Last week at WWDC Apple introduced their two newest operating systems that will soon be available to the public this fall. There were no new hardware announcements and unlike past WWDC events it focused more on developers than consumers.

Here are some of the features that I think will benefit homeschoolers the most.

iOS 8

– iPad 2 support: if you’ve still got an old iPad knocking around or recently purchased an iPad 2 because of the cost savings Apple’s latest mobile OS will still run on your device.

– 3rd-party touch keyboards: many people have become accustomed to the touch keyboard for iOS but if you’ve never gotten the hang of it maybe a new one will work for you.

– Extensibility: apps will now be able to interact with one another. This is great for educational apps because accounts, statistics, and information can be share from one app to another.

– iCloud Drive: this is a feature that Android and Microsoft users have had for some time now. You’ll be able to access documents from anywhere with any device.

– Family Sharing: share a single account on multiple devices and approve that apps your kids install. This is the most important new feature in iOS 8 for homeschoolers.

Yosemite

– Handoff: start an email while you’re standing in line at the grocery store and finish it at home on your Mac.

– iCloud drive: integration with all of you devices makes it easier to keep track of your virtual stuff.

– Smart Spotlight search: auto-complete and Internet searches (via Bing) from spotlight mean fewer clicks to find what you’re looking for.

What features stuck out to you? Do you plan to upgrade your Mac, iPhone, or iPad when the new OS arrives?

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The Wired Homeschool is a proud member of the Tech Podcast Network. For more family-friendly tech podcasts visit techpodcasts.com

Music for the podcast by Kevin Macleod.

Is the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 suitable for homeschooling? Looking for some fun ways to homeschool this summer? I struggle through my allergies and talk about that in this week’s episode of the podcast.

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You can call 518-290-0228 to leave me a message or use this convenient widget to record a message right from your computer.

Etc.

Want to be notified of any upcoming news regarding the podcast or if I’m speaking in your area? Join my spam-free mailing list. You’ll receive monthly updates and news about future projects and I’ll let you know if I’m speaking in your area at a homeschooling convention.

The Wired Homeschool is a proud member of the Tech Podcast Network. For more family-friendly tech podcasts visit techpodcasts.com

Music for the podcast by Kevin Macleod.

It’s been a rough year for me with my allergies. Another podcast has been delayed. Feel free to leave any feedback on topics you’d like me to cover in upcoming podcasts.

Connect Socially!

Leave a Voicemail

You can call 518-290-0228 to leave me a message or use this convenient widget to record a message right from your computer.

Etc.

Want to be notified of any upcoming news regarding the podcast or if I’m speaking in your area? Join my spam-free mailing list. You’ll receive monthly updates and news about future projects and I’ll let you know if I’m speaking in your area at a homeschooling convention.

The Wired Homeschool is a proud member of the Tech Podcast Network. For more family-friendly tech podcasts visit techpodcasts.com

Music for the podcast by Kevin Macleod.

No podcast this week due to allergies. I am trying to get to the Classical Astronomy Campout this weekend at Cherry Springs State Park in Coudersport, PA. If you’re in the area you should stop by.

More Info

Pennsylvania: Cherry Springs State Park

Fri-Sun May 23-25, 2014 (waning crescent Moon)

We’re hoping that families from Ohio, PA and New York state will join us at this premier location for astronomy, a state park dedicated to sky watching, in a location considered one of the best dark sky sites east of the Mississippi.  It’s only about 4 hours from us in Cleveland, so I’m hoping that other local families will join us.  This is Memorial Day weekend, Friday night through Sunday morning, but you’ll be home with plenty of time for grilling during the day Sunday and all day Monday.  There are some special considerations for camping at this site, so please send Jay an email for details if your family is interested in participating.

Connect Socially!

Leave a Voicemail

You can call 518-290-0228 to leave me a message or use this convenient widget to record a message right from your computer.

Etc.

Want to be notified of any upcoming news regarding the podcast or if I’m speaking in your area? Join my spam-free mailing list. You’ll receive monthly updates and news about future projects and I’ll let you know if I’m speaking in your area at a homeschooling convention.

The Wired Homeschool is a proud member of the Tech Podcast Network. For more family-friendly tech podcasts visit techpodcasts.com

Music for the podcast by Kevin Macleod.

Sometimes our kids aren’t as ready as we think they are for college. As parents we do everything in our power to prepare them for the journey that lies ahead but there are some things they will learn on their own.

Listen to a very candid interview with my son, Zach, as we talk about how homeschooling prepared him for college and where he wasn’t quite ready for the challenges ahead. We also discuss the rules we had in place in our home for technology use and whether or not they were too strict.

Do you have a college-bound homeschool teen? What have you done to prepare yourself and your child for the adventure ahead?

Connect Socially!

Leave a Voicemail

You can call 518-290-0228 to leave me a message or use this convenient widget to record a message right from your computer.

Etc.

Want to be notified of any upcoming news regarding the podcast or if I’m speaking in your area? Join my spam-free mailing list. You’ll receive monthly updates and news about future projects and I’ll let you know if I’m speaking in your area at a homeschooling convention.

The Wired Homeschool is a proud member of the Tech Podcast Network. For more family-friendly tech podcasts visit techpodcasts.com

Music for the podcast by Kevin Macleod.

Homeschooling families face a challenge: preparing our children to live in a culture that defines itself in extremes. How can families prepare their children to face a world where casual sex and continuous connectedness are the norm?

Establishing Biblical culture in our homes gives our children a strong foundation to face the world when they get their first job or leave for college. Michael Prince and his wife Melinda of Because Family are missionaries to the American Church and speak to parents about the culture our children face and how parents can equip themselves and their children to live in a culture where “likes” and our personal information are traded as commodities.

Michael and Melinda were in youth ministry from 2006 until 2013 when they left church ministry to pursue God’s call to the families of the American Church. Now, working towards becoming U.S. Missionaries, the Princes hope to travel the U.S. helping refocus parents onto the responsibility God has placed on them to raise their kids to be Godly adults. “I did youth ministry for a long time and saw over and over again the impact THE HOME has on the students I was ministering to. If the home life isn’t solid, the battle churches fight for the souls of Children and Youth is an uphill one.” Michael says. His passion began with a podcast designed to equip parents with the knowledge of their teen’s culture and grew into a calling to take the message of Deuteronomy 11:18-19 to the nation.

Connect Socially!

Leave a Voicemail

You can call 518-290-0228 to leave me a message or use this convenient widget to record a message right from your computer.

Etc.

Want to be notified of any upcoming news regarding the podcast or if I’m speaking in your area? Join my spam-free mailing list. You’ll receive monthly updates and news about future projects and I’ll let you know if I’m speaking in your area at a homeschooling convention.

The Wired Homeschool is a proud member of the Tech Podcast Network. For more family-friendly tech podcasts visit techpodcasts.com

Music for the podcast by Kevin Macleod.

A question I get asked a lot is, “What’s the best tablet for homeschooling?” Honestly, there is no right answer. The one that’s right for you depends on a number of different factors. Some of the things to consider are price, purpose, and performance.

Here are the 7 things you should consider before you purchase your first or next tablet for homeschooling. Keep in mind that your needs are different than mine so you need to weigh each of these criteria according to your homeschooling style and needs.

Choosing the Right Tablet for Homeschooling

1. Purpose – Consider how you want to use the device. Will it be only for a single purpose or do you want something more versatile? Consider these options:

PC replacement? You’ll want something that can multi-task and possibly run some of the same apps on your home computer or laptop.

E-book reader? Honestly, you shouldn’t buy a tablet for this. Kindle e-book readers are inexpensive and the screens are perfect for reading books in bright light (like outside) the reflective screens of tablets make reading books a bit prohibitive. If you’re going to do a lot of reading along with other things, consider an anti-glare screen protector.

Educational apps? The Apple AppStore and Google Play stores have the most educational apps for their devices. Amazon maintains their own app store and Microsoft has even fewer titles.

Entertainment? Besides entertainment apps (Netflix, etc.) you may also want to consider the overall entertainment choices. If you’ve already committed to Apple’s or Amazon’s ecosystem it may be prudent to stick with what you know can be transferred to your new device.

2. Storage – Do you want expandable storage? Will you be installing a lot of apps or downloading movies? Most Android tablets have expandable storage but how it can be used varies among devices. Some allow you to install apps on extra storage and others only allow you to store data like pictures, music, books, and movies. Prices increase as you add storage. Typically storage amounts start at 8GB and go up to 256GB so get the most you can afford.

3. Usage – Tablets are typically designed for one person. Will you share? Sharing is easier with Android and Microsoft. Apple products have yet to incorporate “personalities” or user accounts in their tablets. If your kids will share the device you’ll find it easier to manage the device with multiple accounts.

4. Size – 7-inch screen or 10-inch screen (Kindle Fire falls between). Younger kids find the larger icons of a 10-inch tablet easier to manipulate but teens will have no problems with a 7-inch tablet. The size of the device also affects the weight. The distribution of the weight in the device can put some additional strain on your wrists when holding it.

5. Battery life – Most tablets get about 10 hrs of use from their battery but larger screens generally mean shorter battery life. If you’re traveling a lot with the device you’ll want to choose something that has 10+ hours of battery life or make sure you’ve always got your charging adapter with you. If you plan to use it at home more battery life may not be as important.

6. Wi-fi only or cellular? Having a cellular connection makes it more convenient to get connected to the Internet but increases the cost significantly because not only are you paying for the additional hardware but the data plan too. My recommendation: stick with wi-fi only unless you know you need cellular service. Wi-fi is fairly ubiquitous and you can always add the option to have your smartphone act as a hot-spot.

7. Cost – Under $99 (Amazon Fire HD 7 or Amazon Fire HD 8), Under $299 (Amazon Fire HD 10,

No podcast this week due to Easter. I’ll have a new podcast for you next week about choosing the right tablet for your homeschool.

On Monday April 7th, an announcement went out that there was a flaw in OpenSSL, a cryptographic library used to provide secure connections to servers. Basically, it allows a hacker to read the memory stored in a server and get sensitive information like your password.

[smart_track_player url=”http://media.blubrry.com/wiredhs/content.blubrry.com/wiredhs/wiredhs-20140413.mp3″ color=”orange”]

What’s worse, the problem has been around for about two years and until Monday very few people knew it existed. That means your sensitive data could have been collected already without anyone’s knowledge. I won’t go into details here but you can read more about this vulnerability at heartbleed.com.

How Heartbleed Works

Here’s a great comic that illustrates how the heartbleed vulnerabilty works. It’s simplified but it gets the point across.

How does this affect you as a homeschooler?

Due to the fact that there is no way to detect if an attack has been used against a server with this vulnerability you’re going to have to change many of your passwords for websites like Facebook, Pinterest, Yahoo!, Google, and more.

There’s a catch, however, you can’t change your password until a patch has been applied to keep this information from leaking. Mashable and CNet are both maintaining a list of popular websites that have been affected by the vulnerability and whether or not it’s been fixed. I recommend keeping an eye on this and changing your password once you notice a website you use has been patched. Mashable’s list is more user-friendly but CNet’s list has different sites listed that may also be affected.

If you do any online banking you should contact your bank right away if it’s not on these lists. If it’s a small bank they may not even be aware of the problem yet. Don’t do any online banking until you’re sure the problem has been resolved with your financial institution.

Password Tips

You’re going to be changing a lot of passwords so here are a few recommendations that I have for you before you get started.

1. Use a password manage like Lastpass. Password managers can store complex passwords and even generate them for you automatically. It’s simple to use and free.

2. Use different passwords for each website. If you use the same password from site to site you’re setting yourself up for a major fall. Use unique passwords on every account.

3. Use complex passwords. Include uppercase and lowercase characters, numbers, and special symbols like @, #, $, %, and !. This makes your password stronger.

4. If a website doesn’t allow you to use special characters use a longer password. Two things make password hard to guess: complexity and length. If you can’t have a complex password at least make it a long one.

Jeff Schmitz from Scholaric asked a great question: “Do we need to upgrade our browsers?” No. This is a problem with web servers and not your Internet browser. I do recommend that you use the LastPass plugin to manage your passwords to make this process less painful but other than that you do not need to change your browser.

Popular Homeschool Sites

I’ve checked a few sites for the vulnerability and contacted a few people about the status of their sites. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

Next week on April 8th, Microsoft will release their final set of security updates for Windows XP. For most people this means having to stop using a computer that’s still serviceable.

If you want to continue using your computer for a little while longer it is still possible but you must be very careful and change some bad habits. Here are six ways to safely use Windows XP after its end of life.

1. Run as a “Limited User”—100% of the exploits via Internet Explorer were mitigated by simply using a computer with limited user rights. If you’re using the account that you created when you first setup your computer, most likely it’s an administrator account. Malware takes advantage of those privileges to exploit your operating system.

2. Remove Flash and Java—Besides Internet Explorer, Flash and Java are the two other ways most exploits on Windows XP occur. Both of these plugins are buggy and announcements for exploits are released every week. It may seem like you’re crippling your computer but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

3. Stop using Internet Explorer—If you haven’t already, you should stop using Internet Explorer. IE9 is the latest version available on XP and it’s not up to the task. Switch to either Chrome or Firefox. These browser are getting regular security updates and should continue to work. Avoid IE at all costs!

4. Stop using Office—Microsoft Office is another avenue of that the bad guys like to use when trying to exploit your computer. Not having Office on your computer will help alleviate that major avenue of attack. I recommend Libre Office as an alternative. This will give you the ability to create and read documents.

5. Stay on the main road—Don’t go wandering off to some website you’ve never heard of because there’s a great deal on 40lb bags of marshmallows. Stick to the well-known sites. If you’re going to go exploring use a different computer, not this one. Following rabbit trails with this computer could lead to all kinds of trouble. In fact, you should limit your Internet browsing on a computer with XP.

6. Use GMail—If you’re using email on your computer through a local service provider it would be a good idea to switch to Gmail. Google scans all the incoming images, documents, and other attachments for viruses and in the case of images and documents pre-renders them for you. This prevents malware attacks from getting to you.

Bonus: Use and keep anti-virus software updated—Make sure you keep your antivirus up to date. There are several free antivirus tools out there like ClamAV, AVG, and Avast that work just as well as the big name tools.

Although I strongly recommend that you do not use Windows XP on the Internet after April 8th, I understand the need to make it last a little longer. If you follow these 6 steps you should be relatively safe online.

Of course, you need to install that final set of updates and stay aware of any other updates that Microsoft may send your way. If there is a major exploit Microsoft may consider releasing an emergency patch for XP users so keep your eyes open.

Finally, Chris from ChiRho Technology Services sent a voicemail about the option to switch to a Chromebook if you don’t want to buy a new computer. This option completely slipped my mind because I used the 1st generation Chromebooks and they were horrible. Chromebooks are an inexpensive option for people looking to save money and can’t s...