Favorite Homeschool Curriculums and Supplies (Phonics)

I have shared what we are using this year for school, but I thought it would be good to have a thread just for my favorite curriculums and supplies.  This will be segmented by subject, at least that is the plan for now. In this day of so many homeschool choices, it is nice to be able to look at someone who has already used something to help and see if it is right for your family. I certainly do not have all the answers, but I do know what worked for us. With that in mind remember that no family is alike and no children are exactly alike. This is just a tool to hopefully help someone out. 

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Alpha Phonics was the best phonics "program" that I have used and I tried many. The lessons are simple for the teacher to teach and easy for the student to grasp. I used this with three of my four children and they all enjoyed it tremendously. In all honesty this was one of the best investments I made and it has paid off through the years by having children who, for the most part, enjoy reading. 

Only one of my children used an actual preschool curriculum and she loved it. As a matter of fact at almost 17 years old, she still talks about it. The company is Mennonite and therefore everything in the books are wholesome and very plain. She has even said that when she has children and they are preschool age they will most likely use this. You can find it here.  I put this in phonics, because I honestly believe these books prepare her for reading. 

Explode the Code is an excellent resource for teaching phonics. My niece and my son both used this at the same time and they loved it!! This series builds on the lessons that have been previously learned and makes learning to read much easier. We only used the first two books, but I know people who used the whole series and were very happy with it. 

Tub of Word Tiles has been a part of our house for years, but before they came along we used the 'old fashioned' magnet letter. I love Tub of Word Tiles because each word is color coded by the part of speech it is. We have used these to make silly sentences, stories, and have even played games with them. They seem to make Language Arts more fun!!