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Home schooling has a vast array of choices in the resource department. This makes the ability to homeschool very effective and diverse to each family and student's needs. Children's Magazines are another area where the material is easily adaptable to fit into a lesson plan. There are many different ways to incorporate them into the home education.

One of the magazines I would recommend is Highlights. There are plenty of activities in each issue and the colorful presentation is appealing to the children. There are various ways to use a Highlight in the homeschooling. One of the things they offer is stories that will encourage your child to read. Have your student read one aloud to you for a reading assignment or on their own. For a struggling reader that gets discouraged by a chapter size book, these short stories might encourage them more in that area as they will not be as lengthy and tedious to get through. Highlights also offers a variety of puzzles in each issue. These will be useful in building logic, language, and other skills.

Another good magazine would be the National Geographic for Kids. Offering a wide array of subject material that could be read and discussed with the child. There are also nice illustrations to match the subject material. In elementry aged children having a beautiful bright pictue next to your topic will appeal to them and hold their intrest. Discover for Kids is a lot like the National Geographic as it will give them bright pictures and educational articles.

Nickelodean, Jr magazine is a little less relevant for classroom purposes. However it usually includes a good art project idea, excellent reviews of books and films for the parent or teacher to read up on, and a bright, short picture book type of story that a beginning reader can read aloud to you. Some of the stories at the back also include activities the child can do as they read through the story, looking for blue's clues. For a younger student this could be a very viable resource. There is also a bigger child's version of this magazine.

Scholastic also offers grade specific materials in the form of a magazine for each grade level. Their magazines come with various features depending upon the grade level you are looking at. For example the second grade magazine will information for social studies, mini biographies, practice tests for reading skills, guided reading stories, and monthly mini book activities. The drawback to this offering seems to be impractical for the average homeschool user because they are ordered in mass quantity rather than indivdual subscriptions to the child. However, I wouldn't discount this as an option if the homeschooler were involved with community homeschool programs and could organize ordering for that purpose and splitting the issues amongst a group of homeschoolers. Perhaps the library may even carry some issues of these magazines.

There are several other magazines out there covering a wide array of educational topics. Certainly there are a lot of use's for these when homeschooling. The best advice is always to research for your needs, read some reviews of the materials you are considering, and find ways to adapt your lessons to work with various materials.

Learn more about this author, Kathleen Lynn.
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