kindergarten
Beti Bwt's Wash Day | National Museum Wales
A fun and detailed video showing how women did the laundry in Wales before there were washing machines. Includes a song in Welsh about Beti Bwt's washing misadventures (pronounced Betty Boat). The site also has an online quiz reviewing the information taught in the video.
Insects Lesson Plan for K-2
Ideas and links for little ones wanting to know more about bugs. Includes tie-ins to more basic scientific concepts like classification, and habitats.
Free, printable early readers...
This very simple website offers free readers to download and printout. They start out very simple, and as the child works through the stories, more and more words are added (that's how readers usually work, right?)
The stories are silly and short, and reading difficulty builds very gradually. Books also include "story questions".
Another source for these public domain readers (this one features printer-ready booklet files): http://www.marriottmd.com/sam/index.html
Scholastic Lesson Plans: a searchable, free collection of plans and projects
Looking for ideas to support a new interest, or a whole unit study? There's lots to choose from here! There are hands-on science projects, multimedia-supported lessons, book club ideas... Most are designed for classroom use, but all the lessons I've looked at are very well-suited to homeschooling.
There is the most available for elementary students, but pre-k through 12th grade are represented. Interesting to just browse if you're feeling uninspired.
Art-to-Go from the Baltimore Museum of Art (for all ages)
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
BBC Primary School Languages: French, Spanish & Welsh
The BBC has fun resources to help elementary aged kids learn French, Spanish and Welsh. These are the first free resources I've found that go beyond the absolute basics (i.e. colors, numbers, and a couple phrases) while remaining fun and appropriate for younger kids.
Headsprout
An online reading program recommended for grades K-2. Not a free program.
Reading Eggs
A subscription-based sight which guides your child through fun reading lessons, only letting them advance to a new level when they've mastered the earlier concepts.. Primarily takes a "whole language" approach to teaching reading, but includes some phonics instruction too. The site is based in Australia, and uses Australian English rather than US English, but it's barely noticeable.
Gamequarium
A site with a large variety of educational games for elementary students. Use the search box on the site to find the kind of game you're interested in.
GameGoo
Language arts games, beginning with letter recognition, and covering more advanced concepts like poetry, synonyms & antonyms, and spelling.
