log/home-education-2/home-ed-advice/
Early Years HE Resources from Patch of Puddles
http://www.patchofpuddles.co.uk/yearly-he-reports/home-ed-resources
Considering Home Education? from makingitup.
http://liveotherwise.co.uk/makingitup/considering-home-education-some-facts-and-contacts/
The Seven Lesson School Teacher by John Taylor Gatto - full text here - http://www.newciv.org/whole/schoolteacher.txt
Hackschooling by Logan LaPlante - video of TEDx talk by 13 year-old home-ed student about how he is hacking his education to prioritise happiness.
Changing Education Paradigms - animation accompanying talk by Sir Ken Robinson on how the education system needs to change.
How Schools Kill Creativity - TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson.
How to prepare for exams as a home-ed candidate - which qualifications are available, how to find an exam centre, etc..
Home Education UK, by Mike Fortune-Wood, a well-respected authority on home education in the UK. His site is especially useful for straightforward information on legal issues.
http://www.home-education.org.uk/faq-carers.htm
EdYourself - Fiona Nicholson
Brilliant for detail and legal references. The link is to the FAQ which is a no-nonsense, well-researched and well-referenced summary of legal and administrative issues. If you have a question about rights and responsibilities, this website will probably have not only the answer, but a link to the government document at the root of it.
Free-Range Education - lots of home-ed articles from long-term home-educators
http://free-range-education.org.uk/
How to prepare for exams as a home-ed candidate - which qualifications are available, how to find an exam centre, personal experiences of home-ed students and different paths to university etc..
Ambleside Online - http://www.amblesideonline.org
Ambleside Online is a thorough free curriculum/syllabus that covers all ages from five to 18. It is a literature-based curriculum that is devised on the Charlotte Mason method, and the recommended resources are of an excellent quality, and most of them are freely available download (free) and others are books that you will have to buy. It is American - however, there is a lot on British history and that is covered for several years. It is Christian in that it has recommended Bible readings and devotionals, however, it is possible to secularise it by leaving that out if you so choose.
Great ideas and activities from a mum who was home educated herself. Fun arts and crafts projects, free alphabet worksheets, home science experiments and fun maths activities. Free monthly newsletter.
http://www.homeschool-activities.com
Homeschooling-ideas
Just the thing if you are looking for some inspiration. Free monthly newsletter of ideas.
http://www.homeschooling-ideas.com
Lesson Pathways US-based homeschool online program. Freehttp://sqooltools.com/edvideos/index.html
Free Montessori printouts and activity ideas. Free.
MuddlePuddle - www.muddlepuddle.co.uk
Packed full of resources and ideas for home-ed in the UK. Original focus was early years HE but the site is growing as the owner’s family grows up. Lots of Montessori links.
Time4Learning - http://www.time4learning.com/
US-based homeschool online program - has been recommended by some UK families. Subscription.
Aimed at teenagers and adults
Coursera Free undergraduate level courses - often delivered by US or UK university lecturers - 14 plus. Email certificates on completion. https://www.coursera.org/
Lots and lots of really interesting lectures/talks about all sorts of things. 10ish plus. Free. (http://www.ted.com/talks)
Khan Academy - http://www.khanacademy.org/
Watch. Practice. Learn almost anything—for free.
Over 2100 videos and 100 self-paced exercises and assessments covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history. These are online presentations of topics, so for instance, you might watch the Khan Academy video on long division before working through a textbook section and then trying it yourself.
Free resources, lesson ideas and printables, on all subjects. Lesson plans have some good suggestions for explaining topics.
Great database of vids, ordered by subject. www.teachingvideos.co.uk
‘TeacherVision®is dedicated to helping teachers save time. Find 20,000 pages of classroom-ready lesson plans, printables, and resources.’ Includes loads of DK Web books, where you don’t have a print option but are able to use your key (print screen) and paste to a doc. This is an American site. There are five free printables to start, with no subscribtion. You can have a free 7 day trial, when you subscribe, which has to be cancelled to stop the years charge ($49.95 pa). No questions about job role, teacher/home educator, etc.
Resources linked to the National Curriculum. Assignments, fact sheets, quizzes, etc. Home-educators can set up a free teacher account and set assignments for your kids. Free - http://yacapaca.com
Reference site for kids ages 8-14 that provides entertainment and educational resources. It combines the contents of an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas, and several almanacs loaded with statistics, facts, and historical records. A single search engine allows you to search all these sources at once.
US directory of online resources for K12 age.
Topmarks - www.topmarks.co.uk
A huge, categorised site with subject based links, ages from toddler up to A- level Free
Customisable maths printables, eg multiplication grids where you choose the difficulty level, colours etc. Also lots of Special Needs printables, customisable certificate maker & more.
SumDog - Free Maths teaching through games which adjust according to your changing level of ability-live competing to build up your mental maths skills http://www.sumdog.com/
Free. Printable worksheets ordered by age/year; some nice, simple maths worksheets, especially good for things like number bonds where the aim is for the children to be able to easily remember simple addition facts.
Especially good for maths. Use the drop-down menu bar to see full range of resources as they’re not all visible from front page.
Primary Games - http://www.primarygames.co.uk
Free. Some more nice, simple, printable maths worksheets.
BBC Skillswise - Number - http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/
Maths explanations, games and animations.
Subscription program with maths teaching and games. Follows the UK National Curriculum. Can be customised to suit your child. Children can unlock maths-based games and can compete in live mental arithmetic duels at their own level. Discount available for home educators - phone the Education Otherwise office if you’re a member, or worth trying the Mathletics office if you’re not.
Maths tutorials and worksheets - an online maths course for ages 7-18. Subscription, but substantial discount for home-educators - ask on mailing lists for the code. 2-week trial for £1.
Discounts for HE groups- up to end of year 8 . Some feel more interactive than Mathletics.
Mathssphere - FREE Maths Resources & FREE PRINTABLE PAPER http://www.mathsphere.co.uk/resources/
The worksheets on this website are very good, but the best thing is the facility to print out all sorts of papers: different width lines, handwriting papers, different sized squares, a plethora of hexagons, graphs, circles, bricks... you name it, you can find all your printable paper needs here, for free!
This doesn’t have loads of subjects but the videos and the transcripts from them are very clear for some subjects. We used it to teach factorising for GCSE. http://www.mathscentre.ac.uk/
Free YouTube presentations on maths, by an American maths and physics lecturer who provides distance learning courses for US home-educators.
http://www.youtube.com/user/derekowens
Khan Academy - http://www.khanacademy.org/ Free.
Video tutorials on secondary-level maths topics, together with practice exercises and step-by-step solutions.
Maths Guru
Pay-per-download - additional past papers targeted for specific exam boards. http://www.mathsguru.co.uk/
http://multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm
http://www.mathplayground.com/
http://www.numberlinelane.co.uk/
Mathematics Enhancement Programme - http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm
(Exeter Maths) Comprehensive and easily to understand curriculum based practise books, lesson plans. Ideal to use in tandem with online video resources such Khan Academy.
American site with materials produced by home ed Mum. Subscription but free stuff too.
Simple maths game to learn your units tens and hundreds
Maths and science animations/multimedia lessons for all ages, aimed at London schools.http://lgfl.skoool.co.uk
Math Cats - http://www.mathcats.com/ - Fun Maths puzzles
Information about taking maths exams as a home-ed student; talks you through your options and the resources available.
http://www.senteacher.org/Print/Literacy/
Customisable phonics printables . Free.
CM Live Online -- English literature and language courses for home-ed students all over the world. Especially good for middle-school age, when you’re looking for “more” for your child, but not yet seeking to take exams. Taught by a UK home-edding mum with a PhD and examine for CIE.
Custom design your own handwriting practise pages. Free
(Alducationresources.com/FREEhandwriting.htmso free resources for Spanish, social studies & phonics, to name but a few)
Free printables for both handwriting and pre-writing exercises.
http://www.connectionsmag.co.il/articlenav.php?id=1170
The Teaching Home - http://www.teachinghome.com/newsletters/vol_2-no_35.cfm
Loads of printables, in different styles.
Free online typing training games for younger children.
ABPI Resources for Schools website provides curriculum related resources for use by teachers and their pupils. The resources have been developed by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and many link topics studied in school to their application in industry and in research.
ABPI represents innovative research-based biopharmaceutical companies, both large and small, leading an exciting new era of biosciences in the UK.
http://www.abpischools.org.uk/page/index.cfm
ten edible!Robert Krampf's weekly (ish) experiment emails - experiments you can do at home, and which are of
Activities sorted by age. Most of them appear to be on other sites, so this is a magazine-style portal rather than having its own content, but a good way to track down material. Regularly updated, and links to background info about science topics in the news.
http://www.schoolscience.co.uk/
Lesson plans and ideas for using K’Nex to study science and maths. Has a home-ed area.
http://www.knex.com/Educators/
UK K’Nex User Group Home-Ed page: http://www.knexusergroup.org.uk/acatalog/knex-home-education.html
Step-by-step how-tos with photos, on how to make all sorts of things. Brilliant for electronics projects, and for huge amounts of fun. All sorts of content. We loved making crossbows out of K’nex, and mini-robots out of toothbrush heads and mini-motors.
http://www.instructables.com/index
SciCast
Short films, real science. It’s a film-making competition, and science education, all in one.
http://www.101science.com/index.htm
Robert Krampf - The Happy Scientist
Science videos and experiments. Free stuff and small subscription for full access.
How Stuff Works
What would happen if the entire population of the United States
flushed their toilets at the same time? How did the internet begin?
Who was the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel? Just
three examples of questions that are answered on this site, which
specialises in well-written, accessible explanations.
"Experiments You Can Do at Home" by
Bassam Z Shakhashiri, professor of chemistry at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, "the master of chemical demonstrations".
Accidental Scientist series
on this website from the "museum of science, art and human perception" in San Francisco- interactive presentations on
the science behind three everyday activities: gardening, music and
cooking.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths resources - secondary and uni level. Videos etc.
Older kids interested in reading behind science stories in the media may like Ben Goldacre’s site, which accompanies his newspaper columns. My kids enjoy his cynical, humorous approach to pseudoscience. Good for media studies as he discusses how science stories are misrepresented in the press and how the press try to ‘cook up’ a story.
Many BBC documentaries are supported by extra material through this "online learning
portal" in collaboration with the Open University. E.g. to accompany David Attenborough's Life in Cold Blood, there is a free poster depicting Britain's 14 native species of reptiles and
amphibians. Projects and experiments to try at home: access them through the Rough Science series (open2.net/roughscience) where you can discover everything from making your own soap, your own camera or a natural antibacterial cream, to how to work out your latitude and
longitude using only paper, sticks and string.
Science online magazine ; stories include theproblems caused by the fact that the standard kilogram, a lump of metal that has been sitting in a vault in Paris since 1889, is getting
lighter; how a new swimsuit is helping swimmers to break world records; and a new understanding of the causes of major influenza epidemics.
For a slightly more laddish take on science news, with lots of lovely picture galleries, see Popular Science at popsci.com.
The Why Files take a look at the science behind the news, explaining it as clearly, accessibly and accurately as possible. It also offers regular "Cool Science Images", with an archive of past images that you can browse, and a collection of "Virtual Science" interactive animations that help to explain such phenomena as rainbows and thunderstorms.
Planet Science
Free & fun Science resources for children, young people, teachers and parents.
http://www.planet-science.com/home.html
Fun activities from UK museums and galleries.
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/video
Easy science experiments and science fair project ideas
Just how does a video recorder work? And how about fax machines, cars, washing machines, electric light, telephones, vacuum cleaners, and refrigerators? You'll find the answers here. This site is designed as a companion to the TV series
http://www.secretlifeofmachines.com/
How the body works, movies, facts and quizzes, there is a special teen link. nice medical dictionary.
Free YouTube presentations on physics, by an American maths and physics lecturer who provides distance learning courses for US home-educators.
http://www.youtube.com/user/derekowens
Schoolphysics UK online - http://www.schoolphysics.co.uk/
Resource base for all 11 to 19 year old Physics and Science students and their teachers
UK physics teacher has provided this thorough site covering physics. Topics have clear explanations and videos. Lots on revision. Goes from secondary to A-level standard. http://www.cyberphysics.co.uk/
http://www.phy6.org/stargaze/Sintro.htm
“high school level, stargazers to starships self contained course independent study rich in history”
http://www.real-world-physics-problems.com/
Explains sports, amusement parks, battles and weapons etc. in terms of classical physics.
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/index.html
Kids’ Astronomy
“Our astronomy website is packed with games, activities, fun facts, and resources to help Teachers, Parents, and Students of all ages reach out and touch our universe.”
http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky/#highlights
http://astronomycentral.co.uk/planets-to-see-in-the-sky.../
Earth and Beyond from the Children’s University of Manchester.
“Hello, my name is Tim O'Brien. I'm an astronomer working at The University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory. As an astronomer my job is to try and understand how the universe works and my main interest is why some stars explode - more about this later! I also get to visit lots of schools and share amazing facts with children and teachers about the Sun, Earth and Moon, the stars and planets, and the Universe as we know it! Now, in the Children’s University, I can share the excitement with you. I hope you enjoy the journey!”
The Water Family - www.thewaterfamily.co.uk
Water conservation game.
The junior branch (ha!) of the Woodland Trust. This site provides loads of free practical nature-based activities for children - eg printable nature ID sheets, treasure hunts, 101 activities for Spring, games, art and craft activities etc. It is particularly good for younger children. You can also subscribe to the regular free newsletter.
http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk
“Feeling creative, crafty or playful? Get stuck in with ARKive’s awesome animal activities! Free to download, our activities include species origami, treasure hunts and making shoebox habitats! Have a wild time!“
http://www.arkive.org/education/activities
Chemistry
http://www.rsc.org/Education/Teachers/Resources/Books/CCE.asp
Free download of classic book.
Notes on safety issues etc.. so may help you to decide whether it’s practical to do this experiment at home. Also has good explanations and teaching tips.
- lots of chemistry videos.
Brilliant - videos of experiments/demos for elements , laid out in periodic table format! “Tables charting the chemical elements have been around since the 19th century - but this modern version has a short video about each one. We've done all 118 - but our job's not finished. Now we're updating all the videos with new stories, better samples and bigger experiments.”
Specially recommended for Welsh and British History, incl. Age fof the Princes (Owain Glyn Dwr, castles of Wales, resource pack for visits to Cosmeston Medieval Village etc.), Iron Age Celts, Romans
History Through Film - http://www.historythroughfilm.net/movie_list
List of films sorted by era and/or topic.
Best History Sites http://www.besthistorysites.net/index.shtml
List of web sites with descriptions
History, and not just Sparta!
Exploring connections between history, art and culture
Europe History Interactive Map, Timeline and formation of European Nations.
Innovative music videos taking songs and re-writing for historic subjects.
Scholarly site comparing different versions of folklore.
MythWeb - www.mythweb.com
This site is devoted to the heroes, gods and monsters of Greek mythology.
Free interactive site, good for a few European languages. Includes lessons, tests, and a competitive element. May be better suited to teens than littlies as many of the sentences you have to translate are about drinking wine and beer! As well as completing exercises and gaining points, you can help to translate the web via a crowdsourcing project.
Interactive site and language learning community - can put you in touch with other learners to practise together.
Pairs you with another learner who wants to learn, say, English - you can meet, Skype, email etc.. to practise.
http://www.conversationexchange.com/
Interactive language site, free outside school hours. Covers French, German, Welsh and Spanish.
http://zut.languageskills.co.uk/index.html
Vocabulary building using fun mnemonics techniques in a game-like format. Covers many languages including French, Mandarin and Japanese. “A world memory champion and a neuroscientist have joined forces to create a language-learning website called Memrise, which combines
mnemonic tricks with a game to help users learn quickly and efficiently”
Note that there are various online tutor sites where you can get one-to-one tuition over Skype, usually cheaper than face-to-face. eg see The Tutor Crowd at http://www.thetutorcrowd.com or this French specialist tutor: http://www.myfrenchtutor.co.uk/
Courses in a number of languages, all free online.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/
http://assignmentsthisweekinart.blogspot.co.uk/
Access high-resolution images of artworks from 46 international museums and galleries. Virtual tours, create your own user gallery. Free
Online image editor Free
Resources?
How to guides Free
Creative arts ideas for children Free
Belladia Typepad - Crafty Crow
Activity Downloads Free
Paper toys to print out. Free
Community Live Journal - Naturally Living
Simple Japanese Cloth Bags Tutorial Free
Open Source Paint Program Free
Art Tutorial. (Brilliant) Anatomy & Anthropomorphism Free
Origami diagrams .pdf downloads Free
Step by step drawing a cartoon. Free
Learn to draw portraits video Free
craft activities with educational themes, intended to reinforce other topics as well as just for fun. Craft activities are indexed by topic so, for instance, you can find a butterfly or bee craft activity, as well as by craft type, eg felting
http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/crafts.html
K’Nex science and maths:
http://www.knex.com/Educators/Free_Lesson_Plan.php
http://www.knexusergroup.org.uk/acatalog/knex-free-downloads.html
http://www.cs.bsu.edu/homepages/kirkwood/Knex/Knxndx.htm
Learning with Lego - ideas for activities here: http://www.frugalhomeschoolfamily.com/tag/lego/
How to utilize legos in homeschool
Learn to play guitar, bass, keyboard or drums with online web-based method.
Learn musical notes
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Printables of all sorts, eg facial expression cards, describing feelings, customisable certificate maker. www.senteacher.org
HE-Special: Information website and mailing list for home educators of children with SEN.
‘Background; The mission of Do2learn is to use technology and the web to provide special learning resources for individuals with disabilities and the professionals and caregivers who serve them.’
You can download podcast to any mp3 player or to a computer - you don’t need an iPod! Good for on the bus/in the car on the way to home-ed trips! BBC now do a free Android app to download podcasts and radio shows.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/ - you can download iTunes
free if you want it. Loads of free stories and educational/informative podcasts, and you can subscribe to automatically receive podcasts from regular programmes.
Science subjects - royal society podcasts downloadable from
http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=7476
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/
Action for Home Education (AHEd) - http://ahed.pbworks.com/w/page/1552909/FrontPage (Wiki)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ahedmembers/ (Yahoo Group)
AHEd is an action group with a focus on the defence and advancement of home education rights and liberties and of fair and equal treatment for all home educators.
Education Otherwise - www.education-otherwise.org.uk
UK home ed organisation - lots of info on law and how to go about deregistering etc..
Home Education UK - http://www.home-education.org.uk/
Mike Fortune-Wood’s site, full of intelligent and detailed articles about law, rights and education in the UK.
Schoolhouse UK (Scottish Home Education) - http://www.schoolhouse.org.uk
The law in Scotland regarding home-ed is different from the rest of the UK.
HEAS
HEAS is a national home education charity based in the United Kingdom. It is dedicated to the provision of advice and practical support for families who wish to educate their children at home in preference to sending them to school. Interest in home education is increasing and HEAS recognises that reliable information should be available for everyone. http://www.heas.org.uk/
The Home Education Network UK
THEN UK is a voluntary run, not for profit, non political membership organisation; aims to be a one stop shop for home educators or anyone wishing to find information and resources; focussing on the need to provide a friendly family type environment on their groups and web site.
http://www.thenuk.com/welcome.html
HESFES is an annual Home Educators’ Summer Festival - the world's largest gathering of home educators. This is the highlight of the year for many home-educated children and teenagers. www.hesfes.co.uk
Home Education Exams
Wiki with information on obtaining formal qualifications as a home-educated student - www.home-education-exams.org.uk
HE - Exams Yahoogroup: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HE-Exams-GCSE-A_AS_Levels-OU-Others/ email support /information group for those considering exams, including GCSEs, IGCSEs, A-levels and OU
HE Resources: Yahoogroup for sharing information about good websites etc.. -
Choice in Education: An independent monthly publication, edited by a different HE family each month.
http://www.educationchoice.org
HE-Special: Information website and mailing list for home educators of children with SEN.
UK-HOME-ED Mailing List: The longest established Home Education support mailing list in the UK, with a wealth of experienced members and new members always welcome.
http://netpals.lsoft.com/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?SUBED1=UK-HOME-ED&A=1
http://www.homeschoolspot.com/archive/index.php/f-12.html
http://weblist.me loads of useful links
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/digger/5_7entry/5_7.shtml
9 Essential Skills Kids Should Learn http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=194
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/index.htm
Coloring pages, kids crafts, home school resources, puzzles, printables, jigsaws, sudoku and lots of free activities
Awesome Stories
http://www.awesomestories.com/
Stories, literature, lesson plans. Historical context.
‘We provide free site access to individuals, but site membership (free) gives you unrestricted use of everything at AwesomeStories - including all resources, narrations and assets site-wide.’
http://www.happychild.org.uk/ifs/wordsearch/index.htm
Free educational resources to link up children across the World.
25960!! pages on-line.
http://www.tooter4kids.com/classroom/Worksheets.htm
lots of worksheets. writing and spelling and more.
Film education. a charity supported by UK film industry. It promotes and supports the use of film within the curriculum
http://www.rudimentsofwisdom.com/default.htm
The Rudiments Of Wisdom encyclopaedia by Tim Hunkin. Thousands of cartoons covering almost everything there is to know! Full of quirky and fun facts.
Free audio stories for kids
http://en.childrenslibrary.org/
A digital library. Just click and read!
http://www.uksafari.com/index.htm
Wildlife in the UK
http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/toys.html
Toys from trash, some great easy make your own toy ideas
Over 1000 pages of information, free patterns, resources and instructions for weaving, spinning, dyeing, knitting, crochet, felting, papermaking, needlepoint, sewing, and other textile handicrafts
http://www.jacksonpollock.org/
A paint like Jackson Pollock fun site. Splash by moving mouse and click to change colour. Not as fun as throwing real paint though.
http://medtropolis.com/VBody.asp
The virtual body, about how our bodies work.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vikings/runes.html
Write your name in runes
Free Paper Toys & Paper Crafts Directory, lots of it inspired by origami.
Lots of worksheets. have only used language translation but seems pretty vast.
E Z Learn Chinese
http://www.ezlearnchinese.com/1stclass.html
On-line mandarin lessons. we used this to help with Chinese character writing.
Curriculum Bits
http://www.curriculumbits.com/index.php
Curriculumbits.com offer free online access to a growing range of interactive multimedia e-learning teaching resources. The online teaching resource library contains educational games, quizzes, animations and videos in a variety of subjects.
Alien Language
http://www.alienlanguage.co.uk/alienlanguage/index.htm#
KS3/4 modern foreign languages. but I think it’s for all ages. covers french, german, spanish
Classics For Kids
http://www.classicsforkids.com/index.asp
Loads of resources about classical music and composers
Eduweb
Award winning digital learning games about art, history, science and technology. links to educational games. have only tried wolf quest. which we liked.
bout art, history, science and technology for the web,
museum exhibits, and mobile devices.
Whole Movement
*the previous link showed an error message but the site is still available at the above URL
Geometric paper folding
‘The purpose of this site is to promote the importance of folding circles.’
Enchanted Learning
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.htm