A few weeks ago I introduced my two-year-old to two new products from LeapFrog — the Touch Magic Rockin’ Guitar and the Touch Magic Learning Bus. And the responses I got from him were surprising.
Continue ReadingStudents who average more study hours do better in school. But a study published last week in the journal Child Development shows that students who stay awake to study more than their average — i.e. to cram — up …
Continue ReadingJust in time for the stretch run of the 2012 Presidential campaign comes a new iPad game that teaches kids about the election process. Election: Run For President sets the stage one year before America votes to elect its next …
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One of the biggest myths I hear about 4-His that it’s only for farming families. While it’s completely true that the organization was set up as a tool to promote “modern” farming methods through after-school agriculture clubs, that’s not the whole picture. There’s still a lot of farming in 4-H, yes, but there’s also a lot of science and art. In fact, there are even rockets and robots.
Continue ReadingEarlier this year a neat project on Kickstarter caught my eye: “SparkLab: the educational build-mobile!” A couple of design students from the d.school at Stanford University in California had the insight to combine the idea of a mobile food truck …
Continue ReadingThis month, Lego Education announced the introduction of BuildToExpress, a new approach to learning that uses traditional Lego bricks to help students develop a deeper understanding of what they’re learning through building, reflection, and dialogue. The program applies to all …
Continue ReadingMany of us at GeekMom homeschool our kids, for a variety of reasons. I’ve homeschooled my kids from the start. My daughter just finished up fifth grade, and my son, second grade. Each of them has gotten a slightly different educational experience, due to available materials, my choices, and their strengths and weaknesses. Every year, usually in the spring, I start thinking about how to approach homeschooling for the fall. I make a list of materials to reuse, materials to buy, and websites and other resources to include. I think about how to approach the year, and how to structure our school time. And as my kids get older and life gets busier, I require more independence and personal responsibility from my kids.
Continue ReadingI heard his voice as Trooper 4 while playing Halo: Reach. I’ve seen him as the charismatic host of Spike TV’s Video Game Awards in 2011. And my son and I are both huge fans of his tech-savvy super-agent character …
Continue ReadingMy GeekDad colleague James Floyd Kelly and I teamed up to do our investigative report on Ben Bertoli, who teaches sixth grade math, science and language arts in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ben’s launching ClassRealm, his project to gamify education through a …
Continue ReadingCrowdsourcing — the practice of using a large collection of people to move mountains. There are plenty of examples such as raising funds for a potential product (Kickstarter), making improvements on an open source operating system (Linux), or pulling together …
Continue ReadingIt doesn’t matter where you start. Any exposure to astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson creates ever increasing urges to absorb more of this man’s wisdom, delivered with the charisma and wit rarely packaged in one person. For example, a newly released video by science enthusiast Max Schlickenmeyer adds music and visuals along with Dr. Tyson’s answer to the […]
Continue ReadingThe original version of Rory’s Story Cubes, done by The Creativity Hub (home of Rory O’Connor and Anita Murphy), has been around for a while. I reviewed it a couple of years ago, along with the second set, Actions, which …
Continue ReadingThose of us raising geek generation 2.0 face some unique challenges. Besides having to make sure they see Episode IV first, explaining why neither Megan Fox nor Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is nearly as cool as as the original animated Mikaela Banes, …
Continue ReadingI received lots of kudos for getting to interview Joy Hakim. Maybe this is because most of my friends are geeks of some sort, most homeschool their kids, and we all have read Joy’s books, amazed at how she draws us into learning so easily with her gift of storytelling. I hope you enjoy this […]
Continue ReadingRhythm is a crucial element in all music. The aspect of rhythm that we’re going to deal with today is note duration. Every note of music that you hear has a rhythm value. Each note is held out for a …
Continue ReadingMy kids play educational games on the PC at school and never once have they come home and said they’ve enjoyed that time. The only feedback they’ve ever given is that the games are not fun, but silly and boring and lame. So, when I told them I had some math games I wanted them to check out […]
Continue ReadingMy son turned two this fall. By the time he starts kindergarten in three years’ time, I have no idea how he will be learning. The first computer I was exposed to in elementary school used 5 ¼-inch floppy discs; I’m not even sure he’ll be using a computer by then. Classrooms around the country […]
Continue ReadingWhen I was young and started attending school, my mom got a job in the school cafeteria. The hours worked really well for our lifestyle. I got her at either end of the day, and she didn’t go stir crazy in the middle of it. By the time I was in middle school she had […]
Continue ReadingI’ll be the first to admit, I’m not that great a guitar player. Sure, I felt like some sort of demi-god playing the plastic button slapping guitars of Guitar Hero and Rock Band but in the back of my head …
Continue ReadingSay hello to Bobo, your kid’s new best friend! Well, maybe not quite, but he is the star of a new iPad app out now from developers GameCollage, which they’ll definitely love. Bobo is a cute little robot who is …
Continue ReadingWhat do you do on your anniversary when you suddenly find yourself with a babysitter on a week night, a few extra hours and cash in hand? Why you sit in Starbucks, drink cider and check out two new games from Looney Labs, that’s what! My love of the card game Fluxx is certainly no […]
Continue ReadingThe LeapFrog Connect Service is pretty slick — I’ve purchased a couple of apps for Decker that he showed interest in and, surprisingly, he actually does enjoy playing them. (I can’t count the number of $0.99 apps that looked good …
Continue ReadingWhen J.K. Rowling released each of her Harry Potter books, young fans flocked to bookstores, stayed up late finishing the books, and then eagerly shared feelings and predictions about future books, characters, etc. with friends. These fans learned everything they could about J.K. Rowling’s fictional world on their own without prompting and in addition to […]
Continue ReadingToday’s children sit more than ever. Babies spend hours confined in car seats and carriers rather than crawling, toddling or being carried. As they get older their days are often heavily scheduled between educational activities and organized events. Children have 25 percent less time for free play than they did a generation ago, and that’s […]
Continue ReadingWe like spending time with people who delight in the same things that fascinate us. That might be playing bagpipes, understanding Civil War strategy, making homemade cheese, or brewing beer. Who doesn’t love talking about a favorite topic? It’s certainly easy to build friendships that way. Shared interests also foster greater enthusiasm and motivate […]
Continue ReadingLegos are internationally cherished small plastic interlocking building blocks and minifigures that can be taken apart and used to build other objects. Over the years, Lego has expanded its creations to include products like gears and pulleys and even electronic …
Continue ReadingLegos are internationally cherished small plastic interlocking building blocks and minifigures that can be taken apart and used to build other objects. Over the years, Lego has expanded its creations to include products like gears and pulleys and even electronic parts for constructing programmable robots. As a result, there are popular Lego robotics leagues and […]
Continue ReadingWe’re getting ready to head to Seattle in a week or so. It’s only a couple of hours on the plane, but I always like to have a few tricks up my sleeve to keep Vivienne entertained. So I’m in …
Continue ReadingWe’re getting ready to head to Seattle in a week or so. It’s only a couple of hours on the plane, but I always like to have a few tricks up my sleeve to keep Vivienne entertained. So I’m in the market for some new apps to play with. Whenever I do a little refresh […]
Continue ReadingMy mother, the registered nurse, strictly enforced hand-washing, early bedtimes, and other health standards that seemed archaic to her offspring. Even in the summertime I remember lying in bed long before darkness rolled in, listening to my friends laughing and playing down the street. I vowed to be more laid back with my own kids. […]
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