Categories
design education research

Tortoise, not hare: taking care developing our #homeEd approach

We’ve begun working on what it can mean for families to have a Box at home. It’s a place we have imagined Boxes to be since we started the company, so we’re excited to have this new opportunity. I’ve referred before to those old photos of a family sitting around a gigantic radio in their lounge, the radio practically its hearth.

We have also declared this lady our spiritual guide for this phase of “A Box at Home” product development:

On Tuesday, we had a great international Zoom with the MB team (George, Charlie, Kate, and Renata), Sara Cardello (Head of Education at Smithsonian Libraries, and Mum to Bruno), Jocelyn Swanson (Montessori secondary educator), and, last but not least, Brittany Berry, whose school recently purchased nine Make Your Own kits to use across the school.

I wanted to hear from Brittany about how the school had been using the kits, and it’s brilliant! (About 30-40 kids creating content, assuming various different roles in the production process, like writer, audio editor, 3D scanner etc). The school is part of a brilliant program called EAST, or Education Accelerated by Service and Technology. The students engage in real-world projects in their communities, learning 21st Century creative and critical skills as they go. You can see some of the collections being developed on Heart.

You can review the call agenda (and my notes in the doc) if you have all the time in the world. And anyone using that link can add a comment – please do if you have something to add!

We’re still parsing that very first discussion, and we’re yet to come together as a group again — because pandemic??! — but I plan to post here as there’s more to show, or ask.

Our rough outline for next steps are:

  • Summarise key directions for public consumptions
  • Create some first draft resources to publish on the website about project ideas (but being aware that the whole internet is full of them right now, and in spite of this, kids are feral and that’s fine!)
  • Rough pass at a user research trial plan
  • Have another chat with the project team

Two early ideas about projects that could be done at home which aren’t explicitly connected to a Box but easily could be are:

  1. Tell and record your family’s history, or
  2. Keep a diary of what it’s like to live through this.

Telling our stories of COVID-19

We’ve noticed already there are projects popping up about this, and we’d like to try to gather links to them where we can. Maybe there’s a project on it later, maybe we can use them as examples for people who might like to try an audio diary. Maybe it’ll be nothing!

Read more about Telling Our Stories of COVID-19?

Get involved?

If you’re an educator or a parent, and interested to contribute or otherwise participate in our research and design process, the best way to start is to join our dedicated #educators channel on our public Slack that anyone can join, if you’d like to join in to discuss this work, or hear about new resources.

Categories
education

Free online education resources for homeschooling

All of a sudden, we find ourselves in such strange times. Charlie and I are working from home, but very happy to still fulfill an order for a Box – our online shop is still open, and we hope you’ll consider a purchase to support our tiny business! If you’re stuck at home with your family looking for something to do, what better time to create a family archive!

Friend of MB, Katy Beale, announced this excellent list of resources gathered by her home educators’ network on a (different) Slack network I belong to, and I thought I’d republish here, just in case there are parents out there stuck at home looking for resources.

Put together by the home ed community. feel free to share and use as and when you need it for the coming days and weeks… FREE online education resources

A non-exhaustive list that might help those affected by school closures due to coronavirus, compiled by home educators.

Feel free to share.

:heartpulse:

Khan Academy
https://www.khanacademy.org
Especially good for maths and computing for all ages but other subjects at Secondary level. Note this uses the U.S. grade system but it’s mostly common material.

BBC Learning
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/coursesearch/
This site is old and no longer updated and yet there’s so much still available, from language learning to BBC Bitesize for revision. No TV licence required except for content on BBC iPlayer.

Futurelearn
https://www.futurelearn.com
Free to access 100s of courses, only pay to upgrade if you need a certificate in your name (own account from age 14+ but younger learners can use a parent account).

Seneca
https://www.senecalearning.com
For those revising at GCSE or A level. Tons of free revision content. Paid access to higher level material.

Openlearn
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/
Free taster courses aimed at those considering Open University but everyone can access it. Adult level, but some e.g. nature and environment courses could well be of interest to young people.

Blockly
https://blockly.games
Learn computer programming skills – fun and free.

Scratch
https://scratch.mit.edu/explore/projects/games/
Creative computer programming

TED Ed
https://ed.ted.com
All sorts of engaging educational videos

National Geographic Kids
https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/
Activities and quizzes for younger kids.

Duolingo
https://www.duolingo.com
Learn languages for free. Web or app.

Mystery Science
https://mysteryscience.com
Free science lessons

The Kids Should See This
https://thekidshouldseethis.com
Wide range of cool educational videos

Crash Course
https://thecrashcourse.com
You Tube videos on many subjects

Crash Course Kids
https://m.youtube.com/user/crashcoursekids
As above for a younger audience

Crest Awards
https://www.crestawards.org
Science awards you can complete from home.

iDEA Awards
https://idea.org.uk
Digital enterprise award scheme you can complete online.

Paw Print Badges
https://www.pawprintbadges.co.uk
Free challenge packs and other downloads. Many activities can be completed indoors. Badges cost but are optional.

Tinkercad
https://www.tinkercad.com
All kinds of making.

Prodigy Maths
https://www.prodigygame.com
Is in U.S. grades, but good for UK Primary age.

Cbeebies Radio
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/radio
Listening activities for the younger ones.

Nature Detectives
https://naturedetectives.woodlandtrust.org.uk/naturedetectives/
A lot of these can be done in a garden, or if you can get to a remote forest location!

British Council
https://www.britishcouncil.org/school-resources/find
Resources for English language learning

Twinkl
https://www.twinkl.co.uk
This is more for printouts, and usually at a fee, but they are offering a month of free access to parents in the event of school closures.

Toy Theater
https://toytheater.com/
Educational online games

DK Find Out
https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/?fbclid=IwAR2wJdpSJSeITf4do6aPhff8A3tAktnmpaxqZbkgudD49l71ep8-sjXmrac
Activities and quizzes

The Imagination Tree
https://theimaginationtree.com
Creative art and craft activities for the very youngest.

Red Ted Art
https://www.redtedart.com
Easy arts and crafts for little ones

The Artful Parent
https://www.facebook.com/artfulparent/
Good, free art activities

Blue Peter Badges
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/joinin/about-blue-peter-badges
If you have a stamp and a nearby post box.

Geography Games
https://world-geography-games.com/world.html
Geography gaming!

Big History Project
https://www.bighistoryproject.com/home
Aimed at Secondary age. Multi disciplinary activities.

Oxford Owl for Home
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/
Lots of free resources for Primary age