Disclosure: Some of the books in this post I received for free, though others I purchased. I was compensated for my time, talent, and expertise in working on this post. All opinions are my own honest opinions. The links included in this post are affiliate links, which help support me at no extra cost to you.
I have a confession to make. Well, a semi confession to make, because you might already know this. But here it is: we use workbooks in our homeschool. Now, workbooks are certainly not the only thing we use in our homeschool, but, I do think that workbooks have gotten an unfair bad rap. Because well-designed, thoughtful workbooks like the Evan-Moor workbooks on carsondellosa.com can be a great addition to your homeschool. Let me show you what I mean.
Evan-Moor Simplifies Things for You and Your Kids
One thing that I love about workbooks is how they simplify things, especially Evan-Moor workbooks. Not all workbooks are created equal. Some workbooks make things worse. But the workbooks from Evan-Moor have three things going for them that make a real difference:
- A clear progression – Evan-Moor workbooks are laid out in a logical way that gradually builds on the skills your kids are learning
- Clear instructions – Evan-Moor workbooks have clear instructions so that your child knows what to do. No looking at a worksheet and guessing at what you might need to do.
- The ability to be used independently – The combination of clear progression and clear instructions means that kids are often able to use these workbooks independently.
Why is working independently important?
Right from the get go in our homeschool, I knew it was important to provide a mix of things in our homeschool, so that some things they did with me in a one-on-one (or one-on-two) way and some things they did independently.
When they were younger, the number of independent things was smaller and as they’ve grown older, it’s increased. However, Evan-Moor workbooks have always featured on this list as soon as they could read, starting with Beginning Geography. (I believe this was the first Evan-Moor workbook we ever used, but my youngest is in 5th grade now, so that was several years ago at this point.)
I have two main reasons for encouraging them to work independently on some things. First, it is empowering for them to feel there are things they can do on their own. Think of the little kid who you try to help and they say, “I do it myself.” The reason this is such a common experience is because of how empowering it feels to know you can do things yourself. Making sure my kids always have things they can work on independently helps to foster that sense of accomplishment in them.
The second reason is because independence is a skill. I think sometimes we think that independence is something that will come with age. That magically one day they will wake up and know how to do things. However, independence doesn’t work like that. Independence is a skill you need to stretch and grow. Ensuring my kids always have something they can work on independently helps them to be able to continue to grow and practice that skill.
Evan-Moor is Not Just Busy Work
Sometimes workbooks can be just busy work. They don’t really teach a whole lot, they just keep you busy. However, the workbooks we have tried from Evan-Moor are not just busy work. My kids have actually learned things from them.
Take the Skill Sharpeners Geography series for example. My kids have used almost every level of this series. They’ve learned about places far and near, about how communities work, and more. This series from Evan-Moor accomplishes this by having thoughtful readings included right in the book. This is nice because I don’t have to source separate books (I mean, I do, often anyways, but having everything all-in-one is nice). Additionally, this means the questions for kids to answer that follow the readings are directly connected to the readings. This helps kids not just with their geography skills, but with their reading comprehension skills and with discovering things from context. So even if it says it’s geography, really, there are so many other skills tucked inside these books.
A new book for us recently was from the 7 Continents series about Antartica. My youngest said that it intrigued him more than any other workbook had! High praise from my active kid.
Strong in Core Academics
One thing that I really appreciate about Evan-Moor workbooks is that they are not busy work. Instead, they are strong on academic skills, both learning them and practicing them. Evan-Moor has resources for a wide variety of subject areas and even different types within those subjects. For example, we have always used Skill Sharpeners Geography, but they also have a different series called Daily Geography Practice. Both are robust in their academic focus, but they are different so you can pick the one you need.
I appreciate that these books are aligned with current standards and best teaching practices. This makes the books in a series build logically on one another which helps us to have a smooth transition from year to year when we go up a grade level. We aren’t suddenly shocked by a next book that seems too hard or bored by one that seems too easy. They progress in a logical manner.
These books also promote strong critical thinking skills. This may not be a subject in everyone’s homeschool, but it for sure is a part of ours. I would say all of the Evan-Moor books we have tried promote critical thinking, but we especially love the Critical & Creative series for promoting critical thinking.
Evan-Moor Creates Affordable Educational Resources
Another thing that I appreciate about Evan-Moor is how affordable it is. Many of the books we use for a whole school year. One series we used, for example, Daily 6-Trait Writing, covers 25 weeks of instruction, for example. Not quite a whole school year, but easy to slip in as a writing component with other language arts you are doing.
At the time of this writing, most single books come in at $30 or less – and many of these options are full color. Select Evan-Moor books are also reproducible, so you can save even more by having only one copy of those. They clearly lay out in the front cover what the exact reproduction rules are so you can know if you are okay to copy them.
Structured Work Helps Kids Grow in their Skills
I want to take a moment to highlight on of our favorite series, Daily 6-Trait Writing. I mentioned this above, but I want to talk about it a little more because I think it highlights what an amazing tool many Evan-Moor workbooks are. Daily 6-Trait Writing is laid out in such a way that it is 5 days on the same focus skill. However, what makes it special is that the 5 days progressively building, walking you through identifying the skill in someone else’s writing, to brainstorming what you will write about (such a crucial part of the process), to then on the 5th day writing something for yourself.
It’s this kind of thoughtful design that really make Evan-Moor workbooks stand out and why we have consistently used them in our schooling year after year. Whether you’re looking for just a little practice or something more, the Evan-Moor range on carsondellosa.com likely has something for you!
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