Category: Homeschool

PlayTown: My Story Maker is an Android and iOS app that allows your child to turn your tablet or phone into a story studio!

The PlayTown app is free to download and consists of three Adventure Playsets to help your child get started; Pirate’s Treasure Hunt, Travel Around the World and Princess Party.  Additional playsets can be purchased for $1.99.

It’s true that many people get anxious when they are told they have to give a speech.  My daughter is one of them?  Are you?  If you were told today that you had to give a speech tomorrow would you seize up in fear or would you eagerly take on the task? 

Either way the book “Secrets of Dynamic Communication” by Ken Davis is a great resource to have on hand.

What is the most important ingredient for an effective speech or presentation?

Homeschooling was not a path I had ever imagined I would take when Amber started Kindergarten.  What led us here was a series of incidents both academic and bureaucratic.  Looking back over the past 5 years we’ve done it as we head into our last year of homeshooling, has me feeling mixed emotions.  Things I could have done better, things I’m proud she’s accomplished and things I wished we would have had time to do but that never got done.

Back in February, I reviewed the iPad in Education for Dummies book by Sam Glickson.  After having used the tips and suggestions in it in our homeschool for the last 6 months, I wanted to share a vlog of 5 reasons I think the book is worth getting for not just educators, but parents and really anyone who is wanting to use their iPad more efficiently and effectively for learning.

It’s not very long, just 5 minutes (that means just 1 minute per reason, see that’s not much!), so grab your coffee and sit with me a while!

Want to work out with a personal trainer at home, freshen up on your Spanish before the family vacation, or learn how to cook duck confit with a chef in your own kitchen?

Expertory.com, is a new online site that brings the experts to you.

Expertory.com is currently in Beta and offers you the chance to have personal sessions live online with hundreds of experts in fields from health and fitness to cooking, arts and crafts, music and more.

Today, Mill Creek is releasing LIBERTY’S KIDS: THE COMPLETE SERIES on DVD!  This series is packed with incredible voice talent including – Whoopi Goldberg, Walter Conkrite, Kathleen Barr, Billy Crystal, Michael Douglas, Warren Buffett, Liam Neeson, and more!! Check out the trailer below.

A little over a week ago I shared with you about Clipless a new mobile gadget that was funding itself through Kickstarter.  Interestingly enough, not long after I wrote that post, I received an e-mail about another really neat Kickstarter project by a new garden company called Earth Starter. 

Earth Starter is releasing their Nourishmat – a pre-fab, paint-by-numbers 4×6 garden that helps kids and parents learn to grow food together.

I cannot believe that this fall we’ll be entering our last year of homeschooling.  And while we’re still in that phase of our life, I want to share on my blog with you over the next school year some of what we’re doing.  Because come next May, well we’ll be saying ‘auf wiedersehen’ to that tab in our navigation.  (No worries all the posts will still be available through searches if you’re looking for something specific!)

The national non-profit organization Bedtime Math, whose mission is to make the nightly math problem as common as the bedtime story, announced today it will make its popular “Summer of Numbers” calendar available for free to parents across the country who want to help children avoid the so-called “summer slide”in math skills over the school vacation.

Education experts say school-age children can lose several months’ worth of math skills during extended school breaks, as their learning routine is interrupted and other activities replace homework