Online Learning

There are many types of learning. One type of learning, important to me, is about learning seo. I've started a new blog on that topic.

Have you voted yet? I voted yesterday.

I just voted!

In Florida, where I live, they changed the rules and the early voting opened this morning at 7am. I got in and voted this morning. You should vote. If you need help deciding, I have opinions that I'm willing to share...privately. Go vote. And encourage friends and family to do the same.

From Online to in the flesh - Campaigns are multimedia

Today, I went to a political rally. It's actually the first political rally that I've been to since I was about 20 (I'm 50 now).

I won't share my politics with you but I will say that it really made me think about the process and people as I stood there in a crowd, a very mixed crowd, in the sun at mid-day.

There were old and young, mostly old. Many volunteers. Some children. I assumed that they were homeschoolers since it was a school day.

It's 15 days to election day and being in Florida, we hear A LOT of political ads on the TV and radio. It makes sense to me that in addition to enormous amounts of online work, they hit the crowds and radios, and the TVs and the newspapers. There is no mor multimedia effort than a presidential campaign.

English is so weird.....

The English language is so weird, I marvel at the fact that we seem to love it despite it's absurd lack of logic...

Goose, geese,
Moose, .....mooses

Mouse, Mice
House,.....houses

Swim, swam
Trim, ....trimmed

I'm thinking about learning english and vocabulary because I'm back to one of my favorite pastimes, designing games. In this case, I'm looking at Learning Vocabulary Fun, a site with vocabulary word games, trying to figure out games would be popular and useful for building vocabulary. Also, which ones would be within my means to build. As I looked around, I read some of Avko's comments on Crazy English....

Reasons why some people think English is hard to learn. Or, reasons why other people (like me) think English is great fun to learn.

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

Coming soon on Learning Vocabulary Fun, new games dealing with idiomatic expressions.

Can My Child Handle A Time4Writing Online Class?

This was such a good article that I thought I'd repeat some of it here. It could be used for any topic...

Can My Child Handle A Time4Writing Online Class?
If your child has never taken an online course, and you are concerned about their ability to handle one, here are a few things you should consider.

Can your child read at at least a first or second grade level? Most of the teaching and instruction in the Time4Writing course is given in writing. If your child can’t yet read the lessons, they might still be able to take the course, but you would need to either sit with them and read the lessons aloud, or use some type of text to speech program to guide them through the coursework.

Does your child feel comfortable with a computer? If your child is just now building mouse skills, and hasn’t had any keyboarding experience, he or she might find an online course overwhelming. But if they are already spending time on the internet, and can at least hunt and peck on a keyboard, they will probably do fine with an online writing course....continued..... Can My Child Handle A Time4Writing Online Class?

Five Great Websites

The best online homeschool curriculum is from Time4Learning.com.

The best site for spelling words is SpellingCity.com.

The best new article site on homeschool materials is homeschool city.

The best homeschool directory site is homeschool.com.

the best homeschool forum for online discussions.

The hurricane song

The hurricane song is too great. Thanks Time4Learning for keeping this alive.

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Learning Experiment...not just for the kids...

I think this is so cool and such a clever idea. I know that one side effect of this group blog course was the creation of the Blog Writing Course. And I quote from the web home school blog.....

I’ve been asked by a few people about the purpose and status of this blog so I thought I’d write up a quick summary of it’s history. We will probably relaunch this blog soon as some new variant. If you have any suggestions or would like to participate, you can contact us at Time4Learning.
This blog was started by Time4Learning as a learning experiment.
We asked half a dozen parents (actually, all moms) of students using Time4Learning to write on this group blog about the details of their homeschooling program. What their days were like and what they worried about. And were happy about.
More specifically, we wante to know what was working for them and what wasn’t in terms of their use of online educational materials.

--- it continued for awhile and concluded with......

What did we learn? We learned a lot of details and about other products that are used in conjunction with us. We learned that most homeschool curriculums are a home-made eclectic mix optimized for each child. And that there is different mix of planning, routine, and spontenity for each family. We were stunned to find out how unique and useful our service really is. My favorite posts:
The gifted child, with autism, with Time4Learning
How the Internet changes everything….for homeschoolers
T4L - How it helps everyone. Mom too.



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Homeschool Literature

I wonder yet if there is a body of good homeschool literature. By this, I mean homeschool fictions. Books and stories written in which the setting involves a homeschooling family. Or some or all of the characters are involved in homeschooling.

I've found a few books, but not that many.

Pictured left is an excerpt from one of a few kids books written by Scott Stroud. I've read a review copy of Baby Kong. First rate. He has a second one which received awards but I haven't seen it. If you are looking for gifts, give him a look. He had a great publishing-website name too: HomesCoolKids.

Here are a short listing of homeschool literature that I found on a site called HomeschoolOnline.org

Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie Tolan. Kids literature. Fine.The Applewhites book starts with a traditionally-school adolescent who is having alot of problems. He is sent as a foster kid to a rural homeschooling “unschooling” family full of some stereotypical characters. The cityboy “comes of age” through his experiences on the farm and with the family. For a review of the Applewhite .

Schooled by Gordan Korman. Kids literature. Bad. The homeschooled boy is a terrible representation of being a social misfit-homeschooler. The middle schoolers at public school are horridly behaving. The hippie homeschooled boy is basically tormented in school to the point where it would be impossible for the reader not to pity him. (excerpted from a review of Schooled by ChristineMM)

The Adventures of Lil’ Wolf, Twinkie, Toes, and Flower Girl in the Homeschool Forest by Jacqueline R. Campos. Editorial description from Amazon: Come and join in all the fun of the Wolf Family as they share their homeschooling adventures with you! It is never a dull day in the Homeschool Forest, with the gentle Flower Girl, lazy Toes, fun loving Lil’ Wolf, and the very clever Twinkie.

Other suggestions?













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Science education - need a new approach

The general approach to science in our schools is a bust. It doesn't attract enthusiasm or many students. And our need as a society for a scientifically fluent citizenship and for scientifically-strong professionals is vital.

The curriculum for science continues to get short-changed as the schools increase their focus on the more testable math and language arts. Starting in middle school and in high school, the science labs continue to get back due to budget cuts, lack of teachers, and the perceived danger of actual science labs with acids and bases and fire.

Fortunately, there is a solution: computer-based instruction. This can be personalized which will solve the problem of students progressing in science at dramatically different rates. We can do simulations of experiments with amazing capabilities. It can be inquiry based and socially relevant.

So far, there are bits and pieces of great curriculum but no consensus. Right now, I'm reviewing the Jason curriculum from National Geographic to see if it can be used as the basis for some sort of "Time4Science" (ie an online interactive science curriculum)





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Learning to Blog

While anyone can learn to blog, for many it is a lonely frustratingly-long time before you are writing a quality blog and have an audience. Why not take a short cut and ride along with us?

You can, of course, learn about the key skills in blogging by reading articles and through trial and error. Or you can take a fun course. BlogWritingCourse.com offers two online courses. One, Get Ready to Blog, is a free automated course that anyone can sign up for and take at any time. It's for total beginners, a precourse to get students ready for Blogging 101. In the precourse, you'll start with the very basics about how much it costs to start a blog (nothing) and the different approaches to blogging and setting up your first blog. BlogWritingCourse.com also offers Blogging 101, an 8 week online course with a teacher which you take as part of class. The course teaches you the skills you need by having you practice and get feedback. There are some reading assignments but the heart of the course is learning by doing with guidance and support and feedback.

Blogging 101, the learning to blog class runs intermittently. There are generally eight students in each session and a teacher. Black belt mama, the teacher, has a masters degree in creative fiction and is a successful blogger. She's also a total charmer, students love working with her.

In the first section of Blogging 101, students compare blogs to see what distinguishes the best ones. They learn about how to form a coherent combination of topics, the visual look, and the identity of the blogger (the "about me"). In the second section, they apply these rules as they set up their own blogs, define their writing identities, and write their first posts. Students get feedback and explanations including help with technology and graphics. Issues about personal safety, privacy, and copyright are covered. In the third section, students start to react to comments (initially each others), keep writing their blog, and are given some assignments to help build an audience through posting on similarly-focused blogs and forums. In the last section, the students learn to use the promotional tools such as technorati and the different blogcatalogs and groups.

What many students like best is that by starting their blog as part of a group, they have readers, feedback, and comments from the start. And long after the course has finished, they have their initial classmates who have become their first group of online friends that they can learn from and shares experiences with.

The students are a diverse group. From the recent alumnae, there's Topsy Techie who writes about her Unconventional life of a homeschooling family and is well on her way to becoming a famous bloggger. The students range from the Daily Grind of kooky caffeinated JavaMama, the ultra fit Spin Diva, the aging but still eager BlackBeltat50, the trials of Renovation Girl redoing her house and starting a family and of SheParent wrestling with her 11 year old, the life of one BBW (big beautiful woman), and there's the more senior Grey Haired Geek.

Come sign up. The free automated precourse is a total no brainer for anyone thinking they might like to start a blog and want to get a basic orientation. And Blogging 101 sessions fill up quickly so you should move quick. The Blog Writing Course just announced that the summer session starts July 7th and the fall session starts September 8th. Reserve your place now.



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other paragraphs.....

Writing a blog successfully is way different than writing an article or an essay. In a blog, readers engage not just because it's a collection of good articles but because there's some continuity. Also, most readers want to be learning something. In fact, most blog readers say that they read blogs on subjects that they are trying to learn about or stay current on but they choose which blog to read by how entertaining the author is. Most blog writers find that they want to mix elements of their personal life with commentary on some subject in which they have interest and expertise.

So the readers expectations and writers plans are a great fit which explains why blogs are becoming so popular. But with thousands of blogs being started every day, how do you make sure that your effort is fun for you and popular with readers?

Writing blogs is also very different from writing traditional novels or even newspaper columns. The key difference is that the writer is expected to interact with the audience and to create a community experience. This requires a combination of traditional writing skills (grammar, point of view, characters, vocabulary), social skills, and technical skills.

Safety and My Online courses

I run an online learning service which has thousands of students (Time4Learning.com). It's automated and there have been no teachers so all of our security issues have been of the technical type so far.


We started recently a new service teaching writing (Time4Writing.com) in which we provide an 8 week writing course online which is led by a teacher. I'm looking for some feedback on our approach to safety:
1. All parents (who must sign up students) and students are informed that all of the class communication should happen thru our online website (moodle is our learning management service). No email and no phone calls.
2. 100% of the communications are saved, monitored, and reviewable.
3. We review about 20% of them on an ongoing basis.
4. No private student to student communication is allowed.

My new big question (as we expand past teachers that I personally know or who are onsite) is about teachers.

I only hire "accredited teachers" which means (in the modern era) that they have had a full background check with fingerprinting etc. Since I intend to hire some of these teachers over the internet, I also conduct a webcam based interview (although so far, we don't use that technology in the classes). My reason is so that I can visually verify their identity against the documents that they've sent me (including a driver's license) to make sure that the person is who they say they are. (I'm worried about identity theft and approving "borrowed" credentials)
Anybody got any feedback on this approach?





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Time4Writing is alive and useful

Time4Writing has courses that start every week! This is made possible since most of the 8 weeks courses are built to provide one-on-one instruction from a writing teacher to your child.

The courses are online and require about two and half hours per week. They really help the kids' writing. The feedback is provided the day after each assignment is turned in and the feedback is specific and useful


Help your kids learn to write.

And I quote.....Online Elementary, Middle and High School Writing Courses.
8 Week Sentence, Paragraph and Essay Courses

For many students, learning to write well is difficult. Time4Writing provides online 8 week writing courses that help students build writing skills. Students learn through one-on-one interaction with a certified teacher.

Schools rarely have the resources to provide the detailed, systematic feedback that students need to maximize their writing skills. Time4Writing helps students build writing skills for general communication, self-expression, and high stakes writing requirements such as SATs and college entrance exams. Homeschool parents often find that teaching writing is difficult. They feel that the editorial process is subjective since, of course, there is no answer key. Writing courses provide the editorial feedback that helps students improve.

Will your children benefit from Time4Writing?

Do your children need help in developing their writing skills? Would your child benefit from regular writing practice and detailed feedback? Do your children have upcoming reports or timed assessments? Is your child writing with joy and confidence yet?

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Hooked on Phonics

Hooked on Phonics - Remember them?

Hooked on Phonics was hugely popular in the eighties and nineties. It provided parents a way to help their kids learn to read. HOP's television marketing campaign made Hooked On Phonics a household name. It was reportedly one of the most successful direct marketing campaigns in history. It ran on and on and on.

While it seemed a whole generation used Hooked on Phonics to learn to read, it's popularity has declined as new technologies, approaches, and services have emerged. Today, children increasingly respond to more interactive, online resources. I would recommend Time4Learning is the modern equivalent to Hooked on Phonics.

Their learning games are digital online interactive and fun. Their phonics games are fantastic.




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Learning to Blog

Bloggers aren’t usually writing for the benefit of their health (although who knows what new research may turn up in next week’s health headlines). They are writing to share their knowledge, their insights, and their feelings with others. The hope is that other people will read what they have written, and interact with it, in the form of blog comments, quotes, and forwarding that content to others who might be interested. One of a bloggers best friends is his or her blogroll, which highlights other blogs they are following, and often that are following them. And thus, a community is born.

My blogging community started with a small group of folks who were taking the online blog writing course with me.




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