10 Favourite Websites for Homeschooling

I know, I know. It's Thursday. I'm behind this week, sorry! hehe. I'll be on target next week. I promise!

I've decided to join in on a 10 in 10 meme challenge hosted by both Angie at Many Little Blessings and iHomeschoolnetwork. Each Tuesday, they are challenging us to write a post about a topic related to homeschooling - a top ten list for each of the next 10 weeks. 

This week's challenge: 

Top 10 favorite websites to use for homeschooling

So, here's my list: 

1. Pinterest. I get SO many creative and fun ideas off Pinterest that help me with our homeschool adventures. 

2. Dogpile. Ok, so this isn't actually a website, but a search engine. But honestly, without my search engine, I would miss out on SO many amazing ideas and projects for us. I can find just about everything we need for our homeschool days!

3. Reading Eggs. If it didn't cost so much per child, I'd definitely have a full time membership to this site. I might even suck it up and do it anyway - because frankly, of all the online programs we've been testing out, this one has been the one that the kids love to play and that I've seen HUGE results from. Just by using this program, my 6 year old has gone from a complete non-interested non-reader, to feeling very confident in his emerging reading skills. I think it might be a worthwhile investment. 

4. YouTube. I don't have Netflix, but this is where I find lots of our videos for various things. Like our week last summer on Vikings. I found tourism commercials for Newfoundland, and some fun videos that helped with other topics too. Very helpful.

5. CoolMath / CoolMath-games. These sites are top on the boys "fun" computer time list. They have a lot of games on there, but I enjoy that there are usually a lot of games that involve logical thinking and problem solving as well as fun. 

6. Progressive Phonics. This has been a great site that has helped get my early non-readers interested in reading. We just started with the Alphabetti series this year and they love that they can "read" - even if it's just a word or 2 on a page. It's free and they have so many options. 

7. Spelling City. I love that I can type in our spelling list for the week and the kids can have fun while they learn their words. There's printable activities too, for some worksheets. 

8. Homeschool Share. There's lots of great printables here for a HUGE amount of themes and topics. Lapbooks, notebooks, worksheets, etc. etc. Handy resource. 

9.  Wonderville.ca. They'd done some major work on this website and added SO many amazing things to it, but the part we like the best so far is the games section. Games designed to encourage science! Things like Kelvin's Space Farm and Reaction Action. Fun games. But they also have videos and comic strips and activities. 

10. MathBlaster (Jumpstart). I'm a huge fan of any fun game that engages kids through play that involves some sort of educational interaction. MathBlaster is fantastic because it involves the kids needing to answer math questions in order to beat bad guys, but not in a "test" kind of way - a fun kind of way. Add in that they are on an adventure - a space station that gets under attack - and you are destined for fun. PLUS, this game is also linked to Jumpstart.com - which is a terrific, interactive, fun online world for kids. I'm sure there's an educational component to this site, too - but we just use it for fun. You can access both sites for free, but we actually pay a small monthly fee for all our kids to play. I love that it's just 1 fee and we can have all our kids play, instead of paying per kid. 

Bonus: The Canadian Homeschooler. Ok, Shameless Plug. This is my website, but it's a great resource when I'm trying to remember Canadian based products! Designed to help Canadian homeschooling families be connected with our country focused products, my site has been helpful for lots of people - including myself! I've learned about so many amazing products and companies in Canada!

Thanks for letting me join in!