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7 Ways to Use Skill Sharpeners Activity Books in your Homeschool

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Are you looking for timesaving homeschool tips? Try Evan-Moor’s Skill Sharpeners activity books. Educational and entertaining, these colorful workbooks can be used in several ways in your homeschooling to build your child’s skills.

Skill Sharpeners units are ideal for:

  • Workboxes or independent work. We choose about one unit each month to complete. Kids can complete the activities on their own. Then they bring it to me to check and share what they learned.
  • Reviewing skills to see if the child understands how to use the skills in real-life ways. I can quickly assess if my child has mastered the skills or needs more work.
  • Homeschooling while traveling. I can bring the entire book or just take a single unit for the kids to complete while we are traveling.
  • Homeschooling when company is visiting. Even when we have houseguests and everyone could use a little down time, my kids can work on 1–2 pages each day.
  • Homeschooling when someone is ill (whether it is mom, dad, or another child). It is always nice to have a back-up plan for illness. For example, Skill Sharpeners: Critical Thinking includes many subject areas. We use this title for a quick homeschool activity to keep us in the routine even when someone is not able to teach that day. It also helps keep the other children doing schoolwork when someone else needs to rest.
  •  Weeks when your homeschool schedule is interrupted with field trips, holidays, or birthdays. Some weeks just get busy quickly. On those weeks, Skill Sharpeners units can be completed in a 2–3 days to keep the homeschool routine going when you are at home.
  • To keep kids entertained while waiting at appointments, during ball practice, or on car rides. My kids really enjoy having something to do while they are waiting. I especially like having an option they enjoy that doesn’t involve watching a screen, too!

When kids can put their knowledge and skills toward things that interest them, both parents and kids are thrilled.

Skill Sharpeners activity books are available across subject areas for grades PreK-6. Each book is 144 full-color pages and includes an answer key.  Browse all the Skill Sharpeners titles here.

Learn more about using Skill Sharpeners: Critical Thinking in your homeschool here.


Amy Michaels is a certified teacher with 11 years of elementary classroom experience who is actively homeschooling her own children. Her mission is share the best teaching methods and resources with all homeschoolers. Amy supports parents through her podcasts, webinars, and online training for homeschoolers on her website www.thrivehomeschooling.com

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