May 2024
Theme: Laughter
Deadline: Mar 15
July 2024
Theme: Delight Directed
Deadline: May 17
September 2024
Theme: Intentionality
Deadline: July 19
November 2024
Theme: Adapt
Deadline: Sept 20
January 2025
Theme: Persevere
Deadline: Nov 8
March 2025
Theme: Choice
Deadline: Jan 17
May 2025
Theme: Plan
Deadline: Mar 21
July 2025
Theme: Response
Deadline: May 16
Send articles, letters to the editor, submissions, feedback and suggestions for future themes to magazine@wisdomhomeschooling.com
Password managers are good.
Without a password manager, you either end up using the same or similar passwords everywhere—making it easy to compromise multiple accounts once someone figures out a password—or storing passwords in an insecure manner.
Most web browsers now offer to remember passwords. This is a good start, but it brings about two challenges:
- What if you want your passwords somewhere else? Some systems will syncronise login info, but that requires you to use the same browser on all your devices.
- Often, there's nothing preventing someone from logging in with your saved password if they borrow your device, since the browser doesn't suggest using a master password to unlock the saved passwords. This also means nefarious software could get access to your saved passwords.
This is where a third-party password manager can save the day. They use plugins so that your passwords are accessible in every browser and on every device you might use.
I’ve used several over the years with a partial goal of knowing what's out there, and my personal favourite is Bitwarden.
- Free — with additional paid features, but I don’t use them and I doubt you’d need them either.
- Verifiably secure and trustworthy — their system both will not and cannot allow anyone/thing to see the saved passwords without unlocking with a master password, and they get things audited by an independent third party.
- Works on just about any platform you might be using.
- Passwords are synchronised with a central server (in encrypted form), so when you add/update a password on one device, it’s accessible everywhere else as well.
So if you were to give one a try, I’d start with that one!
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What's the difference?
"What's the difference between parent-led and teacher-led? Why do some families get different homeschool funding than others? I hear about 'aligned' or 'blended' or 'school-delivered' or 'teacher-led' or 'parent-led'... are there really that many kinds of home schooling?"
We hear questions like this frequently, and hope that the following information will help you to make an informed decision in your own educational journey. All learning-at-home options in Alberta fall under one of the following categories.
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The number one thing to remember in the process of buying technology is that you really get what you pay for. That doesn’t necessarily mean that a cheap computer is less powerful or less good, as different brands and product lines within those brands have different priorities.
From the eyes of a child, they often see what is directly in front of them, and learn through experience. It is up to us as parents to enlighten our child’s perspective and to educate them about life in both future and present tense. It is important to highlight other cultures within this globe. One year, when my children were in the elementary school years, we met up with friends in our neighborhood and studied different countries. We made this into an educational co-op led by moms. We would meet once a week and read about what other children experienced in their lives. Details such as clothes they wore and games that they played. We also read together and made a dish from the country we were studying. This was a dinner so that the dads could be included too. It was a neat experience on many levels; it helped them to respect these new things through food, games, friendships, and laughter.
I found this Around the World Lesson Plan (posted below) and just love how it breaks down the way in which you could implement any culture. We would often start with studying our own heritage and then move on to our friends’ or neighbors’ heritage.
Often, we fear what we don’t know. When I first did my Special Needs training, I feared not knowing how to interact with a child who had specific needs. But once I was educated and trained, the fear disappeared. Just like another child can dress differently or eat different foods, that can seem strange to our own child until they learn or experience for themselves. Children are so inspiring as they are often very slow to judge someone who is different from them. They may stare at them, but it usually has to do with having a sense of curiosity more than anything else.
Education doesn’t have to be complex, and it doesn’t necessarily have to take up a lot of time. My goal every year is that our sons continue to love learning. And the rationale behind having a lesson plan with a stem activity, fine motor, creative gross motor etc.…. is so that they have a fully enriched learning experience. You could study a country every day or even every week. You could even just study one a month. That is the beauty of home education: it’s whatever works for you, your child, and your family.
Just like the song says, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black, and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” We are called to love one another. And if we can’t travel the world, then we just need to bring the world to our house.
The WISDOM Family Magazine is a bi-monthly publication, free to WISDOM home schoolers and available for a small subscription fee to non-WISDOM families.
This great resource is full of information, inspiration and ideas. You will find encouraging and uplifting articles, curriculum reviews, success stories, and "how-to's" from homeschooling professionals and veterans.
I love looking at the snow fall ......when I am warm in my house and don’t have anywhere to go. I guess it would be more accurate to say that certain days and certain times I appreciate the snow a lot more than other days. When the kids were younger, we lived in Kelowna. It snowed a lot more than what I was used to and when it snowed, the temperatures were refreshing. Unlike here in Alberta where it feels like it is white for at least 6 months of the year. We started a tradition in our family years ago of drinking hot chocolate and eating timbits on the first day of snow. I would also give my son’s mini marshmallows to eat but before they ate them I would have them count them first. What they thought they were doing was making sure that they were given the same amount of marshmallows. Whether they knew it or not, they were doing Math. Once they mastered counting by 1’s then we worked on counting by 2’s and then 5’s and so on. When a Math pattern is discovered the brain starts to remember information that has been taught to them.That is one of the amazing things about teaching a young brain, they can always learn more!