Marian Scadden, author
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Books
  • Plays
  • Excerpts
    • White Fire (YA Novel)
    • Armadillos in the Road, A Texas Fable (picture book)
    • Fables (script for children to perform)
    • Wakt Family Reunion (a murder mystery)
    • The Other Art: Theatre Skills that Help Every Child, Home Edition
  • Links
  • Contact

Homeschool Concept 8: Internet Searching

9/15/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Need to find some ideas? Learn to use the internet, not just Facebook. You can do a broad search such as, “Science Experiments” but I like to be more specific. How about “Science Experiments for children”? That’s a great start. Let’s try again, “Science Experiments for Pre-Schoolers.” Just to see what I could come up with, I just tried, “Science Experiments for toddlers at home.” I had a number of sites to check out. I also tried “science experiments for 6th graders at home.” Again, an abundance of sites to pick from.
 
Just to try it, I also searched for books: “easy readers for kindergarten.” Of course you can enter whatever grade level you want. The first few sites on the results page were for booksellers, e.g. Amazon. But then I found a great website specifically all about books and book lists.
 
I recommend internet searching and not just posting on Twitter or Facebook because you have more choices and can drill down to just the right activities for your child. One day, I was looking for something for my enrichment classes I teach (for homeschoolers) and found a great site for what I needed. I discovered that one of the Facebook groups I’m on had mentioned it before but not with a description that made me realize what it could do for me.
 
I  find that internet searches are also better on a computer (desktop or laptop) rather than a device. Small devices don’t give a full picture of the possibilities on a search or on a site.
 Remember to click on “Images” and “Videos,” circled in this picture:




​



​

​Sometimes, I find what I’m looking for as I’m looking at images. I’ll click through and see if the website works for me and many times, it does.
 
But I confess that sometimes it can be overwhelming to do internet searches IF I let myself look at page after page. As thrilling as it is to see the richness of educational opportunities out there, we only have 24 hours in a day and not all of that can be spent on research. Here’s what I (try to) do when I’m looking for ideas:
  • Get a clear idea of what you want before going online.
  • Have a folder in your bookmarks bar for your theme or subject. You can also have a folder ready on Pinterest (or wherever) to save your valuable finds there.*
  • Decide in advance how many pages of results you’re going to look at and how many sites you’re going to click to. I usually look at 3-4 pages of results, and about 10-15 sites.
  • Make your search parameters as specific as possible, such as [activity or subject] for [grade level] at [location such as home or outside].
  • Set a timer and GO!
  • On the search result pages, right click on the sites you’re interested in. On the small window that opens up, click on “open link in new tab,” usually at the top.
  • Once you’ve gone through your predetermined number of result pages, start looking at the windows you’ve opened. Just glance. If it’s almost okay, move on. You can keep it open just in case it’s better than the other sites but look at the other sites.
  • Bookmark the ones you are going gaga for. Now, QUICK! - close extra tabs including your search results; otherwise, you’ll be tempted to look at “just one more page.”
  • You can stop there and return later to look at the sites you bookmarked or open the one you liked the best and read it or watch it, if it’s a video. Now put it on your calendar or go for the activity right then and there. Because you bookmarked several sites, you can come back to them and add them to your calendar for another day.
 
Kewl!
 
*I have a Pinterest folder that I call “Teaching Units,” with sub-folders for some of the classes I teach. You’re welcome to view the eclectic subject matter there, but if you don’t need any of them, please don’t go because I don’t want you to get stuck in Pinterest land. My subfolders are: Flippity.net; USA; Space; Surviving the Oregon Trail; Riordan: LightningThief RedPyramid SwordofSummer; Wright, Earhart, paper planes; Volcanos, Travel, The Future That’s NOW; Preschool; Ocean; Medieval Times; Meaningful Math; French; French Songs; French Stories; Aztecs, Incas, Mayas; Ancient Greece; and then I have a smattering of links to projects and games that aren’t categorized...yet.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Marian, that's me!

    I love stories! I love to read fairy tales, fables, stories from around the world. I especially love scifi and fantasy. And I like to write. And watch movies. And play board games. And do theatre things.

    Categories

    All
    Annoyances
    Applause
    Books
    Cell Phones
    Children
    Chocolate
    Critiquing
    Depression
    Duct Tape
    E A Bundy
    Editing
    Enjoyment
    Enthusiasm
    Facing Fears
    Genius
    Grammar
    Healthy Eating
    Henrietta H. House
    Home School
    Indie Authors
    Inspiration For Writers
    I Or Me
    Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
    Lies
    Lists
    Motivation & Inspiration
    Nanowrimo
    Nursery Rhymes
    Procrastination
    Reading
    Scbwi
    Self Discipline
    Self-discipline
    Self-publishing
    Shakespeare
    Success
    Theater
    The Nursery Rhyme Game
    The Pigeon Catcher
    Too Much
    Writers Critique Groups

    Archives

    September 2022
    May 2022
    March 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    January 2018
    May 2017
    January 2017
    July 2016
    March 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    June 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    RSS Feed

Picture
Marian Scadden, author of stage plays, fiction for young people, and other stuff