Borland Educational

The Sartorialist
Fashion photo-blogging pioneer Scott Schuman's famous collection of impromptu pics of street fashion from all over the world. Also features industry news, shows, etc.

Steampunk
The awesomeness of human imagination on clear display in Steampunk, where fashion meets science meets imagination meets Jules Verne.

The Story of Stuff
A 20-minute movie turned into a movement to waste less, want less, use less. It's about better, not more. Honestly – don't most of us have way too much stuff?

lizardpoint
A great all-around early learning site: geography, flags, world leaders (current and past), art, and math (including basic fact quizzes and worksheets).

The Webby Awards
The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences honor "the best of the internet" with their annual Webby Awards. Great way to find unknown online gems.

ThoughtCo
Lifelong learning is the theme, with wide-ranging, thought-provoking, useful content in a variety of categories: math and science, humanities, art, music, etc.

Poor Richard’s Almanac
Ben Franklin was a genius, and his almanac proves it. Browse through 25 years of pithy 18th century Franklinisms. You’ll be awed and inspired by this founding father's wisdom.

Digital Bodleian
An effort to open portions of the prodigious collections of Oxford University's Bodleian Library for learning, teaching, and research. You could spend hours ...

Art of Manliness
Blog devoted to preserving the virtue of masculinity, lest it become a lost art amid the cultural flux. Lots of cool, edifying, educational posts. Like this one.

Niche
Helpful site that ranks schools and communities over a variety of categories through careful statistical analysis of governmental data and user reviews.

Classic Games for Ti-83+ and Ti-84+
Download great old-school games for Ti graphing calculators: Mario, PacMan, Tetris, Fruit Ninja, Gemini, Phantom Star, Mine Sweeper, Connect Four, Asteroids, lots of others.

Google Easter Eggs
Google engineers are a hilarious bunch, hiding weird and wonderful surprises within the Google Search field for those who know the secret code. Find selected eggs here.

Wolfram Alpha
Stephen Wolfram's groundbreaking computational knowledge engine. Random question: "How many goats in Japan in 1986?" Alpha knows the answer (~47,500).

Game of Life
Conway's 1970 coding creation mimicking life's basic processes in an utterly simple yet strikingly lifelike way. Create life and play God! Download: Golly. FAQ here.

inLearning
Formerly Lynda.com. "Courses in business, tech, and creative skills taught by industry experts." Self-study utopia. Lots to keep the curious and ambitious learning for a lifetime.

Google Apps
Why pay? Use free: Calendar, Chrome, Classroom, Contacts, Docs, Drive, Fonts, Forms, Gmail, Keep, Photos, Scholar, Sheets, Slides, Translate, and much more.

Free Rice
Learn everything from basic arithmetic to famous paintings, world geography, anatomy, English grammar, and vocabulary (upper levels are viciously hard).

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2018)
Classic Cold-War era Rocky and Bullwinkle meets Johnny English meets out-of-the-fjordinary modern retro-animation. Education connection? Wossamotta U.

Medium
Great site for intriguing reading material and excellent writing on a plethora of hot topics of current interest.

WikiQuote
"A free online compendium of sourced quotations from notable people and creative works in every language ..." Read the thoughts of your heroes. A Mecca for quote junkies.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield’s cover of Space Oddity
Life imitating art. Produced in Earth orbit, this astronaut's cover of young David Bowie's 1969 sci-fi hit record rivals the original at times. Plus awesome visuals!

Reviews

“Standardized tests are a necessary step in applying to colleges, and, with his support, I was able to achieve the scores I needed to be competitive. I am currently finishing a degree in physics at the University of Chicago and am immensely grateful for his help four years ago. His test taking strategies have also been very useful on the GRE while applying to graduate school physics programs. Thank you again, Chris!”

Ben F. (Student: 2013)

"[Chris’s] methods are extremely effective and he is one of the kindest, most supportive men I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.

"Working with him has been one of my best academic experiences and I congratulate Chris on his hard work and dedication to the success of his pupils."

Harrison M. (Student: 2017)

“His competence, compassion and ethics as a tutor are exemplary.

"Chris is a wonderfully friendly, sincere and caring human being. His personality is delightful, making the sessions enjoyable.”

Judy S. (Client: 2006)

"The students benefited from [Chris's] assistance, and we found him very personable, helpful and eager to learn new teaching techniques and philosophies.

I feel he would be an excellent addition to any tutoring staff."

Linda N. (Employer: 1980)

"I enjoyed working with Chris because he could explain things I did not understand and make them clear to me. Chris was very patient when it took me a while to understand things."

Martha S. (Student: 1993)

“Chris is a phenomenal math, PSAT, and SAT tutor. I studied with him for over three years and am so grateful for all of his invaluable knowledge and the confidence that he instilled in me as a math student.

"Now, years later, the same standardized test-taking skills that he taught me for the PSAT and SAT are helping me immensely in my LSAT prep.

"Chris is patient and efficient in his teaching. I would highly recommend him to everyone!”

Gary C. (Client: 2016)

"Chris Borland tutored my son and did an excellent job. He obviously is a very well qualified teacher and I recommend him without reservation."

David C. (Client: 1980)

Chris is also incredibly supportive, and recognizes when confidence is lagging. He holds his students accountable by giving them specific work and challenges and also rewards their gains, and is able to pivot his teaching style if a certain way of explaining things isn't working.

"I highly recommend Chris to any student who is studying for a standardized test ..."

A.S.M. (Client: 2021)

Most importantly, you taught Joey to understand that hard work does reap its own rewards. Joey did well enough in school and on the SATs to gain acceptance to a number of UC Schools, of which he chose UC Davis to attend. Thanks Chris for you effort and diligent tutoring of Joey the last three years, we really appreciate all that you did for him.

Larry L. (Client: 2005)

"Chris tutored my son for the SSAT test and … it was worth every penny. My son responded very well to him and developed learning strategies that [he's] using to this day."

Michal V. (Client: 2014)

"[Chris] has a keen sense of the orderly nature of learning, and did a particularly good job of helping students with the organizational work needed to excel at math ... one of the best young teachers I've seen."

Bruce S. (Administrator: 1985)

"[Chris] is patient, understanding, enthusiastic and always guides Andrew in the learning process with a very positive attitude. If Andrew gets distracted, Chris is able to guide him back to the subject at hand by being assertive, yet respectful. His focus on Andrew's progress has resulted in a very noticeable improvement in Andrew's skill level in Algebra, his attention to detail, his neatness, and his self-esteem..."

Karen C. (Client: 1999)

"Chris Borland has provided test prep tutoring for two of our three children, one for the SSAT and then the ACT, and the other for the SSAT. They both dramatically improved their scores as a result of his tutoring and were accepted to their first-choice schools.

Jennifer C. (Client: 2020)

"Fantastic tutor. We set a goal for my SAT score, and with Chris's help I got there. Has years of experience and knows the test inside and out. Cannot recommend more highly."

Jack R. (Client: 2014)

Chris is patient, knowledgeable and was helpful in identifying my weaknesses and addressing them. My work with Chris on test prep also helped me in the classroom resulting in improved grades both my junior and senior years. He is easy to work with and never made me feel stupid. I highly recommend Chris Borland for test prep and math tutoring.”

T J (student: 2018)

"Chris Borland tutored my l4 year old twins for several weeks before they took the SSAT test for entrance into private schools. He has a very good rapport with kids and makes the sessions fun and interesting.

Chris's strategies about standardized test taking proved to be excellent. Both boys improved their scores significantly and openly attributed their success to their work with Chris..."

Anne C. (Client: 2003)

“Worth every penny!

"As the high school application process in SF is already stressful and time consuming, I was looking for an efficient strategy for my B/G twins to prepare for the SSAT. Chris has deep experience with test prep and presented a very clear, efficient, and effective strategy for the twins to follow. His approach resulted in a huge increase in test results.

"We would highly recommend him to anyone for standardized test prep!”

Irene L. (client: 2018)

Knowledge is Power