Left brained right brained and creativity

An interesting test on right brained and left brained learning (though they're positioning it as a test of creativity where creativity = right brained... not sure I buy that!).  But, the results are interesting as they break out different aspects of Left Brain and Right Brain...

http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm

Here's their description of Left Brained and Right Brained:
http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/

Left brained aspects:

• Linear
• Sequential
• Symbolic
• Logical
• Verbal
• Reality-based

Right Brain aspects

• Holistic
• Random
• Concrete
• Intuitive
• Nonverbal
• Fantasy-oriented

These are in the order I tested -- interestingly, I was about 60% left brain, 40% right brain -- dominant linear LB but holistic RB -- so my approach is a linear parts to whole processing of pieces of information in a holistic manner -- yep, that about sums me up!

AND here's another link with an interesting blog post about using left brain and right brain tendencies in art -- how there's a place for both approaches.

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/11/understanding-your-brain-for-better-design-left-vs-right/

Myers Briggs and Personality Descriptions

Just realized my absolute favorite Myers Briggs website is not listed among my resources:

• Personality Page

An easy-to-do test, and some great descriptions of each personality's strengths and weaknesses...  A test for kids to take (only ends up with 3 attributes instead of 4), career choices, what to work on.

RPG for kids

Found this great resource / blog post for introducing strategy and role playing games with the 5 to 7 yo crowd and their own toys.  Haven't read it yet but the post sounds great and I'm going to.  I know my son does a lot of "attribute" and "characteristics" discussion with his friends so it might be a really cool option to do.

Wired.com Geek Dad

Evaluating The Year

I found this somewhere else and did some editing (but forgot to keep the link so it's not attributed to the author - sorry!).  Some great questions.

1. What positive habits did each child show progress in this year?  Sometimes we forget how much progress they make in a year until you sit back and really think about what life was like a year ago and what it felt like you were continually reminding them of, day in and day out.  What's the current area each child needs to think about?
2. How was the schedule this year?  Was it too busy?  Was there time to get things done?  What took more time than you expected -- and was it worth it?  Do you wish you had added something that you initially thought you couldn't handle? What changes do we need to consider for next year’s schedule?
3. What were the unplanned learning experiences that happened this year? An unexpected illness?  A change in jobs or houses?  Unexpected trips?  What are some of the lessons each of us learned?
4. What did I learn about __________ (insert name of each child individually) this year? This question will be fun to consider as you think back over the surprises you encountered with each child as he developed. Record the delightful changes as well as the challenging attitudes or tendencies.
5. What curriculum changes do I need to consider for next year? What worked, and what didn’t work this year?
6. What was a crowning moment this year? Note the obvious successes you saw in each child.
7. What was our greatest challenge this year? Will this challenge carry into next year?
8. What do I need to change, as parent/teacher, in my approach next year? Are my expectations realistic? Was the workload realistic for the age and development of each child? Do I lecture and/or moralize too much? Am I too intense? Do I look for joy in each day? Do I need to change priorities? Are the most important things getting the least amount of time?
9. Was there anything I really hoped to do this year that didn’t happen? Why? Should it become a priority for next year?
10. What can we do to celebrate each child’s progress this year? Ideas might include a special honors night at dinner or an end of the year party with certificates of accomplishment. Accomplishments could include any progress, spiritual or academic, that each child has made.
11. What would I list as the academic progress of each child? Recognizing strengths and weaknesses will help you plan for next year.
12. What would I list that was really good about this year? (It is easy to forget.)
13. What changes would I recommend for next year?

Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason is a popular choice of an educational approach, especially for the younger years (though she had resources for all the way through high school).

Here are a some good Charlotte Mason sites:

This is a good blog series (10 days of posts about Charlotte Mason) talking about a lot of different areas of CM along with resources:

http://ourjourneywestward.com/category/charlotte-mason-series/

And some curriculum and planning guides for CM (they were at the NCHE Conference last year but not this year -- some of their materials look good):

http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/scmguide/

A good outline of the different ages and expectations. Includes a good blogpost series about planning a CM curriculum:

http://simplycharlottemason.com/series/planning/

Ambleside Online has some good outlines for CM as well:

http://www.amblesideonline.org/New.shtml

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And, Fiona and I did a discussion series a year ago on figuring out your educational philosophy and deciding how to organize a school year.  You might find something helpful here:

http://homeschooltopics.wikispaces.com/06+JUNE+Planning+Objectives

Possible ideas for 11th grade

Possible ideas for 11th Grade

• English III (1 credit)
• Focus the fall on writing -- maybe do a couple Ed2Go classes for character development, technical writing.
• The following are all 6-8 week writing classes from Ed2Go:
• Beginning Writer's Workshop 
• Research Methods for Writers
• Fundamentals of Technical Writing
• Grammar Refresher
• Effective Business Writing
• A Writer's Guide to Descriptive Settings
• Introduction to Journaling
• Grant Writing A to Z
• Writing Effective Grant Proposals
• Bravewriter also offers online writing classes (I think they are more time-intensive than Ed2Go classes -- they definitely involve more interaction with the instructor and rest of the class)
• SAT/ACT Essay Prep
• Other bravewriter classes including Shakespeare, etc.
• http://www.bravewriter.com/program/online-classes/class-list/
• http://www.bravewriter.com/program/online-classes/class-list/
• AND Movie Discussion:   http://www.bravewriter.com/program/online-classes/class-list/movie-discussion-group/
• Could do literature of some sort...
•  Technology (1 credit)
• Creating Wordpress Blog Sites
• Web 2.0: Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts
• Intro to Java
• Intro to Networks
• Intro to Linux
• Computer app certification
• Wordpress?  Solidworks?  Something from Lynda.com?
• Biology with lab (1 credit)
• American Government (1 credit)
• American government once again this fall. This class is an introduction to political science, and covers basic principles in civics, political science, and basic economic policy.
• Engineering III (1 credit - includes field trip class?)
• Algebra II -- WHAT???
• Music/PE
• Other...?

Another year... 10th Grade

Near the end of another year...  What were the take away's for each of us?  Here's the summary of my almost-16 yo's year...

Biggest change
Independence and self-confidence in public
"Finding" music among peers

Learning tools/curriculum

• Spanish II (1 credit)
• After a great start with a friend teaching Spanish I, Spanish II was his first year-long outside class using traditional classroom activities such as quizzes, midterms, finals, textbook, weekly homework, class presentations, etc. A bit of a rocky start but he ended up with an A and got into the flow.  A GREAT chance to do that!
• English II (1 credit)
• An eclectic mix of items, including 2 online forum classes from Bravewriter -- Literary analysis of Sir Gawain and the Knights of the Round Table and an Expository Essay writing class
• Engineering II (1 credit)
• Furthering engineering skills through a FIRST Robotics Competition team including:
• Computer aided design (Solidworks)
• Programming (LabView)
• Prototyping
• Electronics 
• System troubleshooting
• Materials
• Soldering
• Arduino
• Tool certification
• Designing/modding nerf guns
• Public speaking -- where does that go?
• Geometry (1 credit)
• Aleks Geometry
• Math U See Geometry
• Music theory, skills and improv (1 credit)
• Music lessons for theory
• Piano recitals
• Improv with other teens
• Game Design (1/2 credit)
• 2-D game design, 3-D game design, modding backgrounds
• 2 weeklong, full day camps at Wake Tech
• Self-learning modding:  adding modules, creating with PhotoShop CS4
• Computer Technology (1/2 credit)
• Creating servers for Minecraft 
• Introduction to PC Troubleshooting from Ed2Go
• Research and set up of high powered gaming computer
• Personal Finance (1/2 credit)
• http://personalfinance2011.wikispaces.com/
• Units on personal finance topics, each one including a field trip or outside speaker
• Career choices ( http://www.driveofyourlife.org/, life coach, salary choices
• Getting a job (job applications, salaries)
• Bank choices (credit union vs bank, types of services and accounts, balancing accounts)
• Credit card choices (marketing, impact of interest rate and fees)
• Buying a car (types of cars, safety, resale, depreciation, value, costs of ownership -- first year and additional costs, gas, how to tell if a car's been in an accident, CarMax)
• Insurance (auto insurance, premiums, what impacts costs)
• Auto loans (interest rates, paying back)
• Housing (apartments, dorms, on-campus housing)
• Cash flow (The Cash Flow game)
• Income tax -- how it works, main forms, filling out a 1099-EZ
• Financial planning (speaking with financial planner, savings, long term impact of saving now vs later)
• PE (Tae Kwon Do -- black belt) (1/2 credit)

What's missing?  A science with lab!!!!!

Another Year... Kindergarten

Near the end of another year...  What were the take away's for each of us?  Here's the summary of my 6 yo's year...

Biggest change
Independence and self-confidence

Best learning tools/curriculum

• Beginning reading skills:  Headsprout -- expensive but he likes it and it has about a year and a half to get through the 80 lessons at the pace we're doing it (we take breaks quite often -- the pace of doing it every day was too much for his reading development.  He should have it completed by about the end of May
• Math:  Life of Fred Apples, Butterflies plus games, games and games (chess, war, skipbo, speed, monopoly junior, the Game of Life, allowance)
• Handwriting:  iWriteWords app for iPhone (doable whenever waiting places for highschool brother)
• Learning activity:  A weekly "bookclub" coop with friends where we covered a huge number of categories:
• Detectives
• Maps and compasses
• Ears and Eyes
• Native Americans
• Environment
• The Earth
• Learning activity:  Junior FIRST LEGO League Snack Attack -- he LOVED being on a Junior FIRST LEGO League -- field trips, sharing LEGO's, watching youtube videos about how different ingredients are grown and processed (cocoa beans, sugar, etc.).  And he loved telling people about his models.
• Learning activity:  Stop motion animation with LEGO's -- by far, the best software for elementary students:  Zu3D
• Most common obsessions:  LEGO's (especially minifigs with weapons), nerf guns and battles, military strategy, wii games, free play with friends
• Favorite read-aloud books:
• Magic Tree House books
• Mary Pope Osborne's Odyssey series
• Favorite electronic games:
• Plants vs. zombies
• Anything LEGO or Mario on the wii and gamecube

Next learning goals

• Reading -- move further along the journey to fluent reading (challenge is getting him to "see" the words)
• Spelling -- part of reading
• Math -- writing out math problems -- his knowledge of math is great
• Handwriting, handwriting, handwriting
• More general science and social studies discussions

Myers Briggs Personality Test

Here's a very easy Myers Briggs test that is free and fairly quick.  Gives % results:

http://kisa.ca/personality/

Here ares my results -- very on target compared to all the other tests I've done.  I like the % parts instead of putting people into 16 precise squares.

Personality test results

Ta-dah, your personality type is INTJ!

Introverted (I) 75%	Extraverted (E) 25%
Intuitive (N) 77%	Sensing (S) 23%
Thinking (T) 50%	Feeling (F) 50%
Judging (J) 59%	Perceiving (P) 41%

 Links

• INTJ (Wikipedia)
• Roles and intelligence types (Wikipedia)
• Descriptions of the personality types (typelogic.com)
• Career info based on your type (personalitypage.com)
• Relationship info based on your type (personalitypage.com)

Economics

Thinking about Economics for next year...

Here's a free course for Microeconomics with all the units written out:

http://www.saylor.org/courses/econ101/

Might be worth using as a spine.

Fwd: Kinect and Scratch

We've been playing with a Kinect hooked up to a laptop for our highschool robotics team.  This year's FIRST Robotics Competition Kit of Parts will include a kinect for teams to use.  Won't know how it's to be used until January 7:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20111007005793/en/%C2%AE-Adds-Kinect-Xbox-360-Technology-High-School

It's been interesting to watch but one of the most fun things I found was that it can be interfaced with Scratch (MIT:  http://scratch.mit.edu/ ) -- cool early programming tool.  I think my 6 yo will soon be able to be introduced to Scratch.  And it's a great learning tool throughout K-12 -- including being an easy interface for programming and demonstrating understanding of AP physics, etc...

Anyway, someone has written the interface (there's probably a much more appropriate computer-ese word) between the Kinect and Scratch so the kids can actually program with kinect input. (http://stephen-howell.tumblr.com/post/2652736960/scratch-and-kinect-find-instructions-on-doing)

Think we'll keep the kinect I bought -- and not buy an xbox to go with it -- lots of cool apps to download.  Looks like it will work with Scratch, Greenfoot (similar learning tool for Java -- haven't used it yet).  Nothing that I can find to interface with Alice.  However, what a great tool for adding to kids' learning of programming -- beats the TRS-80 and Basic from when I was in high school.

Writing Samples for Comparison

A nice document with writing samples, rubrics and tasks for all different elementary grades (1 to 8).
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/writing18ex.pdf

Good to work through elementary school process with.

VARK

Here's a nice questionnaire and study/learning tips for VARK.

http://www2.honolulu.hawaii.edu/facdev/guidebk/teachtip/vark.htm 

Results for me say:

The VARK Questionnaire Results

Your scores were:

Visual: 13

Aural: 0

Read/Write: 9

Kinesthetic: 3

Probably true -- though I thought I processed aurally... hmmmm...  Reading/writing emails also works for me to process so maybe that's what it's picking up.

Metalwork Syllabus

Metalwork curriculum -- an outline to follow?  (Interestingly -- from Ghana!)
I really like the aspect that the metalwork hands-on course is sold as a very integral part of preparation for Mechanical Engineering.

http://www.kosec.xtreemhost.com/syllabus/metal%20work.pdf