high school

Chinese Bug- free Mandarin language memorization tool

Submitted by Ellen on Wed, Mar 10, 2010 - 10:56am

Chinese Bug is a program to help students of Mandarin memorize new vocabulary, both spoken and written.  A large number of words is available, and you can easily customize the software to quiz you based on a word list you enter, or pre-loaded word lists to accompany any of 8 commercially available Mandarin programs.  The interface works well and is easy to use.

Art-to-Go from the Baltimore Museum of Art (for all ages)

Submitted by Ellen on Tue, Mar 9, 2010 - 8:30am

Every month in the school year the Baltimore Museum of Art picks a piece of art in their collection, writes up an art theory lesson for that piece, including an art project, and makes the lesson and a high quality photograph of the piece available for free download.  This is the third school year they've done it, and the archives are freely available.  The art they've chosen is stunning, and the projects tend to be managable at home, assuming you have or are willing to purchase materials when necessary.  The collection includes art from a wide range of locations and time peri

Children's Poetry Archive

Submitted by Ellen on Thu, Mar 4, 2010 - 1:53pm

The children's section of the Poetry Archive section, this site features wonderful poems either written for children, or appealing to children.  Most include a recording of the poem recited by the poet, and are serchable by keyword, author and form. Also includes biographies of the poets.

A fun site to browse with your kids, and a great way for non-readers to get to experience poetry.

 

Khan Academy- a goldmine of free math, science and economics videos

Submitted by Ellen on Thu, Mar 4, 2010 - 9:19am

Khan academy is an amazing resource.  It's a HUGE collection of videos, all featuring a smart man with a gift for clearly explaining the complex, carefully going through a wide range of topics, all clearly organized.  There's everything from classic brain teasers, to arithmetic, to high school level math, including calculus and differential equations, to biology chemistry, physics, and economics.  The graphics in the videos are fairly simple, and the tone is very friendly, conversational and often funny. 

Mathematics Enhancement Programme- free curriculum for all ages

Submitted by Ellen on Wed, Mar 3, 2010 - 9:42am

This is a complete mathematics curriculum available free online, including printable practice books, lesson plans, and copy masters.  It was developed for the UK, and goes from "Reception", which seems to be analogous to kindergarten in the US, up through year 11 (similar to 11th grade).   There are 2 versions of the 10-11th year curriculum, only one of which seems to be for college-bound students.  The collegebound version includes guidance for customizing the curriculum for advanced students.  The version of the 12th year intended for collegebound students is not

"Fieldwork" hands-on high school level marine biology for/by homeschoolers

Submitted by Ellen on Wed, Mar 3, 2010 - 8:51am

A homeschool mom is generously sharing the marine biology course she's developing for her kids.  Alas, the marine biology course isn't for those of us who live far from the ocean, but it's a very cool program for coastal families.

"Geography4kids.com" an introduction to physical geography

Submitted by Ellen on Tue, Mar 2, 2010 - 1:23pm

Physical Geography deals with Eartch Science and why the Earth is the way it is, it doesn't deal with political boundaries, or humanity much at all.  Geography4kids is friendly, thorough website with lots of pictures that teaches about physical geography.  Ideal for an enthusiastic upper elementary level student up through adults.

"The Mechanical Universe and Beyond" free online Physics course

Submitted by Ellen on Thu, Feb 25, 2010 - 12:00pm

This course was designed to provide the equivalent of a college freshman physics course, and was produced by CalTech in 1985.

Description from the website:

A video instructional series on physics for college and high school classrooms and adult learners; 52 half-hour video programs and coordinated books

The Home Physics blog

Submitted by Ellen on Thu, Feb 25, 2010 - 9:29am

Written by a contributor to GeekDad, this blog has lots to offer the homeschooler looking to investigate physics at home.  Posts recount the authors experiments with his own children, explaining what worked and what didn't.  His experiments generally use equipment you're likely to have on hand at home, or can purchase for a reasonable cost, and are appropriate for a large age-range-- younger kids can benefit from being exposed to the concepts while older/more advanced kids can use the experiments to understand more comple