Whether you are curious about the homeschool world and want to dip your toe in the waters of information or you've been in the game for sometime, I have the resources that I have found invaluable for my journey and may be of use to you as well:
Home Educator's Association of Virginia (HEAV) - While the HEAV organization serves the homeschoolers of the state of Virginia, there are many resources and helpful information for parents in any state. I'm not sure if there any topics that are not covered by HEAV, so you can search to your heart's content on their website for your homeschooling needs.
When you become a HEAV member, you will also receive a subscription to the Virginia Home Educator magazine which helps you stay current on all things homeschooling.
Once a year they also host a convention in Richmond, VA, where I have met families from out-of-state that travel there because of the phenomenal resources and seminars that are provided at the annual events. Visit their website to learn more!
What Your Child Needs to Know When - In my initial years of homeschooling, this book helped me gain an understanding of what minimum skill sets my kids should have obtained upon completion of each grade level. It is designed in a checklist type format so that you can check off skill sets for your child for each grade as you consider what skills your child has achieved.
The Virginia Homeschool Manual - This manual addresses a huge array of homeschool topics!
You Can Teach Your Child Successfully - A fantastic "how to" book for the new homeschooling parent. This book helped me further encouraged me that I could educate my children.
The Complete Guide to Homeschooling - Another resourceful "how to" book.
When Children Love to Learn - If you haven't read about the Charlotte Mason style of teaching, you will want to read this book to broaden your perspective on how children learn in minimally restrictive learning environment and the benefits that come with it. I learned how narration, nature walks, and alouds can help augment my children's learning experience and ignite a passion within in them for learning.
Heidi St. John - If you're in need of encouragement and motivation throughout your homeschool journey, Heidi St. John is the ideal fit for your ups and downs. I was fortunate enough to hear Heidi in person at a homeschool convention and was immensely inspired by her positive and uplifting attitude for the home educator. Many days you will simply feel alone in your homeschool journey, but there are victorious women in our community that have been triumphant in educating their children and have many words of wisdom that can provide just the lift that you need from one day to the next. Heidi has a podcast that you can tune into and many resources for the homeschool parent.
It's Not That Hard to Homeschool High School Facebook Page - Whatever question you may have regarding homeschooling high school, another parent has had that same question. This facebook page has been invaluable as I've been able to search it and dig through answers from other parents that have experienced and been victorious in the struggles that may come in the high school years. There is a wealth of knowledge and information from other Moms that have graduated their kids and share their lessons learned. You have to submit a request to join this FB group in order to gain access and be able to post and ask questions.
Homeschooling for College Credit Facebook Page - This page has been priceless for my daughter's journey with studying for and taking CLEPs. For each CLEP a folder is maintained on this page with specific details regarding each CLEP and tips on how your student can prepare for it.
Lee Binz, the HomeScholar - In her book, Setting the Records Straight, Lee walks her readers through how one can go about developing their child's high school transcript. Lee's book was the first book to put me at ease about developing a plan for my oldest daughter's high school curriculum and how to go about recording her progress from one year to the next.
Teaching Writing: Structure and Style, Seminar Workbook by Institute for Excellence in Writing - After completing the instructor's writing course for IEW's Structure and Style curriculum, I found myself referring back to the course workbook again and again. I have been thoroughly impressed with IEW's writing products as they have given my daughters confidence in their writing. Their materials and charts are invaluable resources to keep handy for reference for your students writing journeys.
Seton Testing Services - From our very first year of homeschooling, we've been using Seton Testing Services for our end of year test materials. They make it so simple as they schedule and deliver our test materials of choice. Efficient delivery and timely with the children's test scores which are maintained in my account on their website.
In addition to the resources above, I keep the latest copies of my curriculum-of-choice catalogs from Abeka, Sonlight, BJUPress, and IEW nearby that I can refer to usually as the end of each school year approaches to assess which curriculum products we will need for the approaching year.
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