unSocialized Free Resources for Home Education

Visiting our country's national parks has always been one of my favorite pastimes. As a city girl growing up in Brooklyn, I learned to appreciate the outdoors experiences my parents provided through tent camping and day trips we would take during the summer months. Leaving the “asphalt jungle” even for short spurts was like stepping through a magic portal to novel environments and settings. 

Those trips awakened in me a desire for travel, knowledge and adventure that is with me to this day -- and my husband and I have tried to pass on that sense of wonder to our own children through our camping adventures. (Although, with an RV, it’s more like “glamping” in comparison to what my parents did).

We’ve had a lot of fun in our national parks, and look forward to returning to and visiting more in the future. For homeschoolers, the parks are awesome places for on-site history and science studies, with access to knowledgeable “instructors” and free educational materials, both at the locations, and on websites. Here are some of our favorite places -- and related free resources:

National Parks with Links to Presidential History

10 National Parks that Honor Black History

10 Manmade Structures Inside America's National Parks

Arizona

Grand Canyon

Petrified Forest

California

Presidents: ​Activities and Study Resources: 

iCivics: Free lesson plans and games for learning about the President of the United States.

The U.S. Presidency: PBS Learning Media site with 60-second Presidents video collection, presidential portraits and biographies, and information on the duties and powers of the President, first ladies, speeches, and teachers guides on select presidents and first ladies.

Kids Discover Unit on the Presidency includes info on presidential powers and responsibillities, the cabinet, and presidential portraits.

POTUS: Facts and trivia.

Awesome Stories about the Presidents

BrainPop Vids on U.S. Presidents: use sign in username: brie132

password: dekalb

​Presidential Lapbooks​

Infographic: ​​Presidential Residences

Free Readers: 

The Executive Branch (30-page download on the powers of the Presidency)

Watch this video for a plain English explanation of the U.S. electoral process. 

Civics and Economics Units This download correlates with the Glencoe textbook, ​Civics Today: Citizenship, Economics & You. Covers 7 units on: citizenship, foundations of American Government, the US Constitution, branches of government, voting and elections, state and local governments, law. Includes suggested pacing, worksheets and graphic organizers. 111 pages.​

Shmoop Videos: 

• The Constitution
• Branches of Government​ 

The following free readers on African-American History are for grades 4 - 6. 

(For addtional free readers, see:

Free Journeys e-Textbooks and Readers

Free Biography Readers 

Plants - Flowers - Trees 

Free Animal Science Readers