We have a love-hate relationship with worksheets. On the one hand, we don't want Z's learning to be so structured that it becomes rote or boring to her. On the other hand, as a child, I absolutely loved doing worksheets (the ones that came from store bought books, not the ones that were sent home as homework) - they kept me entertained and engaged and I felt like I'd accomplished something significant when I finished a worksheet. So we try to take a very laissiez-faire approach to worksheets - we've written in the past about our love for Kumon workbooks - we show Z how you are supposed to interact with the worksheet then we step back and try not to "correct" her for coloring all the objects instead of the only the ones that start with the letter A.

True Learning has created a double CD set of over 3,000 worksheets in 4 developmental levels and 6 categories: Art, Literacy, Math, Motor Skills, Thinking, and World. The True Learning CD combines all the aspects of learning into one CD set. The ranking by category and then by level allows you to print, for example, a level 3 art worksheet, level 1 math worksheet, and level 2 motor skills worksheet for your child - in other words, to introduce (and print!) them based on your child's skill level and interest.

If you don't want to print out all the worksheets or if your child is in a calmer mood, you can open them on the computer and discuss them with your child without printing them out. This worked particularly well with the Thinking module which promotes cognitive skills like which is the longest/shortest, spot the difference, identifying objects by their shadows, above/below, and other concepts.

So what distinguishes these worksheets from the free stuff you can get online? Quality. Homeschoolers know how much time you can spend looking for good printable teaching aids and how much junk you have to sift through; what True Learning offers is a ready resource for quality materials. Working with a "program" rather than randomly discovered sheets also offers the opportunity to work your way through concepts in as systematic a manner as you like.

A few detail images from the worksheets follow. For some reason, all the ones I picked feature matching up items by drawing lines between them, but the sets contain a variety of activity styles.


from Math, Level 1


from a higher-level Math worksheet


from a Thinking worksheet

The graphics on the True Learning worksheets are fun and colorful and should engage your child, and with four levels of learning for each section, they will last a while. You can get the set of two CDs for $30 from the True Learning website.

There are a lot of alternative business access models True Learning could offer - the ability to pay for a certain number of printouts or a subscription service that sends out batches of worksheets in a scheduled release are just two examples - which might lure more homeschooling parents, who have a well-honed skill for keeping their out-of-pocket educational expenses in check. For the quality, quantity, and ease of use the package offers, however, this should be worth the cost to parents for whom such considerations are a priority.