Key Curriculum Press

Key Curriculum Press was founded in 1971 by Peter and Steven Rasmussen to provide the educational community with alternative mathematics materials. Based on their experiences as mathematics teachers, Peter and Steven wrote and produced the initial texts, which launched the company, and Steven remains its president today. Key Curriculum Press publishes high school mathematics textbooks, mathematics software, supplementary materials and workbooks, videos, and manipulative materials, including: The Key to… Series: Algebra, Geometry, Decimals, Fractions Textbooks: Algrbra, Calculus, Statistics, Geometry, etc. Discovering Mathematics Online Software: Geometer’s Sketchpad, Tinkerplots, Kaleidomania! Supplemental Materials Tools & Manipulatives and more! Mathematics is their focus-their only focus. Careful product development and the application of progressive educational standards are the highest priorities at Key Curriculum Press.   

Key Curriculum Press

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

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!

American Science & Surplus

American Science & Surplus offers a unique mix of industrial, military and educational items, with an emphasis on science and education. They supply a wide range of unusual and hard to find items (some say bizarre stuff) to the hobbiest, tinkerer, artist, experimenter, home educator, do-it-yourselfer, and bargain hunter. Customers have used American Science and Surplus items in home made cars, sculptures, precision instruments, home made telescopes,costumes, model railroads, window dressings, holiday decorations, and innumerable science projects. Their items are great gifts, inexpensive supplies, and an endless reason for a giggle or a “Gee whiz!” They try to be scrupulously honest in presenting what they have, and always take it back, no questions asked, if the customer isn’t satisfied with it. They’ve been around for a long time (since 1937), and have multitudes of grateful homeschooling customers. Skip the dreaded retail stores and check out American Science & Surplus for Specials, New Stuff, On Sales and Must Goes. Endlessly fascinating. Incredible stuff. Unbelievable prices.

American Science & Surplus

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

CoolMath

Coolmath.com is a one-stop math shop for middle and high school students, and also has a helpful section for parents. Math teacher Karen Lyn Davis has run this award-winning site since 1997 as an aid to helping kids of all ages learn to enjoy math. The online math dictionary and calculators can help teach basic math concepts, including algebra and geometry. There are sections for math practice, math-related games, a math dictionary, and links to companion sites for younger kids and teens.

CoolMath

Super Teacher Worksheets

Super Teacher Worksheets provides hundreds of free printable files of worksheets, practice sheets, fun activities and other pages for math, reading, writing, spelling lists, science and social studies, phonics, grammar, holidays, puzzles and brainteasers, and many other subjects, ranging from kindergarten through eighth grade, presented in a simple, no-nonsense manner and with delightful extras such as craft projects and patterns, sticker charts, teaching tips and ideas and much more. While the files are presented primarily for teachers, the site clearly states that homeschool families are welcome to use them also. An excellent resource for any homeschooling families looking for supplemental study materials in a wide range of categories and topics. Super Teacher Worksheets even has a friendly and helpful Facebook page!

Super Teacher Worksheets

Connect

Synergy Learning International’s Connect magazine, subtitled “Teachers’ Innovations in K-8 Science, Math, and Technology,” looks like a terrific resource for homeschoolers, too. Published five times a year, each 25-page issue focuses on a single scientific, mathematical, or technological topic. Past topics, for example, have included the scientific method, oceans, geometry, light and color, early algebra, climate change, birds, and ancient technology. In each instance, feature articles discuss and describe hands-on projects, lesson plans, teaching approaches, and innovative educational materials. My latest issue – “Things in Motion: Newton’s Laws,” May/June 2009 – has articles on roller coaster physics, teaching science with catapults, Newton’s Laws on the playground, and Newtonian mechanics with Legos, along with detailed instructions for building a spool tractor and conducting a multidisciplinary study of springs. Also included are resource reviews, literature links, and helpful website lists. An annual subscription to the print version (5 issues) costs $28, from Synergy Learning, Inc., P.O. Box 60, Brattleboro, VT 05302-0060; (800) 769-6199; an online (pdf) version is available for an annual $20. Back issues cost $6 apiece (ten or more, $4, postpaid). For more information, visit the Synergy Learning site. (From Rebecca Rupp’s Good Stuff, Sept/Oct, 2009.)

Connect

Boomerang! Audio for Kids

Boomerang! is an audio program for kids 6-12. In each hour-long episode, the Boomerang! kids present stories about big ideas: science, current events, history, economics, poetry, geography, jokes, mysteries and more. The ‘About Us’ page explains: “We believe that the curiosity and wonder of a child is a gift to the world. We honor that gift when we empower them to explore and discover. “We believe that storytelling can give kids that power. The best stories not only enrich the inner imaginative life of a child, but also give them a window into worlds outside their own. “And we believe that there are stories everywhere.” Boomerang! has received the American Library Association’s Notable Recording Award, The Parent’s Choice Award and the Educational Press Association Award for excellence in news reporting and was included in Dr. Toy’s 100 Best Children’s Products. Boomerang! has been the subject of numerous national magazine and newspaper articles as well as the subject of an 11-minute stint on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.

Boomerang! Audio for Kids

Encyclopedia Britiannica

Encyclopaedia Britannica offers over 120,000 articles, an updated world atlas, thousands of images and videos, an online dictionary and thesaurus, over 300,000 articles from respected magazines and journals, news headlines, a guide to the Web’s best sites, -and much more, with articles and media developed especially for children aged 9 to 14, with research tools to help with citations and bibliographies. The Britannica Store offers Encyclopaedia Britannica print and software products as well as a wide assortment of the best-selling books and CDs from their sister company, Merriam-Webster, with a variety of outstanding science and geography products, chosen for their educational and entertainment value. Categories include: Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Thesauri, Annuals, Reference, Globes and Models, Software, Online Tools, Video/DVD, and Special Kids Products.

Encyclopedia Britiannica