Udacity Physics

I am keeping a close eye of many of the great new offerings in free online education. We've used Khan Academy, Academic Earth, looked at Coursera for down the road, and now I'm trying Udacity, particularly the Physics course. I'm only through unit one (working on the homework now) and it is awesome. I'm a child of the 80s, I use the term awesome in it's 80s form. I watched as this very enthusiastic physicist explained how to use math and science together in some really cool ways. I got it, in the sense of a light bulb went on for me. This is how I teach Z about the importance of math, throw him ahead a few years and show him how physics makes trig sound like fun.

The set up of Udacity is simple, enroll in the class and watch videos. Take some notes along the way and there are simple questions to answer with the click of a mouse, okay the answers may not be simple, but you won't spend twenty minutes trying to figure out the formatting. This course has made the technology part easy.

The enthusiasm of the instructor is perfect. Again, I'm only in unit one and there are seven, but this will appeal to Z when we start in a few weeks. The instructor is young and in the first video I couldn't help but thinking he needed to iron his shirt. Granted he was in Europe explaining physics and ironing probably wasn't a priority. Okay it may the first time I've actually thought someone needed to iron their shirt, I'm not a big fan of irons in general. Then he starts talking and he's engaging, I believe teens will relate to this guy. Then he started writing, guess what!, his handwriting isn't neat and perfect. I wanted to hug this guy seriously. I've spent hours over the last nine years reminding Z to have good handwriting and his Japanese is neater than his English. I've also reminded him about wrinkled shirts a few times. But here is an intelligent guy with less than precise handwriting and a wrinkled shirt, he is the perfect man to help teach Z physics, and to keep him enthused about the subject.

It didn't hurt the other class developer, computer guy, I don't know what his title is. Well it didn't hurt that he is holding a stuffed giraffe in his photo. Opulence, you know, and apparently a fan of giraffes. Who isn't, really?

Now I have homework. I have to find a sunny day, still waiting, and I need to do a little more study on vectors for myself. Otherwise, I'll be on to unit two hopefully next week.

Self-Education Form

If you're like me you plan on doing some self-education during your tenure as a homeschooling parent. I like that part, sometimes. Sometimes, it's like running down a hill a mm in front of an ever growing snowball. You could get buried at any moment.

As with any form of chaos I feel better if I can organize it. Come to think of it, I do that with decorating projects. Tigger and I were remodeling a bathroom once. It had some funky faux marble wallboard on it. Well to help in the demolition (I'm very helpful in that way) I ripped all the wallboard down. It had been glued on years before. The big thick brown glue that leaves trails bigger than termites. Well it was a few months before Tigger to get to the scrapping of the glue, I did what I could and then I hung a bright shiny new silver toilet paper holder on the wall, right on top of the glue covered walls. It became organized, sort of. Self-education is kind of that way.

So I have created a form to help organize your self-education efforts. It's not fancy, it's basic. But you can print it off, fill it in, and file it with your other school papers. You'll feel more organized at least. I make no guarantees that you'll actually do the work, but baby steps, right?

There are two links. One is to the form with my notes attached. The other is to a blank form for your personal use. Please feel free to print as many as you need, pass along to friends, use it to line your birdcage, whatever floats your boat.

Scribd self-education form with notes

Scribd self-education form, blank

Enjoy! Now go learn something, you'll feel better.

Stop the Press!! A Last Minute Change in the Lineup!!

Nothing like changing your mind in the last few weeks before school starts. On top of the schedule change I'm implementing some other changes. I've been reading about right-brained learning in the above book, Right Brained Children in a Left Brained World. We've always known Z is more of a creative, right-brained learner, but the above book gave some specific tips on how to teach a child of this sort. So it has left me re evaluating the curricula we use. After much angst I have decided to give Cambridge Latin a try. It's a whole-to-parts course instead of a parts-to-whole course like we have been using.

 We have used the Latin for Children series from Classical Academic Press. We used half of Latin Alive I also from CAP last year. I love CAP's Latin products. Latin for Children was fun, made Z interested in Latin, and allowed us to really put the Latin-Centered in a Latin-Centered Curriculum. Latin Alive took the knowledge to a new level with a program that is full and rich. Latin Alive touches on grammar, vocabulary, and readings. With the state mottos being discussed at the beginning of each chapter, you can see how America has a Latin heritage as well. Z started to get bogged down in Latin Alive after a few chapters. We had a chaotic year and that didn't help. 

However, after reading more about right-brained individuals I've come to believe it's not just the chaos bogging him down. Last night Z and I watched Sorcerer's Apprentice. 

There is a scene in the movie where they drive through a mirror and everything is backward. It was easy to tell where you where but the navigation and reading anything was hard, because it was backward. Imagine trying to learn that way. So I'm Nic Cage, I have the curly hair and would love a black sorcerer's jacket and the car...,anyway. Z is my apprentice and in trying to teach him I may need to look at a few things backward. I think Latin is one of them. I have some right-brained, creative tendencies myself and it's easier to tweak a subject I know well. Well, I'm learning Latin just a smidge ahead of Z. I learn well in a linear fashion. It's the way I was indocrin taught in school. But to learn in, ingest it, and twist in a short time frame is too much for this aging wizard's brain.

So we're switching gears. This was a hard decision. I ordered part of the Cambridge components today. Once I have a chance to preview them, then I'll know better if we'll being combining it with Latin Alive in some manner, or using Cambridge exclusively. No matter the decision my plan is to finish Latin Alive I and continue with Latin Alive II and III as part of my self-education. I love the DVD component and how Karen Moore presents the information.

Maybe it's a good thing we don't homeschool year round. I need the summers to plan, obsess, research, and change my mind. All of those at least twice.

Transition, a new science sourcebook, and fleece pants

Our transition is still in process. Today I'm sitting in our cozy bungalow that is 90% completed. Completed as in ready to move into, not that all of our stuff is here. But we now have internet and we'll be able to breath again. Okay, I know living without internet is not the end of the world, but it's part of our educational budget and our entertainment. Especially this winter. This will be our first winter back where it gets cold. By cold I mean you have to sleep in socks for more than two nights out of the year. By cold I mean own a coat and wear it. By cold I mean being thankful for buying the fuzzy Old Navy scarf before we moved.

I had to go buy a couple of pairs of fleece pants. The other day I had on four layers on my torso, tank top, long sleeve t-shirt, sweatshirt, and jacket. Yuck! But we're here and I must adapt (or hibernate, which is entirely possible with the internet and homeschooling ;)

Speaking of hibernating today I have been curled up with the above book The Sourcebook for Teaching Science. This was a fantastic find on amazon. It's geared for grades 6-12 and written for science teachers. As the mother of a child who likes science I'm excited about this resource. I just received it today (thank you Amazon Prime!) and have thumbed through the first seven chapters. Not only will Z learn a lot from this book, I will too. There are chapters on the vocabulary of science, reading of science materials, and writing on science. This will be most helpful for developing those skills needed to write a proper science paper. The companion website is also full of links and hints.

An adult who desires to expand their understanding of science could find this a valuable tool as well. If you combined this resource with the book Science Matters, a book on Scientific literacy, you could have a great self-education course covering the major areas of science.

It's warmer out today and so I ventured outside. However, this evening I will probably pull on those fleece pants, settle down in the quiet of my new house, and enjoy my new science book. Tomorrow I'll finish organizing the kitchen.

A Review: The History of the Medieval World

As a regular poster on the Well-Trained Mind message boards I was excited when Susan Wise Bauer herself offered a preview online copy of her latest book, The History of the Medieval World, to posters in exchange for a review. Excitedly I rushed off my e-mail to Peace Hill Press with a please, thank you, yes, I'd love a copy.

It arrived and my first words were "Whoa!" or maybe "Wow!" All 741 pages of the proof copy. I discovered a few things in a short period of time.

1. I have a really hard time reading any book online. As a budding (would-be, going to be, hopeful) novelist I even print off my copy to read. As much as I love technology I will be one of the last people to order a Kindle.

2. This time period is fascinating! We are currently studying the Middle Ages and there are many things about this time period I a) never learned, b) have forgotten, or c) wasn't paying attention during that class period. My best guess would be "a".

I should preface my review by stating I received this proof copy free in exchange for a review, good or bad. I should also state that while we have homeschooled for 6 years now this is only our second year using a classical method. Our history programs prior to last year have not included world history. Unfortunately, I can't go back and change that.

I will also state I did not finish reading this book in its entirety. I focused on the areas where we were at in our school studies and then returned to the front of the book, but have not read as far as I would have liked.

If you could rate books on their density this would be a medicine ball not a basketball. The way this book is formatted is great. You can pick a chapter and read from that. I found it most helpful as we finished our study of Charlemagne. I would read about him and then turn to the logic stage materials we are using in class with a greater depth of understanding.

My only concern about this book is the short period of time it covers. According to the table of contents the chapters start at year 312 and the book ends at year 1129. In comparison Story of the World vol. 2 covers a much larger time period.

After delving into this material I can understand why. My only real memory of this time period from high school is people conquering, killing, and moving. This book covers not only the Western Civilization but the Eastern Hemisphere as well. It is a true world history book.

My concern for this comes from those that might be planning a four-year history rotation for the rhetoric level. Although this book is quite readable I can see where some students might struggle to read this book and then continue in another history text all in one year. I have not searched to see if there is an answer to this issue, but I'm sure there is a viable solution.

If you can only order one book on this period of time, I'd recommend this one. It would be a wonderful resource for self-education, rhetoric level studies, or even as reference book. I plan to order a print copy for myself.

The History of the Medieval World is available at Amazon or from the Peace Hill Press store. For a limited time if you order from PHP you can request an autographed copy.