Nature Studies

Citizen Bird

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This is a wonderful storybook from 1897 that tells the story of different types of birds in the United States, and how each species’ habits, character and behavior are unique. Their story is told in the setting of a farmhouse owned by an ornithologist (bird scientist) whose young niece and nephew come to visit him throughout the year. Their adventures and observations of the birds around them make this a fascinating and fun course in ornithology for old and young alike.

This ebook is heavily illustrated with 111 wonderful drawings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes (who did many of the illustrations for the Common Birds Coloring Book which we featured yesterday), detailing many species of birds, and illustrating the differences between them. Highly recommended for anyone who want to know more about our feathered friends. PDF ebook, 312 pages, illustrated

To download this PDF ebook, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save link” to your computer. Mac users, press the “control” key, then click the link and save to your mac.

Arts & Crafts, Nature Studies

The Common Birds coloring book

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The Common Birds Coloring Book from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology contains terrific line drawings of over 50 common feeder birds. You can download the coloring book and print out pages as you need them, and let your students color the images using a field guide. There are also identification questions on each page to help your students learn to spot these birds in the field.

Most of the pictures in this coloring book were drawn by the noted bird artist and ornithologist, Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1872-1927). Fuertes, a native of Ithaca, New York and a Cornell University graduate, is known for his realistic bird art. Look for his signature initials: L. A. F. The other drawings are by William Montagna, signature initials: W. M. All are gorgeous!

To download the PDF coloring book, CLICK HERE

Math

Math in English

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Math in English has a large collection of remedial math resources including downloadable/printable worksheets and workbooks, number puzzles, online math games and math videos. There’s a whole series of math practice workbooks for grades 1 through 6, with progressively harder problems in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions and more, available in PDF. The clip art they use is pretty lame, but the actual worksheets are just fine.

To go to the website, CLICK HERE!

Nature Studies

The Cornell Nature History Omnibus

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This is a massive 600+ page PDF collection of wonderful nature study lessons developed by Cornell University in the early 1900s for use in rural schools in the US.  The first section of studies is for teachers, the second section is studies for children. It is amazing.

This was the primary source from which Anna Botsford Comstock derived her famous “Big Book of Nature Study”.

There’s a ton of great material in here, be sure to check out the children’s studies in particular.

To download this ebook, RIGHT CLICK HERE  and “save” to your computer.

Mac users: Press the “control” key, then click the above link and “save” to your mac.

Lesson Plans, Literature, Math, Nature Studies, Science

Eclectic Homeschooling Unit Studies

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The creator of Eclectic Homeschooling has a great page filled with geography, history, Bible, fine arts and English unit studies she has put together over the years while homeschooling her kids. These have lots of book suggestions and tons of hands-on activities that are kid-friendly ways to learn about each subject in-depth.

Here’s what she has to say about these studies:

We love unit studies around here and over the years I have put together lots of different studies for my kids.  I’ve compiled them all into one big list.  Some of them have taken us an entire school year to finish and some have taken 3-4 weeks.  We usually have several going at once.

These studies aren’t intended to incorporate lots of different subjects, but are designed to cover one topic in depth without the limitations that come with needing to cover all of the subjects in one topic.  So if we study a country we explore it in a way that help my kids connect with the subject.  I don’t concern myself with my child needing to show understanding through writing about the topic.  We learn and discover together and discuss as we go.

Lots of great ideas and interesting study topics here!

CLICK HERE to go to the website!

Math

Ray’s Arithmetic – PDF textbooks AND video lessons

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Paul Ramirez created this great site that is dedicated to providing online access — free of charge — to the entire contents of Ray’s New Arithmetic: Primary, Intellectual and Practical (the first three volumes in the series) – in both PDF format AND video lessons to accompany each lesson.

Here’s what he has to say about Ray’s Arithmetic:

Ray’s was a comprehensive series of public school math textbooks written by Dr. Joseph Ray, and were used widely throughout the mid-to-late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in America. Students can gain a solid foundation in mathematics by learning from one of the most successful, popular and longest-running sets of textbooks ever published.  (How many textbooks can you say that about?!)What’s so special about offering FREE online access to these books (downloadable PDFs)? Nothing.  Other sites do that.  However, this site, in addition to the free PDFs also offers free video lessons based on these textbooks, grades K through 5.  The video lessons are free of charge, available for viewing here and also on our Ray’s Arithmetic You Tube channel.

Also, . .Besides the video on each lesson page, there is also the actual Ray’s Arithmetic lesson included from the book directly below the video. In other words, you don’t even have to go to the printed pages of the book (PDF) to refer to a particular lesson because the lessons themselves are RIGHT ON THE SCREEN!

What does that mean for you? Well, my fellow homeschooling parents, grandparents and advocates/promoters/defenders of educational liberty and academic freedom — and other interested folks who just want to be well-grounded in the fundamentals of mathematics — it means that you now have an easy-to-access, easy-to-use resource for incorporating this classic and very powerful math learning tool into your personal and family study regimen, which has served generations of children well and continues to serve students of all ages well into the 21st century.

To go to the website, CLICK HERE

And HERE’S the page where you can directly download each volume in the series

History

The Underground History of American Education

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Here’s a free edition of John Taylor Gotto’s classic book, The Underground History of American Education, as posted on the Lew Rockwell website. It is terrific.

Holidays, Living Books, Video

A Christmas Carol (the best animated version ever!)

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A Christmas Carol (streaming video)

Here is one of the spookiest, most faithful adaptations of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” ever. Richard Williams’ beautifully-executed animated version of Charles Dickens’ timeless seasonal parable won the 1972 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, but to this day has yet to receive a DVD release anywhere. And that is such a shame! This is an amazing adaptation of Dickens’ story, an animation tour-de-force based on the original book illustrations from early editions of Dickens’ book. It is beautifully done, and captures aspects of the original that other dramatizations of this classic story have missed. 25 minutes long, and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Parents, be warned this is genuinely spooky in some spots (as is the original story), so some of this might be frightening to very young children. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Holidays, Just for Fun

Walt Scott’s Christmas Stories

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WALT SCOTT’S CHRISTMAS STORIES (PDF comic books)

Here are two great issues of these classic Christmas comic books by cartoonist Walt Scott. These are filled with great stories of woodland creatures & elves celebrating Christmas, and also have several true accounts of how some classic Christmas carols were written. Very different, very well illustrated, and great light holiday reading material for little ones! Enjoy!

To download Issue #1, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save” to your computer.

To download Issue #2, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save” to your computer.

History, Holidays, Living Books

The Christmas of 1776

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The Christmas of 1776: A Young Maiden’s Story by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton (PDF ebook)

Today’s resource is this delightful short story of a young girl’s Christmas experiences during the tumultuous time of the American Revolution, taken from the book “A Last Century Maiden” by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton. Lots of fascinating history and details of old-time holiday celebrations make this story a great read-aloud for the whole family! Check it out!

To download this PDF ebook, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save” to your computer. Mac users, press the “control” key then click the link and save to your mac.