Technology makes school projects painless

Earlier this year, there was a Blog Cruise question about incorporating technology into your homeschool. Though I imagine there are some that use very little technology, I personally can't imagine homeschooling without it.

My daughter's American History class has several projects throughout the year.  Usually she is given flexibility in how to complete the projects.  This past semester she had two large projects, both of which she decided to present with technology.  Her work on both of these projects was very focused and she completed them both well before the due date.  That is saying a lot for Miss Procrastinator. Obviously she enjoyed creating them, and I enjoyed seeing the end result. I just wanted to share them as examples of how technology can be used for learning. 

The first was a research project on any history topic approved by the teacher.  Using a video presentation, she chose to explore the things about Christopher Columbus that the history books usually don't tell you. As you'll notice from the graphics used, it is hard for my daughter to not incorporate her quirky sense of humor into her work. (Warning: There is mention of a mature topic related to the treatment of women. Please make sure younger children are not around when viewing, or preview first.)



The same class required a timeline over the period covered for the semester.  I have to say, she wasn't thrilled with making a timeline (it must be genetic...).  She dragged her feet on this one, until she discovered a way for it to be created digitally at www.dipity.com.  This site is free, and a very cool way to do a timeline.  You can view my daugther's timeline here.  What is also neat is that you can use another host for the timeline for your very own timeline web page.  She used www.webs.com to do this.  Don't ask me how that is accomplished, because I have no clue, sadly! It is the exact same timeline, but at a personal website.  You can view it here. (Note: some computers seem to have a block on this site until it has been up for 7 days.)

I hope that gives some ideas for how you can use technology for homeschool projects and learning.  It's educational, green, motivating...and in our house...painless!