Looking for a good quality, open-ended world geography for your kids? Barbara McCoy of Harmony Art Mom offers a wonderful 36-week world geography curriculum online, absolutely free. Harmony Art Mom’s World Geography Plans (PDF) is a 48-page, in-depth weekly curriculum that aims to teach a broad overview of world geography, culture, world religions and current […]
Looking for some fun ways to bring your studies about atoms to life? Luckily, the internet is full of wonderful, hands-on ways for kids to learn about atoms. Here are all sorts of fantastic, hands-on ways to teach kids about atoms. ~ Sing “The Atoms Family” (Click here to see one family singing it together […]
Looking for a fun way to teach earth sciences, navigation, map skills and more? EarthCache combines all of these with field trips in your area (and around the world) to create educational adventures for the whole family. EarthCache was created by the Geological Society of America. They explain: How is an EarthCache different from a […]
Looking for some hands-on ways to bring your anatomy studies to life? The University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Anthropology has some wonderful freebies to help. The fantastic printables include: A life-sized adult skeleton A life-sized child skeleton in B&W or color 9-piece scramble puzzles of Prosimian Skulls, Prosimian Skulls and Hominoidea Skulls Word […]
The socialization myth is one of the most persistent plagues on homeschooling families. The public seems to have an image of homeschooled children locked in their houses, lined up in school desks in the basement while Mom points to a blackboard. The reality is that most homeschool families spend as much time outside of the […]
Here’s an fun and effective way to help kids learn history and get an idea for when things happened in relation to each other. Make a timeline game! Here’s all you do: First, find a timeline of history that includes events you want to teach about. This site has collections of timelines of people, places […]
Right now, we finally have nice weather in southern Minnesota and it would be nearly criminal to have the kids sitting inside doing anything, even educational stuff! That said, everybody needs cooling off times and it’s great to have some educational fun on hand for rainy days. Here’s ten sites with games, activities, drills and […]
Here are some great ways for the kids to play (and learn) in every subject from right at home today. These online games are all free and require no special downloads or installations other than basics like Java or Adobe Flash Player in some instances. Math: Zeus’ Petals teaches kids multiplication skills. The game says: […]
PBS LearningMedia classrooms has announced a great new iPad app for K-12 students that is absolutely free. Designed specifically for students in grades K-12, the app provides access to thousands of resources covering all subject areas, from math and science to English and social studies. The PBS Student app allows kids to watch and learn […]
Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational has created a wonderful free printable card game that helps kids learn all about the geography and history of the states. Battle of the States is played a little bit like “War” but by comparing numbers and dates related to the states such as population, number of counties, electoral votes […]
Fireflies offer the perfect blend of science, nature, fun and magic. This is the perfect time of year to study them, too, and do some firefly crafts with the kids. Here are all sorts of ways to study these fascinating little insects and have some fun. Firefly.org is the perfect spot to start your firefly […]
Do you have a Lego lover in your house? Legos are great for learning when they’re used as building tools, but there are also all sorts of great lesson plans on the web to use them in even more educational ways. From chemistry models to creative writing prompts to symmetry challenges, there are fabulous lesson […]
Here’s a fantastic world history resource for kids who like pop music and music videos. The Music for History Lovers channel on you-tube uses modern top 40 hit songs to teach about important people and periods in world history, from the French Revolution (set to a remix of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”) to The Crusades […]
Looking for some ways to make history really come alive in your homeschool? There are oodles of fun ways to teach history besides dry textbooks or boring curricula. Here are ten fabulous ways to bring history to life for your kids. Do a weekly “meet and greet” with historic characters. This can be a fun […]
The National Gallery of Art now provides a phenomenal lending library of art materials that any homeschooler can borrow through the mail for free, including teaching packets, DVDs, art reproductions and more. Individuals, educational institutions and other groups throughout the United States can borrow their teaching packets and DVDs for up to nine months at […]
If you haven’t been to the KIDS DISCOVER site for free educational materials, you’re missing out on some wonderful resources. The magazine publisher offers full-color downloads, posters, activity packs and printables on a variety of subjects, absolutely free. Some of the topics covered include: Metamorphosis Ancient Empires Rock Cycle Louisiana Purchase Simple Machines Bill of […]
Here’s a wonderful high school level history resource for homeschoolers. Annenberg Learner offers PBS’s 52-week video course, The Western Tradition, online — absolutely free. The course starts with “the dawn of history” and ancient Egypt and extends into the technological revolution. Each episode is approximately a half hour and is presented by UCLA history professor […]
Recently, a fellow homeschooling mom asked for good resources to teach social studies. She particularly wanted fun, hands-on ideas. She wrote: We’re looking for something that will lighten things up. History is so full of wars, disease, power struggles and such that my kids are amazed that humans ever made it past the Renaissance. Here’s […]
The internet is filled with fabulous educational videos, but finding them can be tricky. Enter WatchKnowLearn, which gathers these videos from the internet and puts them in one organized, searchable place. The site currently offers about 50,000 videos on everything from osmosis to table manners to sign language to the philosophy of numbers. The website, […]
There are many ways to show kids how fun writing can be. It doesn’t have to be a struggle, and it doesn’t have to involve standard curricula or dry writing assignments. Indeed, kids will become the best writers if they think of writing as fun and open-ended. One great way to help kids love writing […]
Here’s a wonderful way to encourage kids to read and to really give them a challenge. Mensa for Kids has developed the Excellence in Reading Award that gives children and teens a certificate of achievement and t-shirt if they successfully read all of the books on their age-appropriate recommended book lists. Kids can even listen […]
There are more and more magazines that feature writing and art by kids and teens, both online and in print. This is a great way to encourage reluctant writers and to give enthusiastic writers and artists a place to spotlight their creativity. Here are 18 magazines that publish children’s writing and art: Creative Kids magazine […]
Here’s another wonderful free resource for teaching biology. The Amoeba Sisters have dozens of videos explaining biology concepts such as enzymes, homeostasis, DNA, protein synthesis, bacteria, natural selection, food webs, biomes, body systems and much more. They even provide free handouts to accompany the videos and extend the lessons. The videos are hosted on the […]
Recently, a homeschooling mother wrote that she was looking for ways to incorporate more math into her homeschool. Zany word problems are a fun way to do that. Whenever we give math problems to our kids, we tend to make them rather crazy or fun. Sometimes it’s “mad scientist” math questions, sometimes it’s shopping questions, […]
Here’s a great resource for elementary and middle school math. Math Live is a website developed by Learn Alberta to teach math in a fun way. The online Flash-based application mimics a television set, with math lessons presented as cartoon episodes. Each one is filled with short, interactive segments to really reinforce the topics. […]
Here’s an incredible new educational resource for kids. Frontiers in Neuroscience for Young Minds is a new web-based science journal that involves kids in the editorial process. The site explains: Frontiers in Neuroscience for Young Minds is a scientific journal that includes young people (from 8 to 18) in the review of articles. This has […]