A Child's Introduction to the Orchestra

I'm always on the look-out for free audio books and educational songs to listen to in the car.  Today's little gem is from Arts Reformation: Children's Vinyl Record Series and is titled A Child's Introduction to the Orchestra.  You can find it under the second section (Golden Records) and can download the MP3 (it's a zip file) right to your computer. 

Enjoy!

2010/2011 Planning

I'm trying to plan for next year and it really does help to see it all written out in a list form.  Am I doing too much?  Not enough? 

Math
MEP
Math Mammoth

Reading
books of his choice
Explode the Code to help cement some of the phonics rules

Copywork/Grammar/Spelling
Classical Writing Primer
All About Spelling Level 1

Literature
Tales From Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
Among the Forest People by Clara Dillingham Pierson
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield
The Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales
The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney
The Pied Piper of Hamlin by Robert Browning
Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit
The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges
The Olive Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin
The Burgess Animal Book for Children by Thornton W. Burgess
     (begin w/Mice with Pockets, and Others)

Poetry
Walter De La Mare
Eugene Field
James Whitcombe Riley
Christina Rossetti

History
SOTW 2 + Activity Book
Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle
Good Queen Bess by Diane Stanley
Men of Iron by Howard Pyle
Unknown to History: The Story of the Captivity of Mary of Scotland by Charlotte Mary Yonge
Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin
     beginning with The Barmecide Feast and ending with The Ungrateful Soldier 
     see the chronological order list here for details  
The Little Duke by Charlotte Mary Yonge (c. 943) study notes
Joan of Arc by Diane Stanley (1412-1431)


Science
R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey: Earth & Space
Nature study from Classical Writing Primer

Music/Composer Study
Classical Music Composer Study 2010/2011 using Classics for Kids

Artist/Picture Study
As outlined on my blog: We Don't Need No Education
And we may be working on a foreign language by then.

Geography Lessons

Links to all of the blog posts on lessons that we're using with our first grader.

Lesson # 1 ~ Better Than Breadcrumbs : Maps and Symbols (maps)
Lesson # 2 ~ National Geographic Xpeditions: Getting Lost  (cardinal directions)
Lesson # 3 ~ Houghton Mifflin: Using Grids (maps)
Lesson # 4 ~ Create a map including your home and a familiar destination.  Include a key and an index.  Write directions from your home to the destination.
Lesson # 5 ~ National Geographic Xpeditions: Introduction to Latitude and Longitude (plus p.88 of The Earth: Geography of our World)
Lesson # 6 ~ hemispheres, poles, & the equator
Lesson # 7 ~ prime meridian and international date line/time zones
Lesson # 8 ~ continents and oceans overview
Lesson #  ~ Asia
Lesson #  ~ Africa
Lesson #  ~ North America
Lesson #  ~ South America
Lesson #  ~ Antarctica
Lesson #  ~  Europe
Lesson #  ~ Australia

Geography Lesson #1

Today's geography lesson was adapted from the Better Than Breadcrumbs : Maps and Symbols lesson plan found at eduref.org.

Materials Needed:
your favorite re-telling of Hansel and Gretel
breadcrumbs, or a group of items to represent breadcrumbs
a map of the room for each student
How to Draw Maps and Charts by Pam Beasant and Alastair Smith (or another book about maps)
a physical map, a political map, and a road map

1 ~ Read your favorite re-telling of Hansel and Gretel to your student(s).  

2~ Have the student(s) act out the story using bread crumbs, then discuss why Hansel and Gretel used flint stones and breadcrumbs in the story.

3 ~ Have the student(s) navigate from one location in the room to another.  Have them use different colored markers/crayons on their room map to show each path taken.  Examples:

     From the couch to the school desk. (orange)
     From the bookcase to the doorway. (blue)
     From the white board to the easel. (green)

4 ~ Discuss how a map can be used to let people know how to find their way from one location to another.

5 ~ Read the portions of How to Draw Maps and Charts that apply. ( pages 2, 4-11, 26 in the 1993 version we own)

Lily the Bear

We have been having so much fun watching Lily the black bear as she prepared, and then gave birth!  Visit the Black Bear Den Cam to see for yourself.  (Be patient if it isn't loading and try again.  There were over 20,000 viewers when I was watching earlier!)  Or check out the videos on YouTube:
Lily the Black Bear Starts Labor
The Birth of Lily's Cub

Geography Revisited

We've done some re-thinking when it comes to geography lately.  Daddy wants to help teach the boys, and geography is one subject he would like to take over.  So far we've mainly done geography as it applies to our ancient history studies.

So now I have to come up with plans for geography as a separate subject.  I'm thinking lots of living books!  I'm also thinking we should start with some lessons in map and globe skills, directional compasses, and we definitely need to start geo-caching or letterboxing!  We need to cover the continents and oceans, land formations.  Hmm, what else?

I'm going to post each lesson that we complete.  You can find the list of links to all lessons in this post.

Geography Books List

* indicates a book that we have already read 

A Life Like Mine by DK Publishing
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (world)
B is For Brazil (World Alphabets) by Maria de Fatimo Campos (Brazil, South America)
The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin (Atlantic ocean)
Brendan the Navigator by Jean Fritz (Atlantic ocean)
The Cay by Theodore Taylor (islands)
Far Beyond the Garden Gate: Alexandra David-Neel's Journey to Lhasa by Don Brown (Asia, Tibet)
Homesick by Jean Fritz (China)
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman (world)
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (islands)
Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling (rivers)
* Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling (rivers)
The Penguin Family Book by Lauritz Somme (Antarctica)
Secret Water by Arthur Ransome (islands)
Somewhere in the World Right Now by Stacey Schuett (timezones)
The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack (Asia)
* The Story of Anansi (Africa)
A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf by John Muir (the American south)
Tree in the Trail by Holling C. Holling (the American west)
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (oceans)
Uncommon Traveler: Mary Kingsley in Africa by Don Brown (Africa)
West From Home: Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, San Francisco, 1915 by Laura Ingalls Wilder (the American west)
Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker (Australia)

Other Links of Interest
Wee Sing Around the World
Geology Coloring Book
kidsgeo.com
National Geographic Kids
Sparklebox: Geography

I Gave In and Bought SOTW!

I finally broke down and bought Story of the World Volume 1: Ancient Times and the activity book to go along with it.  After spending my morning pulling all of the pages out of the activity book to make for easier copying we spent the afternoon reading the first five chapters of the book and doing a few of the activities to go along with it.  We've already covered this material, but I wanted to hear the history from the SOTW perspective, and review never hurts!  We enjoyed the first five chapters, and my only regret is not buying it sooner!

We pulled out our Crayola Air-Dry Clay and made some small clay tablets to write on, as the ancient Sumerians did with cuneiform.  We decided to stick holes in the corners so we can attach some ribbon and use them for Christmas ornaments next year.  It seemed silly to make them only to throw them away in a couple of months.

The top one says "Alexander the Great" and was done by Nik, age 6. 

The bottom is, well.....I don't know what it is!.....and was done by Nate, age 4.

Not a bad day, all in all.  Now we need to catch up on the next twelve chapters so we can move on to new material.

Planning Next Year

Next year Nik will most likely be reported as a second grader.  It's time to start finalizing plans and getting my shopping lists in order so I can spend my spring and summer in the garden instead of sitting inside and planning!

Most of my shopping will be done at Amazon and Rainbow Resource.  I'll update with links later.  Right now I need to get to the post office!

Math 

MEP (free, but requires paper and ink/toner for printing)

Singapore Math (Standards Edition)

     Textbook 2A ($11.95)

     Workbook 2A ($11.25)

     Home Instructor's Guide 2A ($16.80)

Reading
books of his choice
Explode the Code 4, 5, 6 ($6.75 each) 

Copywork/Grammar/Spelling
Classical Writing Primer
Cursive First (I'm still trying to decide whether to use this or not.)

Literature
selections from Ambleside Online’s Year 1 and 2 lists

History
SOTW 2 + Activity Book

Science

R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey: Earth & Space
Nature study from Classical Writing Primer

Music/Composer Study 

Visual Arts/Picture Study

The Mastery Club

Mrs. Renz's Mastery Cub: A Club for Students Interested In Learning

This is a club for students who are interested in achieving "above and beyond" the normal classroom expectations.  All you have to do is learn all about the topic, and then come tell Mrs. Renz the answers during your recess or lunch break, or before or after school.  You can become a 1 star member, all the way up to an 86 star member!   Learning never ends - thank goodness!

Now doesn't that sound cool?!  There are 84 challenges, from the categories "Social Studies", "Science", "Language Arts & Linguistics", "Math", and "Miscellaneous."  I'm thinking about taking the challenge myself!  This is definitely something we are going to work towards.

Architecture and Engineering

We won't be needing these links for a while, but I wanted to post them in case anyone else is interested in them.  They look like very interesting resources.

Frank Lloyd Wright Architect Studio 3D
Engineering for Earthquakes

Visual Arts Links

Renaissance Connection   art
My Pop Studio
Every Line Means Something Street-to-Studio, the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Artist/Picture Study

I've bounced around a few different ideas for artist/picture study.  I'm fairly certain that we will be using Classical Writing Primer as our grammar/copywork program and that also includes picture study.  So we'll do those activities, in addition to my plan, whenever the kids show an interest.  That should expose them to quite a variety of art over the years.  The current plan (subject, and likely, to change) is as follows. 

3 artists per year

6 works of art per artist

36 artists over the course of a 12-year study

Grade 1 Artists

Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337) Italian (first contributor of the Italian Renaissance)

Jan van Eyck (or Johannes de Eyck) (c.1390-1441) Flemish (Early Netherlands Renaissance)

Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) Italian (Florentine, Early Renaissance)

Grade 2 Artists

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian (Florentine, High Renaissance)

Michelangelo (1475-1564) Italian (Florentine, High Renaissance)

Raphael (1483-1520) Italian (Florentine, High Renaissance)

Grade 3 Artists

Titian (1488-1576) Italian (High Renaissance)

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569) Dutch (Flemish, Netherlands Renaissance)

El Greco (1541-1614) Greek (Spanish, High Renaissance)

Grade 4 Artists

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) Flemish (Baroque)

Diego Velásquez (1599-1660) Spanish

Rembrandt (1606-1669) Dutch (Baroque)

Grade 5 Artists

Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) Dutch (Baroque)

Francisco Goya (1746-1828) Spanish (father of modern art)

David (1748-1825) French (Neo-Classical)

Grade 6 Artists

John James Audubon (1785-1851) French-American (Naturalist)

Edouard Manet (1832-1883) French (Impressionist)

Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) French (Post-Impressionist)

Grade 7 Artists

Claude Monet (1840-1926) French (Impressionist)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) French (Impressionist)

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) American (Impressionist)

Grade 8 Artists

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) French (Post-Impressionist)

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) Dutch (Post-Impressionist)

Georges Seurat (1859-1891) French (Post-Impressionist)

Grade 9 Artists

Grandma Moses (1860-1961) American (Folk Art)

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) French (Fauvism)

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish (Cubism)

Grade 10 Artists

M.C. Escher (1898-1972) Netherlander (Graphic Artist)

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) Spanish (Surrealist)

William de Kooning (1904-1997) Hollander (Abstract Expressionist)

Grade 11 Artists

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) Mexican

Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) American (Abstract Expressionist)

Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) American (Realist)

Grade 12 Artists

Andy Warhol (1928-1987) American (Pop Art)

student’s choice

student’s choice

Symphony of Science

Someone on the Living Science Yahoo Group shared a link to Symphony of Science and it is awesome! There are four music videos, also available as MP3 downloads, of some very cool science songs.  I'm very impressed and have listened to the songs quite a few times already this morning.  These will be great to listen to in the car.

Evolutionary content, though, for those of you who avoid that.

My Plan for American History

ETA ~ My history-loving son has begged me to do history 5 days a week, so the following plans are changing.  I'm going to go ahead and do American History as a separate course alongside our world history course.  I will still be using the listed resources, just in a different timeframe.  I'll try to link to the updated plans when I get them posted.

I've gone around and around trying to figure out how I want to do American History.  I think I'm going to pick a plan and stick with it so I don't drive myself to drink.  I believe that it's important to know the history of our country in-depth, but I also think that learning our history in context with that of the rest of the world is important.  So I'm going to continue to use The Story of the World series by Susan Wise Bauer for world history but interject extra studies in chapters when American history topics arise. 

I'll be pulling book ideas from the Winter Promise Early American History, Living Books Curriculum, and Sonlight book lists, as well as using CoreKnowledge Lesson Plans.

What follows are my plans for second through fourth grades.  Grade 1 is the study of ancient world history, so American history doesn't really factor in.  We've already read some books and had a few lessons on Vikings and Native Americans, but I'm going to back off for now and wait until next year to really dig in.  Some SOTW chapters are missing from the list.  I don't have all of the books in front of me, so I'm not positive what the topic is for all of the chapters yet.

Grade 2 ~ The Middle Ages (Pre-colonial and Colonial American)

Chapter 14: The Arrival of the Norsemen (SOTW2) 
                 Vikings  (link to a blog post of mine)
Chapter 31: Exploring New Worlds (SOTW2)
Chapter 32: The American Kingdoms (SOTW2)
Chapter 33: Spain, Portugal, and the New World (SOTW2)
                 Explorers (link to a blog post of mine)
                 Travel to Mesoamerica pdf (CK Lesson Plans)
                 Columbus and the Conquistadors pdf (CK Lesson Plans)

Chapter 40: New Ventures to the Americas (SOTW2)
                 Thirteen Colonies (link to a blog post of mine)

                 Land Ho!  Early Exploration and Settlement of the Americas pdf (CK Lesson Plans)

                

Grade 3 ~ Early Modern Times (Birth of a Nation )
Hero Tales From American History by Henry Cabot Lodge and Theodore Roosevelt

Chapter 22: Revolution! (SOTW3)

                 The American Revolution and Its Heroes pdf (CK Lesson Plans) 
Chapter 23: The New Country (SOTW3)

Chapter 32: The Opened West (SOTW3)
                   Go West Young Man! pdf (CK Lesson Plans)
Chapter 33: The End of Napoleon (SOTW3)
                   Oh, Say Can You See and Learn About the War of 1812? pdf (CK Lesson Plans)               
Chapter 36: The Slave Trade Ends (SOTW3)
Chapter 38: American Tragedies (SOTW3)   
Chapter 40: Mexico and Her Neighbor (SOTW3)
Chapter 42: The World of Forty-Nine (SOTW3)

Grade 4 ~ The Modern Age 
Hero Tales From American History by Henry Cabot Lodge and Theodore Roosevelt
Chapter 5: The American Civil War (SOTW4)
                 A Nation Divided pdf Civil War (CK Lesson Plans)

Chapter 20: Revolution In the Americas … War In the World (WWI)
Chapter 21: A Revolution Begins, and the Great War Ends (WWI)
Chapter 26: The Great Crash, and What Came of It
Chapter 28: The Second World War
Chapter 29: The End of World War II
Chapter 35: The Cold War
Chapter 36: Struggles and Assassinations
Chapter 37: Two Short Wars and One Long One
Chapter 42: The End of the Twentieth Century

American Government

I have found a free online resource, found at the PASS Website and in pdf format, that could be used for a spine for American History, but I'm still exploring it to see if it is age appropriate for the elementary years.  So far it looks like a better choice for middle school, and we already have Joy Hakim's A History of US on the shelf. 

R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey: Earth & Space

We've decided to go with R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey for our science curriculum.   I want to keep track of the web pages and resources that we use to enhance our studies.  Items I want to use will be colored blue, items we actually get around to using will be colored green.

Unit 1: Weather Changes
The Weather Channel Kids - Weather Encyclopedia
Web Weather for Kids
Vortex Storybook
Weather Coloring Pages

Windward: Outsmart the Weather in a Race Around the World game

Wild Weather Adventure 
Scholastic Interactive Weather Maker


Unit 2: The Water Cycle

Unit 3: Air Surrounds the Earth

Unit 4: Earth's Surface Is Changing

Unit 5: What Is Inside the Earth?

Unit 6: Rocks Are Made of Minerals

Unit 7: The Earth Recycles Rock

Unit 8: The Weather Makes Rocks Weather

Unit 9: Soil Is Dirt and Dirt Is Good

Unit 10: The Moon Is Staring at Us

Unit 11: The Sun is the Center of the Solar System

Unit 12: What's Out in Space

Grammar-Land Worksheets

I've mentioned one of the free resources we are using for grammar in a previous post, but I made some worksheets today to go along with the book and I wanted to share them with you all.  Grammar-Land by M.L. Nesbitt is a wonderful book, and a perfect choice for Charlotte Mason inspired families.  You can view it online or download the pdf file, or buy the book.  We read it on my Sony Reader (the best homeschooling investment I have made!)

At the end of each chapter are some exercises woven into the story.  I've taken those exercises and turned them into worksheets.  Without something printed out and ready to go we tend to forget to do the exercises and I really think they are helpful in cementing concepts.

Click HERE to download these worksheets.

Paper Dolls

My boys adore paper dolls.  I am constantly looking for free paper dolls online.  They love to re-enact scenes from stories we read, and I love seeing that they are absorbing the material.  But I really don't like all of the ink that it takes me to print them, and considering I'm still using an inkjet printer instead of a laser printer this can be an expensive project!  I don't know why it never occurred to me to see what Dover Publications offers in the way of historical paper dolls.  Check these out.....

American Family Paper Dolls
Byzantine Costumes Paper Dolls
Ancient Greek Costumes Paper Dolls
Medieval Costumes Paper Dolls
Russian Imperial Costumes Paper Dolls
Gothic Costumes Paper Dolls
Japanese Warrior Costumes Paper Dolls
Traditional African Costumes Paper Dolls
Victorian Family Paper Dolls
Mumtaz of the Taj Mahal Paper Dolls

WolframAlpha.....Fact Finder Extraordinaire

While it won't replace search engines for certain information WolframAlpha is an amazing resource for finding factual data, which makes it perfect for homeschooling parents!  My husband shared the site with me earlier today after reading about it in Popular Science Magazine's Best of What's New 2009 article and I was incredibly impressed!

The site answers specific questions, as opposed to supplying information on general topics. 

Solve Mathematical Problems
Explore Places & Geography
Learn About Life Science Topics

The list goes on.......

I hope other homeschooling parents utilize this awesome site!

World Religions Links

My list is so small so far.  Please, if you have any good resources for any of the major world religions let me know!

A Starting Small Project (currently inactive with no content ?) Tools for Teaching Tolerance
BBC Schools Religious Festivals List worksheets
Mothering Dot Community: Secular Homeschoolers Teaching Religion (post started by Kleine Hexe)
Race Bridges for Schools Race Relations
Teaching Tolerance Magazine
Zen Homeschool Peace Education Through Culture

Buddhism
A Pebble for Your Pocket (book $) 
An Introduction to Buddhism
Buddhist Children's Books
The Magical Monkey King: Mischief in Heaven (book $)
Tibetan Tales for Little Buddhas (book $)
Under the Rose Apple Tree (book $)

Christianity
Catholic Mom
Classical Liberal Arts Academy
Word Sight Bible Timeline 

Hinduism
Balagokulam Hindu Dharma for Kids, Teachers, & Parents

Visual Arts Museum Resources

The Metropolitan Museum of Art   Museum Kids

National Gallery of Art   NGA Kids

Museum of Modern Art   Modern Teachers

Guggenheim   Arts Curriculum

Musée d'Orsay  

Louvre  

Elements of Art

I just came across a wonderful resource for the seven elements of art: color, shape, line, form, space, texture, value.  I would say this resource is for upper level students, not your early elementary students.

Color   Color Guide(pdf)
Shape 
Line
Form
Space
Texture
Value

Picture Study

Looking At A Work Of Art, is a wonderful list of questions to ask when discussing a work of art during picture study.

Mozart & Mudpies blog has a wonderful post about how she does Picture Study with her daughter.  I think I'm going to implement her "Let's play a game." idea because I have a child who loves games.

Mater Amabilis Picture Study

Ambleside Online Picture Study

Looking at Paintings: Developing a Story From a Painting

Music Links

Classics for Kids
Making Music Fun
Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
San Francisco Symphony for Kids
New York Philharmonic Kid Zone
Dallas Symphony Orchestra for Kids  Listen by Composer
Berklee Shares free music courses
Susan Paradis' Piano Teacher Resources
Lesson Plans Page: Music
G Major Music Theory free music theory worksheets
Ambleside Online Composer Schedule
Composer Study 101 from Higher Up and Further In blog
Music Appreciation from Dewey's Treehouse blog

Game Sites

Fun Brain
BBC CBeebies
Kids' CBC
Sheppard Software
PBS Kids 
Kaboose Funschool
BrainPop Jr. Games
Magic School Bus Games
Games for the Brain
Learning Planet
Lil' Fingers
Gamequarium
RekenWeb Games
UpToTen 
TreehouseTV
Pauly's Playhouse
Eyewitness: Can You Speak Like a Pirate?
Fisher-Price Games
Nick Jr. Games
Disney Games

Upper Level Academics Links

Academic Earth  free video courses from universities

Charlotte Mason Links

Secular Charlotte Mason
Charlotte Mason Home Education Network
Charlotte Mason Help (formerly Higher Up and Further In)
Fresno Family: Secular Charlotte Mason
Penny Gardener Charlotte Mason Links
Simply Charlotte Mason with forums
MacBeth's Opinion 
Living Books Curriculum
Books and Schedules from Charlotte Mason Help


Blogs
A Peaceful Day

Math Links

Math Links
MEP (Mathematics Enhancement Programme)
Living Math 
Penny Gardener's list of Living Math Books and Mathematical Classics
Interactive Abacus
Timez Attack
Kitchen Table Math, The Sequel blog
Mathematical Tale Winds 
Illuminations resources for teaching math
Bridges in Mathematics 
Math Is Fun
Michele's Math
Ambleside Primary Number Bond Machines
NCES Kids' Zone Create a Graph
Math Notebooking from Squidoo
printable Singapore workbooks
Gigglepotz math games
RekenWeb math games

SCORE: California Mathematics Standards

$$$
Your Business Math Series
Singapore Math 
RightStart Mathematics
Math in Focus (free sample)

Computer Science Links

I'm trying to organize my internet bookmarks and I decided to take the opportunity to post some of the links that I have collected.  I haven't checked out all of these sites, so forgive me if anything sneaks through that shouldn't have.  This list will be updated as I find new links, so check back often!

Computer Science Links
Logo Workshop teaches the basics of computer programming

Physical Science Links

I'm trying to organize my internet bookmarks and I decided to take the opportunity to post some of the links that I have collected.  I haven't checked out all of these sites, so forgive me if anything sneaks through that shouldn't have.  This list will be updated as I find new links, so check back often!

Physical Science Links
A Little Rebellion blog 
Home Science Tools: Physical Science Projects
Crayon Physics
Physics Lapbook free from Squidoo
Physics Experiments for Children (pdf) 
Physics Central
Amusement Park Physics from learner.org
PBS: Building BIG

Earth and Space Science Links

I'm trying to organize my internet bookmarks and I decided to take the opportunity to post some of the links that I have collected.  I haven't checked out all of these sites, so forgive me if anything sneaks through that shouldn't have.  This list will be updated as I find new links, so check back often!

Earth and Space Science Links
Home Science Tools: Earth and Space Science Projects 
Kentucky Geological Survey: Key Earth Science Links 
Alphabetized Earth Science Animations
National Resource Defense Council
EPA Environmental Kids Club
Planet Pals 
Earth Day Lapbook free from Lapbooking Lessons
Meet the Greens 

Encyclopedia of the Atmospheric Environment 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service
National Weather Service JetStream online school for weather
weather links from Thinkfinity

Stellarium free open source planetarium!
Lunabar Digital Almanack
At Home Astronomy from UC Berkley
NASA Mission : Science
NASA: The Space Place teacher's corner
European Space Agency: ESA Kids
Discovery Education: Understanding the Universe
Classical Astronomy
SeaSky.org Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events

Rocks for Kids
Geologic and Paleontologic Cookbook from Kentucky Geological Survey

Mysteries of Apo Island 
ExploringNature.org Biomes of the World
Debbie's Digest blog (forest lapbook)
National Park Service: The Everglades
American Museum of Natural History: Dioramas
Bio-geography of the Earth from U of Wisconsin Stevens Point

Chemistry Science Links

I'm trying to organize my internet bookmarks and I decided to take the opportunity to post some of the links that I have collected.  I haven't checked out all of these sites, so forgive me if anything sneaks through that shouldn't have.  This list will be updated periodically (hehehehe) as I find new sites to share.

Chemistry Science Links
PopSci Interactive Periodic Table of the Elements
The Periodic Table of Videos from The University of Nottingham
Home Science Tools: Chemistry Science Projects
Chemical & Engineering News: The Chemistry Behind Everyday Products
Journal of Chemical Education: Chemistry Comes Alive!
Chemical Jigsaw Puzzle
Food & Science: The Chemistry of Cooking
The Periodic Table of Comic Books
Royal Society of Chemistry: Visual Elements Periodic Table
Reeko's Mad Scientist Lab
ChemiCool Periodic Table

Life Science Links

I'm trying to organize my internet bookmarks and I decided to take the opportunity to post some of the links that I have collected.  I haven't checked out all of these sites, so forgive me if anything sneaks through that shouldn't have.

Life Science Links
Classic Science: Elementary Life Science from eequalsmcq.com Free life science curriculum!
Home Science Tools: Life Science Projects
The Biology Corner
Biology Junction
Ellen McHenry's Basement Workshop: Life Science free resources
WolfQuest
Zoo Matchmaker

Pest World for Kids Instructor Web: Biology 
The Storybook of Science by Jean Henri Fabre
The Burgess Bird Book for Children 
Cornell Lab of Ornithology all about birds Education  Coloring Book
Bird sounds from Animal Diversity Web
Animal Diversity Web
Project WILD
Tree of Life Web Project
Junior Pest Investigators
Bug Bios
Let's Talk About Insects
Iowa State U's Reiman Gardens Butterfly Identification Cards free printable
Backyard Nature
Handbook of Nature Study blog
Nature Study
Hearts and Trees blog (Nature Study Observation Calendar)
The Burgess Animal Book for Children
Shutterfly album of animals from The Burgess Animal Book for Children
inhabitots Nature Bag $
eNature America's Wildlife Resource
Journey North A Global Study of Wildlife Migration and Seasonal Change
Sheppard Software Animal Classification
BBC Amazing Animals
Wild Games Kid's Planet Defenders of Wildlife
Kid's Planet eSpecies Animal Fact Sheets
Blue World
Kids' Planet Teacher's Table
The Biology Project
National Geographic Coloring Book of Animals
Waterford Activity Zone educational games, activities and quizzes to download and print (must register)
The 100-Species Challenge how many plant species do you recognize?!
The Great Plant Escape
Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body
Inner Body Your Guide to Human Anatomy Online
BBC Human Mind and Body
Teachnology K-2 Health Lesson Plans
LearntobeHealthy.org
KidsHealth.org 
Nutrition Detectives
Kids' Health: Your Feelings 
My Body Lapbook free
CELLS Alive! 
The GEEE! in Genome 
Teach Genetics from the University of Utah

General Science Links

I'm trying to organize my internet bookmarks and I decided to take the opportunity to post some of the links that I have collected.  I haven't checked out all of these sites, so forgive me if anything sneaks through that shouldn't have.

General Science Links
Science Standards by State from Science a-z
K8 Science has some very neat lessons and teacher resources!
Bill Nye the Science Guy check out the "Printable One Sheets" under the "For Kids and Teachers" tab 
Exploratorium  
DragonflyTV from PBS Kids
Scholastic Internet Field Trips
Math Science Nucleus
TOPS Science
Foss Web
National Science Teacher's Association   freebies for science teachers
ProTeacher Science
Science Buddies science fair project ideas
Singing Science Records
InstructorWeb
Science Made Simple science projects
KidZone Super Simple Science
Wikipedia list of The Magic School Bus Episodes
How to Teach Science
Houghton Mifflin Science graphic organizers
Family Fun Science Projects
Science for All Americans
Newton's Apple
MSNucleus Animated Storybooks
NeoK12 videos and lessons for K-12
Paso Partners Science Lessons
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Catalog offers free videos on a variety of science topics
How to Write a Paper in Scientific Journal Style and Format

Changes to Our Science Curriculum

We're studying the sciences in the following order:
Life Science ~ 1st, 5th, 9th
Earth & Space Science ~ 2nd, 6th, 10th
Chemistry ~ 3rd, 7th, 11th
Physics ~ 4th, 8th, 12th

Because I wasn't sure at the beginning of the school year whether Nik would be at a kindergarten or first grade level I wanted to keep things easy, cheap, and flexible. It turned out that he's definitely up to first grade material, so we started using Classic Science: Elementary Life Science because it was free, except for the costs of printing.

At the time that I started using the program it had a font that I found very hard to read, so although we were very happy with the book we ended up switching to R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey: Life (Level One). Now the font has been changed on the Classic Science, but we're hooked on R.E.A.L Science Odyssey so we're going to stick with it. R.E.A.L Science Odyssey offers a try-before-you-buy option, which is what we did.  Now we're almost done with our free chapters and ready to purchase.

One of the things we are doing with our completed labs is putting them into a Great Big Book of Everything. (Does anyone remember the cartoon that comes from, titled Stanley? It was a Disney cartoon.) The song might jog your memory:

It's the great big book of everything
with everything inside.
See the world around us
this book's the perfect guide!

We're also still working through The Burgess Bird Book for Children and trying to get to some of the Outdoor Hour challenges.

All in all I do wish we were doing more science, so I'm going to try to add it in more than once or twice a week if I can.  Crossing my fingers that I can make it happen!