School Express

 I love the idea of thematic units, especially with homeschooling.  It is fun to pick a topic and take off with it.  It works well with learners of various abilities because everyone can study the same topic while each learner takes away their own little bit.  Our family uses one set of curriculum for language arts and math and studies almost everything else thematically.  One of my favorite websites has become School Express.  If you sign up for their free newsletter, they will email a link each week for a thematic unit.  I have received units on topics such as beavers, climate, and Christmas.  Each packet is about 20 pages long and includes word searches, info pages, spelling sheets, and coloring pages.  We use the packets for bonus activities - long car rides, waiting for appointments, sitting at restaurants, etc.  The website also has thousands of other free resources and pages to print for your children.  For a small annual fee, you can gain access to many other units and activities on the site.