GCSE Revision Monkey
Our friends at GCSE Revision Monkey have lots of excellent sets of lessons and other resources for Sciences. Primary Sciences
Science Sparks
Some excellent ideas and resources for EYFS, KS1 and KS2 here: Science Sparks
(and some fun!)
Reusing Plastic Bottles Crafts and Projects
With many thanks to Charlie in Alabama for sharing his interest in science, craft and recycling, Reusing Plastic Bottles Crafts and Projects is an excellent offering from a large manufacturer of plastic and glass bottles. With links to a number of other pages sharing some great ideas for science, art and design using plastic bottles, there's a lot to explore and learn from (and have some fun in the process!). It's really great when our readers and learners share ideas and resources!
nrich
Our friends in Cambridge at nrich maths offer an excellent array of problems (with solutions!) and teaching/learning notes. UCL ScratchMaths
The team at UCL ScratchMaths have put together a superb combination of maths ideas and an introduction to coding. Aimed at pupils in Years 5 and 6, it's also a great intro for Year 7 pupils who haven't explored coding in Scratch before. Highly recommended! Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching
The Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching has an impressive collection of links to other learning sites. Well worth exploring.
Check out The Sarcastic Schoolteacher's amazing Youtube channel for some inspiring insights and awesome analysis of English Literature. Another highly recommended offering.
Coding projects with interactive hardware
Eventually! A link to some goodies for micro:bit and Raspberry Pi geeks!
The Pimoroni site has some excellent ideas for programming and projects using the BBC micro:bit and Raspberry Pi computers. Take a look there - and come back to our own Computing pages soon - we have some of our own micro:bit and Raspberry Pi projects and ideas in the pipeline!
W3schools - an excellent programming site
W3Schools is an excellent learning site, with clear explanations of every command and function in many mark-up, scripting, coding and query languages. Each language is covered command-by-command, most with "try it yourself" examples.
HTML and CSS, JavaScript, Python, SQL are all covered very thoroughly.
For the really adventurous student, this site also covers PHP, Java and C++. With piles of great examples and exercises, this is one of our favourite sites to refer students to. check it out now (you'd be foolish not to!).
HP Tech Takes - Coding games for Beginners
It's always good when one of our visitors shares their experience. With thanks to Girl Scout Jenna, whose mother wrote to us: "Jenna is a Girl Scout and she's currently working on her Coding Basics Badge as part of the STEM series for her troop. The Coding Basics Badge requires the girls to explore all of the different programming languages, learn about the women who changed the field of computer science and learn about algorithms."
She then metions a collection of coding games that Jenna found: HP Tech Takes - Coding Games for Beginners. We've checked this out, and there are, indeed, many excellent links on that page!
As to women who changed the field of computer science, it's worth checking out the works of Ada Lovelace, a woman mathematician whose work on Babbage's proposed mechanical computer pre-dated electronic computer technology by about a century. She is credited with being the first computer programmer in the world! Perhaps no surprise, then, that there's a programming language, Ada, named in her honour.
Our thanks, again, to Jenna.
Mr Fraser.org
Mr Fraser Is a teacher of Computing whose site has been a useful resource to us for a long time; a handy "go to" for times when six students in a class want help on different topics and there's only one teacher in the room! Take a dig around - his Programming Resources page has a load of further links which you might find handy.
Introducing Coding to Young Minds
Introducing Coding to Young Minds is an excellent recent addition to the Best Coding Bootcamps site. It offers many excellent ideas and approaches to encourage structure, logical thinking and coding. Our thanks to Samantha, student of Ms Stephanie, for drawing this resource to our attention.
A I Forward
A I Forward Looks at what Artificial Intelligents is (and what it is not!) and what kind of careers there are in AI. Going well beyond anything you'll need for GCSE or even A Level, it covers what it terms "Weak AI" where systems use pre-programmed datasets and algorithms - like spell-check in wordprocessors, for example - and "Strong AI" - self-learning systems that develop their knowledge and understanding through processes of ongoing "training on the job" using complex algorithms such as neural networks.
As I said, reaching some way beyond A Level (although could be applied in your practical if you want to really impress the examiner) this stuff is for those of you with a serious interest. Well worth checking out. This is another superb site introduced to us by Ms Stephanie.
UCL ScratchMaths
With no apology for repeating this link - it deserves mention here as well as in Maths...
The team at UCL ScratchMaths have put together a superb combination of maths ideas and an introduction to coding. Aimed at pupils in Years 5 and 6, it's also a great intro for Year 7 pupils who haven't explored coding in Scratch before. Highly recommended!
Music Tech Teacher
Some really great stuff on that site.
A "goodwill" site set-up by a Birmingham (Alabama) music teacher, this site offers an amazing range of resources for introductory Music Tech, practical music making, and more general music theory ... Composing With Sounds
For some different approaches to making music with your computer and a microphone, head over to our friends at Composing With Sounds for an introduction to the mysteries of musique concrète. Primary School Music
When the ABRSM teams up with Classic FM and Decca Classics, you can be sure the results are something worth looking at (and listening to!). Some great stuff here for EYFS, KS1 and KS2: Classical 100 Primary.
Rhyming Multisensory Stories
A wonderful site dedicated to storytelling through the senses, with some superb onward links as well. Rhyming Musltisensory Stories.
The Internet and World Wide web can be wonderful tools for learning and communication - indeed, they have changed our lives in the last 25 years (writing as someone who is older than that!). But, as with many things that have changed our lives for the better, the Web also has a darker and dirtier side. It is vital that your learner (and you) stay safe out there surfing the Web. Here are a few pointers to good resources for teaching and learning about Web safety.
"SWGfL are a not for profit charity ensuring everyone can benefit from technology free from harm. Forming 1/3 of the UK Safer Internet Centre, our experts advise schools, public bodies and industry on appropriate actions to take in regards to safeguarding and advancing positive online safety policies." BBC Bitesize KS2 Digital Literacy
Some good materials at Key Stage 2 here. BBC Bitesize KS3 eSaftey
Some good materials at Key Stage 3 here.
One question home educating parents often ask concerns how home ducated children can take GCSE and A Level exams. Many FE colleges will allow "external candidates" to sit exams at their centres. There are also exam centres specially for home educating families. For example, Tutors And Exams run centres in Coventry, Bolton, Wimbledon and Doncaster where home educated children can take examinations:
The Home Education Resources UK Facebook page has a great collection of materials and links.
Home Education Resources and Support is another Facebook group well worth checking out. We're all in this together.
