Best Curriculum for Homeschoolers?

Calling all homeschoolers.  Here is your chance to be heard.  Homeschool Tech Mom is interested in finding out what YOU think are the best homeschooling resources out there.  What's the best curriculum for teaching kids:  Math, Science, History, English, and any other subjects you are studying? 

I am looking to compile of list the favorite resources homeschooling parents are using with their children.  Whether it's classic textbooks, videos, or online classes, I want to know what you like best.  So whether you are a fan of  Singapore Math, Saxon, Life of Fred, ALEKS Math, Switched on Schoolhouse, or something else, I want to hear from you.

Once I get back all the responses from this survey, I will post all the results on my blog.  I am hoping to have the results published to my blog before the end of February.

Below is the survey form.  All you need to do to is... scroll down and record your responses.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at either one of my email addresses.

Additionally, if you have any problem seeing or completing the embedded survey form below, you can also access the survey directly by using the following link:  http://tinyurl.com/hstechmom-survey

Thank you in advance for your assistance,

Home School Tech Mom

                                                                                                                                                                    

Tracking Your Time

Where does the time go?  I can't count the number of times I have uttered that statement by the end of the day.  Some days just literally zip by.  The setting sun each evening serves as a constant reminder that another day has come and gone.  So to me, finding a way to keep track of my time is important.

Awhile back I came across a website that allows me to track my hours.  With just a few clicks of the mouse, I can start a clock, that records the length of time I am working on specific tasks.  Since I run a home-based business and have multiple clients, I needed a time-tracker that would allow me to record the date and time I worked for each client.  In addition, since I am also a homeschool mom (subjected to frequent interruptions through-out the day), I needed a program that would allow me to hit "pause" when needed.

Let me introduce you to Toggl, whose motto is: "Track Your Time Anywhere".  First of all, Toggl (and yes that's really how they spell their name - it's not a typo) is a free web-based program.  There is nothing to download, nothing to install, and you can use it from any computer (Windows or Mac) or mobile device (iPad, iPhone, Droid, Blackberry, etc.).

All that you will need to get going with Toggl is an email address to set up an account.  Once you login to Toggl, you simply type in the name of the task that you are working on and click the Start button.  With that, Toggl will begin recording the seconds, minutes, and hours you are dedicating to the task at hand.  Toggl then will continue to run in the background, while you busy at work.  As a matter of fact, you can even close the Toggl program and it will still keep recording your time.  Once you have completed your work, you merely launch Toggl and click the Stop button.  With that, your total time (including when you started and when you stopped) is displayed.

While Toggl is an incredible tool for anyone who runs their own business, I think it is also a terrific resource for homeschoolers.  It is a great way for you (and/or your kids) to keep track of their time doing your daily tasks.  For instance, if you have school assignments that are time dependent, like 30 minutes of reading, an hour of guitar practice, or 20 minutes of free-style writing, Toggl can keep track of your time.  You can also use Toggl to keep track of computer activities that you'd like to evaluate, like how long your kids are spending playing computer games.

Another good thing about Toggl is that it has a built-in reporting feature.  That way you can get a real birds-eye view of where all your time is going.

Toggl even allows you to see how much time you spent doing the same task across multiple dates.  I like how it even adds up all the time for me.  No math skills required.  Hurray.

As an FYI, while there is no cost to use Toggl, you will notice there is an option to upgrade to a more advanced version.  Quite frankly, I have been using this program for several months now and have never had a need to go beyond Toggl's basic features.

So whether you need to keep track of your time for education, business, or pleasure, Toggl is definitely a program worth taking a look at.  Finally as an added note, for those of you that are running your own business from home, Toggl can be configured to sync with QuickBooks.
  

HS Tech Mom
Toggl Demo

Vision Board

We have all heard the phrase "A picture is worth a thousand words."  That also applies to goal setting.

For anyone that has ever had a goal to lose weight, the biggest motivator is a photograph of yourself at your target weight.  It serves as a confirmation that your goal is tangible and achievable.  Even if it is hard!

Several years ago, I took a class on goal setting and they stressed the importance of creating a "Vision Board".  A Vision Board is a poster you make using photographs, magazine clippings, and your own drawings to make a visual representation of exactly WHAT you want to achieve.  It's not only a fun exercise to do, but if you keep the finished product in your vision (at home, the office, etc.) you may be pleasantly surprised when all those goals start showing up in your life.

Today, many people find creating a poster of their dreams a little awkward.  Maybe you can't find magazines that have the pictures you want.  Maybe you're a terrible artist and feel silly trying to draw your goals. Maybe there is no wall space available in your house to hang your poster.  Or, maybe you just want to keep your dreams and aspirations private.

Well, thanks to Oprah, there is free website where you can create a Vision Board online.  O Dream Board allows you to create a Vision Board, complete with text and graphics.  They even provide you with a library of graphics to use (courtesy of Getty Images), or you have the option of uploading your own.

Each vision board you create can be saved with it's own name.  You might find that you want to have multiple boards to reflect multiple goal themes.  One board may be dedicated to achieving a healthier body, while another might help visualize your passion to travel.  The possibilities are endless.

Once you have created your vision board, you can edit it any time.  You can change the background, add in new photos, delete old ones, etc.  You can print a copy of your vision board or even save it as a JPG file, allowing your vision board to serve as your computer's background.

Finally, if you would like to share your vision board with others you can...  via Facebook, Twitter, or email.

To use the O Dream Board, you will need to be a member of Oprah.com.  If you don't have an account already, you'll be asked to join when you first log in.  Joining is easy and also free.

Oh, and if you are wondering if Vision Boards have any application to Homeschooling... I have to say YES, YES, YES.  Afterall, you can never be too young to have a clear set of goals.  Helping your kids to visualize their goals is a wonderful lesson to learn at any age. 

Tracking Your Thoughts

I recently stumbled upon a cool program for tracking my thoughts, memories, and musings.  It's kind of like having a private online diary.

Oh Life, is a free web-based program that you can use to help you record what's happening in your life.   What's nice is that the program is totally private.  It's not a social networking tool (like Facebook) that makes announcements to your friends, families, and the rest of the universe.  Instead, it's a place just for you.

Like a traditional journal, OhLife records whatever you want.  It's great for recording anything ... your dreams, memories, and inspirations.  In addition, you can even include a photograph to complement your entries.

This is also a great tool to record important things that you'd like to keep track of on a regular basis.  For instance, it's a terrific way for homeschooling parents to note what they do each day.  Just think, at the end of the school year how incredible it would be to have a day-by day accounting of your educational accomplishments.  

While there are many websites that allow you to create an online journal, what's different about OhLife is that you can set up email reminders to prompt your entries.  For instance, you can customize the program to send you an email at a specific time (ex. 8:30 pm) every day, or once a week, to inquire "How was your day?".  If you feel like writing something about that day, you type your response directly into the email and hit "reply".  With that, OhLife will automatically update your journal by adding in your text.  It doesn't get easier than this.

Of course, you are also free to access the program on the web at any time to add a new entry, revise an old entry, or even delete an entry entirely. There is a lot of flexibility with OhLife.

Finally, you even have the option of copying ALL of your entries out of OhLife and pasting them into another program, using the application's Export function.

So if you are looking for a way an interesting way to track your thoughts you might want to give OhLife a try.

Tracking Your Goals

As I mentioned a few days ago, it is not enough to set goals, we have to find a way to track our progress towards reaching those goals.  One great tool I recently discovered is a web-based program that helps you monitor your goals.  Meet Joe's Goals.  This simple to use program was actually inspired by Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues.  How cool is that?  The aim of Joe's Goals is to make it "stupidly simple to create, track, and share your personal goals".  

Since Joe's Goals is a free web-based program you do not have to download any software.  Setting up an account is easy, all you need is an email address.  You can list as many (or few) goals as you like and indicate whether they are positive or negative.  For example, exercising every day would most likely be "positive" goal, while smoking a cigarette (if you're trying to quit) would be a negative goal.  You even have the option to weight each goal by assigning them a point value.

With Joe's Goals, you record your progress each day with recoding a check or an x mark.   For open-ended goal, you can opt to create a logbook for adding in descriptive text.  The logbook feature is ideal for goals that require you to record a written response (ex. What you are grateful for each day?). 

To make the program available for free, you will notice ads displayed at the top of the screen.  If you find them annoying, you can always choose to pay the $12 yearly fee and become a full-fledged Joe's Goals subscriber.  To be honest, I barely even notice the ads and none of them seem to be annoying or offensive.

For those folks that like to be accountable to the world, you can post your goal progress to other websites (ex. your blog, facebook, etc).  To do this, you simply create a Joe's Goals badge that will always be up-to-date and reflect where you stand with your goals.

Finally, what I really like about the program is that I can set up an alert to remind me when I've forgotten to record my progress.  The options for receiving an email alert are after:  2 days, 7 days, or 30 days.  There is even an option of "Never", just in case you don't like be nudged at all. 

Recalling how Ben Franklin took the time each night to record in a book his progress on attaining his goals... I cannot help but think how much he would have loved Joe's Goals.

Homeschool Tech Mom
Joe's Goals Demo

Thirty Days Makes A Habit

Sometimes we need a little inspiration to help kick start the journey to reach our goals.  This is one reason I have become a big fan of TED.

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to "Ideas Worth Spreading" in the areas of:  Technology, Entertainment, Design.  The organization sponsors two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh Scotland each summer.  In addition, TED hosts the award-winning TEDTalks video site.  The motto on their website is:  "Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world".  And they live up to that motto. 

On the TED website you can watch such videos as:  Steve Jobs (Apple) giving an awe-inspiring commencement speech, "How to Live Before You Die", Elizabeth Gilbert (author of "Eat, Pray, Love") talking about "Nurturing Creativity", or, Salman Khan (Khan Academy) suggesting "Let's Use Video To Reinvent Education".  I watched all three of these and they truly are "inspirational".

I recently came across one video that I especially found helpful.  It was a video by Matt Cutts on how "thirty days makes a habit".  Essentially, Cutt's hypothesis is that if there is something you really want to achieve in your life, doing it consistently for thirty days will make it become a habit.


Try Something New for 30 Days
By Matt Cutts

This works for both positive and negative goals.  For instance, if you want to make flossing your teeth a daily habit, just setting the goal to do this consistently for 30 days.  Likewise, if you want to stop biting your nails, consistent progress for 30 days would soon have you kicking the bad habit. 

So how does this work?  To answer that, first we need to think about what happens during the goal setting process.  Many times, we set goals for ourselves that seem too big to actually achieve.  So, no sooner do we write them down, then we begin telling ourselves they can't be accomplished.  We are our own worst enemy.  Psychologists suggest we censor our inner critics by making a 30 day commitment.  A commitment to do something temporarily doesn't seem quite as hard as a commitment to permanent change.  Any deprivation you perceive will only be short-lived and at the end of the 30 days you can always go back to ways things used to be. 

For me, my biggest 30 day success story was giving up TV.  At that time in my life, I was on verge of starting a new business and I needed to find a way to fit a new business into my already busy life.  I was working full-time, plus I had a newborn baby.  Someone suggested that if I REALLY wanted to find the time to launch my business, I should consider giving up my evening television watching.  Ouch.  That was the time I set aside to unwind and snuggle with my new baby.  Not too mention, I had my whole week planned out according to when my favorite TV shows were on.

I opted to try it for just 30 days.  I have to be honest and tell you that it was really really hard.  I missed that  downtime.  I even had to add in new things just to help me break the habit.  Instead of turning on the TV after dinner, I started taking my baby out in his stroller for a walk.  I made big pots of tea and sat in the kitchen (where there was no TV) doing my work each night.  I also asked my family members to support me, by either not watching TV, or watching it in another room.

At the end of 30 days, my business was starting to grow.  I began to see how it just might afford enough of an income that I could quit my job and stay home with my son.  Two years later, I achieved that goal.  Sixteen years later, I still don't watch TV.  And interestingly enough, no one in my family watches TV on a consistent basis either (well, except for my hubby, who loves football).  Thirty days made a good habit for not only me... but the rest of my family too.

So I hope you will consider watching some of the TED videos and become inspired enough to set some goals. Once you do, try the thirty day plan and see if it works for you too.

New Year = New Goals

Happy Belated New Year everyone!

It's been a busy month for Homeschool Tech Mom.  My family went away over the Winter holidays, only to return back home to company arriving.  There is nothing like trying to get your house "mother clean", while doing stacks and stacks of laundry from a two week vacation.

Anyway, it looks like my life is finally back on schedule, so now it's time to get back to posting to my blog again on a regular basis.

As 2012 came crashing in, many people took the opportunity to look at their lives and set new goals for the new year.  Me included.  During the early weeks of January, I was sitting on the beach in California, reviewing life lessons learned in 2011 and thinking about what to do differently in 2012.

It seems like every January, I make the same set of predictable goals, like losing 20 pounds before the swimsuit season, quit biting my nails, or stop feeling so stressed.  This year, I began to wonder if it was time to stop writing a huge list of un-related goals (that would probably be abandoned in another week or so), and instead, look at the big picture?  

While there are lots of modern books out there on the topic of goal setting, I recently came across an article outlining Benjamin Franklin's 13 principles for achieving success in life.  Recognizing that Franklin certainly achieved a great deal of success in so many areas... I thought it was worth reviewing if this "blueprint" from the past has anything to teach us today.

1. TEMPERANCE - Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
Obviously Franklin believed that it is wise to be in control of both our mind and body.  Therefore, it's a good idea to become more aware of what we eat and drink.  Perhaps being mindful of what (and how much) we eat is the best way to lose/maintain our weight?

2. SILENCE - Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
This is good advice that every mom knows, "If you can't say something nice then don't say anything at all."  Sometimes the best thing to say is... nothing at all.

3. ORDER - Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
My dad, who was an engineer, always believed that "everything had it's place".  His garage was a masterpiece of organization, while mine looks like a complete disaster zone.  However, I know people who are even worse than me, they have so much "stuff" in their garage that their cars don't fit.  I know that my life would be less stressful if I had more order in my life.  Just having less clutter in my house, or a clear plan on how to spend my time each day, would be great improvement.

4. RESOLUTION - Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
Like the Nike commercial, sometimes we need to: "Just Do It!" 

5. FRUGALITY - Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
"A penny saved is a penny earned". While nobody likes to waste money, we should also think about what other things we might be wasting.  Are there clothes in the closet that no longer fit... maybe it's time to donate them to a local thrift store?  Are there homeschooling resources the kids have outgrown... maybe it's time to sell them or give them away?  Waste not.. want not, truly is a noble idea.

6. INDUSTRY - Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
This is a tough one.  It's always hard to admit to which things in your life waste your time.  It might be time spent watching television (like Mythbusters marathons), surfing the internet, or gossiping on the phone with friends or family.  When you take a good look at where your time goes each day, you may soon find pockets of time that could be spent working on your dreams and goals. 

7. SINCERITY - Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
Aim to live your life with integrity.  In summary, don't do to others what you wouldn't want them to do to you. 

8. JUSTICE - Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
Pretty similar to the principal above, but perhaps requiring us to be a bit more pro-active.  We should strive to meet all of our responsibilities and obligations. 

9. MODERATION - Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
To me, this means not being so hard on people and not blowing things out of proportion.  We need to forgive people (and ourselves) for screwing up.  And, when we are upset with someone (especially ourselves), we need to stick to the event at hand, instead of every wrong doing in the history of time. 

10.CLEANLINESS - Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
Again another no-brainer.  It's always a good idea to look and feel our best, even if wearing sweat pants is so comfy.  It's also a good idea to have a plan for keeping the house in good shape, so that when your mother comes to visit ... it doesn't take three days to get the house clean!

11. TRANQUILLITY - Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
This reminds me of the song, "Don't Worry Be Happy", or the book, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff".   Even though our days are jam-packed with "things to do", it's such a good idea to have some quiet time each day.  We all need some downtime to reflect and think... even if it's just taking 10 minutes to sit and have a cup of tea.

12. CHASTITY - Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
For this one, I actually had to look up the word "venery".  Merriam Webster Dictionary defines the word as: "the art, act, or practice of hunting".  Hmm.  So I took this principle to mean that we shouldn't "go after" things that are either not in our best interest or lead us down the "low road".  When I was a kid, my mother always told me that if I wasn't sure if something I was doing was right or wrong, I needed to ask myself how I would feel if my actions were published on the front page of the newspaper?  Adhering to this advice has always worked like a charm.

13. HUMILITY - Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
Many of the great figures of the past have led lives that epitomize the virtue of humility:  Moses, Jesus, Socrates, Washington, and Ghandi, to name just a few.  When we think of humility, it's easy to think that means mild mannered and weak.  However, humility is actually a great strength.  It often leads to having so much confidence in yourself and your abilities that you can push through any obstacle to achieve success.  So in essence, I think this principle encourages us to be introspective about what we believe in and stand behind our convictions.

I found in interesting to learn that Benjamin Franklin penned this list of principles, when he was only 20.  Wow, I wish I had be that intuitive when I was in my second decade of life. The story goes that after writing his list, Franklin then made a plan to focus on one principle at a time.  Once he had conquered one virtue, he would move on to another.  To track his progress, he would his record his successes and failures in a book each night.

I think that Ben was onto something good with this all of this.  First of all, it's great to have a list of general principles to help you make improvements in your life.  In addition, it's not enough to just make a list of what you want to change, instead, we need to find a way to record our progress.  We need to keep our goals in front of us and we need to constantly evaluate whether we're still on track or derailed.

Lucky for us, we live in a time where there are so many web-based tools to help us.  So this week, I am going to focus on some of the hi tech resources the internet has to offer to help us achieve our goals for the new year.