Our Homeschool Favorites for the 2020-2021 School Year

Over the years I have found that we have favorite things every season in our homeschool. These things aren’t technically seasonal at all. Just resources that have brought our homeschool joy. Favorites that have enriched our learning if you will. 

I have been sharing our homeschool favorites by season for the past two years. Recapping the previous months and analysing what has brought our homeschool the most joy is something I absolutely love.

I find that for our family our favorites always seem to include a few books, some games, and normally one other really impactful thing. 

Each season seems to have different things that become favorites in our homeschool. These are my favorites for the 2020-2021 homeschool year.

Table of contents

Fall Homeschool Favorites

The Most Loved Books

Emily’s favorite book was What is LEGO? She is LEGO obsessed so it didn’t suprise me that this book was her favorite.

Kevin’s favorite book was Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. He had never been home to participate in the entire read aloud process before this and he fell in-love.

My personal favorite book that we read was A Pinch of Magic. It was the book that came in our Owl Crate Junior and it was fantastic!

My favorite homeschool mom book from the fall season was Awakening Wonder by Sally Clarkson. It was such a refreshing book and it reads pretty quickly too.

 What Is LEGO? Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban A Pinch of Magic Awaking Wonder

 

The Top Played Games

We decided to make it easy this time and each pick our favorite game from the fall season. Which means we have three games to share with you!

My game pick was Wild Craft. I love this game so much. I like that it is cooperative, a learning game, and that it’s so much fun.

Emily’s favorite game was Harry Potter Clue. The orginal Clue game has been a favorite of hers for years. So, I knew Harry Potter Clue would be a winner for her. And I was totally right.

Kevin’s game pick was Harry Potter Labyrinth. It is such a fun game. The pieces move around as you play and remind us so much of the stairs at Hogwarts.

 Wildcraft! Clue Harry Potter Harry Potter Labyrinth

 

The Extremely Fun Extras

There is nothing better than an organized homeschool. At least in my opinion. This expandable rainbow file folder has 24 dividers and tabs and is a great way to organize some hands-on centers or projects for Emily.

The last thing that was a huge hit during the fall season in our homeschool was the Bedtime History Podcast. It become something Emily begged for every night at bedtime.

 File Folders Letter Size Rainbow Expandable Filing Expandable File Folder with Lid

 

Winter Homeschool Favorites

The Most Loved Books

Emily has been loving the Billie B. Mystery series. She has read them three times in the past few months. If your kids loved the original Billie B. Brown or Hey Jack books they will love this series. It is a step up in reading level and content but still the same lovable characters.

 Billie B Mysteries Spooky House Billie B Mysteries Code Breakers Billie B Mysteries Playground Detectives Billie B Mysteries Strawberry Thief Billie B Mysteries Stolen Stash Billie B Mysteries Treasure Hunt

Our family fell in love with the Pages and Co. book series. I read all three of them aloud and then we bought them on audio to listen to again. They are just that good! They even made our favorite read alouds of all time list.

 Pages & Co. The Bookwanderers Pages & Co. The Lost Fairy Tales Pages & Co. The Map of Stories

The Top Played Games

We resurrected an oldie but goodie this past Winter. Sleeping Queens, while always a favorite card game, got a ton of game play the past few months in our homeschool. It is a favorite of everyone. 

Prime Climb was a new game that we finally busted out of the plastic wrap and learned how to play. It quickly made our list of most played games this season because while it is an educational math game it is also a lot of fun.

 Sleeping Queens Card Game Math for Love Prime Climb

After I strewed Cat Crimes and Dog Crimes a few months ago Emily has played them constantly. I think she forgot we owned them to be honest. They are single player games that are great for sneaking in some easy logic and she can do them 100% independently which are both huge pluses for me!

 ThinkFun Cat Crimes ThinkFun Dog Crimes

Kevin has been doing a S.T.E.A.M. class with Emily once a week this school year. It hsa become their favorite thing about homeschool. And to be honest I love seeing them in action. This Winter the kits that their favorites were the ones from National Geographic. They were all great quality, had excellent explainations, and clear directions.

The Extremely Fun Extras

 Ultimate Volcano Kit Break Open 10 Premium Geodes Mega Fossil Dig Kit Science Magic: Hydrophobic Substances Light Up Air Rocket Crystal Growing Garden Gemstone Dig Kit Science Magic: Instant Snow

Another one of their favorites to do during their S.T.E.A.M class has been the KiwiCo. Tinker Crates. They anxiously wait on that box to arrive each month. They have enjoyed all of the crates they have completed so far.

Spring Homeschool Favorites

The Most Loved Books

Emily’s absolute favorite books from the spring were the Kitty book series. There are five books in the series so far and they have all been a hit. The books are fun, colorful, and lively. Emily has read them multiple times and continues to read them again and again.

 Kitty and the Moonlight Rescue Kitty and the Tiger Treasure Kitty and the Sky Garden Adventure Kitty and the Treetop Chase Kitty and the Great Lantern Race

 

Our favorite read aloud series has been Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. I had planned on us reading the first book but wasn’t sure if we would make it through the entire series. But, boy was I wrong. We all found the books riveting and couldn’t wait to start the next one. Each of the five books in the series was as amazing if not more amazing than the last.

 Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics Mr. Lemoncello’s Great Library Race Mr. Lemoncello’s All-Star Breakout Game Mr. Lemoncello and the Titanium Ticket

 

The Top Played Games

I try really hard not to repeat favorites but thhe first game I have to share with you all is a repeat. It’s just that good y’all! We have played Prime Climb non-stop for months now.

Upwords has become my favorite game. I really love word games and this is one of the best I’ve played. It’s similar to Scrabble but you can play letters on top of each other to change words into new words. I have also found this game to be a fantastic way to sneak in some spelling practice.

The past few months we have also fallen madly in-love with two games from Blue Orange: Photosynethis and Planet. These games are such great quality and offer such a fun game play.

 Prime Climb Upwords Photosynthesis Planet

 

The Extremely Fun Extras

I mentioned in our End of the Year Review that we had experienced a bit too much togetherness the last few months. Which meant that anything that offered an educational experience while also offereing us space from each other became not just a favorite but a neccesity. This was mostly screened based learning, but it helped us survive so who cares?!!

Summer Homeschool Favorites

The Most Loved Books

We spent a lot of time in the pool this summer, that meant the majority of our books were read either on our Kindle Paperwhites or we listened to the on audio using our waterproof speaker. The series we enjoyed listening to as a family was Wizards of Once. Emily loved reading the Warriors series on her Kindle. I enjoyed many suspenseful thrillers over the summer.

 Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker Kindle Paperwhite The Wizards of Once Series Warriors Book Series

 

The Top Played Games

We had so much fun in the pool together this summer that most of our top played games happen to be waterproof. The first thing I did was order a floating table and it was worth every penny. It came with a deck of waterproof cards, and we enjoyed playing many games with them. We also enjoyed Uno Splash, Spot It! Splash, Roll a Story Dice, Math Dice, Word Shout, and Toss Up. Another thing we really enjoyed was the Spell and Dive toy for the pool.

 Floating Game Table Uno Splash Spot It! Splash Roll a Story Math Dice Word Shout Toss Up! Waterproof Playing Cards Spell and Dive

 

The Extremely Fun Extras

Our favorite extra from the summer was hands down our Survival Unit Study. We had so much fun as a family learning more edible plants, how to start a fire, shelter, and more. It really was the perfect study for us to complete over the summer.

What have been some of the favorite or most used resources used in your homeschool this year?

See Our Past Homeschool Favorites