HCS Resource Library
Our Favorite Homeschool Resources & Tools
Useful things for teaching, learning, organizing, experimenting, planning, and making homeschool life work a little better. These are resources we like, have used, or think are worth considering for homeschool families.
You do not need a house full of homeschool stuff.
Good homeschooling is not built by buying everything someone puts on a supply list. Some of the most useful resources are simple things that solve a real problem, make a concept easier to understand, encourage hands-on learning, or save time.
This page is a collection of things we like, things we have used, and resources that caught our attention because they could genuinely be useful in a homeschool.
Not every item will fit every family. Use what helps. Skip what does not. The goal is not more stuff—the goal is better tools for the student in front of you.
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Find what fits your homeschool.
Make practice something students can touch.
Hands-on learning can make letters, sounds, counting, time, patterns, and early skills feel much more concrete than another worksheet.
Zeoddler Alphabet Learning Activity
A hands-on alphabet activity for preschool and early learners who benefit from seeing, touching, matching, and interacting with letters.
View on AmazonLapare Audible Learning Activity
An interactive early-learning option that adds sound to alphabet practice and gives young learners another way to engage with letters and beginning skills.
View on AmazonSkillmatics Phonics Sorter
A hands-on phonics activity that lets students sort and work with sounds instead of keeping all of the learning on paper.
View on AmazonPhonics Blending Board & Handwriting Set
A practical option for combining phonics, word blending, and writing practice for students who benefit from seeing the pieces of a word come together.
View on AmazonLearning Resources Time Activity Set
A hands-on way to work with clocks, time, and related early math skills rather than relying only on pictures in a workbook.
View on AmazonCoogam Math Linking Cubes
Colorful connecting cubes for counting, sorting, patterns, early operations, number sense, and open-ended building. A simple manipulative that can be used for far more than one activity.
View on AmazonTools that earn their space in the house.
The best homeschool tools are the ones that actually make teaching, planning, organizing, demonstrating, or reusing materials easier.
Homeschool Planner & Organizer
A paper planning option for families who like to see lessons, schedules, and homeschool information together instead of scattered across several notebooks.
View on AmazonScotch Thermal Laminator
Useful for reusable worksheets, flash cards, schedules, charts, games, reference sheets, and anything else that needs to survive repeated homeschool use.
View on AmazonSpaceAid Scalloped Bookshelf
A front-facing Montessori-style bookshelf that can make books easier for younger students to see, choose, return, and actually use.
View on AmazonVIZ-PRO Rolling Magnetic Whiteboard
A larger mobile whiteboard can be useful for math, spelling, brainstorming, diagrams, group lessons, schedules, and anything that is easier to teach when everyone can see it.
View on AmazonMagnetic Fraction Learning Set
A visual, hands-on way to work with fractions and equivalencies. Especially helpful for students who understand a concept better when they can move the pieces and see the relationships.
View on AmazonEXPO Dry-Erase Markers
If a whiteboard gets regular use, good markers matter. Assorted colors are useful for diagrams, color-coding, schedules, math steps, and making lessons easier to follow visually.
View on AmazonScience gets better when students can do it.
Reading about something is useful. Seeing it, building it, testing it, and figuring out why it worked—or did not work—can make it stick.
PalliPartners Compound Microscope
A compound microscope for students who are ready to move beyond toy science equipment and begin doing more serious biology observation.
View on AmazonPrepared Microscope Slide Set
Prepared specimens can make microscope work far easier to begin, especially when students are learning how to focus, identify structures, and compare samples.
View on AmazonGskyer Astronomical Refracting Telescope
A telescope turns astronomy from something in a textbook into something students can walk outside and investigate for themselves.
View on AmazonHands-On Electronics Science Kit
A project-based electronics kit for students who enjoy building, testing, and learning how circuits and electrical concepts work.
View on AmazonSnap Circuits Extreme SC-750
A large hands-on electronics set with reusable components and many possible circuit projects. Good for students who would rather build the concept than only read about it.
View on AmazonPlayShifu Orboot Earth Explorer Globe
An interactive globe option that combines geography with exploration and gives younger students another way to connect places on a map with the larger world.
View on AmazonA few tools can make harder courses easier to manage.
As students move into upper-level math, science, testing, and independent work, the right tools can make a real difference.
CATIGA Scientific Calculator
A scientific calculator for high-school math and science work where students need functions beyond basic arithmetic.
View on AmazonNicpro Geometry & Drafting Set
A compass, protractor, and geometry-tool set for constructions, measurement, diagrams, and courses where students need to work accurately on paper.
View on AmazonHigh School Reading Comprehension Workbook
Useful for targeted reading practice when a high-school student needs additional work with nonfiction, fiction, comprehension, or test-style passages.
View on AmazonSAT Study Guide & Test Prep
An all-in-one Digital SAT study system with practice tests, step-by-step explanations, and exam-day preparation for students who want structured SAT practice.
View on AmazonCalculus: Early Transcendentals
A full calculus text for students working at an advanced high-school or college-math level and ready for a more rigorous course resource.
View on AmazonACT Test Prep Guide
An ACT preparation resource for students who want structured practice, review, and test-taking support without tying this evergreen page to one specific testing year.
View on AmazonOne reminder: a tool can support a course or testing goal, but it does not determine whether the course or test is necessary for a student’s plan. Start with the student’s destination, then choose the tools that help them get there.
The right curriculum is the one that works for the student.
Curriculum is a tool, not a measure of whether a family is homeschooling the “right” way. These are options worth knowing about, but every family should consider the student’s learning style, academic goals, and plans for the years ahead.
Alpha Omega LIFEPAC 4-Subject Set
A workbook-based Grade 7 curriculum set covering four core academic subjects for families who prefer a structured, self-paced approach.
View Grade 7Alpha Omega LIFEPAC 4-Subject Set
The Grade 8 four-subject LIFEPAC set for students preparing to move into the high-school years while continuing a familiar workbook-based format.
View Grade 8Alpha Omega LIFEPAC 4-Subject Set
A workbook-based Grade 9 set covering the four major academic subject areas with accompanying teacher materials.
View Grade 9Alpha Omega LIFEPAC 4-Subject Set
The Grade 10 four-subject LIFEPAC set for families who prefer a structured workbook-based approach.
View Grade 10Alpha Omega LIFEPAC 4-Subject Set
A Grade 11 four-subject set that continues the same self-paced, workbook-style format into the upper high-school years.
View Grade 11Alpha Omega LIFEPAC 4-Subject Set
The Grade 12 four-subject set for families who want to continue the same curriculum format through the senior year.
View Grade 12High-school families: choose courses based on the student’s graduation plan and likely destination. A boxed curriculum can provide course materials, but college, NCAA, technical, scholarship, or other destination requirements may need additional planning.
Some books teach a lesson. Some stay with you.
You Are Special is one of those books for me. I read it to my own children again and again, and I shared it with many other children over the years.
Its message mattered to me because children grow up in a world that is constantly handing out labels—good ones and bad ones—and teaching them to measure themselves by what other people think.
I wanted the children I loved and taught to understand something deeper: their value is not determined by the stickers other people put on them.
This is more than a book I think is cute or useful. It is one I believe is worth sharing.
Use what helps. Leave what doesn’t.
A homeschool does not need to look like anyone else’s. Choose resources that serve the student, support the goal, and make learning work better in your real home.