Reading Rewards Programs & Lessons

Book Adventure - a reading motivation website for kids in grades K-8. Readers earn points and prizes for taking multiple-choice quizzes on books they've read.

Read to Succeed - Six Flags and Weekly Reader offer free admission tickets to participating Six Flags theme parks for students in grades K-6 who complete six hours of recreational reading.

Barnes & Noble Reading Program - a summer reading motivation website for kids in grades 1-6. Children can win free books.

Starfall.com - a free online reading program that teaches reading in a lively, interactive way.

Vocabulary Games - this website provides games to help students of all ages improve their vocabulary.

Book Notes

Pink Monkey - free book notes and literature guides for many classic and contemporary literature.

Spark Notes - free book notes and literature guides for many classic and contemporary literature. Also includes study guides for other subjects.

Libraries, Lending Programs, & Other Resources

SC Public Libraries - website with addresses and website links to SC libraries.

DISCUS - this is SC's virtual library. It's free for SC residents and includes many databases and online encyclopedias. Get the password and ID from your local library.

ETV StreamlineSC - offers SC homeschoolers thousands of free educational videos via the internet. To set up an account, call Donna or Debbie at 1-800-277-3245 or email Donna at dthompso@scetv.org with your address (to verify that you live in SC) and either your homeschool name or last name. She'll respond with instructions on how to start your account.

Books for the Blind - free library program of Braille and audio materials circulated to eligible borrowers in the United States by postage-free mail.

KnowItAll.org - ETV's educational website, contains a collection of interactive internet programming for K-12 students, teachers and parents.

SciWay - a thorough information directory for SC.

Book Lists

Literature to Supplement History - a list of books that cover different periods in US and World History.

Historical Fiction by Date - a list of fiction titles arranged chronologically by the date the story takes place.

College Bound Reading List - a list of titles divided into the categories of American Literature, World Literature, Biography/History, Science, Social Science, Drama, and Poetry.

Reading List for the College Bound - a reading list for college-bound students derived from a combination of many lists compiled by colleges and universities.

Outstanding Books for the College Bound - a list of titles divided into the categories of History, Humanities, Literature and Language Arts, Science and Technology, and Social Sciences.

A List of Reading Lists - a website that contains a list of websites with recommended book lists for all ages.

Summertime Favorites - a list of classic favorites for children in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Books in a Series - a list of series books, useful for children who enjoy reading every book in a series.

Juvenile Series & Sequels - a list of series books with a focus on juvenile/young adult titles.

Young Adult Series & Sequels - another website that features a database of juvenile/young adult titles that are part of a series.

Writing, English, and Grammar

How to Write a Research Paper - this website teaches students how to write a research paper, step by step.

Wordsmith - popular homeschooling writing series that includes Wordsmith Apprentice for grades 4-6, Wordsmith for grades 7-9, and Wordsmith Craftsman for grades 9 and up.

Rod and Staff English - this Mennonite series is popular among homeschoolers who like a traditional grammar approach. This website shows samples of the texts.

Primary & Intermediate Language Lessons - gentle, old fashioned English texts for students in grades 2-6.

Diagramming Sentences - this website shows students how various sentences are diagrammed.

Literary Magazines

Ladybug - a magazine for preschoolers and early elementary that contain stories, poems, games, activities, and songs.

Spider - a great magazine containing stories, poems, and articles for younger elementary ages. Monthly contests encourage children to submit their own writing and art.

Cricket - this magazine is similar to Spider (see above) but is for older children (upper elementary and up). Great for exposing children to a wide variety of literature.

Handwriting and Typing

Handwriting for Kids - this site includes worksheets for practicing both manuscript and cursive letters.

Handwriting Worksheet Maker - create custom handwriting worksheets in basic, D'Nealian, and cursive styles.

Custom Tracer Pages - create custom worksheets in D'Nealian and Zaner-Bloser fonts and cursive.

More Handwriting Practice & Paper - includes readiness worksheets, print and cursive worksheets, and lined handwriting paper.

Italic Handwriting Series - this is a good program for young children learning print (1st and 2nd grades). I don't recommend it for learning cursive, however. From my own experience and that of moms with older children who used the program, the cursive becomes sloppy and almost illegible as children get older. It's not a continuous-stroke method, so students have to pick up their pencil in the middle of a word or sentence too often. When taking notes or just writing fast, this interferes with neatness and readability. Instead, check out the Zaner-Bloser style for cursive (see next item).

Zaner-Bloser Handwriting Series - this is a good method for learning cursive (I recommend the Italic series for learning print - see above item).

Online Typing Program - great online typing program created by the BBC.

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