Techie Homeschoolers

We started using Sense-Lange Typing last year when my oldest daughter was seven.

It’s a neat typing program, completely online and absolutely free, which helps our kids to learn to type.

There are quite a few typing tutorials here.

Everything is pretty much laid out in order for you.  First thing you should do when you get to this site, is to read the Instructions.  That is the first link option when you arrive at the site.

Once you’ve read the instructions to your child, I would go ahead and choose between the Typing Tutorials or the Keypad Tutorials.  I would start with the typing, since that is the most important initially when your child is learning to type for writing or grammar classes.

Then have your child play a few typing games just for fun.    This will help cement the idea of the typing pad’s key lineup and help them remember it better.  Lastly, maybe wait after a few more typing tutorials later in the week or so, but finally give them the typing test.  The test will tell them how many words per minute they type, how many mistakes they made, and how many words they typed correctly.  There is a success percentage score given, and you can use this to keep up with your child’s progress in typing.

Overall, a pretty good typing program online.

Read/write web is making a lot of progress.  As Google is becoming a prominent leader in the web 2.0 industry, we see them taking over our typical productivity tasks- such as spreadsheets and word docs.

No longer can we just say to our students, “Go ahead and open up Microsoft Word to type up your report…”   At least not when there are so many FREE applications available on the web- like the headway Google is making with Writely.

It’s the epitome of the read/write web phenomenon (web 2.0).  It’s not just about creating content, but being an active participant and developer of content along with a team of other like minded individuals.  It is virtual team building.

Take a look at this google video which shows a scenario of a teen that has a VERY important question to ask someone he really likes.  He needs a little help from his peers, using the Google doc which they all share and collaborate on together.

View Google Writely Video

NyGirl has really been interested in planets lately. We have a full unit covering the solar system in her Houghton Mifflin science book…but it is very limited when it comes to techie ideas (though the book offers a supplemental website with additional quizzes and games that accompany the unit).

So I decided to create our own unit.  I thought about lapbooking and then scanning in the images to create a slideshow…until i found VoiceThread.  So instead, I ended up creating our own Solar System unit in which NyGirl will create a complete Power Point presentation to upload and narrate via VoiceThread.  In the process, she is getting some typing practice (we use Sense-Lang.org for typing lessons), and a general overview on how to use presentation software and become familiar with computer icons, commands, and tasks.
So far I have taught her how to select slide templates and styles, add slides, add transitions and effects, change fonts, and add clip art.  The easiest part was typing  the information in for the planet Mercury.

This is going to be a fun project, I can already tell.

The thing is, once younger students are introduced to the concepts of productivity and presentation software, they can run with it and leave us in the dust.  I think it’s hilarious when some educators scoff at the idea of showing children in the lower elementary years how to use these types of software.  It’s perfectly do-able and absolutely equips them with ways to express their ideas and thoughts, making school projects all the more fun for them.

Anyway…I’ll be posting more updates on this project and the completed project at my VoiceThread account once it is finalized.