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The River Houses

A National Network of Local Homeschool Societies

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🛒 HOMESCHOOLING SUPPLIES & Recommended Teaching Materials

Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?

—Henry Ward Beecher

A choice selection of absolutely fabulous homeschool supplies and teaching materials, curated just for you. 😊 For general classroom and office supplies not listed below, try the universal Amazon Back-to-School store. (We are an Amazon affiliate so your purchases here earn us a small commission at no extra cost to you.)

BOOKS, MAPS, & ALBUMS

The reference books we recommend to all homeschool families are described in detail on our special “Six Books for Every Homeschool” page. They are: a world atlas, a comprehensive dictionary, a world almanac for the current year, a bird guide, a history encyclopedia, and a guide to the night sky. We refer to them all regularly in our educational materials.

A globe to go along with your world atlas is also an essential teaching tool. We are partial to inexpensive inflatable globes, such as the basic 12-inch Pangda political globe and the 16-inch Replogle topographical globe.

Wall maps are the best decoration for every homeschool classroom. (And student bedroom!) At a minimum you should try to get one of your city or town, one of your state, one the United States, and one of the world.

The Dover Thrift Editions are a great way to build up an affordable paperback library of classic literature for your students. For poetry in particular, try Great Short Poems, 100 Best-Loved Poems, 101 Great American Poems, and 100 Favorite English & Irish Poems. They overlap a little bit but you can get all four for just $14.

A set of simple coin collecting albums is a wonderful educational gift. (The National Park Quarters series is a great place to start.) History, geography, economics, and art all combine into one comprehensive learning opportunity.

A beginner’s stamp album, or a blank stamp stock-book that will let you create your own album, combined with a couple of big packets of unsorted worldwide stamps or unsorted American stamps, can provide hours or maybe even years of educational entertainment in geography, history, art, and much more.

SCIENCE & NATURE SUPPLIES

Bird feeders should have a place in every homeschool. Several types are available: tube and hopper feeders that are favored by chickadees, finches, and sparrows; platform feeders that are favored by ground-loving birds such as cardinals; suet feeders that are favored by woodpeckers and nuthatches; and window feeders that are great for close-up views. Find one or two that fit your home setting and you will be rewarded with hours of educational entertainment.

Binoculars can be used for nature study, astronomy, sports, plane spotting, and much more. (But be sure Lesson #1 is “Don’t use them to watch the neighbors.”) Successful binocular use requires a degree of eye-hand coordination that small children may not yet have, so consider your first pair to be mom and dad’s binoculars which the little ones can try out from time to time. Beginners will do better with a lower magnification (7x or 8x rather than 10x). Choose an established brand and avoid cheap imports; with optical equipment you generally do get what you pay for. A good pair of binoculars will last for many years.

Science wall charts, like maps, are just the thing to decorate every homeschool classroom. Treat your students to (say) four different charts and put a different one up for study during each of the four terms of the homeschool year.

The AmScope line of student microscopes comes highly recommended by many homeschoolers. A variety of different models are available — look around and find one that meets your needs.

The Oxford Helix geometry set (compass, protractor, triangles, rule, stencil) has been a math-student favorite around the world for generations — and it’s great for artists too!

The Snap Circuits line of electronics kits are highly recommended for homeschool students interested in science, electronics, engineering, and more.

A planisphere or “star wheel” is an essential tool for teaching basic astronomy. The grandest planisphere is Ken Graun’s Guide to the Stars. It’s packed with information and can serve as a beginner’s astronomy text on its own.

Cuisenaire rods are an old favorite for teaching a variety of basic principles in mathematics and the metric system. (My own sense of how much a cubic centimeter is still comes from the remembered sensation of those little white cubes in my hand.)

CLASSROOM & OFFICE SUPPLIES

All kinds of general school supplies (pencils, paper, markers, index cards, folders, and much more) are available all year long at the Amazon Back-to-School store.

Post-It Arrows are ideal tools for teaching a hundred little lessons with maps in particular. “Pin me ten state capitals.” “Pin me five rivers in California.” “Pin me three big islands in the Mediterranean Sea.”

The best permanent pens for daily use and homeschool record keeping are the Signo Uni-Ball series. They’re pens for mom and dad and for high-schoolers rather than little kids – the ink is indelible!

Bookmark magnifier-rulers are good for use with maps and reference books, and even to carry around outside on field trips.

We like to use clear sheet protectors to keep our River Houses homeschool calendars neat and accessible all through the year.

RIVER HOUSES INSIGNIA!

And if all that isn’t enough, we now have a River Houses insignia shop at Redbubble! Take a look at some of the things that are available:

A sample of River Houses insignia items available in our Redbubble shop. Click to see more!
A sample of River Houses insignia items available in our Redbubble shop. Click to see more!

❡ Stay in the loop: Add your name to our free River Houses mailing list and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🗞

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Post Topics

  • 🎵 Homeschool Arts & Music
  • 🔭 Homeschool Astronomy
  • 📚 Homeschool Books & Libraries
  • 💰 Homeschool Collections & Collecting
  • 📅 Homeschool Holidays & History
  • 📖 Homeschool Language & Literature
  • 🌕 Lunar Society Bulletins
  • 🗺 Homeschool Geography
  • 🏛 Homeschool Museums & Monuments
  • 🏞 Homeschool Natural History
  • 🗓 Quick Freshes for Homeschool Families
  • 🔎 Homeschool Research & News
  • 🌎 🇺🇸 Homeschool States & Countries
  • 🗓 Homeschool Terms & Calendars

Astronomy

  • American Meteor Society
    • – Fireball Reporting System
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day
  • Evening Sky Maps
  • Homeschool Astronomy (Sky & Telescope)
  • Hubble Space Telescope
    • – Learning Resources
  • NASA
    • – Asteroid Watch
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Our Solar System
    • – Spot the Station
    • – Webb Space Telescope
  • The Planets Today
    • – Light-Distance to the Planets
  • The Sky This Week (USNO)
  • Space Weather
  • Stellarium Night Sky Charts
  • Time and Date
    • – Eclipses
    • – Meteor Showers
    • – Moon Phases
    • – Seasons
  • Tonight’s Sky (hubblesite.com)
  • Virtual Planisphere

Books & Libraries

  • Baldwin Library of Children’s Literature
  • Biodiversity Heritage Library
  • Classic Children’s Books (read.gov)
  • Folger Shakespeare Library
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Shakespeare’s Plays Online
  • HathiTrust Digital Library
  • In Our Time (BBC Podcasts)
  • New York Public Library Digital Collections
  • Project Gutenberg
  • US Library of Congress
    • – Children’s Book Selections
    • – Educator Resources
    • – LC Blogs
    • – LC Digital Collections
    • – Minerva’s Kaleidoscope
  • US National Archives
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Founders Online
    • – K–5 Resources
    • – Teaching With Documents
  • Vatican Library Digital Collections
  • WorldCat Library Catalog
    • – WorldCat Library Finder
  • World Digital Library

Museums, Parks, & Monuments

  • Art Collections Online
  • British Museum Collections Online
  • Google Arts & Culture Collections
  • Smithsonian Institution
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Smithsonian Museums
    • – Smithsonian Open Access
  • Timeline of Art History
  • US National Park Service
    • – Educator Resources
    • – National Memorials
    • – National Monuments
    • – National Parks
    • – Wild & Scenic Rivers Program
  • US National Wildlife Refuges
  • US State Parks
  • Watercolour World

Natural History

  • All About Birds (Cornell University)
    • – Bird Identification Guide
    • – eBird Online
  • Biodiversity Heritage Library
  • BirdCast Daily Migration Maps
  • Time and Date
    • – Seasons
  • UC Museum of Paleontology
    • – Educator Resources
  • US Fish & Wildlife Service
    • – Education Programs
  • US Geological Survey
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Latest Earthquakes
  • US National Weather Service
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Nationwide Air Quality
    • – Nationwide River Conditions
    • – Wildfire and Smoke Map
  • Wild & Scenic Rivers Program

Maps & Geography

  • Antipodes Map
  • FlightAware (Planes in the Air)
  • Mapquest World Maps
  • MarineTraffic (Ships at Sea)
  • OpenStreetMap World Maps
  • Printable Blank Maps & Flags
  • Printable Outline Maps (d-maps.com)
  • River Runner
  • USGS Topographic Maps
  • World Heritage Sites (UNESCO)
    • – Educator Resources
  • Zoom Earth

Civics & Social Science

  • Bill of Rights Institute
  • Constitution Center
  • C-Span Classroom
  • Free Speech Curriculum from FIRE
  • Foundation for Economic Education
  • History of the Western World (I)
    • – Western World (II)
  • iCivics.org
  • Learn Liberty
  • Mises Institute Economics
  • MyMoney.gov
    • – Educator Resources
  • Online Library of Liberty
  • US Founding Documents
  • US Government Portal
    • – The Congress
    • – The Supreme Court
    • – The White House
  • US Mint
    • – Coin Activities for Kids
    • – Educator Resources
  • US Postal Museum
    • – Explore the Collections
    • – Activities for Kids
    • – Stamps Teach (from APS)
  • Visual Capitalist
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