We have all had days, weeks or even months where NOTHING seems to go right. Those times all find us wondering exactly what are we teaching our children. The reality is, most of us grew up believing that schooling and in turn actually learning required the usage of desks, a rigid schedule and a teacher with a chalk board. Missing any of those critical elements meant that someone was not getting a proper education.
As homeschooling parents we know well enough to realize that this is grossly inaccurate, but how do you really try to ensure that small problems in scheduling do not keep you from overlooking the critical aspects of your child’s education? For many parents tools of the trade are invaluable, they feel best with their chalkboard and other typical educational tools, but for others, it is important to ensure that there are additional options available.
To help ensure that when disaster strikes your child is still able to stay on target there are a few different ways to prepare ahead. You can look to laptops, Nintendo DS systems, and even some small books to make immediate portable schooling options. The degree of depth that can be covered this way will of course vary, but these are all tools that can be quickly gathered and taken if you end up taking an unexpected road trip.
What are you to do when you are still at home though, things have gone wrong and your schedule is out of wack? For the average family it is just a matter of survival. Get through as much material as you can, without losing your sanity. If your child misses math for a few days, they will survive. Come back and cover the lessons once things settle down again. There is no need to stress if you are not able to cover all of the material on the exact day that it is scheduled. Your child will still succeed, and the world will continue spinning along happily.
Tags: complications, technology, unusual learning
Have you actually considered how a blog can help your children? Most adults spend at least a few minutes each week surfing around on the internet. You might be looking at blogs, checking out the news or other similar features. Have you considered how to turn this experience that you have into a learning tool for your children?
You can actually use the idea of blogging to teach your children several useful skills.
1. Never hand out extremely personal information. This cannot be stressed enough no matter what, parents are continuously shocked to learn what children are sharing. A parent monitored blog makes a great place to start really learning this lesson.
2. Share personal opinions. Most children have something that they are extremely passionate about. Allowing your child to blog gives them a chance to share their passion with the world.
3. Practice proper grammar, spelling and vocabulary skills. Of course writing a report, essay or worksheet would probably be the same exact effect but blogging can be a lot of fun. Plus, since the world can see what your child is writing, they are more likely to put some extra effort into it.
4. Learn proper usage of a blog, including many of the useful features of the different software programs. Laugh all you want, but many children have turned the internet into their own personal ATM machine. By allowing your child the time to learn proper skills online they can easily develop their own business. Knowing these skills well ahead of the children that are coming out of public skills can make them a valuable asset for companies. How many businesses have you seen with official blogs lately?
5. You can help instill a sense of responsibility. Since blogs succeed by having regular content this gives something that your child is responsible for keeping updated continuously. Rather than having a single assignment that once completed is done, a blog gives you a great reoccuring assignment.
Surely you too can come up with some great ways to integrate blogging into your own situation. What do you think would be additional great usages of blogs?
Tags: technology, web resources
Who ever knew that when we were kids ourselves the toys that drove our parents crazy would actually turn into the best educational resources available. If you own a Nintendo Wii or a Nintendo DS then you should be aware at this point that there is a huge assortment of titles that are fabulous for injecting a bit of educational value into the games that were typically only good for wasting time.
Taking advantage of these game systems is not hard. Search at yard sales, pawn shops, flea makets and even online at places such as CraigsList and eBay to find great deals for huge discounts off the typical price. Games are also available from these sources for a fabulous deal which makes it really easy to take advantage of the educational value that is offered.
Games such as Brain Age, Big Brain Academy, My Word Coach and lots of others all make great additions to your standard curriculum and if you are buying a Nintendo DS and the DS version of the game you can easily take them with you on trips, running errands and even just sitting around at the doctor’s office. Take advatage of these spare moments with a few of the great games that are available and if you want to try before you actually buy, places such as GameFly are fabulous for saving money by renting rather than buying.
Tags: history, math, science, technology, video games