Homeschool Resources: Math & Science

How are you this beautiful Sunday. Don’t forget its Father’s Day? In Homeschooling I wanted to bring you Homeschool Resources: Math & Science.

PBSKIDS.org: Cyberchase Math Activities

Cyberchase

Age Range: 7-11 (Grades 2-7, approximately with parental supervision)
PBS website is a companion to Cyberchase, the Emmy Award® winning Mathematics series for children. This website offers dynamic Web Games, Videos, and Printable Activities that teach Math concepts in a fun way that kids can understand.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the PBS show, the website says
in the world of Cyberchase, the dastardly Villain Hacker is on a mad mission to overthrow Motherboard and take over Cyberspace with the help of his blundering hench bots, Buzz and Delete. But Motherboard enlists the help of three curious kids, Inez, Jackie, and Matt, and their cyberpal, Digit, to stop him.
Their weapon: brain power. In the live-action segment following each animated episode, Harry and Bianca show kids how math can help solve life’s wacky problems in the real world.
To further help kids explore their world, the hands-on activities include a range of science, technology, engineering and math topics. When you get to the website, you’ll see some featured recommendations. Below that is an icon menu of printable activities that include:
  • Activity Book – Print out a booklet with math puzzles, games, and projects.
  • Batter Up – Track your favorite baseball team’s hits and look for patterns.
  • Bianca’s Body Math – Use math to learn which body parts are proportional.
  • Cool It – Experiment with evaporation to keep something refreshing on a hot day.
  • Dot Decoder – Decode a secret message.
  • Lifting with Levers – Discover the relationship between the length of a lever and how much weight you can raise.
  • Make a Pinwheel – Make a pinwheel and use it to find out how windy it is.
  • Make Ice Cream – Get an easy recipe to make ice cream at home.
  • Shadow Math – Measure the lengths of shadows to estimate the height of something very tall.
  • Top Flight – Make paper airplanes and judge their flights to choose a winner.
Click on any activity, and a new page opens with complete instructions, diagrams, and illustrations to do the Exercise.

Bookmark this fun resource to help kids learn math, science, and more.

 Recommended Website:  PBS: Newton’s Apple
Twin Cities PBS
Age Range: 6-15 (Grades 1-10 approximately, with parental supervision)
Twin Cities Public Television offers this website as a companion to their award-winning television show called “Newton’s Apple” that offers hundreds of streaming video clips on science topics that include:
  • Animals and Plants
  • Earth and Space
  • Health and Medicine
  • Chemistry and Food
  • Technology and Invention
  • Physics and Sports

These video clips are from various educational television shows and documentaries. Watching a brief film clip on topics such as Acid Rain, Dinosaurs, Mummies, Penguins, Rotting Food, Zoo Veterinarians, etc., can spark an interest in a science topic.

If you enjoy the film clips, you can purchase the videos at the website – or look for the titles at your local public library or through your video/DVD rental store or plan.

You can also try the FREE hands-on lessons and activities provided in the “Teacher Guides.” Designed for classroom use, easily adapted to homeschooling, and you don’t have to watch a video to learn something from them.

The site also offers “Science Try Its” that are mostly straightforward ideas and suggestions for ways to think about and explore various science topics and concepts – great when you run out of views or need a jump-start.

This site is well-organized. You can browse the science categories or enter a keyword in the search mechanism to find information on any science topic of interest

Age Range: All (All grades; children with parental supervision)
At this, the official website of the Vatican Museums, you can take a virtual tour of the Museums within the Vatican including:
  • Pio Clementino Museum
  • Chiaramonti Museum
  • New Wing
  • Gregoriano Profano Museum
  • Gregorian Egyptian Museum
  • Gregorian Etruscan Museum
  • Ethnological Museum
  • Sistine Chapel
  • Raphael’s Rooms
  • Pinacoteca

You can view the stunningly beautiful artwork created by masters like Raphael and Michelangelo that included in the Museum’s collections, and zoom in for details of paintings, frescoes, and other artwork. Information on the pieces provided as well.

The artwork will appeal to many ages, exploring the sites requires the ability to read. You use a computer keyboard, making this an excellent website for family explorations.

View the virtual tours; your browser must have Java activated.

Age Range: 8-18 (Grades 3-12, with parental supervision)
Learn piano and music theory with the help of this website.
PianoNanny.com acquired the award-winning “Piano on the Net” online course which provides over 30 lessons at three different levels:
  • Starter – Learn the basics of piano such as music notation, notes, and terms, fingering the keys, and more.
  • Intermediate – Build upon the starter lessons and expand the knowledge base in musical studies with chords and more.
  • Advanced – Learn about the different genres of music and a more in-depth understanding of music.

Lessons can include images, text, and sometimes audios. The student is encouraged to have a small keyboard in front of them as they go through the experiences so that they can learn the material.

Whether your student is a beginner or more advanced student, there is a lot to be learned with these free online piano lessons.

Thank you,

Glenda, Charlie and David Cates