The Learning Home

Safe Computing

2009-04-22T16:09:00.002-04:00

We recently starting using the Windows Live Family Safety tools/environment on our Play Room computer and it looks hopeful. Here is a good write-up / how-to in the event you'd like to use this as well.

Vision over visibility

2009-03-21T12:19:00.003-04:00

An insistence on looking past what you can see in favor of what could be.
- Bono

Leadership

2009-01-23T06:58:00.004-05:00

A leader can quickly determine who is helping and who is not.

A good leader supports and enables those who are trying to help.

A great leader finds the ways to enable everyone to help.

Staying Connected While Away From Home

2008-10-22T17:56:00.004-04:00

Work life…

In previous jobs I traveled quite a bit and although it felt good to make the phone call back home, I always wished I could do more to connect with my family and be with my family even though I was away. Through a healthy number of emails, SMS/IM messages, and webcam sessions, I could float into what they were doing, remind them that I was thinking of them and feel, in some way, that much closer and that much more a part of the numerous small, precious moments which make up the memories of one’s life. At times the content of those touch points could seem trivial (”miss u talk 2 u l8tr”) and other times monumental (”really miss u and the kids”) but they were enough to make me feel that my presence, my silliness, my daddiness/parentness was still close at hand adding to the family activities and discourse.

Another way to connect…

So while I was between jobs, this thought of “connecting” interestingly bubbled up while I was playing around with a web bookmarking service (Delicious) and the result was something which gave me one more way to be at home even though I wasn’t physically home. The idea was simple, create an account on Delicious (pretty easy) and create a “Tag” (which is simply just a word/phrase which you want to categorize things under, like “news” or “family” or “sports”. I chose “Hometone”). Then whenever or wherever I was, if I came across something on the net which I thought was interesting (and appropriate) for the kids, I would Tag it. Back home, on their play room computer (they only have one which they share in the play room and which has a nice sized screen so that they can see it from anywhere in the room), I created a shortcut that when they clicked on it, it would bring up the list of things I Tagged.

Parent / teacher…

Pretty simple and straightforward, but the result has been much more. While traveling to far off (and even not so far off) places, I would come across an interesting online gallery of Lego creations and think “if I were home, I would love to show the kids this and see if we could create one of them” and then tag it. Elsewhere I would come across a great audio clip (Baseball Driveway Moments for instance) on NPR and think “this would be something fun for us to listen to together” and then tag it. On another day and in another place, I would come across a great “learning Japanese” video and tag it knowing that at some point, far away from me, my wife and/or kids would click on the HomeTone link and be presented with a list of things daddy was sending them, a stream of thoughts and impressions daddy was thinking which brought daddy that much closer. This HomeTone is one of the things we’ve tried to set up in our home (our Learning Home) and it’s been a fun and rewarding endeavor for the whole family.

Life work…

Staying connected, deeply connected can still be difficult even in this over-connected world we are in, but it’s worth continually working toward creating and maintaining. All the noise and all the candy that is out there can pose a constant attack on what’s important and can cause you to take your eye off the ball so here is another simple and easy way to keep some of that in check and stay connected with your family in a value adding way.

This is also reprinted here at TheFatherLife.com (thanks Father Life).

Getting ready for a pet

2008-10-01T17:06:00.001-04:00

Getting a pet for the family is one of those great events which kids and parents hopefully remember fondly. After having Webkinz stuffed animals in the house for a couple of years, it seems that the kids may almost be ready for a real pet. Between having stuffed animals and having relatives and friends with pets, they at least know they love pets and so the question is whether the entire family is ready. Though answers to that question will vary from family to family, one little thing we've found useful is to use the Webkinz environment to reinforce some of the basic responsibilities they will have once a pet becomes part of the family. There are many ways this interactive online environemnt can be used, but the one being mentioned today has to do with reinforcing the need to take your pet outside every day. To those familiar with the Webkinz online environment, this will sound familiar and for those who are not, consider looking into it:

Get a Webkinz stuffed animal. We received one as a gift so that was pretty easy. Once you have one, you can set up the online environment pretty quickly for your kids.
Create an outdoor yard for your pet in the online environment.
Buy growable / interactive vegetables to put in your yard. You do not buy these with real money, they are simply some of the things you can get with the Kinz cash which you are given online.
Plant the vegetables. Once you do that, every time you and your child logon to visit your Webkinz online, you can go and see them grow, water them and do some simple tending to them so that they grow.
With that all set up, it's easy to have your kids visit their online Webkinz and have them take them for a walk in the garden to see how their vegies are growing.
That's it. The simple suggestion to "visit your Webkinz and check on what's growing in your garden" on a regular basis has a good balance of fun, reward and reminders which can act as a useful scaffolding to hang other lessons and activities upon.

These online environments (e.g. Webkinz, JumpStart World etc) are not only fun places for kids but can also be great tools for families...and they may help keep the carpets clean(er).

Btw, if interested, here is a JumpStart clip for those not familiar with it...

Integrate Math early

2008-09-29T08:53:00.004-04:00

Hopefully kids will be exposed to mathematics, in fun ways, early on rather than finding out later that their foundation in math was suffering. To that end, here are a few useful items which you may consider looking into (along with the websites listed on The Learning Home blog and website) which make math fun, interesting and which can be mixed into what your family has at it's fingertips from very early on.

Amazon.com Widgets

Is a Learning Home possible?

2008-09-25T11:02:00.002-04:00

Is a Learning Home possible? I am hopeful that it is in some form or another. If you think so as well, on Jan 27 2009 go to the Project10tothe100 and cast a vote for The Learning Home idea of if you just want to be reminded to take a look at all the ideas which have been submitted, look here.

As an fyi, here is what was submitted for The Learning Home:

Nickname: FutureSpot
Idea’s Name: The Learning Home

Summary:
Get there from here - seamlessly integrate tech, nature, edu, econ, culture and society in the first / best place…at home where your family lives.

Description:
As caregivers for children and adults, bringing technology into the home in safe and practical ways is not always as easy as it may sound or look and so this idea was created to help with those efforts.

The premise behind The Learning Home is that the home is the first and best place to start the process of exposing your family to a world where technology, nature, education, economics, culture and society are seamlessly integrated. By combining the old and the new via simple and elegant approaches in common household contexts, the intention is to give your family a more robust and well equipped foundation from which to start with and continually make use of during their participation in the world we live in.

In order for The Learning Home future spot to be achieved, it’s vital to be committed to…

Supporting a never ending process and environment for learning and fun.
Putting aside time to learn about new technologies so that each family member (especially parents and extended family) are willing and knowledgeable participants when using technology to augment teaching in the home.

It’s your family and your community and your world…equip the dirt and plant the seeds.

Problem space:
Caregivers become overwhelmed by the demands from those they care for and this is due to a combination of rapid changes in technology, values, economics and the balance between the earth and its inhabitants. We have two incredible opportunities when manifesting a healthy world and that is to invest in broadly equipping our children to thrive and remain balanced in a complex world and to invest in deep collaboration with our seniors to create the world we are aspiring to...these are the future spots we want to get to. The Learning Home is the where/when/how to begin this process with our children by creating a safe, creative, dynamic and balanced learning environment within the home from the very early ages and to continually evolve these environments to match the needs which are arising in the world around us.

Who would benefit:
Short term: Families would have more opportunities to interact and learn with each other in ways which are going in the “right” direction rather than just keeping up with what’s expected. Communities would become more local again and find more productive ways of combing online and offline environments. Institutions of Education would be provided higher quality starting points from which to lead/educate/enable from. Businesses would have new areas to expand into and responsibly provide solutions for.

Long term: The family and the community would once again become a valued collaborator/contributor/director of the life-cycle of earth citizenship. The education/faith and work/creation transition would find an effective cadence which made sense to the everyday worldwide person. And the larger society would once again have areas which are world-common, grounded, and reliable from which to launch the truly incredible world-endeavors which we need to be ready for.

Initial Plan:

Hone the message / value-proposition for the different demographics which need to be engaged
Utilize marketing/community/social networks to confirm that others see this as a good investment and enlist others who are equally committed to assist
Create a well-supported presence / rally-point for this effort which enables partners/ folks already providing solutions in this space (individuals / groups / institutions / companies / communities / etc) to plug into and add to the visual / verbal / feed momentum
Discover-and-make-visible actual holistic and point successes in this space and create prototype projects which show how it is currently done, how it can be done and what are the unmet opportunities to be worked on
Create and fund cross-segment programs (e.g. “challenges” which cross from home to school to work and back) which add to the “how-to” repository and create self-funding/supporting initiatives
Rinse-repeat

How to Measure Success:

Utilizing “The Learning Home” funding program, fund / implement / complete community + school + business (or any combination of these) projects. X to be completed and documented as best practices in the first 1 month, then Y in the next etc.
Utilizing “The Learning Home” funding program , fund / implement / deliver curriculums which transition from home ->school ->back, throughout a child’s entire education career.
Utilizing “The Learning Home” design prototypes, any new / existing home owner can choose to have these designs integrated into the design of their home.
“The Learning Home” design prototypes are part of Green / LEEDs / Universal Design certification
Toys, games, websites / blogs, software and sports equipment are “The Learning Home” certified
Raise the visibility of existing grass-roots successes in this space and these would also be metrics of success

Who could make this happen:
Google Education/University + PBSKids + Ed.gov + Dol.gov. The goal is to create a consortia representing home + school + business in order combine real-world projects with societal policy makers.

Regardless who wins, hopefully it does good somewhere...always be planting the seeds.

Teaching

2008-09-24T12:18:00.001-04:00

One who refuses to learn, cannot teach.

Using Google Earth to teach / reinforce understanding about Geographry

2008-09-19T13:48:00.009-04:00

In keeping with the premise of The Learning Home (...combining the old and the new...to give your family a more robust and well equipped foundation...), here is how we are integrating Google Earth into learning opportunities and our HomeTone.

On the computer desktop (or side bar or favorites...any place easily accessible) of the computer in the Playroom, have a link to Google Earth (which will need to be installed onto your computer beforehand) and whenever a discussion or question arises about geography (e.g. "Where is Italy", "Where do we live?", "What is the Grand Canyon?", "Is Alaska really that big?" etc), click on that link and enter in the location. As your conversation with your children continues, their view will be filled with an engaging view and zoom-in of the location you entered. This provides an interesting backdrop from which to answer the question and a great launching point to hand the mouse over them and say "explore around and see what you can find". Simply showing them how to zoom and pan reveal so much and can help to solidify the "where is here" questions which inevitably come up.
We've also added the Sightseeing "Tour" which Google Earth provides, to our HomeTone. To do this, install Google Earth and then run it. Once it is running from the "Tools" menu, choose "Options" then the "Touring" tab and set the Tour Pause to be a little longer than the default (e.g. 4 sec)...

Then check the "My Places" Checkbox to tell it what to take a tour of...

Then from the "Tools" menu, choose "Play Tour"...

There are lots of interesting aspects to this which can be incorporated into teaching but not just because it is very cool to watch, but it is very cool and easy for a child to mouse around and see their whole world (and beyond by selecting "Switch to Sky" on the "View" menu).

Also, we've added our home address and the addresses of relatives to the "My Places" list so that the tour also takes them there. We also add the location of the vacations and the places others in the family have gone to (or maybe are going to next week for work) so that they can see those as well.

NOTE: Like any "thing" which you can continually add to, it's important to prune the list every once in a while.

If you are an educator, take a look at how this might be incorporated into an existing curriculum.

This is also reprinted here at TheFatherLife.com (thanks Father Life).

Art is an idea which has found its perfect form

2008-09-17T07:48:00.001-04:00

Art is an idea which has found its perfect form...

Even if you think you don't know Paul Rand, you do know some of his great designs...great vid tribute.

Order...variety...contrast...symmetry...
tension...balance...scale...texture...space...
shape...light...shade...color...
this is the language or art, of aesthetic...of form. Just great. Thanks http://thekidsroom.blogspot.com/.

Tribute to Paul Rand

The Father Life.com

2008-09-12T15:43:00.001-04:00

Always good to remind ourselves of the importance of applying common sense to how we let technology enter our homes. Btw, theFatherLife.com is worth a look.

Driveway Moments

2008-09-12T14:42:00.002-04:00

Here are some great short audio stories/clips you may want to add to your HomeTone even if you or your family are not into baseball. NPR has a great selection of current and archived audio clips covering all sorts of great topics which you can pick and choose from as additions to what you'd like to expose your children to.

Photo Album and Scrapbook

2008-08-21T14:55:00.005-04:00

If you have invested time in taking pictures, then have them be part of your Home Tone by running screensavers on all of your home computers which show the pictures and videos you have stored at home (refer to The Learning Home - Technology Infrastructure).

Playroom Design - Performance Area...more instruments

2008-08-04T10:47:00.008-04:00

We've added drums, guitar and microphone to the Performance Area to compliment and add to the stage and the piano. These instruments come from the Rock Band game and though these don't teach all of the finer details of learning an instrument, they do provide an easy and approachable on-ramp to learning and loving to play instruments. Also, they promote team play, which in this case is a band consisting of a guitar, drums, microphone and base.

In keeping with The Learning Home interactive model, adult involvement will make this a successful addition to your Learning Home. Here is a time line which is working well for our family:

Month 1: Sign the kids up for some music lessons which are appropriate for their age and which are weighted toward exposure and fun rather then mastery.
Month 2: After they have some familiarity with the above lessons, introduce the guitar and drums and go through the lessons and practice with them. As the an adult, try to play as part of the band as much as possible when the kids are playing (e.g. you can be drummer if they are guitar or visa versa).
From there, let it become a part of their practice routine in whatever ways feel comfortable to them. In our case, our kids practice their piano and then sometimes we will play Rock Band and play a song together.
Also, encourage your kids and their friends to play together and to switch between different instruments. Though you may feel that guitar is the "best" instrument, keep in mind that it may not be for everyone. Be prepared to convey to the kids a solid explanation why the microphone should be tried and the drums etc...this will go along way to helping them find a voice and beat which is true to them.

It really is a blast and the transition between formal and informal interaction with the instruments and music (and technology) becomes transparent and so the focus is on the music and the fun and the creativity involved regardless of the tools being used.

A note on the Rock Band game, though we use the XBox 360, this is also available on the Wii and other gaming platforms. Also, though you can use a second guitar as a bass and the software / game fully supports it, you will need to purchase itr separately. We haven't yet done this but are getting close making the investment.

For those who have no familiarity with these games, now is the time to dive in and create a presence in this world which your kids are involved with...that to is an important investment which pays dividends in the years to come.

Playroom Design - Play Area

2008-06-27T14:36:00.007-04:00

Isn't it all play area? Well, actually it is but wanted to make sure that it was obvious that it's vital to make the maximum use of vertical wall space (without too much "noise") as possible for the support of play so that we could maximize the amount of uncluttered, open space for play. Here are the play areas of some artists you may now. Much of this design is inspired by something I read about Picasso's studio and how, on the borders he had everything precisely organized to allow for the inner parts of the area to be free flowing and creative. This is the balance and harmony we strive for.

Some specifics...

Children know where things go and can put things away themselves easily
If possible, incorporate the structured areas (e.g. shelving) into play scenarios
This area should be cleaned up on a regular basis by those using it or at least, the task of cleaning up, should be reinforced

Information, like scattered crayons on the floor, benefits from organization and though it's important at times to color within the lines, it is equally important to be able to ignore those lines.

Books and Music

2008-06-24T07:57:00.006-04:00

We came across these short and fun books which were good to pick up every now and then and remind us of the little things we could do from time to time (e.g. Tell her from day one that she can accomplish anything and ask him what he did today and listen) which make a difference.

Also included is some great music...

Amazon.com Widgets

Playroom Design - Performance Area

2008-06-24T07:12:00.004-04:00

Area to play instruments and perform on stage
Place for piano / keyboard and other instruments and curtain and stage
Dress-up / costumes

Playroom Design - Reading Area

2008-06-19T09:23:00.006-04:00

No matter how technologically advanced we become, everyone still needs to know how to read and thus the importance of a Reading Area. The key characteristics of this area are the following:

This is a place for children to sit down and read their books (electronic or otherwise) or play on their portable books / computers
Emphasis is primarily on integrating a commitment to reading early on and reinforcing it on a daily basis. Any other emphasis (e.g. whether a traditional book is better then an electronic book like the Kindle) should not get in the way of this.
Comfy chairs (or at least some type of comfortable place to sit). Keep in mind that the emphasis is on "be comfortable when you are reading" not particularly on where you are comfortable.
A place to expose appropriate and "stretch" books / information
Encourages self-directed as well as group reading (group reading should be encouraged within the home)
Move unused books into long term storage area and use your re/use/think/cycle strategy

There is a great deal of interesting work which quantifies or at least tries to make sense of the cognitive and the utilitarian importance of reading which simply further supports the need to make this a key part of a learning home.

Playroom Design - Storage and Filing Areas

2008-06-16T17:22:00.010-04:00

The "stuff" to be stored are the following:

Books
Materials
Tools / Equipment
Toys
Games
Replenish and cycle new items into this area

There is always a need for storage but in order to do it effectively, you'll need to think of things in the following ways:

What do I need readily available on a daily basis
What do I need readily available but not on a daily basis (maybe weekly or monthly)
What do I not need readily available but do not want to discard
What do I not need and can discard
And, you'll need to put aside a little time to allow yourself to move items from #1 to #4. This process is referred to as Filing.

For #1 and #2, we've created various areas throughout the room according to work/play flow. For instance, located beneath the Wall of Accomplishment are bins for #1 type work and #2 type work and this distinction is reinforced regularly. For #3 items, we've created a storage area in the basement (we'll outline the details of that later) and for #4, refer to the Recycling Area.

Regarding the Filing process, it's important to make this as easy and consume as little time as possible so that it will continue to be done over the long term. With that said, and in keeping with our integrated approach, early involvement and reinforcement with the family of this process is an excellent idea.

A couple of key characteristics of the Filing process are:

Have easy / accessible / openable drawers for storing already completed work and projects worth keeping but not needing to be displayed
Cycle items from this area into a long term storage area (e.g. shelving / cabinets in the basement)

Playroom Design - Workspace Area

2008-06-12T06:46:00.007-04:00

This area builds off of the Computer and Gaming Area and has the following characteristics:

Desk with enough space to spread things out upon
Art, LEGOs, homework, projects, games etc
Every effort should be made (and enstilled) to clean every day except if there is a project which is being worked on and is not complete.
Not to be used for long term storage

Playroom Design - Computer and Gaming Area

2008-06-10T11:47:00.005-04:00

Typically located near or in same area as Workspace Area
Easily accessible and "safe exploration" computer
Large screen which rotates so that it can be seen from anywhere in room
Gaming consoles would be located here and would use the same screen

Playroom Design - Recycling Area

2008-06-06T06:57:00.011-04:00

Like playing outside and providing access to a computer, providing and supporting the concepts of recycling early on are vital. The key characteristics this area are the following:

Start the process with the re-think => re-use => re-cycle approach. For instance, write on both sides of the paper and yogurt cups are great experiment containers and donating unused/already-used books.
Anything which can be used again, should be
Always direct kids to put unusable stuff into recycling bins and to help throw them away when garbage is taken out
Provide bins which fit into the design of the room
This area also acts as a constant reminder to discuss and consider re-think, re-use and re-cycle decisions

Playroom Design - WOA

2008-06-04T14:46:00.012-04:00

The Wall of Accomplishment (WOA) is where the numerous works of art, certificates, projects etc are hung when they are brought home. Here are its characteristics:

Display accomplishments (e.g. Art, homework, etc)
Rotate on a regular basis (e.g. monthly)
Talk about each item before it goes up on the wall
Encourage and enable "creators" (in this case, children) to put things up there themselves
Not used for long term storage

The Learning Home - Playroom Design

2008-05-23T14:10:00.011-04:00

For many, the first opportunity to prepare a child for the outside world begins in their rooms where they play and so this Futurespot focuses on how to make the most enabling play areas.

Keep in mind that "play areas" are different for children and adults but the fundamental concepts and goals remain the same.

Design

The design was made up the following:

Wall of Accomplishment (WOA)
Recycling Area
Computer Area
Workspace Area
Storage Area
Filing Area
Reading Area
Performance Area
Play Area
Misc

I will be putting up the details for these areas shortly.

Remotely updating our HomeTone

2008-05-21T15:47:00.013-04:00

Here is an example of one way to create a dynamic list which can be added to your HomeTone. In this case I am using a combination bookmarking and tagging. The scenario is the following:

We have set up a Learning Home Playroom
We have set up our phones and web browsers so anyone in the family, regardless where they are, can add interesting items to the HomeTone list (using bookmarks and tagging via del.icio.us and bookmarklets for our browsers)
For now we are only interested in visuals which are artistic or puzzling for the kids
If while we are working or just surfing, we find something which makes us say "hey, this would be interesting to have displayed in the background at home for the kids to see", we just bookmark it and give it a tag of "hometone"
The displays at home have a link on their desktop to the list so the kids can get to it easily any time. We may also have these lists just running (in some fashion)

Here is the list we add to and which others can also link to if they find it interesting / useful:

This is a regularly updated list (and RSS feed) and can be found at the bottom of the HomeTone home page.

Btw, we also post our home Facebook account but we'll discuss later how we integrate that into the Learning Home approach.

The Learning Home - Home Tone

2008-05-18T19:27:00.007-04:00

A Home Tone is the ever present background flow of visuals, audio, informational and other sensory experiences, which the family has access to regardless which room they are in.

Keep the following in mind:

It is not primarily intended to direclty engage someone, but rather can reinforce things which are going on in the home or the family.
Even though it is in the background, if someone in the house wishes to go deeper into what is "playing" (e.g. they see a picture of a vacation and want to zoom into it or see the entire set of pictures from the vacation, or they hear a holiday song and want to hear other holiday songs or they see an interesting web site animation and want to learn more about it), they can
Silence is a type of Home Tone
Nature is type of Home Tone
Home Tone is a combination of sounds, images and other information (e.g. news or info feeds) where any combination of these can be turned up or down as desired

Visuals - Electronic Photo Album and Scrapbook
If you have invested time in taking pictures, then have them be part of your Home Tone by running screensavers on all of your home computers which show the pictures you have stored at home (refer to The Learning Home - Technology Infrastructure).

Audio - Music Playlists
Creating a various play lists (e.g. Whole Library, Cool Stuff, Just for Kids) which are one click away on your computers is one way to enhance your Home Tone.

Informational - Web Sites
If there are interesting web sites whic h you'd like to add to your Home Tone, add these as well. For example, at any access point in the home (computer, TV, phone, appliance etc), if you want to share with your family something you found on the web today (e.g. maybe it's a very cool animation or video showing a shuttle launch which happened today and someone in your family happens to be interested in space or it is a curent topic in school), you should be able to add this to your Home Tone. One way to do this is to use bookmarking and tagging to identify interesting content and then on each of the home displays, have a link to that dynamic list.

Look here for more information.

Welcome to The Learning Home

2008-05-13T16:51:00.024-04:00

As someone who is a caregiver for children and adults, bringing technology into the home in safe and practical ways is not always as easy as it may sound or look and so this site was created to help with those efforts.

The premise behind The Learning Home is that the home is the first and best place to start the process of exposing your family to a world where technology, nature, education, economics, culture and society are seamlessly integrated. By combining the old and the new via simple and elegant approaches in common household contexts, the intention is to give your family a more robust and well equipped foundation from which to start with and continually make use of during their participation in the world we live in.

In order for The Learning Home futurespot to be achieved, a family will need to agree to focus on the following:

Commitment to supporting a never ending process and environment for learning and fun.
Commitment to put aside time to learn a little bit about new technologies so that each family member (especially parents and extended family) are willing and knowledgeable participants when using technology to augment teaching in the home.

Home Technology Infrastructure
This is one of the most interesting areas and is one which is typically over-complicated, fragmented, misunderstood and under utilized. This is also referred to as Domotics.

Home Playroom Design
For many, the first opportunity to prepare a child for the outside world begins in their rooms where they play. Here is a sample which can be used as a starting point for further discussion.

Home Interaction Models
For every question asked, seemlessly combine technology and readily available information to craft the answer.

Home Tone
A Home Tone is the ever present background flow of information which the family has access to regardless which room they are in.

Seniors are kids to!
Even though througout our life, what we focus on and how we focus may change, what doesn't change is the desire to learn and the surprise and joy of the benefits from doing so. The Wave50 futurespot is focused on this area.

Stay tuned to this space for discussions, references, roadmaps and insight for helping the overtaxed parent and caregiver to also be a group which harnesses the exciting and promising waves of innovation which are making the world a better place.