Over our two Year Journey I have discovered many things and found many useful links. The one thing I have found my life saver on may occasions is Google. Google is my go to tool for seeking information on things. We use it everyday to guide learning. On many occasions we may google one question but then it opens us up to many many more questions .
When discovering learning links I spent many hours learning that my Children are the greatest source for directing learning to suit them. As many children today my boys love Mine-craft. Keeping this in mind I googled it I was amazed all of the learning links that was attached to it. By also doing the search it helped my learn the many social and intellectual benefits of actually encouraging them to play Mine craft.
As a parent I can not reinforce the importance of listening to your children and learning what they like. Introducing learning in formats that they want to learn in is extremely important.
What many of us have missed is how to information gather. Stay in tune to your children and most of all listen. One of the first of many request the my boys asked was we want to learn how to do Animation. I turned to google, face book, u-tube, the local library, app store on my iPad and my computer and the local homeschooling community. Not one learning source can be used on it's own and you may try many before you find the one source that works.
When discovering learning links I spent many hours learning that my Children are the greatest source for directing learning to suit them. As many children today my boys love Mine-craft. Keeping this in mind I googled it I was amazed all of the learning links that was attached to it. By also doing the search it helped my learn the many social and intellectual benefits of actually encouraging them to play Mine craft.
As a parent I can not reinforce the importance of listening to your children and learning what they like. Introducing learning in formats that they want to learn in is extremely important.
What many of us have missed is how to information gather. Stay in tune to your children and most of all listen. One of the first of many request the my boys asked was we want to learn how to do Animation. I turned to google, face book, u-tube, the local library, app store on my iPad and my computer and the local homeschooling community. Not one learning source can be used on it's own and you may try many before you find the one source that works.
GOOGLE / SAFARI
The information on google is endless. You are really limited by your imagination the more you question the more you can seek. When the boys ask question now our 1st point of call is google we sit together and we read and view video's. not only does it answer the question, but it has help me install a hunger for information in my boys. Even if they are looking for information on the game they are playing or when new games are going to be released we still are learning iPad
What a fantastic tool our children. We use this everyday for just about every subject that you could imagine. We have even put Office 365 on it so the boys do all of there written work and then can still access it on the PC. We have completely embrace all the iPad has to offer. Easy access to u-tube, safari, apps galore. For the last year the boys have learned Adobe apps to enable them to do stop motion, animation. They have also started to use apps to help master coding. LOCAL INFORMATION CENTER
This is a overlooked resource for many. These centers are not just for tourists. This is a regular stop for our family. the center will guide you to local bike ways, bush walking track, information days, Discounted tickets to ferry rides, local attractions. We have even found out all of the hidden treasure the sunshine coast has to offer. Best of all it was a great guide to all of the free things we could doing the area. We even used the information center to help us plan what we wanted to see on our holiday this year. COMPUTER APPS iPad APPS
There is an App for everything that you ever imagined. Just search a word and you will find thousand of Apps at you finger tips. We use Apps for maths, science, geography, English, language, animation, photography, coding, and of course fun. Many parents worry that their children become addicted to the iPad well i do have to say yes they do. We have strict guidelines in our house to reduce this issue in our house. Weekday we tend to use it mainly for school then on the weekend they have a little more freedom to use it for gaming we have strict time frames for them to use the technology unless they are coding or doing animation or making movies. Do not be afraid of this technology as we have to accept and understand this is where the world is going and for our children to succeed they will need to have understanding of this technology. |
FACEBOOK
Facebook is a great resource to increase information gathering and increasing the ability for our little one to have opportunity to socialize with other home schooled families. I do not always comment on post from other families, though I always brows the posts. I have gain many opportunities to purchase 2nd hand education supplies, assess people opinions of educational sites and apps. We have even been able to source coding and animation work shops via Facebook. I know many families do not agree about the whole social media concept. I have Facebook to be a very valuable resource that can not be ignored.. LOCAL LIBRARY
The local Library holds many opportunities for our children to learn. Yes it is obvious that they have books. What the library opened our eyes to was the resources such as DVD, games, toys, instruction books and DVDs. We have borrow many to learn cooking, cooking skills, gardening information, history research science. The library will help with your ability to increase your resources and it will cost very little. Ensure you join your Library news letter as this will keep you informed as to what is happening at your local libraries. We have attended workshops, book clubs, art displays. There are many craft days and computer workshops they even have the odd robot workshops. Many of these you have to get in fast to book for as they book out fast. HOME PC /iMAC
This is used every day. We have hooked our up to the TV we sit and watch u-tube, Many of our text books I have scanned the pages we are using and it has enable me to be able to use the computer screen as a White board. I have found that is also helps stop my boys being overloaded with information. You can enlarge the pages so they can only see what they are working on at a time. I have discovered that this also helps the develop discussion about what we are learning. many time this has then taken us on many tangents due to the questions being asked. The boys love seeing the movies and animation they have made loaded onto the big screen the giggles and cheers about creations is always fun. This also encourages them to create even more. LOCAL HOME SCHOOL COMMUNITY
I found this through Facebook search home school, distance education, UN-schooling you will be amazed what the searches will link you into. I am not a vocal member of these though I do read through these post regularly to gain information, purchase second hand books, learn about computer apps and programs that are great to try for the boys learning. It is very valuable to hook up with other families for social outings and workshops. |