This is the future of education. I applause the mission of Khan Academy and CK-12 and that is to make education accessible for everyone. For all homeschooling parents, you should watch this. It is time for us to innovate and humanize technology to offer the best for our children.
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Blairwitch Mama
This is our best effort of making a horror video. But fear not, this is not slightly scary. This is comedic at its worst form.
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Of Teaching Next Generation Kids
I've been homeschooling my kids for three weeks now and currently using the K-12 curriculum. Good thing I was able download the whole range of modules for all the subjects from the DepEd website. You can also visit the DepEd Tambayan to further guide you to be an efficient and organized homeschool teacher. There are several items that you can download for free but I just hate the redirections everytime you download something from the site.
So how was homeschooling my kids like? Well, it has been a very challenging 3 weeks for me even if I only do classes 4 hours a day. Simultaneous for my 3rd grader and 1st grader(mixed group). My kind of teaching is more geared towards self-paced learning using digital means - tablets, smartphones, kindle and laptops. Yes, we still have notebooks because I want my kids to practice writing and sometimes our exams are handwritten. But most of their learning comes from the gadgets properly guided and monitored by Me, of course.
In reference to the day-to-day lesson from the K12 module I've downloaded from DepEd - I use it as reference for our lesson and I infuse my own activities to make it more relatable for my kids. Some of the subjects are just a review and enhancement from their previous lessons. To my disappointment, I observed that the information taught to them (like Philippine History core lessons) has not retained in their long term memory . As you can see, my kids used to go to a Montessori school; they pride itself from letting the kids learn independently. I thought, perhaps somewhere along the way in their teaching method, something went wrong. Further putting into consideration the the kind of learners my kids are - I noticed that they are doing very well when it comes to Math, English and Science. Later on, my third grader professed that History and Filipino are the subjects that he is least interested in. Maybe that is why the core lessons did not stuck in their minds.
It is a mind boggling quest to engaged them to do lessons. Thus, with the aid of technology, I believe I was able to catch their attention in making learning interesting for them. It is my great pleasure to share to you the following K12 apps that you can freely download from the Google Appstore. These apps has made my life easier being a homeschool mom.
Apps:
If you want to make your own worksheets and just let your students answer online, you can use the following:
So how was homeschooling my kids like? Well, it has been a very challenging 3 weeks for me even if I only do classes 4 hours a day. Simultaneous for my 3rd grader and 1st grader(mixed group). My kind of teaching is more geared towards self-paced learning using digital means - tablets, smartphones, kindle and laptops. Yes, we still have notebooks because I want my kids to practice writing and sometimes our exams are handwritten. But most of their learning comes from the gadgets properly guided and monitored by Me, of course.
In reference to the day-to-day lesson from the K12 module I've downloaded from DepEd - I use it as reference for our lesson and I infuse my own activities to make it more relatable for my kids. Some of the subjects are just a review and enhancement from their previous lessons. To my disappointment, I observed that the information taught to them (like Philippine History core lessons) has not retained in their long term memory . As you can see, my kids used to go to a Montessori school; they pride itself from letting the kids learn independently. I thought, perhaps somewhere along the way in their teaching method, something went wrong. Further putting into consideration the the kind of learners my kids are - I noticed that they are doing very well when it comes to Math, English and Science. Later on, my third grader professed that History and Filipino are the subjects that he is least interested in. Maybe that is why the core lessons did not stuck in their minds.
It is a mind boggling quest to engaged them to do lessons. Thus, with the aid of technology, I believe I was able to catch their attention in making learning interesting for them. It is my great pleasure to share to you the following K12 apps that you can freely download from the Google Appstore. These apps has made my life easier being a homeschool mom.
Apps:
- itooch Apps - Edupad offers an array of elementary subjects from all grade levels. iTooch apps are offering a complete method with more than 50,000 activities to enable the students to reconcile learning and fun. This is very easy to use for kids as young as 5 year-olds. There are lessons that you can read before starting a section. The app lets your students practice first before taking the exam. As a parent, you can easily check how well they are doing in each section.
- CK-12 - The CK-12 Foundation is a California-based non-profit organization whose stated mission is to reduce the cost of, and increase access to, K-12 education in the United States and worldwide. This initiative is focused to teaching kids Math and Science. I am not so fond of the app, I normally let my kids go to the site to do their lessons. They also offer free flexbooks textbooks for higher levels. For my kids, the bulk of their Math lessons are learned from CK-12. The lessons are very well organized, comprehensive and user-friendly. There is a video that they can watch for each lesson and they also offer assessment for each lesson. You can monitor your students' performance when you are logging as the teacher option. Moreover, there is a community of teachers who are using CK-12 that you can interact with and you can benchmark from. This site is totally heaven for me.
- Khan Academy - is a non-profit educational organization created in 2006 by educator Salman "Sal" Khan with the aim of providing a "free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere". To supplement my children's learning when it comes to Math and Science, I use Khan Academy. Same with CK-12, I am not really fond of their app, so their site is a haven for my kids. Also, I use the site to teach my kids the basics about music. The K-12 curriculum offers music as one of the minor subject, I am not really fond of the subject so I have Khan Academy to thank for.
- Youtube - This is the ultimate place for everyone who wants to learn almost about anything. From cooking to learning how to play the guitar and all sorts of DIY instructions. When I fell short of lessons for my kids - this is the place I would often go to. From singing to science videos and phonics - this is like our savior.
- Easy Peasy All In One Homeschool - there are several free curricula online. Among the free ones, this is my favorite -they offer elementary to highschool levels. I suggest this curriculum for parents who are starting to homeschool your kids. The instructions are just amazing - very detailed and organized. It is a very lax curriculum for your kids. I just go back to this every now and then to supplement my daily lesson plan.
Worksheets:
Every now and then, I would like to test my kids if they have truly understood their lessons. I have no problem with Math and Sciences because the apps CK-12 and iTooch are consistently measuring their knowledge every after lesson. For my English, Filipino, Social Studies and History, there are several sites that offers free downloadable worksheets that you can print for your students. Below are the list of sites to check out:
- http://www.thegomom.com/worksheets
- http://www.turtlediary.com/
- http://depedtambayanph.blogspot.com/
- http://depedtambayan.ph/
- http://www.k12reader.com/ (offers very good worksheets for reading and language classes)
- http://www.ezschool.com/
- https://www.pinterest.com/
If you want to make your own worksheets and just let your students answer online, you can use the following:
- http://freeonlinesurveys.com/
- https://www.onlinequizcreator.com/
- Google forms here's an example of the one I made
It is a learning experience for me too. I am a psychology graduate but invested my profession on Human Resource. After a decade, I decided to focus on my three kids and I have done more research now in Child Psychology than I have ever did during my college days. There is one principle that I have anchored my teaching philosophy with; and that is about the Growth-Mindset principle. This concept is for students to believe that Intelligence can be developed; that the brain is malleable; and doing challenging work is the best way to make the brain stronger and smarter. Growth mindset is just not about saying 'try harder' . Students need to understand why they need to put in effort and how to deploy that effort.
Every once in a while I will be updating this post. I accept that I have yet to exhaust all my time and effort in discovering even more useful items in the web. Until then, if you want to share your best practices, please let me know.
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Maiden Voyage
This is my first parenting blog. I have three beautiful kids and they are making me younger everyday. I will be introducing each of them in my successive posts together with my unabashed personality profile of each of them. I have been in the corporate world for a decade as an HR professional. My husband asked me to stop working and focus on the kids. I have been unemployed for seven months now and this is so better than having a job. Such a privilege to be a full-time mama.
So what does a mom like me do? What do I do with my kids? I just have one goal in mind when it comes to parenting, and that is to raise my kids to be happy, healthy and contented adults. But do I keep a checklist on how to ensure that they will be one when they grow up? NO! I am not an obsessive compulsive person so I don't make schedules for what to do in a day, much more with my kids. I don't operate with my kids on a certain itinerary or things and stuffs to do. I don't even enroll them to summer classes when they are off school. As just let them become kids. I would let them do whatever they want or something that makes them happy. Well, of course not to the extent of putting them in harm's way or letting them watch an obscene movie. Not to that level... But there are really times that I let them watch ' South Park' , 'Happy Tree Friends' or PewDiePie and I have my reasons.
Some parents find my parenting style absurd but good thing I don't give a rat's ass on their (as if) perfection. I sometimes get a rough experience or two with the grandparents but you know, I will always have the final say . Haha... I am not a perfect mother, and if you will follow my journey you will find out how eccentric I could be. You can hate me but I assure you most of the time you will laugh at me. I don't read parenting articles because I could not take the hypocrisy. But I do read a lot of psychological journals about child development. I laugh at Facebook posts of parent's claiming to be the best at parenting. Those moms who take picture perfect poses with their kids in 4-inch heels(c'mon!) .I could not wait for their kids to grow up and abhor them.
So, how in the world will I ensure a happy and healthy adult life for my children? Fortunately, the secret formula is being always there for your kids. It is not just being there for them, but spending quality time with them. Being silly with them, picking up your nose with them, fart and laugh out loud with them. " We worry about what a child will become tomorrow yet we forget that he is someone today." Am I a spoiled mom? Nope. My kids don't even ask for toys but I do let them play gadgets.
Shoutout to all the parents out there who feels inadequate in their parenting style. No one is perfect but we can always try our best to raise our children perfectly. Shove it up their faces if someone thinks that you are doing a terrible job being a parent. Just accepting our mistakes and moving forward and do what is considerably right will keep you on track. Your kids will not be young forever, sooner or later you will miss their presence. So if you want to be in you children's future, you need to be present in their lives today.
So what does a mom like me do? What do I do with my kids? I just have one goal in mind when it comes to parenting, and that is to raise my kids to be happy, healthy and contented adults. But do I keep a checklist on how to ensure that they will be one when they grow up? NO! I am not an obsessive compulsive person so I don't make schedules for what to do in a day, much more with my kids. I don't operate with my kids on a certain itinerary or things and stuffs to do. I don't even enroll them to summer classes when they are off school. As just let them become kids. I would let them do whatever they want or something that makes them happy. Well, of course not to the extent of putting them in harm's way or letting them watch an obscene movie. Not to that level... But there are really times that I let them watch ' South Park' , 'Happy Tree Friends' or PewDiePie and I have my reasons.
Some parents find my parenting style absurd but good thing I don't give a rat's ass on their (as if) perfection. I sometimes get a rough experience or two with the grandparents but you know, I will always have the final say . Haha... I am not a perfect mother, and if you will follow my journey you will find out how eccentric I could be. You can hate me but I assure you most of the time you will laugh at me. I don't read parenting articles because I could not take the hypocrisy. But I do read a lot of psychological journals about child development. I laugh at Facebook posts of parent's claiming to be the best at parenting. Those moms who take picture perfect poses with their kids in 4-inch heels(c'mon!) .I could not wait for their kids to grow up and abhor them.
So, how in the world will I ensure a happy and healthy adult life for my children? Fortunately, the secret formula is being always there for your kids. It is not just being there for them, but spending quality time with them. Being silly with them, picking up your nose with them, fart and laugh out loud with them. " We worry about what a child will become tomorrow yet we forget that he is someone today." Am I a spoiled mom? Nope. My kids don't even ask for toys but I do let them play gadgets.
Shoutout to all the parents out there who feels inadequate in their parenting style. No one is perfect but we can always try our best to raise our children perfectly. Shove it up their faces if someone thinks that you are doing a terrible job being a parent. Just accepting our mistakes and moving forward and do what is considerably right will keep you on track. Your kids will not be young forever, sooner or later you will miss their presence. So if you want to be in you children's future, you need to be present in their lives today.
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