Homeschooling Resources

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after following one of my links, I may earn a small commission, but it doesn't cost you a single agora extra! Thanks!

Hi all!

I wanted to share a few of our homeschooling resources today! I know you don't all homeschool, but lately I have gotten a lot of questions from parents whose kids go to school - either about how they can also homeschool, or how they can enrich their children's education during non-school hours.

So I'm writing a really quick post for all of you - there is a lot I'm not going to be able to include here, but some of this should get you started! Here are some of the resources we use or recommend.

Do you want your kids reading more in Hebrew? Check out this introductory deal to Maariv Kids magazines, including one issue of National Geographic Kids in Hebrew! The deal will cost you just 10 shekels for an introductory package (4 magazines)! (I believe this is for Israeli addresses only.)

If you want to get your kids some classic magazines in English, consider Highlights magazines. They are inexpensive and they can be shipped to international addresses. It's a great way to keep them in tune with their English speaking peers around the world! Click here to subscribe, and Save $5 on Highlights Magazines!

I also really like the Cricket family of magazines - and there are often sales for them. We love getting the digital editions for our ipad or tablet, so we don't have to pay international shipping fees.

Anytime you're looking for ideas for curriculum, free or not, I highly recommend checking out the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op. Many deals are online and can be purchased by anyone in the world. Other deals, that are physical materials, often require a US shipping address.

Educents also has great deals for homeschoolers and for enrichment programs. They often have great deals on certain books - like the Life of Fred series - but I do recommend comparing prices before you buy.

I also rely on our Kindles - we get lots of free books for it, as well as inexpensive books from Amazon! My kids are HUGE readers, so the kindles are often in use. I'll post an update when Kindles go on sale - there's a big sale coming up soon!

If your homeschool students are ready to start studying at a college level, the Open University allows homeschoolers into their programs, though you will need to attend a guidance session and interview and convince them you're ready! Check it out today!

Every so often, we take a day to go to a Science Museum. MadaTech has Free Wednesdays still - though it's coming to an end soon. Check it out soon!

I hope to start sharing homeschooling ideas and resources about once per week, so be sure to check back here next week for more!

Let me know in the comments what you're looking for!

Some of our Favorite FREE Resources!

Thought I'd share some of our favorite free online resources with you today.

I'm not talking about news sites, or Facebook, because - well, we may learn a lot from them, but that's just not what I'm talking about.

Here are some great FREE resources to help you make the most of your time:

Learn Hebrew with DuoLingo
(and other languages too!)

Virtual Museum Visits (because we can't all just jet off to Paris or somewhere every day!)

Virtual Exhibits

Open Culture offers free courses in almost everything!

Wolfram Alpha offers free online access to computers that can do all sorts of computations our normal computers can't do

That ought to keep you busy for a while!

Free e-books in Hebrew!

A great way to improve your Hebrew is to read it and speak it and immerse yourself in it.

Here are some FREE Hebrew e-books for you!

Clicking on the link above will take you to a page with a whole bunch of free downloads! There's a wide variety of genres there - so much to read!

Grab 'em while you can!

I'll post more as I find them!

Inexpensive books in Hebrew!

I just had to share --- 

(And no, I am not being paid to write about this, nor are there any affiliate links here)

There's a new way to get BRAND NEW BOOKS in Hebrew, in Israel, for 10 shekels each!

Yes. 10 shekels per book.

You heard it here first, and you will thank me up and down when you are looking for a great present for when someone in your neighborhood has a baby and you can buy Eric Carle books (translated into Hebrew) -- just an example -- for just 10 shekels!

And if you don't want to pay for shipping - who ever wants to pay for shipping? -  you can just arrange to pick up your order at the "Bug" store nearest you!

So... go ahead, check out 10Books! And let me know if this changes the book market in Israel!

I think it really will!!

How I type in Hebrew

Hi,I'm your resident tech guy, Ester's 14-year-old son.

When my mother needs to type in Hebrew (such as when finding all of the great deals she posts here), she always uses my program.

Here's something I wrote up about it:

Have you recently needed to type in Hebrew, but couldn’t, because of your keyboard language? Well, there’s a way to add it, but it can be difficult. I made a program that lets you do it, with no downloads, whether you use Windows, Mac, or Linux. It even works on phones! This is a virtual keyboard named TypeR. Not only does it simulate a standard Hebrew keyboard, it even lets you add vowels (nekudot)! To use this feature, simply press ctrl+alt, and choose one.

This wonder keyboard is completely free. You can view the website at http://www.typeint.com/. The program itself is at http://www.typeint.com/typer/. I also maintain a blog about the site: http://typeint.com/blog.

I’d love feedback on the TypeR keyboard and the website as a whole. I’m also constantly working on it, fixing the few bugs that crop up, and more importantly, adding features. Right now, the next version is nearly done, with several new features. I’d appreciate it if some people would beta test it. Don't worry, it almost always works, and even works better than the old version! http://blog.typeint.com/2013/02/typer-12-is-now-in-beta.html

I hope you find this as useful as i do!