These are some of the best resources my family has used in gameschooling and homeschooling! Check some of them out and see if they help your homeschool, too.
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Gypsy Gameschooler Shop – Find all my freebies and paid resources here!
Homeschooling Geography Resources
Miss Maisyâs Tasty Travels â we have LOVED our subscription! Itâs just one letter a month with a few (usually 4) recipes, from a different country each month. The writing style is beautiful and uplifting. The font can be a little hard to read, but itâs always beautiful! The letters are beautifully illustrated, and there are even fun stamps on the envelope. Itâs about half the price of Little Passports, and has the parts we loved the best.
Globe (paid link) â I prefer globes over maps, as then I donât have to fuss about what projection weâre looking at. I like to be able to feel mountains at least a bit, even though that makes the globe more expensive, but itâs easier to see where large mountain ranges are. In fact, I love my globe so much that itâs coming with us on our bus! My only other requirement was I wanted a relatively updated globe. I still remember the globe I grew up with â it had the USSR on it. So while I generally prefer buying used and thrifting, this is one area that I bought new.
Little Passports (paid link) â I got this subscription for my kids when they were younger. Recently, they’ve made some big updates that I’m really excited about. My favorite part, though? Little Passports makes a game, called Where To? that is still my favorite geography game.
I recently got to try out their new line, called Kitchen Adventures. Definitely read my full post about it, but in short, it’s a total win! I’m excited to try more of their new and improved boxes!
Around the World Stories (paid link) are auditory stories perfect for the auditory learner. Unfortunately, they seemed to have stopped making them partway through the Asia series, so don’t buy that set. However, their Europe stories are finished and well-done. Each of their thirteen featured countries comes with four stories approximately 30 minutes in length.
Homeschool Resources: Documentaries
Curiosity Stream â if you donât yet have Curiosity Stream, and your family likes watching shows, this is a must! Itâs all documentaries, but mostly really cool, really good documentaries; not the boring ones you remember from school. There are a ton of topics, different lengths, series, and one-offs, and most seem to be appropriate for kids (I have only found one that I wouldnât be comfortable with my kids watching, but I wasnât comfortable watching it, either; it was on the witch hunts in Britain and showed torture scenes that were really tough to watch). I love being able to tell my kids they can watch anything from it, and be secure in the knowledge that theyâre learning something. The best part? The price! Itâs usually $20/year, but can often be purchased on sale for just $12/year. **Update: They’ve since doubled the price. With the way my family has been watching documentaries on our other streaming platforms (and since our only TV is now in my room, and my kids are older, it’s easier for me to make sure my kids are watching something educational), we’ll be canceling our subscription. However, it was a huge help when my kids were younger.
How to get rid of extra energy
Trampoline (paid link) â I donât know about yours, but my kids can be a little . . . high energy. When my kids get this way, it is SO NICE to be able to send them outside to jump. I am genuinely sad to be leaving our trampoline behind, but it just wonât fit on our bus. I did think periodically about getting a smaller indoor trampoline (paid link), and even saw one on Buy Nothing that tempted me recently, but the floors in our manufactured house are not very strong. But if you have the space for one and your floors are strong enough, I totally recommend getting an indoor trampoline, too.
Homeschooling Resources: Tools
Laminator (paid link) â If youâre like me and like variety in your gameplay, but donât have a lot of money to purchase a bunch of different games, free print-and-plays can become your best friend. There are even versions of more expensive games, like Oceans (okay, Iâve since realized that itâs no longer available for free print and play, but it *was*, and you may be able to find other games out there), available for free download for you to print out and play, and a laminator comes in handy for all these print-and-plays. Weâve found lots of other great uses for our laminator â whenever I bag up games, I laminate a label for them. Iâve laminated chore lists, checklists on how to clean bedrooms, and lots more! I even made our own math fact family cards and laminated them.
Printer – While a good printer isn’t essential (many libraries offer printing services to their patrons), it can really help your homeschooling journey. Especially if you want to take advantage of the many free printable games out there.
Round out your gameschooling with:
Books – We love books as homeschooling resources! If you don’t have the space or budget to own your own, check out your library. Ebooks are also a good option.
Unit Studies â We use a lot of really loose unit studies. Itâs probably more accurate to call them âthemed unschoolingâ â someone chooses a topic, we find a ton of resources (my kids are younger, so I almost always find all the resources, but as my kids age theyâll be finding more and more of the resources), and then my kids explore at will. Theyâve learned a ton this way, itâs really low-stress for all involved, and can be a lot of fun.
If you’d like more help with unit studies, I have country resource lists and even some full unit studies!