Who knew making a hydraulic arm from cardboard, duct tape and some water could be so much fun? A new book, Robotics: Discover the Art and Science of the Future, is our new favorite project book. With twenty projects sprinkled throughout the fact-packed book, there’s plenty of learning projects to keep things interesting. Learn more [...]
Posted in Activities, Back to School, Books, Computer Programming, technology 
Tags: GeekMom, Project-based learning, Robotics, Robots, STEM, Wired 
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Whether it’s for Halloween, a theatrical performance or just pretend-play, this handsome Roman short sword is fun and easy to make. And while kids get geared-up to make this fun sword, they’ll flex a bit of math for counting, measuring and scaling. Although this project is fairly easy to make, younger children will need help [...]
Posted in Activities, Back to School, Halloween, Make Tags: costume, Halloween, Pretend-Play, Roman Sword Comments Off
There’s no reason to purchase expensive Star Trek uniforms or costumes when you can make your own version for a fraction of the cost. The process is simple and the most of the materials can be found at your local craft store. And for the price you’d pay for a store-purchased uniform shirt, why not [...]
Posted in Activities, Back to School, Eclectic Homeschooling, Halloween, Just for Fun Tags: Captain Kirk, costume, Halloween, outfit, Spock, Star Trek, Starfleet, uniform Comments Off
Deciding where to take a 5-year-old on a field trip is easy. Places like children’s museums and zoos are practically made for young kids’ field trips. Unfortunately, deciding where to take your teen on a field trip can be a little more difficult. Teens are a lot harder to please than young kids, and there [...]
Posted in Back to School, Homeschool Tags: experential learning, field trips, Homeschooling, Museum, Music, theatre, Unschooling Comments Off
Integrated learning seems like a pretty simple idea. Kids don’t get fired up when you say, “Let’s go study some English!” They get fired up with dinosaurs, scuba diving, and iPhone apps. Why? Because English is boring. In the traditional sense, that is. (Unless you’re that one teacher who really digs grammar. Seriously, I [...]
Posted in Back to School, Eclectic Homeschooling, Homeschool, Interdisciplinary, Learning Methods, News, Teaching methods, technology, Unit Study, Unschooling Tags: homeschool, informal learning, Learning, montessori, Project-based learning, unschool Comments Off
Take photos of the earth and stars, measure temperatures, send your own sensor and measure what you like. In order to build and operate an open source satellite, several enterprising scientists and engineers are raising funds through Kickstarter. Once funded, students, teachers, and the general public will be able to run their experiments on the [...]
Even if you normally follow a rigid curriculum during the academic year, summer is a great time to relax a bit and try project based learning and on for size. Unschoolers typically follow a less regimented approach to homeschooling, and utilize things like project-based learning, Waldorf-inspired lessons, and student-led learning to educate their kids. Doing [...]
Posted in Back to School, Learning Methods, News Tags: blogging, gardening, homeschool, Learning, Project-based learning, roadschooling, summer learning Comments Off
Makerspaces have finally hit the mainstream. Even churches, schools, and libraries are incorporating makerspaces into their facilities so that community members; especially kids, can tinker, build, and hack toys, devices, and more to make something new. A Google search confirms the craze– the term makerspace returns 44,800 results. Beyond makerspaces, though, is the idea of [...]
Posted in Activities, Art, Back to School, Homeschool, Make, Online Tools Tags: Art, DIY, hand-made, homeschool, make, makerspace, Project-based learning, tinkering Comments Off
Facebook, known as much for its privacy exploitation as it is for mindless games, is now considering allowing children younger than 13 to create Facebook accounts. Currently, Facebook prohibits users under 13 from creating accounts. Under this plan, parents will have to specifically consent, approve all friends, and pay for any games added to the [...]
Posted in Back to School, News, Online Tools, technology, Video Games Tags: cyber-bullying, Facebook, privacy, social media Comments Off
If you’re among the many parents offended by the recent Lego sets marketed specifically to girls, including a nail salon and café, you’ll love this idea. Limor Fried, an accomplished women, engineer, successful entrepreneur, Wired cover girl, MIT graduate, and now Lego creator, is proposing an electronics engineering design lab Lego kit for girls that models Limor’s [...]
Posted in Back to School, Electronics, LEGO, Make, technology Tags: Adafruit, Electronics, Engineering, Girl Lego, LEGO, Limor Fried, Wired Comments Off
