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And visit our sponsor FundaFunda Academy to see the classes they are offering for high school credit this summer.

MOOC = Massive Open Online Courses

The start of MOOCs is typically accepted to be in 2011 when Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig from Stanford offered an online course on artificial intelligence. Over 160 000 people from all over the world registered (including my younger son). There were a few MOOCs before this but this is the one that set MOOCs on the map.

EdX – started by Harvard and MIT offers some AP and high school classes as well as college-level classes.

Coursera – many of their short courses are grouped together to offer a “microcredential.” They monetize by a monthly subscription model. But they do still offer many courses that are free to audit.

Futurelearn is UK-based and owned by The Open University. Exams are behind a paywall and you have to pay for certificates but quizzes are usually accessible free.

Udacity is the MOOC provider that grew out of that first MOOC, but isn’t allied to any university. It offers “Nanodegrees” related to Information Technology which consists of a number of courses with human-graded projects, some mentorship and assistance finding a job afterward (ie an alternative to college). But they also still have individual free courses with basic quizzes and interactive coding assignments.

Visit Class Central and search for a topic you are interested in. This website clearly shows all the opttions, if a class is free, when it starts and how it has been rated by students.

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Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast

And visit our sponsor FundaFunda Academy to see the classes they are offering for high school credit this summer. Intro the Theatre is a lot of fun. Students learn not just about acting but also about makeup and props and script writing and stage management and everything else it takes to put on a show!

When I was 12 my dad took our family on a 6 week trip around Europe and I was the one he tasked with planning the itinerary. I had no internet to help me and so had to write to the embassies for information. But I learned so much as I planned our vacation.

So I would suggest, that you get your children involved in your travel planning. They will learn to use technology and learn many other life skills too!

1. Use Google Docs to collaborate or Trello

5. Use Google Flights or Skyscanner to find best days (Remember some carriers like Southwest aren’t on those) then book on airline site

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Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast!

And visit our sponsor FundaFunda Academy to see the classes they are offering for high school credit this summer. Photography is one class that is ideal to take over the summer when there are plenty of things to photograph for assignments.

This time of year many students are studying for exams. Here are a few online tools to help teens study.

Look on Youtube for video reviews for all AP exams. You will also find reviews for many other subjects.

Although all these websites come with many decks of flashcards created by students and teachers, it will be more advantageous for teens to create their own as when they do that, that is how they will learn the best.

Sparknotes is not just about literature anymore. They now provide summaries and study guides for many other subjects. These include lists of key people, key terms and formulas. Some topics even have quizzes.

Quizziz and Kahoot are fun ways to review once students think they have done sufficient studying. Kahoot only has single player mode available on their app. Quizziz can be played alone on a laptop. Both are fun to use for a study session for a few teens.

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Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast!

And visit our sponsor FundaFunda Academy to see the web-based unit studies and full semester classes they offer. They also have options for summer learning! Many of their classes incorporate games like the ones discussed in this episode.

Oregon Trail is a free online version of the original game. The graphics are very dated – but that adds to the fun!

Mission US has 5 episodes covering different time periods in US history – Revolutionary War, what it was like to be a slave just before the Civil War, life on the plains for native Americans just after the Civil War, life as an immigrant in the early 1900s and finally, living through the Great Depression.

In each episode, you play the role of a teen who is trying to survive during that time. You make choices as you play and these affect the outcome of the game. This means you can replay the game and get different conclusions each time.

There are also educator guides for each episode.

Race to Ratify is a new game from iCivics.

This game takes you back to 1787 and you move around talking to characters from the past to learn about the ratification debate and how the Federalists and Anti-Federalists viewed various issues. As you talk to people you earn Argument tokens which you then use to create content for pamphlets.

You have to decide if you are Federalists or Anti-Federalist and you lose points if you print stories that don’t support your position.

This game requires quite a bit of reading and students have to think about what they are reading so it is good for high schoolers, or advanced middle schoolers.

Death in Rome is a fun mystery game set in ancient Rome.

Click around the screen and ask the experts or the witnesses about items you find at the scene. After you have all the evidence, you can make your guess at what happened. If you aren’t correct, you can try again.

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

Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast!

And visit our sponsor FundaFunda Academy to see the web-based unit studies and full semester classes they offer. They also have options for summer learning!

Google MyMaps allows you to customize a Google map. Start by going there and clicking on ‘Explore’. Here are 3 public maps you can view to give you an idea of the possibilities.

Start by clicking on ‘Create a New Map’.

You can choose your base map – a typical map, one that shows the terrain, satellite, etc. Add a title and description for each pin. You can select a style for your pins – they can be different colors and icons. You can include photos and videos in the description. Layers allow you to differentiate between a set of pins ie different students working collaboratively could each be assigned a different layer so you can see who does what. You can select whether to view all layers simultaneously or isolate just one.

Ditch that Textbook has an excellent blog post with great ideas. Here are some you can use with your children:

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Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast!

And visit our sponsor FundaFunda Academy to see the web-based unit studies and full semester classes they offer.

1. Let your children navigate using the app. It teaches them to give good instructions and learn how maps work

2. Let your children help with trip planning. They can work out how long you will take to get to places and good eating spots en-route.

3. Math – Your children can practice estimation and then right click (or double click on Macs) and select “Measure Distance”. Click where you want to measure to. You can keep doing this and keep adding to the distance. If you “close” the drawing it will also give you the area.

4. Streetview – Click the Peg Man at the bottom right and then click on the blue lines and blue circles. The circles give you 360 views and the blue lines allow you to walk around the streets. At the top left you may see a date and if you click on that you can get historical views of the area.

Diagon Alley at Harry Potter Studio Tour outside London. There is limited walking around.

Doctor Who fans, walk along Earls Court Road (also called the A3220) in London and near the Barkston Gardens intersection you will see the TARDIS! And you can go inside!! If you walk around and can’t find it, here is a direct link.

5. You can find a list of Google Treks here – they provide an enhanced experience to some special places like Petra in Jordan.

6. Click on “satellite” when you are in the regular map view for and turn the labels off and see if your children can identify what they are looking at. The click Control (or Command on a Mac) and drag the mouse around for a cool 3D view of places.

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

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Looking for online classes for the new year for your children? Take a look at what our sponsor, FundaFunda Academy has to offer.

Use Grammarly to help pick up typos, spelling and grammar errors

If asking for things, try to give all info needed. Eg for recommendation letters, provide the due date, what it is for, details of achievements etc. This saves a back and forth of emails.

“Put it in writing” is always a good idea to prevent miscommunication and online communication makes this really easy to do.

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Quizlet is a free online resource and app that has quizzes and games for many different subjects. In this podcast, Suzette Laporte-Ayo, Spanish teacher at FundaFunda Academy, explains her unique way of using Quizlet for Spanish vocabulary study. Her method will work for most foreign languages.

There are many lists of vocabulary words on Quizlet. Choose one and spend 2 weeks working on it as follows:

1. Go to the “Flashcards” tab and listen to the words being pronounced and repeat them aloud.

2. Go to the “Match” game and try to get the fastest time you can.

3. Go to the “Spell” game and try to get a 90% or better.

2. Go to the “Write” tab and type the word for the picture that appears. If your child is not old enough to type, a parent can type it for them. After typing the word in Spanish, check to see if you got it right then say it out loud and then click on the speaker to listen to the word again.

3. Go to the “Test” tab. Again, if a child isn’t writing yet, a parent can type it for them. You can go to the left-hand side and find the “options” tab. Click it to choose to answer in Spanish, prompted in English, and the max amount of questions possible. Try to get 90% or more.

4. For 2nd grade and up, go to the “Gravity” tab. This game might be a little difficult. You need to type the word in Spanish before the asteroid disappears. Start out on the easy level. If you get good at it you can increase your difficulty level.

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Synchronous classes are usually live and students watch a live stream. Good for students who like structure. Example: True North Homeschool Academy.

Asynchronous classes allow students to select the time they come to class and are recorded videos and other assignments. Good for students with unpredictable schedules. Example: show sponsor, FundaFunda Academy.

For younger students grading is not important, but high school students need a grade. Is the class grade? If not is there an answer key/rubrics for the parent to use?

Pros of self-paced classes: take as long as you want, often can re-use for multiple kids, example: – FundaFunda Academy web-based unit studies

Classes with deadlines ensure students finish their work on time and prepares them for college (and life!). Examples: FundaFunda Academy’sand True North Homeschool Academy‘s full semester classes.

Be sure to check out the new podcast from Lisa Nehring of True North Homeschool Academy – Soft Skills 101

Some classes have forums/discussion rooms

Do your children learn better with live interaction, with textbooks, with interactive websites and games? Do you want classes that have tests or ones that assess mastery in a different way?

Classes can be “light” or rigorous. Some are Honors level or AP prep.

In conclusion, it can very helpful if you can view a demo of classes you are considering before you buy.

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

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Our guest in today’s show is Brittany Joiner. She is a self-confessed Trello enthusiast who in her spare time organizes local Trello events and blogs for Trello.

Link on Trello’s blog to Brittany and her articles

Find local meetups of Trello enthusiasts near you here.

Brittany’s Project 1440 Blog where the majority of posts are about Trello.

Brittany’s Trello Video Series (costs $39)

Brittany describes Trello as a “Digital whiteboard with sticky notes”.

Be sure to click through the “example” boards to see what Brittany describes in this episode. You can copy her boards and use them as a basis to create your own.

Show sponsor, FundaFunda Academy, teaches students to use Trello in their online Computer Applications class.

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

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