Good grief! Has it really been six months since I posted on this blog? Obviously and unfortunately the answer is yes! From this point on I aim (notice, I'm not promising) to do better. Although to some, I may seem to be being pulled from several different directions and that just might be true but that's just who I am. I am the type of person who needs diversity on a day-to-day basis. I learned awhile ago that I get bored very easily so I do much better when my business challenges are switched each day. This is why I sell Life and Health Insurance, book Group Cruises and run two other small businesses in addition to teaching my children at home.
How do I do it? We are a relaxed home based family which means we do not fair well with too many outside of the home activities. Other than field trips, park days, Band practice, shopping, eating out and family vacations we all really like being home most of the time. My office is in my home so I get to work early in the morning before the kids get up, during and after lesson time, between cooking/cleaning time and after 6pm when most others are off from their jobs. Works for us.
I am about to go into the next few weeks of intense insurance product training as I gear up for Medicare's Annual Open Enrollment season set to start next month. I will be busy but I want to begin to spotlight on this blog one or two of the great educational sites on the internet that I have found to be beneficial, see my resource list on the right panel. Keep in mind, my children are 13 & 11 so a few may be geared toward that age group.
This month I would like to focus on two Current Events and Social Awareness sites:
CNN Student News - We really enjoy this site. My kids are engaged with the stories, how they are reported and presented as well as the commentator. The content changes daily to reflect what is going on in the world on a daily basis and is kept at a 10 minute show time as to not lose it's audience's attention.
Youngzine - Internet News Magazine for kids. This site picks up where CNN Student News leaves off by carrying much more content and information about current events and world affairs. This site is a fairly new find for us but we really like it's set-up and content so far. Read their "Welcome Homeschoolers" message.
Living, Learning and Enjoying Our Blessings Together... PEACE! Tina
Tina Little-Coltrane - Home Educating Mother
Life and Health Insurance Advisor - Coltrane Insurance
Cruise Consultant - Expedia CruiseShipCenters
Showing posts with label Homeschool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homeschool. Show all posts
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Alternative Education IS Happening Outside of The Traditional School Building
Education, Knowledge and Continuing Education is the only way (IMO) for us and our youth to not only succeed in this life but more importantly to survive in this world.
As a Home Educating Mother, I know that education can be attained from many different ways, settings and formats. There are always more than one way to achieve a goal. The myth that education can only best be gained while sitting in a classroom setting in a school building was dispelled for me once I began researching alternative methods of educating myself as well as my children.
The internet has proven to be a convenient time saver offering the best opportunity to choose what I want to learn/teach, when I want to learn/teach it and how much time I wish to spend learning and/or teaching in any given subject. For me and my family, it doesn't get any better than that.
If you don't already know about YouTube you really need to check it out. You do not need to create an account/channel if you are not interested in creating/uploading videos in order to watch but it is beneficial to have an account in order to save, tag or share your favorite video clips. There are so many people sharing their knowledge by way of YouTube, it's really the next best thing to discovering electricity. There are channels specifically for just about anything: Home Repair, Home Education/Subject specific, Hair Care, Faith - you name it, it's on there. You can check out some of my favs on my account: - 4UTina.
A word of caution, there are quite a few videos on this site that I am not interested in seeing and are not (imo) appropriate for children to watch so just be mindful of that.
Here are a few others of my favorite online education sites:
The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere. There are over 1000 Videos covering everything from basic Arithmetic and Algebra to differential equations, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Finance and SAT and GMAT Preparation.
Kids Space @ The Internet Public Library - Kids Space is just one area on this huge resource site which is just what the title indicates, The Public Library on the Internet. I encourage you to explore the entire site and see all of the knowledge that is available to be gained here.
Verizon Foundation's Thinkfinity - Lesson Plans, Student Materials, Interactive Activities and Educator's Resources. Although their overall goal is to improve student achievement by providing Educator Resources, Training and Professional Development, their mission seeks to improve the giver as well as the receiver of Education overall, so Home Educators can also benefit from the free resources offered on this site.
TV Smarts Program Guide - TV Program list that changes weekly, covering subjects such as Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Foreign Languages, Geography and History. These programs are based on the strictest state curricula standards.
Learner's TV - This is a comprehensive site providing Video Lectures and Courses, Science Animations, Live Online Tests and Audio lectures in the fields of Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, Medicine, Management/Finance/Accounting, Dentistry and a lot more all for FREE.
These are just 6 of the thousands of educational resources sites that are available on the internet today. Sorting through and reviewing them all is a job in of itself. I have compiled a page list of my favorite sites to frequent on my website Blessings2Enjoy.com. Please feel free to visit the Education Resources page and collect a few more for your favorite's list.
Enjoy Your Blessings! Tina
As a Home Educating Mother, I know that education can be attained from many different ways, settings and formats. There are always more than one way to achieve a goal. The myth that education can only best be gained while sitting in a classroom setting in a school building was dispelled for me once I began researching alternative methods of educating myself as well as my children.
The internet has proven to be a convenient time saver offering the best opportunity to choose what I want to learn/teach, when I want to learn/teach it and how much time I wish to spend learning and/or teaching in any given subject. For me and my family, it doesn't get any better than that.
If you don't already know about YouTube you really need to check it out. You do not need to create an account/channel if you are not interested in creating/uploading videos in order to watch but it is beneficial to have an account in order to save, tag or share your favorite video clips. There are so many people sharing their knowledge by way of YouTube, it's really the next best thing to discovering electricity. There are channels specifically for just about anything: Home Repair, Home Education/Subject specific, Hair Care, Faith - you name it, it's on there. You can check out some of my favs on my account: - 4UTina.
A word of caution, there are quite a few videos on this site that I am not interested in seeing and are not (imo) appropriate for children to watch so just be mindful of that.
Here are a few others of my favorite online education sites:
The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere. There are over 1000 Videos covering everything from basic Arithmetic and Algebra to differential equations, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Finance and SAT and GMAT Preparation.
Kids Space @ The Internet Public Library - Kids Space is just one area on this huge resource site which is just what the title indicates, The Public Library on the Internet. I encourage you to explore the entire site and see all of the knowledge that is available to be gained here.
Verizon Foundation's Thinkfinity - Lesson Plans, Student Materials, Interactive Activities and Educator's Resources. Although their overall goal is to improve student achievement by providing Educator Resources, Training and Professional Development, their mission seeks to improve the giver as well as the receiver of Education overall, so Home Educators can also benefit from the free resources offered on this site.
TV Smarts Program Guide - TV Program list that changes weekly, covering subjects such as Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Foreign Languages, Geography and History. These programs are based on the strictest state curricula standards.
Learner's TV - This is a comprehensive site providing Video Lectures and Courses, Science Animations, Live Online Tests and Audio lectures in the fields of Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, Medicine, Management/Finance/Accounting, Dentistry and a lot more all for FREE.
These are just 6 of the thousands of educational resources sites that are available on the internet today. Sorting through and reviewing them all is a job in of itself. I have compiled a page list of my favorite sites to frequent on my website Blessings2Enjoy.com. Please feel free to visit the Education Resources page and collect a few more for your favorite's list.
Enjoy Your Blessings! Tina
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