This series is sponsored by my absolute favorite homeschool organizing tool…Scholaric Planner. Scholaric makes my planning life a breeze!

It is no secret that technology is growing faster and faster every year. How do we keep up? Here are 10 ways you can shift your learning environment from paper-only learning to fully interactive learning through both paper and technology. Let’s get started.
1. Buy an e-reader. No more books cluttering up shelves, sitting in corners, collecting dust. If you purchase most of your books then this is a great way to save money in many cases as well. Many of the classic novels are available for free on Amazon.
2. Purchase e-Textbooks rather than hard copies. This is an extension of #1. It can also save room and possibly money. There are many options when choosing an e-Textbook. They are typically available for Kindle, iPad, Android, PC, or Mac.
3. Download a copy of OpenOffice. It is a free software suite that allows you to have similar options that you would find in Windows Office. It will give you (per the website descriptions):
- Writer a word processor you can use for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book.
- Calc a powerful spreadsheet with all the tools you need to calculate, analyze, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics.
- Impress the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations.
- Draw lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations.
- Base lets you manipulate databases seamlessly. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, all from within Apache OpenOffice.
- Math lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor.
4. Create an email account for your child. A simple Gmail account will do. I have all of my children email their assignments to me when they write a paper in the word processor so that they become comfortable with creating emails and adding attachments. I also have their accounts set up so that every email they receive gets forwarded to my email account so I can keep an eye on them. This is also handy to have if they are involved social media, gaming, etc. You will see everything that they receive.
5. Teach them how to use bookmarks to save their websites online. One of the best sites that I’ve seen that has rules/boundaries/lots to wade through is Pinterest. It is designed to create bookmarks and allows you to categorize (i.e. organize) the information that is found. Let’s say your child has to write a book report on George Washington.. see what I mean? Most of those pictures can be clicked on to find historical sites. If they are worth adding into the paper then your child needs only to “repin”.
6. Teach them how to Google to get the best results. Also teach them how to use Google Scholar. I actually find Scholar to be fairly useful when finding sources for papers. This is a great tool to use when they go to college as well.
7. Learn the difference between a scholarly source and a non-scholarly source. This is also excellent college prep. For example, every professor I have had in college has been adamantly against using Wikipedia as source because they consider it non-scholarly and full of errors. However, I do think it has a purpose that can be used without the content of the wiki. The citations can be used to find references for assignments. Rather than using the information that could be potentially invalid your child can look the information up by themselves using the citations to double-check the work.
8. Conduct a typing class. This is extremely easy to add to your curriculum, especially since there are free options available online.
9. Purchase a webcam. Allow your child to use it to “teach” on a few topics. They can also give presentations this way. This helps with public speaking, demonstrating what they have learned in a confident manner, and also prepares them for video-conferencing in the future.
10. Always remember that YOU can use great resources online too! As you look through the links provided in the 100 Best (And Free) Online Learning Tools pay close attention to the online courses and lectures from colleges that you can allow your child to watch. These resources might have things you would like to learn as well!
Love the webcam idea for public speaking or teaching! Maybe the kids could do a video for the grandparents to explain what they have been learning. Adding that to the list this year!