Not all catalogs for homeschoolers have to do with 'curriculum' or the sale of 'school in a box.'  Granted curricular services can be helpful to the parent who has been educated in a school and believes she doesn't have the proper 'training' to teach her own children, despite having raised these same children to whatever age they've now attained.  If you don't have feral wolf-children baying at your ankles and your offspring can walk, talk, feed and dress themselves, you've probably taught them something.

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November 2004

Tobin's Lab: Mike & Tammy Duby had a house fire on November 14th which destroyed their house and all of their Tobin’s Lab inventory. We are working as quickly as possible to restore our inventory. Please feel free to still place your order although it will be slightly delayed. We appreciate your patience and also ask for prayer during this difficult time. Thank you for visiting Tobin’s Lab.

The following catalogs have 'interesting stuff.'  All this 'stuff' can be used to continue teaching your children.

General
Humanities and the Arts
Math
Science
Buyer Be Aware

 

General
Aristoplay
Autodidact Press (information about self-education)
Chinaberry books
Dover Publications
Elijah Company (preschool to high school level materials)
Greenleaf Press (English, history, geography, literature and more)
HearthSong (toys that help develop the imagination)
Magic Cabin Dolls (warm and fuzzy catalog)
Montessori
Shen's Books
Stickybear computer software
Teaching Company (teen and adult audio and video lectures)
Toys to Grow On  (baby to early teens)
Usborne books
Wff’n Proof - Games for Thinkers
 

Humanities and the Arts
Bellerophon Books (coloring books concerning history, biography and literature)
Bluestocking Press (history and social studies)
Cobblestone Press (magazines:  Babybug, Ladybug, Calliope, Cricket, Cobblestone, and more)
Foreign Language books:  English (not American); French; German
Learnables (foreign languages)
Music for Little People
Pleasant Company (American Girl books & dolls)
Waldorf (materials for painting, drawing and handwork)
 

Math
Hands-On Equations:  Algebra instruction
Pattern Press  Publisher of elementary mathematics books

 

Science
Acorn Naturalists
Backyard Scientist
Biotech Publishing:  Science, projects and writing help
Edmund Scientifics
National_ Wildlife_Federation (Your Big Backyard, Ranger Rick, and others)
 

Caveat emptor (let the buyer beware)
No guarantee is made for any listing because wolves in sheepsuits abound no matter how careful you are. Before committing a lot of money to any one company, make one or two small orders to check the company’s reliability and to make sure that what they’ve got is what you want. If any of them stiffs you  refuses to either refund your money or mail your goods, write to the US Postal Service and the local Better Business Bureau (BBB) with copies of your  cancelled check, debit on your bank statement, money order carbon, or charge on your credit card statement  and lodge a complaint.  Also, please be sure that it was the company that was the culprit and not gremlins in the APO system. (The fish in the Atlantic must have enjoyed my magazines for years.)

Don’t let the preceding information throw you - I just happen to be an old Scout who believes in the motto, “Be Prepared.” In decades of mail-ordering I have had to write one letter of complaint to the Better Business Bureau and the Postal Service and that was because of a baseball card company that went bankrupt. Other than that I have had no problems that weren’t resolved by patience and letters to the company; even my one complaint was resolved. Remember, glitches happen, they’re part of life. However, if service remains poor from a particular company, order from someone else.