Homeschooling Biology - Online Resources

General Biology Websites

Biology 4 Kids
Excellent sequential lessons about cells, plants, animals, body systems and more. Great for kids ages 8 to 13, for teens' review, or for adult reference.

Treehouses on the Tree of Life
Make your own webpages about various animals, plants, or other organisms as part of this ever-growing project. Hosted bt The University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Ask A Biologist
Experiments, articles, links....very useful, especially if you have a question that your books don't answer.

Biology in Action
More video, fascinating!

Biology in Motion
Flash animations of biological processes: digestion, glandular activity, cell division, etc. Helps cement ideas in the memory. Ages 12 and up.

National Geographic Kids
Excellent site, with photos, videos, games, puzzles, news, and many things to keep a kid busy and learning. Great for times when school isn't going to happen....

Science with me

A cheery, colorful website with games, animations, worksheets and coloring pages for preschool to about age 10. Subscription required, but it's free!

Microbial Life, Cells Websites

Microbe World
Stunning site! Videos, photos, news and information about life in the world of the very small. Great for teens, and curious younger ones. Check this out for yourself, also!

Cells Alive!
Another well-done, very visual site, with lots of information games, puzzles, etc. Older kids and teens.

The Virtual Cell
Great for visualizing cell structure. Has a virtual textbook, worksheets, etc.

Heredity

I Can Do That!
For younger kids, ages 5 to 10...very nice explanations of cells, DNA, RNA and cloning. Teacher/parent pages also.

DNA From the Beginning
A really well-done interactive Flash animation site which teaches genetics in a fascinating way. Highly recommended for older kids and teens, and you!

Animal Life

Animal Diversity Web
A teen-level University of Michigan site about taxonomy and the lives and structure of animals. Look up any animal that exists, and several that don't anymore....

Electronic Naturalist
Learning about the world around us...includes 'identify this', ask-a-naturalist, and many fun things to learn.

What's That Bug?
Insects galore! All ages.

All About Birds
From Cornell, a multimedia site that will be a great help to bird watchers and those who have a report to do.... teens and up, unless your younger one LOVES birds...

Human Biology

Human Anatomy Online
Study the systems of the body with pictures and lessons.

What Color Eyes Would Your Children Have?
Basic genetics for older kids and teens...interesting approach! Compare their results with your actual kids!!

Evolution

Becoming Human
Very interactive site about how man evolved. Ages 12 and up.

PBS Evolution Lessons
Student lessons, teacher pages, activities, and videos. 12 and up.

Explorations Through Time
The history of life on earth presented in interactive modules for various age groups. Reading needed, but concepts are well-presented.

Evolving Planet: Tour Through Time
The Field Museum's  illustrated timeline about the history of the earth. Older kids and teens.

Meteorology

Neal has decided to study weather, probably because he so coveted a weather kit that we saw at the gift shop of the Boonshoft Museum in Dayton. Maybe someone else could use my list of links! These are reviewed as they might apply to a bright 13yo.

We start with Wikipedia because it links so nicely to authoritative sources. (No, it's not a good primary source, but it's a superlative starting point!)

JetStream is a program put together by NOAA. It's designed to teach people about how the weather works. Looks promising.... a god basic resource.

Ooooo....free instruction, online quizzes and more at COMET. These are designed for adults, but they could prove useful. It's also much more fun to take a test online and have them record the score than for mom to do it.


Bad Meteorology - a site after my own heart! Raindrops aren't teardrop-shaped, clouds don't form because cool air holds less water....misconceptions skewered

here!


The Globe Program links weather watchers from all over the world. If Neal gets really excited about it, this could be an outlet for his enthusiasm.

That should get us started!

Sickness Schedule

Allie had pneumonia last week. She's fine now, but the danged bacteria surely slowed our school progress! We did do some history and science, since she could relax and listen, but she didn't seem to be able to concentrate, so lessons were short and simple. At least we did accomplish something!

Allie was at the doctors getting meds on Monday, and playing soccer madly by Friday. Makes me glad for modern medicine, since her form of pneumonia could easily have been fatal or seriously debilitating a hundred years or so ago.

Wondering how we're doing with the enormous  materials list for our units? Needless to say, they've been greatly simplified in real life. We've just finished Genevieve Foster's William Penn, which was a treat. It's wonderful to see how the lives of those people fit together. Wm. Penn actually met Peter the Great?

I did object to Oliver Cromwell being portrayed as a decent ruler, though. He was fine, I guess, if you like theocracy, loss of freedom, and genocide. It was only a one-line mention, so I'll forgive. She did show how ridiculous the Sun King became.  That made me think of the Allan Sherman line, "What else can you expect from a king in silk stockings and pink satin pants?"  ("You Went the Wrong Way, Old King Louis")

1700s Unit Study Books Used - order

This is a guide to our upcoming 1700s unit for Neal and Allie this fall...and no, I don't feel obligated to do everything! Most of it was made from books that we already have or that are available from the library. Wish us luck!

1700s Unit Study

Intro- review
Ohio 12-30 Geology 48-65 Indians
The Witch of Blackbird Pond , From Colonies to Const. Lesson 10
http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/
The CARTOON HISTORY OF THE MODERN WORLD
to page 241
Native American Tragedy worksheets
Review Timeline
Africa http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h28af3.html
History Quiz
http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Events_prior_to_1800
http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/eras/era6.htm OVERALL
http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/eras/era6.htm units (downloaded)
http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~dee/Equiano.html slavery

General Worksheets
History Report doc

Literature
Robinson Crusoe
Wordsworth
Coleridge "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
Rip Van Winkle
Ben Franklin
Christina Rosetti
Alice in Wonderland
Pride and Prejudice
Tennyson
Dickens
Caddie Woodlawn
The Sign of the Beaver
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Wm Blake
Thomas Gray
Robert Burns
Phillis Wheatley
http://www.poetseers.org/spiritual_and_devotional_poets/india/ramprasad India
http://www.poetseers.org/spiritual_and_devotional_poets/buddhist/ryokan Japan
http://www.poetseers.org/spiritual_and_devotional_poets/india/kamalakanta India


Art
Great American Artists John Singleton Copley p 14
Discovering Great Artists Linnaeus, Gainsborough, Blake, Constable, Hokusia, Audobon,
Story of Painting
A Story of Music Bach to Schubert
Story of Music
http://www.classicsforkids.com/composers/composers_timeline.asp
Philosophy for Kids 27, 48, 51, 53, 89,
Home Crafts
inventions



Frame
George Washington's World
Making Thirteen Colonies
From Colonies to Country
Places in Time
The Cartoon History of the United States to 116
Timeline

http://www.timepage.org/spl/13colony.html

Great Awakening

Research
Speeches p 237
Write a stirring sermon about an idea
http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/bhm/timeline/1700.htm

World
Can't You make the Behave, King George
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/monarchy/hanovarians.html
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/526565/Crime-and-Punishment-of-1700-1800
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107521.html (France)
Flame colored taffeta Sutcliffe Scotland Bonnie Prince Charlie
http://www.nla.gov.au/exhibitions/upsidedown/timeline/html-frameset.html Australia
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/09/sfc/ht09sfc.htm
http://www.danbyrnes.com.au/lostworlds/timeline/lwstory6.htm
http://www.bized.co.uk/dataserv/chron/events.htm
http://www.jewishhistory.org.il/history.php?startyear=1700&endyear=1799
http://www.diversiton.com/religion/main/islam/timeline.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Chinese_history
http://www.askasia.org/teachers/essays/essay.php?no=131/ Japan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_South_America
Anson's Way Ireland
Quest for a Kelpie Scotland
Twilight Child Finland
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/18century/welcome.htm England
http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/89662.html Cricket literature
Robert Burns Scotland
http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/robroy/ Scotland
http://web.archive.org/web/20020214030439/http://www.tartans.com/articles/famscots/robroy.html
http://www.nls.uk/broadsides/index.html


American Revolution

Story of Mankind 51
From Colonies to Const. Unit 3 Causes, Stamp Act, Who fired first,Effects
Speeches 229-235
Book of Games and Puzzles
Watchwords of Liberty
A Book about Ben Franklin A
Thomas Jefferson
George Washington A
Shh! We're writing the Con. 

Will you sign here 

Where was Pat

Decl of Ind.
Eyewitness America N
The Way of Democracy A
THE PRINTER'S APPRENTICE
CHARLOTTE
FINISHING BECCA
Patrick Henry
Thomas Jefferson

Government
From Colonies to Const. Unit 4 evaluate, shays, arguments,foreign views
Speeches 236 245
The Words We Live By
We The Kids
Govt worksheet folder
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/tocs/toc.html Constitution

US after Revolution
Ohio 68-86 land ownership
History of Clark County doc
Geography early states
Presidents (incl articles of fed)
Courage of Sarah Noble http://www.homeschoolshare.com/courage_of_sarah_noble.php
DANGER ALONG THE OHIO
The Second Bend in the River
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award99/icuhtml/fawhome.html Ohio
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/PENN/pnhome.html Wm Penn

French Revolution

A Little History 34, 35
Story of Mankind 52, 53
Les Miserables
A Tale of Two Cities
Voltaire

History Notebooks....

When drawing up plans for this year, I was going to try using history notebooks to keep track of what we'd done. For some reason, I didn't follow through, which is something I regret a bit.

So here I am, on a trek through the Dark Ages, making a history notebook for Neal and Allie.

I took a few old notebooks and put blank cardstock pages (bought on clearance at Kroger for really cheap!) with the years being studied on each page. The pages start with the 1400s, and have a century per double page until the 1800's, when it goes to a double page per 50 years. The 1900s change to a double page per decade. I used a page from Homeschool Launch for the title page (The BOOK OF CENTURIES.)

I'm in the process of using Timeline Index to make a page for each section that has important people and events from each era , along with a representative picture. After learning about an artist, writer, statesman, etc, the kids can cut the picture out and glue it to their page.

Neal dislikes the endless study of this war, followed by that war, and this other war that was happening concurrently. It's really discouraging to him, I think. So, while we won't totally disregard the conflicts, we'll focus more on arts, science, culture, and how people lived.

Neal saw a 36 part, 50 minutes-an-episode series in the Teaching Company catalog about European History in the 1800s, which he asked for. Somehow, I don't think he'd finish it, so I said that if he still coveted it after we'd studied that time period, we'd think about it. We did order a set of videos about the middle ages done by Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. We'll try to pull in more videos and such for later lessons, too. With Neal's video memory, he should learn a lot. Allie is happy about this, too, and Ken says that it might be good to check out some Medieval history....

New Years Celebrations Around the World Homeschool Unit Study

The presents are all unwrapped, the candies are eaten, the toys are all played with...what to do now?

Try looking up a few different ways of celebrating New Years! These sites and other resources could be used to send a bored someone on a websearch to come up with trivia questions to ask at lunch, or maybe something fun to look at when a little one snuggles on your lap while you're surfing the 'net. Keep the globe handy!

It could also be used as a full-blown study when you restart whatever type of school you do...

New Years Celebrations Around the World Homeschool Unit Study Websites

Topics Mag

Where do they eat twelve grapes at midnight? Eat black-eyed peas? Cut paper? Fun tidbits!

Father Times .net

A long list of countries represented here, with how to say 'Happy New Year!' in each one!

Nova Reinna

Another country list, with a few surprises!

New Years Celebrations Around the World Homeschool Unit Study Lessons and Worksheets

eduplace

Ten questions about celebrations around the world. Good for after dinner trivia.

Webquest

Links to helpful websites, with questions to answer and projects to do. A bit like an internet scavenger hunt! For younger kids, with help.

Other New Years Celebrations Around the World Home School Unit Study Resources

And, for fun, some alcohol-free drink recipes for everyone!


For more resources, check out the New Years Unit Study Books page!