Homeschooling with Technology

The free tools mentioned in this episode are:

Show sponsor, FundaFunda Academy, teaches students to use many of these tools in their online Computer Applications class. Some of the teachers also use video creation in their assignments (as you can see from the examples above).

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Modern technology makes it far easier to homeschooling when you travel than it was for me when we traveled around the world about 11 years ago with our 4 children.

Chromebooks – take a flash drive for storing documents.

If you have younger students, you can take a break from your regular curriculum. Travel is a fantastic education – but you can use devices to learn about the places you are visiting.

You can also use devices for learning while you are on flights, in the airport etc.

Educational apps – vocabulary.com, is great to build vocabulary for all ages. Also look for other word games.

For teens, online classes can provide an easy way to homeschool anywhere. However, if you choose live online classes, make sure it will work to miss the live sessions. Some classes do offer video recordings students can watch if they miss class.

Self-paced, or online classes that don’t have a live component – like our sponsor FundaFunda Academy’s are a better option as they offer more flexible pacing while you are traveling.

Web-based unit studies are great to use with upper elementary and middle schoolers as everything is self-contained online.

And no need to worry about not having a printer for worksheets – just complete them online. Many newer computers already offer the ability to complete pdfs online, but if yours doesn’t then use Type on Pdf which if a free online option.

Most airports have free wifi now

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

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In today’s episode we will explore some of the fun resources on the website Classtools.

Our sponsor, FundaFunda Academy enjoys using the free Classtools resources in many of their online classes and web-based unit studies.

Fakebook – create a “fake” book page complete with cover image, profile pic and posts for a literary or historical character.

SMS generator – imagine a text conversation between 2 literary or historical characters.

Badgemaker – design a badge to celebrate a historical character.

Breaking News and Headline Generator – supply headlines and descriptions for news events in the past.

Turbo Timeline – produce a timeline that you can drive through.

Play your Dates Right – put historical events into chronological order.

Dustbin – create up to 4 categories with items that must be dragged to the correct one.

Arcade Games – There are 70 ready-made games and you can add your own. Use the questions in one of 5 games: PacMan, Manic Miner Asteroids, Pong or Wordshoot.

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Our sponsor, FundaFunda Academy offers online high school world geography classes as well as web-based unit studies for 4th – 8th grade on North America, South America, and Poland. In addition, they sell inexpensive Geography printable games.

Here are the 6 free online geography games mentioned in this episode:

1. Seterra

2. Lizardpoint

3. Sporcle

4. Smartypins

5. GeoGuessr

6. Fanschool

These games are good for upper elementary through high school – and for adults too!

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* Use Scholarship Search Engines

Other scholarship search engines: Peterson’s, Fastweb, Cappex, Collegeboard, Scholarships.com

* Scholly App

* Local school websites

* Google search – “scholarship” + major / hobby / achievement etc

* Facebook – follow people like Monica Matthews

* put all scholarships and requirements and deadlines on Google sheets and share with your child

* Use Google sheets to track volunteer hours, workshops attended etc so you have all the info at hand

—> Check out our sponsor, FundaFunda Academy‘s summer challenge for high schoolers. Part of the challenge helps students figure out what they need to do to win scholarships, and where to find them. And students can win money in the challenge to put towards their college tuition!

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—> Check out our sponsor, FundaFunda Academy‘s classes and web-based unit studies for Spring 2019.

They are similar to Escape Rooms – just all online!

They teach critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork. And they add an element of fun to the material you are studying.

* Breakout Edu

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—> Check out our sponsor, FundaFunda Academy’s web-based unit studies and online high school classes. They all utilize technology to enhance the lessons and also include techie projects.

These games allow your kids to be on their devices – but still participating in family games.

Use Alexa or any smart speaker and ask her to play a certain genre of music or music from a time period. The whole family tries to guess the song title – and perhaps the artist too. Whoever gets it first scores a point. Use Shazam to verify the answer is correct, or to find out what the song is if no one knows.

Sporcle has thousands of quizzes on every topic imaginable. The quizzes also have different styles so you can play for a long time without getting bored. Although these are designed to play alone, we turn it into a family game.

We take it in turns to select a quiz and then text everyone else the link and yell “Go”. Everyone tries to complete the quiz as fast as possible and when time runs out we see who did the best.

Kahoot is used in co-ops and schools as it is a fun way to do review. But you can also use it for family fun. One adult needs to sign up at Kahoot.com. Then find a ready-created quiz on a topic your family will enjoy. There are plenty of Christmas-themed ones. Once you select it and start it, everyone will be able to join the game using an access code that will be displayed on your laptop. If you can project it on a TV it makes it a bit easier for everyone to see.

Multiple choice questions appear one at a time and everyone answers on their own devices (phones, laptops etc all work). The faster you answer the more points you get. A leaderboard keeps track of how everyone is doing.

Quizizz is very similar to Kahoot. Try out both and see which your family prefers.

Heads-up is a phone app available on iTunes and Google Play. The basic version is free but you pay if you add more packs or want to create your own.

Basically you divide into teams and then one person puts the phone on their forehead. A word/phrase appears and the rest of the team have to describe it to the person. Once they get it correct – or give up – they flip the phone to get a new word and you see how many a team can get correct in the time given.

Do read the review on Common Sense Media before playing as the app does encourage social sharing of videos of players and you probably won’t want your kids doing that!! But if the app is on your phone and you are controlling play, you can have a lot of fun together!

Phrase Party is also a phone app that you can find on iTunes or the Google Play store. The lite version is free. This game plays like “Catchphrase”. You pass the phone around and each person has to describe the word/phrase they are given. Once someone gets it correct, they pass it to the next person. The person who ends up with the phone when the timer ends, is the loser!

All these games are great because everyone plays together and there are free versions of all of them.

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

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—> Check out our sponsor, FundaFunda Academy’s Scratch Christmas Coding Contest. This contest is for those who can’t program in Scratch yet, as well as for those who can. There are 2 different divisions, and new programmers can learn along with video tutorials as part of their entrance fee of $5. The winners will earn themselves gift cards. Registration closes 23 December 2018.

Here are some ideas of STEM toys and games that are likely to be played with for a long time after they are opened.

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1. This is where the future lies. “Career track” jobs which need coding skills pay $22,000 per year more than jobs that don’t. Half of the jobs in the top income quartile (>$57,000 per year) are in occupations that need coding skills. And, programming jobs are growing 50% faster than the market overall.

2. Programming teaches logic, problem-solving, learning how to think – and it stimulates creativity. All skills students need.

1. Hour of Code – one-hour coding activities for all ages levels of experience

2. Offline / unplugged games – Code.org has a number of lesson plans. And here is an offline game where you choreograph a robot dance.

3. Board games – Thinkfun has a number for all ages – RobotTurtles young children, Codemaster and Robot Repair for older)

4. Robotics – WonderWorkshop Dash and Dot, Lego Mindstorms, First Lego League

5. Apps – Daisy the Dinosaur, Lightbot (2.99), Kodable

6. Scratch Jr (iPad) and Scratch are easy drag-and-drop languages.

7. FundaFunda Academy (the sponsor of this podcast) has classes for all levels – Intro to Game Programming, Scratch and Python

Until 23rd December 2018 students from grades 4 through 12 can compete in a Scratch Christmas Coding Contest offered by FundaFunda Academy. There are 2 divisions – one for those who have never coded in Scratch before (instruction will be provided) and one for those who have.

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