All Subjects: In the Hands of a Child

http://www.handsofachild.com


This website is so fantastic for a unit study based on a child's interest.

Do you have trouble sorting out how to keep personal research going? Or have a topic you want to cover as a family but don't have time or energy to plan it out?

This site has a variety of options, ever-growing, for lapbooks - but you don't have to just make lapbooks - you can use the same information and activities to make a posterboard display instead, or just put each activity on its own page in a notebook (get a one-subject notebook for each project you do) with lots of space for the child to add in his own ideas and the results of his own studies.

Don't use these for every single follow-up or research project, but especially to fill in an area that you or your children are wallowing around not sure where to go or you have something that has to be learned but there is just no interest - THIS is the place to go!

And they have stuff for ages preschool through high school!

Ellen McHenry Bargain Basement

http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/index.php





Fantastic educational items for sale - some for free - most for low-cost. Worth checking out!

Art: Drawing Textbook

A blank page presents a wealth of opportunity!

For those 5 year olds and older (including adults) who want a guided but very key-based approach to basic drawing skills. THIS book is IT! 

37 lessons with additional information on the end, the small size of this book may fool you as to its depth. 

The new artist is to focus on each lesson individually until totally comfortable, drawing simple objects with a pencil onto small (quarter size) paper so as to focus on the task at hand and not worrying about filling that space - or wasting paper on mistakes! Each lesson hones in on line, shading, and other artistic concepts. 

By halfway through the new artist feels very quite confident when looking back on what he has learned - and by the end of the book, while there are no horses in the book, the new artist is VERY competent at drawing such creatures. 

Music: Major Scale Construction

http://junkseller.hubpages.com/hub/Musical-Scales-Chart





This chart has to be the NEATEST thing for the mathematical and geometric patterns within music.

Visit this site for more information:
Musical Scales Chart


HINT: Read the chart going down. If you want C-Major scale, there are no sharps and flats, so nothing below it. If you want C-sharp Major scale, it has all sharps listed below it ;)


Read the article, then build this as an activity with the children after they done the album pages on the major scales constructions.

Paper Varieties - Free Printables

http://www.printablepaper.net/

This site has a variety of paper options for all the variety of research that the elementary child does.

It is NOT specifically Montessori, so you won't find banded line paper, but you WILL find graph paper in a variety of formats, music paper, and so much more!