How Do I Teach After School: Finding Materials
Welcome to Day 3 of the How Do I Teach After School! Today I’m going to cover finding materials. Be sure and read over Day 1: What to Teach & Day 2: School Set Up .
This is often the hardest part of after schooling, because you are not looking for a full curriculum but only part or what fits your needs at that time. I find the things I need the most are Printables, Arts & Crafts (hands on activities), Books, Making Your Own and Pinterest.
Printables
If you are looking for printables there are several places to look to get some. I do offer several on 3 Dinosaurs. But you might not find everything you are looking for here. I’m always expanding them to fit the needs of what we are doing in after school. Plus using them during the summer for Summer School.
Here is where I’ll be getting some of the printables that I’ll be using this year besides those on 3 Dinosaurs:
- Royal Baloo (free)
- Homeschool Creations (free & paid)
- 1+1+1=1 (free & paid)
- Education.com (free & paid)
- This Reading Mama (free & paid)
- The Measured Mom (free & paid)
- Preschool Powol Packets (free & Paid)
Arts & Crafts – Hands on Activities
My #1 place to go to for arts and crafts is Pinterest! There are so many ideas out there that are very easy. People pin tons of ideas all the time. I love to go through and I pin stuff by subject on my board. My favorite thing to do is to make something hands on. Give them something that connects all they have done. I was very much a visual learner growing up. At times a craft will give them something they can remember the activity by. If they are learning about bugs at school do a hands on bug activity at home. There are many ways you can make this happen.
Here are some blogs that I follow to get ideas (but these are not all I use):
- Teach Preschool
- Frog & Snail & Puppy Dog Tails
- JDaniels 4s Mom
- Toddler Approved
- No Time for Flash Cards
- Red Ted Art
- Hands on We Grow
Books: Reading & Workbooks
I want to break this down to two types work books and reading books. I use both of these.
Reading Books
Do you check books out from the library? We do for sure and I research books online and get them there all the time. Check out my post on Using the Library. You can also get the books I mentioned in What To Teach from the library as well. With inter library loan that most libraries have now you can get almost any book you are looking for. I use Amazon to search for books and then see what books are related or people looked at in association with that book.
As kinds grow in school they soon have reading levels they are on. It is a good idea to learn what reading level your child is at. Then search for books at that reading level. There is a chart on Scholastic to give you a good idea where your child should be and what levels. To find out the level of the books try using Scholastic’s Book Wizards. I have used this and labeled the books in the house by level, but know you wont find every books on that list. It helped me find other books for my oldest to read that were her level. Plus will help as my younger two grow to know what level books they can read.
Work Books
A lot of workbooks that you can buy are meant for the summer to bridge things over. I love to use them all year round. You can work on skills as they are needed or they learn about. You never know when a little extra practice might come in handy. I get a lot of my books from Amazon.
- Complete Curriculum: Grade 1
- Complete Curriculum: Grade 2
- Complete Curriculum: Grade 3
- Complete Curriculum: Grade 4
- Complete Curriculum: Grade 5
- Complete Curriculum Grade 6
Making Your Own
After you have searched and can’t find what you are looking for look into making your own. You don’t have to make a printable! Yes I make a ton of them but I’ve done it for a bit. When you make your own printables you have to follow the terms of use of the images you get. Something we often don’t think about is that you can use a paper and pen to make quick and easy learning activities.
If you have not found pinterest by now it is a great resource. I know that I mentioned it above for Arts & Crafts but it is worth mentioning again. I keep track of ideas and printables (mine & others), that I might use there all the time. You can search for topics or follow people that “pin” things you might like. I love to search around for ideas and find new things. You can follow me on Pinterest and see what I pin. I’m always looking and pinning more than just my posts. It is my collection of ideas I find and some I use and some I don’t. In those pins you might find ideas to help you with your after schooling.
I hope with this you got some good ideas of where to find some of the materials to help with your after schooling.
Also check out:
Day 1: What to Teach
Day 2: School Set Up
Day 4: Setting a Routine
Day 5: Scheduling the Year
Cassie – 3Dinosaurs.com
Thanks for this series. My oldest is entering Pre-K, where he is not going to be challenged academically, and we just finished a successful summer if home summer school, which is how I found you. Right now I’m realizing that although i thought this was a summer thing, i probably need to keep going. So I’m really enjoying your posts.
You are welcome! I’m glad you are able to use them. I’ve had a lot of fun writing them. You never know when you can or will need something.