Boo Math! NO... Yay Math (sample video)

 If you are like me, ever since your kids finished Algebra, you have been at a loss of how to help them.  You have hired tutors, purchased video based curriculum, and prayed.  Well, that's what I have done anyway. 

My youngest is currently doing Algebra 2 and every now and then she presents me with a problem I don't understand... I don't want to understand it either.  It put us both in very boo-math moods.

But in my quest to find new ways to explain old problems to her, I turned to YouTube and therefore discovered Yay Math.  Ahhh...  It's awesome.

Math videos are recorded in an actual classroom by a full time math teacher.  There is interaction between the teacher and student and important questions are asked and answered. They videos do get kind of silly, but I like that...  If you need dryer material, there's Khan Academy which I also like... but Yay Math is my new favorite for free math help online.

Here's a sample of a Yay math video:




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Getting Excited about Science with the Global Experiment (Guest Blog)

In his State of the Union address a few days ago, President Barack Obama stated that “We need to teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair.”  Yet it is sometimes difficult to get students excited about studying science.  Enter the International Year of Chemsitry (IYC), a yearlong, worldwide celebration of chemistry sponsored by some of the leading international chemistry organizations in the world.  As Andrew Liveris (president of the International Council of Chemical Associations, one main sponsor of the event) notes, “95 percent of the things that touch our lives — such as food, water, shelter, transportation, and medicine — are made possible through chemistry,” and the goal of the IYC is to help show people just how important chemistry is in daily life.  

To get students involved in the celebration, the IYC designed a Global Experiment called “Water: A Chemical Solution,” which has the potential to be the largest chemistry experiment ever.  Students from all over the globe will participate in the water themed experiments by testing how chemistry can be applied to purify water so it can be consumed. More specifically there are four activities that students will complete while taking part in the experiment: 1) acidity 2) salinity 3) filtration 4) solar still. Here is a more in-depth look into what students will be exploring in each required activity.

Acidity- In the first activity students will use pH strips and learn about the pH scale in order to measure the pH of their local body of water. They finish by learning methods for testing the reliability of their results.

Salinity- The Salinity activity provides students the experience of making their own water meter and testing the conductivity and salt presence in their particular water sample.

Filtration- Students must work with household or classroom found materials to construct a functioning water filtration system. In addition, they must test out and rank the filtration abilities of different materials. Then they will end this activity by carrying out an actual water treatment and filtration and record their findings on the Global Experiment website.

Solar Still- The Solar Still activity provides students experience in alternative methods of purifying water, with specific attention to the distillation process.

The Global Experiment assumes that teachers will direct students when they are carrying out each experiment, but the experiment encourages guidance and supervision from any adults willing to get involved. It does not matter if a teacher or parent has background in chemistry; the experiment comes with specific directions with regard to the methods and materials necessary for the successful completion of the modules.  According to the IYC, the experiments will cost very little, if anything at all, to get as many people participating as possible.  Finally, they designed experiments based on the level of education for those involved.  Elementary school children can follow simpler experiments while those in middle or high school have increasingly complex and challenging tasks.

The International Year of Chemistry kicks off February 6th, and the Global Experiment runs all year, so if you believe that your child or your class would enjoy participating in the experiment visit the website!  It is an easy yet terrific way to get students excited about science, and it also gets students involved in helping to solve the problem many countries have accessing clean drinking water.  When Liveris was in grade school he says he became “hooked on the knowledge that chemistry would open the door to innovations that would make the world a better place.”  Hopefully, by getting involved with the Global Experiment, more and more students will start to feel this way!

Alan Parker is a blogger based out of New York, NY who writes about alternative energy, green business, sustainability, and climate change.
Follow on Twitter @AGreenParker


(Thank you Alan Parker for this very valuable guest blog)




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The ebb flow of it all

We have been overwhelmed with our lives these last few weeks.  First there was the snow... tons and tons of snow by Atlanta standards.   This allowed me to get work done and my kids to focus on their school work for a minute.  Then there was a tragedy in another local homeschool family that had quite an effect on our hearts and made us  very sad.  We didn't get a lot of work done that week.

I am really glad for homeschooling because when we are hurting we can take time out and just be still until we can catch out breath and move on.  Fortunately we can balance this with times when we are knee-deep in books and rarely come up for air. 

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New Writing Gig

I have been writing homeschool articles for new website.  Here are my most recent Articles:

Homeschool and a GED Program Homeschool and the GED program is a sticky subject in homeschooling circles. Homeschoolers tend to frown upon the GED as it gives the impression that the student is a drop-out. Still, the GED is an easy way to prove the student has reached a public school graduate equivalent in education.

Pre-Algebra Instruction for Homeschool Pre-algebra is the bridge between elementary school math, consisting of introductions to forms of higher math from algebra to statistics. Pre-algebra for homeschool instruction typically begins with strengthening previously taught concepts and ends with solving basic algebraic equations.

Tips on How to Get Caught Up When You Are Behind in Homeschooling  Homeschoolers get behind in their curriculum for numerous reasons. Whether life circumstances interfere with homeschooling or the child just progresses slowly in a subject these tips on how to get caught up when you are behind in homeschooling will help you.
 
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Mark Twain Re-mixed

In popular music lingo, a remix is an alternative version of a song, made from an original version. With the sterilization of Mark Twain's books the term remix is clearly spilling over into the world of literature.

If you follow my blog, you may have noticed

homeschooling is growing

I didn't need a study to tell me that homeschooling has grown exponentially.  The number of homeschoolers I encounter has grown. The attitude of the general public toward homeschooling has changed.  The opportunities for homeschooling in my are are endless.  Nevertheless, here is the study to back up what I have noticed about changes in homeschooling.

The National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) has released a study that estimates that there were 2.040 million K to 12 homeschooled students – or 4percent of all school-aged children – in the United States in the spring of 2010.

Read more: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20110106/homeschooling-community-grows-beyond-2-million/

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It's 2011

Happy New Year ya'll.  It's 2011 and my son, my oldest of my two kids will graduate in 2012.  That seems almost crazy to me.  Even though it feels like we have been homeschooling forever.  Even though he stands a good 6 inches taller than me.  Even though he has show he is ready for college, it is hard to believe that the time has passed.

Last year was a year of being still for me.  I was quite purposeful about it. I needed to get in touch with myself and I needed to make sure my kids were on track.  This year will be a year of action.  I am ready to take that last lap with gusto.  I am ready to be active, and vibrant, and dynamic and happy-er.

Here's to 2011

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