I was not surprised to see Kat’s post on how the internet has changed their lives.  It sounds so familiar.  I remember our first computer, 15 years ago.  Our first born, Josh sat in front of it, we popped in a Reader Rabbit CD and without much instruction he went to work and learn.  He loved it.  But he was limited to what the CD had to offer and nothing else. He became bored fairly quickly and those CDs were pretty pricey back then.  In fact, they still are.

Fast forward to today.  We have 4 kids–refresher course here– 16, 13, 5, and almost 1 years old.  We, as a family unit, benefit from the advancements in technology.  Josh and Emily (16, 13 respectively) can’t seem to do homework without using the computer.  They are able to log on to sites that connects them with the text book they use in class.  Here they can get more information on what they are learning as well as links to other sites with homework help, the school’s sites and their own teacher’s websites.  They also log onto sites with PSAT and SAT practice tests, SOL practice tests, purplemath.com is an awesome sight as is cliffnotes.com.  My kids happen to have really awesome teachers who communicate frequently with all their students via e-mail.

As most here know, Natalie’s benefits come mostly from her lessons on Time4Learning, the playground and some of her other fun sites, such as noggin.com, pbskids.org, sesamestreet.com and occasionally pollypocket.com.  It amazes me how a 5 year old kid can get on a computer and before they learn to read or ride a bike they can navigate the information superhighway without blinking an eye.

For my husband and I, the internet has been an excellent asset to communicate our family calendar, the kids progress reports at school or simply just to communicate when we’re not at home.   When my husband was in Iraq last year, it was the internet that helped me make it through his absence as he was able to send us a daily email and occasional pictures.  We sent many pictures and emails to help boost his morale.  Personally speaking, I maintain my sanity by communicating frequently with all my friends around the world, and I really mean around the world.  It’s like having a support system that never goes away.    I am enrolled at the University of Maryland University College to get a degree in Social Studies concentrating on Gerontology, and minor in Humanities.  The benefits for the baby — I never have to leave him anywhere due to school or work.   I thank God everyday for giving me the opportunity to stay home with my kids.  However, I am also extremely energetic and must be active in learning, exercise, love to cook and read, etc.

The internet is a great asset to have but like Kat, we do hands on, old fashion learning as well.  Board games, reading a real book, the newspaper, using a real dictionary/thesaurus and even going to the library…live! 

One other thing–outdoor recreational activities are a must in my family.

Something really cute happened this weekend.  My Natalie wanted to play school with me but I was busy so I suggested that she play school with her stuffed animals until her friend was available to play.  She hesitated for a while and tried whining in an effort to convince me that I should play instead.  Her older sister, Emily said “why don’t you teach your “babies” what you learned on Time4Learning yesterday (Friday)?”

Natalie’s eyes opened wide (she’s very dramatic) and said OK.  Next thing I heard her setting the dolls and animals up in the play room, in classroom order and telling them that it was time to learn “the short sound of ‘a’ and she proceeded to tell them that Cat, Hat, Bat had a short sound but that Cape and Tape did not.  I thought that was too cute.  She also used rhyming a lot, she loves to rhyme words like Dr. Seuss - words that have not particular meaning but they rhyme nontheless.

I know that most of us wonder if our kids really take in everything they hear or if they will remember it later.  After having 4 kids I know they do but it is so nice to have that reinforced.

Thanks T4L.

Terie

I did not think this would happen with Natalie because she is a pretty independent little girl.  We have the Kindergarten version of T4L which also includes the 1st grade Science and LA extension.  I’ve told her that those she needs to do with my supervision because there are many areas that need to be read to her, unlike the Kindergarten Language Arts and Math curriculum.  However, she wanted to venture into the world of science by herself while I was busy helping my older daughter with homework.

She completed a couple of sections and was fine until she had to do the quiz.  She pretty much guessed at every question because she could not read the question and answers.  Her score was 30%.  She became very upset about that score.  That’s good and bad.  She realizes the importance of getting a high score.  The next day she said she did not want to do any assignments because she got “too many red Xs” and she was “afraid it would happen again.”  I convinced her to log on and told her I would help her through that section and the quiz.  Funny thing is that we went right to the quiz just to see how much she knew.  I read the questions and let her figure out the answer–she got everyone right!  She was so excited…her words were “Mom, I guess I knew it all along.  I am such a smart little girl”  I was laughing at her modesty.

She did 4 lessons after that, 2 in math and 2 in language arts and her confidence was flying really high.  She aced all her quizzes yesterday and had no reservations about logging in today before school and tomorrow she is already planning to go back into science with my help.

It’s amazing how good kids feel when they get good grades.

Yesterday Natalie signed on and decided to start working on the Science curriculum which is really a 1st grade level. Needless to say I was a little concerned because it is a higher grade level. However, it so happens that she had reviewed this same subject in school.

The first section is called “Distinguishing Living and Non-Living Things,” lessons one and two are “What lives in the ocean” and “Ocean’s plants and animals.”

What made this particular lesson exciting is that we have been reading bed-time stories that relate to the ocean’s plants and animals and we recently visited a small aquarium with a huge tank that makes you feel like you’re underwater with all the creatures of the Chesapeake Bay. Natalie really enjoyed working on this section. She finished each lesson very quickly and came running to tell me how easy it was, then she went back to do the quiz and got a “mastered” score.

It was one of those really good days for her and for me, I just feel good to be able to help her make the connection from school to the real living things. Very exciting! It was an “Aha” moment for her and a great opportunity for hands-on experience.

I think it’s a good idea for kids to experience as much as possible of the real world so whenever possible we try visit the historic sites in our area as well as museums.

Everyone, keep up the good work.

Terie

WOW! What a week we’ve had.  Let’s see, my kids all got sick–just a cold but enough to keep me awake at night, ugh! We had back to school night at 3 different schools and everyone has more homework then they can handle or then I can handle this week.  Sorry I had to vent.

I am the “non-homeschool” parent here and now I would like to share how T4L fits into our busy lives.   As I mentioned before, Natalie, my 5 year old going on 13— she’s so sweet, attends public school, which by the way, she loves.

When she gets home from school we spend time eating a healthy snack, going over what she did that day, signing any forms and looking over any assignments– believe me, there’s not much to look at.  This is where T4L comes in.  She really looks forward to signing on everyday.  I was worried that she would be too tired to log on after school but on the contrary, she asks to log on.

Right now she logs on to the classroom and works for about 20-30 minutes.  She does her math and language arts, then she goes into the playground for some fun time.

The highlight of my week was when I received a call from her teacher yesterday evening.  Her words were like music to my ears, she said “I just wanted to let you know that Natalie is doing wonderful.  You must spend a lot of time working with her because she knows all her letters, numbers and is working beyond her grade level right now.”

I was more than happy to tell her teacher about T4L and how it has helped Natalie become proficient in so many areas.  She is able to read time, recognize coins and she’s pretty good at finding words that rhyme. I am always amazed when kids finally “get it” - you know, the little light in their eyes when they learn something new.

Now that we are all over the colds and things are back to normal at home, I’m sure I’ll be back to brag some more!..  

Take care everyone.

Terie