In this episode the moms chat about surviving the heat, E-books vs printed books, and homeschool field trip ideas!
Links in this episode:
How many prints can YOU get out of your ink cartridge
Earth Arts Studio ~ Margaret Hudson Studio
National Parks Field Trip pages
Free Entrance Days for National Parks
Monetery Bay Aquarium Homeschool Days
This episode is sponsored by Moving Beyond the Page – homeschool curriculum for hands-on, creative, and gifted learners. Learn more at www.movingbeyondthepage.com. Be sure to listen to episode 19 for the new correct coupon code!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
Julia
Take a tour of a newspaper. Kids LOVE seeing the big roles of paper and watching the news being printed. This would be one to do before newspapers become completely obsolete. The Sacramento Bee and Fresno Bee are both great places to check out. Another awesome place to tour is a local plant nursery. They usually have some fun activities for kids to do, and I know Home Depot has grant money for such events. Totally worth checking out.
Tinamama
GREAT IDEAS, Julia!! I had never thought of a newspaper!! And this made me remember something I left off in this show…TV stations! We did a tour of our local PBS station and it was really awesome! And now that I’m thinking of it…radio stations might be interesting as well!
Keep the ideas coming!!! I’m going to compile a list and post on this site!
Rebecca K
Some thoughts on the ebook vs. textbook and ebook vs workbook issue:
first on ebooks vs. textbooks-
in favor of ebooks:
you can have more than one child reading the same book if you have more than 1 reader. For example, we have 2 kindles and an ipad- so if i need to i can have 3 kiddos reading along (which is helpful for some of my kids who learn better when they can SEE what i’m reading when i read aloud!) and also is helpful if you just plain have more than one kid doing the same thing-
Sometimes but NOT always cheaper!
I LOVE carrying all my books in my purse!!!!!
Downsides:
there’s a lot of debate about the effect technology has on learning- the book “the shallows” is one that discusses that, and its thought that the tactile experience of turning the pages and holding the book really impacts the memory and the cognitive processing and all that.
can’t resell!!!! (or give away)
the learning curve is steep, its hard to get used to ebooks vs books. i can be done, but i still kind of miss the book experience and my kids are VERY resistant to it.
WORKBOOKS-
Some very big thoughts on this one- first of all- if you can refill your own ink- like if your printer isn’t microchipped- DO IT! its so worth the cost, huge savings. If not, and you have a costco or somewhere else reputable that refills, that will save a good chunk of change. Also its entirely worth it to invest in a printer that has a good ink cost- REALLY worth it- save your old one because sometimes you can trade it in for a $50 credit. at one of the office stores. I have a HP duplexing printer, which i LOVE LOVE LOOOOVE! 🙂 (prints on both sides at the same time) I actually got that by beta testing a printer ink program so you can look into that.. also.
Most e-workbooks are NOT much cheaper than the printed version, but with lots of kids it can pay off.. i’d be cautious but first, i’d work on getting your print cost down a LOT, like by half at least.
I’ve got more i’m sure but my brain is tired! i’ll reply again if i think of anything 🙂
Nadine
Car companies! Depending on the age of the child, and what major car companies are close, it can be fairly inexpensive to get a factory tour of how cars are made.
Tinamama
Great idea Nadine! Thank you!!