Great Teaching Resources Hunt

TheRehn

ooh I knew my massive folder of bookmarks would one day be useful!
Here are some of my favourites

free unit studies
http://www.easyfunschool.com/ --- this one is great
http://www.homeschoollearning.com/units/ -free samples for commercial curriculum

teachers resources from BBC newsround
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/teachers/default.stm - aimed at teachers but still AMAZING.

free printable stuff
http://www.hsunlimited.com/freestuff/ - printable worksheets, notebooking forms and random stuff
http://donnayoung.org/ - the best place for homeschool printables on the web (science is creationist science)
http://www.notebooking.org/ notebooking printables and lots of info on notebooking (science is creationist science)

Unusual stuff
learn history through food
http://www.foodtimeline.org/
learning through movies @ movies in the classroom
http://www.classbrain.com/artmovies/publish/
craft projects
www.craftbits.com
free audio books
www.librivox.org

University 'OpenCourseWare' (for higher-level students)




Free course materials from:

MIT http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

The Open University http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/

Other universities http://www.ocwconsortium.org/

Ruth
P.S -Just so you know: I don't home educate or even have kids, but I have an interest in all forms of alternative education, been particulary fascinated recently with homeschooling and notebooking (I am now adapting that for myself!) Charlotte Masons' educational theory, Summerhill and other democractic schools and folk high schools in Denmark (btw these look like they'd be great for students age 17+ who are just finishing home education - you usually go for about 3 or 4 months, they have no exams and it is all about learning for pleasure. http://www.hojskolerne.dk/the-danish-folk-high-school).

P.P.S Did anyone see the channel 4 news thing on Home Education, I thought it was quite negative and am confused why the government thinks it is a bad thing that one education doesn't suit all and that parents are doing the best for their kids, then there was this lady saying homeschooling wasn't safe because there were no benchmarks or targets and it made me laugh, because many people homeschool because of the focus on targets over what is best for the child.

dee_mum_of_3

P.P.S Did anyone see the channel 4 news thing on Home Education, I thought it was quite negative and am confused why the government thinks it is a bad thing that one education doesn't suit all and that parents are doing the best for their kids, then there was this lady saying homeschooling wasn't safe because there were no benchmarks or targets and it made me laugh, because many people homeschool because of the focus on targets over what is best for the child.

we have been home educating for nearly 3 years athough the last 2 years were with our middle son but hes gone to secondary school so now its just 1 child......initially we began bcos of middle sons health and falling standards in school (middle son still isnt100% well but was desperate to go to "big" school with his older brother)but even now we will continue with our youngest as its so succesful,I think schools are very quick to label childrens abilities- i feel we faced a lot of controversy in "opting out" weve had to welcome people in our home who ordinarily i wouldnt entertain and certainly wouldnt want to discuss my childs education with ,also people can be very thoughtless and assume the worst.
We do get inspected and checked up on contrary to belief and as our home ed officers continually change they all check in different ways from relaxed and informal to very rigid even having children read to her...any way back to what TheRehn asked I personally think these programmes are edited to try and put people off home schooling far easier to have all the children in school rather than mere parents questioning our education system -it keeps everyone in their places.

earthmother

I don't home ed, but I do google most weeks for homework help etc for my 6 year old (yr2). I can see me coming to this thread just as much in the future


I came across this site the other week and found it very useful (was looking for cursive writing practice - the sheets here helped my unwilling writer enjoy writing for a change) - http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/

oldMcDonald

Nenen wrote: »

Do any of you that educate your children at home think there is any place in the market for someone with my experience to act as an advisor for parents setting up learning programmes for their children at home etc or as a tutor who works with parents and children in their homes? I have done private tuition for children who have been deemed to be 'failing' at school in the past but once again the kind of teaching required is very much based on school demands rather than the child's own needs and interests.

I'd love to work in an alternative system of education but my suspiscion is that most parents who home educate don't have the money to pay anyone else as they already have to stay at home and give up most paid employment. Or have I got that completely wrong?

well, personally I don't have two pennies to rub together at the end of the week!!

I know a lot of teachers who HE (and for the same reasons that you state) A couple of them have started their own company up selling 'curriculum boxes', where they provide a daily plan for the child to follow and all the books, it isn't cheap but is liked by parents who decide to follow curriculum based learning.

Several of the them also work at home as a tutor, both for schooled children, and for children who are HE but are doing GSCEs privately - but it sounds like you have done this sort of thing anyway.

I think that some people may find an advisor helpful - we decided to go down the autonomous route of HE, but I know that there are many people new to HE who do worry about providing a full education and many want to follow a plan / timetable. There is a lot of information available on the internet for them, but I think sometimes there is the feeling that they would like some face to face help?

Do you know anyone who HEs near to you? Maybe they could introduce you to the local group and you could get to ask people what they feel is lacking locally?

chocaholic110

I'm not a home educator but use this site loads at school for links to different curriculum areas

http://www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/Curriculum/Curriculum.htm

KingCraigo

Hello,
I am a maths teacher from Liverpool, and I have just recently set up my own website to try and help pupils with their maths when they are at home. I have tried to write the notes and materials in a more pupil-friendly way than the textbooks, and there are lots of free resources and links to other good websites on their too. The Teacher section is pretty much complete (loads of free resources for teachers and parents), and I am adding to the pupil bit every day, and with any luck it should be completed by Christmas.
Anyway, if you would like to have a look, the website can be found at: www.mrbartonmaths.com. I hope it helps.

devon-gnome

http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/resources/

I've used lots of these for literacy comprehension

EvilMonkey

A bit of a general trick. For ANY subject (I've taught ICT, Science & Maths in my time & helped out daughter with many more). Google what you're looking for, then add KS1, KS2, KS3 etc. for more specific resources.

Eg. Did a no-notice lesson on how fossil fuels are produced and "fossil fuels KS3" gave me 4-5 brilliant animated / clear resources for the kids to use.

E.M.

tigsowner

I'd just like to thank everyone who's posted links here! I am currently searching the web for useful stuff for my 3 year old, with a view to eventually "formally" home educating her rather than sending her to school. (Schools here are a mess and whilst they haven't actually failed her bright siblings, haven't done much more either.) Anyway, I'd already found some of these sites and the others look good too.

I've also tried typing "teaching resource", etc into Ebay's search and found some useful stuff. Ok, it's cheating a bit but my drawing skills are useless and having someone else do some of the thinking can be a great timesaver.

kitchpoo

I am a teacher and I use these
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc-home/vtc-ks2-home.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/5_9/index.shtml
People forget to look at the welsh and scottish regions....theres a really good hindu shrine on ngfl which I use with year 4.