Back to School- Some Resources

So it is about that time of year, where everyone who homeschools is ready to start back at their work.
This usually coincides with the arrival of the new school supplies, and the mother's eagerness to start increases exponentially with the number of new books she has to try out!

Well, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but if you have been there, I am sure you know the feeling!
That being said, I have a few things I want to share.  Partly for me, and partly for everyone else ;).

If you want to teach vocabulary to your kids, as a subject rather than as an incidentally taught thing, you might like these resources.

Free Rice (of course)
http://freerice.com/#/english-
vocabulary/10997

Vocabulary.com (apparently also has an iPad app)
http://www.vocabulary.com/

Wordly Wise (you can apparently do a lot online)
http://www.wordlywise3000.com/

SAT vocab tests
http://www.vocabtest.com/

and lots on Quizlet- which is a fabulous flashcard site.  You can see other people's sets, make your own and join groups.  There are several iPad apps that work with it too.
http://quizlet.com/207969/100-most-common-sat-words-flash-cards/

If you are a little leery of the rather expensive grammar programs out there, maybe you would like to have one of these vintage grammar books?

Emma Serl's Primary Language Lessons and Intermediate Language Lessons have long been popular amongst homeschoolers.  I also discovered this site with some workbooks for the former on it.
 
Sheldon has a bunch of grammar books for free online.  His Primary Language Lessons can be found here.

William Henry Maxwell has a whole series of grammar books.  These actually go through a composition course too.

1.  First Book in English
2.  Introductory Lessons in English Grammar.
3.  Advance Lessons in English Grammar.
4.  School Composition
5.  Writing in English.

In fact there are also speech books and other grammars too... it is well worth trawling through his works on Google books or Google play :) (Google Play also has an iPad app).
Mary Frances Hyde has a number of them too.
Practical Lessons in the Use of English (Part I)
Practical Lessons in the Use of English (Part 2)

So, if you are interested in other grammars or vintage books available, you can check out these two threads from The Well Trained Mind Forums.  Vintage Grammars.  Vintage Books.

Other favourites of ours are the McGuffey Readers and the McGuffey Speller.
Eclectic Primer
First Eclectic Reader
Second Eclectic Reader
Third Eclectic Reader  (This one is a Google Play book, so I hope the link works for you :))
Fourth Eclectic Reader
Fifth Eclectic Reader
Sixth Eclectic Reader
Eclectic Spelling Book
(here is an outline of how one mother uses the McGuffey spelling book).

Between these resources, you can find yourself with a pretty amazing course of language arts!

(all the images on this page come from the books mentioned here).

I have mentioned several iPad apps, because I have first hand knowledge of them.  There are probably Android apps too, and maybe a Nook or Kindle app or two, I just don't know anything about them :)