New 2 Homeschooling

Monday, June 10, 2013

Gotta love the science lesson in the backyard

I looked out our sliding glass door and saw this hanging out on our back porch in the shade. From the door, it looked like a bat. I was sure it was a bat. I don't have any pictures to show the scale because he was high up, but it was about 3 inches long.

So I went outside and closed the door to take pictures fully expecting my children to see me jump and panic when it flew at me. It did not. It just sat there. Ok, I'll get some pictures and load them into the camera to see what we have. Hmm, it's not a bat. I was convinced the two little white dots on the inside bottom of it's wings were eyes because they were really reflective.

I looked up giant moth and found out first there really is such a thing and second it was a Black Witch Moth.

White Witch Moth to show scale

It was so big! They finally got to see it open it's wings before it flew off.

Kids, we're doing a report on moths today! :D

When we do animals in the desert reports, how come we never hear about these kinds of things?

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Complete Science Curriculum for Elementary Kids

Andrew Rader has created a series of educational websites for kids.
Each of the sites below offer:

Free curriculum
Units with a hefty amount of subtopics
Mini-quizzes at the bottom of the page
Definitions built into the reading
A site tour if you want to stay on track
Links to related topics on the other sites to follow rabbit trails

Rader's Chemistry 4 Kids

Rader's Cosmos 4 Kids

Rader's Biology 4 Kids

Rader's Geography 4 Kids

Rader's Physics 4 Kids

Rader's Number Nut Math

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Computer Science Courses

All of these computer science courses are free unless otherwise specified.

Where to start:

Code.org

Zuckerberg and Gates team up with the mission to teach code to kids. This site has links to some of the sites you see below. It's kind of a one-stop shop.

For younger students:

Scratch

From MIT is a free download that can easily be used by kids as young as 6 (like mine!).

If they really start to enjoy it, you can turn it into a computer science course by using these books.

Super Scratch Programming Adventure!

Scratch Programming for Teens

Gamestar Mechanic - A fun quest-based program that unlocks pieces the student can use for their own game.

Kodu

Microsoft's program that allows kids to make games for the XBox or the pc.

For Middle Grade Students:

Learn Street

Ruby, Python and Java Courses.

Ruby is used on Twitter and Hulu.

Python is used on Pixar and EVE Online

Java is used on websites and for animations.

Khan Academy

Computer Science Courses

Alice

Next step up from Scratch

Java, C++ and C#

KidsRuby

12+ and up

New site that is just starting to add class materials.

Mozilla Tools

Mozilla Thimble

Learn how to edit HTML and CSS

Mozilla X-Ray Goggles

Installs on your browser and use the mouse to take a peek at the code.

Mozilla Popcorn Maker

Enhance, remix and share web video. Uses your web browser to combine video and audio with content from the rest of the web - from text, links and maps to pictures and live feeds.