middle school
Free "History of Science" Lesson Plans for 6-12 gr.
Written for teachers, these are interdisciplinary lesson plans. Some consist of only one or two activities, while others could fill a semester or more. The lessons I've read are clear, fully explained, and include extensive bibliographies. Most are written with the expectation that students will be working in a group. They could a be a valuable resource for a homeschool science club.
Cell Craft Flash game
This engaging strategy game leads players through the parts of the cell and their functions. Reading is required, and the topics covered are on a middle school and high school level. There is nothing about the game that is inappropriate for younger kids, except that it's probably too hard. Here's the description from the developer's website:
Children of the (Industrial) Revolution | National Museum Wales
An online unit study about what it was like to be a working class child in Wales during the Industrial Revolution in the early to mid 1800s. The unit includes information from primary sources, period illustrations and videos (obviously, the video are modern), and gives a detailed look at the topic. Booklists are included to allow you to delve further, although many of the books may be difficult to find outside of the UK. Most appropriate for middle school or high school students, it could easily be spread over a month or more. The "work" section may upset sensitive k
National Geographic Xpeditions: online & offline geography activities and lesson plans
There are 2 ways for homeschoolers to use this website: parents can use the included lesson plans (grades 1-12 are represented) to teach about specific topics, or students can explore the virtual "Xpedition Hall" independently and learn about mapping and geography. The lesson plans are creative and use materials from respected scholars and artists. The Xpedition Hall requires reading, and is best suited for middle school age or older. The tasks in the Xpedition Hall emphasize understanding and applying geographic techniques and information, not rote memorization.
Cyberguides: free web-based literature units for k-12
Offered by the Schools of California Online Resources for Education, these are free lesson plans based on high-quality literature, and grouped by grade-level. Each unit includes several activities to extend the learning. Unfortunately, the program has been unfunded for several years, and some of the links in the units are bad, but there are still lots of great ideas here. A few examples (follow the link for more):
k-3 grade:
World Wide Telescope: turn your computer into a planetarium
Offered free by Microsoft, this web-based software acts as a "virtual telescope" letting you and your homeschol students explore the night sky, and the planets. The interface was not immediately intuitive to me, and so I'd recommend you begin with a tour (click on the "tour" option on the menu along the top of the screen.) You can also use the lesson plan provided here: http://www.microsoft.com/education/lessonplans/explorethestars.mspx
WatchKnow.com: Videos for kids to learn from
Watchknow.com is a site that allows you to search for educational videos by age range and keywords. The videos are submitted, tagged and rated by users, the videos themselves are from other sites across the web. I would be tempted to prescreen any unranked videos before sharing them with young kids.
Teacher's Resources from the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress has helpfully linked primary sources, lesson plans, activities and even professional development for teachers on this page. From here, you can find a wealth of lesson plans, primarily relating to American History, but literature and culture are also well represented. The lesson plans are built around primary sources-- letters, interviews, and other documents from the time in question. They are meaty, in depth lessons, from what I've seen. Most lesson plans are for upper elementary through high school, with a definite bias toward the higher gra
MangaHigh - Cool, Free Middle School & High School Math Games
Here's a find-- free, online games to help kids learn upper level math and mathematical thinking. Emphasizes getting the correct answer quickly, and the games are challenging.
Topics include Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Estimation, Times Tables, Fractions, Decimals...
Time Team America
This is the companion site for the PBS series Time Team America. Time Team America shows archeologists on real digs in the US, and the website includes background information both about individual digs and the field of archeology more generally. In addition to the bckground information, complete episodes can be viewed for free at the pbs video portal here: http://www.pbs.org/video/program/1100231536/
