Why I Love Khan

Khan Academy is one of the best known free educational sites on the internet. Here you can view hundreds of short videos on a wide range of topics, work on sample problems and chart your own progress all for free.

I know that the lecture format isn't the most ideal way to learn, but there are some excellent reasons why this format is popular. Here are the reasons I love Khan:

1. The videos are short, well sorted and well explained. This allows anyone to quickly look up a topic and clarify points easily.

2. Khan has a friendly, relaxed manner that puts you at ease. He doesn't re-film his errors, just corrects himself as he goes, showing students that it's OK to make mistakes and that you just need to double-check and keep going.

3. You can access these anywhere, replay them as often as you want and can learn at your own pace in privacy. Chances are good that if you still don't understand a topic, someone will have posted the question you have in the comments. The community here is strong, and the questions tend to be answered thoroughly. The explanations are clear and broken down into logical steps. He makes no assumptions about the connections the viewer will make automatically--everything is explained. When you understand a part, it is very easy to skip ahead as needed.

4. It is available free of cost to anyone who has an online connection. The videos do not require high speed connections to run.

5. Sal Khan is an excellent role model. He took a huge risk in order to develop this site, and has put much of his own time and money into it without resorting to charging fees or hosting ads to pay for it. As an owner of a website, I can tell you it is not easy to avoid the need to allow advertising since site hosting does not come free. When you consider the hundreds of hours spent making and organizing the videos and website, the immense size of this task is truly overwhelming.

6. You can progress from basic operations right through to graduate level math through this site. Although it is always best to use a variety of resources for your studies, the list of topics covered within the math section at least is quite extensive and thorough.

7. You can access all parts of the site without having to provide any personal information. The only thing you miss out on if you don't provide info is a record of your progress through the videos and lessons.

8. The colour coding helps keep things visually organized.

9. Unlike textbooks, it provides both visual and auditory explanations.

10. The short length of the videos makes them more manageable and allows for natural breaks between sections and concepts.

11. They are accessible to people who struggle with the concepts. They are non-threatening and can be watched and completed in privacy, which makes them more attractive to students who need a little more or a little less time to master a concept and would prefer to move at their own pace without being put on the spot to answer questions in public.

12. Vi Hart has partnered with Sal Khan for some videos and if you are familiar with her work, you will immediately understand that this is a very good thing!

There are other free educational courses available online, including many open courseware options, but the short video format fills a need not found in many other places. Both are excellent opportunities to extend your learning of specific topics without having to travel or commit large amounts of time or money.

Thank you Sal, and all the others who provide us with valuable and accessible educational resources.

Letting Go

I wrote this last Wednesday after dropping off my son at his math program. It's funny how as a parent, you never know when these moments are going to come, when your child suddenly moves beyond your sights and you find yourself not wanting to let go, but knowing that is what you must do. Sometimes it happens when you least expect it.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

The little boy with the round face and red-blonde hair broke into a sprint alongside the family car in a race with his dad. My husband was turning the car around to continue with errands after dropping us off at the local university campus.
We walked along through the familiar surroundings and entered the math building, climbing all the way up to the fifth floor, with him waiting patiently for me at the landing. We were early, so we wandered the hallways, delighting at some of the cartoons and signs on the office doors, signs that read "IQC" and promising of cutting-edge research that will no doubt lead to places as yet unimagined.  Bulletin boards advertising seminars on quantum physics, nano particles and various other topics we only barely understood tickled our imaginations.
This was not Squirt's first time coming to the department; last year he attended the grade 7/8 session, which he did not enjoy. He already knew the material, and even with the clever presentations and hands-on games the teachers devised, it failed to challenge him. This year we were back, but under his terms, which is what brought us all the way up to the fifth floor where the high school students were taught.
The professor (the high school groups are taught by university professors) welcomed him warmly and invited him to choose a seat where he'd be able to see the projection screen.
Squirt pulled out his binder and I saw his paper was in upside-down. Normally I would have let it go, but in a rare fit of protectiveness I fussed and fixed it. His eyes told me "enough", so I left.
Eleven years old and he is already forging his own path through life, and I am a spectator on the sidelines who can only begin to comprehend his world.
This isn't the first time I've walked away and left him to fulfill his dreams. He swims competitively and has traveled to other cities with his team and without me; he has attended residential summer camp. But this is different. Tonight felt like a turning point, one where I begin to hand over the reigns of his education to those better equipped to mentor him and meet his needs.
In two hours he will return to me, a happy little boy who will want a snack and another chapter of our novel read aloud to him before bed. I will cuddle with him and we will read together and I will watch him drift off to sleep. But I know these days are numbered, and I am reminded of the words of Kahlil Gibran:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. 
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. 

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

The Value in a Piece of Paper

Steve Jobs, his passing and legacy
Khan Academy
Ted Talks
Wimp & Dump
Online AQ Courses
Online high school credits
CEMC
Open Courseware

What do all of these have in common? They are all sources of educational inspiration for me over the past two months.
I've been wondering about the future, both for my children and for myself. What sort of education do we need? What will we be doing with our lives next year? 5, 10, 20 years from now?

The discussion nearly always turns to university education--which school, which program is the best choice to match interests and aptitudes?

As you may have discerned from previous posts, we are a homeschooling family--actually, we are unschoolers (perhaps not radical unschoolers, but unschoolers nonetheless). Much of the material we access comes from online sources. We are very fortunate to have a wealth of free, accessible resources at our fingertips. This was not possible 20 years ago.

Steve Jobs was brave enough to realize that much of his prescribed (and exceedingly expensive) education was irrelevant to him. So he cherry picked his way through, saving time, money and frustration to invent his own learning path.

Doing so is much easier now than ever, yet many of us balk at the thought of taking such responsibility for our learning. I will admit that I also find the thought a little dizzying. I loved my university years and would trade them for nothing. Well, my undergrad years anyhow.

And yet...

One of the things I'm considering doing as a second career requires university level math courses. To take these costs a total of about $3200, and that comes before the actual course itself. For a homeschooling mom, that is a lot of money.
And then I read the fine print: I could opt to sit a mathematical aptitude test for a cost of just $50 and have those requirements waived. Well, math has never been my strong point, but I do have a casual interest in it, so I occasionally pick up a book, or visit a website, or view a video on a topic within math. Still, I struggled with grade 12 math, so how could I possibly cope with more advanced material?

I took the practice test just for fun.

I received an 80%. Not wonderful, but enough to meet their requirements with some room to spare. And, thanks to YouTube and Khan Academy, I have since brushed up on the weaker areas now too. I guess since I was doing it out of interest and at my own pace, I really took in more than I'd realized.

It goes that way for most subjects in my experience. Developmental psychology was relevant when I could watch young relatives reaching developmental milestones, acquiring language, and growing in body, mind and spirit. Statistics and research design only became relevant when I began doing my own research. Physics became interesting when it began to describe things beyond the everyday. And so on. The motivation follows the need.

So I'm wondering now, what is the relevance of that heralded degree, SAT scores or other similar external validation in regard to education? Is the fact that our education systems are loaded with standardized curriculum & tests in actuality a reaction to the coming of the information age? Will the validating papers (certificates, diplomas, degrees) be replaced with something better, more customized and relevant? Will post-secondary level education become universally available?

Will we find our post-secondary institutions becoming places where only the hands-on, experiential "lab-based" courses (labs, medical courses, musical performance, teaching, fine art, etc.) need be taught, with the remaining resources dedicated to research?

Or, will we continue to follow the status quo and only value education that is expensive and exclusive? There is a great deal of potential here to educate most people to a higher level than previously imagined, for a small fraction of the cost.

How will we measure this? How will we value all relevant learning? How do we learn to value & encourage creativity and original thinking? These are the challenges we face.

Edit: I found this article today which tackles the possibilities of online education as a tool for educators: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/11/13/clayton-christensen-why-online-education-is-ready-for-disruption-now/

About Lemonade

I began Lemonade nearly two years ago. I wanted to create a site for kids, but soon realized that it was more of a resource for parents and teachers.

It is an ecclectic site, with numerous pages including novel studies, party planning, kid concoctions (playdough, slime, etc.), recipes, science experiments, book recommendations, writing tips, make your own math manipulatives, history activities, crafts, off-line games, camping tips, instructions and recipes for dehydrating food, articles I've written about my own educational philosophy, and pretty much anything related to kids.

I have recently added a few printable activities and will consider adding more if they prove to be popular, or if someone makes some specific requests.

I am not  an expert page/site designer, and can sometimes miss the obvious. If you have any suggestions please let me know!

Welcome

Well, I've resisted for a while, but here it is--my blog.


I plan to share some of the more interesting resources, observations and ideas I find as I go. Please feel free to share yours here too!

The Lemonade website is also on Twitter and Facebook. Be sure to check those out if they are your thing. I find Twitter to be a nearly overwhelming source of ideas and inspiration.

Lately I've been updating the website, adding a few pictures, cleaning up the descriptions and so forth. The newest additions are the crystals page http://greensim.com/lemonade/crystals and spring crafts http://greensim.com/lemonade/spring  The history page is also quite new.

If you have any comments at all about the site, page layout, etc. please let me know. Lemonade is a huge site with many pages. If you do not find what you are looking for, I would like to hear from you!