.com/the-barn-owls-book-p-1316.html
The Practical Naturalist Book (607V) https://www.nature-watch.com/the-practical-naturalist-p-1460.html
Mine Rough, 1 pound (266D) https://www.nature-watch.com/mine-rough-p-1771.html
The Prairie That Nature Built Book (601D) https://www.nature-watch.com/the-prairie-that-nature-built-p-1695.html
Honeycomb Candle Activity Kit (133) https://www.nature-watch.com/honeycomb-candle-activity-kit-p-27.html
Nature-Watch Homeschool Nature Craft Kits (includes all single packs) https://www.nature-watch.com/homeschool-nature-craft-kits-c-142_206.html
Waldorf Supplies for Homeschool & Classroom
Hands down the most beautiful homeschool supplies are the ones you'll find at Waldorf suppliers. Not only are the items fairly unique to most academic settings, the colors and materials are breathtaking. You can't help but smile when you see them, and using them will make your heart sing.
Today we replenish some old favorite supplies and add some new ones to our homeschool. We purchased material from our two favorite Waldorf vendors: Waldorf Supplies and A Child's Dream. You can find more info below.
Check out how we are using these materials in our Grade 1 Playlist.
Here is are products and links from A Child's Dream:
Rainbow Cotton Playcloth - no longer available
Sky Blue, Rose, Orange Playcloths - no longer available
My Little Matching Game - no longer available
Stockmar Decorating Wax Narrow
Silken Ribbons - no longer available
Undyed Wool Yarn Worsted Weight
Metal Ring for Weaving and Mobiles
From Waldorf Supplies:
Kindergarten Curriculum Haul | Waldorf
I think the first thing that striking about the Waldorf kindergarten curriculum from Live-Education is the absence of any 'academic' work. There are no workbooks, textbooks or even read aloud books. Instead the curriculum is filled with stories to tell, songs to sing, music to listen to, crafts to do, and toys to play with. The natural rhythm of the day is enhanced with imaginative stories and pretend play with child-sized brooms, ironing boards, wooden trucks and simple dolls. Meals are events celebrated with an opening verse. They are varied with flavored, wholesome and thoroughly enjoyed. The toys are simple and all natural.
All supplies are from A Child's Dream.
The complete list of products are as follows:
Art Tissue Paper - Review this product
Stockmar Beeswax Crayons - 16 Colors, Block - Review this product
Stockmar Beeswax Crayons - 16 Colors, Stick - Review this product
Beeswax Candle Rolling Kit - Review this product
Wood Cup (4) - Review this product
Wood Egg (6) - Review this product
Olive Wood Nutcracker - Review this product
Paint Jar Holder & 6 Jars - Review this product
Crafts Through The Year by Berger - Review this product
Holland Wool Felt Warm Colors, Yards + Cuts - Review this product
Holland Wool Felt Cool Colors, Yards + Cuts - Review this product
Holland Wool Felt Neutral, Baby Colors, Yards + Cuts - Review this product
Stockmar Modeling Beeswax - 12 Colors - Review this product
Come Follow Me CD - Volume One - Review this product
Come Follow Me CD - Volume Two - Review this product
Finger Puppet Bases (5) - Review this product
Wood Peg Doll - Large (10) - Review this product
Wood Peg Doll - Female (8) - Review this product
Smooth Mohair Yarn - Undyed - Review this product
Lyra Opaque Watercolor Paint Set - 24 Colors - Review this product
Beeswax Pumpkin Candle - Review this product
Sail Boat Building Kit - Review this product
Wind Car Building Kit - Review this product
Respect the Spindle Book by Abby Franquemont - Review this product
Stockmar Watercolor Paints - Set - Review this product
Making Peg Dolls & More by Margaret Bloom - Review this product
Paper Suncatchers - Window Stars Kit - Review this product
Numerica - A Waldorf Book of Counting - Review this product
LMNOP Alphabet Book by Howard Schrager - Review this product
LMNOP Alphabet Wall Cards - Review this product
Mini Playhouse Kit - Review this product
Creative Silk Pack - Winter Night Sky - Review this product
Wood Gnome with Pipe Cleaner Arms - Review this product
Wood Doll with Pipe Cleaner Arms - Review this product
Wood Finger Puppet with Pipe Cleaner Arms - Review this product
Paint brushes are from Waldorf Supplies and the Broom set by Melissa and Doug is from Rainbow Resource
Mercurius Haul
Watercolor Paper Mercurius 150 gsm. A medium weight, watercolor paper, suitable for all painting boards. For best results use a smooth surface. Available in a smaller size and counts of 100 and 200 sheets. Acid-free.
I also used wax crayons during teacher training and loved the versatility of these crayons because they felt like color pencils. I went to buy them and accidently bought the wrong item. These oil crayons from the Danish company Filia have been a classic for decades. The lightfast colors are transparent and mix very well. They offer many interesting painting and drawing techniques. With a sponge and turpentine, it is possible to "watercolor paint" with these hard, oil crayons.
I also used wax crayons during teacher training and loved the versatility of these crayons because they felt like color pencils. I went to buy them and accidently bought the wrong item. These oil crayons from the Danish company Filia have been a classic for decades. The lightfast colors are transparent and mix very well. They offer many interesting painting and drawing techniques. With a sponge and turpentine, it is possible to "watercolor paint" with these hard, oil crayons.
I ended up getting color pencils by Koh-i-Noor and loved them! Progresso Lacquered Woodless Colored Pencils Box Koh-I-Noor. Progresso Woodless Colored Pencils have a thin outer coating in place of a wooden body. The color application is generous, allowing the artist to create multiple layers and to mix colors. Available in 12 or 24 assortments in a cardboard box. Cardboard box, 12 pencils, length: 6.1 inches (155 mm), diameter: 0.3 inch (7.5 mm), lacquered, 12 assorted colors. color: black | blue | brown | green | light blue | light green | magenta | orange | red | violet | white | yellow
Lyra Special Fine Art Pencil Set 12 Pack , Lyra Unlacquered Color Giant Skin Tones Assortment - 12 Assorted Skin Tones 12 Pack Graphite pencils, Graphite Charcoal pencils, and Drawing/Painting Paper 12.8" x17.3" 160 g 50 Sheets .
I love our Stockmar Paints and this time I got nearly every color! List of Stockmar watercolor paints Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
-Carmine Red Art. 85043001 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
-Vermilion Art. 85043002 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Golden Yellow Art. 85043004 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Lemon Yellow Art. 85043005 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Blue Green Art. 85043008 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Ultramarine Art. 85043010 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Red Violet (Purple) Art. 85043012 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Rust Art. 85043013 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Black Art. 85043015 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- White Art. 85043016 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Prussian Blue Art. 85043018 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Cobalt Blue Art. 85043019 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Indigo Art. 85043031 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Orange Art. 85043033 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Mauve Art. 85043034 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Turquoise Art. 85043035 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Sap Green Art. 85043036 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Burnt Sienna Art. 85043037 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Fire Red Art. 85043038 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- Circle Red Art. 85043051 Stockmar Watercolour Paint
- Florentine Red Art. 85043060 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
Book Haul | The Most Beautiful Books...Ever!
These are arguably the most beautiful books you've ever seen. The books by Katie Scott are magnificent! The vintage looking illustrations evoke a sense of being in a natural history museum. It's captivating and inspiring at the same time.
The Geology and Astronomy book is perfect for those wishing to do a Waldorf inspired curriculum and want to add to an existing curriculum or write one of their own. While this resource is phenomenal, it works best with other resources.
The Nature Anatomy book is wonderfully illustrated and perfect for those wanting to add more art to their homeschool or to have on hand as a resource book.
Geology and Astronomy by Charles Kovacs
Here’s the Botanicum book
Here's our Botany Main Lesson Block
Here's our Ocean Main Lesson Block
Huge Curriculum Haul | Homeschool
Check out our new curriculum supplies! Most supplies were purchased from Rainbow Resource.
Other vendors: Lakeshore, Apple and HP.
We live in California where we have many choices in education. We chose to enroll with a charter school that provides funding for educational materials and classes. Prior to joining our charter school we were homeschooling independently and paying for our supplies out of pocket (or getting them from the library or second-hand). There are highlights and challenges with every educational institution, so it’s best evaluate your choices and find an educational option that will work best for your family.
Want to know more about your educational choices in California?
You can also check out my blog post “School Options for California” for more information.
Dollar Tree Haul | Dollhouse Furniture
How cute are these dollhouse furniture pieces? And for only a dollar! If you are near a Dollar Tree, be sure to look for this dollhouse furniture because it’s well made, made from wood and has exquisite detail!
I was surprised so see such charming dollhouse furniture at the Dollar Tree, and made from wood no less! The pieces in the set (each sold separately) are a table, chair, tall dresser, short dresser, bed and tall side table. At least those are the pieces I found at one local Dollar Tree. The chairs have surprising detail. And for only a dollar, I was really impressed. I believe the wood is balsa wood, which means it is soft and possibly easily broken.
The tables look the most prone to breaking because of the long legs. The dresser drawers don’t open, which is fine by me and the details on the pieces make this furniture a real steal for only a dollar a piece. If your kids play rough with toys, then these are not for them. My daughter is usually pretty delicate with her toys, so I have confidence these will last. And if not, I can mend them with glue, something that’s not easily done with plastic toys.
Another nice thing about these furniture pieces is that they are made from wood which means they can be stained or painted. While my daughter wants to keep them natural right now, I think some diluted Lyra watercolor paints will be a nice way to personalize these pieces. We already altered the little bed with some wool and fabric and added a pillow. It was a simple way to add a personalized touch to store bought furniture.
Homeschool Haul | This one is really Big
It's that time of year again...back to school shopping! This isn't your typical back to school haul. This isn't your typical curriculum haul either. My homeschool hauls feature everything from educational toys to innovative science kits. I love hands on projects and love adding living books to our unit studies and main lesson blocks.
Today's haul features products from two of my favorite vendors:
A Child's Dream and Nature-Watch. You can find a complete list of all the products as well as links to all the products by visiting the blog post that accompanies this video.
In this video, I make a special announcement at 17:00
I encourage you to watch it. In a nutshell, I was less than thrilled with some of the products I got from Nature-Watch. I called them the following day and the phone barely rang before it was answered by the friendly voice of Jeff. Being used to it taking forever to actually get in contact with a real person these days, I was pleased. The customer service at Nature-Watch is one of the best I've encountered. Jeff was cordial and attentive and immediately got the forms ready to help me return whichever items I wished. He acknowledged and reflected my dissatisfaction with some of the products. He also shared with me that nature science is a small niche in education and it generally overshadowed by the core subjects. It is Nature-Watch's aim to provide as well as produce educational material for the nature sciences. Because they want to be both affordable and leave as small as footprint as possible, some materials are basic rather than high quality so as to produce products that are both affordable and limit waste.
I encourage you to check out my last curriculum haul in which I feature many of products from Nature-Watch. You can also see many videos in which we use these products in our Spring Nature units: Bees and Honey and our Botany Main Lesson block.
This curriculum haul features products from Nature Watch and A Child’s Dream.
List of things I'm returning:
Ocean Bingo
Rock Bingo
Bee puppet
Acrylic Block
Arachnid Display
Moth display
Rock and Mineral Challenge
Make-a-Bat
Constellation game
We live in California and homeschool through a charter school that provides families with educational funding to buy educational materials. These items were purchased using school funding and accompany our Live-Education Waldorf curriculum. The Waldorf curriculum encourages the use of high quality materials and there is an emphasis on open ended materials that inspires creativity and the imagination.
For a limited time you can get the Astronomy main lesson books on sale!!
HOMESCHOOL SUPPLIES HAUL | MidYear Curriculum Haul
Twice a year, we make large curriculum and homeschool purchases. While few of the items were actual necessities, they are all educational and inspirational. We do a lot of hands on learning in our homeschool so half of what we order are materials for projects and activities and the other half are books!
This haul includes materials from Amazon, A Child’s Dream, Rainbow Resource and Gardeners.
The materials we bought support our history and science units for the year. You can find out what we’re doing in those units by checking out the playlist for our Butterfly unit, Bees unit and our Middle Ages Unit.
I have used beeswax from a few vendors and I want to share my top two favorite. The first is Topanga quality beeswax by Bennett’s Farm. I love this beeswax the best! Recently, I tried Texas Beeswax, Shea Butter and Cocoa Butter and I have to say, I’m exceedingly pleased with quality of these items too. From Amazon, I also got a series of books by Aaron Becket and Torben Kuhlmann. The illustrations in both series is phenomenal. And while these books are easily found at the library, I’m thrilled to own them. We also purchased several Take-Along Guide books for our various nature units.
This is our first time purchasing from Gardeners. From this vendor we got various organic seeds for our garden, an awesome planting ruler guide, and a DIY kit for making seedling starter pots. We also got three things we’ve bought before from another vendor: A Mushroom Kit, a Mozzarella Kit and a Cheese Kit. I’m super super excited about these three kits. I’ve been wanting to make homemade cheese again ever since we did back in 2012 when we not only experimented with making cheese, we also make kefir, vinegar, yogurt and kimchi.
One of my all time favorite vendors is A Child’s Dream. Aside from loving their natural wooden toys and wool felt, you’ll find just about every other material needed for handwork from wool yarn to knitting needles. And while this is a smaller haul than normal, I have to say, we’ve amassed a nice size collection of handwork supplies.
Rainbow Resource has been a homeschool staple in our home for over a decade. They have by far the best selection of homeschool material and curriculum. The only thing I’m cautious of is buying science curriculum as they are a Christian vendor and carry a wide assortment of Christian themed material which is especially relevant when it comes to science curriculum. While I have an extensive array of Medieval Times material for our homeschool main lesson block, it didn’t stop me from adding a few more books, projects and kits.
This is not a sponsored video. All these materials were purchased by our family using educational funding provided by our charter school.
DETAILED Waldorf BOOK HAUL + I LOVE These Books!!!
This is more than a book haul. I give you snippets of info into the Waldorf philosophy and how we intend to use these books. The concepts in these books are nothing new to us; we done form drawing, watercolor painting and movement math, but these books are going to help provide more background information and definitely boost the inspiration. I'm super excited about them!!
A special thank you to all of you who have already shared the form drawing books online. Seeing them was the reason why I went to Amazon to buy them. Of course, Amazon then suggested other books, and I was immediately sucked in. A couple hundred dollars later, you have this: the most exciting book haul of our school year....hands down.
Here are some of the books we got:
Creative Form Drawing with Children ages 6-10: Workbook 1
Creative Form Drawing with Children Aged 10–12 Years: Workbook 2
Spelling by Hand: Teaching Spelling in a Waldorf School, a Guide for Class Teachers
Word Mastery Primer: For First and Second Graders
Colour Dynamics: Workbook for Water Colour Painting and Colour Theory
Painting and Drawing in Waldorf Schools: Classes 1 to 8
US History Curriculum | High School
Finding high school material for a highschooler that wasn’t a traditional textbook was not easy to find. This series of books by Joy Hakim covers US history from pre-history to 2008 in 10 well-written and illustrated volumes. The 11th volume is source book with original sources and documents to supplement the series or to be used on its own. You can also supplement these books with workbooks special designed to complete each volume in two grade levels! One set is suitable for students 5th-8th grade and the second level is for high school.
Looking for a complete history of the US? I have five American History series that would be suitable for all elementary and high school. The History of US by Joy Hakim would work for students as young as 5th grade through high school. The books are sold separately or as a set and you can also purchase student workbooks and teaching guides to accompany each volume.
Don’t forget to check out the American History Curriculum Haul Playlist. You can get the complete list of materials we are using for all our American History Units by click here or visiting my Teachers Pay Teachers page.
Homeschool Haul | Living Books + Unit Study + Waldorf Supplies
Oh my! New books are here as well as main lesson notebooks, fountain pens, hands-on kits and much more! Dive into these new materials with me! Many are from Amazon, but the Waldorf supplies are from my favorite Waldorf vendor: A Child’s Dream.
At the start of the year, and then several times throughout the year, I buy materials for our main lesson blocks (unit studies). While I have a general idea of what I want, I’m using getting inspiration from what I find at my favorite retailers. When it comes to homeschool material, Rainbow Resource is my favorite, for Waldorf material, I love A Child’s Dream and Waldorf Supplies. For books, Amazon! But not because they have the best prices, because let’s be honest, they don’t always have the best price, but because their book recommendations and availability are top notch. While I’d much prefer to support smaller book sellers, sometimes out of convenience, I’m shopping at Amazon.
Here is a list of the unit studies in which these materials have been used or the units they go with. We have our Bird Unit which I loved doing and a few of these books will be added to that unit. We also did a smaller, yet very engaging Owl Unit. I found some beautiful titles at he Inspired Muslim Mama’s Instagram account. Go check her out because her things are breathtaking. And lastly, we have a book or two being added to our Bee Unit from this haul.
We also have a horse unit coming up! I love the way our horse unit is shaping up and I can’t wait to share that with you.
In this haul, we also got Portrait main lesson books, Landscape main lesson books, the Birthday book, and a couple Horse kits we already started using which are awesome! So awesome, we bought another one! This is the first year we are officially adding Legos to our homeschool in an educational capacity and my children are thrilled with the addition.
Massive Homeschool BOOK Haul + Price Reveal
Twice a year, we place huge homeschool orders and this time is for a number of books. Curious to see the books and the contents? Plus the total price? I'll show you each book, tell you why we chose it and how it will be used in our homeschool and most importantly, I'll show you the insides of all these books! I find it difficult to order books online, since it's hard to ascertain whether or not a book will meet our needs. Even with scanning the insides of a book, it's still tough knowing whether a book will work well or not. Since this is not a review video, I can't tell you too much about each book, but at the conclusion of each unit or main lesson block, I'll share my review of the materials we used including the books.
Want to see a specific part of this book haul?
0:55 Waldorf Books
13:07 Picture Books
31:36 Assorted Books
Here are some of the main lesson blocks and unit studies that these books would accompany:
Mineralogy
Botany
Ocean Main Lesson Block
List of books with photos and links
Homeschool Haul | Fun Supplies for HOMESCHOOLING
This may look like a big homeschool haul but compared to my previous homeschool hauls, I call this a medium sized one. I'm purchasing items mostly for our science units. I do stock up on supplies for our handwork projects this year which will include embroidery work, knitting and wet felting. I also got a number of books and projects for my 7-year-old like the books by author illustrated Elsa Beskow. I also some old favorites from Nature-Watch like the candle rolling kit and the seashell kit. We also replenished supplies like paper, main lesson books and color pencils from Waldorf Supplies. Other paper and art supplies came from Blick and we rounded out this haul with things from Amazon.
You can find the vendors down below.
In case you're new, I'd like say that we are with a charter school in California which caters to homeschoolers. We receive educational funding to purchase material for school. All the items in today's haul were purchased using funding.
Curious about the Seashell kit? You can see it in detail here.
Nature-Watch has a fantastic assortment of materials including original classroom and homeschool kits. You can see the ones we've used and loved here in this YouTube Playlist.
Want to see our complete Homeschool plans for 2018-2019, check it out here.
Check out Lacy Arrowsmith's Instagram! You won't be disappointed.
Check out one of my favorite homeschooling YouTuber's Challice at Sodbuster Living.
You can find the wax I like from this vendor The Bennett’s Honey Farm.
I got material from the following vendors: Amazon, Nature Watch, Waldorf Supplies, Blick.
Waldorf Homeschool Haul
It's that time of the year again! I place our curriculum and homeschool orders just before school starts and again in the winter. There's no better way to brighten your school with these rich colored supplies! The wool felt our favorite go-to supply for many of the homeschool projects we do. Other familiar products are the stockmar block and stick crayons which we are using almost daily in our form drawing and block crayon coloring. We had to replenish our supplies of peg dolls and even ordered the super size ones for the first time. We got more Lyra opaque watercolors, thin sheets of beeswax for modeling and two more honeycomb candle rolling kits. We also got plant dyed silks and felt for the first time and a straw star kit we are excited to try. We got book 2 and 4 of our Gnome book Tales of Limindoor Forest. We got more origami supplies and a book to help us on that journey as well as a book on sewing stuffed animals. The kits by Threadfollower were a hit, so we bought three more! Some wool for felting and other felting supplies rounded out our haul.
Check out some of the video tutorials where you can see these products in action:
You can find all these delicious inspiring supplies at A Child's Dream.
Find Snowflake Forest Here (sadly this is no longer available)
Here is the stitching video for a sea star project we did during our Ocean main lesson block
Here's our seahorse project
The Dino Kit from ThreadFollower
Layers of the Earth geology project
Some notes about wool from Debbie at A Child's Dream:
The 3 wools we offer are Merino (classified as a fine wool), Corriedale (classed as a medium wool) , and Romney (a coarse wool - our Wilde Wool is Romney wool). They're all different types of fibers with different qualities with one being better in one application over another. NOT one necessarily a better wool over another.
Merino has short fibers or staple length and is very soft. It is a fast wet felter but a very slow needle felter and challenging for beginner spinners because of the short staple length.
Corriedale is longer, is great for beginner spinners, great for beginning wet felting since it doesn't felt so fast you can't control what you're doing, and great for needle felting, too. Corriedale is a good multipurpose wool and is what comes in the WoolPets kits we love and sell.
Romney is coarse and is what our Wilde Wool is. It's not as soft as Merino or Corriedale and is a very fast needle felting fiber. My customers doing production work gravitate to the Wilde Wool. It wet felts but it takes longer to do so we advise against using this for felting with children. It spins nicely and it's coarseness makes it a durable yarn that you wouldn't want to use against the skin but maybe for rugs or that sort of thing.
Waldorf and Montessori Educational Haul | Treasures by Jennifer | Math & Arabic Letters
These wooden educational products by Treasures from Jennifer are some of the most beautiful pieces in our homeschool room. They are well made, durable and all natural. They are also expensive and take up lots of room. These items accompany our math main lesson blocks. We use them to practice the multiplication table, number facts, and more. These items are primarily for my 9-year-old daughter, but the geometry materials will be used by both my 13-year-old son and my daughter.
American History Books | All Grades | Homeschool
Looking for a complete history of the US? I have five American History series that would be suitable for all elementary and high school. The History of US by Joy Hakim would work for students as young as 5th grade through high school. The books are sold separately or as a set and you can also purchase student workbooks and teaching guides to accompany each volume.
You can get the complete list of materials we are using for all our American History Units by click here or visiting my Teachers Pay Teachers page.
Homeschool Haul
We’ve come to the end of the school year and with that, the last homeschool haul of the year. While I’ll still have other hauls planned for the following year, they won’t be as extensive as the ones you’ve seen in the past. Needless to say, we have more than enough resources for this year and the years to come, and for next year, we have something different planned with our funding.
Today’s haul is from Rainbow Resource, A Child’s Dream and Amazon.
While some products are new, many are repeats of things we love and have used in the past like the Professor Noggin’s trivia games, the Texas beeswax and the felt, yarn and ribbons from A Child’s Dream.
New for us which I’m excited to try out are the Mushroom kit (we got a similar one from Gardener’s), the Flower Press from A Child’s Dream and the Owl Pellets Kit from Rainbow Resource. These materials will be used for our Spring Nature units as well as our Middle Ages unit.
Why buy books when you can get them from the library? It’s a question I get often, since I tend to buy our books for homeschool rather than check them out from the library. But it wasn’t always like that. I used to check them out from the library in the past, too.
Why the change? And is it right for you? In case you don’t know, we homeschool in California through a charter school. Each year we are allocated funding to buy educational supplies or take academic classes. I started buying our homeschool books rather than checking them out from the library when it became increasingly difficult to source all the books I wanted.
Not to mention, I couldn’t guarantee I would get all the books in time for our units and main lesson blocks. Then there would be some we wanted to keep longer than the check out period and overall these challenges caused a lot of stress. So, I decided to change all that. I started buying the books we wanted to use for our units, even if we only used them once (though really we’ve used these books multiple times).
I found that I could find a wider variety of books from book sellers online than at my local library, even with transfers. Aside from the ease, there’s one more major reason why we buy our books rather than check them out. I love having the opportunity to support these authors, publishers and illustrators. The books I buy are not best sellers, but we need them to be available, and we want more! By my small efforts to support and share them, I hope we keep on getting amazing, beautiful and inspiring books to use in our homeschool.
The books today are from Amazon. We bought Bees, A Honeyed History, Sea Bear, Whales, and Illustrated Celebration, Lovely Beasts, and many more.
We plan to use these books for our spring units. While we’ve already done one on Bees and Honey, Botany and Butterflies, if we do anymore lessons in those units, we’ll add the lessons to the video playlist.
If you want to know who inspired part of this book haul, head over to Lacy Arrowsmith’s instagram!
Homeschool Haul | Target Dollar Spot
Want to get a lot for a little? Check out the new products at Target's Dollar Spot. There's a new range of school supplies, office supplies, calendars and Valentine products. With most things ringing up at just a dollar, these supplies are worth it!
Want to check out my sister's channel? Click here.
Want to see my crafty haul from the dollar spot? Click here Sorry, this video is no longer available.
The Montessori letters I was talking about can be found here.
Homeschool Haul | Living Books & More!
It’s that time of year again…the time where my wishlist is bursting and finally books and resources are being moved from the wishlist to the shopping cart and what follows after that is pure happiness as all these inspiring supplies start trickling in. Since all our supplies didn’t come in at once, you can click the links below for the other homeschool hauls for the start of this year. And as always, you can check out the units that these materials are for. For more info the materials we purchased using our homeschool educational funding, you can check out the blog post on my website that accompanies this video where you’ll find pictures of all the materials we got as well links to my favorite vendors.
Check out our other homeschool hauls.
Check out our Bird unit study.
Check out GoodTreeHomeschool on Instagram. Angie showcases fabulous living books.
I love picture book biographies! Here’s a video of several female role models in science and more.
When putting together a history (and units in general) unit, I look for books/resources in the following topic areas:
History (famous people, timeline history, historical events)
Biographies (picture books work great for biographies)
Geography (a single atlas book does fine)
Historical fiction (a great way to get your history/culture in a fun book)
Culture/food/clothing (cook up a dish from the time period)
Audio books/songs (music from the time period is fun to listen to)
Projects/Activities (pre-made kits are a go-to staple around here)
Games (Professor Noggins are our favorite)
Workbooks (use sparingly or skip and do narrations)
Picture books (surprisingly informative & fun)
Activity and project books (Lauri Carlson has several)
Science/math (adding other subjects rounds out your unit)
Check out our complete Owl Unit Study with videos on how we put this unit together, the resources we used and the projects we did. You can also check out our larger Bird Unit Study which includes more projects and resources.
Book Haul | Charlotte Mason Living Books | Homeschool Haul
Every time I think I’m done buying books, I find more I think I like. In some cases, I see other homeschoolers using these gems in their homeschool and decide we want to add them to our library. Other times, Amazon recommends books based on our purchases and what other customers bought. Enter the world of algorithms. So far, the books (and let’s face it products) Amazon has recommended have been really good offers! On occasion, I’m disappointed, but not because the book isn’t fabulous, it’s because the books is not what I expected or it’s too young for our needs.
Now that my youngest is 9 years old, I’m beyond adding the super basic picture books to the mix. I think they are wonderful additions if you have preschool aged children and you are homeschooling older children, as everyone can enjoy the simplified picture book. But when the book doesn’t contain enough content, then it’s just a pretty picture book and those have their place, but they are no longer needed in our homeschool.
That’s what happened in this haul. I ended up with a few books that were too juvenile for our needs. In general, I find picture books to be undervalued and overlooked as educational resources. I usually find them to be beautifully written and illustrated, informative and simple. To be clear, I find them simply written but not dumbed down. Often I find them to be informative to students and teachers. And more often than not, picture books take big topics in history and science (and more) and speak about them in a way that’s understandable to parents and children. I love adding picture books as main resources in our homeschool main lesson blocks and unit studies because we all learn so much, it brings up together and we enjoy the illustrations.
High School English Curriculum
When choosing English literature books for my 9th grader, I looked for ones with a historical theme, set in a time period we were studying or were American classics. That way, the books my son was reading for English complemented his US History studies.
I chose a variety of books ranging in grade level from junior high through high school. There is a mix of classics, historic fiction and biographies ranging in time period from the 1700’s to the 1900’s. I don’t expect my son to complete this extensive book list, but I do hope to make a good dent in this stack of books! So far, he is excited when books related to one another is some way. He’ll say, “Oh I know Benedict Arnold, he was in My Brother Sam Is Dead.” or “Oh, Common Sense, I read about it in history!” And I’m thinking, “yeah, I did that on purpose.” 🙂
Homeschool Supplies for Waldorf Main Lesson Blocks
This may look like a big homeschool haul but compared to my previous homeschool hauls, I call this a medium sized one. I'm purchasing items mostly for our science units. I do stock up on supplies for our handwork projects this year which will include embroidery work, knitting and wet felting. I also got a number of books and projects for my 7-year-old like the books by author illustrated Elsa Beskow. I also some old favorites from Nature-Watch like the candle rolling kit and the seashell kit. We also replenished supplies like paper, main lesson books and color pencils from Waldorf Supplies. Other paper and art supplies came from Dick Blick and we rounded out this haul with things from Amazon.
Check out Lacy Arrowsmith's Instagram! You won't be disappointed.
Check out one of my favorite homeschooling YouTuber's Challice at Sodbuster Living.
You can find the wax I like from this vendor The Bennett’s Honey Farm.
I got material from the following vendors: Amazon, Nature Watch, Waldorf Supplies, Blick.
Curriculum Material for Native American Unit Study
I debated whether I should have a separate unit for Native American Indians because the stories and history of the Native Americans spans the whole history of the US. This is a small compilation of supplies that would stand alone as a unit, but what would be more authentic is to distribute these materials over all our other American History unit, as currently each unit only has a little bit of relevant Native American material.
While most of these supplies came from Rainbow Resource, there are a few books that were hand-me-down. Our Indian Fire Drill was purchased many years ago (possibly from a museum gift shop), but looks like something a crafter or woodworker could make. Don’t forget to check out the complete playlist!
You can get the complete list of materials we are using for all our American History Units by click here or visiting my Teachers Pay Teachers page.
Here’s a complete list of the materials we used for our Native American Unit:
The Native American Book of Knowledge by White Deer of Autumn
Book of information and mythology
Grade Level 3rd grade and up
Reading level 6th grade and up
Custer’s Fall: The Indian Side of the Story by David Humphrey’s Miller
Dense. 1800’s
Grade level: High school
Reading level: High School
In Their Own Words: Pocahontas by George Sullivan
With illustrations, 1600’s
Grade Level: 2nd grade and up
Reading level: 5th grade and up
North American Indians by Marie and Douglas Gorsline
Picture book, nice illustrations
Grade level: KG and up
Reading level: 5th grade and up
Picture book, legend
Grade Level: KG and up
Reading Level: 6th grade and up
Explore Native American Cultures! By Anita Yasuda
Project and activity book. 25 projects. Includes information, vocabulary and activities with supplies list
Grade Level: 1st and up
Reading Level: 4th grade
Resource book
Grade level: 4th and up
Reading level 7th and up
North American Indian Tales by W.T. Larnerd
Picture book
Grade level: KG and up
Reading level: 4th and up
If you lived with Indians of the Northwest Coast by Anne Kamma
Easy read, lightly illustrated
Grade level: KG and up
Reading level: 5th and up
If you lived with Sioux Indians by Anne McGovern
Easy read, lightly illustrated
Grade level: KG and up
Reading level: 5th and up
Historical Fiction:
American Indians:
Remember My Name by Sara Banks
Female main character
Grade level 2nd grade and up
Reading level 6th grade and up
Kitaq Goes Ice Fishing by Margaret Nicolai
Picture Book, beautifully illustrated
Grade level: KG and up
Reading Level 5th grade and up
Island of the Blue Dolphin by Scott O’Dell
California, Indians, girl
Grade level: 2nd and up
Reading level: 5th grade and up
Boy Book of Indian Warriors and Heroic Women by Edwin Sabin
Grade level: 5th and up
Reading level 7th and up
Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
Grade level: 2nd and up
Reading level: 5th and up
Moho Wat: Sheepherder boy attempts a rescue by Kenneth Thomasma
Grade level: 2nd and up
Reading level: 5th and up
Kunu: Winnebago boy Escapes by Kenneth Thomasma
Grade level: 2nd and up
Reading level: 5th and up
Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Grade level: 4th and up
Reading level 6th and up
Activity Books/Supplements:
American Indians:
More Than Moccasins Activity Book by Lauri Carlson
Grade level: 2nd and up
Reading level 5th and up
Games and Pretend Play:
American Indians:
Dig, Discover and Display: Indian Relics
Grades 4th and up
Easy to make Indian Teepee village
Cut apart book
Grade level: 2nd and up
Cut apart book to make Pueblo Village
Grade level 2nd and up
Leather material to make headband
Audio CDs:
American Indian:
Audio CD-Native American Heroes
Games and Pretend Play:
Cowboys and Indians:
Wild West Mounted Cowboys and Indians
Plastic figures-pretend play
Grade level: KG and up
Plastic figures
Grade level: KG and up
Jumbo Wild West Cowboys and Indians Play Set
Plastic figurines playset
Grade level: KG and up
Wild West Cowboys and Indians Battle Bucket
Plastic figurines playset
Grade level: KG and up
Summer Read Alouds
Do you recall the opening pages of the book Half Magic? The children trek to the library at the start of summer and collect more books than they can carry. They walk home and set their books up and begin reading. Those hot lazy days just invite hanging out on the front porch with a book and a tall glass of iced lemonade.
That image has stayed with them ever since I read that book for the first time, and now as summer is upon us, I've longer to collect a stack of books to work through with my children on those late afternoons when the day is coming to a close and we've had our fun. That's not the only reason why I've collected a series of books. Because we read so much during the school year and because so many of our books and fiction novels are related to our units and main lesson blocks, we miss out on reading some of the more enjoyable classics that define American childhood.
Also, when my boys were young (they are now 11, 16, and 19), we read different classics. Classics that I ended up not caring for as much as these easy to read but just as rich classics. Aside from the Little House series, the rest were (except two) were only moderately enjoyed and at times were a pain to read aloud. In the past, we always had one novel we read aloud everyday. One chapter a day, no matter what. If we missed a day, we read two the next day. In this way, we got through a lot of classics and not-yet-classics like the Harry Potter series. Here's a partial list of some of the books we've read over the years:
Alice in Wonderland
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Secret Garden
Journey to the Center of the Earth
White Fang
Great Expectations
Treasure Island
20,000 Leagues under the Sea
Olive Twist
While we really loved the Count of Monte Cristo, we did have less raving reviews of the other books. And while I liked The Secret Garden, my boys were only moderately interested in it.
I'm looking forward to reading The Secret Garden again with my two younger children, as they were young and not even born when I read it the first time.
As for this assembled list. I've chosen fun, easy to read classics that are sure to delight my children starting with Charlotte's Web. And while I have chosen quite a few, I don't think we'll finish them during the summer, but at least we're set for the upcoming year if we don't finish them this summer.
On my list is The Smell of Other People's Houses and The Land of Invisible Women. I'm a slow and distractible reader, so I'm likely only going to finish one of those two selections.
For my children, the other selections are as follows in no particular reading order:
Ice Whale
A Wrinkle in Time
The Twits
The Wizard of Oz
The Twits
The Family Under the Bridge
Sweet Home Alaska
The Trumpet of the Swan
The Little Princess
Matilda
The Enormous Crocodile
I'm sure you have favorites I haven't mentioned. I do hope you'll share your titles down in the comment section.
If you're interested in the Family Reading Crate, you can check out my review here.
You can find more info on Emily's YouTube channel here.
I think the whole concept behind it brilliant and I'm so eager to order them again.
CURRICULUM HAUL | Colonial Times Books | HOMESCHOOL
We are kicking off our American History units with the Colonial times. We did an introduction to American History with a small unit on Columbus, but this is our first official unit of a series of units that will span several months.
Now that all our materials have arrived, I can work on separating them into smaller units. Once they are all sorted ( we got a lot of material!!), I can begin lesson planning.
The first step in lesson planning for me is figuring out how long each book, project or kit is going to take to complete. I use full back sticky Post-Its to help me in this part of the process. I adhere a Post-It on the back of the book or kit and I write whatever information can help in the lesson planning process. For instance, I write long long the book will take to complete and how many chapters I have to read each day to complete the book. If we aren’t going to read a book cover to cover, I write what pages or sections we’ll cover. If my children are going to read the book, I mark who will read it and how long it will take to complete. If it’s a project book, I mark the projects we plan to do with Post-It flags, as well as mark what supplies I’ll need to find or buy for the projects. I keep all these materials, books, etc. in a bin. Right now they are stored in our school room’s closet, but we are fast running our of space. I’ve used some additional storage right outside our school room, and again this year, I’ll need to shuffle some things so I can keep these new units accessible throughout the year. I especially like open bins for storing our unit studies.
Once the general lesson planning is completed, I can more onto the detailed day to day lesson plans and figure out how long I want to spend on a unit. I usually make up our weekly lesson plans on Sunday. I sometimes plan a whole unit (6 weeks or so) at a time and that’s very helpful, too.
See the complete list of American History Haul videos. You can get the complete list of materials we are using for all our American History Units by click here or visiting my Teachers Pay Teachers page.
Here’s a complete list of the resources we used for our Colonial Times Unit Study:
Great Colonial America Projects You Can Build Yourself by Kris Bordessa
Information and activities for all of elementary
Grade Level 2nd grade and up
Reading Level: 6th grade and up
Don’t Know Much About: The Pilgrims by Kenneth C. Davis
Witty illustrations with captions. Written in question and answer form
Grade level: 2nd and up
Reading level: 5th grade and up
If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial Times by Barbara Brenner
Written in a question and Answer form
Grade level: 1st and up
Reading level: 5th and up
You Wouldn’t Want to Be an American Colonialist by Jaqueline Moley
Witty narrative with whimsical illustrations
Grade level: 1st grade and up
Reading level: 5th grade and up
Seven chapters, informative
Grade level: 4th grade and up
Reading level: 6th grade and up
The World of Capt. John Smith by Genevieve Foster
First published in the 1800’s
Grade level: 4th and up
Reading level: 7th and up
Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims by Clyde Robert Bulla
Easy engaging read
Grade level: 2nd and up
Reading level 4th and up
Historical Fiction:
Colonial Times:
American Dream: The New World, Colonial Times, and Hints at the Revolution by
1620-1765- Sisters in Time – Follow four girls through history
Grade level: 2nd and up
Reading level: 4th and up
Activity Books/Supplements:
Colonial Times:
Colonial Kids: An activity guide to life in the new world by Laurie Carlson
Activities and projects for elementary aged kids
Grade level: 1st and up
Narrative activity book with projects to do inspired by life in colonial America
Grade Level: Elementary
Great Colonial Projects You Can Build Yourself by Kris Bordessa
Projects and activities
Grade level: elementary
*Drawing America’s California Sights and Symbols by Jennifer Quasha
Drawing book
Grades 2nd and up
Games and Pretend Play:
Colonial Times:
Colonial America Historical Replica Coins
1616-1688( 6 coins)
American Revolution:
American Revolutionary Coins- Replica Coins
1776- 5 coins
Professor Noggin’s Revolutionary War Card Game
Grade level: 3rd and up
Trivia board game
Grades 6th and up
Audio CDs:
Colonial Times:
Audio CD with songs from colonial times
Grade level: all
*Heroes of America CD by Amanda Bennett
Audio CD From 1492-1865
Grade level: all
What We're Reading in our HOMESCHOOL 2018-2019 | BOOK HAUL
The school year is barely over and already serious planning for the next year is well underway. At the end of the year, a local library bookstore has its annual end-of-year sale (that would be end of the school year sale) where everything is only 25 cents! Woohoo! Homeschoolers rejoice!
Not only is it thrilled to hunt for books, but it's double exciting to get them for such a great deal. What I look for when getting books for our homeschool are books that are engaging non-fiction books that we can add to our unit studies. I like getting a mix of picture books, biographies, story driven non-fiction and books with cultural diversity.
I also have to like the illustrations to buy the book. There are a few exceptions, but in those cases, I really have to like the content. I've been really pleased with the books I got this year, even happier than with what I got last year! How we'll use these books in our homeschool is by adding them to our unit studies and main lesson blocks.
We pack our units with a lot of living books with rich illustrations. Some of our favorite are the You Wouldn't Want To Be series by Scholastic, Usborne Books, David Adler biographies and a few other series who's books are delights for the eyes. I like getting books that are similar to the ones we already have because it's easy to store and use them. This time around though, I'm realizing that our nature units need more categories and it's time to reorganize the unit study bins. If you want to see our previous books hauls, check out this playlist.
New Waldorf Teacher Haul
I can’t think of more gorgeous school supplies than Waldorf supplies. But these aren’t for me. I teamed up with A Child’s Dream to arrange a special gift for a new Waldorf teacher who just started work at a Waldorf charter school that is only in its second year and still has a lot of growing pains ahead.
To help ease the transition for this teacher from conventional school to Waldorf school, I contact A Child’s Dream and asked if they would gift school supplies for this teacher through me so I can share it with you. Now this teacher has some treasured supplies to start the new year off with.
Abig thank you to Debbie for generously gifting everything I requested. All the materials you see are ones I have purchased throughout the years of homeschooling and have used extensively so I am hoping my selections will be just right for this new Waldorf teacher. And who is this new Waldorf teacher? It’s none other than my sister Aurelia who has been a teacher for 10 years and is now embarking on her Waldorf training and Waldorf teacher journey.
While these materials are typical for a Waldorf school, I think they are enriching additions to any school setting whether you do Waldorf or not. . You can follow my sisters as a Waldorf teacher in training as she navigates her way through this new teaching journey Aurelia. Oh! And be sure to send Debbie at A Child’s Dream some love for spreading joy ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
When starting out on your Waldorf journey, you might want to begin with a Waldorf inspired curriculum if you are home educating. While I can’t say from experience how the following curricula fair, I can tell you that since 2004, we’ve been relying on Live Education! Waldorf curriculum for our needs. You can also explore Lavender Blue, Christopherus, and Waldorf Essentials or Oak Meadow if you want more traditional with just a hint of Waldorf. For more Waldorf vendors who specialize in curriculum or resources, there’s a section at the bottom of this post with more information. Once you have settled on a curriculum, you may want to turn your attention to some of the essentials like papers, pencils, crayons and chalks. Main lesson books are used so that students have a place to record their lessons. Typically the main lesson books are large for Grade 1 and they get progressively smaller as the students move from grade to grade. Main lesson books for the younger years are large notebooks with blank good quality paper. Often you may see them with onion sheets separating the two sheets of paper.
To go along with the main lesson books, you can add Stockmar Block and Stick crayons. These crayons are made from beeswax and come in a rainbow of colors. Typically students in Grade 1 begin with just the three primary colors: red, yellow and blue. Together with those colors, students create the secondary and tertiary colors and soon they are able to add those crayons to their crayon case. Stick crayons are used for form drawings and even beginning writing while block crayons come in handy for landscape drawings and filling in white spaces in their drawings. Block crayons are also used for making borders in their main lesson books. To help you on your crayon drawing journey, you may want to check out Coloring with Block Crayons. It’s a wonderful resource for beginners and veterans alike.
When looking to add teacher resources to your materials, I have to say that I’m loving the books by Angela Lord! Her books are colorful, informative and must-have resources especially if you are not relying on a Waldorf inspired curriculum. The ones I chose to include here (though she has several more), are Colour Dynamics and Form Drawing. If you could only choose one, I would highly recommend Form Drawing. Form Drawing is a main lesson you’re going to find in Waldorf school starting in Grade 1. I have included some aspects of form drawing in lessons all the way through Grade 8. Form drawing is the first main lesson block in Grade 1. It helps a student with basic hand eye coordination, centering his or her work within the page, fine and gross motor skills, pre-writing skills, artistry and patterns. Form drawing is therapeutic and meditative at times and therefore a good addition to any school setting and is especially helpful for students who struggle with attention and handwriting.
Once you’ve completed your first main lesson block, you may choose to move to a Language or Math main lesson block. If you embark on your Language main lesson block, you may want to add LMNOP Book and Wall Posters to your resource wish list. The book LMNOP is a collection of poems and illustrations that take you through the letters of the alphabet. The posters may be used as classroom decorations or art inspiration for your own chalk drawings. Incidentally, the book’s illustrated, Bruce Bischof, is also the author and illustrator of the Live Education curriculum! Bruce passed away in 2025 after a 5 year battle with cancer.
If art inspiration is not a top need for you, but you are looking for ways to hone your storytelling skills, I have found joy in using eeboo’s Storytelling Cards. These cards are brightly illustrated and can be used to help jumpstart a story individually or as a group. While I didn’t show the following book, I did find it very helpful early in my homeschool journey. Storytelling and the Art of Imagination by Nancy Melon (Amazon affiliate link for book) really helped me as I had not idea what things made up a story. I needed a book to break it down, down to the simplest steps like characters, plot and setting, etc. Of course this book takes it to a different level by adding Waldorf elements that will be helpful in the classroom or homeschool setting.
Your next block may be math and if so, the book King Maximo and the Number Knights may be a good addition especially if you are not using a Waldorf inspired curriculum. Because all four math operations are taught in Grade 1, you may wish to bring in some math finger puppets or math gnomes to help your students grasp these math concepts. You can make your own peg dolls and finger puppets with peg dolls, Lyra Opaque Watercolors, Holland wool felt, and Lamb’s pride yarn (for hair). We have made so many over the years and they are treasured toys in our homeschool that help facilitate open ended pretend play or with storytelling.
Then next block you might focus on in Grade 1 is watercoloring. While watercoloring doesn’t need to be a block per say, as it can be included in other blocks, it is a good idea to have some basic principles understood before embarking on watercoloring with your students as the Waldorf method is unique is a few aspects. To start with, images that are drawn or watercolor painted are soft, undefined and have blurred edges or rather the edges of the images are not sharply defined. Young students at that age don’t see the world as we do and their illustrations reflect that.
The teacher strives to provide drawings that have soft edges with less detail and when it comes to watercoloring, using a wet on wet technique is a great way to ensure that colors move across the page and blend into one another and thus keep the edges soft and ethereal. To achieve this, use high quality watercolor paper. I like Strathmore 140 lb. Watercolor paper. Though the this pad is 9’x12″, I recommend using larger sheets for Grade 1, though the smaller sheets are great for practice work or free painting. Stockmar watercolors are concentrated paints that need to be diluted with water. They have clear bright colors that mix well to produce secondary and tertiary colors. Grade 1 paint brushes are wide and flat and made from all-natural materials like squirrel hair and wood barrels.
Watercolor paint holders make spillage a thing of the past, but if all you need are the jars, you can buy them separately or repurpose yogurt jars. If you are brand new to Waldorf watercoloring, the book Colour Dynamics by Angela Lord will be a great help along the way. If you are inspired by that book and want to join a course I have on my site in which I do live lessons with my daughter inspired by images in this book, you can join the course by tapping on the button below.
While the main lesson (Morning Lesson) teacher doesn’t teach music, handwork, and other subjects, it helps to have a familiarity with music as songs are included in circle time, opening activities or other lessons. While there are many instruments to choose from, traditionally the classroom will have a piano and the teacher may hone her skills with a recorder or glockenspiel.
The pentatonic music book by David Darcy is a great resource for the musically challenged and possibly the veteran! Having never excelled in the signing or music, I can’t tell if that resource is too basic for someone who already has a music background. If you struggle with music (as I did), you may enjoy Come Follow Me which is a collection of songs you can sing in class. Growing your collection of poems and verses for all occasions happens naturally over the years. Give yourself some inspiration with Wynstone Books for each of the seasons, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring. These books are full of seasonally ideas and music to enrich your school day season by season.
Handwork in Grade 1
Handwork is a Waldorf subject area that’s close to my heart so I have given it a lot of attention through the years. While I’ve never progressed very far in the field, I have found that even basic knitting and sewing provide a wealth of developmental benefits. Knitting is taught in Grade 1 as a means to help develop the important brain function of the two hemispheres communicating with each other. the cross body movement of knitting is what awakens and strengthens that brain development. The cross body action is repeated in eurythmy and movement math as well as other areas. While it is far easier to introduce knitting over spatial dynamics and eurythmy, all areas are equally important to the developing child. When it comes to handwork, Grade 1 focuses on casting on, knitting, binding off and creating simply projects with practice squares and rectangles the student has knit.
One book that is tremendously helpful to the Grade 1 teacher in teaching how to knit the Waldorf way, which is rich in storytelling, is Jane and Jeremy learn to knit by Elizabeth Seward. The book is filled with stories and simply projects like how to knit a bunny. The book also shares how to make your own knitting needles. I had the honor of visiting Elizabeth in her Los Angeles home to knit with her and she taught my daughter how to make her own knitting needles. A year later, I made my own using dowels and oven bake clay to make mushroom topped knitting needles.
While they are cute, they are longer than what a Grade 1 student will feel comfortable using. Keep needles to about 9-10 inches for ease in use. To start off, students use size 10 knitting needles and bulky or similar type of yarn. Some teachers prefer plied yarn while other stick with the bulky. Not being a master knitter or handwork teacher, I’ve stuck with using Lamb’s Pride bulky weight yarn for all my beginner knitters and actually stuck with that yarn in worsted weight for other projects. I like the color range of yarns by Lamb’s Pride and most, if not all, of our handwork projects through the years use Lamb’s Pride yarn or Holland Felt.
Handwork is not limited to the projects that a student will do, the teacher may do many projects ahead of time to add dolls, toys or educational supplements to the classroom. Often I made peg dolls and finger puppets to add toys for the students’ imaginative play. Sometimes my older students would stitch projects that would be used to decorate the classroom or be soft toys the younger children would play with. While needle felting isn’t a handcraft that is found in the Waldorf curriculum, many have included it or in the least have included the animals and felted projects that have been needle felted. Over the years, I have settled on a few supplies that I return to over and over again for their versatile use and durability. I love the peg dolls for their possibility. While they come is all shapes and sizes, I like the standard peg doll as it can be used for a male or female or even child or adult. While the little ones and female shaped ones are nice, I don’t tend to use those as much. You can paint them with Lyra Opaque Watercolors or wool felt.
I love Holland Felt is all the gorgeous colors they carry. We have used felt for stitching projects in later grades and for sewing projects in grade 5 and beyond. In Grade 1, the teacher may use it for peg dolls, to make classroom decorations or for stitching projects she brings to the classroom. I like the collections for Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn (with Autumn being my favorite), because they are a nice assortment of colors and are just the right size for many of the projects we end up doing. Don’t forget your embroidery floss and embroidery needles!
If you wish to do some needle felting, you’ll need needle felting needles (which are very sharp!), a foam pad and wool roving. I chose three colors in the orange family to make pumpkins as they make a color addition to the classroom for fall decor.
If you are looking for opportunities to add decorations to your classroom then kite paper is a must! You can use it to make beautiful suncatchers which are stars that decorate windows. As the light comes in, the suncatchers catch the light and are illuminated beautifully depending on the folds and color layering. Another option for decorations which double as playthings are silks and cloths. My favorite are Sarah’s Silks and Cotton Play Cloths. I’ve used silks in our homeschool for ages, but recently Sarah’s Silks came out with cotton cloth which is a great alternative for Plant based families or Muslim families who have pubescent boys who still like to play dressup.
Curriculum for Grade 1
First grade in a Waldorf school begins at seven years of age, after the change of teeth has begun. Other notable differences about a the first grade curriculum is the story aspect of each lesson, even when you present the child with her first recorder, you present it along with a story. Stories are an important part of the Waldorf curriculum. It’s what connects the child to the information. The information comes to life through the story told by the teacher. You may also notice an absence of textbooks, workbooks and even picture or chapter books. There are no textbooks because the teacher teaches the material (she does her research prior to teaching), there are no workbooks because the students make their own as the lessons progress by copying the chalk drawings on the chalkboard made by the teacher and adding a sentence or two copied from the board or dictated to the student. The students make their first readers with drawings and complete simple sentences which they then read themselves. The world of numbers is also introduced with stories to complement the introduction of each number.
Does your child already know the ABC’s and the numbers before entering grade one? Probably. Most kids pick them up along the way, but don’t overlook this beautiful presentation of the numbers and letters, there’s more to the lesson than just the technical and mechanical acquisition of the numbers and letters. The value is a deeper connection to learning and sets the foundation for how information and skills will be taught and acquired throughout the grades. There is reverence and honor in every aspect of the Waldorf curriculum, down to how the crayons are used and stored to how one transitions from one activity to the next. The curriculum I am presenting today is from Live Education. Here’s a look at this Grade 1 Curriculum from Live Education.
We homeschool using many different yet congruent philosophies including Waldorf, TJed, and Charlotte Mason, but use the curriculum from Live-Education for inspiration. Some books I recommend: Children and Their Temperaments by Marieke Anschutz, Storytelling & The Art of Imagination by Nancy Mellon, Healing Stories for Challenging Behavior by Susan Perrow, You Are Your Child’s First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin, The Education of the Child by Rudolf Steiner, and The Kingdom of Childhood by Rudolf Steiner.
Grade 1 | Supplies, Resources and Materials
First grade supplies for a Waldorf curriculum are so beautiful and inspiring. Check out this VIDEO to see the materials for grade 1. Typical materials you’ll find are watercolors, watercolor paper, block and stick crayons, a recorder, beeswax, yarn and wool. 0:52 Pentatonic Flute 1:18 Glockenspiel 2:02 Silk 4:52 ABC Peg Doll Tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjKtp… 5:45 Weather Gnomes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT-w-… 6:24 Wool Felt https://achildsdream.com/holland-wool… 6:29 Peg Dolls https://achildsdream.com/wood-peg-dol… 6:29 Finger Puppet bases https://achildsdream.com/wood-finger-… 7:04 Kite paper https://achildsdream.com/window-stars… 7:12 Suncatcher tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5jJJ… 7:40 Origami Paper https://achildsdream.com/folia-origam… 7:52 Tissue Paper https://achildsdream.com/art-tissue-p… 8:05 Tissue Paper project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB0TI… 8:41 Making Peg Dolls Book https://achildsdream.com/making-peg-d… 9:42 Crafts Through the Year https://achildsdream.com/crafts-throu… 10:28 Autumn Book https://achildsdream.com/wynstones-bo… 10:40 Winter Book https://achildsdream.com/wynstones-bo… 10:59 The Living Alphabet https://www.amazon.com/Living-Alphabe… 11:23 Stockmar Beeswax https://achildsdream.com/stockmar-mod… 12:03 Create-A-Story Card by eeboo https://achildsdream.com/create-a-sto… 12:46 Storytelling Book https://www.amazon.com/Storytelling-A… 14:46 Waldorf Poetry Book https://www.amazon.com/Waldorf-Book-A… 14:48 Waldorf Animal Poetry https://www.amazon.com/Waldorf-Book-P… 15:01 Wool https://achildsdream.com/ashford-corr… 15:20 Wool https://achildsdream.com/merino-wool-… 15:59 Felt needles https://achildsdream.com/felting-need… 17:24 Wood Clip https://achildsdream.com/wood-fort-bu… 18:10 Nutcracker Link coming soon 20:47 Finger knitters https://achildsdream.com/knitting-tower/ 21:17 Dazzle-it Link? Not sure! 22:17 Lamb’s Pride Yarn Bulky https://achildsdream.com/handpaint-wo… 22:56 Lamb’s Pride Worsted Weight https://achildsdream.com/lambs-pride-… 23:30 Yarn ball Tutorial coming soon 24:30 Knitted Ball Tutorial coming soon 25:00 Weaving tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs89I… 25:45 Counting Sticks tutorial https://youtu.be/TpT4ZI3Odjc 27:12 Candle Rolling Kit https://achildsdream.com/beeswax-cand… 27:25 Candle Rolling Tutorial https://youtu.be/rsBmk0uWOz0 27:30 Candle dipping tutorial https://youtu.be/Ca9q4XmxcYU 27:55 Grimm’s Fairy Tales link coming soon 30:30 Main Lesson book https://www.waldorfsupplies.com/produ… 30:52 Stockmar Stick crayons https://achildsdream.com/stockmar-bee… 31:35 Stockmar Block Crayons https://achildsdream.com/stockmar-bee… 32:10 Crayon holder tutorial https://youtu.be/WstLaqrF_qE 33:43 Strathmore Watercolor paper https://www.waldorfsupplies.com/?s=wa… 34:44 Stockmar watercolors https://achildsdream.com/stockmar-wat… 35:18 Watercolor Pumpkins tutorial https://youtu.be/W500Le9nfKw 36:01 Watercolor Brushes https://www.waldorfsupplies.com/?s=wa… https://achildsdream.com/wide-paint-b… 36:36 Watercoloring techniques https://youtu.be/vwateIIIcQQ 37:11 Chalk Pastels http://www.dickblick.com/products/sar… 37:33 Chalk Drawing Tutorials Playlist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KeUa… 37:43 Waldorf blackboard chalks https://www.waldorfsupplies.com/?s=ch… First Grade Waldorf Curriculum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbnLc…
If you want more, here is a complete playlist of Grade 1 videos which includes curriculum, supplies, and tutorials.
Waldorf Vendors and Resources
There are many Waldorf inspired vendors who service Waldorf schools and homeschools alike. Though I’m not sharing a comprehensive list, you are welcome to add your shop or recommend one in the comment section below!
Here are some vendors who have been recommended to me, Little Acorn Learning, Earth Schooling, Blossom and Root, Season of Seven, Waldorf Inspired Homeschooling, Daily Wonder, Modern Waldorf Online, and Beauty of Play.
Family Reading Crate | Build Your Library
What if you could cozy up on the couch surrounded by a stunning library and be handed one book after another that is sure to delight you and your kids. Sounds too good to be true? That's exactly what you'll be getting each month with Build Your Library's family book subscription crate. Not only will Emily had pick fabulous books, but the books are grouped together in monthly themes. But that's not all! You get multiple books, one for each family member (well, not quite, but pretty close), plus you get little items (this month was a stuffed parrot and two bird gliders + three bookmarks) to compliment the month's books as well as a booklet with discussions questions on each book and links to the website where you can explore the topic through additional book and movie recommendations and more. Each crate comes with a read aloud selection, a book for teens and best of all, a book for mom (or dad)!! Occasionally, your crate will even come with more! Yep, this month's crate came with TWO additional picture books! Wow, now that's a lot.
Where do you find all this goodness? Build Your Library! And the Crate here.
The price per crate is expected to be $35 and currently this is for US residents. Please check the website for international prices and monthly prices as they may change a bit month to month.
Find Emily (creator of Build Your Library crate and curriculum) at Arrrgh Schooling here on YouTube.
You can also find some other crate reviews.
Challice from Sodbuster Living. Marie from CrazyBusyFamily. Emily from ArrrghSchooling. aCheck out Emily's library.
Family Reading Crate | Build Your Library
What if you could cozy up on the couch surrounded by a stunning library and be handed one book after another that is sure to delight you and your kids. Sounds too good to be true? That's exactly what you'll be getting each month with Build Your Library's family book subscription crate. Not only will Emily had pick fabulous books, but the books are grouped together in monthly themes. But that's not all! You get multiple books, one for each family member (well, not quite, but pretty close), plus you get little items (this month was a stuffed parrot and two bird gliders + three bookmarks) to compliment the month's books as well as a booklet with discussions questions on each book and links to the website where you can explore the topic through additional book and movie recommendations and more. Each crate comes with a read aloud selection, a book for teens and best of all, a book for mom (or dad)!! Occasionally, your crate will even come with more! Yep, this month's crate came with TWO additional picture books! Wow, now that's a lot.
Where do you find all this goodness? Build Your Library! And the Crate here.
The price per crate is expected to be $35 and currently this is for US residents. Please check the website for international prices and monthly prices as they may change a bit month to month.
Find Emily (creator of Build Your Library crate and curriculum) at Arrrgh Schooling here on YouTube.
You can also find some other crate reviews.
Challice from Sodbuster Living. Marie from CrazyBusyFamily. Emily from ArrrghSchooling. aCheck out Emily's library.
Why Buy Books? | Living Books Haul | Homeschool
Why buy books? We buy books for our homeschool main lesson blocks and unit studies. We love books! Granted many of the selections you can find at the library. We did include a few kits in this haul, but primarily, we bought books. We used our educational funding to purchase these materials. We shopped at Bookshop.org, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Treasures by Jennifer. In the video I talk about our Chinese brush calligraphy materials we purchased a few years ago and have yet to use. We will be adding them to our China Unit. We are using these books for upcoming units as well as units we’ve already done. A year ago, we did a bird unit and later my friend, Megan, hatched chickens. I found a book on chicks and thought it would be the perfect addition to that unit. You can check out our Bird Main Lesson Block for more videos and tutorials. We also bought a few books for our physics unit on Acoustics. Chinese Fables & Folktales (II) Chinese Fables & Folktales (I)
Brush Letter ART Haul | CHINESE Painting, SUMI & Calligraphy
Oriental Art Supply carries the most beautiful supplies for Chinese brush painting, Sumie and Calligraphy. The materials look beautiful online, but nothing compared to their stunning quality in person. The book 108 Flowers Book 4 by Ning Yeh shows step by step instructions on how to paint a beautiful assortment of flowers. The slate ink stone is heavy, functional and beautiful. Use it to grind your ink stick. Grinding the ink stick in a circular is easy against the slate stone. The lid keeps your ink moist. The brushes are magnificent! They are beautiful, feel good in your hand and I anticipate them working well. The rice paper is thin and has good moisture control which helps beginners. You can find all the products I used below.
See what we do with these amazing materials by following me on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/pepperandpine/
Oriental Art Supply:
http://www.orientalartsupply.com
Brushes:
Paper:
Ink Stone:
Ink Stick:
Flower Book:
Metallic Paint & Paper:
Play Silks | Homeschool Haul
*Camera exposure goes a little wonky at 3:20...just too much rich color from the silk!*
An order from A Child's Dream just came in and I wanted to share it with you. We got play silks from eBay several years ago and thought it was time to invigorate our silks with new ones. The kids use these for dress up, forts, capes and pretend play of all kinds. Our old silks have held up so well to kid play; they've been tugged, tied, draped and pulled and yet have never torn. I have every confidence that these new silks will do just the same.
They are 35" square, 100% silk and cost $15.50 each.
Find them here.
A Child's Dream is now on YouTube! Check out what this darling shop looks like!
Check out how we organize our Sarah’s Silks in this VIDEO.
Barnes and Noble BOOK Haul | Homeschool
I love books. I love paper. I love pretty pictures and beautiful words. I love it when someone finds a great books and shares it. These books are mostly from recommendations from other YouTubers. Please take the time to check out these other fantastic channels, Molly, Emily, Candice, and Kristi, and send some love their way.
Homeschool Haul | Waldorf Materials + More
Maybe you buy homeschooling supplies throughout the year or maybe you buy them in bulk once or twice year. Since we follow a Waldorf approach, we are rotating our lessons throughout the year making it both fun and maybe stressful to plan for upcoming units and main lesson blocks. Currently we are working towards handwork projects, our Botany main lesson block and Mineralogy main lesson block.
The materials from this homeschool haul are primarily from A Child’s Dream and Michael’s Craft Store, with some books, games and pencils coming from Amazon and JetPens.
Shopping guide (non affiliate links except for Amazon)
A Child’s Dream
Eco Wool Batting – Waldorf doll and toy stuffing, felting core wool
World Tales for Family Storytelling III for Children Aged 8-11 Years
Amazon
Professor Noggin’s History of The United States Trivia Card Game
Theory of Colours: illustrated with all the original diagrams
Roadside Geology of Southern California (Roadside Geology Series)
Rust-Oleum 267028 Specialty Matte Finish Spray, 11 oz, Clear
General Pencil 4400-12A General’s Pastel Chalk Pencils, 12 Colors, Multicolor, 7 x 1/4 x 1/4 in
20 Pack Canvases for Painting with 8×10, Painting Canvas for Oil & Acrylic Paint
Liquitex Professional Heavy Body Acrylic Paint, 12 x 22ml (0.74-oz), Essentials Set
JetPens
Book Haul | What We're Reading This Spring
Why buy books when you can get them from the library? It's a question I get often, since I tend to buy our books for homeschool rather than check them out from the library. But it wasn't always like that. I used to check them out from the library in the past, too. Why the change? And is it right for you? In case you don't know, we homeschool in California through a charter school. Each year we are allocated funding to buy educational supplies or take academic classes. I started buying our homeschool books rather than checking them out from the library when it became increasingly difficult to source all the books I wanted. Not to mention, I couldn't guarantee I would get all the books in time for our units and main lesson blocks. Then there would be some we wanted to keep longer than the check out period and overall these challenges caused a lot of stress. So, I decided to change all that. I started buying the books we wanted to use for our units, even if we only used them once (though really we've used these books multiple times). I found that I could find a wider variety of books from book sellers online than at my local library, even with transfers. Aside from the ease, there's one more major reason why we buy our books rather than check them out. I love having the opportunity to support these authors, publishers and illustrators. The books I buy are not best sellers, but we need them to be available, and we want more! By my small efforts to support and share them, I hope we keep on getting amazing, beautiful and inspiring books to use in our homeschool.
The books today are from Amazon. We bought Bees, A Honeyed History, Sea Bear, Whales, and Illustrated Celebration, Lovely Beasts, and many more.
We plan to use these books for our spring units. While we've already done one on Bees and Honey, Botany and Butterflies, if we do anymore lessons in those units, we'll add the lessons to the video playlist.
If you want to know who inspired part of this book haul, head over to Lacy Arrowsmith's instagram!
Homeschool Haul | WALDORF Education | BOOK HAUL
Here’s one order that didn’t come in in time for my EPIC homeschool haul recently. This order is from Waldorf Supplies and includes art portfolios, glockenspiels, books and watercolor paper.
The glockenspiels are so beautiful and sound exquisite. We are all already playing them, even though none of us knows how to play.
Homeschool Haul | Books & Kits | Elementary and High School
More books? Didn’t I say I was going to ease up on buying books? I changed my mind. At least for the time being. So join me as I walk you through this latest collection of books, kits and other materials for our homeschool unit studies in Physics, Alaska, Middle Ages, Silk Road, West Africa, Literacy, Math and early childhood education.
Most books were purchased from Amazon and Bookshop.org, but I did receive the prayer carpet for free from Rumi’s Mom. I also received all the Islamic books for free as well. Tis the Night Before Eid was gifted to me from the author and can be found here at Rashidi Books. The remaining Islamic books were gifted by Siraj Bookstore. And lastly, the Rooted Childhood book can be found on Meghann’s website.
If You Were Me and Lived in… the Middle Ages: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time
Book Haul | Homeschool Haul
At the start of the school year, we start receiving a lot of our homeschool supplies that are going to be used for the year in our various unit studies and lessons. This haul contains many books that are going to be used for our Horse unit that I’m putting together for my now 9 year old daughter. Some books in this haul we loved! Like Winter Horse while others we thoroughly couldn’t get into like The Perfect Horse. Some were delightful winners like Album of Horses and others were disappointments like the Busy Tree. Breathe, Because of an Acorn and The Busy Tree were all more juvenile than I expected and thus we won’t be using them in our homeschool as I hoped.
Steamborn ended up being so thrilling, my son read the rest of the books in the series. Of the horse books we got, Equine Legacy was a little dull for my children, though totally intriguing for me. Though not engaging enough for me to keep reading it. The remainder of our horse books were all valuable resources for our horse unit. And while we’ve mostly completed that unit, those books are worth reading again, especially the picture books, which I’ll have to read again before reviewing our unit because it’s been a while since we’ve read them.
List of materials:
Because of an Acorn: (Nature Autumn Books for Children, Picture Books about Acorn Trees)
What Does the Fox Say? Hardcover
Colors of the West: An Artist's Guide to Nature's Palette
Steamborn (Steamborn Series Book 1)
Sergeant Reckless: The True Story of the Little Horse Who Became a Hero Paperback
The Equine Legacy: How Horses, Mules, and Donkeys Shaped America Paperback
Wonderful World of Horses Coloring Book (Dover Animal Coloring Books) Paperback
The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis
A Field Full of Horses: Read and Wonder Paperback
Fritz and the Beautiful Horses (Sandpiper Books) Paperback
Horses: Revised Edition Paperback
The Elemental Horses - 12 Things to Remember
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses Paperback
Wild Blue: The Story of a Mustang Appaloosa (The Breyer Horse Collection) Hardcover
Death of the Iron Horse Paperback
Pocket Genius Horses: Facts at Your Fingertips Paperback
Growing Up in Wild Horse Canyon Hardcover
Horses of Long Ago by Dahlov Ipcar
The Everything Book of Horses and Ponies
National Geographic Kids Ponies and Horses Sticker Activity Book: Over 1,000 Stickers!
Horses: Amazing Pictures & Fun Facts on Animals in Nature (Our Amazing World Series) Paperback
Homeschool Book & Curriculum Haul
What happens when you forgot you placed a homeschool supplies order? You're a little confused, but you get extra happy mail! And a unique book haul where I say often, "I can't remember this book!"
We have three history units coming up: Middle Ages, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Many of these books are for those units. Following the haul video, you can see how I put these units together and what projects we did for them.
When we do our history units, we have a mix of non-fiction and historical fiction as well as activity book and cook books (if possible!).
All these books were purchased from Rainbow Resource using educational funding from our charter school.
Why does the Plutarch book have a funny backstory? Well in 2017, Challice from Sodbuster Living came to visit me and together we recorded a video. She mentioned the difficulty in teaching Plutarch and I stared blank faced. I couldn't recall Plutarch at all. So here we are now, finding a book on Plutarch aimed for kids...and adults who seem to have forgotten those lessons from their own education ;)
Acorn Naturalists | Homeschool Haul
It's time for a new unit! We save our science units for the spring, and to kick off this new unit, I have a curriculum haul to share with you from Acorn Naturalists. Acorn Naturalists is one of my favorite places to pick up curriculum for science. They have wide variety of material. There is a great selection of books, hands-on material, kits and experiments. You'll get a glimpse of the material we'll be using for our spring science units!
Homeschool Haul | Living Books and Hands On Kits
More living books! Yes please. I keep saying I'll divert my funding from books to use for other resources, but here we are, back to buying books. I love books that are engaging, well written and beautifully illustrated. This haul is no different. I love all these picture books especially the biographies of Sophie and Dinosaur Lady. We love home as well! We plan to use this with our Waldorf grade 3 lessons on shelters, clothing and farming. I learned about this book from a friend, Gehad, on Instagram. We also got a lot of Field Guides for various regions like polar, safari and desert animals. These were all bought used through third party sellers on Amazon. We also got a few math books and other resources like a fractions tray by Bigjigs and multiplication table from Lino Natura. We got our botanical kits from A Child's Dream. The indigo kit and the plant dye kit are for our history units.
Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain
Dinosaur Lady: The Daring Discoveries of Mary Anning, the First Paleontologist
Planetarium: Welcome to the Museum Hardcover
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Homeschool Haul
The Westward Movement spans over 100 years in American History, so within this unit, there are other sub-units: American Civil War, Lewis & Clark Expedition and California History & Gold Rush. Even so, I still have a lot of material, and may choose to split this unit up further.
Most of my history units include historical fiction, picture books, history books, resource and reference books, project and activity books, specialty books (like cooking or reading comprehension), books on religion or mythology, workbooks, games, kits and toys.
This unit may not include all those areas, but as part of a larger American History unit, there will be adequate variety. Though this unit may only be 3-4 weeks, our American History units will span several months.
You can get the complete list of materials we are using for all our American History Units by click here or visiting my Teachers Pay Teachers page.
Homeschool Haul | Waldorf
A Child's Dream has some of my favorite Waldorf supplies for our homeschool. This haul includes a charming peg doll book, peg dolls in a variety of shapes and sizes, finger puppet bases, felt, Lyra watercolor paints, soy-based paint, and more.
Art Haul | LOKTA Paper
I love using art supplies in our homeschool. I’m sharing with you some of the products we use often: Distress Inks, non-stick scissors and hand-made paper from Nepal. All the supplies were purchased from Dick Blick.
Distress stains, Distress Inks and reinkers, and Non-Stick scissors are all staples in our homeschool. Another great product is this Long-Reach Stapler from Demco that we use for make our own notebooks and journals.
We use distress inks for every unit study we do from geometry, to ancient Rome to astronomy. I love adding an artistic flare to our homeschool.
Homeschool Book & Waldorf Haul
Even when I’m on a trip or vacation, I manage to make the souvenirs educational based. And I even got to check out a local thrift shop (looking for baskets for my sister who was too ill to go shopping), and found some books to accompany past and upcoming homeschool units. I recently visited Alaska for the second time (May/June 2021) after going there for the first time in January 2021 to visit my older sister who moved there in 2020.
After I returned in January, I put together an Alaska unit and collected other resources to add to that unit. On this trip I found 4 more books: three of them from Sealaska Heritage. They produce books on local tribes and culture. I picked up We are the Water Protectors, Let’s Go and Salmon Boy. I also bought a book twin calf moose as well as the National Parks Postcard deck. I also bought a couple things from Nature’s Nest, a Waldorf shop in the Palmer area servicing the public and homeschool communities in the surrounding areas, I got the Gluckskafer ice cave bridge (I called it that because that’s what it reminds me of, but that’s not the official name), I also got the Katie Daisy How to be a Wildflower Deck.
I stopped at Value Village to look for baskets for my sister who is battling brain cancer, but still longs to have a homeschool space for her 9-year-old son. I set up her homeschool space and helped her organize while I visited in May, and picked up some baskets for her space so she could organize her space when she has the energy. At Value Village (a local thrift shop), I found a few books, one of which was literally in my cart at Rainbow Resource! I got World War II for Kids, Weapons and Technology of World War II, The Dragon’s Tale by Demi (for our China unit), The Fascinating World of Butterflies and Moths (which will accompany our Butterfly unit), Eyes on Nature Snakes, See Inside Atoms and Molecules. From Bookshop.org I got Fractions, Decimals, and Percents.
Homeschool Haul | Living Books & Hands On Activities
Choosing material for homeschool unit studies and Waldorf main lesson blocks is one of my favorite things to do in homeschool. I have a few go-to vendors for materials and Rainbow Resource is one of them. For the most part, I like their selection of books and even better, I love their assortment of hands on activities and kits. The materials and resources we bought in this haul are for a few units we plan to do. Our European Middle Ages unit spread into a Silk Road unit which immediately got derailed with a West Africa unit before circling back to a China unit which naturally turned into an ancient China unit. When we love a project, it’s not uncommon for us to buy it again. In this case, we love the geode kit and the huge geode kit which was actually less thrilling than the smaller geodes.
CW Pencil Enterprise Haul | I Bought Pencils & We're Loving Them!
Well goodness me…here I am talking for nearly an hour about a handful of pencils. Granted these pencils are soooo talk worthy!! But because they are brand new to me, I did give occasional wrong information…sorry. Please visit CW Pencil Enterprise for accurate up-to-date info on everything in their inventory. You won’t regret it, they have the best assortment of pencils curated by a pencil enthusiast.
We loved these pencils so much, before we even started using them, we had already placed another order for more!
Here’s a short list of what we purchased this time:
Scented Pencils (they smell soooo good! And the smell lasts for months, but it does fade)
Editor Pencil (the neatest pencil ever!! I used this pencil to write math problems for my child, then she answered them in red. It made catching her mistakes easy and it made it fun for her!)
Check back soon when I post our second pencil haul with much more fun supplies that are just what you need to brighten your learning and bring joy to writing…well it does so for me and my children…so I hope it does so for you 🙂
Homeschool Haul | Chemistry
Our Fall 2024 Homeschool Haul is primarily composed of books and resources for our two upcoming units of Chemistry and Anatomy. I have separate videos for Anatomy (both the Waldorf approach and a unit study approach) and Chemistry (both the Waldorf approach and a unit study approach). This homeschool haul contains both new and second hand materials, but links to everything may be found on the blog post that accompanies this video. While most items were either purchased from Amazon or thrift books (or locally), Amazon affiliate links are shared on the post. I encourage you to choose a retailer you want to support.
Shopping guide (non affiliate links except for Amazon)
Anatomicum Junior (Welcome To The Museum) Hardcover – by Jennifer Z Paxton
Chemistry in classes 7 and 8 for class teachers of Steiner/Waldorf schools by Graham Kennish
The Qur’anic Prescription: Unlocking the Secrets to Optimal Health by Madiha M. Saeed
Anatomicum: Welcome to the Museum Hardcover – by Jennifer Z. Paxton
Chemistry Around Us: A Poetry Book Paperback – by Elizabeth Woods
Molecular Model Kit, 444 Pcs Organic Molecular Chemistry Set
The Human Body Atlas: How the human body works Hardcover – by National Geographic
Super Simple Chemistry: The Ultimate Bitesize Study Guide by DK
Chemistry the Waldorf Way: A Manual for Teachers Grades 7-8 by Roberto Trostli (Author)
Homeschool Haul | History & Science
This is a smaller haul compared to the huge ones I have at the start of the year or mid-year, but it's still a lot of delicious homeschool goodies. We are planning for a few science main lesson blocks: mineralogy, oceanography, astronomy and physics, a few history blocks: Roman history, middle ages and maybe Greek mythology, and we'll round out the year with geometry and maybe creative writing. Our grammar curriculum is one I wrote myself and that should span the whole year, provided I finish writing it!
I'm excited about the books and projects we got in this haul and already my kids have used every single Kapla block and wouldn't mind another set!
The Geode kit we did with our last Geology Unit study.
And here's the playlist for the Homeschool haul videos.
The Best Pencils in {my} World | CW Pencil Enterprise Haul
And here it is! Here is our second haul and after several months of using these amazing pencils from CW Pencil Enterprise, I can tell you we are loving the scented pencils and the Blackwing pencils which we bought in black, white and natural (each having a different hardness or smoothness). So far our go-to pencil is a Blackwing. They sharpen well, come with an eraser and are smooth and easy to use. While I love the assortment of pencils we got, it’s plainly obvious that if the pencil doesn’t come with an eraser, we’re not going to go for it as often as the ones that do. While I loved the idea of the capped pencil the EE Defender with the green cap, we definitely didn’t use that pencil as much as I thought we would.
The scented pencils from our first haul, even though they don’t come with erasers, are our favorites! While the scent does diminish significantly over time (keep them wrapped until you use them, and use one at a time to preserve the smell), you can still smell an echo scent even after months and it’s just enough to bring joy to your pencil writing. I can’t wait to order those again. They were out of stock for a while, so do jump on them when you see them. The Editor pencil has gotten so much use, I’m glad we have a few. They are so handy, and we’ve come up with a new way to use them in our homeschool. I write math questions for my daughter and she does her work in red. That way I can easily follow her work and catch mistakes. It’s been a wonderful addition to our homeschool.
This post is not sponsored by CW Pencil Enterprise. We purchased these materials on our own using educational funding. These materials are for our homeschool lessons.
Homeschool Haul | History Units
Well here we are at the end of the school year and I have just one last homeschool haul to share with you. Actually, just as I posted this video, I saw that I had a few more books coming in so I’ll have just a few more books to share with you. The materials in this haul are for our history and science units. The kits are all from Rainbow Resource and they are for my 14-year-old son to supplement our physics unit.
He loves building models and these hydraulics models and more are just right to give him the practical of what he is learning in physics. The books are for our Mongolia, China and Ibn Battuta units. The 24 hours books were especially requested from my son as he liked the 24 Hours In China and asked if there were any others in the series. We also got some supplies from Blick Art Materials. All three items were things we have purchased before and use often. The Sargent Art Chalk as been my chalk of choice for years.
The Ultra-Light Oven Bake Clay is a staple supply that we use for science and history for our hands on projects. We’ve made the life cycle of a butterfly, a relief map and ancient Chinese pottery with the clay. We also bought more walnut ink which we have used for a variety of projects. We also replenished our supply of undyed bulky and worsted weight yarn from my favorite Waldorf vendor A Child’s Dream. We plan to use the yarn with our Natural Dye kit.
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Curriculum Haul | California History
California history including the gold rush make up this unit. It’s a mix of biographies, historical fiction, resource books, kits and a ‘how to draw’ book. I think I’m most looking forward to the kit we got for panning for gold. We also really like the ‘Who Was…” books for their simplicity, content and illustrations. No unit of mine would be complete without a hands-on activity and this unit includes a ‘gold’ excavation kit.
You can get the complete list of materials we are using for all our American History Units by click here or visiting my Teachers Pay Teachers page.
Curriculum Haul | American Revolution
Of all the units we’ve put together, I think I’ve gotten the most supplies for this one! So much that I had to split it up into multiple units: Columbus, the Pilgrims, the American Revolution, the Civil War & Slavery, the Westward Movement, the Lewis & Clark Expedition, Native American Indians, and ending with California History and the Gold Rush.
You can get the complete list of materials we are using for all our American History Units by click here or visiting my Teachers Pay Teachers page.
Homeschool Haul | Living Books
Well it's a happy day when you get a homeschool haul and you didn't realize you even ordered anything, er, I mean you forgot you ordered things...
These materials accompany my last Rainbow Resource haul and they were either part of the same order that got shipped later, or I simply had two orders and forgot about these things. Either way, I'm happy to share some of my favorite books: the series 'You Wouldn't Want To Be..." Also in this haul are some materials for our mineralogy unit and our winter history units.
Here's that last haul.
Here's the unit we're working on now: Ocean Main Lesson Block
Homeschool Haul | A Child’s Dream
When it comes to homeschooling and educational supplies, A Child’s Dream is one vendor I’ve been shopping at for years. As we conclude our final years, I’m sharing some materials that have been especially useful throughout our years of education. The Stockmar crayons have been a mainstay for us for over 20 years. In fact, I still have my set from grade 1 back in the early 1980s. Granted my block crayons are no more than nubs, but they still work! In this homeschool haul, I share a new-to-me set of Mercurius chalks, the tried and true main lesson books (plus a couple new ones!), every Stockmar crayon color and a felt chalkboard eraser. Astronomy Blank Main Lesson Book, Main Lesson or Drawing Book – Portrait Format, Main Lesson or Drawing Book – Landscape Format, Main Lesson Book for Middle School, Main Lesson or Journal Book – Small.
Curriculum Haul | Lewis & Clark Expedition & Western Movement | American History | Living Books
Pulling together books for our American History Unit, I knew I wanted a substantial amount of material on the Lewis and Clark expedition. We did a the westward movement and Texas history back in 2012-2013 while living in Dallas for a year, and I really enjoyed learning about the Lewis and Clark expedition and wanted to expand on it this time around.
While putting together history units, I aim to get books in the following areas: biographies, reference or resource books, cultural, geography (or climate and environment), mythology or religion, historical fiction, picture books and ‘actual’ history. And by actual history, I mean books that present important dates, events, and people. I also like to include field trips, hands-on projects and games whenever possible.
Don’t forget you can see the whole playlist, and I will be continuing to add to it as we do projects for each unit. I also plan to share the lesson plans and “How to put together an American history unit” on that playlist as the videos become available.
You can get the complete list of materials we are using for all our American History Units by click here or visiting my Teachers Pay Teachers page.
Homeschool Haul | Ancient China
This is the last homeschool haul of 2020-2021. These last items came in a week or two after my previous haul and were supposed to be part of it. This haul is just books and a few of them are hand-me down. As many of our thrift shops and library bookstores are still closed (or in the case of my local charity shop, the book selections are mediocre), sharing books within your community is a great way to spread those resources around.
Female Role Models in Science & More | 20 Women who Rocked the World | Picture Books
Here are 20 female role models who are sure to inspire girls and women. Women should be celebrated every day, but on March 8th, International Women’s Day, it’s a must to acknowledge the courage, perseverance and dedication of women in history who have paved the way for discovery and change.
I’ve collected over 20 picture books celebrating the achievements of women from diverse backgrounds, from across the world and throughout history. These biographies are well-written, delightfully illustrated and are sure to delight and inspire girls and women.
The following books were reviewed in the video, but I’ll share quick thoughts here: (scroll through photos)
She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World by Chelsea Clinton is a delightfully illustrated book with short highlighted summaries of 13 American women. The illustrations are soft and beautiful and the stories are short making it great for young children and great for all who want quick biographies to inspire further reading.
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy is an empowering book with strong illustrations and a powerful story about a women whole won’t take no for an answer. My daughter and I loved this book and unlike some other biographies, this book held our interest and attention.
Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors? The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell by Tanya Lee Stone is an empowering book. The whimsical illustrations fit the personality of Elizabeth Blackwell perfectly. It’s inspiring and leaves you cheering alongside Dr. Blackwell. It reminds you how far we’ve come and how much further we have yet to go. My daughter and I loved this book. It’s well written with energetic illustrations. I highly recommend this book.
Rosa by Nikki Giovanni is wonderfully written with captivating illustrations. It’s informative and strong, yet peaceful. My daughter and I really liked this book. It would be great for Black History Month, a history unit or a unit on peaceful activism and civil rights movement. It shines the light on a disturbing past in a respectful manner that’s educational for adults and children.
Grace Hopper Queen of Computer Code by Laurie Wallmark is a charming witty book. Though it’s a full biography, it’s not boring or dry. The illustrations are fun, clever and bright. The book is written in an engaging manner that keeps you interested the whole time. My daughter and I really liked this book and I highly recommend it. It also poses many points worth of discussion including age discrimination.
Hidden Figures The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race is a work of art. The book is beautifully illustrated, inspiring and well written. The back of the book has individual biographies on each of the four women as well as a timeline. The only issue I had with the book was keeping track of each story and woman. The book was also a bit long for a picture book so my daughter soon lost interest. Regardless, I find this book to be a valuable asset to an home library and would work well for Black History Month, an astronomy unit or a unit on female scientists.
Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai is a wonderful book. The illustrations are gorgeous and the book is sensitively written. It handles difficult situations with grace and respect. My daughter and I loved this book. It’s inspiring and will bring tears to your eyes. I highly recommend it.
Shaking Things Up by Susan Hood is fantastic! It’s written in rhyme with whimsy and uniqueness. This collection of biographies is illustrated by 13 extraordinary women. Each biography is quick and precise, skipping the long drawn out chronological biographies of some picture books. My daughter and I really loved this book. It’s a page turner, and I highly recommend it.
Margaret and the Moon How Margaret Hamilton Saved The First Lunar Landing by Dean Robbins is a fun, upbeat and inspiring story. It’s well-written with comic strip style illustrations. Unlike chronological biographies which can be slow and somewhat boring, this one was simple, quick and interesting. Both my daughter and I really liked it, but my daughter doesn’t seem as interested in the picture books about astronomy, so she didn’t like this one as much as I did.
Dorothea’s Eyes by Barb Rosenstock is nicely illustrated but both my daughter and I didn’t care for the story or illustrations. This book would be suitable for a American history unit or female photographers.
Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor by Robert Burleigh is a beautiful book about the wit and perseverance of Marie Tharp. It was informative, inspiring and redeeming. Though I enjoyed this book, my daughter wasn’t that interested in it. The book is nicely illustrated with pictures that evoke the ocean and waves.
Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine by Laurie Wallmark is a stunningly illustrated book. It captures the life and accomplishments of Ada in a simple relatable way. My daughter and I were moderately interested in this book. Of the two books on Ada Lovelace, we prefer Poet of Science more.
Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine by Laurie Wallmark is a stunningly illustrated book. It captures the life and accomplishments of Ada in a simple relatable way. My daughter and I were moderately interested in this book. Of the two books on Ada Lovelace, we prefer Poet of Science more.
Dorothea Lange The Photographer Who Found the Faces of the Depression by Carole Boston Weatherford was enjoyed by both my daughter and me. We didn’t care for the story or illustrations. It would accompany a history unit for the 1930’s very well.
The Girl who Thought in Pictures The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin by Julia Finley Mosca is written in rhyming verse which delights my daughter and makes heavy content light and relatable. Unfortunately, I had a hard time following this book and wasn’t sure what Dr. Temple’s contributions were. The illustrations are cute, but not the kind I especially like. They do complement the way the book is written.
Shark Lady The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating is an awesome book! My daughter and I loved it. The illustrations are bright and inspiring and the story is smooth and interesting. I highly recommend it.
Look Up! Henrietta Leavitt Pioneering Woman Astronomer by Robert Burleigh is a calming book with soft illustrations. Though my daughter didn’t really care for this book, I think it makes a great book biography for any astronomy or history unit.
Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty is a delightfully illustrated picture book written in verse. My daughter and I loved this book, especially my daughter who loves books and poems that rhyme. The illustrations are so fun and whimsical. They are worthy of being framed. This is not a specific biography, so it’s a bit more fun to read compared to the other biographies in this list.
Women in Science 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World written and illustrated by Rachel Ignotofsky is a fantastic resource for amazing women in science. Each two-page spread contains an illustration in monochromatic colors and a one-page brief biography. The print is small and not written as lively as a picture book, but this is a great collection of women in science. We read selections to accompany our various homeschool units.
Caroline’s Comets A True Story by Emily Arnold McGully was moderately interesting. The illustrations were not our favorite. The story was easy enough to follow, but contained superfluous information making it hard to know what Caroline was known for. The book offers many points worthy of discussion such as women in science, women being paid for their work and distinguished for their discoveries, childhood illnesses and ideas that women with stunted growth or scars can’t get married. Though this book wasn’t our favorite, it would work well as a period history book, a biography, a women in science book and an astronomy book.
The Right to Learn Malala Yousafzai’s Story by Rebecca Langston-George is a fantastic and inspiring book. It’s beautifully illustrated and my daughter and I loved this book. This book addresses the violence and injury of Malala sensitively, but with more detail than other picture books about Malala. Reader discretion is advised if you are reading this with especially sensitive children. This book is likely to make you cry at the injustice and then cry from the triumph of Malala. Highly recommend this book.
Swimming with Sharks The Daring Discoveries of Eugenie Clark by Heather Lang is an inspiring biography of scientist Eugenie Clark. Of the two books I featured on Eugenie Clark, my daughter preferred Shark Lady. The illustrations are a bit dark and feel like you are deep under water.
Life in the Ocean The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle by Claire A. Nivola is a simple biography with delicate illustrations. There was nothing outstanding about this book, but it would be nice to add to a unit on oceanography. My daughter was moderately interested in this book, though it did inspire her to build a city under the water.
The King’s Daughter and Other Stories for Girls is a bonus addition to this list. Though it’s not a biography, I’ve heard wonderful reviews about it. We have yet to read it.
Yaffa and Fatima Shalom, Salaam by Fawzia Gilani-Williams is an awesome book! My daughter and I loved it! It’s a beautiful story of two women from diverse religious backgrounds who love and look out for each other. This book was a fast fun read. It’s gorgeously illustrated with a story about acceptance, tolerance and friendship. I highly recommend this book.
Ada Lovelace Poet of Science The First Computer Programmer by Diane Stanley is whimsically illustrated. This book cover’s Ada’s life from the time she was a child through her friendship with Charles Babbage. It’s informative and fun and my daughter and I really liked this book. The illustrations work so well with the story.
Rachel Carson and Her Book that Changed the World by Laurie Lawlor could have been a more inspiring book. As it is, it was a little sad, in part because of Rachel’s challenges in her life. The illustrations were nice, but not especially memorable or outstanding. I feel the most important achievements of Rachel’s are lost in the story and could have been illuminated. Though both my daughter and I didn’t care for this book, it did inspire me to learn more about Rachel Carson and my daughter did like the beginning of the book.
The Tree Lady by H. Joseph Hopkins is a richly illustrated book with a turn-pager story. It’s simple, interesting and one we have read often. My daughter and I both like this book a lot and have included it in our spring nature units for a couple of years so far with the intention to read it often every spring.
-

She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World by Chelsea Clinton is a delightfully illustrated book with short highlighted summaries of 13 American women. The illustrations are soft and beautiful and the stories are short making it great for young children and great for all who want quick biographies to inspire further reading
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I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy is an empowering book with strong illustrations and a powerful story about a women whole won’t take no for an answer. My daughter and I loved this book and unlike some other biographies, this book held our interest and attention.
-

Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors? The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell by Tanya Lee Stone is an empowering book. The whimsical illustrations fit the personality of Elizabeth Blackwell perfectly. It’s inspiring and leaves you cheering alongside Dr. Blackwell. It reminds you how far we’ve come and how much further we have yet to go. My daughter and I loved this book. It’s well written with energetic illustrations. I highly recommend this book.
-

Rosa by Nikki Giovanni is wonderfully written with captivating illustrations. It’s informative and strong, yet peaceful. My daughter and I really liked this book. It would be great for Black History Month, a history unit or a unit on peaceful activism and civil rights movement. It shines the light on a disturbing past in a respectful manner that’s educational for adults and children.
-

Grace Hopper Queen of Computer Code by Laurie Wallmark is a charming witty book. Though it’s a full biography, it’s not boring or dry. The illustrations are fun, clever and bright. The book is written in an engaging manner that keeps you interested the whole time. My daughter and I really liked this book and I highly recommend it. It also poses many points worth of discussion including age discrimination.
-

Little Leaders Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison is a fantastic collection of black women and their accomplishments. Each two-page spread contains an adorable illustration and a one page summary. The print is small, but the biography is short and includes enough highlights to inspire further research. We read selections from this book rather than reading it cover to cover. The book covers women from the 1700’s to current figures in politics and athletics.
-

Hidden Figures The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race is a work of art. The book is beautifully illustrated, inspiring and well written. The back of the book has individual biographies on each of the four women as well as a timeline. The only issue I had with the book was keeping track of each story and woman. The book was also a bit long for a picture book so my daughter soon lost interest. Regardless, I find this book to be a valuable asset to an home library and would work well for Black History Month, an astronomy unit or a unit on female scientists.
-

Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai is a wonderful book. The illustrations are gorgeous and the book is sensitively written. It handles difficult situations with grace and respect. My daughter and I loved this book. It’s inspiring and will bring tears to your eyes. I highly recommend it.
-

Shaking Things Up by Susan Hood is fantastic! It’s written in rhyme with whimsy and uniqueness. This collection of biographies is illustrated by 13 extraordinary women. Each biography is quick and precise, skipping the long drawn out chronological biographies of some picture books. My daughter and I really loved this book. It’s a page turner, and I highly recommend it.
-

Margaret and the Moon How Margaret Hamilton Saved The First Lunar Landing by Dean Robbins is a fun, upbeat and inspiring story. It’s well-written with comic strip style illustrations. Unlike chronological biographies which can be slow and somewhat boring, this one was simple, quick and interesting. Both my daughter and I really liked it, but my daughter doesn’t seem as interested in the picture books about astronomy, so she didn’t like this one as much as I did.
-

Dorothea’s Eyes by Barb Rosenstock is nicely illustrated but both my daughter and I didn’t care for the story or illustrations. This book would be suitable for a American history unit or female photographers.
-

Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor by Robert Burleigh is a beautiful book about the wit and perseverance of Marie Tharp. It was informative, inspiring and redeeming. Though I enjoyed this book, my daughter wasn’t that interested in it. The book is nicely illustrated with pictures that evoke the ocean and waves.
-

Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine by Laurie Wallmark is a stunningly illustrated book. It captures the life and accomplishments of Ada in a simple relatable way. My daughter and I were moderately interested in this book. Of the two books on Ada Lovelace, we prefer Poet of Science more.
-

Dorothea Lange The Photographer Who Found the Faces of the Depression by Carole Boston Weatherford was enjoyed by both my daughter and me. We didn’t care for the story or illustrations. It would accompany a history unit for the 1930’s very well.
-

The Girl who Thought in Pictures The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin by Julia Finley Mosca is written in rhyming verse which delights my daughter and makes heavy content light and relatable. Unfortunately, I had a hard time following this book and wasn’t sure what Dr. Temple’s contributions were. The illustrations are cute, but not the kind I especially like. They do complement the way the book is written.
-

-

Look Up! Henrietta Leavitt Pioneering Woman Astronomer by Robert Burleigh is a calming book with soft illustrations. Though my daughter didn’t really care for this book, I think it makes a great book biography for any astronomy or history unit.
-

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty is a delightfully illustrated picture book written in verse. My daughter and I loved this book, especially my daughter who loves books and poems that rhyme. The illustrations are so fun and whimsical. They are worthy of being framed. This is not a specific biography, so it’s a bit more fun to read compared to the other biographies in this list.
-

Women in Science 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World written and illustrated by Rachel Ignotofsky is a fantastic resource for amazing women in science. Each two-page spread contains an illustration in monochromatic colors and a one-page brief biography. The print is small and not written as lively as a picture book, but this is a great collection of women in science. We read selections to accompany our various homeschool units.
-

Caroline’s Comets A True Story by Emily Arnold McGully was moderately interesting. The illustrations were not our favorite. The story was easy enough to follow, but contained superfluous information making it hard to know what Caroline was known for. The book offers many points worthy of discussion such as women in science, women being paid for their work and distinguished for their discoveries, childhood illnesses and ideas that women with stunted growth or scars can’t get married. Though this book wasn’t our favorite, it would work well as a period history book, a biography, a women in science book and an astronomy book.
-

The Right to Learn Malala Yousafzai’s Story by Rebecca Langston-George is a fantastic and inspiring book. It’s beautifully illustrated and my daughter and I loved this book. This book addresses the violence and injury of Malala sensitively, but with more detail than other picture books about Malala. Reader discretion is advised if you are reading this with especially sensitive children. This book is likely to make you cry at the injustice and then cry from the triumph of Malala. Highly recommend this book.
-

Swimming with Sharks The Daring Discoveries of Eugenie Clark by Heather Lang is an inspiring biography of scientist Eugenie Clark. Of the two books I featured on Eugenie Clark, my daughter preferred Shark Lady. The illustrations are a bit dark and feel like you are deep under water.
-

Life in the Ocean The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle by Claire A. Nivola is a simple biography with delicate illustrations. There was nothing outstanding about this book, but it would be nice to add to a unit on oceanography. My daughter was moderately interested in this book, though it did inspire her to build a city under the water.
-

The King’s Daughter and Other Stories for Girls is a bonus addition to this list. Though it’s not a biography, I’ve heard wonderful reviews about it. We have yet to read it.
-

Yaffa and Fatima Shalom, Salaam by Fawzia Gilani-Williams is an awesome book! My daughter and I loved it! It’s a beautiful story of two women from diverse religious backgrounds who love and look out for each other. This book was a fast fun read. It’s gorgeously illustrated with a story about acceptance, tolerance and friendship. I highly recommend this book.
-

Ada Lovelace Poet of Science The First Computer Programmer by Diane Stanley is whimsically illustrated. This book cover’s Ada’s life from the time she was a child through her friendship with Charles Babbage. It’s informative and fun and my daughter and I really liked this book. The illustrations work so well with the story.
-

Rachel Carson and Her Book that Changed the World by Laurie Lawlor could have been a more inspiring book. As it is, it was a little sad, in part because of Rachel’s challenges in her life. The illustrations were nice, but not especially memorable or outstanding. I feel the most important achievements of Rachel’s are lost in the story and could have been illuminated. Though both my daughter and I didn’t care for this book, it did inspire me to learn more about Rachel Carson and my daughter did like the beginning of the book.
-

The Tree Lady by H. Joseph Hopkins is a richly illustrated book with a turn-pager story. It’s simple, interesting and one we have read often. My daughter and I both like this book a lot and have included it in our spring nature units for a couple of years so far with the intention to read it often every spring.
Physics Lab Materials | Homeschool Science Haul
Materials from this video
This is the second time we are ordering from Ward's Science. This time we ordered a few materials for our Electricity and Magnetism lessons. We ordered a number of rods of differing materials to compare static electricity: Stirring polypropylene rod, acrylic rod, hollow glass rod, solid glass rod and nylon rod. We also got a horseshoe magnet, a digital scale, concave mirror, convex mirror and test tube drying rack.
We also bought from Educational Innovations for the second time. The first time was for just a couple items which I didn't share here, but it was the balancing eagle, an item from this Force and Motion kit, the centripetal spinner, Wind Gyro and polarized lense. For this haul, we bought some awesome kits!! The first one I want to share is the Magnetic Accelerator. We also got the Wave Modeling Spring, Eddy Current Rods, Egg in a Bottle, Harbottle Differential Pressure Demonstrations, Energy Chimes, DIY Galileo Thermometer, Magnetic Lodestone, Iron Filings, and the lung demonstration (which would be ideal for an anatomy unit).
For physics main lesson block involves doing a demonstration each lesson, followed by drawing and writing about it in the following lessons. While most of our lessons in optics, thermodynamics and acoustics don't need special equipment, I am happy to add these kits and materials for some experiential lessons. Some items like the egg in a bottle or snaky waves can be DIYed, I like having the prepwork taken care of for as many projects as possible since I'll be spending time assembling other hands on activities.
CRAFT + HOMESCHOOL HAUL | Over The River Felt
Looking for felt that's of better quality than the acrylic felt from craft stores but more affordable than 100% wool felt? How about a wool blend? Or bamboo felt! I found Over The River Felt during a search on Amazon and later contacted the company to see if they'd like to donate products for my felt comparison video. They said yes! I chose a variety of products from their shop to share with you today and I can already tell you their selection is fantastic!
I've left links to several of the products so you can check the updated prices.
So far I'm loving the Superhero Mask DIY kit. My kids had a blast do this project.
https://overtheriverfelt.com/shop/super-hero-make-it-yourself-jumbo-kit/
We recently used the snowflakes for a winter stitching project and plan to do the same stitching project with the fall leaves set.
I'm already excited about the bamboo felt as it's a fantastic all natural alternative to the wool felt and wool blend felt. The wool blend felt comes in many colors and is about half the cost of the wool felt.
Bamboo Felt, 20/80 wool/rayon blend, 35/65 wool/rayon blend, Wool Felt collections.
Curriculum Haul | American Civil War
While putting together our units for history this year, I discovered that this unit on the American Civil War and Slavery was quite a bit smaller than our other units. After shooting this video, I went to Rainbow Resource and ordered more supplement material to complement this unit. I ordered historical play figures, books and games.
You can get the complete list of materials we are using for all our American History Units by click here or visiting my Teachers Pay Teachers page.
Yarn Haul
New yarn means new projects, and before I got to filming this haul, we already got started on our new projects. We are busy knitting away during these cooler months with longer nights and cozy days. This yarn haul is two hauls in one. Everything in the circular basket was from a recent haul and everything in the square basket is from a haul several months ago. All of it is from Webs.
Primarily, I’m replenishing our supply of Lamb’s Pride yarn in bulky and worsted weight, but I’m exploring new colors. I’m also trying out some new yarn from CloudBorn. I got CloudBorn Bulky, worsted and Highland Sport. I’m finding their yarn very soft, and I love the color range. I also love the Highland Sport because the lighter yarn is working well for our mini hats projects for our peg dolls and finger puppets. This yarn is plied and this is a departure from our unplied yarn that I’m used to. We’ve already gotten started on our projects, and I love the yarn!! All of it. It’s all so beautiful and easy to work with. Stay tuned for new handwork projects, but in the meantime, enjoy all the handwork project tutorials we’ve done over the years.
Book Haul
Our homeschool runs on books among other things. Having a home library takes time and money to put together. While there are many books I buy new, there are many I buy second hand from thrift stores or the library bookstore. I have my eye out for certain kinds of books, so it’s become easy to for me to browse the books and pull the ones I think will work for us. I love illustrated books, especially the ones that have robust content. I think picture books are an undervalued and under estimated literary resource. If I find a beautifully illustrated book, it’s hard to pass up. I look for non-fiction mainly.
I rarely buy fiction, except for a few series or works of literature or classics. I rarely have the children get their fiction books from the library. Next, I look for books in science or history primarily, but am thrilled to find math and language arts resources. I look for upper elementary and middle school level books mostly, or books for younger children in which the author isn’t ‘talking down’ to the reader. I love living books! But it’s sometimes hard to tell if a book is a living book at first glance. I also keep in mind the main lesson blocks or unit studies I have coming up to see if a resource will fit. Sometimes, I buy a book I already own because I know it’s good, and it will make a great gift to another homeschooler!
Buyer’s Guide (non-affiliate links except Amazon)
Everything You Need to Ace Chemistry in One Big Fat Notebook (Big Fat Notebooks)
Janice VanCleave’s Biology For Every Kid: 101 Easy Experiments That Really Work
Janice VanCleave’s Earth Science for Every Kid: 101 Easy Experiments that Really Work
Prehistoric Worlds: An Interactive Book with Tabs, Folds, Flaps, Acetates, and Wheels
If You Were Me and Lived in… Renaissance Italy by Carole P. Roman
If You Were Me and Lived in…the Middle Ages by Carole P. Roman
Ramadan Haul | Islamic Books and Resources
When my children were young, there were a small selection of Islamic picture books for children and a few innovative books and journals for young adults. I’m exceedingly pleased that the variety has grown tremendously in the last couple decades. I’m sharing some books that have been in our home library for years as well as brand new additions. While we used to read the Seerah (Life of the Prophet, peace be upon him) yearly, reading passages daily during homeschool, we now read it during Ramadan.
Included in the most recent haul, are two embroidery kits. I once heard of a woman who used to do her dhikr with every stitch or knit. I loved the idea but never implemented it. Now that we have these two kits, I think Ramadan is the perfect time to do dhikr while doing cross stitch.
If you’d like to purchase any of the items in this Ramadan haul, you may do so. When possible, buy directly from the publisher or vendor, for ease of sharing, Amazon is linked often with affiliate links, but I encourage you to buy directly when possible.
Shopping Guide
Felt Haul & Sewing Kits | ThreadFollower
Is winter time a creative time for you? With shorter cooler days, I find myself indoors more and having the supplies to get creative helps explore the creative bug that takes over during these months. Recently, I reached out to ThreadFollower to see if they would be willing to partial sponsor a felt comparison video by sending samples of the felt and other supplies they carry. They said yes! I'm showing you the haul video today of all the supplies that were sent to me for free. Later, I'll share the difference between a variety of felt, where you can get them and what they cost.
Giveaway closed
In the meantime, you can check out these two stitching projects we did using the ThreadFollower kits, which by the way, will be part of a giveaway coming up!
Mini Homeschool Haul
Enjoy these late additions to our homeschool haul! These are a few items I purchased for our Anatomy and Chemistry Main lesson blocks with the exception of Oceanarium which I plan to use for our opening activities.
Buyer’s Guide (non-affiliate links except Amazon)
HUGE Thrifted BOOK Haul | Unbelievable Price!
Because we buy most of our homeschool supplies through our charter school, I don't usually buy things on our own. Today is an exception! While at the library, we visited the bookstore and discovered they were right in the middle of a huge sale! How good was the sale? I'll reveal the prices of the books a little later on in the video, but let me assure, it was an awesome sale.
When I buy books, I'm looking for a few different things. Here's my criteria list for books (must have one of the following):
-historical fiction
-biographies
-beautifully illustrated books
-classics
-living books
-non-fiction related to a unit we plan to do (science, history, etc.)
-math picture books
-quality hardback books
What I don't buy:
-popular fiction
-media (DVDs, CDs, and most audio books)
-Twaddle books
-picture books with illustrations I don't like
-non-living non-fiction books
-most DK Eyewitness books
-adult fiction
-parenting books
-travel books
-overpriced books considering it's used
Curious George Early Readers
Who doesn’t love the Curious George series! These are the level 1 and level 2 readers from Rainbow Resource. They have simple storylines, bright illustrations and come with activities included at the back of the book that relates to the story.
Though these books are not part of the Waldorf curriculum, we do have an assortment of picture books. One way to repurpose a good book is to create new stories based on the pictures, so your children can enjoy some of the stories you make up. However, children respond really well to repetition so there’s tremendous benefit to telling the same story over and over again.
Sometimes, I use a picture book as inspiration for my own made up stories. You can retell the story to your children and see if they remember which book it’s from or you can embellish the story or change the ending for a bit of fun.
I can’t say I love the illustrations from the Curious George books, but we can all agree they are classics and iconic at this point. Had it not been gifted to us 10 years ago, I may have permanently overlooked this series of books.
STORYTIME + THRIFTED BOOK HAUL
Since starting our unit studies, I know which books to look for. The library bookstore is suddenly a treasure trove of education material available for great deals for those who wish to sift through the thousands of books they offer. I go directly to the kids section and browse the non-fiction books. I look for books that can accompany our units and main lesson blocks. I like books with beautiful illustrations and story-format content.
Today I found a number of books, but some were just okay, not great. I paid $14.50 for everything. Most books were $0.50 with a couple coming in at $1 or $2 each. I picked up a few antique books as well, though I don't specifically seek those out.
My last thrifted book haul was amazing. I got dozens of books for about $20.
Check out some of our other curriculum hauls here.
Want to know where those extra books ended up? They went to another homeschooler, Challice, at Sodbuster Living.