Homeschooling with Technology

In this episode, I share some online resources to teach kids about racism. All the websites I refer to are linked below.

I teach the online US History class at show sponsor FundaFunda Academy. In this class, I don’t use a textbook and do try to integrate as much black, Native American, immigrant, and women’s history as I can. I use a lot of primary resources and let the students dig into the history and form their own opinions. Until the end of June 2020, you can get a $20 discount using code 20OFF.

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.

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Tara Walker is completing her Ph.D. in the College of Media, Communication and Information at the University of Colorado Boulder in Media Research and Practice. Her research focuses on mental illness and health in mass communication. She has been the Instructor of Record for Media Ethics and Law, History of Advertising, Strategic Writing for Public Relations, and Creative Concepts. She has also taught writing and rhetoric classes for CU Boulder’s Program for Writing and Rhetoric.

Tara’s a poet and an artist with an MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her book of poetry and drawings, Exquisite Disgust, is available on Amazon. Be sure to visit Tara’s website.

Tara explains in this episode why she believes games like these are not a waste of time. All of the ones she mentions include problem-solving elements: puzzles, mysteries, and tasks that involve a lot of trial and error.

If you have a high schooler who loves digital games, check out the Visual LIteracy class from show sponsor FundaFunda Academy. This class can be taken as an English 1/2 credit or a 1/2 credit in Fine Arts. It covers not only digital games but other forms of visual media too like graphic novels and movies.

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.

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 Games That Teach Problem-Solving appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

If your travel plans have been disrupted, then consider virtual travel.

Start by going to Google Earth and you can either search for a place, use the Voyager button on the left, or the one “I am feeling lucky” to get taken to a random place. Once there drag the pegman to some place on the map and you will be in Google Streetview and ready to explore.

Once you have don’t some exploration on foot, then it is time to do some research to find the main highlights of the area that would choose to visit if you went there in person. Find out if they have a virtual experience, or if you can “walk” around the area.

In episode 71, Jayda Justus gave us lots of ideas for Virtual Field Trips, and obviously these could be places you could explore during virtual travel.

If you plan on visiting North America or South America virtually, and you have children in grades 4 – 8, be sure to grab an interactive web-based unit study on those 2 continents from show sponsor, Fundafunda Academy. If you listen to the episode before June 3rd, you will get a coupon for 75% off either or both of these.

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.

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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The guest for this episode is Rachel van der Merwe, a Ph.D. candidate in media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Rachel has four years of teaching experience at the undergraduate level and currently teaches the upper-level course Media and Popular Culture for CU Boulder. She is also my daughter and the teacher of the Visual Literacy class for show sponsor, FundaFunda Academy.

The Evernote app describes itself as a digital notebook, but Rachel thinks it’s more helpful to think about Evernote as a digital extension of your memory—an external hard drive or archive for the central processing unit that is your brain.

Evernote has many uses within the context of homeschooling, or really any educational setting,

Some useful features are:

1. You can take a photo of a page of notes, or business cards at a homeschool convention, and save it as a note

2. You can create notebooks for each course, inside the notebook

3. You can take notes in notes

4. Organization

5. Relocating info

With Evernote Premium, everything is OCRed and becomes searchable – even handwriting!

6. Evernote Web Clipper

If you want your teens to learn how to use it, this is one of the resources covered in FundaFunda Academy’s Computer Applications 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.

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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1. Google Forms – learn how to use it to create quizzes here

2. Educandy

3. The Pacman game at Classtools

4. Mentimeter – you can see a demonstration on how to use it here.

5. Quizizz

6. Kahoot

7. Quizlet

8. Sporcle

Most of these tools are used in show sponsor FundaFunda Academy‘s full semester classes and their web-based unit studies. If your children enjoy playing or creating quizzes take a look at their classes as these are the sorts of tools the FundaFunda teachers use to make classes engaging for the students.

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.

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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Sarah Miller-Snyder from Podcastliving.com is our guest to share with us her knowledge about podcasts for kids and teens. I met Sarah in my Facebook group, Homeschooling College-bound Teens. You are welcome to join us there too! And visit show sponsor FundaFunda Academy to see if any of their classes are good fits for your children. Many of them use podcasts occasionally in assignments!

Podcasts for Tweens and Teens

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Here are 6 easy ways to integrate technology into your homeschool. Don’t try to do them all at once – just try implementing one way first and then add as you go.

Ideas for ways to do that:

Keep track of community service hours and grades at the very least. Google Sheets is a free option, but you can also use a tool like Homeschool Tracker

Some suggestions for tools to use:

Make it fun by using websites like Kahoot, Quizizz, and Quizlet – use readymade ones until you feel comfortable creating your own. You will plenty at all these websites on any topic you want to test your children on.

Web-based unit studies mentioned in the episode can be found at:

Online classes mentioned in this episode:

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.

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

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If you have 8th – 12th graders, don’t miss the annual High School Challenge from show sponsor FundaFunda Academy. High schoolers can win gift cards and money while completing challenges that teach them about being prepared for college.

Tips on using Zoom

2. Babysit – obviously not with babies but 5 – 8-year-olds could be entertained over Zoom. Read books together, build legos, tell stories etc

3. Quiz night – Select a ready-made quiz from Kahoot or Quizizz. You can also do Quizlet Live if you use breakout rooms.

4. Game night. Here is an article that explains how to play board games over Zoom. You can also play an online version of Codenames.

5. Scavenger Hunt – this idea is from Scott Bowen, the husband of Heather Bowen from Mom for all Seasons. Give those on the call an item to find and see who gets back first with it. Then repeat!

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In this episode, my 3 guests each explain different online income opportunities they are currently using. All have low start-up costs and should be doable for most homeschool moms.

Bekki offers a class on how to do it – use code TOGETHER! for a special discount.

Etsy Quickstart Guide – this ebook will get your Etsy shop up and running FAST! Save 50% with the code HALFPRICE.

Selling on Etsy Masterclass for Teens – even moms can take this course! Take it together with your teens and start an Etsy shop while the demand is high! Etsy has requested that sellers start making and selling fabric face masks. There’s no better time to open your Etsy shop. Use the code FLASHSALE2020 for 50% off this comprehensive online course.

Be sure to also listen to my other 2 podcast episodes where I interview Abby:

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Students should keep records of the community service they do as it will help them win scholarships and look impressive to colleges. In addition, they can achieve certificates and medals in the Congressional Award program.

Show Sponsor, FundaFunda Academy, is hosting its 3rd annual High School Challenge in April and May. 8th – 12th graders complete assignments related to preparing for college that earn them points. Students with the most points win gift cards or cash from $5 to $150. Lots of prizes, lots of fun, lots of learning!

Here are 9 ideas for virtual community service:

1. Virtual Babysitting

2. Virtual Greeting cards/emails

3. Fun and games eg create online jigsaw puzzles

4. Explainer videos/tutorials

5. Old weather: Use ship logs to transcribe historical weather data.

6. Zooniverse has a number of projects. Some are.

7. iNaturalist allows students to become citizen scientists and record observations about nature.

8. The Library of Congress has opportunities for students to transcribe, approve and edit historical documents.

9. All for Good is a website that lists many different volunteer opportunities and some of them can be done virtually.

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