Timberdoodle is one of the oldest distributors for the homeschool market, and they have always filled a unique niche with their emphasis on experiential learning using hands-on activities and games. Rather than publishing their own resources, they select their favorites from hundreds of publishers.
While they do carry some traditional resources, such as math and grammar workbooks, they have tended toward fun resources more than others. Consequently, when Timberdoodle decided to assemble grade-level programs for preschool through high school, they included puzzles and other hands-on learning resources. Their curriculum kits also include STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) resources, critical thinking books and activities, and a number of items that have been among my Top Picks.
Timberdoodle has a line of "classic" kits for all grade levels that have some religious content as well as a parallel option of non-religious kits. There are three options for each grade level for both classic and non-religious kits: basic, complete, and elite. Basic kits include only the bare essentials. The complete kits add more, including resources for science and history, and the elite kits have all that you need plus extras such as additional hands-on resources, art courses, or the audio version of one of The Story of the World books. Complete and elite kits for grades one through eight include a Test Prep book. Purchasing items as kits gives you significant savings over purchasing items individually.
All kits include a Timberdoodle's Curriculum Handbook written particularly for that grade level as well as access to their online scheduler. The bulk of each handbook consists of explanations for how to use each item in your kit. Most items in each kit are self-contained and don't need any further instructions in the handbook, but additional instruction is included when the product isn't self-explanatory. The Curriculum Handbooks also include reproducible record-keeping charts that list resources and assignments. While you can photocopy these for each week, you might prefer to use Timberdoodle's online scheduler to create your own customized charts, adjusting your schedule and adding resources and other events (e.g., music lessons, soccer practice, chores). You can also log student progress.
To give you a better idea of what a kit looks like, the elite kit for first grade (religious version) includes All About Reading: Level 2, Math-U-See: Alpha, Spelling You See: Level B, Story of the World: Volume 1 (along with its activity book and audiobook), and Science in the Beginning, all of which are or have been among my Top Picks. Along with them, you get resources such as Skill Sharpeners: Geography - Grade 1, Daily 6-Trait Writing: Grade 1, Social Skills Activities for Today's Kids 6-7, Beginning Coding: First Grade, Spark Publishing's Test Prep: Grade 1, and the workbook What's New? What's Missing? What's Different?
Hands-on and STEM resources for first grade include items such as the Plus-Plus Excursion building set, Clixo Mars Rover Pack, Do Art: Coloring with Clay, a MiniLUK High IQ set (primarily for critical thinking skills), ScrunchMap World, Aquarellum: Cosmos Set (painting set), Create Your Own Planet!: Doodle and Draw, Imagidice (storytelling cubes), Postman Observation Game, Famous Figures of Ancient Times, Cat & Mouse smart game, Jr. Human Body Puzzle, the World of Dinosaurs kit, and Learning Wrap-Ups for addition and subtraction.
Examples of some of the other resources included in various levels of the Timberdoodle kits are the Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind series, the Critical & Creative series (thinking skills), America the Beautiful, Uncle Sam and You, The Mystery of History: Volume 1, and Medical Investigation 101. Complete and elite kits also include STEM resources for both book learning and activities such as the Turing Tumble kit in the sixth-grade kit that has activities for learning computer logic and introductory programming skills.
Preschool packages are offered at three levels—Tiny Tots, Preschool, and PreK. They are heavily laden with hands-on and experiential learning resources. These Timberdoodle preschool kits are perfect for families who prefer to wait until kindergarten or later before introducing formal academic learning.
Even with the elite kits with religious content, some families might want to add a Bible curriculum. For teens, you might add a foreign language. (Timberdoodle recommends Fluenz Homeschool for foreign languages, but it isn't included in the kits.) You also might want to add lab activity to some of the high school kits for college-bound students. While ninth-grade and tenth-grade kits include Friendly Biology and Friendly Chemistry, respectively (which both have easy-to-do labs), other high-school levels have minimal lab activity or videos of lab activity, and this might not be sufficient.
In the kits with religious content, a few resources are written from a general Christian perspective, and some are specifically Protestant. The secular kits were created by removing or replacing religious materials in the standard or elite kits. For example, the tenth-grade complete and elite kits use The Mystery of History Volume 4, which is Protestant, while the secular kit substitutes the non-religious US1 and US2 courses from the Nomadic Professor. Timberdoodle will help you put together a custom kit for any level if you prefer different resources.
Most of the resources Timberdoodle has selected are easy to use and make it simple for inexperienced homeschoolers to jump into the lessons without having to do hardly any advance planning or preparation. The amount of teaching time required will vary by level. While younger children need more interaction and instruction, once children are able to read independently, they can complete many lessons on their own. For high school, the instructions are written directly to the student, assuming they are completing their work independently.
Summary
The assortment of resources in the Timberdoodle kits is almost certainly going to prove more engaging for most children than would a single publisher’s complete line of traditional curricula. Interesting resources coupled with ease of use make Timberdoodle’s curriculum kits a great option for busy families that should appeal to both parents and children.
