Australian History with SKWIRK

During the lead up to ANZAC Day we spent the week exploring the topic further.

I also had the kids jump on to Skwirk and work their way through the appropriate levels for each of them that covered Australian History, looking in particular at the ANZAC topic.

I have children in three different levels of the Skwirk program so I thought I would give you a glimpse inside each of them and how they cover Australian History via screen shots from within the Skwirk program.

**As you all know our family have been given a subscription to Skwirk to be able to give you a peek inside. All opinions expressed from here on in are those of my kids and myself.**

My eldest is currently in the Grade 7/8 Level. 

At this level in the Australian Curriculum, history is mostly world history, but it does contain a full unit on ANZAC day, exactly what we were looking for.

Within each chapter there are reading passages, various images, animations and short video clips.

Each chapter begins with a reading passage.

This is just one of the many images that can be found within the ANZAC Unit.

Several short video clips, are included. This particular one gives you a glimpse inside the trenches. (excuse the quality of the videos, they are taken with my iphone)

Animations are also included within the unit, again a brief view of the conditions in the trenches.

If you like to give your children tests they are also included here.

My middle child is using the Grades 3/4 Level

Skwirk is completely curriculum aligned and in this level Australian History has a focus on Exploration and Communities.

Here you can see the topics covered within the units of work.

This is the next level up from the K - 2nd, which primarily uses animated content for young children. At the 3/4 level it is similar to the upper levels with reading passages such as the one seen here.

Whilst they are shorter and more simple in nature when compared to the 7/8 level I would personally still like to see this level supplemented with animations and many more videos for the children of this age group to watch.

I feel this is the trickiest level when it comes to readers, most kids by this age are reading at some level or another, but whether they want to be reading often remains to be seen. 

If there was a way they could still access all of the information but in a video format I think this would make a big difference to this particular level of the program. At least I know it would in our house.

Once again, there are several images all related to the content for the children to view.

Find A Words seem to be the go to game for this particular unit of work. My daughter really enjoys these at the moment so they are a nice bonus.

In some of the units there are also animated activities.

Whilst there are no exams at this level, most of the topics within this unit have worksheets that can be printed. Each worksheet shows the appropriate codes required for outcomes.

My youngest is currently in the K to 2nd Level

Here, as it does with the Australian Curriculum, history has a focus on the family, the child and exploring what history actually is.

The topics for the younger years are primarily animated video concepts, which are relatively engaging for the child to watch.

They generally always have a short game at the end of each video and the information presented is also included in the unit in written form as a read aloud option.

Whilst Skwirk is not our primary resource, I do really like knowing that I always have a curriculum linked product, that is quick and simple to use when we want to supplement what we are currently working on.

Would You Like A Half Price Skwirk Subscription?

Skwirk have very kindly offered all of you 50% Off a 12 month subscription, simply by using the code - worldwide - on sign up.

This code is only valid until April 30th though so you need to be quick!

Jump over to Skwirk and register now.

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

Disclosure: Our family has been given a subscription to the Skwirk Website in return for my reviews. All opinions regarding Skwirk are mine (and my children's).

Half Price Skwirk Subscriptions

Since the school year has already begun I didn't want to wait any longer to share with you some details about Skwirk.

Not heard of Skwirk?

This is an online, National Curriculum aligned, educational resource centre suitable for learners from Prep all the way through to Year 10.

It offers thousands of activities and lessons covering the subject areas of Mathematics, English, Science, Geography and History.

Skwirk caters to various learning styles through activities such as animations, video clips, colour images, reading passages, worksheets and games. Offering a flexible, easy to navigate learning resource.

Throughout the year I will be sharing with you the various ways in which we are utilising Skwirk in our homeschool. The flexible nature of the site and how my children, aged 6, 10 and 13 use the activities as part of their learning adventures.

We will give you behind the scenes glimpses into the site, an overview of the lessons, the reporting area and even a look at lesson planning.

Already my 6 year old begs to do 'Skwirk' at least a few times a day. I love that I can get him logged him, give him access to a learning area and from there he is basically independent.

For example I am currently writing this on a Sunday afternoon. My 6 year old was asking questions about water. I suggested to him that this week we have a look over Skwirk for some activities to do with water. Of course he wanted to jump on and have a go straight away.

Here we have logged into his K - 2 lessons and chosen the Science area. You can see he has already begun working through the first unit and has completed 100% of the first three topics. Next up is seasons and then, look at that, water! Exactly what we wanted.

The screen shot above is showing the lesson on seasons. Each part of the K - 2 area is laid out pretty much the same so the kids quickly get to know how to navigate their way around. The lesson on Seasons has 3 chapters, they simply click on a chapter, watch the animation, then do the game and complete the read along area.

Once finished the lesson, they can go back to see their 100% completion bar is full. My kids love to see that filling up!

In this final screen shot above the kids can easily see what they have yet to complete in their online lessons. So next time my 6 year old logs in and chooses science he will notice straight away that he has a lesson not quite completed. It really is that simple and on a Sunday afternoon, I'm truly loving that flexibility!

Would you like to sign your children up for a year of learning and fun with Skwirk?

The lovely people at  Skwirk have very kindly offered all of you 50% Off a 12 month subscription, simply by using the code - worldwide - on sign up. This won't last forever though so jump over to Skwirk and register now.

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

Disclosure: Our family has been given a subscription to the Skwirk Website in return for my reviews. All opinions regarding Skwirk are mine (and my children's).

Skwirk in the Homeschool

I wanted to share some of my thoughts on using Skwirk online as part of our homeschooling environment.

For our family the busyness of homeschooling is seasonal. There are periods throughout the year that we have a heavier load outside of the home.

During these times we often find it difficult to cover some of the subject areas, such as Science and SOSE in a more formal way.

Skwirk has made it so easy for us to include these subjects, with no work or preparation on my behalf, all at an age appropriate level.

This week at the Grade 5 level we looked at the SOSE unit on Australian Symbols.

The unit included a reading component, several images of various Australian Symbols, a vocabulary activity and spelling quizzes.

Here Lego Lover is completing the Cloze activity within the unit.

Towards the end of the unit, an interactive animated activity is included. This time, creating your own find a word. Firstly he needed to choose his topic and the words that he would be finding.

The system did the rest. The find a word works on a simple click and drag operation.

The entire unit is completed with a short quiz for the student to take.

When it comes to a busy homeschooling life Skwirk has certainly helped in ensuring we are covering a wide variety of topics within a small amount of time.

I technically still have a toddler in the house and we all know how demanding they can be. Many a time, with even the best plans, I have had to ditch activities and lessons due to toddler demands. But with Skwirk I can easily search for a topic and find a unit on that topic that the children can do independently.

So even if we are having 'one of those days' with Skwirk I don't have to feel guilty that the children have missed out.

At the Grade 2 level the units are entirely animated. no reading ability required. For all of the reasons I have already mentioned this is a blessing. Skwirk is an independent program no matter what level you are looking at.

We chose the unit on Environments, here the animation is discussing the features of a desert. Further into the unit it looked more closely at Australian environments.

This is such a plus for me, generally we find ourselves making do with American programs that are clearly not written with Australian children in mind. Skwirk is!

Once again each segment of the overall unit ends in a small interactive game type activity. This particular activity was a game of memory.

As you know this year we have our focus on all things Australian and so Skwirk is working as a fabulous supplement. When we are here at home delving more deeply into Australian topics I know I can jump onto Skwirk and find a supplement for that particular topic.

This has also added another element to the children's learning - elearning - so whilst the majority of what we do is covered by great books and hands on activities, once again adding this style of learning has added a whole new dimension to our weeks.

Whilst we are only a few weeks into to using Skwirk I can see that for so many reasons it will be an important part of our program this year.

Skwirk have very kindly offered my readers a 50% discount on subscription rates. Until the end of May you can get 50% off Skwirk with the discount code skwirkclass

Click here to visit the Skwirk website



Disclosure: I was given a family subscription of Skwirk for the purpose of reviewing. All opinions on this blog are my own and were not in anyway influenced by the product provided or by the company.

Skwirk

I wanted to take a moment to introduce all of you to our new blog sponsor, Skwirk Interactive Schooling.

Skwirk has pioneered Australia’s first online, syllabus-specific, interactive learning portal for primary and secondary school students.

Covering the core subjects for each Australian state syllabus and currently working toward the new ‘Australian Curriculum’, Skwirk's aim is to become the most trusted name and learning destination for teachers, students and parents.

Skwirk covers years K-10, with subjects including Maths, English, Science, Geography, History, Technology and Commerce.

Skwirk caters to as many different learning and teaching styles as possible, with over 20,000 pages of text, 2000 educational animations and ebooks, 1000 interactive activities, 1000 educational videos, along with podcasts, worksheets, pop quizzes and much more.

Redapple Education’s Skwirk has been placed on Education Services Australia (ESA) register of digital resource suppliers that will support the implementation of the new Australian Curriculum.

Our family will be utilising Skwirk in our Home School over the coming months and will share with you our adventures with this type of interactive learning.






Disclosure: We have been given a 12 month family subscription to Skwirk for the purposes of sharing our journey with this online interactive learning program.