If you haven't heard yet, Google's Maker Camp is the most fantastic, creative and exciting way to get your teen (and my tween!) to tinker, explore, experiment and discover all summer long. The very best part is that you can do all of it right in your own home!
Camp started two weeks ago but you're not too late for all the fun. This week is Fun and Games week. They're visiting Mojang! Yes, you read that right- Mojang, as in the makers of Minecraft. If that doesn't get your kid jumping up and down, and then of course, shrugging with a cool "whatever", perhaps the Friday tour of Lego or Fantasmic at Disneyland will?
Each week is complete with hands on projects like this weeks' mini-foosbal game out of paperclips or a customized Operation game. We've already made a Rola Bola Balance Board and gathered our supplies for a Lego ball maze. This week's field trips are already on every calendar we own, with reminders set so we don't forget.
I'm not paid by Google to write this review, nor do they even know I'm writing it. I just had to share because I don't know of any other resource that is even remotely as awesome as Maker Camp! Did I mention it's free? Ok, the supplies aren't free, but all the instructions, all the awesome Google Hangouts and the spectacular live virtual field trips are completely 100% free.
The kid participated in a few Maker Camp activities online last summer. Last summer, they visited the Disney Imagineers and talked about ride engineering and design. He talked about it for months afterwards and the best part was that he felt like he actually was there because the Hangout was live.
Click away now, and go check out the Maker Camp schedule. Gather your supplies for the week!
Showing posts with label maker movement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maker movement. Show all posts
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
If we can't predict it, how do we prepare for it?
In my most recent post, I wrote about a future that we can't predict and the speed of technology changing life faster than we can even comprehend. As an academic homeschooler, this is terrifying! What if I'm failing my son at every turn, preparing him for a future that I'm imagining but maybe isn't going to happen. How do you find a path that is suddenly all wiggly and in 4 dimensions anyway?
First off, you just do something! This is my advice to my Math Olympiad students all the time- just do something! Any plan is better than no plan, so seize the day and make a plan for 21st century learning.
Start with making
We started hands on, because tinkering and making is always fun and inspiring! Using EEME kits, as well as simple Maker ideas like those in "Tinkering: Kids Learn by Making Stuff
and Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom
you can gather ideas for creating, engineering and small scale design strategies. A huge favorite in our house is also diy.org with fantastic, inspiring and inventive projects. Plus DIY has badges- who doesn't like badges!
Learn to code
It's been said in so many places I can't even find the original- coding is the new typing. Kids who understand how to code will have the basis and understanding of everything, from Arduino and Raspberry Pi to hacking their own life. Even the littlest kids can learn to code with apps like Kodable and Move the Turtle. Bigger kids and teens will enjoy options like GameStar Mechanic, Scratch, Tynker and Code.org. There's something for everyone at Codecademy too!
Collaborate
Collaboration for homeschoolers can be a stretch for families, particularly those of you without a charter support system. It's crucial for the new future that students know how to collaborate effectively, divide labor tasks and work through the tough parts of a team. Your collaboration may come through an organized project like a scouting project, First Lego League or an Odyssey of the Mind team. Or it may be a student-driven, authentic collaboration like a few friends working on a Minecraft adventure map, producing a neighborhood play or building a giant cardboard house in the backyard. Regardless of the age or project, all students need to collaborate to complete a task if they'll be successful in the new future.
Read, research, read
The most successful students will still be those that are readers. The format may have changed- perhaps they're reading online news, blogs, a tweetdeck, tumblr or on reddit. Maybe they're not snuggled up with a great book on the couch, but walking the neighborhood with a book on their iPod. But great thinkers are also readers, inspired by ideas and seeking out more information. Whatever they're reading, turn them loose and let them read. Go to the library, forward them links, turn them to appropriate kids' news websites like newsela.com. Stretch their genres, the way they access the material and encourage reading at every possible corner.
Take an online class
I truly believe that even if nothing else dramatically changes in the next ten years, online classes will be the major change in educational advancement. Academic homeschoolers shouldn't just want to take an online class, it's a need that must be filled. Learning to work in an online classroom, navigating the technology as a base tool rather than the end goal, working with a teacher you've never met and classmates you'll never see in real life are all crucial, life-changing skills our kids require. The kid's favorite online classes have come from Athena's Academy and Minecraft Homeschool. There are plenty of options though, in every price range. MOOC providers like Coursera, Udacity and EdX are fantastic resources for a no-risk, free option to try. However, the interaction part of an online course is difficult in a MOOC environment and we encourage you to seek out fully interactive classes with a live teacher.
Be brave!
Most importantly, know that by doing something, you're creating a path for your student that will be more fulfilling, more creative and further down the road to success than if you did nothing at all. Be brave and learn along with your kids- since we can't predict the future, we'd better prepare ourselves along with them. You never know when we'll change human life expectancy to 200 years. That's a lot of future for us homeschoolers to contend with! Better go learn to code, just in case!
First off, you just do something! This is my advice to my Math Olympiad students all the time- just do something! Any plan is better than no plan, so seize the day and make a plan for 21st century learning.
Start with making
We started hands on, because tinkering and making is always fun and inspiring! Using EEME kits, as well as simple Maker ideas like those in "Tinkering: Kids Learn by Making Stuff
and Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom you can gather ideas for creating, engineering and small scale design strategies. A huge favorite in our house is also diy.org with fantastic, inspiring and inventive projects. Plus DIY has badges- who doesn't like badges!Learn to code
It's been said in so many places I can't even find the original- coding is the new typing. Kids who understand how to code will have the basis and understanding of everything, from Arduino and Raspberry Pi to hacking their own life. Even the littlest kids can learn to code with apps like Kodable and Move the Turtle. Bigger kids and teens will enjoy options like GameStar Mechanic, Scratch, Tynker and Code.org. There's something for everyone at Codecademy too!
Collaborate
Collaboration for homeschoolers can be a stretch for families, particularly those of you without a charter support system. It's crucial for the new future that students know how to collaborate effectively, divide labor tasks and work through the tough parts of a team. Your collaboration may come through an organized project like a scouting project, First Lego League or an Odyssey of the Mind team. Or it may be a student-driven, authentic collaboration like a few friends working on a Minecraft adventure map, producing a neighborhood play or building a giant cardboard house in the backyard. Regardless of the age or project, all students need to collaborate to complete a task if they'll be successful in the new future.
Read, research, read
The most successful students will still be those that are readers. The format may have changed- perhaps they're reading online news, blogs, a tweetdeck, tumblr or on reddit. Maybe they're not snuggled up with a great book on the couch, but walking the neighborhood with a book on their iPod. But great thinkers are also readers, inspired by ideas and seeking out more information. Whatever they're reading, turn them loose and let them read. Go to the library, forward them links, turn them to appropriate kids' news websites like newsela.com. Stretch their genres, the way they access the material and encourage reading at every possible corner.
Take an online class
I truly believe that even if nothing else dramatically changes in the next ten years, online classes will be the major change in educational advancement. Academic homeschoolers shouldn't just want to take an online class, it's a need that must be filled. Learning to work in an online classroom, navigating the technology as a base tool rather than the end goal, working with a teacher you've never met and classmates you'll never see in real life are all crucial, life-changing skills our kids require. The kid's favorite online classes have come from Athena's Academy and Minecraft Homeschool. There are plenty of options though, in every price range. MOOC providers like Coursera, Udacity and EdX are fantastic resources for a no-risk, free option to try. However, the interaction part of an online course is difficult in a MOOC environment and we encourage you to seek out fully interactive classes with a live teacher.
Be brave!
Most importantly, know that by doing something, you're creating a path for your student that will be more fulfilling, more creative and further down the road to success than if you did nothing at all. Be brave and learn along with your kids- since we can't predict the future, we'd better prepare ourselves along with them. You never know when we'll change human life expectancy to 200 years. That's a lot of future for us homeschoolers to contend with! Better go learn to code, just in case!
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