This Week in Semi-unschooling...

This past week was a busy one, though not in the usual way. My husband was off work, and that led to atypical activities alongside the Usual Suspects.

Soccer practices and games seemed to dominate the week, whether those of Neal and Allie, Evan, Ken, or all of the above along with eight or nine other people who showed up in our backyard late at night. There were, of course, televised games also.

On the "bookwork" side of things, we watched part of the BBC Life  series and more of the Standard Deviants American Government DVD. Allie and Neal both spent time writing and reading. Neal has been listening to Harry Potter books at bedtime also.

Neal and Allie have developed a fascination with the pasta maker. I've come down in the morning several times now and found boxes of  fresh homemade pasta in the fridge.

The Local Village Festival was this past weekend, and the kids learned that it wasn't wise to eat a mound of fair food before one intends to go on rides. Messes up one's plans a bit!

Neal and I attended the Ohio Linux Fest in Columbus. We attended five workshops on Ubuntu, video editing, writing in Python, etc. We also got bags full of cool stuff.  We had to miss the parade on Saturday, but it was well worth it!

Ken passed his DSST exam, Introduction to Computers. Shocking, no?

Which One?

I think Neal is trying out his eleventh version of Linux on his Eee PC right now. He's tried two versions of Ubuntu (or is that 3?), Puppy Linux, Mint, and several whose names escape me because I wasn't able to catalogue them fast enough. He even found a version on a Japanese site taht he was able to download and change to English...

He said that he's being like Evan...

I wonder how common Linux obsessions are among 12 yo boys?

The Future is Open Source: Linux and Homeschooling

I'm in the middle of learning a new language now. I'm learning Linux.

I've been with Microsoft since we got our first 'real' computer...back then it was MS-DOS, then Windows 3.1, which held records for Most Blue Screens in a Single Hour. We struggled through a few more versions with varying degrees of satisfaction, then settled in for a nice, long and fairly successful trip with XP Pro.

I don't use Windows as much anymore, and if the summer's crop of annoying minor illnesses hadn't slowed me down, I'd be a nearly-full-time Linux user. Linux is easy, intuitive, and fun. It has much better security, excellent support, reliability (I have yet to see a blue screen!), and...it's free!! So are the programs that run on it!! Linux also works on machines that can't handle Windows easily. A program called Wine even allows me to run most Windows programs in Linux!

The basic Linux programs and their add-ons, games, educational programs, etc. are all free. To be sure, some do sell Linux, but they are peddling their own support and such. The programs themselves are all free, and excellent tech support is available free at Ubuntu Forums. That is one of the main reasons why schools all over the world are switching to Linux.

In a way, switching to Linux is a bit like embarking on the waters of homeschooling: we stop relying on a larger entity to do it all for us, and start becoming more self-reliant.



Edubuntu - the educator's version of Linux. Check out these screenshots
Linux for Education - Links and resources for Linux
Schoolforge UK - Lists open source software for Linux, Windows and other systems. Also has a list of educational programs with Wine.

Schooltool - Useful teacher programs...lesson planners, record books, etc.
The KDE Education Project - Developers of Linux educational progams (and they are free!)
Thornburg Center - listing of Linux programs and resources for educators
Technology and Learning