Recommended Website:
Virtualology.com – Museum of History
Just bookmark this site immediately. It is one of the best educational sites I’ve seen. Virtualology was created by Stan and Marie Klos, the parents of eight children ages 7 to 18, who reside in Pennsylvania. They acquired and restored historic buildings in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and then embarked on a new quest of historic preservation of rare documents and manuscripts. They arranged touring exhibitions of their historic manuscript collection and to compliment it they founded Virtualology.com in 2001. As is explained at their website, “Virtualology, primarily through the scanning and editing of 18th, 19th, and early 20th Century texts, provides over 35,000 biographies and accounts of history’s most remarkable people, events, and places.”
When you get to the site just scroll down to see the menu of history topics that includes:
- Declaration of Independence – a brief history and samples of the original document.
- Rebels with a Vision – historic documents of freedom and the biographies of the people that signed them.
- Hall of Explorers – biographies of historic explorers from William the Conqueror, Marco Polo, and Christopher Columbus to Admiral Richard Byrd and Neil Armstrong.
- Hall of North and South America – over 30,000 biographies of historic figures from both continents.
- Hall of USA – history of the US from Revolutionary War to the FBI’s most wanted!
- Hall of Rhetoric – a fascinating look at the history of communication, rhetorical theory, and journalism.
- Hall of Spirituality – the bigraphies of historical figures of the major religions.
- Hall of Women – biographies of great female historic figures.
- International Hall – a look at historic figures in the League of Nations as well as biographies of World Leaders
This site provides an amazing supplement to historical studies for students in middles grades and up.
Once you’ve explored the History section of Virtualology – check out their other, equally amazing resources for Art, Natural History, Science, and War by clicking on the menu bar at the top of the screen. This site should be stored as a “Favorite” on every homeschool family’s computer.
Want some ideas to enhance your Reading curriculum? Check out the new offerings at Homefires at: http://www.homefires.com/curriculum/reading.html
