Kids go out every year looking for Valentine’s Day cards that represent their personality. But when you pop into the shops rarely do you find great geeky Valentine’s cards for the geeky kids! And when you look online they can be quite pricey. So why not print them off for free? Here are 4 geeky Valentine’s Day cards with a varying level of crafting to get them into give able shape!
First up are the straight printables!
Brain Power Boys has a collection of great “boy friendly” Valentine’s that my girls love too! They range from robots to superheros and are super cute! Just print and hand them out!
Heidi Schulz has the most adorable Doctor Who Valentine printables! They cover everything from Oods to Daleks to Angels. These are another print and go!
If you want to do just a bit more work we can pop over to a Star Wars theme! Design Wash Repeat has the coolest Yoda Best Valentine’s Day printable! They get kicked up to the next level with just the addition of a glow stick!
And if you want to go even geekier and nerdier… the coolest for last! Left Brain Craft Brain has awesome Light Up Circuit Valentine’s. While they sound complicated, they are so easy! If you can use white glue, you can make these!
Remember, even geeks can represent with their Valentines! So how are you and your kids letting your geek flag wave?
Science fiction, it is the reading material of geeks! With our kids playing with Legos, doing Robotics, and spending gobs of time on computers every day, they are turning into geeks younger and younger. So it sounds like science fiction is the reading material of choice.
Finding science fiction that is subject appropriate and reading level appropriate can be a challenge. Especially if you weren’t a big science fiction reader as a child yourself. Personally I had just heard of or read science fiction that was Young Adult or (mostly) even more mature than that. But there is a wealth of great science fiction for juvenile readers!
Here are 5 series to get your young readers going. Some of these are newer offerings and some are relatively old books! My kids have read all of these so they are personal recommendations. But remember, we are recommending these series for your kids but not everything by these authors! Some of them (like Heinlein) have a variety of offerings for a variety of maturity!
1) Lucky Starr series: These are actually by Isaac Asimov but he wrote them under the name Paul French. He wrote these in the hopes for them to be a television series back in the 1950’s. There are 6 books in this series!
2) Heinlein’s Juveniles Book Series: Robert Heinlein wrote a series of 12 juvenile books. But series is a bit odd because they don’t share characters or follow a timeline. The last book, Have Space Suit-Will Travel, is one of NerdPie’s favorite scifi books and she always recommends it!
3) Rod Allbright and the Galactic Patrol: This is a 4 book collection ( Aliens Ate My Homework, I Left My Sneakers in Dimension X, The Search for Snout, Aliens Stole My Body) by Bruce Coville. This follows the adventures of a 6th grader named Rod Allbright. It is a super cute and fun series.
4) NERDS: This is a super fun series of 5 books by Michael Buckley. It is the geeky adventures of a group of nerdy friends. My kids love, love, love this series. To the point that they almost did a coordinated Halloween costume themed by the characters.
5) Tom Swift: This is like a science fiction series that has over 100 books! These books first made their appearance in 1910 and have continued until 2007. Tom Swift is an inventor and adventurer who inspired people like Steve Wozniak and Isaac Asimov so he has that going for him;). What I want to know is how come I never heard of these when I was a kid?
So there you have 5 kid friendly Science Fiction series for your kids (and possibly you) to read!
I recently got hold of a new product from Wizzy Gizmo. It is the New Testament Series of the Fast Track Bible Pack. These are like the uber Bible Flashcards!
These are gorgeously printed, double sided cards. On the front there is a great summary along with a couple of highlights. Then on the back there is a plethora of information.
1)Theme of each book
2)Outline
3)Key Chapters and their topics
4)Key Passages
5)Key Doctrines with the specific passages to support them
6)Key people
The New Testament set has 28 cards (there is an index card also with Names, themes, dates and chapters too) and retails for $14.99. They are for all ages and don’t assume any previous knowledge.
Now that we got all the details out of the way… I think these flashcards are great! They are not at all trying to replace the actual Bible because they constantly turn you back to the text. But they do help to stream line the information. You can use them as a memorization tool or as a devotional. I am planning on using these as a devotional tool with the kids. I myself am using them to work on my own memory work!
I really love these and look forward to checking out an Old Testament pack when it comes out. And how would you like to win a set?
Wizzy Gizmo has generously offered to give one set to one of my readers. Just enter the Rafflecopter!
(Disclosure: Wizzy Gizmo gave me a set to review but all thoughts and opinions are mine. The giveaway will be fulfilled by Wizzy Gizmo! You can also check out more reviews over at Homeschool Mosaics.)
*This piece brought to you as part of the #VZEducation Campaign and is compensated. But the thoughts and opinions are mine.*
Apps. By this point we all know and believe that apps can be more than mindless time wasters. They can be informative and educational and broaden our minds. But it seems that most of the “learning” apps are either aimed at young learners or aimed at much older. There are also all the reference apps like the ones I shared with my 5 Apps to Start the School Year With post. But where are all the learning games and apps for older kids, say about junior high?
Well, with the Verizon Educational Tools helped me to find some great learning apps for my junior high students. I found this line call iTooch that has all kinds of apps for different grades and even the TOEFL test. We tried the free (or “lite”) versions of the 7th grade Math and Language Arts.
This are not game but more quiz like. They have practice and test modes. In the practice mode you get questions to answer and it is not timed. If you need help on a question then just go to the lesson and it will be queued up right to the information you need. Where as test is timed and counts your questions (and score).
I absolutely love the whole lesson aspect of these apps! It is my favorite part. I know, that sounds weird. But by having the lesson with every question I don’t have to help;). I set one of my kids down with my phone and told her to start playing. She quickly stopped and said she couldn’t play any more because she didn’t know what the indirect voice was. I told her to read the lesson and she was back on her way. She knew what indirect voice was but didn’t know that was what it was called. And the math app was set up the same way!
With the “lite” version there are still lots to do. There are different subjects for kids to do but they can only do the first chapter. But the full app is pretty affordable. You can buy them by the small subject (like 7th grade math) or by the grade. The whole grade level app is $9.99 normally at Amazon. They also offer free chapters if you will rate the game on Google Play.
I really liked this line of apps but to be completely honest, my daughter wished it was more game like. So if you are looking for a real game… this isn’t it. But if you are looking for a study tool and quiz, this is for you!
Thanks to the #VZEducation campaign for compensating me for this piece. But I chose the app and all thoughts are mine!
I was recently asked (and compensated with a Critical Thinking Company product) to take a look at the Critical Thinking Company’s Alphabet Song Game.
Software and apps for toddlers and preschoolers is always a hard thing. You want to engage the children, yet make sure it isn’t to challenging for them to run. You also want them to learn something and not just turn off mentally. I find the Alphabet Song Game to be a great balance of language learning, entertainment, and fine motor skills development. I evaluated this software on my PC but it also comes as a free app on iOS, Android and Windows 8.
This really is built upon the Alphabet Song and is quite precious. At the beginning of every lesson they sing the Alphabet Song. Then the lesson takes the child through the Alphabet Song again by singing along to their action, and each lesson has a different call to action. It starts with choosing the capitol letters in the alphabet where they choose the next letter by clicking on it and there is a choice between 2 capitol letters. The lessons get harder by going from capital letters to lower case and then they increase the number to choose from. The advanced lessons even have them choose among letters going the right and wrong directions.
I love this! It is cute and just really gets to the alphabet! Understanding letters is the first key to reading and really helps start them down the path of logic. And anything that requires consistent mouse movement and clicking helps work on those fine motor skills.
I highly recommend the Alphabet Song Game for anyone who wants to have a fun learning activity for their non-reading child on their computer, phone or tablet.
Once again the Critical Thinking Company has come up with a fabulous product. If you want more of their products (like ones they are charging for;) they have given me a coupon to share with you all!!! Use code BLOGR814 by October 31, 2014 to get 15% off your entire order!
(Remember that while the Critical Thinking Company may have compensated me to write about this software the thoughts and opinions are still mine!)
Devices, homework, education and apps. There is so much of all of them and so many choices to make! What is a person to do? Kids love technology and playing so that is a tool we want to use to its fullest with our kids. Verizon wants to help parents out when it comes to apps and education with the Verizon Educational Tools App. The Verizon Educational Tools is an app that helps parents find educational apps based that are best suited to your child’s needs and age. And I am stoked that they have asked me to write about it!
The Verizon Educational Tools app is set up to make it easy to find specific apps to work on specific subjects based on their grade level. After you choose a grade level you are given options between apps and videos. And in each of those categories you can choose between searching by category or common core. Under category you can pick apps by subject and sub-subject! Under Common Core you can choose by each section of the codes.
The apps that you find have all been reviewed and recommended a board of experts. So you can take faith that these aren’t just random apps found by a search engine. In addition to just giving an overview of the app, the panel breaks down and gives you a detailed look at every aspect of the apps. But some of the apps listed will be not be free and all costs for the apps and all that are completely separate from the Verizon Educational Tools App.
There are also a couple of other areas of the app that parents might find helpful. Common Core is a really big deal in schools now (not so much for my homeschool;). So to help parents with this there is a free Common Core for Dummies that comes with the app. But in addition to guide they have the actual Common Core standards by state. So there are no more questions when teachers shrug their shoulders about it, you can get it yourself!
There are also some great discounts and offers available. This is the only place that companies can buy placement in the app at all (and it doesn’t influence being listed anywhere else). There are deals on BrainPop, magazines and a bunch of other things.
Verizon Educational Tools seems to be a fabulous tool that makes finding subject and grade level appropriate apps extremely easy! This is an add on service so it is $2 a month per device. But if you have a More Everything plan you can get this free if you download and activate it by September 30, 2014. Then it will be free for the life of your More Everything plan! If you have multiple devices on the More Everything plan you must install and activate the Verizon Educational Tools App on each device. But remember, you must get this by September 30, 2014 for it to be free (or wait for another promotion).
So go grab Verizon Educational Tools and get this school year off to a great start!
(Disclosure: I am an Ambassador for Verizon Educational Tools and have been compensated for this post. But while Verizon picked the subject, all thoughts and opinions are mine alone!)
I have always heard of academic discounts on technology but have never seen them outside of a college until a couple of years ago. But even then, homeschoolers were not included and there just wasn’t that much on offer.
You can pay for specific upgrades and you buy 1 machine! It doesn’t have to be wrapped up in some mass order (though they do that too). It looks like for that you can just order straight off the main page. But if you are a school there are a couple of options. The one that interested me was the homeschool option! You get a further discount from the price on the front page. The discount correlates with the quantity you order. So if you get together with a couple of other homeschoolers, or want to buy a machine for each of your kids;), you can get even better prices.
Want something a little more cutting edge? How about a Surface Pro 3? This one is only for college (or university) students. You can get $150 off this new machine! I think technically it can still be called a tablet but it really is an ultra book! You can type to your heart’s content with the case’s keyboard and play all the games you want;). This deal is currently at Microsoft Stores, Best Buy, Staples and Tiger Direct in the U.S., and Microsoft Stores and Best Buy in Canada. This deal expires September 6th so don’t wait to take advantage.
So there are a couple great tech discounts! So go grab them!
(I am a Lenovo Insider and a Microsoft Champion but this post is all from me;).
I understand that it is June but many of us are already looking towards the fall and the fun activities that are coming. And here in the NerdFamily house, we are looking towards our 4th year of Lego Robotics!!! The NerdDad and I coach a homeschool team so we are getting ready to start up again and part of that is opening up to new members. And every year I find myself explaining what this is and isn’t, so this year I decided to do a post, including the specifics of how our team works! There are some standard things and some that are specific to our team. The differences are noted;). There are teams in all types of schools be they public, homeschooled, chartered or private.
What is this?
What we do is actually the First Lego League versus high school Lego Robotics. This IS NOT just playing with Lego. This is actually a competition with 3 parts.
-One part is programming the robot to complete a variety of task on a specific field with specific obstacles. The board changes every year and the kids work together with the robot to program in the tasks. During the competition they are calling all the programs they have previously worked on.
-A second part is a challenge. The kids will be issue a challenge having to do with the theme of the year. The kids do research to develop a solution and then create a presentation that they will perform for a couple of judges (not a big audience) at the competition.
-The third part is core values. It isn’t something they actually do but making sure the kids learn to work together as a team and so on. There will be a chat with a judge to make sure they grasp them. The coaches will go over the values as they prep for competition.
The Nuts & Bolts:
– There is a limit of 10 kids per team. Our team first gives former members the option of coming back before opening it up to newcomers.
-This is for kids 9-14. The bottom limit (9) is a squishy boundary and will allow 8 year olds in our area. Our team has a rule that we only take 8 year olds if they have an older sibling who is also on the team.
-Our team meets 1 night a week for practice August through the end of November/beginning of December. For us this isn’t a drop off situation. Parents need to stick around and possibly help;).
-There is a cost. While other schools and groups either charge a standard fee or no fee at all, every team has to pay a registration fee, order a pack of parts for your practice arena, a map and pay entry fees to competitions. How our team handles it is that we split all costs evenly between the kids. Last year we had 10 kids on the team, my family owed 3/10 of the costs because we had 3 kids participating. I believe the initial fees are around the $350 arena with a competition fee after that.
-Every team can start at a different time in the fall. We run some informal practices in July. They serve as brush up sessions for those who have done this before and an introduction to students who have never done this before. We ask for a firm commitment by August 1st and basically when we are full, we are full. Even if it is before August 1st. That is so we can collect fees and get us registered! We can’t order out kits for the year until that point and we need at soon as we can!
The biggest misconception I have seen about Robotics in elementary school has to do with the name Lego. This is not a Lego building or playing group. I have seen kids (in our group and others) be disappointed because that is what they thought they were signing up for. The only real Lego assembling happens for 1 week when we assemble the field kit. Everything else is simple programming and presentation stuff.
This may not be for everyone but my kids have really loved it. It is a great way to develop logic, team building and be a great step in a #STEM education!
Did you know that May 15, 2014 is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day? It is and I am hard pressed to think of a more delicious holiday. As many of you know, I am gluten free but that doesn’t prevent me from eating way to many chocolate chip cookies! They just happen to be my Delectable Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe!
And what would any holiday be with out me nerding it up a little bit? I found this great activity you can do with your kids to teach them all about mining with chocolate chip cookies. You just need some common kitchen items and chocolate chip cookies!
And lets not forget the invention of chocolate chip cookies by Ruth Graves Wakefield. I found a great little piece that talks about the happy accident that resulted in the creation of everyone’s favorite cookie. I think it is a great lesson to kids. We have to try. Even if we fail we may succeed as something new!
For all you gluten eaters (like my kids;), Mrs Fields is running a geeky chocolate chip cookie special..
They have Angry Birds cookie cakes and Angry Birds cookies & milk boxes just in time for National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. And during May 15th-20th, there is a 20% off coupon these and any of their treats on their site. Use code NCCCD to get the discount!
Now, if you will excuse me. I have to make some cookies!
I am hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling again! This time is looks a little different. We just have a couple of entries but they are fabulous!!!
Why Homeschool has a great piece where Henry answers a variety of questions from a mom who recently began homeschooling!
Mel over at MamaBuzz is busy debunking homeschool myths about age gaps and hours they keep. (Keep debunking those myths!)
Here on the Nerdfamily Blog, I talked about Great Science Reference Books to have on hand!
I talked this week about avoiding the summer brain drain over at Homeschool Hangout! Homeschool Hangout happens every Thursday at 1:30pm pacific over on Google Plus!
Thanks for joining me for the Carnival of Homeschooling! Make sure you comment on all these great pieces and participate yourself next week!
