Homeschool Summer Links for Fun!

I discovered a superb little tool today!  It really helps guide you to age appropriate educative links very quickly.  It is a site developed for use by Teachers and Students by the Teaching Matters group.  It is called PageKeeper. The site is designed to give teachers a space to share links with their students.  You needn’t be a member to utilize the site and there are some great leads to phenomenal information!  It will literally save you hours of hunting around.  You are able to search by grade level or subject.  If you know your students teachers name and they are registered you are able to access their list!

Hope you are all having a great summer!

Catch you soon!

Margit Barreras

2Think2Learn.com

K12 Virtual Campus Inventor – Definatly NOT a Blogger!

There you have it!!

I just proved my point.  I was totally typing up my last post and thought – wow I may be more of a blogger than I think!   This might be just plain rubbish that all I might be good for is Virtual Campus creation!  That is until I went to look for the silly post I just posted!!

I could not find it anywhere.  Oh until I went and looked on my other blog!!!! 21st Century Homeschooling!  Yup I think I might stick to creating wonderful places of learning for students and parents who find themselves struggling with learning in the home.

2Think2Learn.com is a place I have created to answer the call for top quality programming and help made available where ever you have an internet connection.  I am so excited to be launching our first classroom June 1st 2008.  2Think2Learn Kids Typing Campus is full of fun games and links and a superb typing program that will have your student flying on the keyboard.  Each day they log into their classroom they will be greeted by a teacher and encouraged to do their best.

I have been homeschooling my children for 8 years now and became very interested in how technology could make this home teaching and learning more fun.  Over the past 10 months I have created the 2Think2LearnVirtualCampus and am excited to share it with other families needing support with teaching and learning in the home.

Being a New Zealand trained educator I have  experience with class settings as well as homeschool settings.  I am tickled pink to have been able to come up with a program that can support all students in their current programming.

Well once again one would hope my blogging improves!! If not? – no worries.  I will just keep doing what I am good at!  Building an awesome spot for parents and students to access great learning experiences from the comfort of their own homes!

Chat soon.

Margit Barreras

Bad Blogger, Virtual Campus Inventor, Homeschool Parent of 3!

Summer Fun Kids Typing Campus at 2think2Learn.com

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

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K12 Homeschooling in the 21st Century – Creative Learning in the Jungle!

I visited an amazing campus today located in the jungle of Haiku, Maui. Some absolutely marvelous things were happening in this school. The buzz of brains having the freedom to think creatively and make pathways for success hung in the air.

21st Century Homeschooling – Landing Jetliners and Spelling – How to Teach Both, Well

Some things are learned so inadvertently that we could call it a revelation. When small pieces of knowledge are revealed to us it can be an awe inspiring moment. I had the privilege of experiencing this just the other day on a drive to Costco with my ten year old daughter. Here is what transpired.

K12 Genius Moment!

Over the past couple of weeks I had been singing (badly ) to my kids the old Kentucky Fried chicken advertisement of about 32 years ago.  My children of course were very impressed!   Last night my son suddenly piped up:

“Mom, how can you remember a song from 32 years ago when I can forget something that happened 3 minutes ago?

My daughter chimed in rather quickly:

“I remember being born!”

We call it the “K12 Genius” moments! LOL!

Margit

21st Century Homeschoolers – 5 Pitfalls to Avoid as Parents of K-12 Homeschool Students

Teaching is not a perfect science. There are so many variables. Students, teachers, environment the list could go on forever! Here are 5 of the more common pitfalls that can be avoided if you are aware of them!

K12 Virtual Education – Teaching and Learning in the Home without Fear.

Consider this:

“Free Children are not easily influenced; the absence of fear is the finest thing that can happen to a child.”

A.S. Neill, (1992) Summerhill School, A New View Of Childhood, Penguin Books.

We are all afraid of something. Whether it is the dark, small spaces, falling in our dreams or the neighbor’s dog! When faced with these our bodies can react to the perceived fear of the situation.

Authority or perceived authority is sometimes a huge fear provoker. Who remembers the fear of facing a teacher without the homework finished? Or the fear of a parent finding out you had not done so well in French as they might have expected. Inadvertently we bring this fear with us into adulthood.

K12 Virtual Education – Ten tips for Parent/teachers using Online Curriculum

“No one reading program is best for all children. Successful teachers of reading have developed activities that differentiate among their students according to their current level of readiness to read.”

Sousa, D. (2006) How the Brain Learns, Corwin Press

This method of differentiation is key in the developing of online curriculum. There is no “one size fits all” in teaching and learning. Here are ten tips for using your online curriculum successfully…