Free Homeschooling Resources!

With so many schools closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, I thought I would make for you a list of FREE resources for home learning. Remember, during this time it is okay to take a little break from formal instruction and just reconnect as a family. This is a stressful time for us all and strengthening our family bonds can only be helpful.

With only having two or three months of instruction left for the traditional school year, it is ok to do some delight-driven learning only. That means you find out what your children are interested in and then you help them investigate that topic. You can help them do more than passively consume info by doing projects. Learning about pioneer times? Make a "covered wagon" in the living room. Interested in counting and sorting? Haul out the Legos and start putting them into piles by shape or color. How many are there? You get the idea.

Homeschoolers have long loved reading aloud as a means to learning and bonding. This is great for all ages and really builds vocabulary in younger learners because you can stop and explain what that last sentence meant. If you would all like to listen, Audible has made a number of stories free to listen to right now: https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

Okay onto the list of free resources. I hope some of these are new to you.

• Easy Peasy - Complete elementary & high school curriculum.
• Homeschool College USA - Complete high school curriculum.
• K12Reader - Elementary and high school language arts resources.
• Glencoe Literature Library - Very detailed literature study guides based on various books.
• Incredible Art - Art lessons for all ages.
• Guide to Writing a Basic Essay
• Free Math Worksheets

Also check out this page for more casual learning ideas.

Please check out my other posts for ideas and lots more content. This week I pledge to update them all!

Using YouTube Films in Your Homeschool

 

Updated on 3/24/2020!

YouTube can be a wonderful resource for homeschooling, but I'm sure you are aware that there can be problems with using it. Here are some tips I have learned:

1) Have you ever found a GREAT film on YouTube for your students only to come back later and it's been removed? I hate that! So, I have found out how to download YouTube videos. I use a downloader like this one: http://download.cnet.com/Free-YouTube-Downloader/3000-2071_4-75219434.html  I use it all the time to download films that I then put on a USB flash drive like these to give to my children as part of their assigned resources for that day. I have a different color for each kid because sometimes they have different files loaded on them on any given day. You can also use this downloader to save YouTube videos in audio only (MP3) format. This is great for lectures and audiobooks.

2) Occasionally you don't have time to download something you want to show the kids, but you also don't want to have to deal with the comments and the sidebar videos. Sometimes those things are not just annoying, but inappropriate for kids! You can use quietube.com! This website isolates the video for you so you can watch it outside of YouTube. Here's their tutorial.

3) YouTube has some nice features to help you find films later. You can make playlists or save videos to your "Watch Later" folder just by clicking the little + sign that says "add to" under the video you are watching. Or you can click the little clock picture that pops up in the corner when you mouse over the thumbnail of a video to add it to your "Watch Later" folder without ever surfing to the video.

4) If you are concerned about child-friendly content, please be aware there is no substitute for actually watching the film. Apps that purport to make YouTube kid-friendly are not enough. I have read stories about kids' videos that have their normal audio track (so everything sounds fine to parents listening) but they will have disturbing images spliced into the video. Some channels and users are just more trustworthy than others. You almost always have good luck with the channels of official TV networks of course. Just a word to the wise.

5) Here are some YouTube channels I like:

CCProse Audiobooks
Crash Course
Crash Course Kids
Disney Educational Productions
How Stuff Works
Illustra Media
One Minute Apologist
Shaggylocks
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
Teacher's Pet


Well that's it. Why don't you comment below with your favorite channels!

Animated Hero Classics, Biographies for Kids

Updated 3/24/2020.

This is an animated biography series for kids that can be used for teaching history and character training. They can be hard to find online, though sometimes you can google for them and find them. Many libraries carry them and I highly recommend looking for them. The series focuses on the lives of 20 historical figures and their contributions to history. Here is more from the distributor's website:

"The Animated Hero Classic Series consists of 20 inspiring and educational stories of heroic men and women, with the emphasis placed on their accomplishments in world history and social sciences. The series focuses on the role in which they contributed to developing social, economic and political structures as well as in establishing and spreading ideas that helped to transform the world forever."

The best part is they each have a great activity guide! You can get them here.

1. Abraham Lincoln - Teaches Honesty, Friendship, Love, Peacemaking, Faith, Patriotism, Judgment, Wisdom, Fortitude, and Dedication.
2. Alexander Graham Bell - Teaches Kindness, Dedication, Idealism, Concentration, Endurance
3. Beethoven - Teaches Persistence, Dedication, Courage, Diligence, and Overcoming Obstacles.
4. Benjamin Franklin - Teaches Curiosity, Duty, Frugality, Patience, Industry, Discipline, Humility
5. Christopher Columbus - Teaches Courage, Humility, Persistence, Faith, Leadership, Optimism
6. Florence Nightingale - Teaches Sacrifice, Compassion, Charity, Goodness, Courage, Kindness, Persistence, Empathy, Justice
7. Galileo - Teaches Integrity, Confidence, Education, Patience, Humility, Endurance, Wisdom
8. George Washington - Teaches Integrity, Commitment, Love, Peacemaking, Faith, Humility, Courage
9. Harriet Tubman - Teaches Indomitable Spirit, Faith, Courage, Trust, Love, Sacrifice, Loyalty, Hope, Compassion, Confidence
10. Helen Keller - Generosity, Patience, Love, Kindness, Discipline, Dedication, Perseverance
11. Joan of Arc - Teaches Humility, Kindness, Love, Wisdom, Virtue, Generosity, Observation, Work, Persistence, Dedication, Commitment
12. Leonardo da Vinci - Teaches Humility, Kindness, Love, Wisdom, Virtue, Generosity, Observation, Work, Persistence, Dedication, Commitment
13. Louis Pasteur - Teaches Sacrifice, Work, Compassion, Initiative, Observation, Concentration, Diligence
14. Maccabees: The Story of Hanukkah - Teaches Courage, Patriotism, Integrity, Faith, Obedience
15. Marco Polo - Teaches Trust, Faithfulness, Obedience, Courage, Honesty
16. Marie Curie - Teaches Selflessness, Sacrifice, Love, Kindness, Generosity, Work, Education, Enthusiasm
17. Pocahontas - Teaches Peacemaking, Love, Sharing, Kindness, Loyalty, Unselfishness
18. Thomas Edison - Teaches Persistence, Industry, Inventiveness, Leadership, Hope, Faith, Patience, Enthusiasm, Work, Optimism
19. William Bradford, The Father of Thanksgiving - Teaches Sharing, Gratitude, Faith, Leadership
20. The Wright Brothers - Teaches Persistence, Work, Inventiveness, Faith, Ambition

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Resources

"At the White House Rose Garden on November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill, proposed by Representative Katie Hall of Indiana, creating a federal holiday to honor King. It was observed for the first time on January 20, 1986."

Reference: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLK_Day

We celebrate the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr. on the third Monday in January. Here are some resources to help you create a study of Dr. King.

• This is the Martin Luther King, Jr. book in the Who Was book series.

• Here is a video of Dr. King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. And here is the text of the speech.

• This 26-miunte video about Dr. King is free to Amazon Prime members and so is this 19-minute video about freedom in America which includes a segment about the US civil rights movement. 

• This page from Ferris Tate University shines a light on the racist Jim Crow laws and this page talks about where the name Jim Crow comes from.

• Here is a repository of MLK activity sheets.

• The History Channel has it's own resource page with video clips, pictures, and interviews. Be aware though, it had a number of pop-up video ads.

Updated 3/24/2020.

Thanksgiving Resources

Hi Homeschoolers! I am so thankful I am able to homeschool and I pray I am always able. That brings me to today's post - I'd like to make it a repository for all the cool resources I find related to Thanksgiving. I hope it will continue to grow over the years. So let's get started:

1) This is the proclamation in 1863 that became the basis for a Thanksgiving national holiday on the fourth Thursday in November. I like the background and context of it. The fact that the people felt a need to show their thanks even in the face of war is inspiring.

2) Here is a link to an episode of This is America Charlie Brown called The Mayflower Voyagers. It features the peanuts gang in the roles of children on the historic voyage and discusses their journey and the first Thanksgiving. I like they way it draws kids into the story, talking about how the children played an important role when the adults suffered illness.

3) This segment of Drive Thru History discusses the Mayflower Compact, considered a foundational document of our representative US government. And here is the text of the compact.

4)  This film made by New Dimension Media was well done, in my opinion. I like how we got some more insight into the lives of the Native Americans involved with the Pilgrims.

5) As a kid I always wondered why was that horn thing called a cornucopia? I think this Wikipedia page gives a concise and helpful discussion of it. And here are some pictures of horns of plenty to color.

6) These Thanksgiving poems would make nice copywork or cute entertainment at dinner when recited by the little ones. I like number nine.

7) I found this cute Thanksgiving-dinner-themed logic game where you have to arrange the guests around the table according to what (or whom!) they like or don't like. I just had to play it. It was fun and was a bit of a mental workout. See if you and your family can beat my score of 11,000!

8) We watched Monumental today and it was so good. I enjoyed the in-depth look at who the Pilgrims were and what motivated them. The number of obstacles they faced was daunting, even before they left for America. Most of their story in the film is before they landed here, which is something I don't think I've ever seen before. I also enjoyed the discussion of the monument in Plymouth about "the matrix of liberty." The role of faith in our country's history is such an integral and fascinating subject and the fact that the our forefathers felt it needed to be foundational is reason enough to look at it, IMHO.


That's it for now. May your Thanksgiving be full of many blessings to count!

Updated 3/24/2020.

A Good Film About the Outer Planets of Our Solar System

Today we added this film about the outer planets of our solar system to our work for the day. We
really enjoyed it. The kids were excited to see Van Allen interviewed in the film. My daughter (8) was very inspired by the segment on Saturn - she developed a theory about gaps in Saturn's ring and she drew a picture of Saturn. She asked to use some of our school books to study it more! The film aired in 1999 and mentioned hoping for results soon from the Cassini mission.

Updated 3/24/2020.

The Time Warp Trio Website

Today I discovered a nice history resource. It is the website for the show called Time Warp Trio.
Here's a quote:

The TIME WARP TRIO television series offers a wonderful opportunity to get kids excited about history. Its lively humor and irreverent attitude combine to make the programs refreshing and appealing, while providing solid historical facts. Based on the widely popular book series by Jon Scieszka, the television series will attract readers and non-readers alike.

To help you use the show in the classroom, we offer lesson plans, books and links, and other educational tools.

They have advice about teaching history and lists of books and links for each time period. So even if you don't want to watch the show, you might find another resource for your family.

• Here's the website: http://www.timewarptrio.com/teachers-parents/ 

• I have found many episodes on YouTube! Here is a playlist of them to get you started: 

• You can find the books here.

Updated 3/24/2020.

New Dimension Media Educational Films on Amazon

Updated on 3/24/2020.

Homeschoolers have discovered a line of educational films is being offered on Amazon Prime for FREE right now. They are from a publisher called New Dimension Media (NDM). This quote about NDM is from their website:

Providing Premier Media Content to K-12 Schools for Over 30 Years

Founded in 1978, New Dimension Media, a division of Questar, Inc., is the premier producer and distributor of original core curriculum media content created for K-12 classrooms. NDM programs have won over 100 of the industry's most prestigious honors, including the CINE Golden Eagle and the Golden Apple. NDM content is used in over 100,000 schools around the country. 

The problem is Amazon makes it hard to find NDM films that are relevant to our homeschool curricula, plus it doesn't offer information like subject or grade level. And the NDM website seems to just list DVDs schools can buy. So, I have started compiling a database of the NDM Amazon films for your convenience! The database contains:

Film Title - The title of the film. Some titles though don't convey what the film is about, so in those cases I have inserted more information in parentheses.

Subject - I made up these subject categories. There is History and American History. These subjects include biographies. Geography includes countries and their cultures. Modern Studies includes politics, careers, economics (unless they seemed more mathish) and issues teens face (like drunk driving, cutting, etc.).

Suggested Grade Level Range - This information comes from the NDM website. If a film does not have a range listed, I did not find it at their website. I used zero for kindergarten so the columns would sort correctly.

Link - This is a direct link to the film on Amazon. You have to click the first cell that contains the link (in column D).

I am still working on this database, but I wanted to share what I have already. It is in the form of a Google Spreadsheet and can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PG2KL9CqqyiKBtx53d-eSX47ZkP284WCIBcYyJtPgkA/edit?usp=sharing

I can't vouch for the content of the videos. So, I suggest we leave reviews for other educators when we watch the films since many of them have too few or no reviews.

I hope my database is a blessing to your family! Please let me know if you find any errors.

Update 11/18/2014: This database is now finished. Enjoy! 

Update 12/5/2015: It has come to me attention that some of these are no longer part of Prime free instant streaming. I know Netflix rotates what it has on instant, so maybe the ones not on Prime right now will be again in a few months. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Puberty Film

This film called Your Body During Adolescence is refreshingly simple, while still being helpful and thorough.

Updated 3/25/2020.

Video-Based, Online Writing Program

 

When I was at my local homeschool convention this June, I ran across the booth for Here to Help Learning. I met the founder and listened to her description of the program. I was pleased with the approach and the price. I have started using the program with my two learners. I am using both levels of the program - mastering paragraphs and mastering essays. So far, we have really been enjoying it!

It is a two-day-per-week program. On the first day, you watch the videos and do a little writing. The other day of the week, kids do an assignment (like homework).

I feel like I know what good writing looks like, but explaining it without a curriculum was daunting for me. I was also concerned about introducing literary concepts without structure or guidance. So, I knew I needed help, but my kids (especially my son) HATED everything I tried. This program has been more palatable to him. He likes how it is broken into digestible chunks. My younger daughter loves the fun videos and the doggie mascot.

The program is Christian, but the focus is definitely the writing! I had never encountered a video-based writing program before and I thought perhaps you had not either. I hope this post proves helpful to you. Enjoy!



Updated 3/24/2020.

A World Reborn by New Dimensions Media

Theodore Rabb

Hi, All! We watched this 30 min. film today. It is currently FREE for Amazon Prime members (and on YouTube -see below). My kids are 8 & 11. I found it to be a good and quick overview of the Renaissance. It wasn't too biased in any one direction and there weren't bloody re-enactments of war. It was mostly illustrated by paintings. The historian narrating (Theodore Rabb) assumed familiarity with some things, like who were Luther and Copernicus, so I had to stop a few times and give just a little background information, but those stops would be a great jumping-off points for more in-depth study! I suggest watching it with your kids to see where they have interest or questions and then finding books or films to facilitate discussion. Enjoy!

I have found it on YouTube as well. It is broken into pieces, but there is an additional short introduction that wasn't in the Amazon version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9G91J2-F8o

Updated on 3/25/2020.

Studying Neil Armstrong

We have been using Sonlight's science curriculum in which DK's Eye Wonder: Space is a resource. Space is a huge and fun topic, so I decided to take a few detours. One of the tangents we are on is the life of Neil Armstrong.

We started with an excellent little biography called Who Was Neil Armstrong? It had a lot about the man of course, but a lot about the space program, and the history of the US at the time, too. It was just right for kids - informative, straight-forward, and yet insightful, too. We ended up talking about the Korean War, JFK, the Cold War, and Communism.

After we finished the book, we watched When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions, Episode 3: Landing the Eagle. It is told by the actual people involved - astronauts, engineers, and their wives.

I'm so glad I went this route instead of just showing the kids a video of the moon landing. The historical, emotional, and cultural context made a huge difference in their interest level!

Updated 3/25/2020.

Spring Round-Up

 

Happy Spring, Homeschoolers! Today I wanted to present resources for your Spring!

1) Let's kick it off with lapbooks. Lapbooks are so fun! Here are some Spring kits of pages to put in your folders. and a book that helps make great lapbooks. And here are some colorful file folders.


2) Here is a list of Spring printables, primarily for younger kids.

3) Here is a cute little game about planting and growing seeds. And here are a bunch of other online games and activities with a Spring theme.

 4) The Travel Channel has an article about Spring Festivals around the world. "Spring is in the air, and so are these lively festivals: From the White House Easter Egg Roll to a spring equinox party in Mexico, these celebrations of the season will put a spring in your step."







5) Here are 20 Spring writing prompts. "Yippee, spring is finally here! Here are some writing prompts to keep those young minds engaged!"







6) Here is a rather high-brow video about English country gardens. It would be great to put on at quiet time and shows some very pretty gardens.

7) Here is the History Channel's page on Easter. It has articles, videos, and more. "The exact origins of this religious feast day’s name are unknown. Some sources claim the word Easter is derived from Eostre, a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility. Other accounts trace Easter to the Latin term hebdomada alba, or white week, an ancient reference to Easter week and the white clothing donned by people who were baptized during that time. Through a translation error, the term later appeared as esostarum in Old High German, which eventually became Easter in English. In Spanish, Easter is known as Pascua; in French, Paques. These words are derived from the Greek and Latin Pascha or Pasch, for Passover. Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection occurred after he went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover (or Pesach in Hebrew), the Jewish festival commemorating the ancient Israelites’ exodus from slavery in Egypt. Pascha eventually came to mean Easter."


8) Here is a list of read aloud books for Spring from Scholastic. "Celebrate the season with these refreshing read-alouds."




9) This page offers a wealth of information on the science of plants. It includes ideas for experiments and science projects as well!



10) Here is a Spring walk scavenger hunt list I made. My kids love looking for things when we walk! We often do things like count things painted blue, butterflies, or birds on the walking path. Sometimes we look for silly stuff just to shake things up. Anyway, I made you a list to get you started. If you want you can offer prizes like, each kids gets a cookie or gumball if you find X number of things.


11) Finally, don't forget Spring kicks off conference season! I love going to conferences - I feel so "normal" and encouraged at them! Check out my list of conferences for one near you.

Update 3/25/2020.

Liberty's Kids

Hi, homeschoolers! Today I want to tell you about Liberty's Kids. It is a wonderful animated series about the American Revolution! The story is told through the experiences of a boy and girl of the era. It's accurate and entertaining. In fact, when I bought it at Christmas, my 10-year-old son took it to his room and watched the series every night during his down time. He found it engaging and exciting.

Cross and Quill Media has put together a whole list of resources you can use to go along with the series called The Ultimate Liberty's Kids Collection. Check it out here.

You can find the episodes broken into halves on YouTube.

Enjoy!

Updated 3/25/2020.

Teach With Movies

Today I found Teach With Movies. "Beginning with just a handful of Learning Guides in 1998, TeachWithMovies.org has grown to encompass more than 450 Learning Guides and lesson plans, as well as articles on using movies to further education."

Updated 3/25/2020.

Virtual Field Trips

Virtual field trips are something I want to explore for my own homeschool. Here are several lists of virtual field trips:

•  25 Amazing Virtual Field Trips for Kids
•  28 free virtual field trips and activities for families
•  Caitie's Classroom Filed Trips
• VirtualFieldTrips.org

Have you used virtual field trips? Which have you enjoyed?

Updated 3/27/2020.