Everyday Mysteries

Who invented electric Christmas lights? The Library of Congress sponsors the fascinating Everyday Mysteries collection: Did you ever wonder why a camel has a hump? If you can really tell the weather by listening to the chirp of a cricket? Or why our joints make popping sounds? These questions deal with everyday phenomena that we often take for granted, but each can be explained scientifically. Everyday Mysteries will help you get the answers to these and many other of life’s most interesting questions through scientific inquiry, asked by researchers and answered by librarians from the Library’s Science Reference Services. In addition, it will introduce you to the Library of Congress’ rich collections in science and technology.

Everyday Mysteries

AwesomeStories.com

AwesomeStories.com: The Story Place of the Web uniquely uses the Internet to link its story content to hundreds of thousands of the world’s best on-line primary sources. Enjoy an interactive learning experience as you see relevant maps, pictures, videos, artifacts, manuscripts and documents, in context, within each story. Take advantage of human-based searches for a safe, fast and fun way to learn the real story behind historic events, famous people, heroic exploits, legends, disasters, movies, plus topics of current and general interest. When you become a member of Awesome Stories … You can see everything on the site (including an extensive image data base), explore all its features (including narrated stories), dig deeper (with lesson plans and text documents) and hear from Awesome Stories once a month (with a newsletter profiling current events and hot topics). Join the site today. It’s all free!

AwesomeStories.com

Christmas Cookies

‘Tis the season for Christmas cookies, and Almost Unschoolers shares a lovely way of making three different cookies from one sugar cookie recipe: “In Lillian Hoban’s Arthur’s Christmas Cookies, Arthur wants to make Christmas cookies, as a Christmas gift. When he mistakes the salt for the sugar, though, it takes some fast thinking, and a little paint, to save the day. And, while he doesn’t end up with cookies, he does make some lovely ornaments, instead. “We wanted to end up with cookies, so we stuck with sugar…” Every post from Almost Unschoolers ends with the lovely reminder, “It’s great to be a homeschooler.” So true!

Christmas Cookies

Gnarly Math

The educational CD-ROM Solid Gold Gnarly Math offers more than eighteen hours of entertainment and instruction and teaches Geometry, Algebra, Trig, Probability, Statistics, Numbers, and Topology. It also features games, magic tricks, puzzles, and a Math Lab. This CD can be helpful if you’d like to provide your kids with a head-start in mastering math, show your kids (and yourself) that math can be fun, refresh your own math and improve your math teaching skills. Monty Phister, creator of Gnarly Math, writes: “… we’re so confident that Gnarly Math will help you and your children learn and enjoy math that we offer it with a 5-year, Unconditional Money-back Guarantee.” Monty also edits a free hilarious math newsletter, the “Gnarly Gnews, ” which contains mathematical cartoons, limericks, riddles, and “news items” from today, yesterday, and tomorrow. (You’ll learn a little history, along with some art and literature, as well as math.) At his web site Monty offers six Mathematical “Gofers” which will encourage your interest in math, such as free downloadable examples that show how a computer can kindle your and your children’s interest in mathematics. You can play pool on a parabolic table, stretch a skyscraper, color soccer jerseys, visit [...]

Gnarly Math

Xtranormal: Text-to-movies

Do your homeschoolers have visions of becoming movie directors? Xtranormal’s Text-to-Movie site provides stock backgrounds, characters, soundtracks and movements that you string together to create your animated movie clip. Type what you want your character to say and you can even select what language he says it in – great for homeschoolers studying foreign languages! Check out this free site which puts anyone in the director’s chair. The developers state: xtranormal’s mission is to bring movie-making to the people. Everyone watches movies and we believe everyone can make movies. Movie-making, short and long, online and on-screen, private and public, will be the most important communications process of the 21st century. Our revolutionary approach to movie-making builds on an almost universally held skill—typing. You type something; we turn it into a movie. On the web and on the desktop.

Xtranormal: Text-to-movies

Schoolhouse Rock!

Most adults have enjoyed the clever animation and rapid-fire lyrics of Schoolhouse Rock!, a series of musical educational short films that aired on television between 1973 and 1999 and covered subjects like grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics. A complete history is available at Wikipedia , and lyrics to most of the episodes are available, with links to YouTube clips of such favorites as Conjunction Junction and Elbow Room.

Schoolhouse Rock!

Google Sketchup

Google Sketchup lets you create 3-D models of anything. You can build models from scratch, or you can download what you need. People all over the world share what they’ve made on the Google 3D Warehouse. Dozens of video tutorials, an extensive Help Center and a worldwide user community mean that anyone who wants to make 3D models with SketchUp, can do so – free. You can learn more at the Google Sketchup blog, and check out the second Google Model Your Town Competition. Model Your Town is about geo-modeling – making photo-textured models of real-life buildings that appear in Google Earth. The Model Your Town Competition is also a chance to celebrate your town by adding it to the 3D map.

Google Sketchup

Eclectic Homeschool Online

Eclectic Homeschool Online is an outsdtanding web site which provides resources and assistance that allows homeschoolers to homeschool their children in a manner that suits each individual child’s needs and gifts. Their resource collection lists close to 3,000 reviews which you can search or browse by category. Eclectic Homeschool Lite is a companion site which offers resources and assistance for those just starting homeschooling or thinking about it, and will help sift through the huge array of curriculum and resources available. Happy homeschooling!

Eclectic Homeschool Online

Best Homeschooling

Lillian Jones’ Best Homeschooling and Homeschooling Gateway to the Internet is a treasure trove of information, great reading, and almost limitless resources for homeschooling – a one-stop cornucopia with no pesky ads or affiliate links to clutter up your reading. Hundreds of favorite links to free homeschooling resources and information about learning and teaching, curriculum, freebies, printable learning materials, reading and language arts, history, arts, geography, mythology, college and career information, help for special challenges, educational games and puzzles, long distance learning, tools for Internet research, preschool and kindergarten learning activities, articles on teens and high school, college, careers, and so much more – truly one of the greatest sites for homeschooling on the Internet, and rightfully named Best Homeschooling!

Best Homeschooling

Science Projects

This school-oriented but homeschool-helpful site offers a listing of ideas for elementary, middle, and high school Science Fair Projects – experiments involving everything from plants to X-ray machines – with useful links and hot tips on how to prepare science experiments. They have hundreds of ideas for every science topic, from Astronomy to Zoology, all 100% Free!

Science Projects