This is a great time to Homeschool/Unschool. More and more people are leaving public school and opting for other alternatives like on-line schools, charter schools, and homeschooling. This increasing need for alternative ways to learn and the power of the internet has lead to a growing availability of educational websites offering free curriculum, educational videos and other instructional materials. There are so many resources available, it’s overwhelming! If you looking for somewhere to start, check out a few of my favorites:
www.besthomeschooling.org is a long list of homeschooling resources on all topics
www.nga.gov/education/classroom is maintained by the National Gallery. This link is an amazing resource that connects art and curriculum by offering a database that can be searched by curriculum subjects, topics, or artists.
www.hyperhistory.com is a history website that includes awesome timelines that illustrate how world events overlap and also includes a biography timeline depicting the lives of important people in history so students can see what great minds lived at the same time and then connect that information to what was happening in the world then.
www.alice.org offers free software that teaches computer programming skills for kids.
www.spatulatta.com is a cooking website for kids. The site includes many recipes and step by step videos on how to cook them.
www.Khanacademy.org has over 2400 educational videos and 180 practice exercises on topics from algebra to biology to history for kindergarteners to adults.
www.smithsonianeducation.org lets students “connect with experts in the field, share ideas, and collaborate with people around the world” through global science projects.
www.udemy.com has free high school and college courses.
www.youtube.com/edu has educational videos on every subject.
www.stumbleupon.com records your interests then presents you with websites that may be interesting to you. This is a great way to expose your kids to lots of different subjects and ideas. You can rate if you like and don’t like each site it gives you in order to fine tune your preferences. I have discovered wonderful art, great music and interesting people through Stumble Upon.
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/sights/timeline.aspx This website is an interactive timeline of the history of the Metropolitan Opera. It includes articles, archived images, and recordings of actual performances from long ago.
http://swongled.com/2008/02/20/phun-physics-game-is-fun-and-educational/ This is free game that you can download and play to learn about physics. It has a very open ended format that encourages kids to be creative. Kids can experiment with friction, motion, liquids, gravity and momentum.
http://www.sembeo.com/media/Matrix.swf is a fun way to let kids make their own music. The child is presented with a grid of squares. When you click on the square it plays a tone. To turn off the tone just click it again. You can make chords, rhythms and melodies that are easy to modify so it becomes a very playful learning experience.
If you are interested in how to homeschool for college, check out “DIY U” by Anna Kamenetz. This book is bursting with educational resources and websites for independent learners of high school age and older.
Enjoy these cool websites and let me know which websites are your favorites. Happy learning!!
I love your passion for providing kids with better experiences! I loved your demonstration of "Swongled" and I can't wait to check out the other websites. Thanks for the amazing resources!!
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