For the last few months, I have been sharing in the NICHE magazine about how we use computers and internet in our homeschool. I gave information on web-surfing security and things to consider in setting up a computer (public location, parental controls,...). Then I shared some of our favorite websites. If you are new to this series of articles and are interested in any of those topics, you might want to check out my website – www.biblibuzz.com. In this article I will be sharing some websites for some summer learning fun and others to start you thinking about your plans for the next school year.
I do not know how your school planning goes each year, but there always seems to be some things that just do not get done at my house. Summer is a great time for mini-lessons or for some crash courses. For example, my kids like elementary typing lessons at BBC's Dance Mat Typing (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/) but they do not always have time during our regular school hours so they do it in their free time (and it really is a good skill to have anyway). I have tried a few other free online ones but can not recommend many of them because they have too many ads that lead out of their website and are distracting.
There are foreign language lessons at the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/). I started the Spanish “Mi Vida Loca” series myself so I am able to review my Spanish using videos and interactions following a mystery video theme. This BBC website is for older students at the beginner and intermediate levels of Spanish, French, German, etc. An excellent Spanish website for younger learners is Online Free Spanish (http://www.onlinefreespanish.com/). This one is very well done and easy enough for a young child to use. There are a lot of free printable Spanish worksheets at http://www.homeeducationresources.com/FREEspanish.htm.
I started learning sign language in college but do notpractice much now. If my family could all learn some, I would have people to practice with. My favorite ASL website is http://www.lifeprint.com. They have online lessons, videos demonstrating the signs, fingerspelling quizzes (they sign it, I read it), dictionary, and a fingerspelling font I downloaded. I was able to use the font to make my own secret codes (the drawing of the fingerspelling is the code language and they translate each one to the appropriate letter).
Honestly, everyone likes to have a little fun too so we have a link for “Brain Games” we like to play (http://www.memory-improvement-tips.com/brain-games.html). Those memory games we play as children are not wasted hours. They actually help to build skills we need in life. We need to develop our logic, critical thinking, and reasoning skills and these games can help. If you don't want your students (or you) to play them on the internet, you can look at the list and get ideas for games you can play “hands on” (many of those you may already have in your closet, you just didn't realize they are educational). That website has links on the right to the games. Bloxorz is one of my children's favorites. They even have a list of codes so they can continue on their current/higher level. We have gotten calls from friends asking for help in getting past a level. So it is something we can all enjoy together (looking over each others shoulders). We also like Alphabet Jungle at that website. Logic grids (http://www.puzzlersparadise.com/page1042.html) can be a fun way to teach reasoning and also check reading comprehension. They are printable or we can do them online. There are other critical thinking links at my website (www.biblibuzz.com)
You may be thinking, “Wow! That is a lot of time on the computer.” Do not forget, though, that the computer is one of our family forms of entertainment. We do not watch TV (but do watch videos). Instead of spending time just watching something on the TV, I would rather have them do something interactive and educational. We do have to share the computers but I find that if one student is doing something on the computer, there is usually someone else watching so they are actually able to learn together. I like to think of summer as a time to have fun and learn something new.
The summer goes by so quickly and school is just around the corner. After the NICHE conference, many of us are encouraged and excited to begin a new year of educating our children at home. Whether you follow the traditional school calendar year, school year-round, or have your own unique schedule, you have some starting point (our new school year begins on July 1).
Let us start with our calendar and planning sheets. Donna Young (www.DonnaYoung.org) has a wonderful free website where I download and print calendars, weekly lesson plan forms, attendance charts, full-size planners, half-size planners, lesson plan forms for Apologia Science, forms for reporting grades, report cards, K-12 long term grade records, course of study, transcripts, GPA calculators... There are just so many things at her website that she freely shares (or you can purchase her site cd if you would rather). Print out some of her pages and get your homeschool plans and ideas for next year down on paper. I don't usually buy pre-printed lesson planners, I print mine from her website. She also has organizational forms if you are needing to set up chore charts for the summer or begin a household planner.
When you begin your planning, do you start with your schoolbooks? Maybe you have your curriculum all lined up and ready to go. Then again, maybe you do not.... Maybe you are looking for some materials to supplement a subject or you have a student wanting to personally explore a topic in greater detail. We have a general game plan and then look for ways to fit it to each child's current educational needs. So, take a look at your curriculum and your homeschool goals to determine if there is something you want to change or supplement.
We are eclectic home educators, as probably many of you are. We have used MathUSee, Abeka, Christian Liberty Press, VideoText Interactive, Switched on Schoolhouse, AOP, etc. I also like many of the ideas that go along with Charlotte Mason or Classical Education. Miss Maggie from Old Fashioned Education (http://www.oldfashionededucation.com/) provides many great links to classical, public domain materials we can use. She has a “Full Curriculum” link with a schedule you can follow for each grade level or just choose the ones you want to do on your schedule. Her links take you to Gutenberg press ebooks, Baldwin books online,... So, if you are looking for ideas, check out that website. Free is nice and these are high-quality resources if you are looking at the classical approach for all or part of your education.
The Head of the Class (http://www.theheadoftheclass.com) website is a little overwhelming for me and I don't like to have to print out all the worksheets that go with each student but I can use it to supplement. It is intended to be a full, free, online curriculum for grades K-5 with printable worksheets and topical presentations. We use it, however, to introduce and reinforce lessons we are doing using other curriculum. For example, we do the Spanish activities on there, watch video clips for Science, etc. I control it and go to a particular lesson or activity I want us to work on (but you could set up the students and assign homework in there). After you set up your free account, click on “Free Content” at the top. Then click on “Advanced” (search), set your search settings (by grade and/or content), then click the magnifying glass and it will sort the free content for you. They also have a 60-day grade leveled immersion schedule which allows a student to review his previous school year or get a head start on the next year by completing a 60-day schedule over the summer. The website also has Math and Language grade-level assessment tests your student can take. If you have older students or want higher level content in a particular subject, check the site again later as they plan to release 6th - 8th grades this year.
Lesson Pathways (http://www.lessonpathways.com) is another free K-5 curriculum website. We mostly use it when we want to do a unit study on a particular topic. For example, there is a Year 1 Science study “Skeletons & Muscles”. They include links to printable skeleton worksheets, interactive lessons with an introduction to bones, and links to free online videos including “Bones of the Human Body”. So, if we wanted to study bones I could search online and gather all my own resources or, better yet, at least check Lesson Pathways and see if they already have them gathered for me. You can set it up to be used as a full curriculum or use it as a supplement and let them explore a new topic of their choosing over the summer or school breaks. A young child could not navigate this website independently but the families who do unit studies should definitely check it out. Many of the included links work well for struggling readers and for those who need to see it, hear it, touch it.
E-Themes (http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/by-grade.shtml) is another great resource. It has topics divided by subject area and grade level. It is not intended to be a full curriculum but is a parent-directed resource of links for studies on animals, states, authors, countries, literature, famous people,... I will warn you that it's easy to get lost on a lot of “rabbit trails” so it works best for me if I check out the links first and just leave them all open (on the different tabs or windows on my computer) and then I can just go through them with the children and easily click on the next one. Or, if I do it further ahead of time, I can start a word document and name it to tell the subject and date and then copy and paste the links I want into my own list and then follow those links to the sites I wanted to explore with the children.
For those looking to purchase curriculum, used book sales are great! But there are times that you have to purchase something. I joined the Homeschool Buyers Co-op (http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org) so have been able to get in on some good deals. Some of the websites we subscribe to came through here at a reduced rate, including Click N Read, Click N Spell, Krampf (The Happy Scientist), etc. There is no cost to join the co-op and the emails tell you which things are on sale (or you can check the website). Nothing to loose and you may just find a great deal.
You can check out my previous articles, beginning with the one on internet safety, at my website www.biblibuzz.com. You will find links to the websites listed in this article and some of our family's other favorite links. There are so many things available on the internet that can engage and teach your students (and you). Learning is a lifestyle. I hope I never outgrow the desire to learn.
