Unschooling "Read a little, try a little, wait a while, watch." People learn by playing, thinking and amazing themselves. They learn while they're laughing at something surprising, and they learn while they're wondering "What the heck is this!?" My favorite and oldest discussion group is called AlwaysLearning, where the principles underlying unschooling are the topic. On facebook, my less favorite but busier discussion: Radical Unschooling Info If unschooling can't work in the real world, nothing at all can. Grover and the Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum. I've removed the link I had because used copies on Amazon are listed way too high. The way adults tend to learn things is the way people best learn—by asking questions, looking things up, trying things out, and getting help when it's needed. Regional groups, lists and resources (by language, nation, state, religious or special focus) THIS PAGE IS OLD for a webpage.
8 iPad apps to Teach Coding and Programming With the changes in the National Curriculum for ICT in 2014 introducing a greater emphasis on coding and programming, there is a greater demand for easy to use programming tools for children. One of the best ones, Scratch, sadly doesn’t work on an iPad at the moment. Here are some alternatives that do. 1. Daisy the Dinosaur (Free) This free, fun app helps teach the basics of simple programming. It’s a simple, easy to use app which gives children an easy introduction into simple programming. 2. Developed by the same team behind Daisy the Dinosaur, Hopscotch is a free app which allows children to create their own games and animations with a simple programming language. When you’re finished with a script, press play to see the code in action. 3. The Bee Bot app from TTS has been developed to mimic the familiar Bee-Bot floor robot. The app has been developed with 12 levels encouraging progression. It’s an excellent free app, and I highly recommend it! 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Got any other favourites?
Unschooling By John Holt with later additions by Patrick Farenga (This is reprinted from Chapter 3 of Teach Your Own) NOTE: To learn about the laws and regulations about homeschooling in your state, check with your local or state homeschooling groups as they will likely have the most up-to-date information. You can locate general legal information from this list, and find support with this list; both lists are maintained by Anne Zeiss. People, especially educators, who hear me [John Holt, 1981] talk about homeschooling, raise certain objections so often that it is worth answering them here. Since our countries are so large and our people are from so many different kinds of backgrounds (this was said most recently to me by a Canadian) don't we need some kind of social glue to make us stick together, to give us a sense of unity in spite of all our differences, and aren't compulsory public schools the easiest and best places to make this glue? About needing the glue, he's absolutely right. ...
Apps for Computer Science As part of the new primary curriculum for ICT, there is a significant emphasis on computer science. Below I've included what the children should be taught and a selection of apps which can be used in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Key Stage 1 Pupils should be taught to: understand what algorithms are, how they are implemented as programs on digital devices, and that programs execute by following a sequence of instructionswrite and test simple programsuse logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs Key Stage 2 design and write programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller partsuse sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output; generate appropriate inputs and predicted outputs to test programsuse logical reasoning to how a simple algorithm works and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs Codea: £6.99
The Beginner’s Guide to Unschooling Post written by Leo Babauta. There’s nothing I get asked about more as a parent than unschooling, and nothing I recommend more to other parents. It’s an educational philosophy that provides for more freedom than any other learning method, and prepares kids for an uncertain and rapidly changing future better than anything else I know. And yet, as powerful as I believe unschooling to be, I’ve never written about it, because the truth is, I certainly don’t have all the answers. The beauty of unschooling is in the search for the answers. But I’m getting ahead of myself: what is unschooling? What is Unschooling? First, it’s a form of homeschooling. However, this is how I describe it — in contrast to school: Let me emphasize that for a minute: in unschooling, life itself is learning. This is how I learn as a self-employed writer, as an entrepreneur, as a parent. Why Unschool? Unschooling takes a different approach: kids learn how to learn, how to teach themselves. More reasons to unschool:
4 Free Apps That Teach the Basics of Coding to Kids If your class is like mine, the kids are always talking about playing video games! Rather than discouraging that interest, I want to harness it to encourage a higher level of thinking in my class. That is exactly what happens when kids explore coding. I love watching their faces as they try to process that people have to "tell" technology what to do in order for a game to work. For many kids, the thought of creating games is even more exciting than playing them. Daisy the Dinosaur (free) - This app is best suited for early childhood students or for a very basic intro for older students. Hopscotch (free) - Created by the same developer as Daisy the Dino, this app takes coding/programming a step further. I also suggest checking out the Hopscotch Teacher Guide provided by the app developer. Cargo-Bot (free) - This is a game-based app that teaches coding as kids progress through challenges in the game.
Apprendre à l'air libre | Chroniques erratiques d'une instruction à l'air libre 6 Free Apps to Teach Coding Skills 17 May I’ve shared some of my favorite apps for teaching coding skills to students. From early elementary through high school, each one has a place in the hands of students holding a tablet. Codecademy Hopscotch Daisy the Dinosaur Cargo-Bot Tynker Kodable Looking for more of my favorite apps? 24 Super Cool Free Science Apps Like this: Like Loading... Tags: coding, iPad education, STEM Pédago : comment faire « tweeter » des enfants de 7 ans ? Twitter dès le CE1, pour donner le goût d’écrire, de lire et de l’orthographe : un maître raconte comment il a entraîné élèves et parents dans cette expérience. Une tablette sur un bureau, en classe (François Lamoureux) Cela fait maintenant un an que j’utilise tous les jours Twitter dans ma classe de CE1-CE2 de Gaujacq, un petit village landais avec notre compte : @CE1_CE2_Gaujacq. Les productions d’élèves sont de plus en plus intéressantes et riches et Twitter me permet d’approfondir des notions d’une autre façon, plus concrète. Making of C’est par son blog – Si c’est pas malheureux – que j’ai découvert la « Twittclasse » de François Lamoureux. François Lamoureux a été inspiré dans ses activités par d’autres professeurs comme Laurence Juin (en lycée), Alexandre Acou (CM2) et Jean-Roch Masson (en CP). Il existerait aujourd’hui plus de 200 classes utilisant Twitter en France, principalement en primaire. Emilie Brouze « @Classe_Masson Bonjour, vous avez de très bonnes idées de tweets. »
Lightbot is a Brilliant Introduction to Coding for Children Our Verdict PaperZip | On 28, Aug 2014 Use basic coding principles to guide a robot and light up the tiles. Suitable for: KS1/KS2 Price: £1.99 Lightbot App Review Programming is essentially a set of commands that dictate what happens in a piece of software, such as a website or application. This simple concept is a great example of how programming works. As with most gaming apps, the further you progress, the more difficult it becomes. Download on the App Store Kids can't use computers... and this is why it should worry you - Coding 2 Learn TL;DR? Why not just go watch another five second video of a kitten with its head in a toilet roll, or a 140 character description of a meal your friend just stuffed in their mouth. “nom nom”. This blog post is not for you. The phone rang through to my workroom. It was one of the school receptionists explaining that there was a visitor downstairs that needed to get on the school’s WiFi network. iPad in hand I trotted on down to the reception to see a young twenty-something sitting on a chair with a MacBook on her knee. I smiled and introduced myself as I sat down beside her. ‘I’ll need to be quick. She reevaluated her categorisation of me. I looked at the MacBook. I handed back the MacBook and the woman opened up Safari. I’ve heard this sentence so many times now from students and staff, that I have a stock reaction. I decided that the young woman would probably not appreciate the sarcasm, and took the MacBook off her so I could add in the county’s proxy server settings. Parents Schools