Apps for our homeschool part 2

It seems like every week I discover new apps to try on the Ipad.  Some of them we use a lot and some of them are fun for a short period of time and then don't get used anymore.  Here are some of the more recent ones we have used.
1. Puzzleography- This is a fun quiz game for learning World geography.  It teaches as well as quizzes.  S. is learning all the countries of Africa so she has been using it to practice.  It gives you either the name or the puzzle piece shape whichever you choose and then you figure out where it goes on the map.  You can "cheat" by touching any country on the map and it will tell you the name of the country.  I don't mind this though because she is still learning.
2. 7notes HD premium-  I downloaded this app because it does handwriting to text. I wanted to see how that would work for N.  So far it has been somewhat frustrating because it doesn't always recognize what he writes.  He is a messy writer, but I think what throws it is that he doesn't write his letters in one fluid motion.  I think I will have him write in cursive and see if that helps.  There is a lot of potential if it would recognize his writing quickly.
3. Solids Elementary HD:  N. is studying solids in Math and learning about faces, edges and vertices.  This is a great way to give a clear illustration of these concepts.  He really didn't need it for understanding, but he has had fun playing with it.  I can see how for someone who has trouble visualizing things (like me) that it would be a great learning tool.
4. Tourwrist:  Just downloaded this today and it is a hit.  It has panoramic photos of various places and you move through the 360 degree scene by moving you Ipad in different directions.  There is a different tour a day as well as many other tours that have been done by either individuals or the company.  Today he toured Paris around the Eiffel Tower, the Coliseum, as well as Venice. These are often aerial photos and you can't zoom in, but wow it really gives you a feel for what the area looks like. 
5. Wolfram Alpha-  This is like one of those smart computers you used to see on Science Fiction shows in the 70's.  You type in an equation or a question and it spits out the answer.  S. needed to know the average high temp for Kenya.  It spit it out in seconds and also gave the average high and low for today and other information.  I can see a lot of use for this as both of them do research etc.

On one other note, the last one of these I did I talked about Notability and how N. was still figuring it out.  He has now become very proficient at using it and it does make writing up his Science lab reports much easier.

Weekly update for 3/12/12

This week in RTR he moved more into the Age of Reason in his readings.  It is amazing to me how much he is learning about and covering this year. He loved  learning about Japan and what was going on there during this time period.  He read about Shogun rulers and the class system that was different than what he would have thought it would be.  As he is reading he can't help but stop and tell me all the interesting things he is learning.  He learned how Christianity was outlawed and Japan was closed off to the outside world for 200 years.  I have to admit, I didn't know that.  He has gotten where he wants to watch a Discovery Streaming Video for the topics we are studying so I found 2 short ones about Japan during this time period and also some things about Samurai warriors.  He loved that.  His history project for the week was making foods from the Shakespearean time in England.  The first day he made seed cake.  The second day he made baked pears and we had them for dinner.  He didn't make Yorkshire pudding because his sister had made something similar when she studied England and he knew no one like it. 

In storytime we finished reading "The Story of Sir Walter Raleigh".  Noah decided it was very depressing how he was treated at the end of his life.  We then started listening to the audio drama of "The Story of Squanto".  This also starts our fairly intense and sad.  I love how this isn't watered down history for this age.  He is seeing more the good and bad of history.  I wouldn't have wanted to present this to him when he was younger, but this is a very good age for it.  We have some good discussions about the evil of man and how greed causes them to do some pretty awful things. 

In Science he finished reading "Along Came Galileo" and is now reading "Isaac Newton".  He then did a science experiment looking at the path of comets and how the coma of a comet is formed.  It was kind of cool that as he was taking a ice cube and realizing that comets were cold and learning about how as it traveled close to the sun part of it melted leaving the coma that we had a hail storm.  I brought some hail in and this helped him visualize even more what happened. 

He continues to love the Art study "Looking at Pictures".  He loves studying the pictures and talking about them.  He also is challenged weekly by "Boyhood and Beyond".  All of the resources in this guide have just been so good.

Update for week of 3/5/12

This is actually an update for the past 2 weeks.  I had some computer issues so I couldn't write an update last week.  We have had 2 more good weeks with RTR. 

In Science he is reading "Along Came Galileo".  He has enjoyed this book.  Last week he did an experiment looking at the density of liquids.  He was fascinated with the layers and then loved dropping different objects in and trying to predict what they would do.

This week he looked at what causes Ocean currents.  It was more what I would consider making a model than an experiment, but it helped to give him a visual in his mind for how the moon and sun cause the currents.

I see people saying that HOD science is light, or wanting more complicated experiments.  What I have seen is that the experiments are easy enough to get done, yet they cause him to think.  He is now carrying over what he has learned about setting up experiments and scientific method to his free time.  He designed an experiment to see how the dogs acted to different variables.  He made a chart, predicted how each dog would act and then did things like blow in their face, or cover them up with blankets, or take their picture using a flash.  I loved watching him come up with this on his own.

In history he has read about Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake.  We are reading the book "The Story of Sir Walter Raleigh" during storytime so it just reinforces what he is reading on his own and tells other parts of the story that were not included in MOH 3.  We have both enjoyed this book.  He has loved the descriptions of the sea battles and acts them out with his hands as I am reading.  This seems to help him remember the details.  He continues to do a nice job with his narrations and even is taking more time with his timeline entries.

His history project last week was a window cling of a Huguenot cross.  It actually turned out better than I thought it would.  Our windows were cold so it didn't cling very well.

He finished "The Sign of the Beaver" in DITHOR and made a fiction friend for his project.  Instead of making Matt he made Attean.  He tried to find his tribe to find out what they wore, but he found out the tribe was fictional.  Instead he looked up general pictures of east coast Indian tribes.  He had some trouble making the vest, but he did it completely on his own.  Cutting is not his strength, but he worked really hard on it.  He then came up with his interview questions and answers.  Attean is now sitting in the chair pictured behind him and has startled S. and my dh on more than one occasion.

For his Independent History Reading he has been reading "The Bard of Avon" and says he likes it.  It is funny how he still really doesn't like reading in his free time, but he always enjoys the books he reads for HOD.