DLTK's Printable Crafts for Kids Great resource for alphabet printables and crafts.  There's much more to it than that, though!  Our favorite activity so far was the castle craft.  Also see their Country and Culture section, too.

First-School Preschool Activities and Crafts Another good source for alphabet printables.  Many printable crafts and coloring pages.

Making Friends Paper Dolls This site is kind of fun.  They have print-outs of paper doll bodies, hair, and clothing for both girls and boys.  Their site sells products to "help" you with your paper doll making (various skin tone cardstock, restickable sticker paper, etc), but you can use the site without purchasing anything.

Quaker Oatmeal's Toddler Activities Hey, don't laugh!  This is actually a great site!  You can search for activities by child's age (up through age 4), category, or season.  Lot's of activities to do with your kids!

Early Learning and Coloring Pages This is a link to... more links!

Dot-to-dot This site has dot-to-dots by both letter and number.  Good opportunity to practice letter and number recognition.

ABCteach Well, as their website indicates: "5000+ free printable pages and worksheets".

 

Starfall "a free learn-to-read website".  Natalie loves to play the games there!

Handwriting for Kids Generates customized handwriting practice sheets to print out.

Custom Tracer Pages Another site that allows you to create custom tracer pages (letters and numbers), and lets you choose Zaner-Bloser (standard font), D'Nealian, or Cursive font.

Five In A Row (FIAR) A reading program that I have NO firsthand experience with, but have heard great things about.

Explode the Code Another reading program that I have no firsthand experience with, but have only heard wonderful things about.  I was actually planning on purchasing this program for Kindergarten this year to use alongside Alphaphonics, but then we went and signed up with the charter.

Phonemic Awareness An article on phonemic awareness from ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center)

From Reading Readiness to Emergent Literacy Article discussing reading readiness, and includes suggestions for promoting literacy development in infants, toddlers and preschoolers.

 

A Charlotte Mason Education more information on the CM approach.

Core Knowledge If you are familiar with the "What Your __ Grader Needs to Know" series, then you have an idea of what Core Knowledge is all about.  This site has links to lesson plans, and other resources for utilizing the CK approach in your homeschooling.

K12 Very similar to the Core Knowledge sequence, K12 is a complete curriculum that can be purchased independently, or used through a charter school

HomeSchoolReviews Absolutely my favorite site to go to when I want to know what people really think about whatever curriculum they're using.  Often I'll find programs there that I've never heard of, which gives me more to think about - I like that!

Thomas Jefferson Education Classics list for Level 1 and 2

Waldorf World Information related to using Waldorf methods in homeschooling.

 

Learning Page I LOVE this site!  Please register with the site (it's free) so you can see the whole range of resources offered.  The theme sheets (themes: oceans, zoo animals, dinosaurs, reptiles/amphibians, insects/spiders, and space) include fact files, murals, cutouts, lesson plans, and best of all: Fun Sheets.  The fun sheets are separated by grade (preK-3rd), and subject (math, language, science).

Earthquakes for Kids The USGS children's site.  Games, science fair project ideas, activities, and of course all you ever wanted to know about earthquakes!

Space Flight Sightings Find out when your next opportunity will be to spy space station or shuttle from your own backyard.

Dole 5 A Day Everything you ever wanted to learn about eating healthy and making good food choices.  Has specific pages devoted to kids, parents, and educators.

Steve Spangler Science Easy science experiments organized by category - physcial science, earth science, life science.

Super Simple Science Kidzone's Super Simple Science section includes experiments, facts, and science tricks.

The Bubblesphere Bubble science!

BrainPOP Brain POP is a fun site that allows you to take quizzes and watch "educational animations" that teach you about a whole range of subjects.  We've only watched science shorts, but you can choose from health, science, technology, math, english and social studies.  I seem to recall that you can view two animations per day without purchasing a membership.  Just so you know, we have dial-up and it really doesn't take long for the movies to load onto the screen.  Very nice!

Young Scientists Club Basically an Experiment-of-the-Month club, you can subscribe to have an experiment sent to you each month.

Sharks Shark activities, facts, and photos.

Whitney Farms Organic Gardening Link to their Kids Gardening Guide with printables available in PDF format.

HandsOnPlastics (LOL - from organic gardening to plastics) Order a kit from this site to help you teach your kids all about the wonderful world of plastics.

Science Posters Free science posters available for educational purposes from the Earth Observation System (at Goddard Space Flight Center/NASA) poster series.

 

 

FLYing with homeschoolers That Flylady is so fly!  A huge page of ideas other FLYing homeschoolers have for keeping your home and your homeschooling nice, neat, and organized.  Just so you know - I don't FLY, but I think this page has a ton of great ideas for all of us homeschoolers.

WorldBook Typical Course of Study Curiousity getting the better of you?  Read through the typical course of study for each grade level, and set your mind at ease.

FirstGov for Kids Links to information and websites on probably any subject imaginable.  Quite a resource.

 

HomeSchoolBuzz Find out what the latest is on homeschooling in the news.

CBS Report This October 2003, two part report on homeschooling caused quite an uproar in the hsing community.

"An 'Encouraging and Robust' Movement" Postive hsing article (Michigan)

 

CHN (California Homeschool Network) "California Homeschool Network is a statewide grassroots organization dedicated to protecting the fundamental right of parents to educate their children."

Fieldtrips A list of science related fieldtrips and guest speakers in the Los Angeles area. Includes addresses and contact phone numbers.

Natural History Museum This link takes you directly to their education tours FAQ.  Tours for school-age children are FREE, so get a group together and go!  The NHM of Los Angeles also has an artifact loan program for members and teachers.

The Arboretum of LA County This link goes to the Arboretum's school tours page.  They offer 2 different, FREE, guided tours, or you can arrange to take your group on a self-guided tour.

Starr Ranch Quite the drive, but well worth the experience!  "Starr Ranch is a 4,000 acre Audubon California sanctuary in southeast Orange County, California."  Part of their mission includes making educational programming available to the local community.  I had the opportunity to attend a conference there years ago, and it was a truly amazing experience!