Inclusive Homeschool

I’m still on a high from yesterday’s inauguration – the long sustaining high that comes from inspiration and commitment. Not just the temporary sugar high of excitement, although, I confess, at this moment I feel that, too!

At 12:01 P.M., right after President Obama became our 44th president, his new website went up at whitehouse.gov.

Its interactive and it’s phenomenal. What a fantastic resource to keep engaged and knowledgeable as a citizen, and what a wonderful, real time way for students to learn about and participate in their government.

One of the features I love is the ability to review and comment on non-emergency legislation for five days before the President signs it. I see no age restriction here. My eleven year old can put in her two cents worth just as I can.

To keep up to date on what’s happening, you can sign up for email notices or subscribe to their rss feed. There will, also, be weekly videos starting Saturday, by the President.

You can read more in depth about these features here on The White House Blog.

URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/change_has_come_to_whitehouse-gov/

The educational section is wonderful. Learn about the White House, the history of it, fun facts, time lines and slide shows.

URL:http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/white_house_101/

For a study on government, federal, state, judicial, and resources, this link is fabulous.

URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/our_government/

It’s a work in progress, but worth keeping up with. What better way to learn about our government, but to engage directly with it?

This is one way, that may inspire you and your student to become engaged in ways that are right for you in your own community.

Tags: Free Resources, fun facts, Government, history, interactive, obama, presidents, Social Studies, timeline, white house

If you’re interested in lap or note booking this is the site for you!

eMINTS is an acronym for the Missouri’s Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies. They created an incredibly rich collection of information, the individual units called eThemes. These are used in classrooms (and homeschools) across the country and worldwide.

Even if you’re not interested in unit studies per se, the grouping of so much information under specific topics makes this a great resource for anyone and a more efficient way to find quality information.

Topics are categorized by grade level and alphabetical order. I checked out a few, and the information and web links for Ancient China alone blew me away. There are tons of animal eThemes, as well as other topics. The Art of the Five Major World Religions eTheme is a gold mine. Even though it’s listed for 9th grade and up, the art work and synopsis of information can definitely be used for younger grades.

These aren’t lesson plans, but it wouldn’t be difficult to create one from these resources.

Another thing I really like is their eTheme Calendar, which has a link to a website for whatever is featured on any given day. The links are relative to the general theme of the month. February had links for Susan B Anthony’s birthday, as well as various links related to Black History month, President’s Day, Lunar New Year and other interesting topics.

The one problem I have on this site is getting sidetracked as I discover one cool link after another!

Tags: Free Resources, lapbooks, Links, Reference, theme, unit studies, Websites

Don’t forget, the Great Backyard Bird Count is in session now! You can still participate. It runs February 15 through the 18th.

And you don’t have to do it all four days. Just taking the time to stop once and really observe around you, to be mindful of the little creatures that share our space is worth the doing!

Tags: birds, Free Resources, network, Science