My Teaching Library (A Homeschool Crew Review)

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

 

I love using handouts for homeschooling.  Sometimes, extra practice is what the kids need to really help them to really understand what they are learning. However, for the life of me, I am not one of those able to make cute handouts that engage them on my own. I often spent a good portion of time scouring the internet trying to find worksheets that fit into the concepts that we are working on with the hopes that someone else has made what I am looking.  When I was given the opportunity to review the annual subscription to the Download Club from My Teaching Library, I was pretty exited to have access to thousands of resources that I could explore and add to my school day.

 My Teaching Library was started by Lynda Ackert, a mother and public school teacher both in Public Schools and overseas for the Department of Defense for over 20 years.  After becoming a mother, Mrs Ackert made the choice to homeschool her children which led to her realizing that she enjoyed making printables and handouts and wanted to share this with other homeschool families.

 With resources for grades Kindergarten all the way thru 12th grade and covering a wide variety of subjects from core classes such as language arts, math, science, history  as well as electives such as Bible studies, foreign language and physical education, My Teaching Library offers a wide arrange of subject material. 

 

Materials are arranged in such a way that makes searching by subject, grade and topic easy. Homeschooling families can purchase each product individually or get unlimited downloads/resources when they subscribe to a Download Club membership. Two memberships are available (annual and lifetime).  

How We Used It

Logging into the Download Club for a homeschool mother is equivalent to a kid in the candy store.  There is so much available on so many different subjects.  I simply just browse the list of topics, find something that looks interesting, click the download button which adds the material to my account, and then download it to my computer and print out for our classroom.

One particular resource we have used has been the Middle School Daily Grammar.  We have been including these lessons each day in our language arts class.  The lessons are short and only take us an additional ten minutes roughly to add to our day, but it has really helped the kids to grasp concepts such as parts of speech and sentence building. This particular download is 234 pages and in my opinion is extremely well written and explains grammar concepts perfectly for Ash and Garrett to understand. The lesson are also short enough to keep their attention, which is always important, especially with Garrett.

Another thing I really like about My Teaching Library is that the Download Club gives you access to all grade level material.  This came in handy when I realized Ashleigh in particular was struggling with reducing fractions.  I found a great set of handouts that while designed for 4th grade, were perfect to download, print out and give to Ashleigh as a morning drill to help her get more proficient with reducing fractions. 

Another resource that we found useful was the Bible Verse Memorization chart.  Garrett and Ashleigh have to memorize a verse from the book of Matthew each week.  I never really thought about keeping a list of their memorized verses until I saw the tracking chart.  The kids have been able to use it to write down their verse each week after they successfully recite it.   We also have been enjoying ( okay, Ashleigh and Mom have been enjoying - Garrett hates writing so him, not so much) the daily writing prompts for each month.  The ones we have been using are for grades 4th-6th grade. While we haven't been using them each and every day, I have been finding two each week to use for them as part of their weekly writing assignments.  Some of these topics have been really thought provoking for the kids, such as discussing the need for literacy and remembering those lives lost on September 11th while others were just fun topics such as Frodo and Bilbo Baggins' birthday. 

To learn more information about My Teaching Library, be sure to visit the company's website.  You can also find more information on the following social media platforms:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyTeachingLibrary/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/homeschool_mtl
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lyndaackert/my-teaching-library/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLCFIasgcKaLD5lHu2x6bNA

  Be sure to click the banner below to find out how other members of the Crew used My Teaching Library resources with their families within their homeschool.