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Learning, Teaching - and Online Tools

Links to homeschooling information and resources, curricula, articles on learning and teaching, fun projects and activities, math help, language arts resources, science, social studies, arts and crafts, games & puzzles, printable freebies, interactive educational sites, kids' learning tools, and more...

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Article - ABC's of Beginning to Read, by Penny Gardner
A relaxed, informative, and reassuring article about the process of helping children learn to read - written by a former teacher, and mother of six, who is a proponent of the Charlotte Mason approach to education.

Acts of Kindness
Inspiration for practicing random acts of kindness - with wonderful free educational and community ideas, guidance, and other resources. Fun! And they even provide five FREE pages of web space for presenting your own kindness activity or project!

"ABC Teach"
Free printables for home and classroom. Lots of fun ideas, reading activities, math, dot to dots; crafts, recipes, mazes, crossword puzzles; theme units around holidays, animals, countries, months, and much, much more!

Activity Tools & Resources from the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose
An extensive collection of creative learning activities and links arranged by age group, all related to, but not dependent on, exhibits at the museum.

A to Z Kids' Stuff
Lots of fun educational activities for little ones, as well as some letter/number recognition for children interested in learning more.

Afrocentric Homeschooling
A to Z Home's Cool's page of information on resources, articles, and associations for african americans and black families all over the world.

A Game a Day!
Fun daily games in a calendar, some requiring looking up facts. The younger kids’ section has simple little games that also may require a bit of research.

AHA Homeschool Resources Guide
The American Homeschool Association's excellent blog (with archived posts) describing some of the best educational resources for homeschoolers.

Alfie Kohn’s website
Alfie Kohn writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and social theory, and is widely known for "Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes" and other books. This site includes a number of thought provoking articles and links to other good articles.

Artist and children's book author Jan Brett’s Site
Lots of beautiful pictures to print out - and fun projects to make, such as bookmarks, stationery, and books.

Ben’s Guide: U.S. Government Sites for Kids
Enormous list of great educational sites on many subjects.

BestHomeschooling.org
Articles on the "best advice" of seasoned homeschoolers and authors. Links to helpful articles in other sites about learning, learning styles, and education; and links to excellent articles about positive ways of handling "LD" labels and concerns.

Blue Web’n Learning Sites
A Library of Blue Ribbon Learning Sites on the Web. Absolutely wonderful set of links!

Bob Bowman’s List of Educational Online Tutorials
An extensive list of links to sites covering a wide range of subjects.

Boomerang! Kids' Audiomagazine about Big Ideas
A popular, award-winning, monthly, 70 minute CD for ages 6-12 - introduces kids to science, current events, economics, history, poetry, and geography. Jokes, mysteries, music, and interviews.

Brain Food
Hundreds of games, ranging from word games to logic problems to riddles. Some are tricky. Some require innovation.

Brain Pop
Educational animated movies for K-12 explain concepts and demystify math, science, health, technology and English topics.

The Brain and Reading
This onlline PBS video, Reading and the Brain, explores "how brain scientists are working to solve the puzzle of why some children struggle to read and others don't. Startling new research shows the answer may lie in how a child's brain is wired from birth."

Children's Picture Books - many for older children!
Lists and descriptions of great picture books, some of which can beautifully introduce concepts in math, science, and other subjects.

Community Learning Network
Designed for integrating technology into the K-12 classroom, this site has 5,800 annotated links to educational sites with free resources, all organized by theme pages and keyword search.

Common Sense Media - Family Friendly Reviews
Reviews of movies, television, music, video games, books, magazines, and even websites. This non-profit organization of concerned parents and individuals with experience in child advocacy, public policy, education, media and entertainment. is dedicated to helping parents and kids have a choice and a voice in the media they consume.

Computer Science Lab
A low cost computer science lab CD for young teens and up, by an electrical engineer/computer programmer.

Computer Science Pure and Simple
A self-taught computer skills course that teaches Logo programming plus HTML and office skills, for middle and high school.

Cool Sites for Kids
American Library Association’s collection of links to good kids’ sites for reading and writing, facts and learning (homework help links, nature and environment, people and places, science and technology, space, reference tools, and museums), and fun.

Crafts for Kids
A huge number of categorized projects using materials found around the house - for learning about various topics, various holidays, and many just for fun.

Create a comic strip: MakeBeliefsComix
Create and print your own comic strip - it's easy and fun with this comic strip generator, using English or Spanish, cute characters, and story ideas.

Digital Librarian
A librarian’s extensive set of organized links to the "best of the web."

Dance Mat - Learn to Type
A fun, free online introduction to touch typing for children aged 7 - 11 years.

DiscoverySchool.com
An extensive categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum-for parents, teachers, and students. Includes Kathy Schrock’s section of 2,000 links!

DLTK’s Printable Crafts for Kids
Children's crafts, coloring pages, and more; projects for holidays, educational themes, and cartoon characters; lots of printable templates suitable for ages 2 and up.

Dover Publications Sampler
Get free samples weekly of printable Dover pages in poetry, fine art, recipes, games, puzzles, famous quotations, clip art, great literature, craft projects, photography, and coloring pages.

Dr. Thomas Armstrong - Articles about how children learn
An educator and psychologist in the fields of multiple intelligences, the myth of ADD/ADHD, and the natural genius of kids, Thomas has been guided by a belief that all children are gifted. His experience is that each child comes into the world with unique potentials that, if properly nourished, can contribute to the betterment of our world. This site contains meaty articles about removing roadblocks that keep those gifts from being recognized, celebrated, and nurtured.

The Delights of Exploring Math With Your Child
An encouraging guide to practical ways of getting to the joy and fascination in math - complete with resource suggestions and annotated links to many delightful web sites

Educational Site Hotlists from the Franklin Institute
Organized links to resources on the Internet that science educators, as well as science enthusiasts, may find useful

Educational Sites on the Internet
A huge, organized set of links divided by subject, this list is from the University of Michigan, and is in the website of Clonlara School.

Education World
‘Where Educators Go to Learn.” Database of 56,000 sites! 500 reviews of sites are archived in this site.

Educational Software Reviews
Softare reviews from Learning Village - an independent review and advisory centre for parents and teachers.

EduHound
Search engined for educational resources, with a pre-screened directory of over 20,000 sites in 50 categories!

Embracing the Child - Literature for Learning and Shared Reading
This beautiful and extensive web site is one of the most wonderful resources online. ETC's approach addresses the whole child with these rules: Act consistently on the conviction that everyone wants to read, everyone has the right to read, and everyone will read at their own pace. No one will feel intimidated or discouraged, and no one will be "left behind." Focused on children's and young adults' books "that promote and encourage values and self esteem, build character, ignite visual and linguistic opportunities of knowledge; appreciate the awe of nature; embrace our uniqueness..."

Enchanted Learning
A colorfully organized set of educational resources (like "Label Me" printouts) and links to all sorts of interesting sites for kids. Includes a search engine at the bottom with with spelling correction and pictures!

Especially for Children and Their Parents--from American Library Association
The Internet offers kids many opportunities for learning, constructive entertainment, and personal growth... The challenge for parents is to educate themselves and their children about how to use the Internet safely. This site has many articles and links on the subject, and more.

FactCheckEd
An educational resource for high school age, designed to help learn to cut through the fog of misinformation and deception that surrounds the many messages we?re bombarded with every day - a sister to the award-winning Annenberg Political Fact Check, which monitors the factual accuracy of what is said in the nation's political arena.

"Fantastic Free Stuff for Teachers, Homeschoolers, and Students"
Links to wide variety of things, including software, printables, puzzles, worksheets, posters, lesson plan ideas, and more.

Field Trip Resources - California
Extensive guide to field trip resources all over California: finding Extensive guide to field trip resources all over California: finding field trips in your neighborhood, special statewide resources, city and county websites, background information about various resources; listings by region, and other listings by subject.Extensive guide to field trip resources all over California: finding field trips in your neighborhood, special statewide resources, city and county websites, background information about various resources; listings by region, and other listings by subject.

"FREE" : Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
Hundreds of learning resources from 40+ federal organizations available (& searchable) in one place.

Free Educational Software from Owl & Mouse
Maps that teach, some interative; learning letter and sounds; medieval life, including building a model medieval castle and more; making a town or farm, and more!

Free Riverdeep Kids’ Educational Software DEMO Downloads
Both PC and Mac format: math, science, social studies, critical thinking, desktop security, language arts.

Free Teacher’s Guides/Kits
Links to dozens of websites that offer free educational resources of all kinds!

FirstGov for Kids
U.S. government interagency Kids’ Portal. It provides links to excllent Federal kids’ sites along with some of the best kids' sites from other organizations all grouped by subject.

Free learning materials from Waterford Press
Hundreds of colorful and downloadable/printable games and activities on natural sciences; includes animals, plants, weather, geology, astronomy and miscellany.

GetNetWise
An extensive resource for staying "one-click" ahead of would-be pornographers, hackers, child-predators and those who would misuse your and your child's sensitive information.

Global SchoolNet
Links kids around the globe, and provides provides educational opportunities for schools, teachers, parents and students to use the Internet for teaching and learning

Article - Good Times With Music and Rhythm
Lots of creative ideas, including games and resource ideas, for ways to bring music into children's lives.

Gordon’s Games
A retired teacher’s tips and games for teaching children math, many using card games.

Great Sites for Kids!
Helpful reviews of kids' sites, including an archive of lots of good links to sites already reviewed.

Great Sites for Teaching About...
Sites around a different theme each week.

High School Ace: An Extensive Reference Site
A noncommercial portal to excellent free online academic resources for high school students. It features interactive learning activities, a reference collection, college information, and subject guides for English, mathematics, social studies, science, world languages, arts, and technology.

Home Education Magazine Takes a Closer Look at Math
A great resource from HEM, these articles and resources listed beneath them provide a wealth of information and support for teaching all levels of math.

Homefires
Homeschooling resources, including email lists called "Carschooling," and "Calendar," as well as daily educational site tips called, "Clickschooling."

Homeschooling Books &Resources
An annotated list of helpful and popular homeschooling books, and a few catalogs.

Article: A Homeschool Primer, by Nathanael Schildbach
This Mothering Magazine article is a nice introduction to homeschooling, describing some day to day activities and responses to typical concerns.

Article: Homeschooling Can Help Every Parent, by Anne Heerdt-Windfield
This Mothering Magazine article describes what she learned from her years as a homeschooling mother affects how she parents and educates her children.

Homeschooling Resources section of Empowering Families: Starting the Homeschool Journey
Helpful books about Homeschooling &Learning, National Periodicals, Curricula, Support, & College Information, Resources, Materials &Catalogs

Homeworkspot
Not really about "homework" so much as about lots of interesting subjects, activities, and resources across the whole spectrum of interests for children and teens. Well worth checking out!

How Does Homeschooling Work?
An interesting article from the "How Stuff Works" website

Idealist.org Page for Kids, Teens, and Teachers
A site about solving problems, making changes, in neighborhoods and the world; human rights, nature, music, animals, politics and more. Includes information on organizations, resources, and links.

The Idea Box
Early childhood education and resources. Lots of ideas, crafts, songs, recipes, projects, activities, etc., and links to other sites. Scroll down the page to find the main part!

The Internet Public Library
The first public library of the Internet– librarians committed to providing library services to the Internet.

Internet School Library Media Center
Award-winning site that lists lots and lots of links to valuable educational sites in a wide variety of subjects.

iTools - A One Stop Research Tool Site
Online dictionaries, translators, conjugators, postage and mailing tools, currency converter, area codes, Internet search tools, and much more.

Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators
Classified guide to many good sites on the Internet, and instructional essays on using the Internet.

Keyboarding
Tips and links to FREE fun keyboarding practice sites and tips for kids from ComputerLabKids.

Kiddie Records Weekly - Classics From the Golden Age
Fabulous forgotten treasures - children's records from the early 40s and 50s, including many classic stories, some of which were extravagant Hollywood productions. Downloadable to listen to FREE.

KidsClick!
Web Search for kids by librarians. Includes many, many wonderful links to educational and fun sites, organized by subject.

Kids Connect Favorite Websites for K-12 Students
School library media specialists from throughout the world are collaborating on KidsConnect to provide direct assistance to any student K-12 who is looking for resources for school or personal interests.

Kids Freeware & Internet Freebies for Kidz
Lots of free children’s educational software and tools for working with the Internet, making a web page, and so forth.

Kids In Mind: "Movie Ratings That Actually Work"
A highly rated site that evaluates movies in respect to their appropriateness for kids.

KidsNet
Helps intelligently access the educational opportunities available from television, radio and multimedia sources - and has links to good websites.

KidsNet Search Engine
(A different one from Kidsnet listing above)
A search engine for children: over 20,000 child safe sites, and over 4000 categories.

Kids' Search Engines
Search Engine Watch’s collection of services primarily to serve the needs of children, either in focus, or by filtering out sites that some parents and teachers might find inappropriate for kids.

The KidSafe Web Browser
Can be set up to go only to hand picked web sites programmed into it. Free.

KidSpace - list of kids' search engines - Internet Public Library
This is a special collection of kids' search engines and Internet guides.

Learn to Read at Starfall
Free and colorful interactive site with fun games and books for learning to read. Also see StudyDog, the entry below this one.

Learn to Read at Study Dog
A beautifully illustrated, fun and interactive, full curriculum software reading program for beginning readers. Also see Starfall, the entry above this one.

Learn to Type - Dance Mat
A fun, free online introduction to touch typing for children aged 7 - 11 years.

Learning Network
New York Times site for parents, students, and teachers, grades 3-12, on current events, history, civics, language arts, math and economics, science and health, fine arts, social studies, geography, technology, and more.

Learning Websites for Middle School Students
Educational resources - intended primarily for middle school teachers and students.

Learning in Motion
Software for K-12 education, with some downloadable demos - has some good educational site links that change on a monthly basis.

Library Book Sales
Everything you want to know about book sales and bookstores run by libraries and other non-profit groups across the nation.

The Library Spot
Very informative site with links to every imaginable library, and many other online research tools like dictionaries, encyclopedias, as well as newspapers, magazines, journals, etc.

Mamamedia.com
M.I.T.’s Seymour Papert and friends designed this site for kids! "More than 2,000 safe and kid-friendly website links. Close to 100 replayable, original and visually stimulating activities that entice kids to eXplore, eXpress and eXchange in a digital sandbox. Digital tools that let kids create their own stories and plays, artwork and characters." Includes a parents' page!

Math! Activities, Games, Puzzles, Printable Lessons, Curricula, Advice, and More!
Carefully chosen and annotated links to a wealth of the very best math sites online.

Methods and Styles of Homeschooling
Ann Zeise’s characteristically comprehensive and balanced set of links for finding out more about the most prevalent categories of methods and styles used by homeschoolers.

MotheringDotCommune Forums
Mothering Magazine (see the link below this one), "The Magazine of Natural Family Living," offers this wonderfully supportive online discussion forum - and there's a whole section for homeschooling!

Mothering Magazine
The Natural Family Living Magazine. A popular resource for parents - warm and thoughtful support for every aspect of family life, from pregnancy on through raising children through the teen years.

Mother Goose Rhymes & Children’s Songs
Grouped by theme, with some beautiful printable coloring pages of letters of the alphabet.

Multimedia Schools Magazine
A practical magazine about multiple technologies used in K-12 schools today--CD-ROM, multimedia, online, and Internet resources. Articles, columns, news, and product reviews by practicing educators who use new technologies in the classroom and media center. Archived articles online.

Multiple Intelligences
Thomas Armstrong’s explanation of the various kinds of intelligences, and how they are best approached for learning or teaching.

The Natural Child Project
Many delightful articles supporting the basic theme that all children behave as well as they are treated.

Natural Life- Homeschooling
This site has a nice collection of informative and thought provoking articles gathered together by a pioneer homeschooling author, Wendy Preisnitz--dealing with resources, child-directed learning, philosophy of education, and much more.

Network Nuggets
An organized and annotated archive of around 1,000 reviews and links to selected educational web sites

Online Resources for Education - aligned to the "California Content Standards"
Many of the best educational resources on the Internet chosen by Schools of California Online Resources for Education

Online Resources - compiled by Schools of California
Online resources for math, history, social sciences, language arts, with links to "Standards and Frameworks" that tells what is normally expected in public schools at each grade level.

Parents’ Guide to the Internet
A wonderful complete guide provided by U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, Office of Educational Technology

Paths of Learning
Aims to inspire parents, educators, and others interested in educational policy and practice to consider diverse ways in which children and adults can gain meaningful, integrated knowledge and develop their own authentic potentials.

PBS Previews
An informative weekly online newsletter of the Public Broadcasting System, telling all about special programs coming up on TV that week, as well as new online features.

Peterson’s Education Site
College and career information, study abroad, online learning, and much more.

Preschool and Kindergarten Learning Activities
Links to websites with great ideas suitable for young children, and articles about preschool and kindergarten aged children. These are listed here as alternatives to academic curricula, but would also be wonderful in a program that is more academically oriented.

Public Television Service: "Teacher Source"
3,500+ Lesson Plans and Activities: technology & teaching, TV for teachers, arts & literature, health & fitness, math, science, social studies, library media.

Puzzlemaker
A puzzle generation tool for teachers, students and parents. Create and print customized word search, crossword and math puzzles using your word lists. Build your own maze or print our specialty hand-drawn mazes created around holidays and classroom topics.

Quilts in the Classroom
Wonderful projects and units for all grade levels using quilts and quilting.

Respect, Diversity, Tolerance, Understanding (suspended service for the summer of '07)
A lovely, holistic guide to resources having to do with these wide ranging concerns - from the Wonder Homeschool website.

Schoolhouse Rock
Popular software, CDs and DVDs - information set to pop music - site sells some low cost popular products, but also offers free files and games.

Search Links
Search Engine Watch’s listings of all major search engines; popular meta search engines; MP3 search engines; kid-safe services and much more.

SparkNotes
Free online study guides for English, drama, film, math, science, test prep, and other subjects. There's a charge for printouts.

S.E.R.F. Page
Safe Surf’s Educational Resource Links

SITES FOR TEACHERS
Annotated links to sites that have free printable learning units, educational games, lesson plans of all kinds, seasonal activities and much, much more

Social Studies Sources
Designed by the School of Education at Indiana University for K-12 social studies teachers and students, this site has lots of good information, topics and links.

Article - Socialization and the Homeschooled Student, by Michelle Barone, MA, MFT
A thorough discussion on the advantages of homeschooling where socalization is concerned - by a licensed marriage and family therapist who holds four life California teaching credentials.

Starfall: Learn to Read
Fun and interactive, this FREE online program for children is based in part on research by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development about how children learn to read. Also see Study Dog, the entry below this one.

Study Dog: Learn to Read
A beautifully illustrated, fun and interactive - downloadable and FREE - full curriculum software reading program for beginning readers. Also see Starfall, the entry above this one.

SuperKids Educational Software Reviews
Reviews are written by teams consisting of parents, teachers and kids.

Surfing the Net With Kids
A number of links to educational sites that might be of interest to kids.

TeachersFirst
A rich collection of lessons and web resources for K-12 teachers, students, and families.

Teaching and Learning on the Web
Search-based site with 850 examples of how the web is used for learning, from those entirely via the web, to courses related to a class assignment or courses that offer class support materials via the web. Includes a nice Links section, but that is not their focus.

Teach With Movies
Ideas for using movies to learn about major events of history, great achievements of civilization, extraordinary people who have shaped our world, works of the arts, and ethical, social, and cultural issues facing children as they mature.

The Tech Lab
Lovely site demonstrates examples by grade level on how technology can be used across the curriculum. Browse through the sites for links to interesting educational web pages!

Teen Page
Whether you are considering homeschooling a teenager in California, or live somewhere else and just need information specific to teens, or you are a teen, you will find helpful information here.

"Typical Courses of Study" - A World Book Educators’ Guide
General grade by grade curriculum requirements as they appear across North America.

Unschooling.com
A Home Education Magazine site that explores the philosophy of "unschooling," this site includes a library of articles, message boards, a newsletter, and suggestions for resources.

Virtual Teacher
Lots of free teacher tool resources, an interesting newsletter you can order, many helpful site links, and tips.

Web Explorer
The New York Times’ guided Web tours of sites related to the most important and relevant topics of the day! A new Exploration is added at least every two weeks.

Web Sites and Resources for Teachers
Thousands of links and curriculum resources collected by Professors of Elementary Education at California State University, Northridge. The sites, organized in nine categories, include lesson plans, instructional materials, online activities and projects, and virtual trips to museums and countries around the world.

World Resource Center
A county-by-country and state-by-state guide to education resources around the world.

The WWW Virtual Library
This is the oldest catalog of the web, started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of html and the web itself - run by volunteers, who compile pages of key links for areas in which they are expert. It is widely recognized as one of the highest-quality guides to particular sections of the web

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