Computer Skills
Computer literacy is essential in today's world. Kids pick up computer information and knowledge very quickly. Find the best resources for teaching kids about computer hardware, software, programming, and more.
Teaching Tips & Ideas
ThinkQuest
ThinkQuest is an international student competition, sponsored by the Oracle Education Foundation. Students work in teams to build creative and educational websites that explore globally relevant subjects. Diverse teams made up of members from more than one school, community, or country are encouraged. Competitions are open to students and teachers from anywhere in the world. Teams must have 3 to 6 students who are between the ages of 9 and 19, and one adult Coach who is a school employee. Homeschooled students may participate so long as they are part of a team that is associated with an accredited public, private, or parochial school (i.e., Primary Coach is an employee of an accredited public, private or parochial school and other team members are affiliated with an accredited school). Homeschooled students might consider forming a team with students from another country. Being a member of a multi-country team presents a great opportunity for all students to learn about other cultures and to learn valuable collaboration skills. The completed websites are published in the ThinkQuest Library, a rich learning resource used by millions.
Global Virtual Classroom Contest
The Global Virtual Classroom Contest is a global team cooperation and website-building activity for students from 7 to 18 years of age. Using Internet technologies to communicate, up to 100 teams of three schools each will build Websites on topics of their choosing. Each team will consist of three schools from three different countries. Team websites will be judged by a panel of VIP judges.
Computer Software for De-Schoolers
This article details the good reasons to use educational software in your homeschooling program.
USA Computing Olympiad /International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)
The IOI is the premier world wide high school computer programming competition. The USACO supports pre-college computing around the world through computer programming competitions and training materials. The USACO holds six Internet Contests during the academic year, and in the late Spring conducts the US Open, a proctored exam. Based on the results of these contests, 16 students are invited to an all-expense-paid training camp in the early summer, where 4 students are selected to be the US Team at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). To access the current year's information, click on the link on the left-hand menu.
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Featured Resources

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Beautiful Feet Books
Beautiful Feet Books publishes Rea Berg's "History Through Literature" study guides. They offer fine children's literature, including the D'Aulaire biographies and Genevieve Foster's "World" titles. This is a great resource for anyone wishing to utilize an approach that studies history through literature.
Conquering Chronic Disorganization
The real-life stories of chronically disorganized people and the ground breaking, easy-to-learn organizing methods used to end their chronic disorganization in the area of residential clutter, office organizing, paper management, storage, and time management. Conquerings pages includes an extensive index, user-friendly summaries, quick tips, helpful photographs, and a resource section of products and organizations.
These Rare Lands
If a picture's worth 1,000 words, this book--with its hundreds of breathtaking photos of America's National Parks--is a well-stocked bookstore. Accompanied by the words of poet laureate Mark Strand, These Rare Lands is a perfect coffee-table book for anyone who has enjoyed the wonders of nature's wildest places. From a storm over Sequoia National Park in California to the otherworldly stalactites and stalagmites of New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns and an Atlantic sunset in Maine's Acadia, th...
Smart Mouth
Ages: 8 years and up; For 2 or more playersSmart Mouth is a quick-thinking shout-it-out hilarious word game that helps build vocabulary skills. It includes variations of the rules for category play and for younger players. Players slide the Letter Getter forward and back to get two letters. The first player to shout out a word of five or more letters using those letters wins the round. The game includes tips for teachers. This is a fun game to play with children and adults together.
For the Good of the Earth and Sun: Teaching Poetry
For the Good of the Earth and Sun is for teachers at all levels, especially for those teachers who feel anxious about introducing poetry to students. Georgia Heard offers a method of teaching poetry that respects the intelligence of students and teachers and that can build upon their basic originality. She explores poetry from the inside as it is: a powerful and necessary way of looking at the world, and one of mankind's most durable inventions. Her book provides detailed, organized information ...