Mama's Musings

Following on from last week's review of Lyra pencils, good quality crayons are also really worth buying.  We invested in Stockmar Crayons (sticks and blocks) and Crayon Rocks for our children, and they've lasted years. 

The Stockmar Crayons are made of beeswax and come in a tin or a wooden box.  They're popular with Steiner/Waldorf educators and families.  The blocks are especially suited to small children, and activities such as crayon rubbing.  The sticks are strong (ours have not snapped or bent) and offer the same brilliant result as the blocks.  Neither type crumbles or smudges - they are so smooth.

Crayon Rocks are made from soy wax and come in a drawstring bag.  They're ideal for teaching pencil grip and were designed by an occupational therapist.  These are even more smooth on the paper than the Stockmar crayons!  They're not quite as long-lasting (because the wax is slightly softer), but they're still a...

I don't normally review or recommend curriculum.  It seems strange to say it, but actual curriculum products have been a tiny part of our homeschooling journey.  There's one resource I did use for all six of my homeschool graduates all the way from Year 1 to Year 10.  It was super-affordable, Australian, took only minutes to complete each day, had Teacher's Guides (Primary and Secondary) with all the answers so I could check answers quickly, and covered all the basic maths skills.

We complimented our studies of Maths with lessons in Khan Academy, other free video Maths lessons online, games, sitting and explaining concepts a few different ways, and developing handwritten worksheets, and manipulatives such as rods, blocks, counters and rulers.  Mostly, though, we simply used these books, and I'll be using these books again, with Zeah from next year, when she is five.

Take a look at the New Wave Mental books here.