Virginia Homeschool | Cool Sites

3) Cool Sites
August 28, 2007

3.1 Online Spanish Flashcards
3.2 How to Build a Website
3.3 Homeschool Math Website
3.4 Learn CPR
3.5 Exploratorium Science Website
3.6 Art Appreciation Charlotte Mason Style - A Step-by-Step Guide
3.7 Kids' Guide to 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World
3.8 Study Guides and Strategies
3.9 Mega-Penny Project - How Much is a....?
3.10 OpenCourseWare: Notre Dame

3.1 Online Spanish Flashcards

Select a category, and then mouse over the word or picture to hear it. Basic parts of the website, practices, and quizzes are free. Our thanks to Rhoda for sharing this fun, beginning Spanish vocabulary site with us.

www.spanishspanish.com

3.2 How to Build a Website

The website says, "If you can follow a recipe, you can build a website. And when you're done, you'll be on the Web not only as a surfer but as a creator!"

www.wigglebits.com

3.3 Homeschool Math Website

Find games, worksheet generators, resource links, teaching tips, lesson plans, and more. The curriculum corner has articles on choosing and evaluating math curriculum, a scope-and-sequence chart, and curriculum reviews (add yours). You can sign up for the free newsletter and read archived back issues.

www.homeschoolmath.net

3.4 Learn CPR

This site is in Washington state, the first state to require all school students to take CPR training. If it's been a while since you have taken CPR, read up on changes here. Do try to attend classes in person, but in the meantime, review this website.

http://depts.washington.edu/learncpr/index.html

3.5 Exploratorium Science Website

The folks from this museum in San Francisco have one of the best secular science-related websites anywhere. It will take quite a while to sift through the "explore" and "educate" pages with their many hands-on activities. Don't miss the resources in the upper right-hand side menus of those pages.

www.exploratorium.edu/index.html

3.6 Art Appreciation Charlotte Mason Style - A Step-by-Step Guide

A Catholic homeschool mom shares a wonderful lesson on how to do a "picture study" using Charlotte Mason's popular teaching philosophy. With this helpful guide and free art resources, such as museum websites, library books, or online art collections, you'll have an art appreciation curriculum very inexpensively!

By the way, click on her logo to see the rest of her website on Miss Mason's methods.

www.materamabilis.org/picturestudy.html

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3.7 Kids' Guide to 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World

The Christian campaign "30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World" has a free 36-page booklet for children with material useful for geography and comparative religions study, as well as devotions. The puzzles, photos, and text explain the world of Islam in simple terms. There are links to more detailed information in the right margin, including "Sights and Sounds" with short videos.

www.30-days.net/shop/download.htm

If you wish to order the more in-depth adult version (see sample pages on their website), you can still get it in time to join in prayer for the Muslim community during Ramadan (September 13-October 13). The full-color guide is only $3.

3.8 Study Guides and Strategies

Along with study tips, learning tools, and techniques, there are numerous links to reference material on math, reading, spelling, etc. Don't let the relatively plain appearance fool you-there is a goldmine here! Parent educators and older students will benefit from this website.

www.studygs.net

3.9 Mega-Penny Project - How Much is a....?

See in illustrated form (with value, width, height, thickness, weight, and area thrown in for good measure) just how much is a billion, or a trillion, or...all the way to a quintillion pennies! Seeing a whole lot of pennies compared to a man, a football field, the Empire State Building, or some other object makes it easier to grasp the scope of such large numbers. How much is a cubic foot of pennies worth? Now how about a million cows?

www.kokogiak.com/megapenny/default.asp

3.10 OpenCourseWare: Notre Dame

Notre Dame University is one of the colleges and universities that offers various course materials online for free. There are no instructors, credits, or degrees, but it's there for the learning. Check it out and see if anything interests you.

http://ocw.nd.edu