What are you favorite online resources for collecting information for research? (not games, apps, etc.)

Anyone else?

Can we start a thread on these? What are your favorite websites for virtual field trips? Obviously there are the Discovery Education virtual field trips... I recently stumbled across Field Trip Zoom which looks an amazing resource for a nominal fee. What other websites do you like to frequent? A friend recommended doing a tour of the Smithsonian.

there's an idea... maybe just take the covers off and use them for dividers... they are a pain to get in and out of the boxes which is one of the reasons I want to ditch them.

I have a bunch of guided reader sets that I want to sort and label by reading level. Am I going to regret throwing the boxes away? Not sure why I'm so stressed about the idea... I recycle DVD cases and book dust jackets all the time...and I rarely resell anything... usually just past stuff along when I'm done. They look so nice and neat in the boxes but they aren't as accessible to the kids this way. On the other hand I'm a bit nervous if I let them out of the boxes that they'll get scattered everywhere and I need then for lessons too.

DK leveled readers have great non-fiction books... Level 1 would be good for a reader ... although I do think they would be challenging for a brand new reader. My middle guy is a late bloomer and at age 7 is enjoying the Scholastic's Guided Science Readers because he is able to read them to himself with just a little bit of help.

Colonial House is great... there's a good list here too: http://edexcellence.net/commentary/education-gadfly-daily/flypaper/netflix-academy-the-best-streaming-videos-on-colonial

We are doing a geography club every month for this year. Each month is a different continent. Club lasts two hours (I assume a co-op class would be shorter) Anyhow, we have basic lesson about each continent and then a pertinent storybook that represents the continent. Then each child chooses a topic they want to be an "expert" on, whether it be food, architecture, games, art, etc. and teaches it to the group. They choose before the actual class takes place so they are prepared when its time. We have rotating stations set up that include: crafts, games, nomenclature cards, extra books, etc. Its working out really great for us because the kids are constantly moving and in a different environment every few minutes.

We are just *now* teaching note taking... and only as a way to write down key points for themes. I can't imagine taking notes for a lecture... I don't think I did that until 6th or 7th grade?

We have the Edcon literature guides... they are dry, but do the job. I like how they break down classic literature and make it more readable at a younger age. Usually there's an intro, the actual passage and the next two pages are vocabulary and comprehension.

we do a half hour of instruction and then when at home I require everything played 3x during a practice session... (we've only been taking lessons for a few years) I used to require a certain amount of minutes for practice but then he dawdled.

As far as teaching parts of speech and all that to a 6yo, we loved this series of books: http://www.amazon.com/If-You-Were-Noun-Word-ebook/dp/B00ESEEE74/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1412813595&sr=8-2&keywords=nouns For those who don't click links, the title is "If You Were A Noun" they also have verb, adverb, adjective, prefixes, suffixes, etc. There are a whole bunch of them in this series (variety of authors)

Thanks for the tips everyone. After mulling it over I'm just going to do interest-led with those two. Let them pick a topic and just go with it. I was going to use Seton as a spine with them, but the Seton 1st grade science book is very basic and all topics we've covered already. We do a lot of outdoors and nature activities already... plus we're relocating for a year and will be doing a lot of outdoor stuff in the area up there, so new environment.

Makes sense. By fitting it in I do mean 2-3x a week, but I get what you are saying. English/Grammar are one in the same so its really only 4 subjects I'm asking him to do every day (not including religion which we do as a family). I agree maybe "starting" the day with the fun stuff might help with the rest of it...

I get sinus migraines. My eyes get throbby and I see spots and then along with the sinus pressure I get all over head pain and just want to curl up in bed and die. Can't be around sound or light. I usually throw up if I don't lie down immediately.

He is learning cursive, thus the handwriting. Maybe I should just drop the phonics and do the spelling switch when the budget it there. (looking at All About Spelling) Really when he applies himself - he's done in less than 3 hours with the "boring" stuff.

I was curious so I emailed a good friend of mine who is 1/2 Native American and 1/2 Irish. We are in the northeast for reference. This was her reply: I guess it all depends on who you ask.

I have been there, but there won't be a chance for us to get out there any time soon. We have multiple museums that are within driving distance that will work for us that I'm going to try and get to before we move further north.

October is a perfect time of year. Not too touristy at all. It will be blustery on the coast, but it can be handled. Sandwich Glass museum is gorgeous, The Nature Center, and if you feel like taking a drive Plimoth (yes they spell it like that!) Plantation is always worth visiting once IMO. (I find them to be really $$ so I don't go as often as I do other places) Really you can't go wrong with the Cape. We don't get there as often as we would like.

The time switch for us was a huge issue. My 10 yo would seriously dawdle for 15 minutes and work the last 5 and get very little accomplished.

He is a good reader but a terrible speller. We've considered switching spelling completely to a different program but need to budget for it. Thus we're doing phonics every day but maybe that doesn't help spelling? Honestly I'm at a loss here. He's in grade 4 and 5 for his other subjects but spelling is grade 3. He definitely thinks this is busy work. He gets up in the morning first thing to do his work (which makes the day drag for him I think). I have built in breaks... I don't really time his core subjects. For me its about content, not the time he spends. He's only doing a page for each though - not pages upon pages... of course math he does more of, but that's the one subject he doesn't complain about and he does it last. I've tried the "time" thing but he honestly spends that time dawdling. So if I say we're going to spend 15 minutes on spelling... he'll goof off until the last 5 minutes and not finish. As far as exercise and activity goes - they have free access to indoor/outdoors, but I think with the season changing its affecting him a bit. He spends the day in his jammies when he cans. He is very active though - we do karate, soccer and he's in our local theater group. As far as chores - he helps out around the house - that's never a problem. He keeps his room neat and tidy, takes out the recycling, helps his siblings clean up the play area, etc. BUT he also spends a lot of time picking and stirring up trouble too. When he accomplishes something he does get a lot of praise... but by accomplish I mean - writes a poem that he shows off proudly or does an art project. When he gets through a day's work without fuss he also gets some special attention. He doesn't really take "pride" in his school work. I think he sees it as some sort of "chore" more than anything else.

How do you handle a student who is pushing back on the work? His workload has increased quite a bit now that he's in 4th grade. I don't think I'm asking a lot of him, but (and yes I get this is a discipline issue) he is complaining, walking away from his work, constantly getting distracted, and essentially I'm having to nag nag nag for him to get on task. I should mention that he turns 10 next month. He has a binder that I've broken down by day so he knows what needs to be done each day. In general he's a self-learner meaning I don't really have to do much with him. We do extensive units for science/social studies topics which is never a fight. Its the "everything else" that he's complaining about. We do the following: Saxon Math - daily Spelling - 3 days week Phonics - daily Vocab - 2 days per week (alternates with spelling) English/Grammar - daily Handwriting - daily Religion - daily We were doing Latin twice a week but I've dropped it for now until I get this under control. We work on unit studies for science and social studies when I can fit them in. Sometimes pages related to the topics are stuffed in the binder, sometimes not. I've showed the work load to my husband and I don't think I'm asking too much of him. In general when he's on task he can get his work done in a few hours, but lately its been taking all day and he's getting "homework" at night (and then of course whining because of that) We have a no electronics (including tv/video games/computer) rule until he gets his work done. He has two younger siblings that work side by side (one which takes a lot of hand holding) and I'm pulling my hair out staying on track.

The history is difficult to hear. The Six Nations museum we went to had an excellent documentation of it - what I liked was that some of the more difficult stories were displayed at a more age appropriate level.

I do have access to History Pockets - going to try out those. We visited this museum over the summer. If anyone is over up in the Adirondack area I definitely recommend it. Its so small that its easy to overlook, but had a huge impact when we visited. http://www.sixnationsindianmuseum.com/ That list from Winter Promise looks amazing!

Secular preferable. We already get the Catholic world-view through our curriculum. We are in the north east and have read up already a great deal on the Wampanoag and Iroquois. I've searched on curr-click and TPT... Can anyone recommend something they've used and enjoyed? This is for my 4th grader but I would take something that is geared towards higher or lower and adapt if needed.