Google’s Free Applied Digital Skills Lessons

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Google's free applied digital skills lessons

148: Google’s Free Applied Digital Skills Lessons

I first learned about Google’s Free Applied Digital Skills lessons from Coach Victor Hicks in an interview he did on the 10 Minute Teacher podcast. Listen to it to hear he how has used these lessons with students.

You can find all the lessons here (currently 160 of them!)

You can filter the list of lessons by age, topic, and tool

The results of a search can be sorted by popular, recent, duration, alphabetical

You can either set it up as a teacher with a classroom (or multiple classrooms) and assign your children specific lessons, or you just tell your children which individual lessons to do without a classroom setup.

There are so many options to choose from which makes this is an ideal way to help your children learn more tech skills that will be useful in college and the workplace. You can learn along with your kids! The videos are short and explain everything really well.

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Take a look at show sponsor, FundaFunda Academy to see what they offer for online classes and web-based unit studies.

Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast! You can ask questions and get advice as you try integrating technology in your homeschool.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review! Subscribing will help you make sure you never miss an episode.

Google's free applied digital skills lessons

 


A Special Thank You to Our Network Sponsor:  Show Me The Father Movie

The Kendrick Brothers, creators of WAR ROOM and FIREPROOF, have some exciting news to share: they have TWO films coming to theaters this fall—SHOW ME THE FATHER on September 10 and COURAGEOUS Legacy on September 24.

Featuring a variety of amazing, true stories, the Kendrick Brothers’ new feature film SHOW ME THE FATHER takes audiences on an inspiring and emotional cinematic journey. Their first documentary film has something for everyone and invites you to think differently about how you view your earthly father story and also how you personally relate to God.

Check out the trailer here!


 

Using Google MyMaps for Techie Projects

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Using Google MyMaps For Techie Projects

Episode 28: Using Google MyMaps for Techie Projects

Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast!

And visit our sponsor FundaFunda Academy to see the web-based unit studies and full semester classes they offer. They also have options for summer learning!

Google MyMaps allows you to customize a Google map. Start by going there and clicking on ‘Explore’. Here are 3 public maps you can view to give you an idea of the possibilities.

How to use Google MyMaps

Start by clicking on ‘Create a New Map’.

You can choose your base map – a typical map, one that shows the terrain, satellite, etc. Add a title and description for each pin. You can select a style for your pins – they can be different colors and icons. You can include photos and videos in the description. Layers allow you to differentiate between a set of pins ie different students working collaboratively could each be assigned a different layer so you can see who does what. You can select whether to view all layers simultaneously or isolate just one.

Ideas for projects using Google MyMaps

Ditch that Textbook has an excellent blog post with great ideas. Here are some you can use with your children:

  1. Each child pitches their ideas for a road trip
  2. Literature – plot locations of main scenes
  3. Create a map using different layers to show where politicians have visited
  4. History – plot battlefields over a few hundred years in an area with each war being a different layer
  5. Use different color or style pins to show cities of different sizes
  6. Science – show areas of different vegetation or animal life or soil types

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review!

Contact Meryl via email on meryl@mediaangels.com or connect with her on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook

Using Google MyMaps For Techie Projects in History, Geography, English etc #edtech #homeschooling #podcast

Homeschooling with Google Maps

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Homeschooling with Google Maps

Episode 27: Homeschooling with Google Maps

Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast!

And visit our sponsor FundaFunda Academy to see the web-based unit studies and full semester classes they offer.

How to use Google Maps in your Homeschool

1. Let your children navigate using the app. It teaches them to give good instructions and learn how maps work

2. Let your children help with trip planning. They can work out how long you will take to get to places and good eating spots en-route.

3. Math – Your children can practice estimation and then right click (or double click on Macs) and select “Measure Distance”. Click where you want to measure to. You can keep doing this and keep adding to the distance. If you “close” the drawing it will also give you the area.

4. Streetview – Click the Peg Man at the bottom right and then click on the blue lines and blue circles. The circles give you 360 views and the blue lines allow you to walk around the streets. At the top left you may see a date and if you click on that you can get historical views of the area.

Two fun places to visit in Streetview

Diagon Alley at Harry Potter Studio Tour outside London. There is limited walking around.

Doctor Who fans, walk along Earls Court Road (also called the A3220) in London and near the Barkston Gardens intersection you will see the TARDIS! And you can go inside!! If you walk around and can’t find it, here is a direct link.

5. You can find a list of Google Treks here – they provide an enhanced experience to some special places like Petra in Jordan.

6. Click on “satellite” when you are in the regular map view for and turn the labels off and see if your children can identify what they are looking at. The click Control (or Command on a Mac) and drag the mouse around for a cool 3D view of places.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review!

Contact Meryl via email on meryl@mediaangels.com or connect with her on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook

Homeschooling with Google Maps #homeschoolpodcast #GoogleMaps #HomeschoolTips

Homeschooling with Google Slides

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Homeschooling with Google Slides


Episode 7: Homeschooling with Google Slides

Google Slides offers all benefits of Google Drive apps like easy collaboration and access anywhere you have wifi. Listen to episode 2 on Google Drive for more info on all the Google Drive apps.

Some features of Google Slides

Google Drive does have fewer features than many of the slideshow programs available, but it should be able to do everything you and your children need it to do. Here are some features I often use:

  • Import from other slideshow programs like Powerpoint and Keynote
  • Download in powerpoint format or as a pdf
  • Create animations
  • Insert videos
  • Instert shapes and lines
  • Create transitions from one slide to the next

    Start teaching your children to use it in a simple way when they are in elementary school.

    It is easy to figure out how to use Google Slides, but if you would rather your children learn it as part of a course, FundaFunda Academy (the sponsors of this podcast) offers 2 classes that include a module on Google Slides.

    They have a 4 module unit study web-based unit study on all the Google drive apps as well as a full year (1 credit) Computer Applications class, both which include a module on Google Slides.

    When your children are ready to go further with Google Slides, here are some more ideas.

    1. Turn the slides into a video

    To do this add the voiceover extension and when you are done choose to “publish on the web”. Now you will have a video to share with others

    2. Create graphic-heavy documents

    Google Slides is ideal to make simple flyers and posters. First, change the document size (Go to “File” – “Page Setup” – “Custom” and then enter 8.5 X 11 or whatever size you need). When you are done, download the slide as a png, jpg, or vector file.

    3. Produce Timelines

    Select “Insert diagram” and then “Timeline”

    4. Create comic strips

    Make a table with the number of rows and columns you want. Then use callout shapes to make your comic strip.

    5. Make Infographics

    Find icons from places like the Noun Project

    6. Write “Choose your own adventure stories”

    You can do this really easily by creating links that go from one slide to another. And of course, it is easy to add graphics and videos so all students will enjoy a creative writing project like this. You can also use it instead of a more typical written project in any subject.

     
    If you found this useful, please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts.

    Contact Meryl via email on meryl@mediaangels.com or connect with her on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook.

    Homeschooling with Google Slides

Homeschooling with Google Forms

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Homeschooling with Google Forms


Episode 6: Homeschooling with Google Forms

Google Forms is great for moms (and dads) to use it to create self-graded quizzes and for surveys. You could use it to collect responses to questions like “what field trip your homeschool group might most want to go on”, and “which date works best”.

But it is even more useful for your children to use.

It is easy to figure out how to use Google Forms, but if you would rather your children learn it as part of a course, FundaFunda Academy (the sponsors of this podcast) offers 2 classes that include a module on Google Forms.

They have a 4 module unit study web-based unit study on all the Google drive apps as well as a full year (1 credit) Computer Applications class, both which include a module on Google Forms.

How your children can use Google Forms


Google Forms are great for students to use for research projects. They allow students to learn how to

  • design good questions without bias
  • do data collection and analysis
  • validate the data people enter
  • decide on the population sample they will send it to

Although you want your high school students to be able to do all these things, you can start introducing your younger children to Google Forms and just use some of the features. Sit with your elementary age children and together create a simple survey to send to family and friends. This will help them learn what to do and as a result, they will be ready to do it on their own by high school.

Some of the features of Google Forms they should learn to use

  • Design the form – There are some basic selections of colors, fonts etc
  • Question type – What type of question will be most appropriate (multiple choice, checkbox, sliding scales, choose from a list, text or grid)
  • Validation – Must the field be required? Is there a range that respondents should be limited to? A specific format of the answer should take?
  • Branching dependent on previous answers – Google Forms allows one to specify different paths dependent on what has already been entered
  • Summary of response – this provides all the answers to each question including graphs where appropriate
  • Export to Google Sheets (click on green button on the response page) – In Google Sheets they can now manipulate the data to obtain statistics, more graphs and charts etc.

Be sure to incorporate Google Forms into your homeschool so that your children learn how to conduct online surveys. Help them send it out to an appropriate sample of people. And teach them how to interpret and manipulate the data they collect.

 
If you found this useful, please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts.

Contact Meryl via email on meryl@mediaangels.com or connect with her on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook.

Homeschooling with Google Forms

Blogging as a Business with Jimmie Lanley

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Should you blog for money while you homeschool? Jimmie Lanley answers your questions.Have you ever wondered if you should blog to make some extra money while you’re homeschooling? Or perhaps you already blog, but wonder what you need to do to take your blog to the next level.

If you’re interested in blogging, you won’t want to miss my interview with Jimmie Lanley in which she explains:

  • Who’s cut out to blog as a business
  • Some best practices for those who want to increase readership
  • Why Google+ is a social media platform that can build your authority, and much more!

Jimmie Lanley

Be sure to enter to win one of 3 copies of iBlog, an ebook with expert advice from top bloggers, at Psychowith6 until November 19th.

 

 

how to blog, expert advice, iblog

Links from the Podcast

Don’t try to write down all the great resources Jimmie mentions! I have them for you right here:

Launch a Self-Hosted WordPress Blog in 20 Minutes – Michael Hyatt

Blogging with Amy

Tutorial: How to Set Up Google Authorship

How to Edit Your Google Plus Hover Card to Gain More Targeted Followers

Jimmie’s Collage – her personal homeschooling site

Notebooking Fairy – for great notebooking resources to use in your homeschool

JimmieLanley.com – where you can learn more about her blog consulting services

Jimmie Lanley on Google + – be sure to add her to your circles!

I’d love to circle you, too. Here’s my Google+ profile.

click to play