education, Educational, Frugal Homeschooler, frugal homeschooling, Homeschooling, Homeschoooling

10 Fun & Educational Youtube Channels & Playlists

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10 fun and Educational Youtube

Youtube is a fun and scary place. There are so many things there that it is hard to sift through the cat videos for something of substance. That is why I did some sifting for you! Here are 10 fun and educational Youtube channels and playlists perfect for any homeschool family or nerd!

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego! Nothing like a great nerdy throw back! A user on Youtube (Bubblebear83) has put together a playlist!!!

TED talks to watch with kids is a playlist that TED has put together.  Some great talks!

Doodling in Math Class by ViHart is one of my absolute favorites! We have been watching her since before she was working for Khan Academy. She is NerdPie’s favorite;). 

Mathemusician Stuff is another great ViHart play list. I love music and math, need I say more?

Crash Course is a series done by the VlogBrothers. It is a ton of subjects and super entertaining. My kids and I really like it. It is probably considered high school level but all my kids watch most of them. 

Crash Course Kids is just like Crash Course but aimed at elementary aged kids. 

Space Time is done by PBS Digital Studios. It is really fun, interesting, and well done. And who doesn’t love space?

PBS Game/Show is obviously done by PBS. It is all about video games and that is inherently cool. It isn’t a review show but actually about gaming and video games. Like things like How old is Virtual Reality.

It’s Okay to be Smart is the last PBS show on my list. Joe Hanson hosts it and talks about science and life. 

Life Noggin is another science in life channel. They talk about things like sleepwalking and science of super powers.

Bonus: This isn’t a playlist but a grouping. Remember Eureka? It was a math series on PBS back when I was a kid. It is cartoony and mathy and awesome! Check it out! 

Yes, Youtube can be so educational! So check out some of these great lists! And what awesome educational faire do you watch on Youtube? Let me know in the comments. 

10daysbutton This is part of the 10 Days of Nerdy Fun!!! Make sure you hop over to see what other great post of nerdy fun that will be shared! 

 

kids, Educational, Frugal Homeschooler, frugal homeschooling, Games, Homeschooling, Homeschoooling, math

10 Math Card Games

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10 Math Card Games NerdFamily

 

It isn’t shocking that math skills are built by repetition. It is also well known facts that we remember having fun and if we are learning at the same time, we remember that too! In that spirit here are some fun math games to play with your kids! All you need is a standard deck of cards. You will have learning and quality time! Can’t beat that!

1) Multiplication Math War: Flip cards and who ever yells out the multiplication fact first wins the cards!

2) Guess my number: Basically 20 questions. Are you a factor of 10? Are you higher than 3?

3) Make the highest number: Deal out 4 cards. Who ever can make the highest total (using addition or multiplication) wins.

4) Go Fish Add Up/Subtract Down: This is great for preschool kids. If you have a four you could ask for a 5 or a 3. Teaches number order.

5) Largest pile: Come up with a total goal (say 20) then deal out cards evenly among the players and who ever can get to 20 with the largest amount of cards wins. You can chose addition and/or subtraction.

6) Addition Math War: Flip cards and who ever yells out the addition fact first wins the cards.

7) Factor Family: Deal out 5 cards and the first person who can make a factoring relationship with all 5 wins. Say you get a 2, 3, 5, 10 and 6. You could go obvious and say 1800 (all multiplied together) or go a bit smoother with 60. 10 time 6 is 60 and 5, 3, and 2 are factors. The lowest number wins because that is the best factoring relationship.

8) Skip Series Rummy: Like regular rummy but instead of runs (1,2,3) or groups of 3 you are looking for skip runs (2, 4, 6, or 1, 3, 5).

9) Sum 10 memory: Instead of looking for boring pairs you are looking for pairs that add up to 10.

10) Make up a math sentence: You are dealt a card. You must make up a math sentence that results in that number. Round 2 is to deal out 2 cards. 1 card is the answer to the math question and 1 is in it.

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Games, Minecraft

How To Be Like The Avengers In Minecraft: Costumes

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Avenger Costumes

This is a post to show you how to change your skin in minecraft so you can be an Avenger like Captain America or Iron Man. I am going to go through step by step on how to get a skin file, find it, and turn it on to your skin.(Check out the links hidden all throughout the page).

1)The Skin

First you need to find a skin file. It is a Jpeg that can be confusing but looks cool when you have it on the model. I suggest you look around on Planet Minecraft for a cool skin to wear. If you are playing a multiplayer world your skin is the main thing people remember about you so choose your skin wisely. download your skin after you find it.

2)Find The File

Next you need to find the file. This step can be moved around cause you don’t need to use it for a while. Find your file interface. I have file explorer so I don’t know if this works for all computers but it should work for most. Click on your downloads file and it should be in there.

3)Go To Minecraft

Unfortunately this doesn’t mean we are playing Minecraft to get your skin (though they should totally make part of the process). It means you need to go to the Minecraft  site and log in with your minecraft account.

4)Set Your Skin

This is the last step all you need to do is go to the button that says manage profile. Click on the button that says change your skin. Then click on the button that says add your skin file which you already know where that is and you are set. You will probably need to close minecraft and reopen it and then you are done.

I hope that you have fun using your new skin and please let me know if there is anything you want to learn about in Minecraft.

Nerdpie

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Contesting Monday

Contesting Monday 7/18

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Contesting Monday2

Have some great giveaways going on over at your site? Want to enter some fabulous giveaways and win great stuff? Either way, that makes this the place for you!

So here is the deal. If you are hosting a giveaway or have a post about someone’s giveaway just leave a link. Make sure this link is to the giveaway post itself and not just the blog or it will be deleted. If you listed it last week but your giveaway is still open, list it again! Also your link must be to something family friendly or it will be deleted.

So now you need to add your giveaways and go enter some giveaways! Let them know that Contesting Monday sent you! Make sure you share Contesting Monday with your fans and followers so that they can see all these fabulous giveaways!!!

Remember this linky is also being hosting over at Robyn’s Online World! You only have to add it once to be seen at both sites!








education, Educational, Entertainment, Frugal Homeschooler, frugal homeschooling, Games, Homeschooling, Homeschoooling, NerdFamily Things, STEM

Fun around the Lego site

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Misfortune's Keep(Edited)

Do you like playing with Legos and want more bricktastic action? There is lots of special features, games and videos that I’m going to lay out to you right here right now. This post will tell you my favorite things and why I like them.

1:Watch product videos and mini movies. For almost every product there is a product video. The product animations using the pieces that you get in the sets. Plus it has a descriptions of all the moving pieces. My favorite is set number 70605 Misfortune’s Keep. It has hidden cannons, disc shooters and the pirate jet taking off from the launchpad. It also has four-armed djinn Nadakhan possessing the soul of famed teacher Sensi Wu. 

2:Play different games of different types. There are many games, some I haven’t tried, that go along with the lego stories. My favorite is called Skybound. The evil Djinn Nadakhan is stealing parts of NINJAGO Island to rebuild his realm of Djinjago in the sky. Playing as Jay you must battle him and his gang of SKY PIRATES to rescue Zane, Nya, Lloyd, Cole and Kai to take back the stolen lands and rebuild NINJAGO.

3:Watch short stories on Lego city made by  other kids. On Lego city you can watch Fan Created Videos made by other kids. They make it using the LEGO Movie Maker app. These use Stop Motion Animation to animate the app.

4:Look at the cool sets available. On the Lego site there is information and images for every set. Click on Products, choose an image, look on the top, and click products again. There are so many products to look at. You can also look at Lego sets on Amazon.

I hope this post has filled you in on the fun you can have on Lego.com. I hope you can have as much fun as I always do. 

 

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Children's Apps, Frugal Homeschooler, frugal homeschooling, Games, Homeschooling, Homeschoooling

Fun with Coding

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fun_with_coding

What can be more nerdy than coding games? By that I mean games about coding, not writing games in code. That would be a different post entirely. I am a huge believer that every one needs to learn how to program in today’s day and age. It isn’t just for kids who someday want to be engineers but for anyone who may use a computer and do business. But it isn’t boring to learn at all. 

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A look at the Code.org site on my Lenovo Yoga!

I started putting together a fun list of coding games and activities and then I realized that there was a hub that had them all, Code.org. So let me go through the list of great coding activities that they have!

Star Wars:Building a Galaxy with Code, Minecraft Hour of Code, and Code with Anna and Elsa all deal with blocks of code that you arrange into features, environments, and structures in the various worlds. I believe that these were all released specifically for the Hour of Code. 

Then you get into the tutorials games in Javascript. Tinker has a great game with their Code Monsters. They build in logic steps to fight. There are different levels of difficulty. There is also the Khan Academy tutorials. My kids are big fans of their Javascript tutorials. 

Thinkersmith has a full unplugged activity available. It has to do with students putting together simple instructions and then having them followed exactly. It teaches the programming thinking without a computer. Something commonly refereed to as a low level computer science;).

 Have a tablet or phone? They can try Lightbot. It deals with developing the logic for programming, especially dealing in loops. 

 

So have your kids check out Code.org for some programming fun and learning. 

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Hardware, tech, Tech Tuesday

Tech and Homeschooling

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hp printer(This post is sponsored by HP but all thoughts and opinions are mine alone!)  

Everywhere I turn lately it seems people are both attached to their tech and bad mouthing it. About how there is life beyond the screen. I agree but technology is a tool and tools are something that are used to create. I have been homeschooling now for 11 years and my #1 tool beyond books is tech. So I thought I would go through some of the ways we used tech in our homeschool. 

Desktop computers: One of the biggest things we use a desktop computer for is media! We run our tv off of a desktop computer. Back when the kids were little, they all started preschool on a desktop. They played dexterity games and did early reading activities. 

Laptop computers: As the kids have gotten older (and laptops have gotten cheaper) they now work a lot more on laptops. When they started moving to laptops we started moving to online curriculum.  Laptops have definite advantages. #1 they are mobile! This means the kids can easily work in a variety of places without plugs so I don’t have to have a ton of tables set up for only computers. We use Khan  Academy a lot and when kids get stuck, they can bring their laptop to me and we can work together. It also means great family time when all 6 of us can play Minecraft in the same room. 

Tablets: We love tablets for the fun and reference side of homeschool. There are a ton of learning apps that the kids can play. But, it also means you can look up tutorials, wikepedia, etc to place along side an activity. 

Readers: We love our Kindles and Nooks! Books are the basis of so much and Kindles and Nooks are just great conduits. You can get all the books in public domain on them and we all love them so much. 

“Get Tech is a tool, utilize it and control it! It can enrich your children’s education no matter how they are schooled! To make it a little easier run over and use the coupon at HP!!!

(Disclosure: HP sponsored this post but all thoughts are mine!)








fun, Games, Geeky, Geeky Stuff, Things & Travel

Concept: Entertaining for Kids, Engaging for Adults

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Finding games for the whole family can be very challenging. They are either too hard for the kids or super boring for the adults. What? Am I the only one? We are always on the hunt for games that the parents can play with the kids and with our adult friends. We found one of those games in Concept. 

ConceptplayConcept is a party game. It is sort of like Pictionary or charades but without the acting or drawing. You can compete individual or in rotating teams.

First the player (or team) draws a card. On that card are a variety of words or concepts. They are organized into easy, intermediate, and hard categories. You pick one of those items to describe to the rest of the table. 

Now this is where it gets really interesting, how you describe it. The board has a ton of squares on it. They have themes, colors, arrows, and so much more. (You have a sheet that give ideas as to what every square represent. ) Then you put markers on the board to try and communicate the item on your card to everyone else. The key is you get to pick out of the card. When they adults play we start with intermediate but the keys start with easy. 

It could be something as simple as rain or as hard as something like “Its not the end of the world”. You can used some markers to signify the primary idea and something else to bring in related ideas. You can really do all kinds of things. But you can’t talk. The only thing you can say is the word no. So that can help the group eliminate wrong guesses if they ask the right questions;). 

If someone guesses your word, concept, or quote you get 2 points and the person who guessed correctly gets one point! So this is a game where you want everyone to succeed. And you just keep going until you want to stop as a group, there is no “winning score”. It is so much fun! And with the adults playing the hard level, it is beyond hilarious. 

So on the nerdy side: Concept isn’t just a fun game. It really helps you learn a lot of communication skills. You have to think about your audience. What are your shared experiences that you can call on? What methods of logic and communication will they get? It is an awesome way to learn about knowing your audience, which is key in communicating with anyone. 

We absolutely love Concept and highly recommend it for families and parties of all ages. 

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Games, Homeschooling, Homeschoooling, house management, household, Smart Living Strategies

3 Steps to Puzzle Storage Zen

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Puzzles sound so old school, I know. But puzzles are great for so many reasons. They develop logic and problem-solving skills. It helps kids (and adults) to sit and focus therefore develop that stick to it attitude that helps people succeed in life. And it de-stresses so many. But I hear complaints all the time about puzzles. But most of those complaints are about storage and trying to figure out where found pieces go. It doesn’t have to be that way!!!

We love a puzzle here in the NerdFamily. But not in the rainy day, sit for 3 hours, and just do puzzles kind of way. Instead, we grab those hidden moments that would other be lost. We put up a folding table and throw a puzzle on it. This is when we use those big puzzles that you just don’t have a lot of time for. We only do this when we can leave it up for a few days. Then we take those minutes that pop up through the day and head to the table. Maybe we are watching tv and working on it. That time when dinner is almost ready and you don’t have time to do anything, puzzle time;). Those minutes when half the family is ready to go somewhere and they are waiting on the other half? Puzzle time.  

I hear it now, “How do you not lose all those little pieces? How to you keep them all together?” That is easier than you think! And when you find that random puzzle piece you will know right where it goes! 

WP_20150408_11_28_11_Pro1)Get a marker or a stamp. Stamp or write a letter (or code of some sort) on the back of every piece. Yes, I know it sounds tedious. It really isn’t that time consuming. With smaller children use a color as part of your code. Then they don’t have to read!

2)Cut out the front picture from the box. Be honest, those boxes never last very long anyways. On the back of the picture write the code for that puzzle and how many pieces there are. WP_20150408_11_29_25_Pro

3)Put the whole mess into a ziplock bag! Throw the bags into a bin and put the bin on the shelf. If you have a lot of puzzles, like some of us, you might want to have different bins for different sized puzzles. That way if your 4-year-old goes to grab a puzzle they can just access their smaller ones;). 

That is it! 3 steps to storing your puzzles! Now go have some fun!!!

 

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   This is part of the 10 Days of Nerdy Fun!!! Make sure you hop over to see what other great posts of nerdy fun that will be shared! 

 








Entertainment, Homeschooling, Homeschoooling, Movies

10 Movies Based on Books to Watch with Your Kids

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10 Movies

Nothing is better to relax than movie night with the family. It is a traditional holiday must have. But even watching movies can be a little nerdy. Here are 10 movies that are based on books! (And I didn’t include sequels but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good)

 

  1. Hobbit: Tolkein, do I really need to say more? Seriously, it was a well done adaption that will cause a lot of good conversations about what is true to the book and what isn’t. 
  2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: This is also just a classic. C.S. Lewis told a great tale that is so much more than a story! 
  3. Emma: Now the Gweneth Paltrow version may be well known but I highly recommend the Romola Garai/ BBC version. It is truer to the book and all the characters have more depth. It is longer but all Austen movies are better longer;). Nerdpie delighted when it explained why Emma’s father was so protective. 
  4. Much Ado About Nothing: I absolutely love every version of this play I have seen be it Whedon’s, Branagh’s, or Tennant/Tate. But my absolute favorite is the Tennant/Tate version. It is the funniest and most family friendly version too.  All 4 of my kids loved it! 
  5. Wizard of Oz: People often forget that the Wizard of Oz was a book and it was part of a large series. The movie is a classic and a must see for every book and movie lover. 
  6. Harry Potter Series: The movies were great, the books were great. What more can be said? Except it is a wonderful voyage to take with your kids and is part of a cultural phenomenon. 
  7. Heidi: This is truly a heart warming tale. I remember reading the book and crying as a kid. But the movie seemed hopeful and a little happier. It was a great tale that shows relationships and family in its own form. It may seem cheesy to think about but it really was good!
  8. Ella Enchanted: I don’t remember people talking about this being a book but it is! My kids loved the book but the movie has music and dancing so they love it even more! It is fun and light. The author of the book has also written quite a bit so it might be a great introduction to a whole lot of reading. 
  9. Little Women: Family, life, and defining who you are. Those are big themes of Little Women. This is one of my all time favorite books. The Katherine Hepburn version is my favorite movie version. That may be because Jo is my favorite so I might be biased;). 
  10. Pride and Prejudice: Did you think Jane Austen would only appear once in this list? The Bennet sisters are a lesson to girls on how to be yourself and not get lured by bad guys. Mr. Darcy is a lesson to tween/teen boys on how important communication and being open is! I like many versions but Colin Firth is the only Mr. Darcy;). 

Those are our favorite book based movies. How about you? What are your favorite family literature based movies?

 

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A Pro Nerd Family of Pro Family Nerds.