I don’t have any teens yet, but for those of you with teens, looking for a safe way to allow your kid to collaborate online with peers on specialized technology projects, you might want to check out Freshbrain.com.

Freshbrain is a non profit organization, so as it stands today, it is completely free.

The site offers activities and projects in the areas of:

• development
• music
• graphics design
• gaming
• web
• videos/movies…and more…

They also offer contests and scholarships with the focus on using technology to execute tasks.

There are safety features in place (although I would still say that parents probably need to stay closely involved, as in any online endeavor).

And best of all, there are advisors who are trained volunteers which help guide teens through tools, projects, and activities.

All of this– FREE.

Yep.  Go check it out if you like: Freshbrain.com.

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This past week on February 28th, our family celebrated a typical Jewish holiday, Purim.

Although we are not Jewish I find myself constantly wanting to learn more about the Jewish background of our Christian heritage, and I felt that it would be a wonderful  concept to explore this year for our whole family.

So we decided to include it in our curriculum.

After much searching the web for good resources on how to incorporate Jewish studies into a Christian curriculum, here is what I came up with:

Hebrew4Christians- we began using this site extensively to help us learn the Hebrew alphabet, especially for handwriting.

TorahTots-Now this is a cool little site for kids that help them learn about the Jewish holidays, background on each, coloring pages, fun online games, and other little odds and ends that help bring the celebration of Jewish holidays into a realistic point of view for kids.

But probably the most helpful and insightful of all of my findings was the company, Heart of Wisdom.

Here is what owner and author of A Family Guide To The Biblical Holidays has to say about the Jewish aspect of our Christian faith:

We study a Hebrew book-written by Hebrews; we serve a Hebrew Lord-who had Hebrew disciples; we desire to follow the first century church-which was first predominately Hebrew; and through Christ, we are grafted into a Hebrew family! It makes sense to study our fascinating heritage.

During this season of my Christian journey I find myself completely in agreement with Robin and am very grateful to her for writing this book (along with co author Linda Pierce).  This book is an EXCELLENT resource for any Christian family wanting a gentle Messianic approach to incorporating the Jewish holidays, culture, and background into your home school or family life.

So, here is what we did:

• I am not much of a sewer, but decided to use the sewing version for creating the symbolic flags for our dinner centerpiece.  They are found on pages 72-73  of Robin and Linda’s book, A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays

My daughter and I decorate with rhinestones:

There was a learning curve involved for me.  I had no clue I was supposed to iron these studs on, so initially I had my daughter attempting to peel some “backing” off them individually.

Funny.  But we got a hang of it and figured it out.  We eventually got all the studs ironed on the correct way.  This will be good experience for me whenever I do learn how to sew, for real.

Now, on to the multi-holiday centerpiece flags.  We created two of these for Purim but will need to create a few more for future holidays.  I got all the fabric I needed for the upcoming holidays.  Here I cut out a few squares, made a photocopy of the pictures of the Star of David and Cup of Bread, provided in Robin’s book on page 75.  I did a little painting on the fabric for decoration, added the wooden dowels, but instead of sewing I just ended up gluing them on.

Along with my styrofoam base, here is what my final product looked like for my centerpiece (on a small table, that is-crown and sceptre to be added later):

Now for dessert, where NyGirl insisted on using the beater for the cookie mix.  We decided on Hamantashen cookies (page 427 in the book).  Basically they mean “Haman’s pockets” and are supposed to resemble the hat Haman may have worn.  Another traditional food she mentions in her book is Esther’s Banquet Bars. We have the ingredients for this, but decided to wait until next week to cook this set since we had so much batter from the Hamantashens left over:

So, to wrap it up:

We cut the batter into circles using a cup, filled the middle with raspberry preserves, folded into the shape of hat, then cooked.

The next day, our feast was beautiful.  My two girls, husband and I enjoyed a yummy meal of baked chicken with rice and snap peas cooked in turkey bacon.  Yummy.  We had our Hamantashens for desert with sweet tea, and my husband enjoyed reading the girls a book about Esther.

In all, it was a beautiful Purim feast.

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I have always wanted to learn how to bake bread.  It is one of those earthy, connecting with the homemaking part of me that yearns to leap out in the middle of all of my techie interests…

I think NyGirl caught my bread-baking bug, and she decided one school morning she wanted to help me bake italian bread sticks for that day’s dinner.

Forming the dough into shapes:

Finally on the pan (not perfectly shaped, but the best we could do!)

Oh, and the pot on the back of the stove top is lentils.  We have begun a new healthy eating regiment in our family that I think is working out okay…though, I won’t say perfectly.

The way it works is very similar to the ideas found in Deceptively Delicious.

The basic philosophy behind the book and my ideas of how to incorporate veggies into my kids’ diets is pretty much all about camouflage.

For example, today I used one of the recipes found in the book that helped me to get some spinach into my girls’ tummies.  Here is a paraphrase of the Pita Pizzas recipes and how I got my kids to eat spinach for lunch today:

Pita Pizzas (with hidden spinach)

• Whole wheat pita pockets
• About ½ cup spinach puree
• About 2 cups of tomato sauce or pizza sauce
• About ½ bag of mozzarella cheese
• About ½ bag of cheddar cheese

Set the oven to 400 degrees.  Spread spinach puree  on each pita (if you don’t want your kids to detect the spinach only spread it to about ½ inch from the edge).  Spread the sauce over the spinach.  Cover the sauce with cheese.  Bake for about 10 minutes.  Let the pizzas cool for about 5 minutes so the cheese doesn’t pull off and expose the spinach!

My kids love these, I like it…and I even think hubby likes it too- which makes it a hit in our house!

As for the Italian bread…it turned out really well that evening last week. We paired it with plates of spaghetti and pasta sauce (blended with a puree of steamed broccoli- another hidden green!)  Turned out well

And though I haven’t turned full fledge into a bread baking mama, I am enjoying skirting around the idea of it.  Meanwhile, I get a kick out of baking up cupcakes, cookies, and other sweet treats.  My next goal: to find fun ways to “healthify” our sweets.  I think I may try some sweet potato purees…

We shall see.

And I promise, in one of these next few posts I am going to get back to the techie stuff!  So hang tight.

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One of the things I enjoy most about homeschooling my kids is observing them and watching them grow close together.  The love these two sisters share is inexpressible:

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iprompts, a handheld adaptive for iphones and the ipod touch, is a handy little tool that allows kids with special needs to use the pictures (or visual prompting) to help them transition from one activity to the next.

According to the official site, this tool allows a caregiver of special needs children (autistic, ADHD, Down Syndrome,  or autism) to offer the following:

PICTURE SCHEDULES: Allows caregivers to create sequences of pictures, guiding those they care for through activities of any sort. Captions can be edited for each image, allowing users to create SOCIAL STORIES. Caregivers can also create simple FIRST THIS, THEN THAT picture prompts using only two images. Choose from hundreds of stock photos and illustrations provided by iPrompts®, or take pictures “on the fly” using the iPhone’s built-in camera.

VISUAL COUNTDOWN TIMER: Displays an image of the caregiver’s choice along with a graphical countdown timer (set to any duration). Useful for demonstrating how much time is left before the next pictured activity begins.

CHOICE PROMPTS: Lets caregivers select any two images which may be offered as a choice, empowering those who cannot vocalize their preferences. When rotated horizontally, the Choice Prompt and Picture Schedule features enlarge and orient images for display to individuals needing visual support.
IMAGE LIBRARY: Includes hundreds of useful illustrations and digital pictures across numerous categories. Additional categories and pictures can be created and supplied by users.

It’s $49.99. http://www.handholdadaptive.com/

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In one of my latest blog posts, I talked about how we restructured our homeschool for 2010.

It’s been a month of trial and error, and pretty much, that routine has held fast and has become our school “core”.  It’s how we “do school”, wherever we are.  The cool thing is the flexibility the workbooks and schedule checks give us.  We’ve done school at Barnes and Noble, a local coffee shop (if you haven’t figured it out by now, I love coffee shops–not so much for the coffee, though I’ll take that too- but I think I may addicted to the coffee smells and being surrounded by books and chocolate!)…oh, and we have finished up school at doctor’s offices (January was a sick month for our fam as everyone seemed to be catching bugs and sniffles).

So we got the core down.  Basically it’s the three r’s (reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic, as they say).

We’re layering the electives week by week.  These past few weeks we’ve been working diligently on our online American History class, learning about Columbus and the early explorers.  Hopefully before the end of the month we would have reached the segments on slavery, which will fit in nicely with Black History Month.  NyGirl is also taking an online art class through Free K12 Homeschool. I keep saying I am going to post some of her art pics…I am hoping to get around to a lot of that this weekend.

In January I didn’t give NyGirl a new piano lesson, but she has been practicing all of her old songs.  So that’s one thing we’ll change for February (taking one month at a time).  We’re also kind of thinking ahead to the summer camps.  I may sign her up for vioiln again, since I definitely do not play or teach violin.

So back to the idea of restructuring our school.  In my last post I mentioned how that we made it so that our faith is the backbone of our school process.  I like to teach my children  the Bible and Christian foundation and principles daily (I try at least).  For that we are using Bible Lifepacs, Children’s Illustrated Bible, and other workbooks and online resources. These lessons naturally progress to our math, language arts, history, and other electives.

But there is one important point I seemed to have left out of that post:

Technology.

After re-reading it, I thought “Wow!  I didn’t even mention how we integrate technology into our curriculum.”

So, I wanted to salvage that.  Here’s how we do it:

• Typing, typing, and more typing.  Check out http://sense-lang.org/typing/
• If we can find subject matter games and resources online, we use them so the kids become familiar with using the computer.  Safe online resources like Zoodles or even the famous JumpStart CD’s help with tech integration.  We’ve never used it, but I heard StarFall is good for teaching kids phonics.
• We do voice narration recordings whenever possible.  What I do is let NyGirl take my voice recorder and answer questions either in one of her textbooks, or I might have a conversation with her about what she’s been learning, which we record.  Then later, I download those audio clips onto my computer, piece them together into a little “online radio show”, and upload our podcast.  She watches the process, and is currently learning the smaller steps to creating a podcast.
• From time to time I also like to teach her how to use productivity software.  NyGirl recently began using PowerPoint to do a slideshow on the solar system. We took that Power Point document and uploaded it to VoiceThread where she was able to combine both her voice and the presentation and make it available for people to comment, so it was kind of a social media thing too, but for education.  Fun!  I think next we will work on basic word processing (example- typing up a letter to a friend, etc.).  Nothing major.

So these are some of the things we’ve been doing and plan to do to integrate technology.  This is probably one of my favorite parts of home schooling.  If I were to ever teach in an actual school setting, becoming a technology specialist would probably be my goal.  Nonetheless, it is ultimately rewarding for me to watch my kids grow and learn- about technology, about God, about life.

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After reading the news about Phoebe Prince, a freshman at South Hadley High School (in a middle to upper class community in Massachusetts), who hung herself due to cyber bullying, I couldn’t help but to wonder how this kind of behavior could have gone unnoticed, or untreated for that matter.

The “untouchables” is the nickname they’ve been dubbed on The Boston Globe. These mean girls who hounded Phoebe through text messages, social networking groups, and even in person, have been left literally unscathed by the event- even further mocking Phoebe after her death.

The main question I had for this situation was: how do we 21st century parents help to prevent this kind of bullying?

Do we restrict or limit access to the computer?  Do we prevent our children from having social networking accounts?

As a tech savvy parent, I have had to think about this often and mull over some solutions that will fit my kids now in the early years and in the years to come when they become teens.  For now, my children lay low in the social networking arena since they are underage and don’t have Facebook or MySpace accounts.  I have even had to reconsider using full first names for my children under my own blogs and accounts online as well.

But when they are older and become more media savvy, how do I prevent cyber bullying from happening to them?  Some children/teens can be cruel–there’s no getting around that.  How do parents take a proactive role in keeping our kids and teens safe from the exploitation of cyber bullying?

1. Educate our children on web savvy behavior, such as never revealing last names or passwords. I think one of the most important steps to helping to prevent cyber bullying is to help our children to become aware of how to keep themselves safe online.  Small tips like keeping passwords safe and not revealing last names helps.
2. Supervise your kids online.  When at home, it is important for parents to keep tabs on what your kids are doing on the internet.  Placing the computer in a safe, common area (such as the living room), helps keep us parents aware of what is happening with our kids online.
3. Install parenting controls. With software such as Net Nanny, a parent can install internet filtering on home computers as well as for cell phones.  With the onslaught of cyber bullying via text messaging today, parents can also some control over at least knowing what is going on via their kids’ phones.  Here is what the Net Nanny website quotes their software solution does for the cell phones:

Parents now have the ability to view all e-mail messages, along with all (SMS) text messages and multi media (MMS) messages transmitted and received by the device.

Key Word Alert: Net Nanny Mobile “Alert” notification monitors keywords identified by the parents as words that could be potentially alarming. When one of the key words is contained within a text message or email, to or from the child, the parent is notified immediately via e-mail by Net Nanny Mobile.

From any computer on the Internet, parents are given complete insight into the mobile activities of their children.

4.)  Another tip: train your kids to delete messages without opening them.  Not only will this prevent spam and virus attacks, but it also helps to filter out info that could be emotionally harmful to your children.  If they don’t recognize the sender or the subject line looks “fishy”, don’t open it.  Generally, I like to do a quick scan on my email accounts each day for emails that appear in my inbox (which are not first caught by my “junk mail” folders).  If there are emails that I don’t recognize, I have trained myself to automatically highlight and delete them without fully opening messages or attachments.  This should be something we train our students to do as well.

5.)  Apply message blocks. If we learn to use the technology our kids are using, we can effectively help them to block unwanted messages on their cell phones, social networking accounts, and email accounts.

These are just a few small tips to help parents and teachers to step into the direction of being proactive with our kids’ technology experiences.  Although taking away all access to social media and technology can actually prevent our children from experiencing cyber bullying when we are present, it does not effectively prepare our kids to learn how to be proactively careful in their own online and cell phone activities.  We just have to teach them and train them to use technology safely.

As for cyber bullies- obviously these kids have severe emotional and psychological hang ups, that they would get some demented type of pleasure out of harrassing other people online.

But….that’s another story and another set of solutions to be tackled on another day.

For now, let’s just learn to keep our own kids safe…

And last tip:

Perhaps we can bring more community awareness to this problem by starting up community-wide and school initiatives. Our schools and community programs need policies in place to deal with these types of behaviors.  We can’t wait until it’s already happened- then it’s too late.

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If you have been looking for a different way to approach telling bible stories to your children, here is a neat little site that has bible stories children can both read (or be read to) with full colorful pictures.

THe girls have been enjoying these bible stories.

Typically I will let my 7 year old read them on her own or outloud to me as she scrolls through the pages.  The pages are in PDF and can also be printed out on a separate link to use as coloring pages.

Stories are both Old and New Testaments and are translated in about 35 different languages, including (English, of course), Swahili, French,  German, Portugues. Indonesian…and more!

Bible For Children does all of this for FREE because they believe in the value of spreading the Gospel message to children that normally wouldn’t have access to it.

On their website, they list their goal for BFC:

These Bible Stories are to be distributed to the 1.8 billion children of the world freely wherever possible.

We have been enjoying this website in our home school, and I thought I would just pass this along.

BibleForChildren.org

Enjoy!

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A few days ago we started our school morning off with a little art. Baby Z enjoys painting now.
I realized soon that this was one of the little pleasures of the 2 year old toddler stage that I missed so much with my oldest daughter.

I just had to post this–although short and sweet.

I want to capture these “small” moments as often as possible.

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School has taken on a whole new meaning for us this week!  That is a good thing.

Adding on to the whole “workbox system” we began using last week , we’ve made some adaptations to what we do– it has been a wonderful start to our new way of doing things for 2010.  After one week, however, I discovered a beautiful key to teaching 2nd grade:  student independence.

I guess I always knew that I was holding on too tightly to our school days.  I need order and a system that works- but I also realized that I don’t need to be actively “teaching” every subject.  Serving as more of a facilitator and overseer this past week, I have been able to let my 7 year old take a pre-written list of school instructions/assignment sheet for the day back to her school desk, close the door, and have at it.  I tell her, “if you have any questions, just holla”.

I should have known this would have worked out so much better for us.  For NyGirl’s entire first semester of kindergarten she was practically self-taught with an Abeka workbook and a few other supplies while I rested from a long pregnancy and spent time in labor, delivery, and adjusting to having a newborn.    She did well- and all without my constant intervention.  I think I probably felt a little out of sorts because I didn’t feel like I was “on top of things”.

Which probably explains my complete 180 turn the next year in wanting to regain control I felt I had lost.  And, of course, I was attracted to the Classical Method in helping me to regain that “lost” control.

Now?

Now I am learning to let go a bit.  I still have structure and order, but the independence NyGirl has is making our lives so much easier.  Not to mention, she enjoys not having me over her the entire school day.  Our school days are shorter.  We have time for more extracurriculars and fun time together.  We both like the ease of how our days flow.

Let me give you an example of what our days typically look like:

(There are always exceptions, and I don’t make any hard and fast rule about not going anywhere during certain hours.  So many of our days may find us doing school work at the library or Barnes and Noble, or at the coffeeshop while BabyZ goes to nursery).  But in general, this is what it looks like:

• Up/toiletries/change clothes/chores/breakfast
• At breakfast, recite the week’s scripture memory verse
• After breakfast, clear the table and sit back at the table for “morning meeting”, which consists of  a special bible nursery song for Baby Z, bible story for both girls (currently reading the Children’s ILlustrated Bible New Testament at their father’s request), then a Saxon math lesson for NyGirl while BabyZ works on counting chips or counting bears.  I might at this point also give a grammar lesson from First Language Lessons.
• Then dismiss to NyGirl’s school desk in her room to complete her lessons.  I usually put out her school assignment sheet and workbooks in order on her desk the night before.  During this time BabyZ and I might work on a floor puzzle, recite abc’s, color, or watch educational PBS Kids shows.  From time to time NyGirl comes out of her room for assistance, or a teacher check.

That is the general order of things.  While at her school desk, she usually finishes the following assignments from these resources:

• Saxon Math 3 review sheet
• Bible Lifepace- grade 2
• BJU 3rd grade grammar workbook
• Spectrum Spelling- grade 4
• cursive handwriting worksheet
• and depending on the day of the week, we might do any one of the following: Geography, American History online lesson, piano lesson, violin lesson, P.E., art, or French.  Sometimes we hit only a few of these topics only twice a month or so, and that is okay with me as long as there is exposure.  Piano,  French, and American History we try to do weekly, and P.E. usually happens 3 or 4 times a week if no one is ill (since we’re paying for gym membership).

And that is about it.

But the secret of my peace of mind now has a lot to do with a routine that works for us.  I haven’t left the “control” issue completely at the door, though.  I still have my plans for at our school days and how I want them to proceed, but I am beginning to take a breather now that she is old enough to be more independent with her school work, and I am embracing it.

I think my favorite part is checking her work at the end of the day, writing small notes on her workbook pages (like “good job-keep it up!”, you know- typical “teacher-ish” behavior!), giving her stickers, and watching her face light up the next day when she opens her workbook and reads my comments from the night before.  That makes my day.

That, and the fact that she finishes all of the above subjects in about 1 -2 hours when it would have normally taken me about 4-5 hours to teach it (because of lots of toddler interruptions).  That has been the main reliever for me.

Remember, BabyZ is still only 2, and very active.  I have had to let go of the marker board for a season.  What works for us is just using blank computer paper, front and back, as our “white board”.  While at the kitchen table for our morning meeting, I use the blank paper for our math  and grammar instruction.  I try to write out the majority of the math and grammar examples out the night before to just make that morning’s work easier.

All this prep work and planning is going to make for a very productive school year.  I’m a happy mama, and a happy teacher

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