MineCraft and Other Cool Online Programs

Well, sadly our break is over. We didn't get around to some of the stuff I had hoped to do. But it was nice staying up late and sleeping in. I spent a lot of time reading blogs and researching schools and educational sites online. I decided to share some of the goodies I found. First I came across some really interesting blogs. I think my favorite was this one. I like the posts about video games. I don't know that I agree with them, but I know how she feels. It drives me crazy to see Kyle on the computer all the time, I try to see educational value in it. Or any value really. I comfort myself with the thought that it's a computer world we live in, it's good that he feels comfortable with computers. She has lots of really good posts, sometimes I cringe a little when I read them and sometimes I laugh but they make me think. Sometimes I think she says exactly what I think but would never have the guts to say. I read a really cool post about Minecraft. I don't have any idea what she is talking about but it sounds super cool. I showed some of it to Kyle, he seems to know what they are talking about. Now I gotta figure out what Minecraft is and how to get it for him for Christmas. I guess he watches YouTube videos about it? I have no clue. The other one that really blew me away and reminded me all over again why I homeschool was this one about public schools. Yikes! I am so thankful my kids aren't in public school. I also found some good online games. I came across iknowthat on the time4learning forums. We use T4L and so I signed up for iknowthat to see whether or not I liked it. I really do and the kids like it also, it's definitely not a complete curriculum like T4L. It is fun and really cheap. It's only like $6 a month, it can be personalized for 6 kids and it keeps records and scores. I don't think it really teaches though, it's more for practice and review. Then I came across abcmouse. It's a little more and only Lily and maybe Lacey would be able to use it. I haven't tried it out yet but I think I'm going to give it a try. They offer a free 30 day trial. It's less than $8 a month though. I would probably try to get both but Ashley and her friend Jessica decided to use their week off scheming and came up with the idea that they wanted to attend a private Christian school next year. I had suggested this like six months ago and Ashley flat out was not interested. Which was no skin off my nose I don't really want to spend the money for private school anyway.  But we have had some conversations about it because Ashley doesn't feel like she is getting what she needs if she decides to go to college. I try to understand her reasoning but I mean she has access to the Internet and the library, she can learn whatever she needs to know for college. However, I told them that I would talk to the pastor and find out some information. Both girls struggle with math so that's an issue. At first he flat out told me they don't accept kids in the 11th grade but then he realized they were homeschooled so he said that there was a good chance that they would. He said they don't usually take public school kids that late because it's such a difference in environments. They would need to try to bring their math up some and he said for us to make an appointment to talk to the principle. So I went home thinking the girls would be super excited, well they had talked to some friends that told them how the school is super strict! In fact they aren't even allowed to have boyfriends (according to their friends). So now they may not want to go. AUUUGH! So that put us back to looking for something for them to do. They want something accreditted. They don't like what they are doing now. It's stupid, it's boring, they aren't learning. So back to the computer I go for more research. And I find virtualedu, it looks promising. It's reasonable, starts out at $50 a month (of course they have higher plans available), fully accredited, NOT a government program, no contracts. It looks pretty good. So I called them and they need transcripts. GREAT. So I spent all day trying to remember everything she has done for the last 3 or 4 years to send them transcripts. And they spent all day taking math tests online. So if we end up doing this that's another $50-$80 a month out of my budget, which is why I am thinking I am not going to get both iknowthat and ABCmouse.

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