“Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.”
—Charlotte Mason
The right curriculum, books, videos and games can be amazing tools to help your children explore the world. Below I have included some of my family’s favorite resources.
These include audiobooks, apps, and videos I use for quality educational options, even when I’m not able to give each child individual attention.
I hope this collection will help you come up with ideas to inspire your own children.
Reading is the most foundational academic skill. Several good phonics programs are currently available. The products from All About Learning Press stand out because they provide simple, detailed programs. The All About Reading programs I use with my sons also have reading books with beautifully illustrated drawings. The stories draw them in remarkably well for simple readers.
My oldest daughter is currently working her way through All About Spelling Level 3. This spelling program is a good fit for students who don’t grasp spelling quickly. In my daughter’s case she learned the patterns of language and started reading rapidly at a young age, however, spelling was a completely different matter. So she’s really learning phonetic rules through spelling rather than reading.
Audible books help us experience incredible stories together—even when we’re stuck in traffic or folding laundry. Since Amazon owns Audible, you can purchase individual audiobooks through Amazon or sign up for an Audible membership.
You can find everything from children’s picture books to classic works for your oldest students.
I have included a list with some of the Audible books in our digital library below. When you click on a link you will go to a page at Amazon and you can select the “Audible” option before checking out.
A Little Princess, Frances Hodson Burnett
View On Amazon
Blueberries for Sal, Robert McCloskey
View On Amazon
Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White
View On Amazon
Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis
View On Amazon
Farmer Giles of Ham, J.R.R. Tolkien
View On Amazon
Frog and Toad Are Friends, Arnold Lobel (Audible does not show the pictures for this one, but the author reads it and instructs kids to follow along using their own copy.)
View On Amazon
Heidi, Johanna Spyri
View On Amazon
Homer Price, Robert McCloskey
View On Amazon
Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder
View On Amazon
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
View On Amazon
Make Way for Ducklings, Robert McCloskey
View On Amazon
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Virginia Lee Burton
View On Amazon
Sarah Plain and Tall, Patricia MacLachlan
View On Amazon
Shakespeare for Children, Charles and Mary Lamb
View On Amazon
The Black Stallion, Walter Farley
View On Amazon
The Boxcar Children, Gertrude Chandler Warner
View On Amazon
The Cricket on the Hearth, Charles Dickens
View On Amazon
The Green Ember, S.D. Smith
View On Amazon
The Jesus Storybook Bible, Sally Lloyd-Jones
View On Amazon
Three Little Pigs, James Marshall
View On Amazon
The Prince and the Pauper, Mark Twain
View On Amazon
The Saturdays, Elizabeth Enright (My daughter loves this entire series.)
View On Amazon
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodson Burnett
View On Amazon
Where Do You Think You’re Going, Christopher Columbus?, Jean Fritz
View On Amazon
The Phonics Museum is an amazing app recently released by curriculum publisher Veritas Press.
PhonicsMuseum.com
Dragonbox math apps make playing with numbers irresistible. My kids are addicted—especially to the Big Numbers game. The games seem to appeal to a wide range of ages.
DragonBox.com
These character quality DVDs provide simply songs and stories introducing various character qualities. You can see a sample lesson on the website.
CharacterFirstEducation.com
Teaching Textbooks Math provides video lectures and automatic grading for students in the third grade and up. Teaching Textbooks Info on CBD.com
Blue Manor Academy offers a free digital audio picture book library and online Christian education for a small monthly fee. The comprehensive preschool curriculum is especially good. Also, be sure to check out the resources in the parents’ area.
BlueManorAcademy.com
Life of Fred books take a quirky and humorous approach to teaching math (and a few other subjects) through a novel format. My oldest daughter is obsessed with them and the title character often works his way into everyday conversations.
Life of Fred
I think the Maestro Classics series is one of the best ways to introduce children to classical music and to learn about musical concepts. Each cd includes a story set to music (performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra) and educational tracks.
You can purchase the entire 12 cd collection or select individual titles:
View on Amazon
Time Traveler
View on MyUBAM.com
Lift-the-Flap Computers and Coding
View on MyUBAM.com
See inside Famous Palaces
View on MyUBAM.com
Look inside a Castle
View on MyUBAM.com
Look inside Our World
View on MyUBAM.com
Lift-the-Flap Picture Atlas
View on MyUBAM.com
Peek Inside a Fairy Tale Beauty and the Beast
View on MyUBAM.com