Animal School

Animal School - it's what happens to the wonderful, unique children in our lives all too often. I hope that as a reader of my blog you are already working to help your child thrive. A reminder is good for all of us though :-)

Brave Writer Writing Classes

Today Julie at Brave Writer announced release of her first online FREE workshop audio session. If you are searching for either an online writing class for your homeschooler or a full language arts curriculum I highly recommend that you take a look at the offerings from Brave Writer. The audio session should be a good way to introduce yourself to what is on offer. Every single person I've heard of who has worked with one of the Brave Writer programs has loved them.

What you can expect from Brave Writer
Brave Writer instructors are top notch. When you sign up for an online writing class with them you can expect help in finding your own natural writing voice. These are not classes where you are taught to write to a formula. Instead they help you find the writer within you. How they do that I don't really know, but I can tell you that the results are good, even for reluctant writers.

The range of writing products
I don't have personal experience of the full range of products from Bravewriter.com, but they have offering which go right up to college prep. Here's a quick guide to what they have:

• Online Classes - Kidswrite Basic is the foundation class which is suitable for ages 9-18 years and actually involves training you, the homeschool mom, on how to develop writing abilities in your children. If you'd rather your child work directly with the instructors take a look at Just So Stories for 9-12 year olds or Kidswrite Intermediate for 12-17 year olds. Kids and teens who've not taken an online class before will likely need some support on the home side of scheduling to get their assignments done. If they are familiar with forums they'll likely be able to handle the other aspects independently.
• Home Study Courses - while I highly recommend the online classes, they are pricey and need the commitment of a fairly intense 4-6 week period of work. This fall I will be trying out one of the home study courses from Bravewriter.com. Home study courses come in the form of a printed manual and access to an online support forum. They are designed to allow the homeschooling parent to learn and apply the skills to nurture writing in their kids. You can read all about the main home study course The Writer's Jungle at BraveWriter.com.
• Full Language Arts Program - if you need a full language arts program which includes spelling, dictation, copywork, grammar and punctuation take a look at Bravewriter.com Language Arts Programs. I have no experience of these particular products, but I can only imagine that they are top notch like the other offerings from BraveWriter.com.

Do you have a stack of discarded language arts and writing curricula? Have you found one you'd love to share about? Leave me a comment, pretty please :-)

* Growing Green

Find this article in it's new home at Loving Nature's Garden.

Purpose in Learning

"I believe that learning should have discernible purpose for the child (or adult) and not just be about fulfilling the needs of parents or society. Who wants to do something just because someone else says we ought to?"

Alison Kerr

Technorati, Top Blogs, Do You Care?

My regular readers will notice that every now and again I like to write about bloggers and blogging. The fact that there is something out there called Technorati hasn't entirely escaped my notice. However, up until now I've managed to avoid knowing anything about it except that it's a place to find a list of the top ranked bloggers. Today I got curious though and I began to wonder what we can learn about human nature from the top ranked blogs at Technorati.

Somehow it seemed that the experience of exploring would not be complete without registering my blog over there. I'm left in two minds though about whether I really want a Technorati button on my blog. I mean, being ranked 497,353 isn't exactly a boost for the ego. Maybe I'd rather just forget I ever went there! OK, I said I was going to talk about human nature and top ranked blogs at Technorati. Either I'm lost for words, or there's just not that much to say about it.

If you've never ventured over to Technorati I could just save you the trip with my quick guide here to learning about those top blogs.

Technology and Gadgets

as covered by Boing Boing, Techcrunch, LifeHacker, Gizmodo, Mashable and Engadget.

I'll admit it, I'm always behind the curve on this. I don't pay attention until things are well tried and have trickled through the layers of the people who surround me to get to me.

Quite honestly, my ego does not require me to have the latest stuff and my pocketbook doesn't support it. Neither am I interested in going into debt to get new stuff. I don't much care for gadgets either - too many sequences to learn to understand how to use these. I prefer that my technology be simple and that I can learn how to use it from a family member rather than an instruction book.

Yes, and though Life Hacker is about getting things done it's also about doing things with technology. Hey, I leave as much as possible of the doing things to others, unless it's laundry or cooking, and which gadgets are going to do those jobs for me?

Sorry guys, if you wanted one more reader, it won't be me.

Not Sure What to Call It?

as covered by PITT and Post Secret

I'm not really sure what to call these. PITT I'd never come across until today. I clicked on the top video and saw exploding buildings. I'm not sure if that was The Twin Towers or what. I just got the feeling this blog is not the place for me to spend my time. Anyway, I prefer to read at blogs rather than watch videos. What's it about? Actually, never mind, I don't really care, but if you have some words of wisdom on the psychology of PITT do please share.

I've been to Post Secret a couple of times, yet I'm not sure I could really say what it's about. Obviously people's secrets, but what makes that so fascinating? My own life is enough of an adventure. I don't need to be party to the secrets of strangers.

Sorry guys, I know you won't care, but I'm not voting for you, whatever you're about and whoever visits you.

Blogging and Such

as covered by Dosh Dosh and Problogger

Notice here that I listed Dosh Dosh first. That's because I was reading Dosh Dosh before other bloggers started to recommend to me that I read Problogger. It goes without saying that these guys get my vote. Blogging is something that I do and something I'd like to do better. At the same time, I think any dreams of making lots of dosh at this would be pie in the sky. Hey, I like pie and I love sky gazing, but really I just want to do a good job. Of course, if you happen to want an Usborne book or two, or something from Amazon.com and choose to order through me, that would just make my day. I need a little cash to feed my blogging habit! End of ad, just keep visiting, "pretty please", I like having readers :-)

What do you think? Do any of the top 10 Technorati ranked bloggers get your vote? Had you heard of Technorati? Do you even care?

Learning Stuff Links

I've sought out the best links for learning stuff. There is some great stuff out there, but also a lot you just would waste your time on. Here are my favorite links for learning stuff:

• At How Stuff Works you can learn about everything from bread to pressure cookers, the ocean and gardening. What a wonderful learning resource for all kinds of stuff!
• The stuff at Kids.gov will get you learning about fun things like beaches, the galaxy (NASA), energy and the environment, farming and food and nutrition. There's tons of learning to explore and hopefully we can trust the government as a reliable source!
• The Kids Learning Stuff blog focuses on book reviews with some learning related articles about things such as IQ testing and giftedness. Sarah at the Kinda Learning Stuff blog writes about technology and it's impact on everyday life.
  
• Topscience.org has a bunch of free science activity sheets. I've used their Lentil Science and Electricity programs in homeschooling. They promote a fun and affordable way to do hands-on exploration and learn science and math using household stuff.
• Two more bloggers who write about learning stuff: Will at Work posts research based commentary on learning and Meredith Farkas is a librarian, writer and teacher who calls herself a tech geek and posts about the library profession and the tools used to serve patrons.
  

I thought I was in for writing a really long article here on all the wonderful things that come up when you search Google for learning stuff but this is all I found out of 3 pages of search results! Great, I can go off and get my breakfast and start homeschooling. It's like work got our early for today :-)

In association with Amazon.com, home of the Kindle. Sign up for Kindle alerts at the WiiAlerts site. This site has been used by people I know and I recommend it because it works!

True Learning

"True learning only starts when you reach outside your mind."

Alison Kerr

Learning From the Top Mommy Bloggers

After reading Scribbit's article about mom bloggers this morning I got curious and just had to learn more. I mean, who exactly are the top mommy bloggers and what can we learn from what they do? The trail took me to an article in the Wall Street Journal, an article about a blogger known as Dooce. I'd never heard of Heather Armstrong or her blog at Dooce.com. To me that's one of the idiosyncracies of the blogging medium, it's actually pretty hard to figure out who is getting the attention/readership unless you follow the blogging trail. Back when I first started blogging I wanted to figure out who the top bloggers are because I thought I could learn something from them. I tried Googling for things like top blog, but the results which came up really weren't all that helpful.

Well, according to what The Wall Street Journal had to say back in April of 2008, here are the top ten motherhood blogs:

• Dooce.com
• 5minutesformom.com
• designmom.com
• parenthacks.com
• scribbit.blogspot.com
• fussy.org
• notesfromthetrenches.com
• stirrup-queens.blogspot.com
• izzymom.com
• suburbanbliss.net

Now for the thoughtful analysis part. At Wiep.net you can learn about linkbaiting. Basically one tried and true way to go up in the blogging world is to get others to link to you. Every link is like a spoke on a bicycle wheel. The person who's blog is at the center will be the one getting noticed. It seems to me that to become that center hub you need both good writing and wide appeal. Otherwise, you can get a lot of links by offering a community or service to other bloggers (blog challenges, carnivals, awards and resource sites spring to mind). Not only that, you need to have a "hook". The article at Wiep.net goes into hooks in great detail. So let's look at the hooks these top mommy bloggers are using.

News
The main news mommy bloggers use is mommy news. You're more likely to find them reporting on is what is happening within their family and with the families of other bloggers than to get a report of the latest sensational world news or scientific discovery. Now I'll admit that I've not done an exhaustive reading of the ten top mommy blogs, and Scribbit is the only one I'm currently following. Occasionally the outside world of news creeps into mom blogs, but it sure doesn't seem to be the main hook. How refreshing, news of real people taking care of the everyday issues that we, as moms, are most likely to face :-)

Education, Information and Resources
Moms are good at sharing their tips and top mommy bloggers do quite a lot of this. You'll see everything from crafts and recipes to tips and motivation. 5 Minutes for Mom is a great place to find all kinds of information, Parent Hacks is all about parenting tips and both Design Mom and Scribbit post their share of inspiring craft projects.

Entertainment and Controversy
Who'd want to visit a blog that is not even vaguely entertaining? Top mommy bloggers are tops at entertainment. The news they give about their daily life really does catch your attention. It's no accident that the top mom bloggers are practiced writers with a good sense of humor. Women used to rely on gossip over the garden fence to keep them smiling, but now they can visit Dooce, Fussy, Notes From the Trenches, and Suburban Bliss. Scribbit is pretty entertaining at times too. Call it entertainment, or call it controversy, but ranting and being irreverent surely stir up some interest and Dooce has got to be a master.

I'm pretty sure that being a top mommy blogger is not all a garden of roses and it's surely not on the cards for every blogging mom. Make no mistake, it's hard work, day in and day out, and not for the faint of heart. However, if you enjoy writing and want to stick with it and go up in the ranks, think about your goals, figure out your hook, and make sure you convey it instantly to new visitors.

What's your hook?

Blogging items in association with Amazon.com.

Three Free Ways to Promote Your Blog

Since entering the world of blogging I have managed to learn a few things about the blogging business. I'm someone who likes to share and since you're a reader of my blog, I'm going to share with you three free ways to promote your blog.

1. Blogcatalog.com - list your blog here so that people searching for blogs on your topic will have a chance of finding you.
2. The Blogged.com site will also list your blog for free. An editor from the site evaluates your listing and gives it a rating. For this reason I'd make sure you have your blog up and running and you've worked out some of the kinks before you submit so that you can achieve as high a rating as possible.
3. Right here on my blog. If your blog is related to families or learning I'd like to hear about it. I have a pretty broad interpretation of what that includes! I love to check out what is happening with my regular readers and to link whenever I see something related to what I'm writing about. Leave me a comment so that I can find your blog. For established bloggers, I will happily check out your blog and if I think your blog might be of interest to my readers I'll offer to write an article here about what you do. For new bloggers, I know it can be a steep learning curve. If I can help you by letting you know my impression of your blog and by offering suggestions I'd be happy to do that. I try to be both kind and helpful.

Together we can meet our blogging goals.

Learning is an Adventure

"Education is not so much a process as an adventure; learning something children (and adults) ought to do for the joy of it."

Alison Kerr

Thinking Out Loud on Blogging

My four month anniversary of joining the blogosphere is fast approaching and I've been giving a fair bit of thought to where I've been and where I'm heading. Let's say that the directions this has taken me in could not in any way have been foreseen when I first started. Of course there has been even more to learn than I imagined and I have a pretty big imagination as it is!

Perhaps my blogging adventures really began with the start of my Usborne book business, which I've had since October of 2006. My visions of moms, dads and grandmas surfing the web, searching for fun books for their kids, finding my simple little css/html GreatFunBooks.com website, and purchasing great books for their kids, thus bringing me a nice little bit of extra income, have long since melted away like a poor old winter snowman. Whether the vagaries of Google, or the entrenched habits of shoppers are to blame is largely immaterial. Getting noticed on the web is one of those will-o-the-wisp type things, reach out to grab it and your hand will pass right through. Then one day I just happened to come across blogging.

I've no idea where I was all these years while others were busy exploring the new media of blogging. Let's just say that I tend to be at the end of trends rather than the beginning. "Maybe this blogging thing could get GreatFunBooks.com ranked higher," I thought to myself. I do like writing after all. "All I need to do is start writing and put a menu link to my website," I foolishly thought, "just that one link would be enough to make a difference!" I mean, I only had about three websites linking to me already so an addition of one would be significant. I thought I might do a few book give aways, at least as soon as I had a few readers coming to visit. Surprise, surprise, turns out it's really not that simple!

Well, fast forward four months and I've learned about things such as Google pagerank, niches, hooks/tag lines, a lot more about google ranking, carnivals, give aways, slow blogging, how to discover Google keyword search frequency, RSS feeds, StumbleUpon, Blogged, Google Analytics, importing Blogger to Wordpress, who some of the popular bloggers are... and most likely quite a few things I'm forgetting right now. I've also discovered some wonderful writers who's world I get to share in every day. I started out with one blog which quickly grew to four. Now I've thrown away my initial plan to keep my blog seperate from my business while expecting people to discover my menu link. Books are part of my life and I just can't help writing about them and sharing. I got in a few fankles (interesting knots) with my blog title and description too.

It was never my intent to have an audience solely of homeschoolers. Somehow I feel that's been surprisingly hard to convey. Early on I asked readers what they wanted - the biggest request was for homeschool stuff. Given that I'd been reading and commenting on the blogs of other homeschoolers perhaps that's not exactly surprising. In fact it turns out that I have many regular readers who are not homeschoolers. I guess people really did figure it out! Anyway, this blogging lark seems to have turned into "I blog therefore I am." It's now more fun than the e-mail lists I wrote on for many, many years. It's certainly more productive that posting on the Usborne consultants' forum. I'm even beginning to wonder if Americans are moving from the therapist's couch to the blogosphere. Hey, it's therapeutic and free, but just be careful what you share; it's more public than shouting from the rooftops.

I look forward every day to what I will learn in this wonderful world of blogging. Do you believe in learning? Let's travel together, at least for a while :-)

P.S. I will continue to provide links which I find to be of interest for homeschooling, but I refuse to be boxed into homeschooling. Isn't homeschooling about getting out of the box in the first place? Now if I just knew how to convey this to Google I'd be in business!

Lessons I Learned From My Goldfish

Fish School at Amazon.com
Children can learn a lot from pets; in fact we all can if we stop and think about it. Most of the lessons seem simple, but perhaps they are actually profound.

The very first pet I ever part-owned was a goldfish, won at a carnival, and proudly carried home in a plastic bag. I was very, very excited about having a pet. After we got home Goldie was temporarily housed in a bucket until we could get to a pet store to secure an appropriate glass globe bowl for him. Once safely installed in his bowl, Goldie was overfed and under-cared-for to a dramatic extent. It's a testament to the toughness of goldfish that he lived for what seems to me like a long time (most likely several months), rather than a mere matter of hours. So what exactly can I thank Goldie, and the string of pet goldfish who followed, for?

1. There's stuff around us that we can't see. Somehow Goldie's bowl if left uncleaned would start to grow green algae. It was a great mystery to me how algae could appear apparently from nowhere. My parents' explanation that algae could come out of thin air seemed like magic, yet it taught me that there are great mysteries all around us and we can't always believe our eyes.
   
2. It takes energy to maintain a steady state. Goldie's bowl did not stay clean without effort on the part of my parents. I'm ashamed to say that when I was a child the way we cleaned out a goldfish bowl was as follows: on a weekly basis goldfish and water were tipped into our dishwashing bowl; the bowl was cleaned out with a cloth or sponge; fresh tapwater was put into Goldie's bowl; Goldie was caught in a jar or mug and emptied back into his nice, clean bowl. You'd have thought he'd be happy at that point.
   
3. Living things need clean water that is not polluted with chemicals. Abrupt change leads to shock. Since we'd paid no attention to getting rid of the chlorine in tap water or to getting the water up to room temperature Goldie was rather shocked on return to his bowl.
4. Alcohol makes you go kind of crazy. If Goldie's shock on return to his bowl looked like it was too much for him, the usual remedy was to add a few drops of brandy to his water. I kid you not! At that point he would zoom around his bowl at hyperspeed and either recover, or deteriorate quickly and be destined for flushing down the toilet.
5. We feel better if we take deliberate action, no matter if it is inappropriate and futile, rather than watching something go wrong while we fail to act. I'm sure that the brandy did not help Goldie one bit, but I hated to stand and watch him wobble around the bowl in his "nice, fresh, water" and felt that I should be doing something to help. Pleading with my parents caused them to bring out the brandy. At that point I felt I'd done my best to help him (or subsequent goldfish) whatever the outcome.

Apparently I could even have learned about operant conditioning by training Goldie. As it is, today while thinking about the Earth and our finite resources I was reminded of Goldie and his life in the goldfish bowl. I'm satisfied that goldfish toys would have been an unimportant distraction from the important things in life.

Thank you Goldie for some very important lessons and I'm sorry that I did not take better care of you :-(

Bits and Bobs

Election resources for teaching at nationalmockelection.org. Their website contains a variety of teaching resources and you can register to set up your own mock election. I'm probably being "thick" here, but I'm not quite sure how we register as homeschoolers. It does look as though we have the option to register a homeschool group, or just as a parent. If you've figured it out already do let me know.

Apparently children learn from praise while adults learn from mistakes. You can check this out at the Eide Neurolearning blog. Kind of explains a lot!

I keep reading about FreeRice.com and I thought I should check it out. What a great way to contribute while testing and growing your general knowledge. They currently have quizzes on Art History, Geography, Chemistry, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Math on there - see the list of subjects. Since the questions come from Harvard I'm guessing it's worth working on a few. Watch out though, I can see how this could get addictive, at least for me (my two favorite things to do - learn and help others)!

How engineers fold t-shirts at YouTube. I love it!

Fantastic Contraption - a physics game. The music is a bit irritating though so you might click the speaker symbol to put it off.

Seven days left to register for my CutePiXelArt giveaway. Currently there are only 4 entrants and the prize is a really cute piece of customized graphic art. Check it out and leave a comment to enter.