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Posts Tagged ‘education’

  1. ¿Que Pasa?

    December 18, 2020 by admin

    Just before the COVID pandemic set in, we had decided to set a goal of learning Spanish. It’s the second most common language spoken in the US, and seems important to know.

    But in a pandemic? How’re we supposed to do that?

    Luckily, we’re experienced at this homeschooling thing. So we’ve got you covered.

    Our first stop was DuoLingo. Duo Lingo offers language instruction in dozens of languages, from common to more obscure. It’s free (There is a premium level if you are interested in more intensity.) , and it’s super easy. It can start you out at novice, or drop you into a more advanced level. We highly recommend it.

    But there are other ways to pick up and improve your language skills. We’re focused on Spanish, but you can find similar tools for other languages as well.

    PODCASTS:
    There are numerous foreign language podcasts available, for all levels of learners. We’ll just mention a few here today:

    Spanishpod101 produces a few podcasts most weeks, usually vocabulary focused. The range of topics varies a lot, and the sample sentences can provide good practice.

    CoffeeBreakSpanish uses stories and travel to tell about Spanish speaking parts of the world, and to zero in on little points of grammar and vocabulary of interest.

    News In Slow Spanish gives weekly news digests in Spanish. It’s a good way to get used to hearing spoken Spanish in everyday context.

    We’ll come back again later to add more resources for learning Spanish in a future post.


  2. Homeschool Credits: Pet Care

    October 8, 2013 by admin

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    As we swing deeper into homeschooling with our Bluey, we’ve established one of our recurring themes: Pet Care.  We have a lot of animals in our house, and Bluey frequently discusses his desire for a pet of his own, or to perhaps become a veterinarian one day.

    So one of our missions, on Mondays or Tuesdays, is Pet Care 101.  We go to the pet store.  We take the dog on a trip to the woods or a dog park.  We go to the vet.  We clean the fish tank.

    And along the way, our Bluey learns many different aspects of caring for critters.  He reads signs and labels in the stores, practices counting, and learns how much a fifty pound bag of dog food weighs.  Bluey also meets and interacts with numerous people from all walks of life.

    In addition to learning about carnivores, herbivores, egg layers, live birthers, forest dwellers, tree dwellers and water dwellers— our Bluey learns about his city and the natural habitats in his neighborhood….All this and more from Pet Care 101.

    Your day-to-day tasks can become wide-ranging topics of learning for your family.  Who knows what our next theme might be for Bluey?