We've all heard of podcasts, but did you know that there are literally thousands of educational podcasts for you to download for free? And before you ask...you don't need an iPod to listen! Check out this article, 'Myth: You need to own an iPod to listen to, or view, a podcast.' Wait until you hear what I found for you and your children like...

Childrensbookradio a Podcast and Children’s Book Directory dedicated to sharing children’s books. This site is great for teachers, parents, students, children, and anyone interested in Children's literature! Do you love reading? Want to share a story? 'A Story For Bedtime is a community sharing website which allows anyone to contribute readings of bedtime stories. The podcasts are simply recordings of real people - like you - reading stories to real kids. Some stories have more than one reader and are, therefore, presented in different ways'.

Love Science? You'll love Why? The science show for kids. Each week Dr. Dave Brodbeck answers a question about science from real kids like you! (Get your parents permission before visiting any of the sites found here @ HSN-Quebec, links are known to change!)

The Education Podcast Network is an effort to bring together into one place, the wide range of podcast programming that may be helpful to teachers looking for content to teach with and about, and to explore issues of teaching and learning in the 21st century. You'll find a podcast for every subject like dance education, social studies, math, visual arts and so much more! For FREE!

How about learning french, italian or spanish @ Podcast Alley?  Abonnez vous gratuitement à la diffusion scientifique en audio du Collège de France et recevez automatiquement sur votre ordinateur les fichiers de vos conférences préférées. Ensuite vous pouvez les transférer sur votre baladeur numérique, clé USB...Sont disponibles actuellement, visite ici!

There's a podcast for almost every subject of interest! Poetry, geography, fairy tales and stories! You'll need to have software that will play mp3 files. Once an appropriate podcast has been sourced, it can be manually downloaded. The process may be slightly different for each site, so it is important to read the instructions. Podcasts may also be delivered to your computer automatically by subscribing to a podcast feed! If you find a great podcast! Share it with us here!

If you are a regular reader to Homeschool Nations- Quebec, Canada blog, you know that my kids are junior-high school age, and I tend to look for resources for the older kids. Today, I decided to rectify that for those of you homeschooling your pre-schooler and wait until you see what I dug up!

If you are looking for ways to teach your child the alphabet, this 'Phonics Game' is a sure bet! This is a simple interactive game for young children where they can click on a letter of the alphabet and select pictures of objects beginning with each letter. Correct results produce simple animations!

BeginningReading is a phonics based beginning reading program. This program includes hundreds of printable Free Worksheets. For free instructions on how to teach kids to read using BeginningReading.com materials, click on Program Info. Don't miss out on discovering the hilarious story telling by Robert Munsch @ StoryTime. This fabulous author was an absolute MUST read when my kids were young! Oh, how they would have loved to hear the stories read by the author himself!

Teaching about numbers? Then MathCards is for you! This is a simple interactive math game  for young children where they can click on a number and match it with a picture of numbers of objects. Children can work at increasing levels of difficulty.

Just for Kids was designed to be simple for kindergarten students to use independently after some initial modeling of how the site works. Choices are limited and environmental print and familiar images are use to assist students in making their way around the site independently. Just for Kids focuses on the basics of numbers, letters, stories, music and suggested kid-friendly sites can be found under "Just for Fun."

I also found some great sites for french language instruction, I'll share one now but you'll have to visit again for links to some of the best [pdf] files I've found to date! La maternelle de Moustache has many fabulous resources to help you.

And if you are looking for software, how about this freebie? It's Sebran's ABC which is available in French and English!   Check out the review by KidsDomain: "Never has there been such a completely simple and special Kindergarten program. For kids learning their letters and numbers, Sebran offers a great play station for fun and exploration. Kids can play Hangman, Memory, and Raindrops, or learn math with addition, subtraction, and multiplication. This download is a great way to start younger children on a computer, and many Preschool, Kindergarten, and First Grade teachers will find it well worth their time."

Hi!

It's finally come online! I know they've been working on it for a long time, and it was a HUGE project.

eFantasmic.com has loaded up over 100 different curriculum, and more is coming. It's all in electronic format, so you can instantly download it.

My son was doing some yesterday (as soon as the first ones were available), and it's a really neat concept. I'm going to use almost all of them.

Here's the best part, it's all based on library materials! So you don't need to buy expensive text books, it's all materials you can get your hands on quickly.

Plus, it's designed for us homeschoolers! What this means to you is that all the curriculum you do you with your child (including discussions) is all documented, so you have proof of everything you do.

Here's the link to go take a look: www.eFantasmic.com

Now here's the deal.

They are offering a subscription to the entire collection of curriculum, making it less than $1 per curriculum. Now that's a price that appeals to me.

But it's a limited offer. They are offering 50% OFF, that's what makes it less than $1 per curriculum. And this offer is only while they are still loading curriculum onto the site. Once the first batch is finished uploading, the price goes back to double.

It covers lots of stuff from history, science, chemistry, biology, fun stuff, you name... it's there. All the DK EyeWitness books are there, lots of National Geographic, Early Readers, Magic School Bus, Andrew Lost, Magic Tree House, Dear America History series, American Girl, and even Goosebumps and some other fun ones.

Here is URL: Go and check it out. If there are several titles that you would want, then the subcription is definitely worth it!

Enjoy!

Note: This is blogging, you'll need to check out the titles in the right-hand column, archives or continue on to the next page! No time? Check out the RSS feed. Never forget... your homeschool is YOUR homeschool! You do what works best for YOUR family! Visit our legal/légal section, where you will find information about support groups, curriculum suppliers, school boards, assessments and much more! If you find any of these blog entries helpful, let me know, leave a comment below! I'd enjoy hearing from you!

This is the ultimate link for field trips - travel anywhere you want to go without leaving home! I haven't checked every 'link' yet ! Let me know where you go!

http://www.techtrekers.com/virtualft.htm

This is a really neat live webcam from a watering hole in Africa . If you visit at different times of the day you can see all sorts of Africa wildlife visiting the watering hole and you can hear all of the noises they make. It is very fascinating! ~ http://www.wavelit.com/popup/playerAfricam.asp

To view Grizzly Bears visit ~ http://www.wavelit.com/index.asp?ch=Wildlife&sh=grizzlybears

(If you'd like to visit other areas of the world go to www.1000cam.com but want out for the ads ~ But you won't find a nicer site than this one, unfortunately!)

 Note: Because this is blogging you'll need to check out the titles in the right-hand column, archives or continue on to the next page!

Today, it's dark and dreary outside but inside we're hopping! The kids are at work on a report about different types of weather  (www.weatherwizkids.com) . My son, Tristan, will continue researching different types of weather but the other two need to be earning their credits for middle/high school, so...

I've found a really great site that will help them meet their requirements for Earth Science and Computer Science at the same time .(www.educationcentral.org/stormy/)        

Tristan is too young for this project but he's not too young for Computer Science. (www.crews.org/curriculum/ex/compsci/) This is a great web based course for grades six to eight, and ideal for those of us who need a refresher!