Online games that promote thinking and build math skills

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October 4, 2023 by Leave a Comment

Online games that promote math skills

245: Online games that promote thinking and build math skills

Dennis DiNoia from Mr.D Math is our guest and he shares some of his favorite games that promote thinking and build math skills.

Online games mentioned in this episode

You can find Dennis at
Mr. D Math
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube

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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

Online games that promote thinking and build math skills

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“Is this okay?” How to know if a game or app is safe for your child

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April 21, 2021 by Leave a Comment

How to Know if a Game or App is Safe for Your Child

128: “Is this okay?” How to know if a game or app is safe for your child with Lisa Honold


Guest Lisa Honald provides guidelines in this episode to help us decide if a game or app is safe for our child.

Lisa is a cyber safety educator and director of the Center for Online Safety. She teaches parents and school leaders how to keep kids safe online with simple and respectful strategies to help set healthy limits on screens and technology.

Lisa’s work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the 2019-2020 Washington State School Director’s Association conference, and dozens of podcasts, workshops, and presentations. Her popular online course, The Family Tech Reset course, teaches parents how to set healthy limits on technology while teaching kids how to develop their own internal compass.

Her process for parents is called the Five Steps to YES (or no) and you can download a free resource that takes you through these steps (see link in 3.a. below).

1. Start with your values

2. Do some research on your own. A useful website is Commonsense Media.

3. Ask your child to research it and prepare to “sell it”

4 Set up a time to talk about it and decide:

5 Trial basis yes – If trial basis yes, revisit the decision in a week

You can find Lisa at the Center for Online Safety and on Facebook.

A free copy of the Five Steps to YES handout can be accessed here.

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Take a look at show sponsor, FundaFunda Aademy 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.

How to Know if a Game or App is Safe for your Child

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Free Online Vocabulary Games

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February 12, 2020 by Leave a Comment

Free Online Vocabulary Game

70: Free Online Vocabulary Games

 

Here are the free online vocabulary games mentioned in this episode. Listen to the episode to learn about each one.

1. Vocabulary Spelling City

Vocabulary Spelling City is for students up to middle school and includes games like Hangmouse, a version of Hangman.

2. Knoword

Knoword is for teens and older and even the ‘easy’ level is challenging as you don’t get choices but must give the term with only the first letter as a hint. Stats and gamification make this fun.

3. Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary.com is available as a website or an app (the app does have a small cost). Students can either just play on their own, or you can create a teacher account and assign specific packs of word.

4. Freerice

Freerice is also available as a website or an app, and this app is free too. You can choose from 5 levels and you earn rice that is sent to countries where there is extreme hunger. You can also earn badges.

Show sponsor FundaFunda Academy incorporates some of these games in their Writing Mechanics online class.

Be sure to join our Facebook group where we can talk about this together.

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

Free Online Vocabulary Games for all ages

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Free Online Anatomy Games

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January 8, 2020 by Leave a Comment

Free Online Anatomy Games

65: Free Online Anatomy Games

 

Here are the online anatomy games mentioned in the podcast.These games were shared with me by the authors of 3 of FundaFunda Academy’s anatomy unit studies. And right now until 15th January, you can get 50% off all their regular-priced web-based unit studies with code JAN2020

Golden Hour Game
Be part of a medical response team to someone with a head injury and learn about the brain.

Code Fred: Survival Mode This is a game that teaches about the endocrine system and how our bodies react to danger.

Time Zone X: Immune System – Put in the correct order various historical events related to the immune system

Whack a Bone – players first progress through 3 levels which get progressively harder to identify and “whack” the bones.
Poke a Muscle – this is similar to Whack a Bone but relates to muscles.

Not quite as fun as these last two, but the game at Realbodywork covers the organs of the body – It is basically just a “match up” game. Similarly Purpose games has a number of games where you get a list of items and must click on the correct location in the body.

Digestix – this is a cool game about the digestive system

Solve the Outbreak – this is a game created by the CDC about diseases and epidemics.

Subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss future episodes.

And be sure to join our Facebook group where we can talk about this together.

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

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Online Personal Finance games and interactive activities

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November 6, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Online Personal Finance Games and Interactive Activities

Episode 59: Online Personal Finance games and interactive activities

Online personal finance games and interactive activities give teens the opportunity to practice their financial literacy skills. Here are the websites mentioned in this episode:

1. Online Insurance Games

Playinsure.com offers 2 games – one for home insurance and one for auto insurance. For both, you play for 30 virtual days and different events happen each day. Your decisions at the start of the game are important – try to make it through a month and have money in the bank at the end.

2. Stockmarket Simulations

How the Market Works is a free game you play as an individual. The Stock Market Game is played as a team against other schools in your area. It has a small fee associated with it. Both utilize the real prices on the stock market and students get a good idea of what it is like to put savings into stocks.

3. Payback game

The Payback game challenges players to attend university an not get into too much debt – or fail their exams. You learn that it isn’t easy to pay for college!. The game seems simple, but it isn’t easy to win.

4. Budget Challenge

The Budget Challenge costs $25 and students play over a number of weeks. Students compete against other students all over the US and have to manage a budget and pay bills on time during the period. At the start, they have to choose the type of bank account etc they want and these choices impact the rest of the game. It’s a good way to let teens understand what “adulting” is like. Parents will have to sign up as the teacher and that gives them access to teaching resources. Students take quizzes throughout the game which earns them points and checks that they understand the concepts.

These online games and simulations are used in sponsor FundaFunda Academy’s Personal Finance class so if you don’t want to go to the hassle of creating your own curriculum or adding these ideas into a curriculum you purchase, then check out their online class!

Subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss future episodes.

And be sure to join our Facebook group where we can talk about this together.

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

Online Personal Finance Games and Interactive Activities #homeschoolpersonalfinance #personalfinancegames #homeschoolpodcast

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How to Create Online Choose Your Own Adventure Games

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September 4, 2019 by Leave a Comment

How to Create Online Choose Your Own Adventure Games

Episode 50: How to Create Online Choose Your Own Adventure Games

Here are 3 different resources students can use to create online choose-your-own-adventure games.

1. Text Adventures

Text Adventures actually has 3 different options to create choose-your-own-adventure games. There is the option to download software, but I have always used the online version.

Initially, you are asked to select between Quest and Squiffy. Select Quest (Squiffy is a little more complicated and only text).

Then you can start creating a Quest game. Now select ‘Gamebook’ in the drop-down option rather than text adventure. The latter allows you to create rooms with objects that can be manipulated. If your children enjoy the easier option, they could progress to this one. And this video explains how to get started.

But I suggest they start with a Gamebook type. In this version, they create choices for whoever is playing and the player simply clicks on their choice to continue down a specific path. This version allows them to add in graphics, audio, and video.

In my online US History class students research a Native American tribe pre-1492 and then turn their research into a game which the other students can play. Here are some you and your children and try.

Cherokee Tribe Game
Igloos and Ice-Fishing
A Day with the Seneca Indians
Shoshone Adventure

2. Google Slides

Hyperlink Google Slides to other Google Slides to create a choose-your-own-adventure. See the show notes for the episode I did on Google slides for a video explaining how to do it.

3. Twine

For a real challenge, students can use Twine which allows them to create more complex text adventures and even incorporate some coding if they choose to.

Visit show sponsor FundaFunda Academy for teaching resources you can use in your home or in co-op classes.

Be sure to join our Facebook group where we carry on the discussion about Homeschooling with Technology.

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

How to Create Online Choose Your Own Adventure Games #wiredhomeschool #homeschoolpodcast #homeschooltech

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4 Free Online History games

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April 10, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Free Online History Games

Episode 29: 4 Free Online History games

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! Many of their classes incorporate games like the ones discussed in this episode.

1. Oregon Trail

Oregon Trail is a free online version of the original game. The graphics are very dated – but that adds to the fun!

2. Mission US

Mission US has 5 episodes covering different time periods in US history – Revolutionary War, what it was like to be a slave just before the Civil War, life on the plains for native Americans just after the Civil War, life as an immigrant in the early 1900s and finally, living through the Great Depression.

In each episode, you play the role of a teen who is trying to survive during that time. You make choices as you play and these affect the outcome of the game. This means you can replay the game and get different conclusions each time.

There are also educator guides for each episode.

3. Race to Ratify

Race to Ratify is a new game from iCivics.

This game takes you back to 1787 and you move around talking to characters from the past to learn about the ratification debate and how the Federalists and Anti-Federalists viewed various issues. As you talk to people you earn Argument tokens which you then use to create content for pamphlets.

You have to decide if you are Federalists or Anti-Federalist and you lose points if you print stories that don’t support your position.

This game requires quite a bit of reading and students have to think about what they are reading so it is good for high schoolers, or advanced middle schoolers.

4. Death in Rome

Death in Rome is a fun mystery game set in ancient Rome.

Click around the screen and ask the experts or the witnesses about items you find at the scene. After you have all the evidence, you can make your guess at what happened. If you aren’t correct, you can try again.

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

4 Free Online History Games for upper elementary through high school #historyfun #homeschoolhistory #historygames

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Classtools – Online Educational Fun

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January 16, 2019 by 1 Comment

Classtools online educational fun

Episode 17: Classtools – Online Educational Fun

In today’s episode we will explore some of the fun resources on the website Classtools.

Our sponsor, FundaFunda Academy enjoys using the free Classtools resources in many of their online classes and web-based unit studies.

Resources for creative assignments

Fakebook – create a “fake” book page complete with cover image, profile pic and posts for a literary or historical character.

SMS generator – imagine a text conversation between 2 literary or historical characters.

Badgemaker – design a badge to celebrate a historical character.

Breaking News and Headline Generator – supply headlines and descriptions for news events in the past.

Turbo Timeline – produce a timeline that you can drive through.

Online Educational Games

Play your Dates Right – put historical events into chronological order.

Dustbin – create up to 4 categories with items that must be dragged to the correct one.

Arcade Games – There are 70 ready-made games and you can add your own. Use the questions in one of 5 games: PacMan, Manic Miner Asteroids, Pong or Wordshoot.

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

Classtools Online Educational Fun

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Free Online Geography Games

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January 9, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Free Online Geography Games

Episode 16: Free Online Geography Games

Our sponsor, FundaFunda Academy offers online high school world geography classes as well as web-based unit studies for 4th – 8th grade on North America, South America, and Poland. In addition, they sell inexpensive Geography printable games.

Here are the 6 free online geography games mentioned in this episode:

1. Seterra

2. Lizardpoint

3. Sporcle

4. Smartypins

5. GeoGuessr

6. Fanschool

These games are good for upper elementary through high school – and for adults too!

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

Free Online Geography Games

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