Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Question on History

There was a question on one of my yahoo groups about what kind of history to teach to a 5th grader.  My girls are in 7th and 5 th grades and for history I pick a series for them to read and then they are required to write a summary of each chapter.  Actually my 7th grader's book has questions and activities at the end of each chapter so I have her do those, although typing this I realize I've been remiss as we've been concentrating so much on Latin.

For Latin they are reading A Little History of the World  and The Story of the Romans .  They discuss with their dad during their Latin lesson.  It is so awesome to have him teaching them-- more on that in another post.  So anyway, it takes some time and I know they are learning history that way, so I'm not too worried about it.  Once they take the NLE, we'll pick it back up again.

For the 3rd, 1st and kindergartener, I read to them, although I will be assigning the Streams of History series to the 3rd grader to read on his own in the next couple weeks.  He is also enjoying the Childhood of Famous American series on his own.  Right now we are reading Edna McGuire's Glimpses Into the Long Ago, George Washington Spymaster and Fifty Famous Stories Retold, not to mention the New Testament, Book of Mormon stories and the Golden Book of Bible Stories.

So there you have it.  I like answering questions, so if you have a question, please ask-- you can email me at jaraagape@gmail.com or leave a comment!!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Educational video game competition

I received an email about this competition.  It looks like a good opportunity to learn some programming and use some creativity.  We won't have time this year- it's right about the same time as the NLE (Latin test) and we are trying to get geared up for Destination Imagination.  But maybe next year!

Here's the email:

Do your kids love games? Do they dream about creating games? With the STEM Video Game challenge, they can develop a game like a PBS KIDS game producer!  PBS KIDS, in partnership with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), is participating in the 2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge, an annual competition to motivate interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning among America's youth by tapping into students' natural passion for playing and making video games.
 
Participants who wish to produce games as part of the PBS KIDS stream are encouraged to develop games for children ages 4-8 that focus on early math skills. This site is designed to provide information and resources to help guide game production.
 
The contest is open to four different categories: Middle School students (5th grade – 8th grade), High School Students, College students and Teachers/Educators. As a homeschooling parent, you can make this an educational activity for your child, or something to support the curriculum.  
 
The Middle School and High School winners will each receive laptops, game design software packages and other tools to support their skill development, and youth sponsoring organizations will receive cash prizes and educational software. A prize of $10,000 will be awarded to each of the winners in the Collegiate and Educator categories. At the end of the competition, the winning games for the PBS KIDS and CPB track will be featured on the PBS KIDS Lab and PBS LearningMedia websites.
 
If you’re interested, here is a link with more information to participate in the challenge or to pass along to friends, readers, etc. PBSKIDS.org/stemchallenge.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Still Plugging Along

We have been keeping a pretty good schedule.  It helps to have a list of everything each child needs to do each day.  We have been keeping up fairly well.  The girls have been focusing on Latin and should be ready for the NLE in March- very exciting.  The boys will do just about anything to play on the wii, so it has been very easy to teach them and make sure they finish their work-  plus it's my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time through their curricula.  There's lots more to write, but that's all for now-- til next time!!