The Homeschool Handbook Jan Feb 2017

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ISSN 2379-2841 January / February 2017

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Publisher’s Letter

Brilliant Publishing LLC Post Office Box 31687, Myrtle Beach, SC 29588 Telephone: 717.571.9233

PUBLISHER / ADVERTISING Publisher

Maureen Williams maureen@thehomeschoolhandbook.com 717.608.5869

AccoUNT ExEcUTIVE Alex Chambers alex@thehomeschoolhandbook.com

EDIToRIAL Editor In Chief

MaryAnne Morrill maryanne@thehomeschoolhandbook.com

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Senior Editor

f the word STEM makes you panic due to math and science, think again. In this issue we bring you some ideas you can try in your home that may just ease the stress of all those numbers! With the Internet and some guidance even I can find some pretty amazing blogs and YouTube videos that certainly ease that stress and actually make math and science fun. Have you found any brilliant sites you would like to share with our readers? Please be sure to email me and let me know. We need to stick together. As we begin a new year with all the excitement that brings and all our resolutions to become more organized, lose weight, read more, etc., be sure to take time for you. While our resolutions fade into the every day remember your children are excelling due to your commitment to make it so. For those of you teaching girls, be sure to read the ‘Girls Aren’t Smart’ commentary, it emphasizes the importance of telling girls from a young age that they are indeed as brilliant, if not smarter in some cases then their male peers. We need to educate girls and inspire them to success, as education and confidence is the single best way to break any glass ceiling. We thank you for taking time to continue reading our magazine and hope that we can help you in your journey to homeschool excellence. If you ever think of any topic(s) that you would like us to cover remember I am but a phone call, email or text away! Make it a Brilliant year and remember… Education Matters,

Maureen Williams, Publisher maureen@thehomeschoolhandbook.com 717-608-5869

http://twitter.com/@TheHomeschool www.facebook.com/TheHomeschoolHandbook http://pinterest.com/thehomeschool/

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Michelle Donofry editor@thehomeschoolhandbook.com

Social Media/Asst. Editor

Molly Anika molly@thehomeschoolhandbook.com

Style / Asst. Editor Charity Plata

Subscription Service / Back Issues:

Circulation@thehomeschoolhandbook.com

coNTRIBUTING WRITERS Leonisa Ardizzone, EdD, Vicki Bentley, Maria Gracia, Richard Havenga, Homeschool Handbook Staff, Maria Miller, Tanya Moat, Susan Williams, Donna Vail, Megan Zechman

PRoDUcTIoN / DESIGN Art Director

Jeremy Tingle art@thehomeschoolhandbook.com The Homeschool Handbook is published bi-monthly by Brilliant Publishing LLC, Post Office Box 31687, Myrtle Beach, SC 29588 Telephone: (717) 571-9233, Fax: 843-215-7712. Postage paid at Scottsdale, AZ and additional offices. POSTMASTER please send address changes to The Homeschool Handbook, Post Office Box 31687, Myrtle Beach, SC 29588. Volume 8 Number 01. The Homeschool Handbook subscription rates: one-year $19.95 USD, Canada & Mexico $49.95 International $79.95. All subscriptions are non-refundable. Copyright© 2016 Brilliant Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject any advertising or editorial material. Advertisers, and/or their agents, assume the responsibility for any claims against the publisher based on the advertisement. Editorial contributors assume responsibility for their published works and assume responsibility for any claims against the publisher based on published work. No part of this publication can be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher. All items submitted to The Homeschool Handbook become the sole property of Brilliant Publishing LLC. Editorial content does not reflect the views of the publisher. The imprints, logos, trademarks or trade names (collectively the “Marks”) displayed on the products featured in The Homeschool Handbook are for illustrative purposes only and are not available for sale. The Marks do not represent the implied or actual endorsement by the owners of the Marks of the product on which they appear. All of the Marks are the property of the respective owners and are not the property of either the advertisers using the Marks or The Homeschool Handbook. MEDICAL DISCLAIMER No warranty whatsoever is made by the publisher and there is absolutely no assurance that any statement contained or cited in any article touching on medical matters is true, correct, precise, or up-to-date. Even if a statement made about medicine is accurate, it may not apply to you or your symptoms. The medical information provided is, at best, of a general nature and cannot substitute for the advice of a medical professional (for instance, a qualified doctor/physician, nurse, pharmacist/chemist, and so on). None of the individual contributors, LLC members, subcontractors, advertisers, or anyone else connected to Brilliant Publishing LLC and The Homeschool Handbook can take any responsibility for the results or consequences of any attempt to use or adopt any of the information presented in this magazine. Nothing included, as a part of this publication should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a medical opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of medicine.

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volu me 08

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The Homeschool

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cover story 8

Using the Technology of a Game to Teach

special features 3

There’s An APP For That

curriculm 10 13 14 16 18

Mathematics and Technology: Don’t Jump Off the Deep End Girls Aren’t Smart Four Habits of Highly Effective Math Teaching Science for Preschool Through Middle School Incorporate Science Seamlessly into your Homeschool Life

solutions 20

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Do You Wait Until The Very Last Minute?

crafts 22 23

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Simple Science: Catapults and Trajectory

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Groovy Science Activity - Make Your Own Lava Lamp

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inspiration 24

Patience

health and hearth 25

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Cream Cheese Puffs

resources 26

Index/Resources List

Fo r b r e ak i n g n ew s & t i p s b e sur e to f o ll ow T h e H o m e s c h o o l H an db o o k o n s o c i a l m e di a: twitter.com/@TheHomeschool

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facebook.com/TheHomeschoolHandbook

pinterest.com/thehomeschool ©

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feature By MaryAnne Morrill

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f you are considering incorporating Minecraft into your learning environment, it is important to consider how you will limit its use and what you want your student to learn as a takeaway from playing the game. As with all technology a little can go a long way and may not be the answer for every student. Just Google Minecraft in Education and you will receive 1,600,000 possible locations to research. Of course not all of them will be worth looking at, but the point is that there is enough information available for home educators to decide if and how to add the game to their homeschool. Following is some additional information found via a basic research effort that may be helpful. Acquired by Microsoft for $2.5 billion, Minecraft (http://education.minecraft. net/) has moved to the forefront as an educational tool wrapped up in a game. Because it has such open possibilities and potential it is being incorporated into the classroom in many different ways. History can be made to come alive by importing already-created 3-D replicas o structures like the Roman Coliseum and the Globe Theatre in London into the game setting the stage for reenactments of historic events… Shakespeare at the Globe anyone. Or, they can reconstruct various settings from a text to give a presentation. Minecraft can also be used to tell stories with characters, locations, choices, motivations and plots in worlds created by the student, thereby encouraging creative writing. Because Minecraft is complex and has “domainspecific” words that students must know it requires them to consider point of view and make inferences based on the world and situations. The game can also result in students learning to persevere through solving Math problems and use the appropriate tools in a strategic way.

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The principle idea of MinecraftEdu is to keep the magic of the original Minecraft game while adding educational elements. Following are some suggestions to help make Minecraft a part of your educational efforts, these and more can be found at http://services.minecraftedu.com/wiki/File;Texteditor.png. Know your tools: Make sure you’re familiar enough with the game and the world you’re about to use. Play through the world yourself from the point of view of the student. What are your goals?: Just playing Minecraft can teach a lot. However, when using it in a classroom, chances are you probably have a goal; you may want to introduce a topic with the game, or you might want to practice a skill or use the game to demonstrate learning. Lay out your goals before you start. Giving instructions: Despite the whole range of available class management tools, it is probably a good idea to give general instructions before you let the students into the game. While in the game, you can use the in-game assignments to give instructions without disturbing gameplay. By breaking the assignments into parts, you can easily keep track of individual students’ progress. Grouping: Are the students working in groups, pairs, or alone? Are they all working on their own computers or sharing? Grouping can be a powerful tool: it can foster collaboration and communication. Tap the resources: Your students might be experts of Minecraft; don’t let this intimidate you. On the contrary, give them the possibility to use their knowledge and teach others, yourself included. Giving responsibility to students may engage them in ways you couldn’t imagine. Use the Tutorial: If you and some (even if not all) of your students are unfamiliar with Minecraft, it’s a good idea to start with the tutorial world. Created by Joel Levin, the MinecraftTeachr, it introduces the central concepts of the game for both students and teachers (http://educade.org/lesson_plans/getting-startedwith-minecraftedu). Take a look at how other educators use the game: In the online site section you can find real-life examples for lessons (http://services.minecraftedu.com/wiki/Teaching_with_ MinecraftEdu#Lesson_Examples). Also take a look at worlds made by other educators (http://services.minecraftedu.com/ worlds) or visit the growing list of real world examples (http:// services.minecraftedu.com/wiki/File:Open_book.png). Start building your own worlds: Once you’ve familiarized yourself with basic gameplay, you can start tinkering with your own creations.

Tips for Creating Lessons Around MinecraftEdu Here are some additional tips on what kind of lessons you could create with MinecraftEdu:

Have students create or explore a Real-Life building There are many famous and historical buildings that have been created in Minecraft. Most of the time, they can be easily

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imported into MinecraftEdu and then modified to be classroom appropriate. These are great tools to inspire and excite students about History, Civics, Architecture, Engineering, and Cultural Studies. You can easily create a framework to challenge students to create their own Minecraft versions of real-life buildings and environments. Furthermore, students can modify these buildings and take the role of an engineer; how would they improve their own home/school, for example.

Practice Ratio and Proportion Minecraft blocks are conveniently equally sized units generally considered to be the equivalent to one meter. Minecraft allows students to build whatever they want, so use the opportunity to have them create scale models when you need a practice unit about measurements and proportions. The building of scale models might integrate social studies content to allow for crosscurricular connections. Coupled with in-class lessons and activities, MinecraftEdu can help students apply the knowledge they have learned in technological and playful ways. Starting by measuring your own classroom and then recreating it in Minecraft is a great idea.

Visualizing Comprehension Challenge students to illustrate their reading comprehension by visualizing those concepts through Minecraft. They can reconstruct various settings and scenes from literature and use those creations to present or make predictions on what happens next. To take the idea further, they can even act out the scenes in Minecraft.

Integrate Assessments and Interactivity Using some of the custom blocks (http://services.minecraftedu. com/wiki/Using_MinecraftEdu#MinecraftEdu_Custom_Blocks) to MinecraftEdu, you can embed text in journals. Hyperlinks can be embedded to send students to online assessments or material beyond the game. Minecraft contains many interactive materials and possibilities for engineering interactivity. Building a Community for Survival Survival mode is a quick way to foster collaboration. The students need to provide barest necessities to make it in wilderness, such as shelter and food. Usually, they start negotiating roles sooner or later: someone in charge of gathering food, someone else of mining and someone else of building the shelter further. This is a great way to teach about collaboration and even societies. For more structured gameplay, you can use (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qP88dNh9ESz0K4Tkej 2A1rt3xPkEWvywB5VNzYIQ1FQ/edit). While Minecraft and other programs available at our children’s fingertips can aid in their education, remember the reason you decided to homeschool. Most likely, it was to give your student access to an education designed especially for her or him. So, if you decide to let a computer be a part of that education, be sure to keep books, paper and pencils and daily outside experiences in the mix.

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