The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world’s greatest libraries.  We recently discovered the amazing ‘Turning the Pages’ section of their website thanks to a fellow homeschool parent.  The British Library website enables anyone with an internet connection to literally turn the pages of old and ancient texts.  Furthermore, you can listen to annotated audio and explore ‘up-close’ by magnifying the content anywhere on the page making reading online a completely interactive experience.

The British Library website is an amazing resource for anyone, especially homeschoolers.  Our favorite text is of Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings and our homeschooler was stunned and fascinated that he was looking at Leonardo Da Vinci’s original drawings and notes.  We used the magnification tool and examined the beauty of Da Vinci’s backward hand writing!

Here are the areas of the British Libraries Website we enjoyed:

• Turning the Pages – The Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings text is amazing.
• Resources for schools & teachers – We could spend hours reading this amazing collection of resources.
• Treasures in Full – Similar in content to Turning the Pages, high-quality digital editions of old texts.
• Treasures in Full (full list) – A complete list of all digital editions found in ‘Treasures in Full’.