Using technology for free
To kick-start your home classroom that uses laptops or netbooks, take a look at Free Technology for Teachers. This is a blog created by a teacher. He gives you lots of wonderful tech resources to use free of charge. And who doesn't like "free"?
The May 13 post about math class is really worth looking at and will give you come outside-the-box ideas for use in your homeschool math class. I liked it because too many math courses are bland and have nothing to do with the real world. For instance, I preferred that my kids understand what goes into their credit score more than trying to solve some unrealistic problem on paper - a problem that is completely irrelevant to the real world they would find themselves in when they grew up.
My objective in homeschool math was to teach them to think logically. I wanted them to learn how to problem solve from scratch, not just from formulas. In other words, I wanted them to discover the formulas! That way, it would be cemented into their flow of thought as opposed to memorized formulas that were remembered only until the next quiz.
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technologyLabels: Math, Technology
Tech classroom
I don't think there has been a better time to buy laptops and netbooks. The prices have come down so low, that it has become much easier to fit one into the budget...maybe more than one! I think if the prices had been this good when we were homeschooling, I would have made sure that I had one and my two kids each had one as well.
Instead of sharing a PC, I could have loaded lessons into their personal netbooks and let them work them out anytime and anywhere. Plus, field trip notes could have been typed straight into word processor programs on their own machines.
Today, it's also easy to have interconnectivity in your home so that you can share files with everyone in the household through a few simple clicks of the mouse. There are so many e-books that can be downloaded for free now. Sharing required reading would mean having a huge library at your fingertips, thereby taking up less space in the household. Learning programs can be installed. Even test and quiz programs can be put into action on your home network.
Of course, you'd want to set up parental controls for the internet usage.
Labels: Homeschool families, Technology
Data
I have a lot of stuff on my home computer and on my laptop. I hope to get it all backed up on CD or DVD soon, but if I don't I'll wind up wishing I had. Son lost all his data when his laptop crashed, which should be a good lesson to all of us.
In the meantime, maybe I should subscribe to an online backup service. I've got things on the computers that I don't want to lose, like family pictures and other data I don't think I could replace easily.
Downloads aren't a problem, of course, because I could just go back and grab those again. But the more personal stuff, well, I just don't think I could replace it at all.
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computerLabels: Technology
Educating for technology
In this day and age, it's important for homeschool families to include some technology and computer savvy in their curricula. Building is one good way to introduce your children to html, java, and php languages. It's also a good way to let them learn to design web pages in a way that's interesting and appealing to readers.
Setting up a website can be as easy as using one of the free servers or even purchasing a domain and getting hosting. It's pretty inexpensive to get these things and they can teach your child a world about producing pages for others to access and read.
One of the big rewards of creating web sites or blogs is to see how many people are visiting the site. It's fun to see how many visitors you've had each day and to learn that some have subscribed to your site updates.
Experimenting with various keywords to see if they are productive seo tools can help your child learn about future business and marketing tools he or she may need as he graduates and enters his own career. It's even fun to enter your own keywords into a search engine to see if your web site or blog ranks in the top ten hits for that word or topic.
Labels: Homeschool families, Technology
Family computers
It's not really unusual these days for every member of a family to have their own PC or laptop. Among homeschoolers, this seems to be a growing trend and I think it's a good one. After all, parents can install educational programs for each child on their own computers and not have to be concerned about scheduling time for them. With more than one computer in the house, it becomes easy to fine tune each child's lesson plans.
However, there will still be some families who will share one or two computers or laptops among them. For them, extra
laptop memory will become vital as programs use up the small amount of RAM that originally came with their machines. Extra memory means fewer times having to reboot so the programs will run without a hitch.
Labels: Technology
Networking at home
In order to really get your home computers networked in an efficient and high speed fashion, you are probably going to need to use
CAT6 cables. These are the kind of cables that will let signals from broadband and high speed connection pass through without interference.
In this day and age, networking within the home is becoming more and more common. We network here, which allows us to share some of our files back and forth between our computers. We also share a connection, so we have to have high end equipment to carry the load for us. With a number of peripherals, such as we have, we want to make sure everything is operating in top condition and that accessing them is smooth.
Labels: Technology
New tech purchases
I am probably unusual in this, but I wind up replacing my computer about every three years or so. My most recent replacement was a laptop, which I use now instead of using my PC. However, the PC is still in good working order. It's just not as fast, not as up to date, and doesn't have as much memory as the newer models.
While the laptop I have now is doing a great job, I will probably replace it sometime next year for one with more memory and a larger hard drive. I'm especially interested in getting a
Sony Vaio, since I've heard a lot of good things about them. By the time I am ready to purchase one, they'll probably be even more impressive.
Unlike my cars, which I drive until the wheels fall off, I want my computers to be fully functioning when I replace them. That way, I can migrate my info from one to the other with few problems and no losses.
Labels: Technology
Technology tools
As with all new technology,
ipods are becoming more and more common among all age groups and the price is more reasonable than ever before. I think this is because people can add music to them that's completely a personal choice. Unlike just listening to the radio, you can listen to exactly the music you want to listen to, with no commercial interruptions. They have become widely popular and almost everyone has one.
Now, I'm wondering if there are other things that can be added to them. Things like recorded children's stories, novels, recorded language lessons, and other things that would make an ipod a valuable tool for homeschooling. Music is wonderful, of course, but I am the kind of person who wants the things I own to serve more than one function. Having educational recordings available would open up a whole new market base for these handy little items.
Labels: Shopping, Technology
Organizing peripherals
I don't know about you, but I have quite a few peripherals for my computer and my laptop. I usually keep everything small in my laptop bag, but as I gain more items I find it less convenient to do this. And this is just my own stuff.
If you have more computers and peripherals of all kinds that you use in your homeschool, you may want to stow and organize them on something like a
healthcare cart so that they are accessible to everyone in the family. You have a place for everything, and everything in its place.
Labels: Homeschool families, Shopping, Technology
Notebook computer
Until you've actually owned a laptop, you just can't know how much easier it can make your life. Unlike a desktop PC, a
notebook computer can be carried with you where ever you go. For homeschool families, this can mean more portability when it comes to computer use for educational programs and research. Take the notebook on the road with you when you travel and keep a journal of the places you visit. Write research reports, book reports, and do all testing while you're away from home.
Even a holiday visit to Grandma's house can be more functional if some journaling can be done on the laptop while you're there.
I've begun taking my own laptop with me everywhere I go except to work. Well, sometimes not to work..lol. If I'm there for an early shift and expect to be hanging around for awhile, I do take it then so I can keep blogging and keep journaling while I'm away from home.
Labels: Homeschool families, Opinion, Technology
More winter preparations
Having a
laptop with a
wireless AirCard connection means I will still be able to communicate with others if the weather gets icy, as it's subject to do during Arkansas winters. This is yet another way to prepare for those days when I might not be able to leave my house.
Living near the top of a hill on a steep road means no one drives up and down it when there's ice. Some of my neighbors actually park their cars at the bottom of the hill, next to the highway, then walk up the hill, home. For me, this isn't really an option. With back problems, I can't walk up that long hill when it's icy or I risk falling and further injuring an already damaged disk.
Anyway, I'm going to be shopping around for a
solar charger I can use for my laptop so I don't have to be concerned about the battery life, should the power go out. I'll let you know what I come up with and the price so you can decide if this is something you might need as well.
Labels: Shopping, Technology
Real estate exam prep software
Learning isn't limited to only your children. Many of you are involved in courses right now that will give you a brighter future. Perhaps, you're taking real estate courses even as I type this post.
You will eventually have to take some tests in order to pass the real estate course and get your license. you might want to look into software that will help you pass the
mortgage broker test and other tests you may be required to take.
Using this software at home will give you the edge you need to complete courses, pass the exams, and gain not only your license but your new career. You can study for other areas such as real estate math, appraisal, and home inspection using this software, too. Just head over to
CompuCram.com to see what they have that you can use.
Labels: Education, Reviews, Technology
Free health and medical downloads
Whether you want to design a garden or keep track of your ovulation, you can find free downloadable programs for
Health and Medical issues at Simtel.net. There are hundreds of varieties of programs available that cover all areas of health issues and concerns. Note that some are absolutely free, some are shareware, and some are demos. But the large number of free programs makes it worth the visit to the site to check them out. Having them all under one site's roof makes it easy, though, to select just the program you'd like to have.
Labels: Free stuff, Technology
Free educational downloads
When I first started homeschooling and got online with a real computer, instead of WebTV, one of the places I knew I could find great educational downloads was
Simtel.net. I used the freeware and shareware from this site for many of the educational applications in our homeschool. Even back then, there was a lot to be had from Simtel.net, and now there's even more. I highly recommend this site for your free software needs of all kinds, but especially for your homeschool.
Labels: Free stuff, Technology
Free computer tutorials
If you're reading this, then you already know some about computers. However, if you or your children would like to learn more about the various programs that may be on your computer, you might want to take a look at the
free computer tutorials for beginners. These cover such things as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visual Basic, and php.
You can register for free exams and you can test yourself at the site. You can even save your progress and get a certificate when you've completed a course.
Labels: Free stuff, Lesson plans, Technology
Improving your computer
We limped along for several years with the same old HP monitor we'd gotten with our first real computer. It seemed to serve us well and we saved some money by not replacing it when we replaced our computer. But after using this laptop and seeing the true colors of websites as well as the clarity of the screen, I think I'd go ahead and invest in a
lcd monitor for the next desktop we get. It's worth the money to be able to see things as they should be, in their true colors.
Now, lcd monitors can be bought for about the same price as the old style crt monitors so there's really no reason not to get one.
Labels: Shopping, Technology
School Dell computer issues
This is the time of year when parents may be in the market for a new computer or laptop for the students in the home. It could be that a computer is perfectly fine already and simply needs more RAM or some other small upgrades to increase its capabilities. In that case, if you have a Dell computer, you might want to simply purchase more
Dell Memory for your machine instead of investing in a whole new system.
Upgrading a perfectly good computer is one of the best ways to keep it for a little longer so that it will still provide good service to students. Since a lot of homeschoolers use computers extensively, even to having several in the household, adding memory will keep your costs down and your child's productivity up.
Labels: Education, Homeschool families, Technology
Free software
When I first got a computer to go online with (I started out on the web with WebTV), I found a site where I could get some really neat free software. What I looked for was nearly always educational, and
Simtel.net filled the bill for me.
See, I didn't homeschool on a shoestring. I homeschooled on a piece of a very worn shoestring! Not everything there is completely free software but a great deal of it is. They also include shareware and trial versions. Nonetheless, you can find much of what you need at this one location and I recommend it highly.
Labels: Free stuff, Technology
Isuzu and Toyota diesel
Normally, you wouldn't think of a diesel motor as being environmentally friendly. However, Isuzu and Toyota are teaming up to create an environmentally friendly diesel that has the power people look for in a
crew cab pickup truck.
About 60% of vehicles in Europe are run by diesel, which makes that market a strong consideration. More importantly, the environment is the most important consideration and these two companies are tying up business and capital to produce a motor that is safe to the environment.
Isuzu was affiliated with GM, but recently that affiliation ended and they struck up a bargain with Toyota. Keep watching these two companies and the benefits they'll be bringing forth in the near future.
Labels: Science, Technology
Computer memory
I'm beginning to think our computer needs more memory installed. It's not that hard to install
computer memory and the price is easy to justify since it means we can get more memory instead of buying another whole computer.
If I remember correctly, Brandon installed extra memory in this computer some time ago but there's room for more, so maybe I should be shopping around for it. Might wait till after we move to actually buy and install it, though.
Labels: Bargains, Technology
