Homeschooling

Homeschooling:

Home-schooling is one of the most talked about subjects when it comes to education. I am here to look into both positives and negative’s to see if I can come up with a conclusion of if I agree with it or not.

The Pro’s

·          A lot of children in schools are under pressure to ‘fit in’ by trends and ‘keeping friends’. Home schooling provides children with safety and makes them feel a sense of comfort as they are in their own surroundings.

·                           Physical freedom

-          With the child’s time no longer revolving around school hours, homework, and the school calendar; the parents/children can now fix their time according to their schedule that makes them happy rather than what they have to do.

·         Religion

-          Many families believe that religion and their beliefs are important in everyday life and throughout education. Home Schooling gives parents the opportunity to include religion into their everyday life.

·         Not as much busywork.

-          Home schooled children can accomplish in a few hours, what would take normally a week or more to cover in the classroom. Children are more focused and don’t have the distractions that children would have in the classroom. It is more of a calmed atmosphere.

The Con’s

·         Financial Restraints

-          It is an awful lot of money and time to invest in home schooling and can put a lot of restraints on the relationship of the parents or the child.

·         Living outside the norm.

-          Home-schooling can be lonely for children as they are not around other children/friends. They can also not realise what living in the ‘real world’ is like as they are not having the same experiences as the other children in schools. Children also will not be part of any teams as are no longer in a school

My opinion

Personally, Home schooling would not be for me. I loved being part of a school as I enjoyed going because friends and being in a team as I was in the netball team raised my confidence. Being in a school made me I feel ready for the ‘real world’ as I experienced a lot and although schools had it’s difficult times for me; I learnt from it and feel that I have become who I am because of it. 

Technology used in schools

Should technology be used in schools? 

Technology is getting better throughout the years and the majority of the population use it in everyday life and for their jobs etc. More and more people are being taught about and how to use technology than ever before. Schools have not been left out of the 21^st century as they bring technology in for the children to help them learn and experience.

Technology such as I pads, interactive white boards and projectors are commonly used in primary and secondary schools. This has proven to be effective for the children in today’s society.

Projectors

This allows the teachers to share different activities, videos, PowerPoint presentations deom their computer with the whole class. The LCD projector is a MUST have in the class room in today's schools. The LCD projectors are a powerful tool because It allows something from a computer be known to a large group setting. A teacher/lecture can put an entire lesson together on a presentation and actively engage their students throughout the lesson. Color is used to it can help engage the children/students more.

Interactive white boards

An interactive white board takes place on a white board but with technological capabilities that let students interact in ways they had not been able to do previously. Teachers can generate engaging, active lessons using the many tools a ‘smart board’ offer. You can produce diagrams, charts and templates on this white board. What I like about this is you can have students come up and contribute in the lesson, and can also print everything that is done on it in the lesson and give it as a hand-out. Teachers may possibly need some training on the white boards but that is easily done.

I feel that technology in schools is a great idea and should be used in classes more. It gives children confidence when they get something right and helps them understand how to use different equipment when needed. It helps children interact more than just listening to someone speaks at the front of the class. Children can excel in things that they possibly wouldn't with help of technology and is more of a ‘fun’ way for children to get involved with. 

An educational blog

For this blog, I decided to research into an educational blog. Whilst looking on my blog list, I came across this blog that brought to my attention.

Why do schools side-line religious education?

Throughout this blog, they are sharing their opinions and views on how Religious Education isn’t being taken seriously enough throughout school. It is undervalued and unappreciated.

The blog then goes on to discuss that lessons on RE are especially necessary after leaving school, as later on in life, if not in school we meet people from different backgrounds, traditions and religious beliefs from across the world. “The underestimated importance of RE is also that it helps overcome prejudices and negative stereotype. If people have a better understanding of other faiths, they’re less likely to be dismissive of issues that don’t concern them directly”.

I agree with this blog, and that’s why I have decided to talk about it more in depth in my blog. In today’s society I think that people are to east to judge other people and be prejudice. Having RE as a class in school opens up people’s eyes to understand and appreciate different cultures and the way they chose to live their life compared to ours. 

Have a look yourself and see if you agree! :) 

http://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2014/jan/15/dont-dismiss-religious-education-school

How can WORDNIK be used in an educational context?

Can wordnik be used in an educational context?

What is Wordnik?

Wordnik.com is a website that proposes a dictionary and thesaurus content. This website permits you to search for definitions, different words and sentences. Wordnik has thousands of words/example sentences and exclusive words.

My opinion.

I believe this website is extremely relevant and could be really helpful in the educational context. Whilst developing educational knowledge and widening the mind, you can use words that you may not know but can learn. Wordnik.com I sense offers consistent definitions if the student/person does not have a dictionary at hand. For students, Wordnik.com is very useful when it comes to writing an essay, repeating yourself is something that is very common and very easy to use words you have already used. Using a site like this can help you progress the flow of the essay.

I feel Wordnik can be used in many different educational contexts and not only for children/students. This can be used for adults and teachers as well. I personally would recommend and use this website myself. It is also reliable as internet is at hand everywhere you go, on phones, laptops, tablets, libraries etc. 

https://www.wordnik.com/

take a look and see what you think! :) xx