Long Live Harry Potter

Even though the last Harry Potter movie is complete, there’s still plenty of life left in the Harry Potter world.  So, for all of the folks who are mourning the completion of the final Harry Potter movie, here are some ideas for getting more mileage out of the tremendous body of work currently available.

1. First of all, the novels are so richly detailed that readers should read through the series again. Find those clues hinting at future events you missed the first time through.
2. For added interest, take turns reading the books aloud, using voices for different characters.
3. Plan a vacation in Orlando, Florida. Visit the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios.
4. Check out the new Pottermore website.  J.K. Rowling‘s new Pottermore site promises to provide an engaging online experience around the Potter series and characters.
5. Make a Harry Potter wand sheath that fits inside of your robes!
6. Host a Harry Potter weekend movie fest for the family and watch the entire series. For added fun, invite viewers to dress as their favorite Harry Potter characters and serve Butter Beer.
7. Encourage young fans to write their own Harry Potter fan books.
8. Discover the Harry Potter movie music, especially if young fans are also musicians.

Have more fun activities to add to this list?  Add them to our comments section and help us celebrate Harry Potter!

Adventure Books for Summer Reading

Embrace summer’s care free, have-fun atmosphere with some great reads.  Remember, summer learning is extra fun because it’s less structured than traditional, structured learning. Books (e-books or print) offer an inexpensive escape to far off places, times past, or to fantastical worlds.

Don’t forget to let your young readers have a say in selecting their books.  A bit of autonomy goes a long way toward enjoying the learning experience.  Younger readers may enjoy reading their books aloud to the family in the evenings and is a fun alternative to watching TV.

Reading well-written books can build vocabulary, geography, historic, science knowledge and more.  Here are a few lists to get you started.  If you have a great list of your own, please share it in a comments post.

FlashLight Worthy reading lists

Historical fiction for girls who love adventure

The best fantasy books for teens chosen by a teen

Literary giants who wrote a book or two for children

From TripBase Blog

Eight superb children’s books about travel

Wheaton Public Library

Adventure fiction for young adults

Turn That Nintendo DS into an E-Book Reader!

If your homeschooler already owns a Nintendo DS, he or she already has an e-book reader.  According to the Nintendo website, a tiny Nintendo DS game card containing 100 classic books is all you need.  You hold the DS just as you would a traditional book and can turn the ‘page’ with the touch of a finger or use a stylus.  Apparently, you can add background sounds while you read, too.

Some of the classic authors include Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Lewis Carrol, H.G. Wells, and Charles Dickens.  Connected to WiFi, you can download ten additional digital books to your Nintendo DS.  The best thing about this ‘game card’ is that it is compatible with the Nintendo DS Lite, Nintendo DSi, and Nintendo DSi XL game devices and can be purchased wherever Nintendo DS games are sold.

10 Reasons Why Your Homeschooler Needs an iPod Touch

10.  Get Comfortable with the Future.  The Device uses natural finger gestures and a virtual keyboard — future devices are sure to adapt and refine this interface. Everything from e-book readers to the desktop and laptop computers may soon be touch screen and keyboard-less.

9.  Experiment with Voice Applications. Record voice memos, poetry reading, interviews, etc, using the voice recorder application.  Even better, you can send your voice message via e-mail.

8.  Inexpensive Computer/Gaming Device. If you have wireless internet in your home, your homeschooler can use the device as a game platform and a computer, especially for its robust internet browser. Its cheaper than buying another computer plus a handheld gaming device.  The games are cheaper, too.

7.  Educational Podcasts – Your homeschooler can download tons of free iTunes U podcasts and watch/listen to them on long car trips, vacations, etc.

6.  Free Phone Calls. With a wi-fi connection and ear buds and a microphone/ear bud ensemble, your child can use the free Skype service to call home to/from Skype accounts.

5.  Time Management. A powerful calendar app helps your homeschooler manager his/her time by setting alarms for lessons, practice, tasks, etc.

4.  Color Screen, Ultra-Portable E-Book Reader. Excellent E-reader apps, such as Stanza, Barnes & Noble and Kindle mean that your homeschooler has instant access to hundreds of free out-of-copyright and purchased e-books in the car, on vacation, or while standing in line for event tickets.

3.  Educational Applications. Tons of educational apps make learning on the go really fun and easy.  From learning Spanish or French to accessing the Periodic Table of Elements or a dictionary, the iPod Touch is a powerful knowledge center.  Check out some of the educational apps available for the iPod Touch. Our favorites are  Google Earth and Wolfram|alpha.

2.  Handy All-Around Knowledge Device.  The device is really like a Swiss Army knife — between the powerful computer, full featured web browser and the thousands of applications available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, the device is really a bargain.  Best of all, its beautiful to look at and has a giant cool factor.

1.  Challenge Kids to Innovate. Apple technology is usually disruptive technology, which means it changes the way people use technology.  There is no doubt that the iPod Touch is just such a device.  Young people who get these devices will have distinct advantages over those who don’t.  Who knows — these kids will probably find yet unknown uses for the iPod Touch that makes it even more useful!

Homeschoolers: Eccentric, Eclectic or Just in Our Element?

Sir Ken Robinson, a renowned thinker on education and creativity, recently wrote a book aptly entitled The Element.   The book is filled with stories of amazing and now very famous and successful people who were ‘tossed aside’ by traditional educational institutions.  These ‘slackers’ found their true gift or ‘element’ in life from non-traditional avenues (outside of educational institutions) and have become some of the most celebrated and inspirational people in their respective fields.  What does this have to do with homeschooling?  Well, anyone who is homeschooling a child because their child didn’t ‘fit in’ at a traditional school or to let their child spend more time in ‘his or her element’ are doing exactly what Ken says is missing from traditional education.  The Element provides refreshing insight into what constitutes actual human intelligence and the folly of the world’s focus solely on reading and math.  What about the arts? After reading The Element, I was reminded of how both Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison were ‘misfits’ in traditional schools.  According to Wikipedia, Thomas Edison was pulled out of school to be homeschooled because he lacked focus and his teacher labeled him addled (1850’s).  In 1894, Albert Einstein quit school.  According to Wikipedia, Einstein ‘resented the school’s regimen and teaching method. He later wrote that the spirit of learning and creative thought were lost in strict rote learning.’ So, over one hundred years have passed since Einstein quit school and we are still hearing stories of great people of our time being ‘tossed aside’ by traditional educational institutions.  At the same time, our world is increasingly seeking creative, innovative and adaptable people.  Memorizing math facts, state capitols and following instructions just aren’t enough.   So, call homeschoolers eccentric or eclectic . . . we are in good company!

The Microscope Book

 

We recently discovered a great microscope companion book, perfect for the beginning science buff.  This book has many fun and easy activities, but the best thing about the book is its explanation of how and why.  Additionally, it offers really useful practical tips on improvising when you don’t have all of the tools.  For example, it provides nifty instructions on making your own microtome (for creating thin sections of samples).  Another thoughtful detail is an explanation of how to estimate the size of your sample when you don’t have a stage micrometer.  Anyway, there are plenty of fun activities with real-world applications stashed inside! This is an older book, so you can get it quite inexpensively from Amazon.com.  However, we gladly borrowed it from our local public library.

Free Software For Schools E-Book

I am a huge fan of open source products, and find many compete quite favorably with commercial offerings.  Because  open source software is either inexpensive or free, students can obtain multitudes of new tools that they otherwise could not afford.  To my delight, I recently discovered a free e-book entitled Free Software for Schools by Open Source Victoria.  This handy book lists dozens and dozens of useful open source software products  categorized by genre as well as operating system.  I found the  free .pdf version  quite satisfactory, but if you prefer a printed book, you can order your copy from the publishing-on-demand service, Lulu.com, for around $20.00.

Flashlight Worthy – A Book List Website

Flashlight Worthy is a fun website dedicated completely to book lists. Books are grouped by all sorts of categories, including everything from ‘Books worth building your own flashlight for‘ to the books that ‘Barack Obama reads and recommends‘. Although there are book lists for readers of all ages, there are enough children’s book lists to make the site worth any homeschoolers time. If you decide to purchase any of the delightful books in these lists, help Flashlight Worthy by purchasing through the Amazon.com link on the Flashlight Worthy website.

Icarus at the Edge of Time

A fabulous new book, Icarus at the Edge of Time, written by noted physicist Brian Greene, is an amazingly elegant twist on the original Greek myth. The book is creatively designed as a board book with breathtaking Hubble telescope images and a story that is sure to spark curiosity about space, time, gravity, Einstein and black holes! Don’t be fooled by the picture-book presentation. This book can be enjoyed by everyone. Parents can read it to their preschoolers, precocious elementary-aged kids can read it (but be prepared for lots of questions), older kids will enjoy the story and may want to learn more about the original Icarus, and adults will enjoy the genius of presenting physics in a way that anyone can understand (and enjoy).
Learn more about Brian Greene’s work from his 2005 TED talk

Related Posts

• Big Picture Thinking – Brian Greene on Teaching Math and Science
• Learn about CERN’s Large Hadron Collider
• Start Teaching Hard Sciences Early

The British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world’s greatest libraries.  We recently discovered the amazing ‘Turning the Pages’ section of their website thanks to a fellow homeschool parent.  The British Library website enables anyone with an internet connection to literally turn the pages of old and ancient texts.  Furthermore, you can listen to annotated audio and explore ‘up-close’ by magnifying the content anywhere on the page making reading online a completely interactive experience.

The British Library website is an amazing resource for anyone, especially homeschoolers.  Our favorite text is of Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings and our homeschooler was stunned and fascinated that he was looking at Leonardo Da Vinci’s original drawings and notes.  We used the magnification tool and examined the beauty of Da Vinci’s backward hand writing!

Here are the areas of the British Libraries Website we enjoyed:

• Turning the Pages – The Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings text is amazing.
• Resources for schools & teachers – We could spend hours reading this amazing collection of resources.
• Treasures in Full – Similar in content to Turning the Pages, high-quality digital editions of old texts.
• Treasures in Full (full list) – A complete list of all digital editions found in ‘Treasures in Full’.