Back to the Drawing Board

I trust you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. We decided to take the rest of the week off due to daddy being home after having been gone to Tanzania / Zambia last week. We will also be spending a few days with my Sister in Vanderbijlpark as my mom’s visiting there from Ireland.

Jesse’s Switched on Schoolhouse General Science II arrived last Tuesday. He’s already done his sample lesson as well as the first few lessons.

Each lesson includes vocabulary, with a games Arcade & Flash card facility to reinforce the vocabulary.

Lessons also include images, short video clips & animations. All lessons have quizzes and tests of which about 85% is automatically graded, thus reducing my workload. Some quizzes & tests include questions that require the student to write an answer in paragraph form. Then there are also questions that require essay-type answer. For these the program re-directs the student to a word processor. Jesse likes the idea that he could use speech-to-text software to do the typing of the essay for him where after he can then proof-read and edit as necessary. The paragraph and essay questions require grading by the parent.

 

After his first lesson, I heard all about Aristotle, Copernicus & Isaac Newton. It seems I may have been right. Jesse’s already saying he could get used to this & to be quite honest, so could I as it would drastically reduce my workload.

So I thought if he liked the curriculum, I could make SOS his core to complete Grades 8 – 12. Thereafter he could to the GED Preparatory courses for the SAT exams, or so I thought. However, it seems Daddy has other plans.

He wants the boys to eventually do the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) instead which means that I’m back to the drawing board as to what material, when & where to for exams etc.

Now, after all those hours spent finding him the “right” material, I’m back to the drawing board. Now I need to find a similar type of product to help him with the Cambridge curriculum instead. I know I still have the rest of this year and much of next, but with time going past so fast I don’t want to leave it to the last moment as finding the “right” material can be such a time consuming effort.

I would really appreciate feedback from parents that have walked this road already. Please leave your comments if you have any suggestions.

Happy Easter

So we have reached the end of another week this term. It was a cold & and wet one with Daddy gone to Tanzania & Zambia since Sunday.

For the most part we have moved school into the living room where we can sit under blankets with a heater on when necessary as it was so cold. Not much getting out because of all the rain either.

Misha started Remedial lessons at Tannie Hettie again on Tuesday. She helps him with Afrikaans but we might be able to stop the lessons. We’ll see how this term goes. Maybe we will just let him go once a month or so from next term onwards, depending on how satisfied Tannie Hettie is with his progress.

I am so happy that their Switched on Schoolhouse 3rd Grade Language Arts & 8th Grade General Science II subjects arrived on Tuesday. They both did their sample lessons yesterday & started with their subjects today. I think this might just bring a turning point in their education.

I was not able to sort out the network connectivity so I have to wait for Clive to get home and resolve that, but they took turns doing their work with the full installation on Clive’s laptop and both had very high scores for their first quizzes. Of course, Jesse told me all about Aristotle, Copernicus & Sir Isaac Newton from his Post-Renaissance Science lesson today. His excitement about what he learnt has spilled over in an unprepared oral. I think with this I might be able to get him do those some more of those orals and essays that he hates so much. Every section however, includes an essay-type question and the facility is awesome. It automatically redirects them to MS Word and there I will be able to set up speech-to-text for them to make for hassle-free typing…After just one day with the new curriculum, Jesse’s already saying he could get used to this, however, judging by his placement tests, it seems he’s going to have quite a bit of catching up to do on earth science, chemistry & physics as they hardly touched on that at school.

Misha also seems to like his new Language Arts. He actually finished all his bookwork early today & was done with his SOS by 11am. That was quite a change to the usual 3-4pm finishing times. It seems we may just be revolutionising our home education once we change their core subjects also over to SOS. I’m still waiting for his Teaching Textbooks Maths to arrive & can hardly wait. If it’s anything like SOS I’m sure home education will become quite a bit easier from here on.

Of course I love that most the work is graded automatically, and it leaves me with only paragraphs and essays that need be graded, so I might just be able to fit some more scrap therapy into my schedule in the near future. Seriously, I think I could live with SOS for the rest of our home educational journey.

I also discovered today that I can create custom curriculum. So once I’ve figured out how, I can add quizzes & tests for his Le-Amen Curriculum to his SOS & just maybe will have have him dragging his feet less about having to do them & of course in the process I will reduce my workload marking those all tests because they too, could then be automatically graded… so here’s to my next challenge… learning how to create those custom subjects, tests & quizzes…

Both boys have gone to sleep over with friends today, so for now I am home alone until hubby gets back tomorrow. Then on Saturday we’re off to Vanderbijlpark to visit my sis and Mom who’s currently visiting there after the birth of her little girl last Thursday. I still have loads of marking to do, but for now I’m taking a short break & will get through those books early next week.

Due to the easter weekend and my mom visiting from Ireland I have decided to take make next Tuesday a school holiday & might even decide to still take Thursday & Friday off as well.

In the interim I wish you all a very blessed Easter weekend & for those taking time off next week, enjoy~!

First week, new term.

WoW!, the first week of our second term has come and gone already. This week we took it very easy, easing into the new term slowly. It has flown by so fast.

I have already ordered their new Maths, Language Arts and Science to replace existing subjects and am looking forward to arrival. I suspect this change will make a difference in their wanting to learn these subjects.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend and blessed second term.

Free Educational Software & Game Downloads

In my search for interactive learning material to cater for my 3rd grader’s kinaesthetic, visual-spacial & audio learning style, I have come across a whole lot of awesome freeware for him, but I have also come across material that would benefit younger and older kids. Below is a list of free online games as well as educational software.

Online Games

• 

• A Sailor’s Life for Me An online game & interactive website from the USS Constitution Museum.

• ABCya is a great place to find all kinds of free educational computer games for elementary school students. The games do not require any special plug-ins or downloads in order to play.ABCya is divided into grade levels (K-5) then subdivided based on subject area. No registration is necessary.

• Arcademic Skill Builders are free research-based and standards-aligned educational games! Engage and motivate students with our multiplayer and single-player games.

• Armored Penguin has a very flexible crossword puzzle builder. You can select from a simple puzzle maker or large puzzle maker depending on the number of clues that you want to include. Armored Penguin’s program also gives you the option of including or excluding an answer key.

• Brain Bashers offers visitors a nice selection of word games, logic games, and puzzles.

• Brain Games Fun games that train your mind.

• Brain Nook is a new online game that helps kids develop Math and English skills while exploring the Earth and playing safely with others.

• Braingle hosts more than 20,000 brain teasers, trivia quizzes, games, and mentalrobics (aerobics for the brain). The games section is comprised of popular games like chess, checkers, sudoku, and common word games. The Mentalrobics section of Braingle is what makes it worth mentioning. Mentalrobics includes memory tests, flashcards, and vocabulary building activities.

• Childtopia educational games.

• Cyberkidz Games help children in elementary school (Preschool, Kindergarten, Grades 1-5) to practice what they learn during lessons.

• Ed Helper has a basic crossword builder that accepts up to thirty words. Ed Helper has other basic puzzle builders for free. To use the more advanced options, like larger puzzles, you will have to subscribe to the service.

• FitBrain has a collection of free games designed to strengthen five areas of cognitive brain function.While the website seems to be targeted toward an older audience there are some games on Fit Brains appropriate for students at all grade levels above the third grade.

• Fun4TheBrain for Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Science, English, Middle School, Murb, Quizzes/Tests, Just4Fun & Preschool Games.

• Funbrain education site for grades K – 8.

• Gamequarium The site that swims with learning fun for grades K – 6.

• Games for the Brain

• Just Crosswords is a site of 15×15 crossword puzzles that you solve right in your Web browser. Click on the clues or the spaces in the puzzle, and then simply type to fill in the blanks. Standard puzzles use symmetric grids with lots of standard crossword words and a few words that fit the theme. Crozzle puzzles use only words that fit the theme.

• Knowledge Adventure Free kids educational games.

• Learning Games for Kids Educational games are a great tool for building foundation math and language skills that today’s elementary school curriculum requires. These online learning games and songs for kids are fun, teach important skills for preschool and elementary school kids and they’re free. Want educational games that help build skills in math, language, science, social studies, and more? Then visit Learning Games for Kids.com

• Mochimedia ~ popular educational games for online play as well asdownload.

• Novel Games provides a large list of fun, simple, educational games. The list of games includes numerous math and word games. All of the games are free and are available in multiple formats.

• Novel Games Small flash games.

• PBS Kids Word Quests, Problem Solving, Symmetrisizer, Quizzes & many more.

• Primary Games offers a collection of mathematics games as well as games for other content areas.

• Purpose GamesCreate… PurposeGames.com is host to educational quiz and trivia games created by its members. In just a few minutes, kids can create their very own game to share with their friends! Play… Play games and tournaments to compete against your friends, co-workers, and classmates! Become the reigning champion of your community! Learn… The easiest way to learn something is to have fun while doing it! Geography, Science, and Languages, any subject is easier and more fun to learn by playing a quiz game!

• Quiz-Tree provides a wide variety of free educational games and activities for students and teachers. Most of the games and activities are web-based. Some of the games and activities are available as downloads for Windows operating systems.

• Schoolgames ~ Play Online School Games, Math Games, Logic Games and Popular Games in Your Free Time!

• Sheppard Software has a fantastic collection of free web-based educational games.

• Show Me the Future Are you ready to play this exciting, educational, and FUN game? Think you’re up to a challenge? Want to know if you can make the right choices in the “real” world? You’ll have a whole new identity including occupation, income, whether you’re married or single, whether or not you have kids, and more. You have a checking account with a register, which will contain the money you earned as your new identity. Then you get to make choices, like the kind of house you’ll live in and what you’re going to eat, based on your identity. Every choice you make costs money, which will be deducted from the money in your checking account. The trick to the game is to see if you can make ends meet and still have some cash at the end.

• Smart Kit (no affiliation with SMART) offers a large collection of games, puzzles, and riddles for students of all ages. The content of the collection ranges from simple drilling-style games to challenging word puzzles. There are sixteen categories of games.

• The National Center for Education Statistics hosts a collection of games and tools for students. Dare to Compare is a quiz section of Kids’ Zone where students can test their knowledge of civics, economics, history, geography, mathematics, and science. After taking each quiz the students are shown the correct answers.Dare to Compare also allows students to see the national and international average rate of correct answers.

• The Problem Site is loaded with great games for students. Some of the games are traditional “hang-man” style games, some of the games are traditional games with a twist, and some of the games are completely new. Each game is designed to help students develop problem solving skills. The games are categorized as word games, math games, or strategy games.

• The Read, Write, Think Crossword Puzzle Tool

• Variety Games hosts a free crossword puzzle maker. You can select the dimensions of your puzzle or allow your puzzle to be auto-formatted.

• What 2 Learn is a website offering more than two thousand educational games for middle school and high school age students. What makes What 2 Learn particularly useful though is the capacity for teachers to create accounts in which they can monitor their students’ scores. Teachers can create custom games using twelve different templates provided by What 2 Learn. What 2 Learn is a European based websiteso some of the games, particularly the math games where money is expressed as Euros and Pounds.

Software

Toddlers

• Babymash Does your baby try to “Help” when your using the computer. BabyMash is a game designed to let infants pound on the keyboard without affecting the rest of your computer programs. Colorful shapes appear each time baby hits a key accompanied by sound. Helps develop hand to eye coordination and gives baby a real boost in confidence as they do what Mommy or Daddy does.

• Minisebran Minisebran is a free suite of early learning games for kids 2-6 years old . It includes eight different exercises, including doodle drawing exercises and very simple games to get to know the numbers and letters, and learning to use the keyboard.

Activities

• Kea Colouring Book This free colouring-book application provides enough content and features to keep children entertained. Kea Colouring Book lets kids colour about 15 images with a few clicks and includes subjects such as snowmen and animals. Parental tools allow adults to design even more templates after their kids tire of the included ones and let them prevent children from printing.

The application provides a few colour palettes, and the art tray will let artistic tykes create their own custom palettes using the dropper tool. Small children will appreciate the bright, pleasant interface. Users who need a way to occupy their youngsters should definitely check out Kea Colouring Book, especially since it’s totally free

• Cyberstart Cognitive Development CyberStart is intended to make the child’s very first experience with the computer a pleasant one. The exercises are designed for the toddler as young as 18 months. He works them just by moving the mouse. He does not use the keyboard or mouse buttons. CyberStart should help him become comfortable with the computer and also allow him to explore some fundamental concepts.

The program allows the kids to extend early welcome to info-tech, explores size, shape, colour, order, and much more.

Phonics & Reading

• Sebran’s ABC It’s never too early for kids to be taught about letters and numbers. Sebran’s ABC’s colorful pictures, pleasant music, and gentle games teach letters, numbers, simple math, and rudiments of reading

Sebran’s ABC is a freeware collection of 12 different activities for kids 4-9 years old. It includes counting games, a Hangman game, Memory games, typing games and much more.

Language Arts

• Oxford Dictionary of English (10 Day Trial)

• WordWeb WordWeb is a handy utility that gives you the definition, synonyms, and antonyms of any given word without requiring you to go online, though it can connect to the Internet for expanded functionality should you want it.

Maths

• Graph 4.3 is an open source application used to draw mathematical graphs in a coordinate system. Anyone who wants to draw graphs of functions will find this program useful. The program makes it very easy to visualize a function and paste it into another program. It is also possible to do some mathematical calculations on the functions.

• GeoGebra Free mathematics software for learning and teaching

• Interactive graphics, algebra and spreadsheet

• From elementary school to university level

• Free learning materials

• Kids Abacus Kid’s Abacus is a small and simple educational game. It is specifically designed for small kids of 2-5 year age group who want to learn counting. It’s a free Math Worksheets based Software using a Graphical method of learning the Numbers and Counting from 1 to 100. The Free Math Worksheets based software has been designed for ease of use, fast setup and interactivity. Full Audio-Visual and Multimedia features have been built into the program to make learning the basics of Numbers and Counting an enjoyable learning math experience for children with math lesson plans.

• Shapes

This program teaches your children about triangles, circles, squares, spheres, rectangles etc. through the use of animation, video clips and music. It is fun, easy to use and it is one of the best way to teach your children age (18-4) about the basic shapes

• Time for Tables (Although not freeware, at $19,95 / ±R160 this is worth mentioning)

The interactive 3-D menu interfaces were designed with kids in mind. It is extremely kids-friendly, easy to use and logical.  The use of colourful, vibrant graphics and animations enhance the learning experience while kids are having fun using the program.Interactive Games

• Learn Tables Area – Interactive Chart
• Interactive Worksheets
• Track Progress with Charts/Reports
• Printable Flash Cards
• Accuracy/Speed Tests
• Adjustable Difficulty Levels

• TimezAttack has revolutionized multiplication games. It’s as polished as a high-end real video game, yet as effective as a top math tutor one-on-one. The built-in assessment, adaptation, and post-test research data guarantee total mastery. Division is also available and Addition & Subtraction is scheduled for release in December 2011.

Life Skills

• Food Force: The First Humanitarian Video Game This is a video game to teach children about the logistical challenges of delivering food aid in a major humanitarian crisis.

Set on a fictitious island called Sheylan riven by drought and war, Food Force invites children to complete six virtual missions that reflect real-life obstacles faced by WFP in its emergency responses both to the tsunami and other hunger crises around the world.

With tens of thousands of Sheylan’s residents displaced and in urgent need of food aid, players are required to pilot helicopters on reconnaissance missions, airdrop high energy biscuits to internally displaced person (IDP) camps, negotiate with armed rebels on a food convoy run and use food aid to help rebuild villages.

Science

Astronomy

• World Wide Telescope Immerse yourself in a seamless beautiful environment.

WorldWide Telescope (WWT) enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world. Experience narrated guided tours from astronomers and educators featuring interesting places in the sky.

A web-based version of WorldWide Telescope is also now available. This version enables seamless, guided explorations of the universe from within a web browser on PC and Intel Mac OS X by using the power of Microsoft Silverlight 4.0.

• Stellarium renders 3D photo-realistic skies in real time with OpenGL. It displays stars, constellations, planets, nebulas and others things like ground, landscape, atmosphere, etc.

Biology

• Immune Attack This is a video game that introduces core concepts of molecular and cellular biology to middle school, high school and entry-level college students.

Chemistry

• Chem Collective Virtual Lab Simulation The Virtual Laboratory allows students to select from hundreds of standard reagents and manipulate them in a manner that resembles that of a real lab. It allows students to design and perform diverse experiments in acid-base chemistry, thermo chemistry, solubility, and redox chemistry.

Geography

• Google Earth Explore the world in 3D from anywhere. Get the world’s geographic information at your fingertips.

• Fly to any place around the world.

• See 3D buildings, imagery, and terrain.

• Find cities, places, and local businesses.

Technology

• Google SketchUp 3D modeling for everyone. Model anything you can imagine.

  Redecorate your living room. Invent a new piece of furniture. Model your city for Google Earth. There’s no limit to what you can create with SketchUp.

  SketchUp makes 3D modeling fun.

• Lego Digital Designer The program that lets you build with LEGO bricks on your computer.

Information Technology (IT)

Programming

• Robomind ROBO is a new and very simple educational programming language that will familiarize you with the basics of computer science by programming your own robot. In addition to an introduction into popular programming techniques, you will also gain insight into areas such as robotics and artificial intelligence.

Typing Tutors

• Bruce’s Unusual Typing Wizard 1.4

More Free Software Listings

• 

• Hiyah Free Software Listing
• SchoolForge

• Sheppard Software’s free games cover Science, Math, Social Studies, and Language Arts. Most of the games are appropriate for elementary and middle school students, but some games are appropriate for high school students.

Please visit this page frequently as I will be posting regular updates as I find more resources.

ads not by this site

2 Comments to

“Free Educational Games & Software”

1. October 20th, 2011 at 9:28 am ReplyMeloney Says:

   Hi Trixi, the information on your blog is so informative. I have been looking for information to assist my daughter who is a struggling learner, and what I have read I am eager to try with her. Thank you so much.

   • October 25th, 2011 at 11:37 pm ReplyPatrizia (a.k.a. Trys/Trixi) Schwartz Says:

     Hi Meloney, I’m happy to be of assistance. Start with discovering your child’s learning style (http://homeschoolblogger.com/trixishomeschoolacademy/learning-styles/) and brain dominance (http://homeschoolblogger.com/trixishomeschoolacademy/brain-dominance/) then accommodate the way she learns best. The books “Discover your child’s learning style:
     children learn in unique ways–here’s the key to every child’s learning success” (http://books.google.co.za/books?id=5P70sRFbcY0C&q=%22discover+your+child%27s+learning+style%22&dq=%22discover+your+child%27s+learning+style%22&hl=en&ei=CKynTonsDMmA8gOsgIGnDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA) and “In Their own Way: discovering and encouraging your child’s multiple intelligences” (http://books.google.co.za/books?id=_BWU3U4W2lsC&dq=%22In+their+own+way%22&hl=en&ei=UPuRTp-7IImp8APjor00&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA) will help a lot. My struggling learner has make huge progress with our change in strategies to accomodate the way he learns. Our biggest challenge left is how to restore both our boys’ love for learning.

Time for change…

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. ~B. F. Skinner

Well the school holiday has come and gone and we’re already halfway through our first week of the new term.

I’ve decided to take a different approach to education from term onward. For starters we will be focusing more on education & less on “schooling” hence from here on out we’ll be home educating & no longer call it “schooling”. What’s the use of homeschooling anyway when it’s only school at home… it’s time to add more relaxation & fun to their education. We will be using what the boys enjoy to educate…

I have ordered Switched on Schoolhouse Language Arts as well as Teaching Textbooks Maths for Misha and am awaiting arrival of the material. If this works for him, he will be changing over to SOS core (Bible, Language Arts, Science & Health Quest) in the New Year with Teaching Textbooks for Maths. Misha was overly excited when I told him he could cut up his many Le-Amen worksheets to convert them into lapbooks. For Geography & History I’m looking at using Journey into Africa Unit Study for both of them next year & thereafter we’ll look at World History & World Geography.

Jesse’s getting SOS Science for the rest of the year to try it out. He still prefers the textbook maths so we’ll be changing him over to Teaching Textbooks Maths next year. I am also replacing his Social Science & Natural Science textbooks with learning through webquests. Of course I will continue surfing the net for educational games to add some fun & excitement, after all, that’s why we decided on home education in the first place.

I can hardly wait for their new material to arrive. If my assessment is correct, my planned changes will work for them and then I can expect a huge improvement in their enthusiasm towards learning. So here’s to the fun filled new term… I trust you will all have a great one.

Learning Styles

~ the key to learning & life success!

Learning Styles, in my experience/opinion, are the essence of effective learning. When learning is addressed in the correct learning style, it’s hard to forget what has been learnt. I have witnessed the effects of addressing learning styles first hand with my kinaesthetic third grader.

When we removed Misha, our struggling 2nd grader from private school in August 2010, because he was struggling in school in spite of being a very clever child that could memorise books like a parrot & yet wasn’t able to read & by then, had lost all his self-confidence & hated school. At that stage I had absolutely no knowledge about learning styles or brain dominance. Thanks to Tannie Hettie, our eldest’s Grade R teacher at Hettie Hen Playgroup, I discovered that his gross & fine motor skills hadn’t been addressed properly.

I figured once the motorskills were addressed, his learning would improve. Although he did show huge progress with the motorskills improvement, he still had huge resistance to worksheets & workbooks, thus getting schoolwork done was still a daily struggle for us. It was only after about 8 months of homeschooling that I finally stumbled onto a website about learning styles & brain dominance.

WoW, what an eye opener that was. Finally I understood why my bright 7 year old was struggling so much with schoolwork. All the indications were there that he’s a strong kinaesthetic learner and a right-brained child & hence the left-brained learning environment at school was just not working for him. He needed alternative instructions in order to retain what he was taught. In hindsight, Misha’s motorskills were only part of his problem, the other contributing factor was his learning environment. School just didn’t cater for his kinaesthetic learning style & he just didn’t fit into the left-brain dominant teaching environment.

“When you help your child identify and respect his own learning strengths, interests, talents, and needs, you give him roots in the gifts he was born with. When you help your child discover his dreams, passions and goals, you give him the wings of motivation and purpose for becoming an eager, self-directed learner”

~ Mariaemma Willis and Victoria Kindle Hodson

Knowing your homeschool learning style can help you save yourself and your child hours, weeks, and even years of frustration. You’ll be amazed at the difference it will make to how much more they remember when they are allowed to learn their way.

If your child is not learning the way you teach, then "teach the way they learn"…

Misha’s SmartTutor Reading Progress Report

This progress report proves how effective teaching“the way they learn” has been to our third grader’s progress in just 6 months. I am now convinced that most of his problems experienced at school resulted from his learning style not having been catered for properly.

Below are just a few of the sites I’ve found on learning styles & how to address learning in order to better retain memory.  Start off with one or all of the below tests & then gather all the information you can to help you address your child’s learning in his/her learning style.

Learning Styles:

• Linguistic intelligence ("word smart") ~ attune to the spoken and written language, verbal skills. Uses language to express oneself and also as a way to remember information. (Examples: poets & writers)

• Logical-mathematical intelligence ("number/reasoning smart") ~ is able to analyse problems logically, detect patterns, and reason deductively. (Examples: mathematicians & scientists)

• Spatial intelligence ("picture smart") ~ able to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas. (Examples: artists, architects, surveyors, & inventors)

• Bodily-Kinaesthetic intelligence ("body smart") ~ able to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas. (Examples: artists, architects, surveyors, & inventors)

• Musical intelligence ("music smart") ~ involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. (Examples: singers, musicians, & composers)

• Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart") ~ concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. (Examples: sales people, social directors, & travel agents)

• Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart") ~ entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one’s feelings, fears and motivations. (entrepreneurs & therapists)

• Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart") ~ entails the ability to recognize, categorize and draw upon certain distinctions and patterns in the natural world.

Learning Style Tests:

• Accelerated Learning ~ Discover your preferred learning style
  LDPride

• How To Learn

• A SelfPortrait ~Learning Styles Online Inventory for Home Schools, Classrooms, Parenting

Info on Learning Styles:

• VARK ~ a guide to Learning Styles

• Learning Success Institute ~ testing, training — for home school & classroom success

• Learning Styles ~ Online Learning Style Assessments & Community

• Custom Homeschool Curriculum – A better way to teach and a better way to learn. Custom Homeschool Curriculum guides you in teaching how your child learns best. Here you’ll find curriculum suggestions and teaching strategies that focus on your child’s unique learning style. You’ll learn tips for teaching tough subjects like math, reading, and writing, plus ideas for those days when you seem to hit a wall.

• How to Learn

Learning Style Books:

In their own way: discovering and encouraging your child’s multiple intelligences by Thomas Armstrong ~ Read my review here

Learning Styles by Marlene D. LeFever

Discover Your Child’s Learning Style by Mariaemma Willis and Victoria Kindle Hodson

The Way They Learn by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias

VAK Self-Audit: Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Communication and Learning Styles by Brian Walsh

Practical approaches to using learning styles in higher education by Rita Stafford Dunn, Shirley A. Griggs

Visual Spatial Learners ("picture smart")

• Visual Spatial Learners by Gifted Development Center. A service of the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development.

• Teach with Movies provides Lesson Plans and Learning Guides based on feature films & movies, full length and snippets (video clips), for classes in English, Social Studies, Health, Science and the Arts.

• Visual Spatial Resource

Books:

Visual-Spatial Learners by Alexandra Golon

Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual Spatial Learner by Linda Kreger Silverman

Dreamers, Discoverers & Dynamos: How to Help the Child Who Is Bright, Bored and Having Problems in School (Formerly Titled ‘The Edison Trait’) by Lucy Jo Palladino

Kinaesthetic Learners ("body smart")

• Superlinks Accelerated Learning ~ National Reading Diagnostics Institute and Keys Learning

• Keys to Learning Success Your ADD or ADHD child may just be a Kinaesthetic Learner who could quickly go from the pain of frustration to the joy of success

• FREE Checklist For Kinaesthetic Learning Preferences ~ ADHD | ADD or Merely a Kinaesthetic Learner?

• Keys to Reading Success identifies a student’s reading level, but shows you why students are struggling and how to solve the problem in the shortest time. The fastest way to raise K-12 Students to Grade Level and Beyond in Months.

• Ricki Linksman’s Reading Instruction The Largest Reading Instruction Site Covering All 4 Learning Styles

• Off The Wall Phonics Accelerated Phonics for Kinaesthetic Learners, ADHD, ADD, or Kids Who Like to Move–Fast, Fun and Proven Games to take your child from his or her current level in reading to reading mastery (K-12, or college) in the shortest possible time.

Books:

The Fine Line Between ADHD and Kinesthetic Learnersby Ricki Linksman

The Kinesthetic Classroom: Teaching and Learning Through Movement by Michael S. Kuczala, Traci Lengel, Mike Kuczala, Regional Training Center

How to Make Learning a Moving Experience (Kinesthetics) [Action Based Learning] by Jean Blades

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soulby Stuart Brown M.D. & Christopher Vaughan

Brain Gym Tools – Brain Gym This book; in first person story format; includes the 26 Brain Gym movements and simple instructions for how to perform them correctly. The book reaches out to all with the message that movement and learning are necessary companions. Every page contains high energy illustrations of activities recommended for people of all ages. Included are specific routines of movement for specific skills such as reading comprehension and hand eye coordination. If you know that you or your child have the ability or the information but can’t seem to call upon it at will; you’ll benefit from having a copy of Brain Gym.

Please visit this page frequently as I will be posting regular updates as I find more resources.

ads not by this site

4 Comments to

“Learning Styles”

1. October 28th, 2011 at 3:54 am ReplyElize vd Merwe Says:

   I looked up our learning styles and I am mostly Naturalistic with Intra- and Interpersonal a close second and third. Adam is also dominantly Naturalistic with Spatial (pictures) a close second. Kinaesthetic isn’t as high as with Rocco, who is by far kinaesthetic.

   • October 28th, 2011 at 12:58 pm ReplyPatrizia (a.k.a. Trys/Trixi) Schwartz Says:

     Thank you for stopping by. At least now you’ll know what you’re dealing with when other people try to tell you he might be “ADHD” or “ADD”. Since you have a Kinaestetic child on your hand I really reccomend you get hold of the books “In their own way: discovering and encouraging your child’s multiple intelligences” by Thomas Armstrong” and “The Fine Line Between ADHD and Kinesthetic Learners by Ricki Linksman. They include loads of ideas how to help these children & will help you with your decision making when you need to start purchasinc curricula. I consider it money very well spent because you can avoid purchasing material that won’t work for your child. Blessings Trys

2. June 29th, 2011 at 9:37 pm ReplyCarol Says:

   I thought I would throw this site out there for Learning Styleshttp://www.time4learning.com/learning-styles.shtml. I have to 2 daughters that are completely different learning styles so this a passionate subject for me. For those homeschoolers that use an online curriculum this is specailly helpful.

   • October 28th, 2011 at 1:02 pm ReplyPatrizia (a.k.a. Trys/Trixi) Schwartz Says:

     Thank you Carol, catering for Misha’s schooling seems to be a neverending challenge. I’ve recently put him onto Time4Learning, because he seemed to be bored with his other schooling. From what I’ve seen so far the lessons are collourful & interactive and fortunately he’s now happy to do some “school” again. So far so good, now to see how long it lasts before he gets bored again…