Love Your Flawz

My 14 year-old (Emily, who is a DeviantArt devotee) found a site today called LoveYourFlawz. We discussed it and think it's better for teens (and adults!) than younger children, although the message it promotes is certainly valid for every age.

Some of the posts on the Community Blog at LoveYourFlawz are heartbreaking, and can serve to remind us all of how cruelly our kids suffer from what they perceive as their flaws -- whether it be overweight, having a big nose or simply being different. With bullying an issue in the real world and online, this site is a welcome oasis where hopefully children can learn about kindness (to themselves and others), self-esteem and acceptance.

Hug your kids, folks!








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FaceBook for Kids

Worried about your kids being online? You should be. A June 2010 study commissioned by internet security giant, McAfee, reports that "almost half of youth (46 percent) admit to having given out their personal information to someone they didn't know over the Internet."

FaceBook for Kids (FBFKids) is one site that's trying to help parents protect their children online by providing  -- and I quote -- "a non profit, safe, secure, monitored and moderated children's social networking site."

Apparently started by a mother of two, FBFKids is not related to Facebook. It's an alternative to Facebook, and has the following stated procedures to keep the site as safe as possible:

• complete editorial control - they review input content daily and will delete if deemed unsuitable;

• will investigate any messages deemed to be in violation of site and/or safety rules;

• will delete anything deemed questionable;

• will warn a child if s/he is engaging in questionable safety practices (ie., sending personal information or off-site contact details).

• their "meeting room" has a live person as site monitor, but private chat rooms do not. All chats, however, are recorded and will be reviewed if deemed necessary.

I don't have personal experience with FBFKids -- if you do, please leave a comment. What I do like about the way the site presents itself is that it repeats several times that although FBFKids monitors the site 24/7,

we do not monitor any paticular child. It is up to you as a Parent or Gardian to monitor your own child.

Words to live by.






Related post: Internet Safety for Kids Online

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Interesting Animal Facts

The Animal Facts page at a site called Vegan Peace asks you the following questions:

• Did you know that seals can sleep under water? 
• What's the difference between a donkey and a mule?
• Can you tell the difference between a frog and a toad? 
• Do you know how to tell African and Asian elephants apart? 

If you're like me, your answers for all of the above would have been an unenlightening series to the tune of: no, I don't know, no and *sigh* no.

At Vegan Peace Animal Facts, you'll find out the answers to these questions and a lot more. I like the simple, clean approach used by site owner Wanda Embar and the choice of images (some of them, like those of the turkeys, taken by her at a rescue organization called Farm Sanctuary).

NOTE TO PARENTS: Vegan Peace has pages regarding animal cruelty, children's sweatshops and other abuses that take place in the world. Although topics worthy of discussion, these are inappropriate for and would be upsetting to young children to see, so visits to this site should be supervised.








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Answer a Question - Feed the Hungry at FreeRice.com

FreeRice.com is a site run by the UN World Food Program. For every answer you get right, they donate free rice to help end world hunger.

I enjoy answering questions in the vocabulary section best, but subjects include other languages, chemistry, math and more. Be forewarned: the questions start off fairly easy and then quickly ramp up in level of difficulty. If you get an answer wrong, the question will repeat itself fairly quickly, so you'll have a chance to redeem yourself.

From the FAQ: Though 10 grains of rice may seem like a small amount, it is important to remember that while you are playing, so are thousands of other people at the same time. It is everyone together that makes the difference. Thanks to you, FreeRice has generated enough rice to feed millions of people since it started in October 2007 (with over 74 billion grains donated to date).

A little number-crunching: In countries where rice is a staple part of the diet, about 400 grams of rice per person, per day is consumed. There are about 48 grains of rice in a gram. Each question you answer correctly is worth 10 grains of rice. Can anyone figure out how many questions you need to answer in order to provide one person with enough rice for one day?






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Word a Day Wonder - a Great Learning Tool

By using words in very descriptive sentences, Word a Day Wonder is a truly fun and unique way to

improve your vocabulary. Each day brings an amazing fact or anecdote with an embedded vocabulary word.

This brand new site is lean, with no distractions -- one vivid image goes to the word at hand. After the interesting fact or anecdote is given (through which you learn not only the meaning of the embedded word, but also often something else of interest), a clear definition is set out, a few synonyms given and a link to further reading on the topic.

This is my kind of schooling: highly interesting, quick and memorable. Long may it prosper!






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Homeschooling - Learning Fun Through Recipes

There are so many wonderful packaged Unit Studies available to homeschoolers that you don't know where to start. Instead of buying something pre-packaged, how about starting with an idea and let your children's interests decide where to go with it.

Have you thought about starting a unit study in the kitchen... with a recipe?

You can certainly pick your own recipe to start your unit study, but here is an example of how it can work. The recipe I have in mind is for Beef Stroganoff. Your kids can decide which way they want to go with this, but here are some suggestions:

1. Investigate the different stories about the origins of Beef Stroganoff and decide, based on the evidence, which version may be the correct one.

2. Research the year the dish was invented and explore that time period. What important events were happening around the world then? Who was the US President and what was the US like at that time? What were the people in Russia wearing in the 19th century? What other foods were popular in Russia back then? What was the main mode of transportation during that time period? Get in as deep as you want on any of these.

3. What is a count? Draw and color a nobility tree showing the rankings of nobility from most important to lowest ranking. Is it still that way in Russia today?

4. Explore Russia geographically. Find it on the world map. Make your own map of Russia and include topographical items. Add bodies of water, mountains, cities, industry, and whatever else you want. Make charts of demographics. Create math story problems involving air or boat travel from Russia to the US, or from one city in Russia to another. Compare the size and circumference of Russia as compared to Europe and the US.

5. Learn about Count Stroganov and his family history. Create a play about his life.

6. Make a scrapbook by downloading pictures off the internet and then adding captions explaining the pictures.

7. Compare 5 different Beef Stroganoff recipes and notice which ingredients are the same and which are different. Make a bar chart of the ingredients from all the recipes.

8. Create a Russian newspaper with news items that might have happened in the 19th century. What kind of ads might they have had then?

9. Make beef stroganoff! You can have a Russian night and make a whole meal of Russian food. Visit some online Russian museums to understand what their dishes and utensils might have looked like and how they would dress for a meal.

10. Write a fictional story about a girl or boy in Russia.

These are ideas on how to go from just one recipe to a unit study. Other recipes work just as well. Take a look at your recipe for pizza and take a trip to Italy, or explore the Tollhouse chocolate chip cook recipe; there's a good story there. How can you go wrong with pizza or cookies?

---

The author of this article, Peggy Baron, is the editor of the popular Cookin' Kids Newsletter. Interesting themes, fun facts, silly clip art, easy recipes, kid jokes, cooking terms, and safety tips make this newsletter a hit with kids! Learn more about it at Cookin' Kids.com

---

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Paper Snowflakes

Well, it's still cold and snowy outside where I am, so what better activity is there than brewing up a pot of hot chocolate and cutting out a heap of paper snowflakes?

At SnowCrystals.com, you get free instructions (complete with pictures) on how to fold and cut out paper snowflakes. They try to keep you honest here: they want you to hold out for real six-sided crystals -- since there are (apparently) no eight-sided or four-sided snowflakes in nature.

When you want to brave the cold and head outside and IF the snowfall looks interesting (with many crystal types of snowflakes and not just sand-like grains), grab a copy of the Snowflake Reference Guide on your way out. Have snowflake contests to see who can find the most different crystal types, and who can find the largest stellar crystals, etc.

I'm not leaving the comfort of my home (thank you), so I think I'll just make some very cool looking Ice Spikes after I finish cutting out a few more six-sided snowflakes.






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Mr. McKeague's Math TV

Charles P. "Pat" McKeague is owner of MathTV.com. He's a mathematician (with a B.A. and M.S. in the field), college instructor, published author of math textbooks (covering everything from basic mathematics to trigonometry) and a speaker at mathematics conferences in California and nationwide.

He's also an excellent teacher who provides clear instructions on how to solve math problems as well as bits of life philosophy, like: Do something for the person you will be 5 years from now.

His website, MathTV.com, doesn't even require you to register -- you can start viewing the instructional videos (given by Mr. McKeague and student instructors) right away, or print out textbooks and practice tests.

Take a moment to explore the site in order to reap full benefits. If you need help with long division, for example, you click on Basic Mathematics, then Whole Numbers, then Dividing. Once you get there, you can choose which long division problem you'd like to see solved: if you want to start with a one-digit divisor, try 595/7; for a two-digit divisor, there's 9,380/35. You may prefer one instructor's style to another: I found Katrina a much more thorough teacher than Aaron, although Aaron is fine for a quick review.

If you wish to factor rational expressions to their simplest forms, look under the Algebra topic heading. Radians and degrees are found under Trigonometry, with perimeters, parallelograms and congruent triangles all found under Geometry.

Tip: full screen view makes the videos easier to see and you just press your ESC key to return to Normal Screen.






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Internet Safety for Kids Online

Nothing beats parental involvement and supervision, but there's a list of 10 rules for online safety at SafeKids.com that kids and parents should be aware of and talk about.

Remember -- children are programmed to give the "right answer" when asked a question, so it's crucially important that the privacy factor (which seems so obvious to adults) not only be introduced but also reviewed from time to time. Reasons backing up the need for privacy and safety don't have to explicit enough to frighten -- it's enough for kids to understand that there are bullies online (just like at school).

With cyber-bullying becoming a truly serious issue, it's not just strangers parents need to be concerned about. If your child has any kind of social media account (like Facebook or MySpace, for instance), make sure s/he knows how to delete suggested friends and decline invitations, etc., in order to maintain a semblance of control on the messages that flood in. Look through the spam box in your child's email account once in a while (and empty it). If it's full of spam that you don't want your child to see, simply open up a new kid-safe email account.






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Physics You Can See

With Magic Pen at Bubblebox.com, the shapes you draw are affected by gravity, friction and inertia. In order to complete the game (the goal of which is to collect flags by moving a given red ball or square over them), you need to draw OTHER objects in such a way that they push the shape or let it drop and roll in the right direction.

It's not just a matter of dropping a big ball that you've drawn onto the smaller given ball and letting it roll towards the flag -- sometimes you need to create a pin or hinge attaching shapes like wedges to help get you to the flag.

I'm a parent, so I'm no good at this game at all. I'm still on the first level, trying to figure out how to get my ball from one "building" to another. Any suggestions, hints or cheats greatly appreciated!





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Panda Cam

Everybody loves pandas and what's better than to see how your favorite panda's doing at the San Diego Zoo on their Panda Cam?

You can read all about pandas from the Fun Facts page too:

• Giant pandas are technically carnivores, but they have adapted to live mostly on bamboo.
  

• Like other types of bears, giant pandas are curious and playful, especially when they’re young. In zoos, they like to play with enrichment items like piles of ice or sawdust, puzzles made of bamboo with food inside, and different scents like spices. 
  

• Giant pandas have unusually thick and heavy bones for their size, but they are also very flexible and like to do somersaults.

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Sketch and Smudge - online drawing lessons

Sketch Studio is an easy-to-use drawing program for children with built-in drawing lessons.

The lessons feature two animated characters: Sketch and Smudge. They work together, sketching and smudging, to draw pictures in steps. At the end of each step (or demonstration) the two characters wait, allowing the user to copy what was drawn, before proceeding to the next step

The lessons range from beginner to advanced. The simplest lesson consists of coloring in the outline of a tree frog. This lesson, although simple, demonstrates how to use the powerful smudging technique that is necessary in the more advanced drawings.

Every drawing created with Sketch Studio is recorded and can be replayed, by Sketch and Smudge, within Sketch Studio. When a child has completed a drawing he/she can press the Play button and Sketch and Smudge will recreate the drawing stroke for stroke. The child in me especially liked watching that!





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Kids Know It - a network of free educational websites

Did you know that the lone surviving written record of Mayan history is three codices written in hieroglyphs on bark paper or that the Egyptian week had ten days??

Well, neither did I until I hit KidsKnowIt.com, a network of free educational websites. This is a great homeschool resource as well as one for elementary students researching a topic or just looking for a quick subject review before a test.

The format is simple: select the general subject (say, Geography). It's like opening an online geography textbook, written specifically for children, with each "chapter" (earth, atmosphere, oceans, etc.) available by clicking a link.

It's pretty comprehensive -- continuing with our Geography example, the topics covered are as follows:

Chapter One - Hello Earth
Chapter Two - Describing Our Planet
Chapter Three - Our Atmosphere
Chapter Four - Atmospheric Temperatures
Chapter Five - Atmospheric Pressures
Chapter Six - Atmospheric Moisture
Chapter Seven - Atmospheric Disturbances
Chapter Eight - The Hydrosphere
Chapter Nine - The Biosphere

Other subjects include: Geology, Spelling, Dinosaurs, Biology, Math, and History. There are learning aids including educational songs, memory building activities and free movies including science podcasts with Nana KnowItAll.

You'll have to ignore the advertising on the site (it's free after all), and note that the songs are user-submitted (although apparently vetted before being posted for use).

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Children in Victorian Britain

BBC's Primary History site has a section about children in Victorian Britain, including facts about chimney sweeps, children in factories and at schools. In addition to a short texts, there are captioned photos, a Time Capsule game and videos.

I'm not particularly impressed by the Teacher's Resources section (documents in PDF format), but they might be used as idea springboards from which to create something a bit more interesting than, say, coloring a picture.

The site is suitable for primary school children and also covers Ancient Greeks, Anglo-Saxons, Romans, Vikings and Children of World War II.

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Learn to Sew Online

Now, you'll need an honest-to-goodness sewing machine, thread, material and pattern -- no virtual equipment available, I'm afraid -- but there are some sites that can teach you how to put those things together and come out with something recognizable that you've created by yourself!

For a free sewing book called Sewing Lessons for Beginners, you'll be visiting CraftAndFabricLinks.com. The book index looks like this:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One: Introduction To Sewing
Chapter Two: Choosing Your Pattern and Fabric
Chapter Three: Pattern Instructions
Chapter Four: Getting Ready To Sew: Lay-out And Cutting
Chapter Five: Setting Up Your Sewing Machine
Chapter Six: Now We're Sewing: Terms & Techniques
Chapter Seven: Pockets
Chapter Eight: Zippers & Buttonholes
Chapter Nine: Sleeve Installation
Chapter Ten: Darts & Pleats
Chart: Needle / Thread

and there's a Quick Index too which you can use when you simply want to click on a link to go directly to a certain task you need help with. This is not a kid's book: parents will need to read through with the child who is interested in learning how to sew.

To dive right into sewing, About.com has free Sewing Lessons available online--but to follow these particular lessons, you need to be willing to start with making an envelope-back pillow (a pillow case for throw pillows). I'd suggest saving Lesson 2 (about cording a pillow) for a bit later, and move directly onto Lesson 3, where you learn about seams (a sewing necessity!) and then maybe move on to easy-to-sew quilts.

For a quick start into sewing, perhaps the most straight-forward (rewarding) introduction is to simply sew appliques onto a t-shirt, sweatshirt or cotton bag.

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Involved in Living History on People Speak at History.com

The website blurb says it best:

Using dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries and speeches of everyday Americans, THE PEOPLE SPEAK gives voice to those who spoke up for social change throughout U.S. history. THE PEOPLE SPEAK illustrates the relevance of these passionate historical moments to our society today and reminds us never to take liberty for granted.

Watch the videos on the site:

• Mutiny in George Washington's Army performed by Mike O'Malley
• The Declaration of Independence performed by Matt Damon
• Susan B. Anthony's Suffrage Trial performed by Christina Kirk and Josh Brolin
• J.W. Loguen's Letter to Sarah Logue performed by Benjamin Bratt

Getting the kids emotionally invested and involved in a story is one of the best ways to teach them anything -- and they're more likely to retain that information as opposed to data that's been drilled by rote, simply for the purpose of exam regurgitation.

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The Countries of Europe

Most online maps tend to deal with the U.S. and State capitals, so I was happy to find a Europe Map Match Game over at KidsGeo.com.

You've got a map of Europe on your left and to the right side of the screen you'll find a country shape (and the name of that country) which you need to drop into the map. This is a great review for those places you should know (Albania or Macedonia, for instance) but forget, or the ones you get always get mixed up (Sweden and Finland anyone?).

There are twenty-one countries in total and if you (or your child) gets tired, a click on the CLUE button will light up the area on the map where you are to drag and drop the country in question.

If you're too sorely tempted by the CLUE button, and want to try without -- the Europe Map Puzzle at YourChildLearns.com might be just the drag-and-drop game for you! (It also doesn't have a timer, so if it takes you several hundred seconds to find Slovakia's home, you don't have to be embarrassed). You can also print out your map of Europe (maybe color in each country and label it) at YourChildLearns.com, ranging in size from one page to nearly 7' across!

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A Safe Place for Kids on the Internet - SparkTop.org

SparkTop.org is a safe site for kids, and one that specifically helps those children with learning difficulties, including learning disabilities and AD/HD, understand that they are smart, have unique talents, and can succeed in school and life.

It's operated by the Professor Garfield Foundation (PGF), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the FREE delivery of fun, engaging educational content. Jim Davis, Garfield creator, overcame asthma and stuttering as a child and feels that ALL of us have some challenge to overcome as we learn.

SparkTop,org is a place for kids to discover their unique ways of learning, develop their strengths and self-esteem, and discover strategies to succeed in and out of school. The online community provides a safe place for kids to interact, share their worries, concerns and successes, and get feedback from kids just like them.

One of the best slogans I read at SparkTop.org is actually in their FAQs where it says -- REMEMBER: Every kid learns differently, because every kid's brain is different. That's a good thing!

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Interactive Art at the National Gallery of Art

I played around with PHOTO OP (Shockwave, 7 MB) over at the Kids Zone at the National Gallery of Art.

The site says it's a

two-part interactive activity that introduces you to digital photography and digital photo editing. Use the virtual camera to create snapshots and explore lighting, focus, shutter speed, and compositional effects. After you've taken some photos, switch to the Photo Op editor and transform your pictures into something completely different.

This Art Zone interactive is suitable for all ages. Young children will find it easy to take simple snapshots and transform or recolor their virtual photos.

More advanced users can create complex artistic compositions by layering, applying filters, and experimenting with various special effects, lighting, and blends.

I'm just at the "young children" stage (as usual), but I had fun and can see how kids can learn everything from perspective (ie., blurring the foreground to radically change the viewer's focus) to making a collage of the image and so on.

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At Home Astronomy

There are 10 activities at At Home Astronomy that you can do at home (naturally!), from learning about the order of the planets in our solar system to building a lunar settlement and finding out where the sun is and even calculating how big it is.

The site is made possible by the Center for Science Education at Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California at Berkeley, and exists to provide families with instructions for hands-on science experiments.

Each project has links for further research and more details. In the case of the astrolabe for instance (that's a device used for measuring altitude, including the height of objects in the sky), you not only learn how to build and use it, but you also get links to Encyclopedia Britannica for the history behind the device and to a page called astrolabes.org which provides an overview of astrolabe principles.

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Geometry Homework -- Reflection and Symmetry

A reflection isn't just what looks back at you in the mirror in the morning. Reflections are also mathematical problems to be drawn, groaned over, erased and drawn again.

Back to MathIsFun.com for geometry help, where they give two underlying principles of reflections:

1. Every point is the same distance from the central line;

2. The reflection is the same size as the original image.

There's also a definition to work with: a reflection is the image flipped over the mirror (or center) line.

If all that is clear as mud, go on and play around with the shapes on their interactive graph, then scroll down for explanations and tricks.

There's also a wonderful tutorial on Line Symmetry at LinksLearning.org that's sure to help clear up concepts behind lines of symmetry (a snowflake has 6!). After the explanations are given in each part, there's an activity to see if you understand what you've watched before you progress.

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Do You Know Your Triangles?

Which triangle has NO equal sides or angles: the isosceles triangle; the equilateral triangle or the scalene triangle? If you don't know, don't feel bad. No one does--except the people at MathIsFun.com of course.

At MathIsFun, you'll learn (or refresh your failing memory!) that the triangle with 3 equal sides and angles is the equilateral triangle, the one with two equal sides and angles is the hard-to-spell isosceles and the triangle with NO equal sides or angles is called a scalene.

There's more too -- it seems that triangle names can actually indicate what type of angle is inside (who knew?) and that some triangles have two names! Curiouser and curiouser...

OK, that's it for today's Sunday night homework.

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Mom, what's a perimeter?

Need a little refresher? Think of a fence or even a border when you need to explain what a perimeter is. Talking about it in those terms might be easier to understand than saying that a perimeter is the boundary line or the area immediately inside the boundary or defining it as a circumference.

Then go to Mrs. Glosser's Math Goodies to get diagrammed examples of how to find perimeters for all sorts of different shapes, complete with commonly used formulas. Scroll down the page, and you'll find exercises to try.

Here's one: can you find the perimeter of a triangle with sides measuring 10 inches, 14 inches and 15 inches? Type your answer in the Answer Box on Mrs. Glosser's Math Goodies page and press ENTER.

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Monster Mind Reader - Fun With 2 Digits

I revisited a favorite site of mine, CoolMath.com, and got a little weirded out by the cute little Mind Reader. Why? Cuz he's right every time!

I've seen it before (think of a 2 digit number; subtract the sum of the two digits from the original number, and your answer appears on the screen), but I've never really understood how it's done. I guess magic is the only explanation available to me.

Now I'm off to study the geometry of crop circles. And no, I don't think magic is at work here. Little green men seems perfectly reasonable.

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Homework Helper - The MIssissippi River

My Grade 6 daughter is writing a report on the Mississippi River, and I'm surprised at how difficult it is to come up age-appropriate fact sheets. I've been doing some digging and am putting links to those that I think kids can most easily use below:

From Kent ICT (which will be moving to www.kenttrustweb.org.uk?kentict in December 2009), there's a comprehensive fact page which talks about transport and agriculture;

From Byrant University, there's a page that contains a brief section on animal life in the Mississippi;

From The Center for Global Environmental Education, there's a page that talks about the use of the river:

Millions of people each year use the Mississippi River for recreation, but the Mississippi is, and always has been a working river. An average of 175 million tons of freight are shipped each year on the Upper Mississippi.

From Hucks.com, there's Mississippi River Facts, which can be very helpful when explanations are needed for specifics of river life (for example: locks act like elevators to raise or lower your boat from the water level on one side of the dam to the level on the other side; and each individual barge holds 1500 tons, the equivalent of 15 railroad cars or 58 semi trailers.





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