The biggest barrier to learning anything is being interested enough to keep learning. Text books, lectures, and even some iPad apps don’t usually do a great job at making learning fun. But Frank Meehan and his team at Kuato Studios have disrupted the dusty old learning tools of yesteryear with a slick new game called [...]
Posted in Back to School, Eclectic Homeschooling, Learning, Video Games 
Tags: AI, Hakitzu, Javascript, Kuato Studios, programming 
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
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 OffTED videos have always been great for kids. We’ve been viewing talks as a family for years, enjoying insights into different ways of thinking. With TED-Ed videos, you can use, tweak, or completely redo any lesson featured on TED-Ed, or create lessons from scratch based on any video from YouTube. The featured lessons are mostly [...]
Posted in Eclectic Homeschooling, Homeschool, Learning Methods, Online Tools, Teaching methods, TED Tags: homeschool, Learning, online education, TED, TED-Ed, unschool, video Comments Off
It’s as if Steve Jobs had homeschoolers in mind when the folks at Apple created the newest version of iBooks. It certainly keeps in step with their mission of magic. iBooks 2 includes the iBooks Author app which may be the coolest thing I’ve seen this year. Granted, it’s barely Spring, but you get the [...]
Posted in Apple, Back to School, Eclectic Homeschooling, Homeschool, iPad, Reading, technology, Writing Tags: Apple, Author, homeschool, iBooks Comments OffThe fact that your 5 year-old can name all the state capitals, can add and subtract double-digit numbers, and identify nouns and verbs in a sentence might be hindering her ability to get into college when she’s ready. In fact, a 5 year-old who, instead, spends time pretending, playing with toys and peers, and [...]
Posted in Eclectic Homeschooling, Learning Methods Tags: Learning, play, play-based curriculum, Unschooling Comments OffTED, famous for hosting video of inspiring talks by some of the world’s brightest and most creative people, announced TED-style educational videos specifically for children. In fact, TED-Ed will soon be a whole new website centered around learning. Although many standard TED Talks are great for children, the new education section of TED.com promises to [...]
Posted in Eclectic Homeschooling, Homeschool, Learning Methods, Online Tools, TED Tags: Education, Lessons Worth Spreading, TED, TED-Ed, video Comments Off
The real star at the Grammys this week wasn’t one of the performers. In true Super Bowl style, at least one of the commercials was just as significant as the main event. The restaurant chain Chipotle aired a 2 minute ad during the Grammys that, at least in my mind, blew away anything else from [...]
Posted in Back to School, Eclectic Homeschooling, Environmental Conservation, Food, Homeschool Tags: Chipoltle, Food, organic, sustainable agriculture, sustainable farming Comments OffReading and math are important skills. Everyone might agree that they should be included in a learning plan. However, there are numerous ways to engage children in learning–not all of them geared with a look to the future. For example, learning to read is a milestone no matter how it is accomplished. But once it [...]
Posted in Books, Computer Programming, Eclectic Homeschooling, Environmental Conservation, Experiments, Global Homeschooling, iPad, iPod, Languages, Learning Methods, Literacy, Math, Unschooling Tags: curiosity, Diversity, eLearning, Future, hacking, homeschool, technology, unschool Comments OffDr. Thrun recognized the power of technology to deliver his course content to over 160,000 students who signed up for his online artificial intelligence course at Stanford University. Dissatisfied with traditional lecture techniques at most higher education institutions, Dr. Thrun started Udacity. Learn more about Udacity or enroll in an upcoming course. Homeschoolers, the Introduction [...]
Posted in Computer Programming, Eclectic Homeschooling, Global Homeschooling, Learning Methods, Online Tools Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, google, Machine Learning, Online Learning, Stanford, Udacity Comments Off
