Techie Homeschoolers

To all educators:  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!

Whether you teach in a public school, private school, charter school, or home school– ALL educators who TRULY care about our students, are worthy of being thanked over and over again this season.

I know that I am grateful to home educate my two beautiful daughters. It is a blessing from God to be their teacher.

Here’s a little token of my daughter’s thankfulness this season:

Enjoy the your day of thankfulness!

There is a really cool website I’ve been enjoying for a few years that takes your PDF files and converts them to flip-style online magazines or presentations.

Check out ISSUU.com.

I’ve used this for my Christian women’s ministry site, but never thought about using it to digitize ALL that paperwork we’ve accumulated during our home school.

Well…DUH!  My solution for classwork paper management was in front of me the entire time!

So I’ve recently begun a project to scrap all paper clutter and digitize nearly all of my daughter’s school work (except a few exceptional, “can’t bear to part with it” paper stuff).  All of her artwork will be not only kept in a hardbound cover at home, but digitized as well.

I’ll be sure to keep posted here at the blog about how our paper digitization goes.

Meanwhile, here’s a peak at our History, Geography, and Social Studies portfolio.  This is NyGirl’s portfolio, for grades K-1.  It doesn’t include everything we’ve done, but it shows a good bit of the paperwork we’ve completed last year.

Last week NyGirl and I worked diligently at beginning a lapbook for American Girls, the Kaya series.

To be truthful, I haven’t been much of a project-oriented, lapbooking kind of homeschool mama…as you will see in my next post (which highlights our portfolio in History from K-1 last year).  I have been in LOVE with workbooks and notebooking since Day 1, and we used the classical approach last year.  I totally dug the Well Trained Mind books and forums.  Perhaps it’s because I’m attracted to that method of learning, because I learned best that way.  But I’ve quickly discovered that my children learn in ways that I haven’t been adept at teaching…

Which served as a nice wake up call.

I can’t say I have since ditched workbooks, because I haven’t.  I still use them regularly for math (a combo of Saxon and AO Lifepacs) and Language Arts.  But I am using more hands-on methods to teach now so my kids can pick up and feel objects (our math programs always had great manipulatives, but adding more projects to other subjects like history help my daughter cement the lessons in her mind).

I really like what Mary Pride talks about in her book, when she says to “cut the twaddle”. A lot of what we parent teachers/teachers in general do is simply assign busy-work. When I had an infant/ young toddler these past 2 years, I had to learn to readjust my teaching methods for my then 1st grader to meet her needs and still be able to stay sane!  That meant (for me) assigning lots more coloring and workbook pages than I would normally have liked.  And that was okay for then.

I guess I’d like to experience doing more projects with NyGirl this year.  She is a hands-on kind of girl, but is also a great auditory and visual learner too, so I really have a lot of choice I think with presentation.

It’s not that I need to “make learning fun” for her.  She already enjoys learning.  But for my kids, I want them to appreciate the journey of exploring ideas, and coming to valid conclusions, with limited help.  Maybe this is more of a Montessori method…I’m not even sure what to call it.  And one thing I know will help aid in this process is all of the online helps and technology available to us today.

So…NyGirl really enjoyed putting together her American Girl lapbook pieces…and we’ll have to do more of this I see.

I also enjoyed creating this slideshow using Slide.com.  Lots of fun!!!!

Wow…

Okay, July was lightyears away.

Here we are in November…two days away from Thanksgiving, to be exact, and I’m JUST NOW digging up these wonderful recordings that we did way back in the summer.

But no worries…no longer shall we wait to expose the fact that we began our year-round school in early July.
While we splashed in water fountains and beaches, we had school in between. Those summer days were AWESOME.

Below are TWO recordings we did for our podcast.

1. The first one is a Memorial Day recording we did.  Very quick and simple cast.
2. The second is a lengthier cast that showcases all that NyGirl had learned that day as a wrap-up for the entire week’s lessons.

For the second cast, she wanted to watch me piece all the bells and whistles together to form a podcast.

I showed her how I:

1. grab royalty free audio clips for sound effects and jingles
2. record each individual segment
3. piece the audio clips and segments together in sound recording software to form one seamless sound file

At which point she thought I was done…then the uploading part came.

I can already tell I am going to have so much fun teaching her how to create and upload her own audios at some point. 

Until then…enjoy these 2 audio clips!

 Memorial Day: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 Weekly Cast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Here’s an audio lesson I had with my daughter about communities.  It was loads of fun to record this. We talked about urban areas and cities, community involvement, and leadership within communities.

We were following the Houghton Mifflin social studies unit for 2nd grade.

In this episode I kind of used the “scaffolding” approach- asking NyGirl open-ended questions, and expecting thoughtful responses.
I’m hoping that with time she’ll be prepared for public speaking (she has plenty of time!), but it never hurts to begin introducing those types of skills now.

Enjoy!

 Communities: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We know how much our little homeschoolers love to connect with other friends.  I have two social butterflies that can’t wait for the next playdate and co-op classes.

Well, in between church, co-op, play dates, and gym class (as if that doesn’t keep us busy enough), we still have room for a little extra socializing – in the form of pen pals.

There is a pretty cool website created for the educational world by education professionals- – and it serves as a good jumping off point for educators and students to get connected to other classrooms across the globe through online project collaboration.

EPALS.  So far I haven’t found a techie-er site that homeschoolers can use to not only meet other people, but enjoy participating in online projects.  (I know techie-er is not a word, but it just feels really nice to use it!)  If you’re not into subjects like global warming, habitats, and natural disasters, however, you might find your stay at Epals limited to just the pen pal portion.  To be fair, though, I hear the digital storytelling is a really good project.  I just wish I could find another homeschooler to participate in the project with!!!

There are projects to collaborate on, emails to check, friends to meet. It’s all done within a safe and secure online environment, and is very much embraced by the education community- public and private educators, as well as homeschoolers.

My daughter has met a pen pal from the Phillipines.  They are at the moment exchanging ideas about their likes and dislikes (“i like pizza, how about you?”) kind of stuff.  I do stay completely involved in the email exchange process as it comes to my inbox within Epals and I review it first before passing it off to NyGirl.

But if you want to meet with just other homeschool families (which I recommend if you homeschool, since the majority of the public and private schools have classrooms much larger than a typical homeschool classroom when connecting regarding a project)…then just type in the search phrase “homeschool” in the search box when looking to connect.  You’ll end up with a list of homeschoolers who also want to connect, and you can start there.

At any rate, I’ve only begun using the system since July and am still learning my way around.  I haven’t participated in any of the projects because it has been difficult to find other homeschool families who are also interested in the same projects.  So, if you homeschool and want to participate in any of these, PLEASE let me know (leave a reply here or something– or contact me on Twitter- twitter.com/MamaTechie).

I must admit…it does bother me to have my daughter do a “Google” search, although I am right over her shoulder when she does.

There is always the fear that any parent may have – and that’s: pop ups and unsolicited ads.

Furthermore, God forbid our children click on a WRONG link, a trashy URL that takes them to some porn site.  We would never forgive ourselves if our dear children’s innocence were crushed because of this.

Although I don’t want to revoke her Google searching priviliges, I’m just too cautious of a mommy to simply send her away to “Google it!”.

NyGirl LOVES to research.  She thinks of an idea that really interests her, and next thing you know she wants permission to get on the computer and look up more information about it.

“Mom, can I google it?  PLEASE???”

What do I say to that?  Here I have a child whose unsatiable thirst for knowledge has landed her on a quest for answers to every problem she thinks of.  Somehow, dictionary.com and thesaurus sites are not enough.  Of course not…we need GOOGLE.

Okay, not really.

I am not too sure about the safeties of Google for my dear kids, so I began to do a little research of my own for search engines which are safe for kids.

Among these are:

• Yahoo Kids – EXCELLENT resource, by the way!
• Kids.gov
• Fact Monster
• Britannica.com
• The Awesome Library
• ALA’s Great Websites for Kids

Or…if this is too limited of an approach, you can go to sites like Ask Jeeves, MSN Search, or even Google, and  under Content Filtering, select the options for “safe search” mode. There is a wonderful article which breaks down the different search engines, how they rank in comparing commercialized ads versus appealing content to children and relevance to the child.

So at least Google is not completely out of the question for us.  We can give search engines a “go”, so long as we’re on safe mode.

Just found a really neat site that allows you to expand the abilities of a thesaurus:

ThinkMapVisual Thesaurus.

There is a subscription fee of $19.95 a year (or $2.95 a month) for the online subscription…or you can purchase the desktop version for $39.95.

I can see the possibilities for homeschoolers as endless for those language arts and grammar subjects.  Here is an example of what the software can do…directly quoted from the site:

The Visual Thesaurus is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus which creates word maps that blossom with meanings and branch to related words. Its innovative display encourages exploration and learning. You’ll understand language in a powerful new way.

Say you have a meaning in mind, like “happy.” The VT helps you find related words, from “cheerful” to “euphoric.” The best part is the VT works like your brain, not a paper-bound book. You’ll want to explore just to see what might happen. You’ll discover — and learn — naturally and intuitively. You’ll find the right word, write more descriptively, free associate — and gain a more precise understanding of the English language.

This is software lots of homeschoolers might consider for an extra language arts curriculum boost- definitely excellent for journalism and writing topics.  Thanks to Technology Teacher I was inspired to write this post.

Homeschoolers:  Did you know that the majority of public and private schools are just as concerned about students’ potential harmful viewing online as we are?

Here’s proof: there was a study done on internet blocking in schools.  Essentially, there are laws in regulation that block harmful viewing…but there is a catch.  Here’s a quote directly from the source:

The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires all schools and libraries receiving certain federal funds or discounts to install and use a technology for blocking visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography, or in the case of minors, “harmful to minors.”

Here’s the catch to why much of the internet filters haven’t been working in schools:

The report drew the following conclusions:

• The use of Internet blocking software in schools cannot help schools comply with the law because schools do not and cannot set the software to block only the categories required by the law, and because the software is incapable of blocking only the visual depictions required by CIPA.
• Blocking software does not protect children from exposure to a large volume of material that is harmful to minors within the legal definitions. Blocking software cannot adapt adequately to local community standards. Most schools already have in place alternatives to Internet blocking software, such as adoption and enforcement of Internet use policies, media literacy education, directed use, and supervised use.
• Blocking software in schools damages educational opportunities for students, both by blocking access to web pages that are directly related to the state-mandated curriculums and by restricting broader inquiries of both students and teachers. Teachers and students 17 years or older (most high school juniors and seniors) should be exempt, yet suffer the consequences of CIPA implementation.

After testing nearly a million web pages related to state-mandated curriculums, the researchers found that of the web pages blocked, 97 – 99% of a statistically significant sample were blocked using non-standard, discretionary, and potentially illegal criteria beyond what CIPA requires.

Which, in my opinion, simply means that in homeschools, parent teachers will need to be actively involved in overseeing online and computer usage by our students.  We will need to understand all of the ramifications of our kids’ computer usage and become educated about how to help them learn online, WITHOUT stifling their opportunities to learn.

The only way to effectively do both (keep our kids safe online, AND teach them to independently use technology resources) is to educate ourselves about the digital world.  Truth be told, many of us are just not willing to do that.  (I’ve talked to many parents who shy away from the idea altogether due to fear of the unknown).  However, I’d like to encourage all home educating parents to do this with me:  let’s take the time to learn a bit about online environments, specifically:

• internet safety and tools
• internet research for education
• online educational curricula and software

There are TONS of good resources out there- as indicated in the book “Homeschool Your Child For Free“.  We just have to be open enough to give our children access to these materials.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t LIMIT access to some degree (and that limitation is up to each parent teacher).  But complete limitation probably isn’t a good idea either.

There is a lot of talk these days about whether or not the internet is safe for our kids. I think this is a valid discussion and has its place in education.  We definitely need to keep our kids safe online.

But there is a flipside…

If we become too stringent on keeping our kids totally away from the dangers of the internet, we may neglect to introduce them to the wonderful educational opportunities that are available.  These opportunities  may include online educational games, math drills, news for kids, podcasts of classical books -and for our older children, courses on how to use multimedia- such as designing websites, creatively podcasting, and even enriching their online experience even more through keeping a weblog.  That’s not to mention the variety of college level courses offered by universities such as MIT, which are absolutely FREE.  Our kids are living in an age when they can not only be a consumer of online media, but can also be creators.

I don’t think this is the time to passively let these opportunities slip by us.  As homeschoolers, we can use this digital era in history to our advantage- capitalizing on all the GOOD that the web has to offer our students.

There was a study conducted by Yahoo which indicated technology online is actually helping kids and families – keeping families connected and helping kids with homework, etc.  To directly quote:

The learning channels. As for the purpose of the time spent with technology, parents pointed to beneficial uses such as access to news and information. More than half (56%) said the Internet has helped children with schoolwork, and nearly two thirds (61%) said the Internet has “exposed my children to a broad range of cultures.”

That’s good news for homeschoolers.  Again, with all the dangers that ARE pervasive on the web, we need to begin looking for the positive factors involved in using online media in our home schools.

We don’t have to allow technology to control us - either through negatively impacting our families by taking up too much of our time, energy, and resources.  Examples of this are improper usage of Twitter, Facebook, and chat rooms.  If we spend too much time using social media it has the same demise as spending way too much time in front of the television screen, too much time on the phone, too much time at the coffee shop, too much time at the hair and nail salons…you name it.  ANYTHING can be controlling of our time, if we allow it too.  Same with technology.  Don’t be afraid of using it, but neither let it control your family.

Joe Uva says it best:

“It’s clear that within the ’43-hour day,’ families are making concerted efforts to spend time together and to live out a new family value that says ‘we control technology — it does not control us,’” said Joe Uva, president and CEO, OMD Worldwide.

Michele Madanski, Yahoo’s vice president of sales research had this to say about the idea of technology and how it impacts families:

“Father doesn’t always know best. He may not have a clue about what MP3 player is the best value, but daughter can be the expert because she has spent time online comparison shopping prices and features.”

And what does this mean for us home educating parents? It means that we can finally take a deep breath and relax, knowing that as our children have grasped the basics of the three R’s and are ready for more, they can learn to use technologies (with our supervision) and explore these things on their own. Before long, they will be teaching us!

Isn’t that what we want- children who are independent learners and can turn around and teach what they have discovered?

I know that’s what I’ve set out for.  I want to raise godly, independent children who are able to think and reason beyond the reach of my influence.  I want them to be empowered to conduct online research and creatively explore the opportunities for delivering a project in more ways than a 3 dimensional poster board.  I want them to tinker with ideas through collaboration with other kids (this can be done online on group projects with kids from around the globe, or in local homeschool co-ops).

Creativity, exploration, independent learning, group learning…all of this can be accomplished online for the homeschooler.

The internet is far from a perfect environment, but there are definitely things we parent teachers can do to ensure a much safer and meaningful online experience for our kids.

I’ll be covering these ideas in later posts…