Link Love #2 ~ Scratch!

Our top favorite site is Scratch!

“Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.
As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.”

It is Free to download and associated with MIT Media Lab. You can check out their website here! I like the fact that there are no bugs or pop-up windows on their site.

Within the first hour of playing around with Scratch, my then six and eight-year-olds were making their own animations. Brilliant! My boys are lucky because they have friends and cousins who are older than them and have shown them a lot of helpful hints and such. But even with out that, your kids (and you too) can figure it out by trial and error. They even have tutorials on the site as well. There is also a page set up specifically for educators!

It is really fun! I have played around with it and made my own little animations as well.

My kids don’t upload their creations to the site yet, as I think they are a bit young for that.  But they do build and create their own games and stories and could spend hours on them; if I let them.

My nine-year-old is now making his own games with Scratch. And they are fun and hard to win. When I play one of his latest games he has updated or tweaked, he is so sweet and changes the level to “easy” so I can play it.

The best way I can describe Scratch is that it is a super fun way of learning programming language but in an easy way using bricks to build it!

Check it out and tell me what you think!

Link Love #1 ~ LEGO® fun

Having three boys stretches me. It stretches me to grow beyond my circle of interests and I love it. I often peruse the internet to find videos or websites that take them to the next step in the things they are interested in. They love what I find and share with them. It inspires them (and me) to think out of the box, to build something or it merely starts turning another gear in the back of their growing brains and it shows up in a completely different way than I expected. They are sponges and soak up everything at this age and I try to take full advantage of it!

Over the next week or two I’ll share some links that the boys and I really like. So check back and if you see something you like, pass it on to a friend. I think the more collaborative parents can be the better it is for all of us! 

We Loooove LEGO®!!!

The boys often check the LEGO® website to play games and check for new products.

Some other cool things on the LEGO® website are:

~ You can download any LEGO® building directions for free here! This has come in handy many times as we have picked up a box or two of LEGO® at yard sales and didn't have the directions to go with them.

~ If your LEGO® set is missing some pieces you can order the pieces here!

~ You can sign the kids up for the LEGO® Club where they receive a free magazine every other month.

If you have a reluctant reader who loves LEGO® I would encourage you to check out some LEGO® beginner reader books at your local library. If they don’t have them, ask the librarian if they could order them.

Also, my boys look forward to getting the LEGO® magazine and read the entire magazine from front to back. They get stuck on some words but their desire to read the whole magazine has really helped their reading skills.

We bought a couple Power Functions motors and the kids love them. We plan on buying more as their ideas keep expanding on what they can build next. These are great for budding engineers.

There are also LEGO® leagues for kids to join where the missions is

“…to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.”

You can even start your very own LEGO® club!

We love LEGO® contraptions and really like this video:



and this LEGO® loom machine is cool too



Also, we have had our share of LEGO® themed birthday parties. Here are two links that have inspired me in one way or another!

LEGO® Party #1


LEGO® Party #2

I hope you enjoyed these links!


Have fun!!

insects in the mail - Part #2

The caterpillars got very big very fast!

I politely disagreed



my mom's glasses she wore in college



My public speaking course is over and I have to say

 I am glad I signed up and took the classes.

It was a low commitment in time and money and yet,
at the same time, it was a high commitment in stress,
 personal expectations and comfort.

  I could have backed out or not showed up
for the final class where we were to deliver
 a prepared, five minute speech.

A lot of people surprisingly did not show up
for the final class.  To be honest, that thought did
 cross my mind for a brief second

 but I simply pushed past it.

 Was I nervous? Yes.

Was it uncomfortable? Yes.

Did it kill me? No.

Did I learn a lot? Yes.

Would I do it again? YES!!!

As you may know, a teacher can make or break a class.

 This teacher was excellent and I immediately
knew it would be a great class  when he said,
 “I want to show you a video on TED.com.”

 His teaching was clear and purposeful,

 and he was engaging and positive.  

I learned a lot, met some great people
 and have already incorporated some of this new
 found knowledge into my everyday activities.

 I have used some of the concepts

 when I am teaching my boys here at home,

 relaying information to my husband

and recently in some social settings. 



My boys, all three of them, were excited to hear
what I learned in class.
  It was great to see their excitement and support.

Over the weekend, the family went to a birthday party

 and someone overheard that I took a public speaking class.

 They rolled their eyes and told me they took one years ago

 and hated their class but had to
 take it because it was mandatory.

 I mentioned that I elected to take this class on a whim

 to challenge myself and for personal growth.

 

The older woman chuckled at me and said,

 “Oh, you’ll change as you get older!”

I politely disagreed.



I see myself as a student of life.

 As long as I am alive,

 I want to push myself to

 learn new things,

 stretch and grow

and, most of all,

 pass on to others what I have learned.

Now...who is up for some skydiving?

***

{{I would love to hear how you have pushed

 yourself to learn new things!}}



insects in the mail

I ordered something from Insect Lore.

Tiny caterpillars!

They arrived in the mail a week ago.

The boys will literally watch the caterpillars' transition

as they mature, change into chrysalides,

and finally emerge as butterflies!  

The caterpillars are eating a lot and are growing very fast.

The boys are excited as they watch them each day.

I’ll keep you updated.    

ants

Attention!!!

If you don’t like insects, skip this post!!

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We have ants in our kitchen!

I know it is early for our area,

but here they are!

Below are the responses I have received so far:

A. Oh, Gross!!!

B. What?

C. Cool!!!!

My curious boys shift between “B” and “C” and

I checked off “A” right away, but I am faking a “C” on most days!

Over the 2009 holidays, my middle son received an ant farm as a gift from some friends of ours. I thought maybe we could order the ants over the next several months. Well, the last year was not the best year for ordering ants.

Unfortunately, we had our own free, insect collection sneaking in here and there driving me batty.

We had our usual tiny, brown ants starting in April, the occasional cave crickets, my arch nemesis (which forced my husband to do all the laundry for six months, more about that later) in the basement mid-April, mud dauber wasps in May, a delightful hoard of box-wood beetles in a flower bed in June, a random spurt of horse flies in July, and let me not forget the stinkbugs in August.

I was in no mood to order any insects. Also, I am a big wimp when it comes to creepy, crawly things. On top of that, my sister and I were born with Bionic, Bug Vision; we can spot a spider a mile away. I am not joking! Needless to say, I was exhausted, come September, when we started up home school again.

So, I shoved the ant farm up on a high shelf praying my son would forget all about it. Then, in July, he got another ant farm for his birthday! Yay! Then every month I heard, “When can we order the ants?”

I broke down and must have repressed the entire last year and ordered the ants last month from Uncle Milton!

Last Thursday, they came in a tiny plastic tube, in an envelope, in the mail.

The boys were thrilled.

Their cousins liked them too

I got some books out of the library about ants and did some research online and the boys have enjoyed learning some interesting facts about these amazing insects.

****

Things I have learned so far:

I still don’t like ants even if they are contained.

Ants are all type “A” personalities; they never stop working.

They bury their dead.

They communicate through chemicals and their antennas.

Some still have six legs….yuck!

and....

Having an ant farm on your kitchen table

is a great way to lose weight;

you lose your appetite as soon as you see them!!!

Maybe, I’ll keep them through the swim suit season?

tread softly

I found TED a while back

and will admit I am quite addicted to the talks.

In fact, the different talks about

following your passion and giving back

is partly what took me over the edge

from thinking about starting a blog

to actually jumping in and just doing it.

So far, Sir Ken Robinson has challenged me the most.

He is very passionate about education and his words echo in the back of my mind as I teach my seven year old throughout the day.

Have a listen.

It is about 18 minutes long, but well worth it!