Alright, if it wasn’t clear to me before, it certainly is now. I MUST stop buying books. If I continue at this rate, our camper is going to look like a Book-mobile in the very near future! Really. It’s only a slight exaggeration. Two of the outside, under the camper storage units are full of books and every possible space inside the camper not already designated for something else quickly becomes a place to stash and hide our piles of reading material. We really can’t live like this. Books are supposed to equal entertainment, relaxation, learning- NOT STRESS!!!!
I see one solution in mind. I must purchase a Kindle. Aaaahhh. No more piles, no more books falling at us when we open our above the head storage. A Kindle, now that would be the life. Well, it’s certainly on my wish list, but a bit of an unrealistic purchase at the moment. So, I’ve been looking for some creative alternatives and think that I’ve just happened to find a few. So, if you are space challenged like we are, you may find this entry helpful. Or you may have creative solutions of your own. In which case, I beg of you, for my sanity and my families well being, please share!!!
Thanks to Ann Zeise of A to Z Home’s Cool, who brought to my attention iTunes U. iTunes U is an online collection of thousands of educational videos, pictures and lectures from top educational institutions which include colleges, universities, museums, and other relevant foundations and associations. This free program is open to anyone with access to the internet. The courses can then be viewed on your computer or downloaded to an iPod or iPhone through both cellular and Wi-Fi networks.
Finding an introduction page was certainly easy and offered a wonderful video to help me navigate iTunes U. But I found that though I couldn’t wait to begin cruising through the plethora of material, I had a hard time actually finding it. I don’t know if I was just having a blond moment as my kids call them, or if this is just my ignorance, but I decided to spell out exactly how to find what you’re looking for.
So, here it goes: If you do not have iTunes downloaded on your computer, follow this link, a screen will open up that will introduce you to iTunes U. To get the most out of the program, go ahead and watch it, it’s short and won’t take much time. The very last sentence in the paragraph directly under the screen will give you a link to go to the store. Once iTunes Store opens up, you will see a box on the left hand side that says ‘Store’, simply select the iTunes U option.
If you do have iTunes downloaded, you should simply be able to open your iTunes account, and select iTunes U from the store option. With iPod users, we do access iTunes daily, but for some reason it still took me a bit to find this. Once you find the store, you can begin searching the university. Simply select iTunes U and then select the category you want to search in.
You’ll find the most popular selections appear in the center of the page. These include MIT Open Courseware, Writing Family History, An Introduction to Comics, Superheroes: Fashion to Fantasy and many others, but those caught my eye. You can also search by 'Category'. Since we are still learning about the Civil War and this week, slavery in particular, I chose 'History'. A little box appeared at the side with a few more options of which I selected 'North American' and once again the top downloads appeared in this new topic. Though you can do a search of the program- which is outlined in the introduction video- I decided just to browse through the featured listings to get an idea of what was available.
I was thrilled to find a program called Voices from the Days of Slavery. This happened to be first person accounts of stories and narratives collected during the 1930’s and 1940’s as part of a documentation process sponsored by the New Deal agencies during and after the Great Depression. This was a perfect supplement to the book we’ve been reading as our read aloud for the past couple days called, To Be a Slave by Julius Lester. To hear the words of those who had suffered through the horrors of slavery and then to hear their voices really impacted my children and they couldn’t wait to share their new knowledge, thoughts and reactions with their dad when he got home from work.
At the click of a button, I can download quality teaching material through iTunes U; this is certain to become a wonderful supplement to our studies now and in the days to come. I’m curious to see what features iTunes will add to this program in the future.
I had originally planned to share other resources, I’m just so excited that I can’t think past iTunes U. So, stay tuned and I’ll add some more goodies later in the week. ~ Happy Homeschooling!
© 2009 Tonya Prater/Live the AdventureComments
Aug. 8, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by knechtslodge
Very cool tool. Thanks for sharing.
Blessings
Diane
Aug. 9, 2009 - iTunes U
Posted by ShowUsTheWorld
You ROCK! Thank you for sharing this! I had no idea!