Here’s a link to almost 150 great science experiments for kids from the Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational blog. These simple, fun, hands-on activities are easy to put together, your kids will actually enjoy them, and they will learn something too. Check it out!
Wonderopolis continues to offers a series of delightful and intriguing “Wonder of the Day” questions every day. They are great for homeschoolers. Each day, a new question is posed, then answered in a mini-lesson (often with a video, activity or experiment). They are great curiosity generators. Recent questions posed include “Are french fries really French?”, “Why are trampolines bouncy?” “Why do my feet stink?” and “Can an apple a day keep the doctor away?”
You can see the current “wonder”, then scroll back through past questions as well as subscribe to the site for daily updates. This is fascinating stuff, sure to spark the interest of young students.
Click here to go to the site!
This neat collection of interactive historical maps of American history, Latin American history, African history and European history was developed by the University of Oregon. As explained on the site, it is “…designed to provide interactive and animated representations of fundamental historical problems and/or illustrations of historical events, demonstrations, and dynamics.”
This is an excellent history and geography resources that helps your kids visualize the many historical changes in colonization, government and influence of countries throughout the history of these regions.
CLICK HERE to go to the site
Reading Bear is an easy-to-use, engaging site that uses simple (and entertaining) interactive lessons to teach beginning readers to read. They teach over 1,200 vocabulary items and offer 50 interactive presentations that cover all the main phonics rules. You can create an account and watch what sounds your child has mastered, or can use the site without creating an account. This well-designed site is a great resource for littles just starting out learning how to read.
Click here to go to the website!
Mary (and her son) at HomeGrownLearners.com put together this fun 10 week class all about LEGOs! The full 10 session lesson plan is a PDF freebie on her site. Here’s what she says about it:
“This is for the oodles of moms out there dealing with LEGO crazed kids. I am one of those moms, and when my little boy asked me to teach a LEGO class at our homeschool co-op, how could I refuse? My son and I spent a lot of time brainstorming and planning this class TOGETHER, and I wanted to share my plans with you.”
This is a fun class any young LEGO fans would love to be a part of, whether with a group of fellow homeschoolers or just at home. (Tip: the download link to the PDF is near the bottom of the page.)
CLICK HERE to go to the download page
MAKING BOOKS with your KIDS
Author and artist Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord has been a teacher of making books since the late 1980s. On her website, she has project instructions for creating eight different types of hand-made books, including an accordion book, an elastic book, a color poem book, a summer journal, a leaf book, and more fun projects, all presented with detailed, illustrated instructions. Loads of fun ideas here!
CLICK HERE to go to her site!
Mathematics and magic may seem a strange combination, but many of the most powerful magical effects performed today have a mathematical basis. Math is also the secret behind the technologies we use, the products we buy and the jobs we do.
The Manual of Mathematical Magic is packed full of magical miracles to impress and entertain your friends. The secrets behind street magic, close-up and stage tricks are explained clearly with instructions and videos to help you perform them perfectly. Then you can learn about the math behind the trick and discover how that same mathematics is used to power our modern world and numerous careers.
“Our goal is to help more students engage with Mathematics. Magic tricks get the students excited and then we show them the mathematical principles that make the whole trick hang together. We also reveal how the same Mathematics underpins everything from medical scans to sending text messages.”
Talk about “hands on” math… this fascinating guide is a great learning (and fun) resource for students grade 6 and up.
Click here to go to the download page.
This excellent 200+ page anatomy coloring book and review guide from Kaplan is a perfect resource from which to print out coloring pages to go with any studies of human anatomy.
To download this 200 page PDF coloring book from Archive.org, CLICK HERE.
If ever there was a time to fill your home with the warmth, fun, and the spirit of an Old Fashioned Holiday Season — this is pretty much that time.
Over the past 17 years we’ve been doing this, hundreds of homeschool families have told us that THIS RIGHT HERE is one of their children’s favorite holiday traditions ever.
The Museum of Vision put together this wonderful ebook a few years ago on how our eyes work, and how they can be tricked by perspective, persistence of vision, and other phenomena
This ebook is chock full of great illustrations, fascinating optical illusions, and “hands on” learning activities and projects that will appeal to students of all ages. Highly recommended!
To download the PDF ebook directly from the Internet Archive, CLICK HERE!
