Cool Websites by Subject (Art to USA)

Resources | HEAV Update

We've compiled a list of the "Cool Websites" published in the weekly HEAV Update and sorted them by category for your browsing convenience. We've even included a few categories specifically for homeschooling parents.

Please review all websites for suitability before passing along the address to your student(s). HEAV has no influence on the content of websites other than our own.

Art
Debate
Economics
English
Field Trips
Geography
Government
Health
History
Literature
Logic
Mathematics
Music
Public Speaking
Reading/Phonics
Science
Testing
United States of America
For Parents
For the Family
For the Teacher

ART
SCRIBBLESKIDSART.COM
http://www.scribbleskidsart.com
This is a place for children of all ages who love to create art. Learn about different artists and their artwork, do simple art projects, enter contests, taking a short art quiz, solve Mystery Art, have fun with the interactive Coloring Book, or try art games on line such as Etch-A-Sketch, Kaleidoscope and other fun stuff.

Christmas World
www.worldofchristmas.net/index.html
This site has it all! Crafts, recipes, traditions from around the world, carols, symbols, trivia, “Merry Christmas” in many languages, the truth of Christmas, quotes, humor and (dare I say it?) more!

Earth Shots’ Photo of the Day Contest and Great Views!
www.earthshots.org
You could win $50 if your photo is selected Photo of the Day three times. See the website under “Enter” for details on submitting a photograph. In the meantime, the daily picture on this site could serve as inspiration for writing, photography, art, science study, or for just taking a moment to relax and enjoy the view. Some of the subjects are abstracts, critter close-ups, gorgeous landscapes, and fascinating people. If you like, subscribe to the daily e-mail for “inspiring visions of earth.”

DEBATE

ECONOMICS
ECONOMICTHINKING.ORG
www.EconomicThinking.org
Dedicated to the highest use of all media in economics education, Economic Thinking holds workshops, develops market-oriented research materials, and markets books and videos that teach economics to high school, homeschool, and college students. Their goal is to demonstrate the central role of economic freedom, property rights, and the rule of law in enabling progress and prosperity in America and around the world. Through workshops, websites, books, and videos, Economic Thinking brings the market-oriented ideas of leading scholars directly to interested students, teachers, and parents.

ENGLISH
SPELLCHECK.NET
http://www.spellcheck.net/
SpellCheck.net offers an online spell checker. It limits you to only 20,000 characters, but you can cut sections at a time if need be. There were several things that were cool about this site. One is it is free. Another cool thing is that questionable words have a pull-down selection so you can see other words. It was amazingly accurate.

Links at the top of the page include other language resource links (encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, and more) and math and units links (calculator, kitchen math, periodic tables, and more).

CONFUSING WORDS
http://www.confusingwords.com
Confusing Words is a collection of 3,210 words that are troublesome to readers and writers. Words are grouped according to the way they are most often confused or misused.

Some of these words are homonyms (words that sound alike but are spelled differently), and some are just commonly confused.

WORDCOUNT
http://www.wordcount.org/index2.html
WordCount (TM) is an artistic experiment in the way we use language. It presents the 86,800 most frequently used English words, ranked in order of frequency of use. Each word is scaled to reflect its frequency relative to the words that precede and follow it, giving a visual barometer of relevance.

WordCount (TM) data currently comes from the British National Corpus (R), a 100 million word collection of samples of written and spoken language from a wide range of sources, and is designed to represent an accurate cross-section of current English usage. WordCount includes all words that occur at least twice in the BNC.

BIBLE-BASED WORD PUZZLES
www.biblebased.customizedpuzzles.com
Emory Ediger has a new website and offers free weekly e-mailed puzzles based on the Bible. You may also view them online. The clues and answers are 100% Bible-related words. They are an excellent educational source, as well as an enjoyable Bible-learning activity. You may duplicate and use them in whatever way you see fit, perhaps within the curriculum for extra credit, or as rewards.

WRITING CONTESTS
http://homeschoolwriters.com
A homeschooled girl of 11 put together an amazing website to let people know about the many writing and poetry contests available to students. She crafted a chart to show such summarized information as due dates, ages, prizes, and topics. She has even added an e-mail reminder feature to let you know of approaching deadlines. She is developing a resource section with tips and grammar and writing programs to help in teaching good writing. This young lady has found that the contests are great motivation for her to expand her writing abilities.

FIELD TRIPS
ONLINE FIELD GUIDES
http://www.field-guides.com/index.htm
Online Field Guides. When you click on "the field trips" it shows you a list (scroll down). Some of the topics are: Antarctica, Aquifers, Baking Bread, Deserts, Dinosaurs, Endangered Species, Fierce Creatures, Getting Green, Hurricanes, Shakespeare, and more.

Note: Some sections may reference subject matter you do not wish your children to explore. As with all websites we suggest, please review for suitability before passing along to your student(s).

VIRGINIA IS FOR FIELD TRIPS
Virginia is for Field Trips
Don't forget about our list of field trip destinations right here in the Commonwealth—all linked right to a website where you can gather the information you need to pack up and go!

GEOGRAPHY
THE NATIONAL LIBRARAY OF SCOTLAND
http://www.nls.uk/digitallibrary/index.html
The National Library of Scotland has an online Digital Library of many Scottish related resources, including:
Maps - A collection of hundreds of zoomable maps of Scotland for the period 1560-1928.
Scotland's Pages - A timeline of key events in Scottish history.
Experiences of War - The nurse, the soldier, and the general - three stories from the front and at home during the First World War. Features schools resources.
Murthly Hours - A book of prayer, from 1280, that is one of the most richly illustrated manuscripts in Scotland from the Middle Ages.
And, of course, much more.

ECOTREKKER.COM http://www.ecotrekker.com
Shaun Murphy, an Australian explorer and TV host, has gone where no American has gone before: 16,000 miles around the United States on two dozen vehicles powered, not by fossil fuel, but by alternative energy -- from solar power to cow pies.

Murphy's "eco-trek" took him from San Francisco to the Canadian border, across the Rockies to the Great Lakes, on to New York, south to Florida, then across the South and back to San Francisco. It took nine months and covered 30 states. He has a website chronicling his journey, which includes images, video clips, lesson plans, games, and projects.

GOVERNMENT

HEALTH
GET KIDS IN ACTION
http://www.getkidsinaction.org
Get Kids in Action, a partnership between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Gatorade Company, aims to increase physical activity among children to reduce and prevent obesity. Unlike previous attempts to address childhood obesity, Get Kids in Action takes a multidisciplinary, community-based approach targeting the full range of individuals who impact this complex problem including doctors, community leaders, and families.

The website has one section for parents and another for kids. The kids' section is heavy on Flash animation, but looks to be interesting. The adults' section includes resources to help your child maintain or reach a healthy weight, inspirational material on helping your child find healthy, fun activities, basic nutritional information that is relevant to kids and straight talk on the myths and facts surrounding childhood obesity.

HEARTPOWER! ONLINE
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3003357
HeartPower! Online is the American Heart Association's curriculum-based program for teaching about the heart and how to keep it healthy for a lifetime. Nutrition, physical activity, living tobacco-free, and knowing how the heart works are all vital in maintaining a healthy heart.

HeartPower!'s four key messages about heart health have been categorized by curriculum, lifestyle message, format, and grade level. You can use these science-based online resources to introduce your students to healthy habits and choices that can improve their quality of life for many years. You can even help them learn decision-making skills that can save lives, including their own!

BBC'S INTERACTIVE BODY
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/index_interactivebody.shtml
The BBC has a nice interactive website where you try to fit parts of the human body into where they properly belong. Includes the Organs Game (Plumb together your organs in the 3D jigsaw puzzle), the Muscles Game (put the mystery muscles into the right places on the body), the Skeleton Game (get the joints and unusual bones in the right places), the Senses Challenge (put your senses to the test and try not to let your brain be fooled), the Nervous System Game (wire up the nervous system and senses), and the Puberty Demo (discover the changes that take place during puberty and understand the science).

HISTORY
TIME TRAVELERS
http://www.timetravelers.org
TimeTravelers offers students tangible rewards and a sense of continuing adventure and accomplishment. They are encouraged to explore the many exciting things in the history of America that took place right here in Virginia. As they travel back in time—many years or many centuries—they learn about people, places, and events that have shaped our world today. TimeTravelers now includes art, science, and children's museums, botanical gardens, state parks, and wildlife areas.

ANCIENT EGYPT
http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/menu.html
Courtesy of the British Museum, this Web site is divided into ten "chapters" which address themes or topics relevant to ancient Egypt. There is also a nice teacher resource section to help with your younger Tuts.

DIGITAL EGYPT FOR UNIVERSITIES
http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/3d/index.html
Another website you may be interested in is "Digital Egypt for Universities." This site offers 3D models of such things as the different tomb types from Prehistoric and Old Kingdom Egypt, pyramids, the Min Temple, and much, much more.

HISTORY FOR KIDS
http://www.historyforkids.org
"History for Kids" began in 1995 as a community service learning project for sophomores at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. Since 2000, it has been entirely organized and run by Karen Carr. Dr. Carr holds a PhD in Classical Art and Archaeology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and is an associate professor of History at Portland State University. Her interests lie especially in the Greek and Roman worlds. The site has been expanding into other periods in response to audience demand.

In addition to content, resources on the site include lesson plans, a parents' corner and a crafts and projects section.

LEWIS AND CLARK
http://www.lewisandclark.org
From now until 2006, our Nation will commemorate the Bicentennial of the Corps of Discovery’s historic journey across America—what it taught America then, how it changed America after, and what a retracing of that journey can teach America today. Throughout the 2003 to 2006 school years, Lewis and Clark Then and Now: Linking the Trail to America’s Students will follow the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles as members re-enact in real time the three-year voyage of the Corps of Discovery.

Students and teachers across the country will become active participants in this exciting project as they engage in interactive videoconferences and live web casts from the field. Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of the original expedition, students will investigate real-life issues in diverse disciplines, including the arts, science, mathematics, history, social studies, geography, and English. Project resources, content and learning activities will center on essential questions tied to national standards in the appropriate curriculum area.

LINCOLN BICENTENNIAL
http://www.lincolnbicentennial.gov
"The fifteen members of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission were appointed by the President, the Senate and the House of Representatives following the passage of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission Act in 2000 (Public Law No: 106-173). This diverse and accomplished group was chosen based on their knowledge and study of President Lincoln and their dedication to educating others about Lincoln and that time in our history. In addition, two of the commissioners are U.S. senators and two are from the U.S. House of Representatives who represent states where Lincoln lived, practiced law, and served in the legislature. The Commissioners are focused on informing the public about the impact Abraham Lincoln had on the development of our nation, and finding the best possible ways to honor his accomplishments."

In addition to preparing the public for this birthday celebration, this website offers many fine links to teaching resources about Abraham Lincoln that are well worth the look.

NAVAL HISTORY
http://www.naval-history.net
This website is researched, written and designed by Gordon Smith, who dedicates thewebsite to the memory of his father, Ordnance Artificer George Smith, who was lost in the sinking of HMS Charybdis off the Brittany coast on October 23, 1943.

Because he is in the UK, he has a British perspective of naval history. He covers the areas of Pax Britannica, World Wars I and II, the Falkland's War, and the times between war.

He covers the navies and fleets of the time, the campaigns during the war (by year and by theatre of operations), and he offers other sources for naval history. If your student is interested in specific, detailed information on aspects of naval warfare, this is a good place to start.

THE LABYRINTH PROJECT FOR MEDIEVAL STUDIES
http://labyrinth.georgetown.edu
The Labyrinth Project, sponsored by Georgetown University, provides free, organized access to electronic resources in medieval studies through a World Wide Web server at Georgetown University. The Labyrinth's easy-to-use menus and links provide connections to databases, services, texts, and images on other servers around the world.

This project not only provides an organizational structure for electronic resources in medieval studies, but also serves as a model for similar, collaborative projects in other fields of study. The Labyrinth project is open-ended and is designed to grow and change with new developments in technology and in medieval studies.

There are 44 categories to choose from, including Arthurian studies, cookery, Church history, feudalism.

You can search for maps, audio, video, materials for children, primary texts, and more.

AMERICAN JOURNEYS
http://www.americanjourneys.org
American Journeys contains more than 18,000 pages of eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later.

Read the words of explorers, Indians, missionaries, traders, and settlers as they lived through the founding moments of American history. View, search, print, or download more than 150 rare books, original manuscripts, and classic travel narratives from the library and archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum & Library Services and by private donors, American Journeys is a collaborative project of the Wisconsin Historical Society and National History Day.

TOP 100 PEOPLE IN AMERICAN HISTORY
www.theatlantic.com/doc/200612/influentials
Atlantic Monthly has compiled this list of the top 100 most influential people in American history. Do you agree? Why or why not? This could be a good essay and discussion starter.

JAMESTOWN 1607– COULD YOU HAVE SURVIVED?
www.jamestown1607.org/storiesnation.asp
Wow−quite an interactive learning adventure awaits you! Your editor would much rather try it online than in real life. Can you make it through “the voyage, the starving times, and the Virginia Indians?” How would you handle basic survival, free enterprise, race relations, and democracy?

Watch the prequel and first two episodes (two more coming soon), explore the facts in the “learn more” sections, make your choices, and then check them against the realities of history. We’re making room for this in our history curriculum leading up to the 400th Anniversary of Jamestown in March.

CODES, CIPHERS, AND SPIES
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/spies
The British National Archives online have a page with real codes from history to use in a game. Read about codes, codebreakers, and spies through the centuries. The last spy mentioned was a lady-a real live heroine in WWII. Although codes and spies may appeal more to boys, ladies have played an important role, both in the field and back on the home front. Codes are great logic and math skill-builders, as well as lots of fun.

WESSELS LIVING HISTORY FARM WEBSITE
www.livinghistoryfarm.org
The site has more than 400 stories weaving together varied information about the twentieth-century history of agricultural innovation, along with bits of more general twentieth-century history. To do this, the site relies on a series of oral history interviews in kid-sized streaming media segments that bring a historic period or event alive for students today.

LITERATURE
A BOOK IN TIME
http://www.a-book-in-time.com
A Book In Time offers a chronologically-arranged booklist, so you can easily find great historical books from any era, from elementary to high school reading levels. World history is broken down into ancient tmes, middle ages, age of discovery, and the present age. American history is categorized separately. Each book entry includes a suggested grade level (see About the Books) and a short review.

Check out the map and timeline helps as well. And don't forget the links page, where you will find some great history projects and ideas. There is even a "Plan Your Year" section and another section on "Source Books."

CHILDREN'S BOOKS
http://www.childrensbooksonline.org
This children's library is a volunteer-driven project offering the largest collection of illustrated antique children's books online. It has grown slowly over an eight-year period, from the work of a single man and a handful of books, to a vibrant volunteer-powered organization and a growing library of books and translations, and now contains well over 10,000 pages.

A BOOK IN TIME
http://www.a-book-in-time.com
"A Book In Time" originally developed out of necessity over a period of about ten years by Carol Henderson, a 13-year homeschooling veteran.

READPRINT.COM
http://www.readprint.com
ReadPrint.com is a free online library offering thousands of free books for students, teachers, and the classic enthusiast. To find the book you desire to read, start by looking through the author index. Or use the search function to search by book title. Many poems and short stories are also available at thiswebsite.

4-H VIRTUAL FARM
http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h
(Click on the link for 4-H Virtual Farm.) Virginia Cooperative Extension produces thiswebsite, in association with Virginia Tech and Virginia State University.

The U.S. continues to become a more urbanized society, and youth growing up today have little knowledge about farming or how food products are produced and processed. With only two percent of our population participating in agricultural production, the average American is five generations away from "firsthand" experience with farming. The objective of the 4-H Virtual Farm is to provide youth with an opportunity to learn basic agricultural concepts.

The scope of the 4-H Virtual Farm project is specifically mirrored in the Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools.

HISTORIC MAPS IN K-12 CLASSROOMS
http://www3.newberry.org/k12maps
"Historic Maps in K-12 Classrooms" is a resource for K-12 teachers and students developed by the Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography at the Newberry Library. It is designed to bring historically significant map documents into your classroom. High quality images of historic map documents illustrate the geographical dimensions of American history.

Each map is accompanied by lesson plans written for four grade levels and designed to support a variety of social studies, history, and geography curricula.

DR. SUESS' "SEUSSENTENNIAL: A CENTURY OF IMAGINATION"
http://www.seussville.com
In commemoration of Theodor Seuss Geisel's 100th birthday on March 2, 2004, Seussentennial is a year-long tribute to the man known and loved by generations of Americans as Dr. Seuss. "Seussentennial: A Century of Imagination" will celebrate Geisel's creativity, imagination, and his invaluable contributions to American society that live on today through his beloved books and iconic characters.

PARIS REVIEW
http://www.parisreview.org/literature.php
Welcome to the DNA of literature—over 50 years of literary wisdom rolled up in 300+ Writers-at-Work interviews, now available online for free. Founder and former Editor George Plimpton dreamed of a day when anyone—a struggling writer in Texas, an English teacher in Amsterdam, even a subscriber in Central Asia—could easily access this vast literary resource; with the establishment of this online archive that day has finally come. Now, for the first time, you can read, search and download any or all of over three hundred in-depth interviews with poets, novelists, playwrights, essayists, critics, musicians, and more, whose work set the compass of twentieth-century writing, and continues to do so into the twenty-first century.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE KEYBOARDS ONLINE
www.apronus.com/internet/keyboards.htm
Do you need accent markings or fonts for typing a bit of Russian, Czech, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish? Hop over to these sites and borrow their online keyboards. They also have phonetic English, which allows you to type pronunciations of English words as they appear in English dictionaries. They sell offline versions, but you can use the ones online free.

Note links to an online piano keyboard and interactive chess, and more languages on the “3rdpage search.” The link to the Czech keyboard is found on the phonetic English page.

LOGIC
THE FALLACY DETECTIVE
www.christianlogic.com
Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn are the sons of Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn (www.triviumpursuit.com). They have been homeschooled all of their lives and live near New Boston, Illinois. They have co-authored The Fallacy Detective, a book on logic for children and adults.

At their website, you can pester them with questions on logic, read interesting articles, read through message boards, even sign up for a "Logic Loop" via e-mail.

THE ART OF PROBLEM SOLVING
www.artofproblemsolving.com
The creators of thiswebsite were the kids who wanted to win the trophies. They worked hard and became the kids who won the trophies. The trophies are in attics now. The problem-solving skills, the love of mathematics, and the friendships forged with peers with similar interests remain. They have applied the skills they developed through mathematics to a variety of fields in college, then in the professional world.

Now they have returned to the starting point - the student in a room, chewing on a pencil, staring at a question, giving up, reading the answer, and thinking. . . "How would I have thought of that?"

MATHEMATICS
POLYMORF
http://www.polymorf.net/knowhere.htm
Rick Engel, webmaster of polymorf.net, invites you to view a free online lesson on how the geometry of space determines the shape of things. All 170 web pages can be downloaded for free and a free CD copy is also available for offline viewing. Topics covered include the symmetry of polyhedra, the structure of crystals, and the geometry of stable structures and simple mechanisms.

MYMATHTUTOR.COM
http://www.mymathtutor.com
MyMathTutor.com was created to provide struggling math students with resources to help improve their skills. MyMathTutor is a web-based learning or eLearning program designed to supplement traditional course materials and classroom instruction. The system is centered around video tutorials that show how to solve various math problems in an easy to follow teaching style.

MyMathTutor has partnered with best-selling textbook author Charles P. McKeague to bring you experienced instruction in the form of digital video. Mr. McKeague is the featured instructor in all of their math video tutorials. His video lessons have accompanied his many college textbooks for more 20 years. Over the years, thousands of students have studied and learned algebra from his books. Now, his clear, step-by-step approach is finally available to everyone through the power of the Internet.

PUZZLES
http://www.qbyte.org/puzzles
Nick Hobson'swebsite presents mathematical puzzles selected for the deceptive simplicity of their statement, or the elegance of their solution. They range over geometry, probability, number theory, algebra, calculus, trigonometry, and logic. All require a certain ingenuity, but usually only pre-college math. Some puzzles are original.

Explaining how an answer is arrived at is more important than the answer itself. To this end, hints, answers, and fully worked solutions are provided, together with links to related mathematical topics. Further references are provided with many of the solutions. The puzzles are intended to be fun, with an educational element.

FREE BEGINNING ALGEBRA COURSE
http://www.homeschool-math.com/course/
Those with an interest in materials for high school mathematics are offered a complete, free online course in Beginning Algebra.This is intended to introduce homeschoolers to a full curriculum of college prepatory math courses, arithmetic through pre-calculus.

MATH CONTESTS
http://www.HomeschoolMathContests.com
Haddon Fox, a 9-year old homeschooler (yes, we said n-i-n-e), is the webmaster of a site devoted to math curriculum reviews, contests, and a free deadline reminder service. You will be amazed by the number of contests available.

MUSIC
FREE SHEET MUSIC
http://www.free-scores.com/index_uk.php3
Free sheet music categorized by instrument.

PUBLIC SPEAKING
If you are interested in having your students learn public speaking, consider
your local 4-H Club or Toastmasters International.

4-H RESOURCES IN VIRGINIA
http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/
4-H Resources in Virginia

TOASTMASTERS CLUBS IN VIRGINIA
http://www.toastmasters.org/find/results.asp?AREA=usa&NAME=VIRGINIA

READING/PHONICS
STARFALL
http://www.starfall.com
At age nine, young Stephen Schutz was still struggling to read. What came easily for some children required many more hours of Stephen's work, and he was consistently towards the bottom of his class in reading. Now with a PhD in physics and a successful publisher and artist, Dr. Schutz wanted to make sure that children in his situation today have a resource that can help them. He turned to the Internet and conceived a program that would be available on-line, across the world, for free to all children who are learning to read.

The Starfall learn-to-readwebsite is offered free as a public service. They also provide writing journals and books at a very low cost that can be used with thewebsite or separately. Teachers around the country are using Starfall materials as an inexpensive way to make the classroom more fun and to inspire a love of reading and writing.

Primarily designed for first grade, www.starfall.com is also useful for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and second grade.

SCIENCE
ANSWERS IN GENESIS
www.answersingenesis.org
Mega site on scientific evidence in support of the Genesis Creation account, includes a short chronology, articles, radio programs, resources, and lots more.

THE ANIMAL DIVERSITY WEB
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html
The Animal Diversity Web is an online database of animal natural history, distribution, and classification sponsored by the University of Michigan. Visitors can look through thousands of individual species accounts. Each account may include such features as extended descriptions, pictures of each species, and recordings of sounds, and short movies. The site has a virtual museum, which includes a number of representative photographs of various animal species, and several hundred virtual reality movies of skulls. Sharks, echinoderms, bony fishes, amphibians, and many more are represented.

NEWTON PROJECT
http://www.newtonproject.ic.ac.uk/index.html
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) is universally acknowledged as one of the two or three most influential scientists in history. In his "Principia Mathematica" of 1687, he announced the three fundamental laws of motion and the concepts of mass, force, and Universal Gravitation. In his brilliant letter to the Royal Society of February 1672, and later in his "Opticks" of 1704, he showed that white light was heterogeneously composed of more basic, primary rays, each with its own specific color and index of refraction. Apart from these achievements in physics, Newton's mathematical prowess was extraordinary, and with Gottfried Leibniz, he was one of the two independent inventors of the calculus.

In addition to science, Newton was interested in, and wrote much about, theology, and alchemy. The Project, hosted and developed by Imperial College (London), aims to create a printed edition of Newton's theological, alchemical, and administrative writings, and an electronic edition of all his writings, including his correspondence.

Now at the end of the first five-year period, the Project has produced the first-ever comprehensive catalogue of Newton's theological, alchemical, and administrative manuscripts, transcribed some 40 per cent of the 2.7 million words Newton devoted to the subject of theology, while also making considerable inroads into scientific and biographical material.

ENGINEERING SIGHTS
http://www.engineeringsights.org
Did you realize that nearly everything around you that makes your life easier and more fun, that nearly everything that makes our economy go, has been created by an engineer? So when you take a trip - either around your neck-of-the-woods or around the country - you will find countless sights that help tell the engineering story.

Thiswebsite, sponsored by the National Society of Professional Engineers and National Engineers Week, offers a breakdown by all 50 states, and offers a search by category, engineering discipline or keyword.

WEATHER
http://www.wxdude.com
This weather education site is designed especially for kids, parents, and teachers from national TV meteorologist Nick Walker.

Nick Walker is an on-camera meteorologist for The Weather Channel and co-anchor of "First Outlook" with meteorologists Kim Perez and Jen Carfagno. He is also a regular correspondent for The Weather Channel's "Forecast Earth" programs and has hosted several special reports including "Storms of the Century," "Vulnerable Cities," "After the Storm," and the global warming documentary "Hot Planet."

He is the author of "Sing Along with the Weather Dude," a book and CD for children. Nick's magazine articles have appeared in local and national publications, and he is active as a speaker for schools and community groups. A singer and songwriter, Nick has recorded several albums of original music.

Thiswebsite offers online resources including: "Weather Basics," "Weather Songs," "Stuff for Teachers/Parents," "Stuff for Kids," "Weather Topics," "Ask a Question or Take a Quiz," and more.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICS TEACHERS
http://www.aapt.org
American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) was established in 1930 with the fundamental goal of ensuring the "dissemination of knowledge of physics, particularly by way of teaching." In addition to helping you learn more about traditional teaching methods, they can help you learn new teaching methods and use modern technology to entice your students with the wonders of science.

In addition to the resources at thiswebsite, the physics team in particular has had a smattering of homeschoolers over the years.

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/mofall.html
http://www.lerc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/ffall.html
http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/msl1/ground_lab/exp2.htm
http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/msl1/ground_lab/msl1wheenpi.htm
http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sfall.htm
http://microgravity.grc.nasa.gov/drop2/how.htm

GALILEO
http://www.mathandscience4u.com. Galileo first introduced the concept of free fall. His classic experiments led to the finding that all objects free fall at the same rate, regardless of their mass. According to legend, Galileo dropped balls of different mass from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to help support his ideas.

INVENTION DIMENSION
http://web.mit.edu/invent/invent-main.html
Read up on the inventor of the week and the featured links (both archived), play one of three games, take the trivia challenge (changes monthly), or get the inventor’s handbook at MIT’s inventions website. If you submit your answers to the trivia challenge, you have a chance at the free t-shirt each month. The answers are all found in their archives.

GENESIS PARK
www.genesispark.org/genpark/park/park.htm
The purpose of Genesis Park is to present in a graphical, easily accessible manner the evidence that dinosaurs and man were created together and have co-existed throughout history. Genesis Park questions the evolutionary illusions surrounding the dinosaurs and approaches the subject of origins with a literal adherence to the scriptures and an emphasis on creation demonstrating God's power. "Have you not known? have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding." (Isaiah 40:28)

FUN BREAK – TINKER BALL GAME
www.inventionatplay.org/playhouse_tinker.html
Make your own Rube Goldberg Machine to get a tennis ball into a shallow container. The game features realistic sounds and mechanical actions. Vary the play by limiting the number of tools used, or by using as many as possible. Kids and adults will enjoy this fun learning game.

TESTING
SOL TESTS
http://education.jlab.org
This website includes the released 2004 SOL tests, and has an archive of the tests going back to 2000. Test categories include: 3rd grade math and science questions; 5th grade math, science, and technology questions; 8th grade math, science, and technology questions; high school algebra I & II, geometry, earth science, and chemistry questions.

The interactive design of the site lets users select and submit their answer. They are told if their response is right or wrong. If correct, the answer page repeats the question/problem and the correct answer. If a question is answered incorrectly, the answer page provides the question with the correct answer.

To access the SOL practice tests, or to play the $1,000,000 math-and-science quiz, click on the "Games & Puzzles" icon.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FACTORY TOUR USA
http://www.factorytoursusa.com
Celebrating American Imagination and Industry!
Factory Tours USA - 455 tours and counting. This site celebrates American imagination and industry. What better way to appreciate those qualities than to visit and tour America at work. The information on this site is maintained by many people throughout the United States who enjoy visiting American industry.

EDUCATION INFORMATION
Students.gov InfoSource is published by students.gov and sponsored by the U.SDepartment of Education's Federal Student Aid office. To subscribe to their free e-newsletter, send an e-mail to listproc@inet.ed.gov and include "subscribe students-gov" (without the quotes) in the subject line and as the first line of text. Their most recent e-newsletter contained great tax and internship links and information, such as:

Tax Information for Students (IRS): http://www.irs.gov/individuals/students/
Scholarships and Fellowships (IRS):http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p520.pdf (PDF)
Educational Expenses (IRS): http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc513.html

STUDENTJOBS.GOV
http://www.studentjobs.gov
Studentjobs.gov is OPM's official job site for students, and it's filled with great resources, tools, and links to helpful information. Search for federal jobs and apply online, create and store a resume, assess your skills and interests in the Career Interests Center, learn about specific federal agencies or the federal hiring process, and more!

THE NATIONAL BUDGET SIMULATION
http://www.budgetsim.org/nbs
The National Budget Simulation, originally a project of UC-Berkeley's Center for Community Economic Research, is now hosted at NathanNewman.org. It was created by Nathan Newman and Anders Schneiderman.

This simulation asks you to adjust spending and tax expenditures in the 2004 budget proposed by the White House in order to achieve either a balanced budget or any other target deficit. In order to make the choices we face in the budget clearer, we assume that you make the adjustments all in one year.

According to the White House, the 2004 fiscal deficit is projected to be $307 billion. This does not include the costs of the Iraq War, so it has been increased by a base estimate of $50 billion for those costs in this simulation (which can be increased, lowered or eliminated depending on people's views of the costs or likelihood of the war).

The Simulation also allows you to adjust the costs of the 2001 and proposed 2003 tax cuts, either cutting or canceling them to raise revenue, or increasing them to create larger tax cuts. It also allows you to increase or decrease tax expenditures, also known as tax deductions, credits or "loopholes."

FOR PARENTS HIS NEEDS, HER NEEDS
MARRIAGE BUILDERS
www.marriagebuilders.com
What is the opposite of showing love? Dr. Willard F. Harley is the author of His Needs, Her Needs. He identifies the most common "love busters" in marriage (or any relationship) as selfish demands, disrespectful judgments, angry outbursts, annoying habits, independent behavior, and dishonesty.

At Dr. Harley's Marriage Builderswebsite you will be introduced to some of the best ways to overcome marital conflicts and some of the quickest ways to restore love.

FOR THE FAMILY
HOLD THAT THOUGHT
http://www.holdthatthought.com
"Hold That Thought" is a Christian-based company located in Glendale, California. With a team of teachers, home educators, and artists, they are committed to producing quality materials designed specifically for the needs of the homeschooling family. Their materials help build reasoning, research and writing skills, all with an emphasis on visualization and the spiritual growth of each student. Hold That Thought materials are designed to help students enjoy and retain what they learn.

SUPERKIDS
http://superkids.com
This is awebsite for parents and teachers who want the best in education for their children. SuperKids provides reviews and ratings of educational software, practical and fun tools for online and offline use, news about important educational issues, and views of visionaries and policymakers.

Included on theirwebsite is a collection of easy-to-use, free educational resources for home and school (http://superkids.com/aweb/tools/).

HOMESCHOOL RADIO SHOW
http://www.homeschoolradioshows.com
Although the name of thiswebsites is Homeschool Radio Shows, it actually is useful for anyone. The Erskine family, a homeschooling family from Canmer, Kentucky, has taken old-time radio shows and dramatic performances and made them available for you to listen to for FREE on a weekly basis. In addition, they have other programs and materials from yesteryear available for purchase.

LEARNING TREASURES
http://www.learningtreasures.familyclassroom.net
Learning Treasures has new coloring sheets and more. Includes lion coloring page, several cowboy coloring sheets, horse coloring page, a page with pictures and things for notebooks/lapbooks on cowboys, plus WWI coloring page.

HOWTOONS - HOW TO BUILD THINGS
http://www.howtoons.org
Howtoons are one-page cartoons that show five-to-15 year-old kids how to build things. Each illustrated episode is a stand-alone fun adventure accessible to all, including the pre-literate. Howtoons are designed to encourage children to be active participants in discovering the world through fun, creative, inventive play-that-matters, and to rely a lot less on mass-consumable entertainment.

Saul Griffith and Joost Bonsen started and incubated the Howtoons Project while graduate students at MIT, working in close concert with professional illustrator Nick Dragotta, as well as with hundreds of fellow students, alumni, faculty, friends, and their kids.

As with all recommendations, HEAV urges you to review the materials before passing them along to your children.

BIRTHDAYPARTYIDEAS.COM
http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com
Of course, the biggest birthday of them all is coming up later this month on the 25th. But if you have a child's party coming up soon, or you want something special for the holidays, or even adults, and you are looking for something unique, thiswebsite may be your ticket.

BirthdayPartyIdeas.com provides a place where everyone can share ideas for children's birthday parties in a very simple and organized format. If you are one of those people who likes to create birthday parties that are special and unique, parties that your guests and children will remember forever, then these ideas should help get you on your way.

INTERNET ARCHIVE
http://www.archive.org
Thiswebsite offers a wealth of information in digital format, including text, video, audio, and much more.

Remember the movies you watched in elementary school, like "Duck and Cover" (what to do in case those "wascally" Russians targeted your elementary school for their first atomic bomb attack)? That's here too. There are even feature films from the 1920s forward, including a Charlie Chaplin film festival. And best of all, it is FREE.

Note: This is not just a site for youngsters. It is for all ages, so some content may not be suitable for your students. But you can download the content onto your own computer and have them look at it there.

The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) public nonprofit founded to build an "Internet library," with the purpose of offering permanent access to historical collections in digital format to researchers, historians, and scholars. Founded in 1996 and located in the Presidio of San Francisco, the Archive has been receiving data donations from Alexa Internet and others. In late 1999, the organization started to grow to build more well-rounded collections.

FOR THE TEACHER
THE VIRGINIA HOME EDUCATION MAGAZINE - FREE!
www.heav.org

THE HEAV UPDATE - A FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
www.heav.org

THE TEACHING HOME MAGAZINE AND NEWSLETTER
www.teachinghome.com

HOMESCHOOL ENRICHMENT MAGAZINE
www.homeschoolenrichment.com

BOOKMARKING SERVICE http://del.icio.us
I have six or seven computers that I use during the week. I use thiswebsite/service to make my bookmarks accessible to me as I go from computer to computer. But what takes this to the next level, and makes it useful for even those fortunate enough to work on just one computer, is the "social networking" aspects. Using a "TAG" system, you can see others' bookmarks for the same topic. What make eBay, Amazon, and Google such smash hits is the "social" aspects of the technology by means of which the user can rely on the opinion of others.

VALENTINE'S DAY RESOURCES
http://del.icio.us/tag/valentine
Websites for Valentine's Day.

WORLD WAR II RESOURCES
http://del.icio.us/tag/wwii
Resources on World War II.
I must warn you that you can stumble upon some weird people. Just because a person has TAGGED sites relating to "gardening" doesn't mean they don't have other interests that are of no interest to you. However, the really greatwebsite links I have found using this service are well worth the occasional weird link.

BRAINPOP
http://www.brainpop.com
BrainPOP is awebsite that features hundreds of educational topics covering English, math, science, social studies, health, and technology, all correlated to national education standards for grades 5-8. A subscription costs $79 per year, but anyone can participate in two activities a day at no charge.

CORNELL UNIVERSITY MATH AND SCIENCE GATEWAY
www.tc.cornell.edu/Services/Education/Gateways/Math_and_Science
This website is designed as a resource for students and teachers in grades 9-12, and covers many disciplines in the sciences and math. You’ll find subjects from agriculture to physics, with several in between.

THE SCHOOL PLACE

This website has links to online resources on lesson plans, forms, articles, frugal living, and more. Check out the "Forms & Planning" section for links to websites with free downloadable forms you can use in record keeping.