Tag Archives: coding academy

102

My daughter woke me in my bedroom around 3 a.m. with the statement “Mommy, I think I have a fever.” She was correct. The thermometer read over 102 degrees. Ugh.. A not so great way to begin her school year. She had gone to bed last night complaining of a sore throat, but I just blew it off. That symptom blossomed into full-blown pain and not wanting to eat or drink, so I actually took her to see her peds doc this morning. Her symptoms were mimicking that of Strep, so I thought it best to get a culture. Thankfully, it wasn’t Strep so no need for antibiotics, but she likely has an Adenovirus infection. Fun stuff. Lucky for us, though, we don’t have to report our sick days to a school nurse, just mommy/teacher/physician:)
Still, her URI was bad timing since the kids and I were to spend the morning at a local animal refuge center. They hold some great classes on nature/ecology/wildlife, etc, for homeschoolers, but my husband’s work schedule allowed him to still take the boys to the class. Sounded like a lot of educational fun.
After lunch, I focused on my oldest 2 sons and their academics until about 9:00 this evening. My daughter spent most of the day on the couch, and the first grader was exhausted from the outdoors field trip, so I did not focus on his structured academics. The kids watched a few video tutorials on 9/11 via Brainpop and Discovery Education streaming.
Off to bed soon as we have another field trip staring at us for tomorrow. I’m not one to usually do too many field trips, since we have such a large volume of academics to cover at home. Having adequate time to teach is essential to their education, but tomorrow’s adventure should prove worthwhile.
One side note-I started going through the tutorials on Coding Academy for myself as well as having my oldest 2 go through them. Looks to be an informative site..

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No longer just the 3 R’s..It will soon be “RRRC”

I’m still trying to find my groove of how and what I want to cover academically with my kids. I can’t see myself being cloned in the near future although I would embrace that idea, so I’ve got to find an alternative solution.

We spent the morning hours on math, handwriting, reading, and phonics. Lunchtime followed before I called it quits for the day so that I could prep for my Junior FLL club that I’m coaching this year. I needed time to read over again the challenge and all that is involved with participating in such an event. My oldest son also had homework for his FLL team, so I gave him some time to prepare his assignments. The other 3 just free-played until it was time to leave for robotics club and gymnastics. Travel soccer followed robotics, and then I escaped to meet a dear homeschooling girlfriend of mine for a late coffee and dessert. She’s a rock star in the homeschooling world-oldest son at an Ivy League school, daughter studying overseas and will likely end up in the same arena, etc, etc..I embrace any chance I can get to hang with her. She’s like the female version of Yoda, only much prettier:)

Now, it’s midnight and I’ve been reading more on coding and the importance of all of us knowing how to code.  Look at this quote from Mark Zuckerburg featured in a recent “Seattle Times” article..

“Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicts that in 15 years, basic programming will be as important a skill as reading and writing, and that “We’re going to look back and wonder why it took us so long” to realize it.”

So, my mind wandered off to the “3 R’s” that we were taught were so important. Now, we must add a “C” for coding? I guess so..It is inevitable so better to embrace it earlier than later.

Trying to hit the gym early in the morning. I’m feeling flabby..

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Cyber Cold War with China

I’ve still got computer science education on the brain for my kids.  Not sure why, but I am persistently feeling like I need to educate myself and them much more extensively than what we are doing at home.  So, in my standard google search, I ran across this website:

http://www.codecademy.com

I may have mentioned before that I’m hoping to get my kids together with a couple of friends to delve into the computer world a bit more, learning basic coding skills, etc.  I want my kids to know how to design the video games, not just play the video games.  This is key here.

Also, in my google search, look at the article I ran across:

http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/19/technology/security/china-hacking-war/index.html

Is it us against China or do they own us already?

Best to bump up the education and not be a puppet as far as I’m concerned.  Do I sound paranoid?  Possibly, but those feelings may be warranted.

On a lighter note, I treated myself to a McDonald’s caramel sundae with nuts tonight.  I call it my mommy treat.  This was after I did some class at the gym called “piloxing”-decent workout..

Off to prep for what lies ahead!

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sweetheart handstand