Ben Franklin & The Moon's Gravity

Today was so much fun with our history and astronomy work.

This year we've been using Beautiful Feet which uses lots of historical picture books by Ingri and Pierre D'Aulaire. The books are great, but there just aren't a whole lot of activities and kids at this age really need to do! Recently I finally decided to list all the topics and cover them on my own.

We're studying Benjamin Franklin right now and his time period and I found a book I want to work through with them. The whole thing! It's so great. It's called Amazing Ben Franklin Inventions You Can Build Yourself. Contrary to what the title implies though, there is much more to the book than inventions of his. There are vocabulary words, historical information surrounding his life and the time period and things to make from the same time period. I really like the layout and the tone of the text too. Today we read the chapter about paper money. We only got the book from the library yesterday and I had been perusing it today to pick for today, so I wasn't as prepared as I'll be in the future with materials. We could have made our own paper money but were missing one thing. Instead, we did the other activity and made invisible ink which we used on the girls' own money they made. I had Heidi copy vocabulary words and Autumn wrote her own as I read the chapter. Afterwards I had Autumn write a letter to the president telling him why she thought a historical figure of her choice should be chosen to be on paper currency. She chose Nephi and felt he deserved that distinction because he killed Laban and was brave. Oh, how I love this girl! That was her writing for the day, which was a happy thing for both of us. She enjoyed writing it. Big step.


I also gave them some money to look at and hold while I read. Then we made our bills and used our invisible ink to add watermarks. It was great! Apparently there's a whole "you can build yourself" series. The recommended ages of most of the books are 9-12 and 6-9. But I think that even the 9-12 books will work since they're meant for the kids to do "on their own" and I want to use it to do WITH them. Here's the link to their catalog if you'd like to look at it. http://www.nomadpress.net/sites/default/files/u4/NP.09Catalog_Final_WebOptimized.pdf

I'm hoping most, if not all, of these will be available from the library so that I can look them over before deciding if this would work. But initially, I'm thinking about doing the books in chronological order next year. Maybe with something like Hillyer's A Child's History of the World as the backbone. And since we're studying Apologia Astronomy for science this year
, I found one of the solar system books Nomad Press offers here at my library and have requested it to see if it has anything I'd like to use to supplement.

This week in Astronomy we're studying the moon. Today we talked about how the moon has less gravity than the earth. We learned that Autumn would weigh 9 lbs on the moon and I would weigh about 20 lbs on the moon. In a flash of inspiration, I handed Autumn two 5-lb bags of flour to show her about what she would weigh. Then I asked Autumn and Heidi to try to pick me up. After they tried, I had them fill a grocery bag with four 5-lb bags of flour and pick it up together. They also each took a turn picking it up and we noted how high they would be able to pick ME up on the moon. Lots of fun!

Links from a friend

There are some great sites here. I have not looked at ALL of them though, so let me know if there are any dead links.

Early Learning:

1. Starfall – Teaches alphabet and early reading skills.
http://www.starfall.com

2. Brightly Beaming Resources – Letter of the week, sound of the week, science of the
week, etc. This is a good all-around site for early learning.
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/

3. Rhyme a week
http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/g….htm#This_Week

4. Enchanted Learning – Not really free, but a lot can be accessed without paying
(membership is $20 donation/year per family)
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html

Whole Curriculum:
1. Ambleside Online – Charlotte Mason. Wonderful resource that includes lots of info and
is really a full curriculum option. Great booklist!
http://amblesideonline.org/index.shtml

2. An Old-Fashioned Education – Another really complete option. LOTS of stuff to look
at and use here!
http://oldfashionededucation.com/

3. Puritans’ Home School – I have never used this. VERY religious site, but it does
appear pretty complete.
http://www.puritans.net/curriculum/

4. Core Knowledge lesson plans – Tons of lesson plans on lots of subjects from PK-8. I
have not used this, but it looks really good.
http://www.coreknowledge.org/CK/resr…sons/index.htm

5. About.com Homeschooling section (not really a whole curriculum, but TONS of stuff)
http://homeschooling.about.com/

6. Tanglewood Education
http://www.tanglewoodeducation.com/

7. The Baltimore Project
http://www.cstone.net/~bcp/BCPIntro2.htm

8. PASS Materials (FL)
http://www.pass.leon.k12.fl.us/default.aspx

9. Paula’s Archives
http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/

10. EdSITEment
http://www.edsitement.neh.gov/

11. Mater Amabilis (Catholic Charlotte Mason Curriculum)
http://materamabilis.org/

Unit Studies:
1. Homeschool Share – Lots and lots and LOTS of projects and unit studies.
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/

2. A Journey Through Learning Inventor unit study and lapbook. Click on Free products
http://ajourneythroughlearning.com/

3. H.I.P. Pocket Change. Several Lesson Plans revolving around money
http://www.usmint.gov/kids/teachers/lessonPlans/

4. Homeschool Helper
http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/units.htm

5. Oceanography
http://www.currclick.com/product_inf…roducts_id=243

6. SCORE Cyberguides
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cyberguide.html

7. Eyes
http://www.aaofoundation.org/what/heritage/

8. Birds Notebooking pages
http://www.currclick.com/product_inf…ers=0_0&free=1

9. Nature Study
http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/

10. Canada
http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/canadaunit.htm

Math:
1. Ray’s Arithmetic – 1885 math book on google books. Thorough and “back to basics”.
(click on the icon on the page and scroll down to read/print)
http://books.google.com/books?id=eop…age&q=&f=false

2. CSMP materials – K-6
http://ceure.buffalostate.edu/~csmp/…ram/index.html

3. First Lessons in Arithmetic – 1878 math text
http://www.donpotter.net/math.htm

4. NC public school math program K-2
http://community.learnnc.org/dpi/mat…s_k2_resou.php

5. Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching (UK) – AKA MEP
http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm

6. Living Math History (lessons on right)
http://livingmath.net/LessonPlans/C1…S/Default.aspx

7. Pearson Scott Foresman K-5
http://pgcounty.scottforesman.com/

8. Geogebra (Algebra and Geometry)
http://www.geogebra.org/cms/

9. Oakes Math
http://dorioakes.bravehost.com/Math.html

10. Eduplace printable workbooks
http://www.eduplace.com/math/hmm/practice/lp_1.html
http://www.eduplace.com/math/hmm/practice/lp_2.html
http://www.eduplace.com/math/hmm/practice/lp_3.html
http://www.eduplace.com/math/hmm/practice/l _ 4.html
http://www.eduplace.com/math/hmm/practice/lp_5.html
http://www.eduplace.com/math/hmm/practice/lp_6.html
and activities that coordinate with this program
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmm/

11. Middle/High school math
http://go.hrw.com/gopages/ma-msm.html

12. McDougal Littell Math Course
http://www.classzone.com/cz/books/ms…e.htm?state=MN
http://www.classzone.com/cz/books/ms…e.htm?state=MN
http://www.classzone.com/cz/books/ms…e.htm?state=MN
http://www.classzone.com/cz/books/pr…e.htm?state=MN
http://www.classzone.com/cz/books/al…e.htm?state=MN
http://www.classzone.com/cz/books/ge…e.htm?state=MN
http://www.classzone.com/cz/books/al…e.htm?state=MN

13. Missouri Schools program (including TM/answers)
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/math/msma…e/index.php/mo
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/math/msma…e/index.php/mo
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/math/msma…e/index.php/mo
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/math/prea…/index.php4/mo
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/math/alge…/index.php4/mo

14. Glencoe Workbooks
http://www.glencoe.com/sites/georgia…workbooks.html

15. Public Schools of NC math program
http://community.learnnc.org/dpi/mat…s_k2_resou.php

Math Drill:
1. Math Magician Games
http://resources.oswego.org/games/ma…cathymath.html

2. Printable math worksheets
http://www.mathfactcafe.com/

3. Math U See (online)
http://mathusee.com/drill.html

4. Math worksheets to create and print (some portions pay)
http://themathworksheetsite.com/

5. Timez Attack (multiplication video game – way cool) – basic is free
http://www.bigbrainz.com/indexd.php

6. Harcourt activities
http://harcourtschool.com/menus/math2002/na/gr1.html
http://harcourtschool.com/menus/math2002/na/gr2.html
http://harcourtschool.com/menus/math2002/na/gr3.html
http://harcourtschool.com/menus/math2002/na/gr4.html
http://harcourtschool.com/menus/math2002/na/gr5.html
http://harcourtschool.com/menus/math2002/na/gr6.html

7. Learn to play chess (I guess this is math…haha)
http://chesskids.com/

Phonics:
1. Word Mastery
http://donpotter.net/PDF/Word%20Mastery%20-%20Typed.pdf

2. Starfall (learn to read online)
http://www.starfall.com/

3. Blend Phonics
http://www.donpotter.net/Blend%20Phonics.htm

4. Sadler-Oxford
http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/phonics/student.cfm

5. Progressive Phonics
http://www.progressivephonics.com/

6. Society for Quality Education
http://www.societyforqualityeducatio…stairway2.html

Literature/Reading Guides and Units:
1. Novel Study Guides for the Classroom Teacher
http://www.nt.net/~torino/novels3.html

2. Reading Units by Gay Miller
http://www.mce.k12tn.net/units/units_with_books.htm

3. Garden of Praise
http://www.gardenofpraise.com/lesson.htm

4. Glencoe Literature Guides
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/

5. Literature Activity Guides by Nancy Polette – These are samples, but are in depth
enough to test if your child understood the story.
http://www.nancypolette.com/litguides.asp

6. SCORE Cyberguides (California schools)
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/SCORE/cyberguide.html

7. Dangerous Journey (Pilgrim’s Progress for kids version) study guide
https://www.visionvideo.com/pdf/DangJourney.pdf

8. Course in nature study: for grades one and two – Detroit Public Schools
http://books.google.com/books?id=i8EOAAAAMAAJ

9. Nature-study: a manual for teachers and students
http://books.google.com/books?id=C4EWAAAAIAAJ

10. Readquarium (mostly games)
http://www.gamequarium.com/readquarium/index.html

11. Harcourt Guides
Grade 1
http://harcourtschool.com/menus/trophies/grade_1.html
Grade 2
http://harcourtschool.com/menus/trophies/grade_2.html
Grade 3
http://harcourtschool.com/menus/trophies/grade_3.html
Grade 4
http://harcourtschool.com/menus/trophies/grade_4.html
Grade 5
http://harcourtschool.com/menus/trophies/grade_5.html
Grade 6
http://harcourtschool.com/menus/trophies/grade_6.html

12. National Park Service
http://www.nps.gov/history/

Free Books:
1. Classical Education Library
http://www.classical-education.net/

2. Kids4Classics
http://www.kids4classics.com/

3. Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/

4. Online Library of Liberty
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php…icxt&Itemid=29

5. Google Books
http://books.google.com/books

6. The Baldwin Project
http://www.mainlesson.com/main/displ…icle=christmas

7. Planet eBook
http://www.planetebook.com/

8. 19th Century Schoolbooks
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/nietz/

9. Librivox – Free online audiobooks
http://librivox.org/

10. Storynory – Free online audiobooks
http://storynory.com/

11. Free Books online
http://www.wowio.com/

12. Magic Keys
http://www.magickeys.com/books/

13. Fun Brain
http://www.funbrain.com/brain/Readin…dingBrain.html

14. Interactive Story Books
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch…nlinestory.htm

15. Stories about American Heroes
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi

Spelling/Vocab.:
1. http://www.spellingcity.com Awesome website where you can input a list or click on
someone else’s list. Games and quizzes, etc.

2. Zaner Bloser Spelling Connections – practice pages
http://www.zaner-bloser.com/spelling…ice-pages.html

3. Splashes from the River – free spelling course
http://www.splashesfromtheriver.com/…rseoutline.htm

4. Webster’s Spelling – 1824 spelling book
http://www.donpotter.net/PDF/Webster…ook%201824.pdf

5. Merriam Webster’s daily Buzzword (and games)
http://www.wordcentral.com/buzzword/buzzword.php

Handwriting:
1. Zaner Bloser online
http://www.zaner-bloser.com/zbfontsonline/index.htm

2. Writing Wizard Make Handwriting Worksheets – ESL Writing Wizard
http://www.writingwizard.longcountdo…eet_maker.html

3. Custom Tracer Pages
http://www.kidzone.ws/tracers/none/index.asp

Grammar and creative Writing:
1. Harvey’s Grammar
http://books.google.com/books?id=H8A…loirCg#PPP1,M1

2. Young Novelist Workbooks. There is a workbook for elementary, middle and high
school. Designed to go with national novel writing month, but can be used any time.
http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/workbooks

3. English Banana Elementary Workbook. For individual pages go to:
http://www.englishbanana.com/big-gra…orksheets.html
For complete download go to: http://download.cnet.com/English-Ban…=dl&tag=button

4. Scott Foresman
http://www.sfreading.com/resources/ghb.html

5. KISS Grammar
http://home.pct.edu/~evavra/KISS.htm

6. Daily Grammar
http://www.dailygrammar.com/archive.shtml

7. Book Adventure
http://www.bookadventure.org/

8. Read-Write-Think
http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/index.asp

9. Grammar/Writing 6-12
http://www.glencoe.com/sites/missour…workbooks.html

10. Eduplace
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hme/k_5/practice.html
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hme/6_8/

11. Writing Templates
http://www.classzone.com/cz/find_state.htm

12. Writing for the Grammar Stage
http://home.att.net/~mikejaqua/may-june-00.html

History:
1. Scripted ‘People of America’ History lessons
http://www.prontolessons.com/lessons.html

2. Little City Kids K/1 History/Geography plans
http://www.littlecitykids.com/lessonplans/index.php

3. American Heritage. Uses teacher jargon, but is complete.
http://www.americanheritage.org/curriculum.html

4. American History (WONDERFUL SITE)
http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschoo…toryindex.html

5. Mosaic Introduction to World History
http://bringinguplearners.com/mosaic…s-and-marvels/

6. World History Outline
http://www.smithlifescience.com/SS2005LessonPlans.htm

7. Animated Atlas of US history
http://www.animatedatlas.com/movie2.html

8. Myths, Maps, and Marvels – Ancients lesson plans
http://bringinguplearners.com/mosaic/

9. Colonial Williamsburg
http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/

10. Ancient Mesopotamia unit
http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/…Lesson%20Plans

Geography:
1. Countries and Cultures around the world. Elementary age.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/5622573/Co…s-of-the-World

2. Sheppard Software Geography (Online)
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Geography.htm

3. Discover America State by State. Uses the C is for…… book series.
http://www.gale.cengage.com/Discover…ides/index.htm

4. Outline Maps
http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/

5. Nat. Geo. Xpeditions for Geography
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/

6. www.kidsofcourage.com click on downloads, give the info, click on downloads again.
A countries and cultures curriculum at your fingertips with all the activities and fun right
there…and enough to last a couple years! It’s good for youngers too but it’s quite a bit of
info to take in, so there’s plenty of “meat” in there for olders as well. You could grab
some library books to go along with it for whichever country you are on.
www.kidsofcourage.com

7. Adoption/Cultures
http://www.rainbowkids.com/HTMLFiles…KidsActivities

8. Growing Up Around the World: Books as Passports to Global Understanding for
Children in the United States is a project of the International Relations Committee of the
Association for Library Service to Children
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/al…roundWorld.cfm

Current Events:
1. TIME for kids.
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/

2. NY Times Learning Network. Updated daily and many archived lessons
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/index.html

Music:
1. High school music ed
http://www.harmonyfinearts.com/section/freedownloads/

2. Classics for Kids
http://www.classicsforkids.com/

3. Piano Lessons
http://www.gmajormusictheory.org/Freebies/freebies.html

4. Guitar
http://www.gmajormusictheory.org/Fre…itarindex.html

5. Music Theory
http://www.gmajormusictheory.org/Fun…workbooks.html

Art:
1. Dick Blick Lessons
http://www.dickblick.com/lessonplans/

2. Meet the Masters
http://www.getinvolvedineducation.co…ram-Manual.pdf

3. A Lifetime of Color
http://www.alifetimeofcolor.com/main.taf?p=1

4. Teach Art at Home
http://www.teachartathome.com/FreeProjectCurrent.html

Teacher helps (planning/support):
1. Donna Young – Tons of planning stuff, including some things like handwriting
masters.
donnayoung.org

2. Homeschool Inc. – Online planning software (very versatile)
http://home-school-inc.com

3. Homeschool Tracker (planning software – basic free, full pay)
http://homeschooltracker.com/

4. Online Lesson Planner, Scheduler, and Tracker
http://www.homeschoolskedtrack.com/H…isplayLogin.do

5. Super Teacher Worksheets. Lots of well done worksheets for all subject areas. Grade
level 1st-4th
http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/index.html

6. Free Forms
http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/forms.html

7. Freebie of the day
http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/

8. Currclick. They feature a free product once a week to download. It usually changes
Monday afternoons
http://www.currclick.com/index.php

9. Freely educate. Lots of great links here
http://www.freelyeducate.com/

10. Hoagies Gifted. Tons of Free high school curriculum links
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/online_hs.htm

11. Education World
http://educationworld.com/

12. Internet Activities to coordinate with each grade and subject
http://www.gsc.amdsb.ca/

13. Scholastic
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/learn.jsp

14. Softschools
http://www.softschools.com/

15. Videos (creationist site — have not used)
http://www.answersingenesis.org/kids/videos

16. Worksheets
http://www.worksheetworks.com/miscel…rganizers.html

17. Charlotte Mason stuff (not all free)
http://simplycharlottemason.com/

18. FossWeb by Delta Education. Click on the subject, then teacher resources. You will
then have to click on Teacher Prep videos for the lessons. Everything else on the page
supports the lessons. There are games, worksheets, and many additional resources listed
http://www.fossweb.com/modules3-6/index.html

19. Higher Up and Further In blog
http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/

20. Pioneer Woman blog
http://thepioneerwoman.com/

21. Well-Trained Mind
welltrainedmind.com/forums/

22. Teacher Tube
http://www.teachertube.com/

Science:
1. Engineering for kids ages 8 and up. Single subject lesson plans. Nicely done and easy
to understand
http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forum…ree+curriculum

2. Earth Awareness Curriculum for Middle Schoolers
http://cygnus-group.com/use-less-stuff/NSTA.html

3. Life Science Curriculum
http://www.eequalsmcq.com/Thank%20yo…%20Science.htm

4. Otter’s Science
http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschoo…ence_main.html

5. K-12 Science
http://www.msnucleus.org/curriculum/curriculum.html

6. Take a Cloud Walk (Cloud unit)
http://www.takeawalk.com/cloud-walk/

7. Science plans for 6th grade based on the “Prentice-Hall Life Science” book
http://www.smithlifescience.com/

8. Hands-On Technology Program
http://www.galaxy.net/~k12/

9. NASA for educators
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/index.html

10. Science Songs
http://www.acme.com/jef/singing_science/

11. Invitations to Science Inquiry
http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/eri…0/1e/27/27.pdf

12. Science Videos
http://www.teachersdomain.org/

13. Animal Units
http://www.scribd.com/people/documen…06/folder/1072

14. Animal Activity Packs
http://www.kidszoo.org/education/zaps.htm

15. Videos that demonstrate experiments for every element on the periodic table
http://www.periodicvideos.com/

16. Click on the element and then on the microphone to hear about the element
http://www.webelements.com/

17. Inventor’s Timeline
http://inventors.about.com/od/timeli…Nineteenth.htm

18. BODIES, the exhibition ~ includes educator guides for various grade levels from
Carnegie Science Center. Even if you aren’t interested in the exhibit or pictures of the
preserved bodies, there is good info in the guides that can be used for lessons:
http://wheresciencehappens.org/bodiesguide.htm

Computer Science:
1. Blender 3D animation creation
http://www.blender.org/

2. Computer Programming Course
http://www.alice.org/index.php

3. Computer Training Courses
http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/

4. Computer Animating and Design
http://scratch.mit.edu/

Typing:
1. Online typing Course
http://www.goodtyping.com/

2. Dance Mat Typing
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

3. Touch Typing (Online)
http://www.sense-lang.org/typing/

4. Kiran’s Typing Tutor
http://www.kiranreddys.com/products/typing.html

5. Learn2Type
http://www.learn2type.com/

Foreign Language:
1. BBC Languages
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

2. Elementary/Middle School beginning Spanish. The first book listed is a free download.
http://nflrc.iastate.edu/pubs/units/unitsList.html

3. Greek and Latin
http://www.textkit.com/

4. FSI Language Courses
http://fsi-language-courses.com/default.aspx

5. Live Mocha – This is a social site, so you may want to monitor your kids closely on this
one.
http://www.livemocha.com/

6. OFS (Online free spanish)
http://www.onlinefreespanish.com/

7. Spanish Unlimited
http://www.spanishunlimited.com/

8. Latin Resources
http://www.cdacademy.com/class/2007/…-games-online/
http://www.gettingstartedwithlatin.com/
http://hungryfrog.com/classics.html
http://homeschool.online.program.lat…lyfishfun.com/
http://www.memoriapress.com/help/Latin.htm

9. French Resources
http://www.poissonrouge.com/
http://lexiquefle.free.fr/learn-french.htm

10. Boca Beth (Spanish)
http://www.youtube.com/results?searc…rch_type=&aq=f

11. Salsa (Spanish)
http://www.gpb.org/salsa/term/episodes

12. Mommy Teach Me Spanish
http://www.youtube.com/results?searc…rch_type=&aq=f

13. In the Beginning Greek
http://www.inthebeginning.org/

Home Economics/Life Skills:
1. Future Christian Homemakers (Have not used or looked into this)
http://www.futurechristianhomemakers…sonsIndex.html

Virtual Field Trips:
1. Take a field Trip
http://www.uen.org/tours/fieldtrips2.shtml

2. Meet Me at the Corner
http://www.meetmeatthecorner.org/

High School/College (have not used these or looked closely at them):
1. HippoCampus Free Courses
http://www.hippocampus.org/

2. Mixed Courses in many subjects
http://www.free-ed.net/free-ed/

3. Printable Courses in all subject areas. Not sure who funds this one, but I like how the
curriculum is laid out
http://www.pass.leon.k12.fl.us/Speci…t%20Areas.aspx

4. University of Berkley Courses. Tons of Free Courses available here
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/

5. Yale University Open Courses. Nicely done and easy to access IMO
http://oyc.yale.edu/

6. University of Washington free courses
http://www.outreach.washington.edu/openuw/

7. M.I.T. open Courseware. Tons of completely free courses in many subjects
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm

Health and Nutrition:
1. http://www.nutritionexplorations.org…ssons-main.asp

Homeschooling for Free

A dear friend just started homeschooling her girls and we are overdue for a phone call. She has questions and I have stuff I can share. Because neither of us have called each other but I've still been mulling it over, I pulled out some lists I've put together recently. Enjoy!

http://www.sfreading.com/resources/ghb.html -- Gr. 1-6, free writing/language arts workbooks. I think they're good but could use additional writing practice.
http://www.freelyeducate.com/ -- this is a site I have on RSS feed. Sometimes they do "best of" posts for different grade levels based on things they've found over the last school year
http://donnayoung.org/penmanship/ -- Handwriting Lessons
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/ -- a great typing game
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/drilldown/stories/2/1/1/ -- This is an EXCELLENT website, definitely deserves some extended perusing to see just what it has to offer. I love it.
http://www.currclick.com/index.php?free=1&filters=0_0_0 -- Some free curriculums, mostly unit studies. The free stuff changes from time to time. I get emails from them regularly updating me. In May they had 10 days where they had several free things each day. I download them and save them for whenever they'll be useful.
http://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/standard/stdlower.html -- I think this link will show you a page you can print for handwriting practice. It may look confusing at first, but it has options at the top that allow you to pick what letters you want to appear and how many times as aids for the writing you want your kids to do. There are lots of other printable pages like this on dltk
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cyk3.html -- Free cyberguides for several books for grades K-3 -- This could be a great resource for building the reading/comprehension part of a curriculum.
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skills_1st.htm -- Math & Language Arts Skill Builders activities kids can do online, by grade level. We've loved the ones we've used. If I were going to school completely free, this would be a big part of it.
http://www.gamequarium.com/ -- Someone else pointed me toward this one but I haven't had time to peruse it.
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/schoolfonts2.html -- Handwriting worksheets
http://www.squidoo.com/homeschoolfun -- I haven't looked at this either, but it says they have over 100 free homeschooling resources. It's something I have bookmarked to look at eventually... :)
http://www.mrsjonesroom.com/teachers/worksheets.html#writing -- More handwriting pages, my favorite for PreK and K
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/ -- Math, History, Health, ALL sorts of games
http://www.poetryteachers.com/poetclass/lessons/sharing.html -- A great poetry for kids website.
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/articles/060899.htm -- A way to assess your kids reading levels