Free Children’s Education
One of my Favorite site’s and my most used (at this point) is called Schoolexpress.com. Between the free worksheets, free weekly Units (if you sign up for their weekly news letter), to the ability to create your own Worksheets, this is a Great Site.
A great site for Math is homeschoolmath.net. I like to use this site for the Pre-made Worksheets (which are grade appropriate). But I also love the great Teaching advice they provide in their weekly news letters.
and one must not forget to mention Dad’s Worksheets.com where you will find over 7,400 free worksheets.
Another awesome site that we have come across is Funbrain.com. Here children can play educational games aimed mostly toward Math and Reading.
My kids & I love Science.
And what’s Not to Love?
Anatomy, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science…
We Love it all.
Biology
- World Animals
- Botany – Kid’s. Gov
- National Geographic – Environment
- 4H Virtual Farm
- Insects A-Z
- Rainforest
- Microbe Zoo
- General Biology Lesson Plans
- Cells Alive
- Desert Plants
- Insectclopedia
- Wonderful World of Insects
- Ocean Adventure
Beverly Hills City Hall, California
The Beverly Hills City Hall has gracefully presided over the city’s civic life since 1932 and has become famous the world over after being used in several blockbuster films such as Beverley Hills Cop.
Architect William Gage created the Spanish Renaissance building in typical government style of that era. The low classical base, which symbolizes government, is dominated by an eight-story tower, which represents commerce. But the beauty of the building, with its tiled dome and gilded cupola, soon transcended the typical government building and has become a beloved local landmark.
Renovated to meet new safety and earthquake codes in 1982 the rich architectural details were carefully maintained. Inside, the terrazzo floors, marble walls and intricate ceilings were cleaned and restored. Outdoors, grime was meticulously removed from the blue, green and gold tile on the dome and gilded cupola.
Hollywood Sign, California
Today, the definitive symbol of the world of entertainment, the 45 feet high white letters of the Hollywood Sign were originally created merely as an advertisement in 1923, but garnered increasing recognition after its initial purpose had been fulfilled.
The sign originally read HOLLYWOODLAND, and its purpose was to advertise a new housing development in the hills above the Hollywood district of Los Angeles.
After falling into disrepair, in 1978, the sign was brought back to life following a massive public campaign headed by shock rocker Alice Cooper. Nine donors paid to replace the letters (which were originally made of wood) with Australian steel, guaranteed to last for many years.
Ghost Town, Bodie, California
Bodie, California is a ghost town east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, about 75 miles (120 km) southeast of Lake Tahoe.
As Bodie Historic District, the U.S. Department of the Interior recognizes it as a National Historic Landmark. The ghost town has been administered by California State Parks since becoming a state historic park in 1962.
Bodie began as a mining camp of little note following the discovery of gold in 1859 by prospector W. S. Bodey. In 1876, the Standard Company discovered a profitable deposit of gold-bearing ore, which transformed Bodie from an isolated mining camp to a Wild West boomtown.
As a bustling gold mining center, Bodie had the amenities of larger towns, including two banks, a brass band, railroad, miner’s and mechanic’s unions, several newspapers, and a jail. At its peak 65 saloons lined Main Street, which was a mile long. Murders, shootouts, barroom brawls, and stagecoach holdups were regular occurrences.
Though greatly reduced in prominence, Bodie held a permanent residency through most of the 20th century, even after a fire ravaged much of the downtown business district in 1932.
Today, Bodie is preserved in a state of arrested decay. Visitors can walk the deserted streets of a town that once had a population of nearly 10,000 people. Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods.
Aerial Tramway, Palm Springs, California
The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway opened in September 1963 as a way of getting from the floor of the Coachella Valley to near the top of San Jacinto Peak. Prior to its construction, the only way to the top of the mountain was to hike for several hours from Idyllwild.
Today, the tram is one of the biggest attractions in Southern California. The eight-and-a-half-minute ride beginning at the Valley Station up North America’s sheerest mountain face passes through several life zones on its way to the mountain station at 8516 feet (2600 m) above mean sea level.
The trip has been likened in terms of geologic and climatic change to a motor trip from Sonora to the Canadian tundra. Passengers disembark at the Mountain Station in the alpine wilderness of Long Valley and Mount San Jacinto State Park.
The air can be as much as 40 °F (25 °C) cooler at the top than in the desert. Visitors can walk along nature trails, take a burro ride or even play in the snow during the winter months. The view at the top can stretch northward for more than 200 miles (300 km) on a clear day, all the way to Mount Charleston north of Las Vegas. Views to the east and west can stretch as far as 75 miles (120 km); the Salton Sea is plainly visible to the southeast.
Fun Facts about California
State Flag
Origin of Name: Derived from a popular Spanish novel published in 1510 which described a fictional island paradise named California — Las Sergas de Esplandián,by Garcia Ordóñez de Montalvo.
- State Abbreviation – CA
- State Capital – Sacramento
- Statehood – September 9, 1850
- Number of Counties – 58
- State Motto – Eureka (I have found it)
- State Flower – Golden Poppy
- State Tree – California Redwood
- State Bird – California Valley Quail
- State Animal – Grizzly Bear
- State Marine Animal – California Gray Whale
- State Marine Fish – The Garibaldi
- State Fish – Golden Trout
- State Insect – The California dogface butterfly
- State Nickname – Golden State
- State Gem – Benitoite
- State Rock – Serpentine
- State Fossil – The Sabre-Tooth Cat
- State Area Codes – 209, 213, 310, 323, 369, 408, 415, 424, 442, 510, 530, 559, 562, 619, 626, 627, 628, 650, 657, 661, 669, 707, 714, 747, 752, 760, 805, 818, 831, 858, 871, 909, 916, 925, 935, 949, 951
- National Parks – 10
- National Forests – 18
- State Parks & Beaches – 278
Hollywood Boulevard – Hollywood, California
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is Hollywood’s tribute to the Hollywood Stars of yesterday and today. This is where the Stars are immortalized with a star on the sidewalk in their honor. The Hollywood Walk of Fame lines both sides of Hollywood Boulevard from Gower to La Brea, and both sides of Vine Street, from Yucca to Sunset.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame was created in 1958 by southern Californian artist Oliver Weissmuller, who was hired by the city to give Hollywood a “face lift”. Many honorees received multiple stars during the initial phase of installation for contributions to separate categories; however, the practice in recent decades has been to honor individuals not yet represented, with only a handful of previous honorees being awarded additional stars. In 1978, the City of Los Angeles designated the Walk of Fame as a Cultural/Historic Landmark.
The Walk of Fame began with 2,500 blank stars. A total of 1,558 stars were awarded during its first sixteen months. Since then, about two stars have been added per month. By 2005, more than 2,400 of the original stars were filled, and additional stars extended the Walk west past Sycamore to La Brea Avenue, where it now starts/ends at the Silver Four Ladies of Hollywood Gazebo, (with stars honoring The Beatles and Elvis Presley). The Walk of Fame is maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust.
In order for a person to get a star on the Walk of Fame, he or she must agree to attend a presentation ceremony within five years of selection, and a $25,000 fee must be paid to the Trust for costs such as security at the star ceremony. There have been four stars stolen from the Walk of Fame.
The stars of Jimmy Stewart and Kirk Douglas, which had been removed during a construction project, were stolen from the site on Vine Street. The culprit was a contractor who was later caught with the two damaged and unusable stars, but not until after they had been replaced. One of Gene Autry’s stars was also taken from another construction project. That star was found in Iowa. On November 27, 2005, thieves sawed Gregory Peck’s star out of the sidewalk near Gower. Cameras are now being placed on the walk district to catch thieves.
Fun Facts about Arkansas
State Flag
Origin of Name – French interpretation of the Algonquin Indian word “Ookansa” (referring to the Quapaw Tribe who lived in Arkansas) meaning “South Wind.”
- State Abbreviation – AR
- State Capital – Little Rock
- State Nickname – The Natural State
- Statehood – June 15, 1836
- Number of Counties – 75
- State Bird – Mockingbird
- State Insect – Honeybee
- State Mammal – White-tailed Deer
- State Tree – Loblolly Pine
- State Flower – Apple blossom
- State Beverage – Milk
- State Book – The Holy Bible
- State Instrument – Fiddle
- State Area Codes – 479,501,870
- State Motto – Regnat populus (The people rule)
- State Gem – Diamond
- State Mineral – Quartz Crystal
- State Fruit – Vine Ripe Pink Tomato
- State Parks – 51
- National Parks – 1
- National Forests – 2
Bathhouse Row, Hot Springs, Arkansas
At Bathhouse Row, you can bathe in the natural mineral hot springs in the Buckstaff Baths, which is the only historical bathhouse still currently in use and open to tourists.
This, the largest grouping of bath houses in the country, illustrates the popularity of the spa movement in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. It is also an excellent collection of turn-of-the-century eclectic buildings in the Neoclassical, Renaissance Revival, Spanish, and Italianate styles.
The hot springs are the resource for which the area was set aside as the first Federal recreational reserve in 1832.
London Bridge, Lake Havasu City, Arizona
The London Bridge, was originally constructed in London, in 1831. The bridge was the last project of engineer John Rennie and completed by his son, also named John Rennie.
By 1962, the bridge was not structurally sound enough to support the increased load created by the level of modern traffic crossing it, and it was sold by the City of London. The purchaser, Robert McCulloch, was the founder of Lake Havasu City and the chairman of McCulloch Oil Corporation.
McCulloch was purported to have purchased the bridge to serve as a tourist attraction to his retirement real estate development at Lake Havasu City, which at that time was far off the usual tourist track. The idea was successful, bringing interested tourists and retirement home buyers to the area.
The bridge facing stones were carefully disassembled and each piece was numbered. After the bridge was dismantled it was transported to the bridge’s present location and re-assembly began in 1968. The reconstruction took slightly over three years and was completed in late 1971. Today, it serves as a popular tourist attraction for the city.
Monument Valley, Arizona
Monument Valley is located on the southern border of Utah with northern Arizona near the Four Corners area. The valley lies within the range of the Navajo Nation Reservation, whose name for the valley is Tse Bii’ Ndzisgaii (Valley of the Rocks). The area is part of the Colorado Plateau.
The floor is largely Cutler Red siltstone or its sand deposited by the meandering rivers that carved the valley. The valley’s vivid red color comes from iron oxide exposed in the weathered siltstone. The darker, blue-gray rocks in the valley get their color from manganese oxide.
Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
Petrified Forest National Park is along Interstate 40 between Holbrook and Navajo. It features one of the world’s largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood, mostly of the species Araucarioxylon arizonicum.
The park consists of two large areas connected by a north–south corridor. The northern area encompasses part of the multitude badlands of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation called the Painted Desert. The southern area includes colorful terrain and several concentrations of petrified wood.
Several American Indian petroglyph sites are also found in the southern area. Near the south end of the park is Agate House, a Native American building of petrified wood, reconstructed during the 1930s.
Hoover Dam, Arizona
Originally known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. When completed in 1935, it was both the world’s largest electric-power generating station and the world’s largest concrete structure.
The Dam, located 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, is named after Herbert Hoover, who played an instrumental role in its construction, first as the Secretary of Commerce and then later as the President of the United States.
Construction of the 726.4 ft (221 m) high dam began in 1931 and was completed in 1935, more than two years ahead of schedule. The dam and the power plant are operated by the Bureau of Reclamation of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, Hoover Dam was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985. Lake Mead is the reservoir created behind the dam, named after Elwood Mead, who oversaw the construction of the dam.
Grand Canyon, Arizona
You can hike to viewing points, or take a helicopter ride in order to view the Grand Canyon in all its glory. A powerful and inspiring landscape, the Grand Canyon overwhelms our senses through its immense size; 277 river miles (446km) long, up to 18 miles (29km) wide, and a mile (1.6km) deep.
Summer temperatures on the South Rim are relatively pleasant. North Rim temperatures are a few degrees cooler due to the higher elevation. Inner canyon temperatures are extreme. Daytime highs at the river often exceed 105°F. Thunderstorms frequently occur during July, August, and early September.
Winter conditions on the South Rim can be extreme. The road into the North Rim is closed from the first heavy snow in November or early December to mid-May. Spring and Fall come prepared for a variety of conditions. Pleasant weather can change to rain or cold.
Fun Facts about Arizona
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State Flag
Origin of Name: a Spanish version of the Pima Indian word arizonac for “place of the small spring” or from the Aztec’s arizuma meaning “silver-bearing”
- State Abbreviation AZ
- State Capital – Phoenix
- Statehood – February 14, 1912
- Number of Counties – 15
- State’s Nickname – The Grand Canyon State
- State Flower – Saguaro cactus blossom
- State Tree – Palo Verde
- State Animal – Ringtail Cat
- State Bird – Cactus Wren
- State Butterfly – Two-tailed Swallowtail
- State Fish – Arizona Trout
- State Amphibian – The Arizona Tree Frog
- State Reptile – Arizona Ridgenose Rattlesnake
- State Area Codes – 480, 520, 602, 623, 928
- State Motto – Ditat Deus (God enriches)
- State Gem – Turquoise
- State Fossil – Petrified Wood
- National Parks – 3
- State Parks – 28
- State Forests – 6
Jamies Gypsy Log 
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