Monday, August 30, 2010

Education and Technology


This week's question was "Do you use technology (iPods, Computers, Videos, Digi. Cams,etc.) in your homeschool?"  I had to look on the TOS forum before I figured out Digi.Cams means Digital Camera's. LOL

Ummm...


Yes.


Ok... my post is done!




Just Kidding Free Emoticons



There is a lot more to say.

What do we own, how do we use it, when, in what ways, do my kids use it, how, in what ways?? This could be another long post.

Nathan is on the old desktop which is now a server
I use technology a lot. The kids use technology a lot.
We have 6 people in our home we own and use:
  • we don't have any iPods,
  • we have multiple computers, we have both laptops and desktops.
  • We don't have a video camera but we do use videos and DVD's as well as the players to view them (or our computers in the case of the DVD's)
  • We have three digital camera's. An older one, my first digital camera that we gave to my 13 yos. A newer digital point and shoot for me (this does have video capability and I have used it for a few things but it is not primarily a video camera), and a digital SLR that my husband and daughters use and son Nathan once in a while. My daughter Jessica likes the digital SLR so much she is saving up for one of her own... she takes lots of pictures and does not want to have to ask for the camera every time she wants to take a photo. 
etc.... what could that be... let me think... other technology we have that we use for school...
  • calculators
  • scanner
  • printer
  • laminator
  • we don't have cell phones
  • we don't have a Kindle or other e-book reader
So I guess that is it for what we own...Now how do we use them for school?

I use my laptop and desktop computers:
  • to blog... like I did to write this post. And to read comments my lovely blog readers leave me!Happy Smileys
  • to keep order, keep track of and renew library books.
  • to search for resources for our homeschool. See my favorite sites in the page tabs above. I do this all year long and keep my wants in my Amazon Wish List. If you load the Wish List toolbar you can add things from all over the Internet. Keep them all in one place and compile a list next summer when it is shopping time for school.
  • to get freebies from the internet to use for school (see my freebies tab above).
  • as a reference tool for Bible study or other things: like Bible Gateway and the online copy of the 1828 dictionary, for looking up information we need for something we are studying.
  • to see reviews and samples of items I am thinking of using for school.
  • to research curriculum and order it.
  • I use my laptop while the boys are doing school, my desktop computer is in my bedroom. This way I can accomplish things and keep an eye on them and be assessable for questions. And nearby for "together" subjects.
  • and other things like e-mail, calenders, reading blogs, playing games ... fun things
The boys use their laptops for too much fun stuff... sometimes I can get them to use them for school. LOL Every day they use their laptops for Math. They use their laptops for typing up their assignments for writing with IEW. They also use them for personal writing projects they are working on. We set up a school desk on their computers so they can access their Math programs first thing. To get to their games they have to have one of us adults in the house put in a password.. after all their regular school work is done. Christopher uses my desktop computer for learning typing. The older program we have will not work on the laptops that are running Windows 7. When I have a book I want them to read that we don't own and the library does not carry I look for a copy for free from Archive.org or some other public domain free download site. We especially use this for Henty novels. I have also used it for books recommended by sites I like, for instance: Bethlehem books, Old Fashioned Education, and Greenleaf Press. Sometimes I just find a book when looking for something else.  I used to have the boys read it on my laptop or I would read it aloud. Now they can have their own pdf copy and read the assignments right from their laptop.

We are reviewing a new program called LanSchool that makes things interesting for using multiple computers for schoolwork. Watch for the review in early October.

We use the Video and DVD players to play personal and library videos and DVD's. Like right now we are watching the Animated Shakespeare videos. I also have a Romeo and Juliet Ballet for us to watch. We watch a lot of science videos too, we like Bill Nye, Magic School Bus (even though they are really to young for the boys now... they still like them, and Eyewitness videos, too (history and science). Oh, and last year we borrowed the Moody Science videos from a friend and the boys watched them all. Adding video to your child's education can enhance it by bringing to life things they may not see otherwise... like Journey to the Edge of Creation.

The cameras are used to capture photos of field trips and nature hikes. We have not done a formal course of study but the kids have learned some things about cameras and about taking a good picture. Court, Nathan and Jessica also have film SLR cameras. So there has been some learning there as well.

Some of the other technology thing I listed are used like you would think. I love my scanner and use it to scan pages of books we have permission to print copies of. I like to have things in a pdf that need to have copies made, but some things don't come that way. It is convenient to have the scanner so I don't have to pay a copy place to make the copies I need. Also, I have it to scan our old photos so I can do the Blast From The Past meme that I designed.

The calculator and laminator are used like you would think. My laminator is new this year and I have been enjoying laminating things for the workboxes as well as bookmarks my husband drew for us, game pieces, and things I have needed for the TOS Crew.

My printer gets daily use. We have a laser printer. Prints thousands of pages with one cartridge... but the cartridges are more expensive. We print lapbooks, worksheets, math pages, timeline figures, IEW writing class pages, the pages I made and use for recording what we do for school each day, the workbox planner pages I made up to fit the way we homeschool, and many others.

So we use a lot of technology in our school. How about you? The way we educate would definitely not be the same without the technology. It would be much more like Little House in the Prairie... but we have it... so why not use it!!

Check out the other TOS Crew members and how they use technology in their homes and in educating their children clicking the link or the picture at the top which will take you to the Crew Blog. The links on the blog will be posted tomorrow morning.

EXTRA Sunday Assignment #2~ Scavenger Hunt! Now Complete!!!!




I had soooo much fun taking these!! It was very challenging. I found that I had black and white and sepia setting on my camera (and a few other settings I did not know about) which was very exciting. That's what I get for not exploring my camera enough or reading the book all the way through. So, I am glad the challenge taught me more about my camera.

Free UserbarsI got the last photo I needed. I am so excited! I have all 20 photos!!

One of my favorites is the cloud (accidental heart shape), it was such a God thing. I was sitting in the library with my hubby and asked God to let me see a heart shape in the clouds before we left the library. I was working on things on my laptop and hubby was across from me on his laptop and there were lots of fluffy white clouds in the sky. I would look up every couple of minutes. Right when we were ready to go home I saw this and snapped the picture... a couple seconds later and it no longer looked like a heart. Thanks God... and maybe that makes it not so accidental, but I don't care if I that disqualifies me. It was so encouraging to have God do that for me.

I also love the one of my hubby sitting on the bench...A photo in the style of a romantic landscape painting, it looks so romantic to me... I would love to just sit next to him for a good long while. I did sit next to him for a few minutes but we had all 4 kids with us so they were anxious to get going again.

Here are some other favorites:
#5. came out pretty good, we had to do a number of takes on that one to get a shot with no one smiling
#6. The tin man... I love this... we saw this on a man's porch, my hubby did a u-turn for me, we stopped. He saw us he came out and gave me permission to photograph it. He said he has had lots of people stop... it was just so perfect... such a God thing!
11. Ripples in Water came out gorgeous
14. The Black and White image was just so cute!! love to see my kids lovin on each other!!
17. Something shiny in the sunlight - I love rocks so this mica schist shining in the sun was just up my alley!!
I hope you enjoyed my slideshow... let me know what you think.
Which was your favorite photo??

Blast From The Past - Rachel and Court 1986

Blast From the Past Blog Button - mom
Click this link to go to the Blast From The Past Rules

This week I am featuring my daughter Rachel and her daddy.

Rachel is all ready to go with her hooded sweater on. It zipped up the back. 
Adorable.


Love this look on her face Baby Girl and the hair sticking up too.


 All Smiles!! Happy Smileys


Peek A Boo


I hope you enjoyed young Rachel and her daddy.

Don't forget to grab my button for your post if you are participating!
It is on my right sidebar.
Join me.


Sunday, August 29, 2010

Trip to Wilbur's Chocolate Factory... and 365-234-242



...and we went a few other places too.
Hubby is laid off from work. I had wanted to do a Not Back-to-school day. A day where we celebrated the fact that we were not bound by the schedule of the public schools. I wanted to do it on the public schools first day... but... I did not look up when the school started and they started before I thought they were going to. So, since we could just choose our schedule we just picked a day when it was convenient for us. 

Wednesday this past week was the day.
We started the day with pumpkin cream cheese muffins. Yummm!
These are my favorite muffins!!!
This photo was taken by one of my girls the last time we had these muffins.
Then we gathered and got ready and got on the way.
We traveled to Pennsylvania to our favorite spot. But we had fun all the way.

Found the black and white settings on my camera.
Tried it out on a couple of photos.

I took this picture while we were getting gas.


Cool looking cloud cover.

365-234
Then I tried out the sepia setting.
See... we haven't even left our neighborhood and already they are acting up.
This is what a day off from school does to the kids.
LOL

We headed for the Lancaster area.
All along the way along with our adventures of getting chocolate and eating lunch I tried to take pictures for the Scavenger Hunt for the 365 project.

An attempt at a vanishing point... quite interesting I think.

Something you might see if you were Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz
and while you are at it just a nice picture of a farm and silos and some lovely looking corn.


Another vanishing point


We love Wilbur's!!
It's in Lititz, PA.


Chocolate molds




Lovely old candy making things



365-235



Chocolates anyone?

Don't you love the prices?





Edible castle and figures






Edible Merry-Go-Round and Ballet Shoes



Eat your History or Science
LOL

Being made for a Chocolate Walk in October...
Bugs Life in Chocolate.


365-236

More lovely old things.



Attempts at
"A group photo taken in the style of 100 years ago (no one smiling)"
for the scavenger hunt.
Failed
Rachel smiling

Failed
Jessica smiling

Trying really hard not to smile.


The other side of the sign I used for the scavenger hunt.
Amen
Come, Lord Jesus!


Wouldn't you love to attend an old-fashioned ice cream social?
It sounds like fun to me!



I kept the camera pointed out the window and took pictures as we were on the way to lunch. Some of them came out quite blurry, others quite nicely.





We arrived at Shady Maple for lunch and ate well.
It is a smorgasbord... all you can eat... YUMM!

After that we went down to the gift shop.

Another attempt at a vanishing point...
lovely but didn't work to well.


365-237
Another attempt at a vanishing point... better, but I like the one I put in the slideshow better.


some lovely baskets


I was going to use this for my something Dorothy from the Wizard of  Oz would see for the scavenger hunt.
"Lions, and Tigers and Bears, Oh My"
Until I found the Tin Man on the way home.


365-238
Silly Kids and my Sweetie!

Love to see my kids enjoying each other.



More attempts at serious faces, group photo
Failed
Rachel smiling

Success! Though Christopher, back right, looks mad not just serious.


365-239
On the way home.
Taken out the window of our moving vehicle... lovely shot down the hill with the other hills in the background.


A lovely yard with lovely flowers.
365-240

More photos out the window of the moving car.
 











365-241
Love the way this shot came out with the tree on the left and the clouds and fields.



I hope you enjoyed seeing our day out.
We had a great time together.
It was nice to take a day and be together on a "school day" for the kids in our area.
Our NOT back-to-school, day trip was a huge success.

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