The Pony Express National Historic Trail was used by young men on fast paced horses to carry the nation's mail across the country, from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California, in the unprecedented time of only ten days. Organized by private entrepreneurs, the horse-and-rider relay system became the nation's most direct and practical means of east-west communications before the telegraph. Though only in operation for 18 months, between April 1860 and October 1861, the trail proved the fea...

Visit on your own or schedule a tour to learn about Colorado geology. Tours go outdoors to look at local geology, then indoors to learn about rocks, minerals, and fossils. Tours must be scheduled in advance. Located in Golden. Admission is free.

Take a look at Colorado's frontier history at the Museum of Northwest Colorado in Craig. Also houses the Cowboy and Gunfighter Museum.

Colorado Homeschool Music, Inc. connects homeschoolers with music teachers and directors across the state of Colorado. The aim of our instructors is to give the Colorado homeschooler a high quality music experience through group and individual education with core and elective classes.

The Pioneer Museum contains an interesting array of exhibits from Golden's past, including ranching and farming implements, mining artifacts, antique clothing and household goods. Special exhibits are always offered and change three or four times a year.

Located in Golden, Colorado, and Memphis, Tennessee, Coors Brewery offers free tours of its facilities. Since 1873 the Coors brewery has thrived on a legacy of quality, innovation and customer service. The tour showcases the company’s history and passion for brewing.The brewery experience includes a 30-minute self-paced tour highlighting their malting, brewing and packaging processes. Cool off in the “fresh beer room," where visitors can sip a cold sample and rest on ice-cube benches in a refrig...

More than a million Denver-area residents have one of nature’s jewels in their backyard: Roxborough State Park, a short drive southwest of Denver. Ro​xborough​ is a Colorado Natural Area and a National Natural Landmark for good reason. The park, with close to 4000-acres, is filled with dramatic red-rock formations, distinct plant communities, and a host of wildlife ranging from black bears to mule deer. Visitors can take in all of Roxborough’s geological wonders via a series of trails ​for every...

The Koshare Indian Museum in La Junta is patterned after the Pueblo architecture found throughout the southwest, featuring the world's largest self supporting log roof and housing a collection of Native American art and artifacts.

The spirited history of the Pikes Peak Region comes to life at Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site. Discover the American Indian Area, visit the 1860s Galloway Homestead, the 1880s Chambers Farm and the 1907 Orchard House. Knowledgeable interpreters present the true-to-life history of the people of the Pikes Peak Region.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Astor House Museum in Golden has been restored to its original glory as a late Victorian western hotel/boarding house. It offers a look into the life of Ida Goetze, boarding house residents, Golden founders and pioneers, as well as Victorian material culture. The Astor House was built in 1867 and stayed in continuous operation as a boarding and rooming house until 1971. It rented rooms and served hot meals to lawmakers, laborers, miners, st...

Come learn about the life and times of William F. Cody, also known as "Buffalo Bill." Located on Lookout Mountain overlooking Golden, explore exhibits featuring Sitting Bull's bow and arrows, Buffalo Bill's show outfits, and more. Also visit the grave of Buffalo Bill.

As a true preservation of Colorado’s western past, Ghost Town Museum is a fun and historic look back at kind of old west town that used to dot this region during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Located in Colorado Springs.

Sponsored by the Southern Ute Indian Cultural Center, this site and database support a 30 minute educational video, "Colorado Ute Legacy," which has been distributed to over 500 Colorado schools. The project was jointly funded by the Colorado Historical Society and the Southern Ute Indian Cultural Center. The script from the video is included with links to databases that include a historical chronology, photos, and maps. Educators are encouraged to review the teachers' section for lesson plan ...

Founded in 2002 as a wildlife art and natural history museum designed to serve as a cultural center and community asset for South Metro Denver. The 151,000 sq ft prairie mission style facility hosts numerous fine art, natural history and interactive science changing exhibits each year, in addition to its signature permanent exhibition, Globeology, featuring open dioramas interpreting eight biomes of the world. The Wildlife Experience strives to inspire a new generation of conservationists and ou...

Nature lovers and groups enjoy environmental diversity on several hiking trails ranging from mild to moderate. The trails range from .5 to 4 miles and can be combined for longer journeys. The winding Cherry Creek flowing along the canyon floor provides wonderful rest stops. Pets, on a leash, are welcome on most trails, except the new East Canyon Preservation Area trail.

At Last! A Reading Method for Every Child offers a balanced approach with intensive phonics and literature-based reading instruction. This is a simple method of teaching reading, with lots of supplemental materials. Get product information here.

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 so that teachers themselves can begin to enjoy and feel knowledgeable about poetry, and, from there, pass those feelings on to their students. The author's text is supplemented by examples of students' work in original and draft form.

A Reason For® Spelling combines the latest research on how children learn to spell with all the strengths of traditional programs. It teaches highfrequency base words, plus hundreds of other word forms. Values-based stories set the theme each week and help make spelling fun. You'll find product information about A Reason For® Spelling here.

Explode The Code provides a sequential, systematic approach to phonics in which students blend sounds to build vocabulary and read words, phrases, sentences, and stories. Frequent review of previously learned concepts helps increase retention. Each workbook in this series contains exercises that incorporate reading, writing, matching and copying. The consistent format of the books helps facilitate independent work. This series includes primers—Get Ready for The Code, Get Set for The Code, and Go for The Code—which introduce initial consonant sounds. In addition, Beyond The Code provides a comprehension component introducing basic comprehension skills with phonetically controlled stories. You'll find product information here.

Perrine's Sound and Sense is a fantastic book for studying poetry with your children. It is a great resource for high school students. It includes clear and thorough explanations of devices, forms, how to analyze poetry, and more, as well as a huge variety of poems, both classic and contemporary.

Sing, Spell, Read & Write is a phonics-based program that uses a 36-step program of carefully sequenced steps to teach reading, writing, and spelling. More product information can be found here.

Shurley English maintains that effective instruction in English must be founded upon an understanding of how the parts of speech work together in a sentence. A good grammar foundation gives students the skills to improve writing. Grammar is the structure of sentence composition. Through grammar, students learn how to write, improve, and expand sentences. After they have an understanding of sentence structure, students are then able to combine sentences successfully into paragraphs, essays, and reports. For product information on Phonics Pathways, click here or visit their website.

Grades Pre K & up. An economical way to bring rods into the classroom. Pack contains six sets of 74 rods, six trays with, and Teacher's Guide. For use with 12-18 students.

This teacher's manual, written by a homeschool educator with experience as a professional school teacher and private tutor, shows how to teach reading the "write" way. By phonetically teaching spelling from the start as the backbone for reading, all children can be taught, regardless of learning styles, to read and spell. If your student knows how to read already, this program can improve his or her spelling. Find out more about this product here.

Stack the durable, brightly colored wooden beads on 5 hardwood dowels in sequence to match the design on one of the pattern cards. Builds complex reasoning skills as well as sorting and coordination. Includes over 45 brilliantly colored beads, 5 dowels, and 10 patterns that increase in difficulty.

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.

Total Language Plus is an innovative curriculum focused on teaching thinking and communication skills using literature as a base. The authors believe an integrated system is more efficient than a fragmented approach, discovery style learning is the most effective and learning should be enjoyable. The "discover, do, drill" method is employed throughout the TLP program with activities focusing on thinking skills. These comprehensive novel studies cover spelling, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, analytical and critical thinking, comprehension, writing, listening, and field trips and projects.

The poetry anthology, Climb Inside a Poem: Original Poems for Children, uses the writings of contemporary children's poets, whimsical illustrations, and an expansive big book format (14"x 18") to create a 36-page poetry playground. The children's poems crafted expressly for this collection are written by acclaimed children's authors.

Montessori Reading is a beginning reading and writing program for elementary aged children. This series of books introduce phonetic letter sounds, phonogram combinations, reading simple sentences, and reading and writing words that name everyday objects, animals, etc. A teaching guide and a child's journal are included.

Phonics Pathways begins with short-vowel sounds, slowly progressing to whole words, phrases, and sentences of gradually increasing complexity. Special teaching tips, extensive examples, and 100% decodable practice readings reinforce each lesson. Contains all spelling rules with a spelling index, spelling charts, spelling short-cuts, diacritical markings, and a wealth of inspirational proverbs. The new 9th edition of Phonics Pathways features many new enhancements including a wealth of reproducible games, a step-by-step spelling guide, teacher/student record sheets, a Dewey-the-Bookworm Bookmark and a new carefully-researched appendix detailing how Phonics Pathways aligns with most State Standards. Supplements to this program include The Train Game (to teach letter sounds), WordWorks (a set of cards used to reinforce phonics reading skills), and Blendit! (a set of eleven board games that reinforces knowledge of specific begining spelling patterns). For product information on Phonics Pathways, click here or visit their website.

Happy Phonics uses games to teach early reading skills. Simple yet entertaining and educational, these phonics games are printed on colorful, sturdy cardstock ready to cut out. Included is a mother-friendly guidebook which contains details on how to teach phonics and reading, how to pronounce and teach the phonics sounds, how to make your own simple beginning readers, and step-by-step teaching information for each phonics sound. Happy Phonics covers beginning to advanced phonics.

A Reason For® Reading offers a series of over 100 Leveled Readers that provide small increases in difficulty from level to level. These colorful books feature Scripture stories and Christian value themes. Story Guides include high-frequency words, teaching ideas, discussion questions, and much more.

MCP PLAID Phonics from Modern Curriculum Press incorporates best practices for teaching essential phonemic awareness and phonics skills with lots of flexibility. Find information on these products here.