The Technological Wave in Education

Maybe they can have an extra 15 minutes on the computer ; )

Using Speech Recognition for Writing and Proper Enunciation

Today, I have been introduced to a powerful program. In fact, I am using it right now. It is speech recognition. I thought this program would be very helpful for my son who has a hard time when trying to write. I thought he may be able to dictate his ideas. Then he could correct the dictation (which may take more work than I expected).

Like many things in homeschooling, I have found a second use for this program as well. As DD was helping me learn the program, we found that you have to dictate very well for the program to work correctly. DD thought that this would help her in her acting. When he was very young, she had a speech impediment. Now you do not really do not notice it, but it did affect this program. Apparently, you can continue to work with the program so that it can get smarter (i.e. get used to you speech patterns).

This speech recognition program was not an additional cost for me. In fact, it was already on the computer. It was just a matter of learning how to use it.

We certainly have a lot more to learn and all must be more careful in how we speak to it, but it may be a very helpful program to use. You may want you check and see if your computer has the program as well.

Integrating Technology and Learning

Since I have been hearing about this video all weekend, I figured that I should share it with you:



Mind you it does not strictly apply to us homeschoolers and many of us will see it as confirmation as to why we homeschool, but if you can get past that you may also be inspired. Of course DD's reason for her excitement about this video is that she sees it as yet another reason why she should get a cellphone. I'm not sure that that is going to work, but I am going to allow her to create a PowerPoint in leiu of a self test in Social Studies. We'll see how that goes and go from their. I'm also thinking, she may be getting some interesting emails. Also, I noticed that our library now has mp3 books on their website for downloading. This may be just the thing for DS.

Let me know any great technology ideas that you have.

Appreciating Art While Feeding the World

DS and I got caught up in my own post yesterday. We have been enjoying the art section of Free Rice. We started on the vocabulary, but then moved our way over. Vocab can only hold his attention for so long, but pictures, paintings, or anything visual can hold his attention forever. This section was kind of neat because it had classic paintings and you were supposed to identify the artist from the four listed. DS caught on right away. He was not familiar at all with the artists, but once he realized that you could identify the artist by looking at their style, choice of subject, and color pallet, he was hooked. This was right up his alley. He is the dear boy who while still in diapers pulled all my cans out and reorganized them by height and volume for fun. When he was younger, he would not eat his m&m’s until they were in order and matchboxes weren’t for driving, they were tools to classify and organize.

Of course, in the beginning it was easiest for him to identify Vincent Van Gogh

with his deep strokes and repetitive subject matter, but then we moved on to Monet, Michelangelo, and Rembrandt. He particularly liked Franz Marc,

a Picasso style but with wildlife. He also asked for a Van Gogh print for his room. (He is really becoming my kind of man – a Kenny G. listening Van Gogh fan who likes long walks in the woods – boy will he be able to write a personal ad one day). He also quickly caught on that we could identify Georges Seurat by his use of dots and Pieter Bruegel the Elder by his use of detail.

We also cheated a little or you may call it using your resources wisely when we found out that some of the pictures were signed in the corner. Albrecht Durer’s signature was the most interesting (look in the plaque just below the horse's lifted hoof - there is a "D" inside a rough "A")

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I guess it is time to head back to the Wadsworth Anthenum or maybe a trip on the T into Boston.

Mom & Me - Living with a Teenager

My dd is pushing the boarders every day. I guess that is the definition of a teenager. “I want a cell phone.” “Can I start a facebook account?””How do I look – wearing skirts way too short?” We have for the most part found middle ground, when necessary she has borrowed my cell phone with instructions to use as needed but not as wanted. The facebook right now is on hold. And she has agreed to wear leggings under the skirt. I know that I cannot maintain the walls forever so I have to think carefully about what I will and will not allow and how far I am going to fight. Since I actually want to win when I argue and not just cause her to hide her activities, I do have to relent to some of her requests. One which I may relent to is allowing her to blog.

Caelyn has been watching me blog and has been interested in the idea. So she came to me to ask if together we could create a blog site. Not her alone, but us together. Maybe, she saw this as a strategy to an approval. Of course, I’d prefer to think that she thinks back to the days when we used to write together. We would both get our journals our and write on a common subject. It was a special time together. I guess a part of me hopes that she longs for that. So, whether she has just calculated well or she sincerely looks forward to working together, we will be beginning a mother daughter blog. How I’m going to maintain four blogs, I don’t know, but when teenagers ask to spend time with you, you’ve got to take it when comes along. Plus think of all that writing she will have to do and I have supervisory capacity at her request. This could be - - -ok! I’ll let you know the info on the site when we set it up.

What battles have you relented to with your teenagers? What things have you remained staunch on?

Great Geography Website

I always look for new and interesting ways to make my son learn the core subjects. My daughter is a lot like me she reads a lot. She would fill out workbooks for FUN! My son is like my husband – if it looks like schoolwork in any way shape or form, he wants nothing to do with it. But this changed the other day when I came by an anomaly- a website that made geography fun, http://www.sheppardsoftware.com.

Although I agree with the basic idea of unschooling that we will all learn what we need just by participating in life, I also believe that there are certain number of things that you don’t “need” to know but that you should know as a cultured human being. I believe that being able to place all the states in the United States and a fairly strong knowledge of their capitals is one of those things. For my son though, reading, remembering, and being able to place the states (and or the capitals as we have been challenging ourselves) is very difficult. He has learning challenges especially as it relates to reading and processing (Some days the way he works out his math confuses me and I know what he is doing.) . Truthfully, it was kind of embarrassing the first time that he completed the beginner level. I thought, “Come on, you know this. We’ve been there.”. “How could I ever put him back into public school? They would laugh at him and me.” But the game really caught his interest and while his first game was dismal, he was willing to play again and again until he received a higher score.

When he finally took a break, I jumped in. I told myself that I would just brush up on my skills. Well, let me tell you that these Geography games vary from beginner to quiet advanced. I believe it was the Cartographer level when you have to try to place states in their proper location on a blank outline map and when you put them on the map they disappear. Being from the Northeast, I rocked the New England and the East Coast, but properly placing Wyoming and Nebraska proved to be a real challenge. Or you can take it a step farther, rotating and resizing states before placing them on the map. Hmmmm! Maybe I’m not Smarter than a Fifth Grader. I won’t even begin to divulge my scores on naming European countries. I don’t mean the typical Spain, France, and Italy, but all those Eastern European countries that didn’t even exist when I went to school. So now my son and I have to battle for use of the computer to play the Sheppard Software Games. This experience has reminded us that one of the great things about homeschooling is that it is a game that the whole family can play.

PS. If you go to the mind games, I’ll warn you that Castle Defense is addicting too.