Homeschooling with Technology

Flippity is a free online resource that offers 25 different activities, most are games. Some can be played online, others allow you to create a pdf for offline fun. The games use data from Google Sheets (that you input to customize each game).

Flippity gives you the option to try out each game (use the Demo option), make a copy of the game template, and then follow the instructions to customize each game for your purpose.

I do mention how to use some of the Flippity tools to create digital gifts in episode 110.

Show sponsor FundaFunda Academy has a unit study to guide your children through creating digital gifts and many use Flippity – you can find that here.

Show sponsor, FundaFunda Academy, uses the Mad Libs creator as a student assignment in the middle school Writing Fun class.

Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast! You can ask questions and get advice as you try integrating technology in your homeschool. We would love to hear how you are using tech in early elementary homeschooling!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review! Subscribing will help you make sure you never miss an episode.

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This is a rerun of episode 42 which covers 4 Free Online History Games. I know many listeners are looking for free online games so enjoy!

You can find the show notes on the original episode here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review!

Contact Meryl via email on [email protected] or connect with her on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook

The post Replay: 4 Free Online History games appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

If you are looking for some new fun educational activities for your children in the new year, ClassTools is a great place to go. Listen to this replay as I tell you how I like to use some of the tools.

The original episode and the show notes can be found here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review!

Contact Meryl via email on [email protected] or connect with her on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook

The post Replay: Classtools – online educational fun appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

If you are looking for a last-minute gift, these virtual gift ideas will help you out.

1. DIY Virtual Gifts – listen to our previous episode for ideas.

Show sponsor FundaFunda Academy has a unit study to guide your children through creating digital gifts – you can find that here.

2. Premium Version of apps – Some examples: Strava, All Trails, Spotify

3. Digital Magazines

4. Digital Escape Rooms

Show sponsor FundaFunda Academy sells two – Mystery of the Amber Room and Mosby’s Treasure.

5. Annual subscriptions to National Parks, Zoos, Museums, etc

6. Gift Cards – some example: Steam, Uber Eats, H&M

7. eBooks

8. Subscription boxes – Kiwi Crate, Coffee, International Snacks, Makeup boxes

9. Online Classes – some examples: Masterclass, Airbnb virtual experiences

10. Digital Games – iPad, Steam

Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast! You can ask questions and get advice as you try integrating technology in your homeschool. We would love to hear how you are using tech in early elementary homeschooling!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review! Subscribing will help you make sure you never miss an episode.

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It’s time for the Hour of Code again – and in this episode, everyone is encouraged to code for one hour! It doesn’t matter when you listen – the activities will be available free for you to try.

You can find all the Hour of Code activities here.

The ones I mention in this episode:

Show host FundaFunda Academy has a Christmas contest that includes basic Scratch tutorials.

For Computer Education week (ends Sunday 13 December) you can get FundaFunda’s 5-week Beginner Scratch or Python class for just $35 (a $20 saving). No coupon required.These classes are self-paced but are also graded and help is available for students who need it.

Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast! You can ask questions and get advice as you try integrating technology in your homeschool. We would love to hear how you are using tech in early elementary homeschooling!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review! Subscribing will help you make sure you never miss an episode.

The post Everybody code for one hour this week! appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

These are the 8 ideas for digital gifts your children can create that are mentioned in this podcast.

1. Create a video game with Scratch (show host FundaFunda Academy has a Christmas contest that includes basic Scratch tutorials as well as longer Scratch classes)

2. Flippity.net has lots of templates that can be used to create games like Hangman and Matching games, as well as a template to make an online board game.

3. Choose your own adventure book – easy to do with Google Slides

4. Digital Breakouts

5. Movies – use Powtoon, Stop Motion Animation etc

6. Online Jigsaw Puzzles – use Jigsaw Planet

7. Activity Book – include word searches, cryptograms, sudoku, etc

8. Cards and DigitalCoupons – use Adobe Spark, Canva

Show sponsor FundaFunda Academy has a unit study to guide your children through creating digital gifts – you can find that here.

Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast! You can ask questions and get advice as you try integrating technology in your homeschool. We would love to hear how you are using tech in early elementary homeschooling!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review! Subscribing will help you make sure you never miss an episode.

The post Digital Gifts Your Children Can Create appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

With the holiday season coming up, this seemed like a good time to rerun episode 42 which covers Online Tools for Photography. Our guest is Piers van der Merwe.

I hope these tools come in useful!

You can find the show notes on the original episode here.

The post Replay: Online Tools For Photography appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Our guest in this episode is Tiffany Aguirre from Life With Many Blessings. Tiffany shares how she is using tech in early elementary homeschooling.

Here is the list of different apps and websites Tiffany talks about:

And check out Tiffany’s awesome all-in-one homeschool planner for iPads.

Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast! You can ask questions and get advice as you try integrating technology in your homeschool. We would love to hear how you are using tech in early elementary homeschooling!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review! Subscribing will help you make sure you never miss an episode.

The post Using Tech in your Early Elementary Homeschooling Journey appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This year I have put together an online Writing Fun class for middle schoolers and decided to add online grammar games to each week’s work.These are ones I found that are worth sharing with your elementary and middle school children.

Madtakes – an online version of Madlibs

Brainpop – Most of the grammar concepts listed have a “Sortify” game to use for practice

Freerice – Freerice has a grammar category

Semicolon Wars: The fight for Punctuation Island – This game from Mr. Nussbaum teaches more than just semicolon usage as you progress through different levels trying to win the island

Extreme Sentence Surgeons Saving Critically Injured Paragraphs – Another game from Mr. Nussbaum where players need to correct the mistakes in paragraphs

Sporcle – Search for the grammar games and then look through for appropriate one like “Grammar Police”.

Abcya has a number of grammar games eg “Journey to Past Tense” which takes players on an adventure as they practice grammar.

RoomRecess has two arcade style games that teach grammar – “Grammar Police” and “Grammar Gladiator”.

Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast! You can ask questions and get advice as you try integrating technology in your homeschool. And you can share phishing attempts you have experienced!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review! Subscribing will help you make sure you never miss an episode.

The post Free Online Grammar Games for Homeschoolers appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Everyone with an email address and a phone is regularly affected by phishing attempts, and in this episode, I give some tips on how to teach your children about phishing.

My first suggestion is that when you receive a phishing attempt by email or phone, you show your children and talk about it with them.

You can also watch these videos with them:

Once your children have an idea what phishing is and how to spot it, test them (and yourself) with this quiz

Show sponsor FundaFunda Academy includes instruction on how to spot computer scams in their Computer Applications online class. This class is appropriate for 7th – 12th graders and worth 1 credit, but is great for middle schoolers so that they are prepared for high school.

Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast! You can ask questions and get advice as you try integrating technology in your homeschool. And you can share phishing attempts you have experienced!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review! Subscribing will help you make sure you never miss an episode.

The post Teach your Children about Phishing appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.