K is for Kleusyklear! and Khan Academy

 K is for Kleusyklear

kleusyklear:  adj, describing a beautiful and happy day; It's a kleusyklear day today!

You won't find this word in the dictionary, but in our house it has real meaning.

The girls would wake up on certain bright sunny days and proclaim, "Mom it's a kleusyklear day today isn't it!"  "Of course it is!" I would say back.  The first couple times they used it I had no idea what they were talking about, but I played along.  They must have agreed on the meaning beforehand maybe just to see if I would pass the test of goofiness.  I guess I did.

Over the years, the two of them have conspired to make up many words, such as:    
Deeeeeeeee!: exclamation of uncontrolled happiness usually said with a slight Russian accent; usually used when they see Ryan doing something adorable; Deeeee he's sooo cute!
chub: verb, the action of squeezing a younger child's chubby cheeks; usually Ryan; Mom Alyssa chubbed me!


Do your kids make up goofy words?  I'd love to hear them!


Now on a more serious note

K is for Khan Academy


The brainchild of Sal Khan, the Khan Academy is a free website for anyone.  Sal's goal is for it to become the world's first totally free university where the world can learn anything.  He and his group want to change the way people learn.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have taken notice and are helping to fund the program.   Schools are beginning to recognize the benefits of using it in the classroom.

The site has two different main parts.  One  has short video lessons, usually around 10 minutes on specific topics, ranging from beginning multiplication to Calculus integration by parts, to astronomy, biology, art history, and banking and finance.  More videos are being added all the time in a variety of subject areas.  Sal has a great way of describing even the most difficult subjects to make them understandable.

The other part is where you can practice an endless amount of problems on different topics.  It's set up kid friendly but not too childish for adults to use.  You earn points for each problem you do and you are awarded badges for completing challenges, doing problems quickly or becoming proficient in 100 exercises.

Our entire family, even Ryan who's 7, use it often.  We are challenging each other to see who can earn a million points during this year.  Last night I stayed up until 11:30 trying to earn points by watching a video on DNA variation and practicing my math skills.  So far I'm only at 370,000 points.  Ryan's not too far behind me at 320,000.

I love the site and recommend it to anyone and everyone! So far Khan Academy has delivered over 139,000,000 lessons.  Check out Khan Academy.org today and exercise your brain!


Have a kleusyklear day!

Kathy :) 

Making Education Accessible

Over the weekend we rediscovered a great website we had visited a while back called the Khan Academy.  It is a non profit organization dedicated to providing high quality free education to anyone anywhere.  The site has over 2100 short lectures on a variety of subjects ranging from math to biology to history.  My husband and I had watched a couple a few months ago.  They were easy to listen to and we learned a lot.  But now the site has been updated and improved so that your learning can  be easily tracked.  It also has many fun new features to reward you with points and badges like the Sun Badge and the Legendary Black Hole Badge.  Each badge is earned by completing new tasks.  To earn an Earth Badge and 5,000 points, for example, you must answer 75 questions in a row quickly and correctly.

Our whole family is now addicted to the site.  All five of us are competing against each other to see who can earn the most points and cool badges.  I already have 8 Moons!  Yeah!  In math, there are levels ranging from basic addition like 1+1 all the way to calculus.  So there is plenty to keep us all busy.  Even though our 6 year old might not yet be able to grasp pre-algebra, he can continue earning points and badges by doing more problems or working quicker.  It has made all our kids excited to learn more math.  I never felt that way as a kid.  Our 8th grader said of the math lectures she watched so far, "He teaches so much better than my teacher in school!  He makes it fun to learn math."

It all started when Salman Khan started tutoring his cousins in math with quick lectures that he posted on YouTube.  Pretty soon others were watching them, learning from them and telling him how much the videos helped.  So far over 57 million lessons have been delivered.  Some schools are even using his site for their classes.  He is also working to enable people in extreme rural areas without internet access, the ability to use the software. Mr. Khan says that he hopes someday to cover every subject in the Khan Academy. Now after interviews on CNN, ABC, PBS and others, and an infusion of funds from generous donors such as the Gates Foundation, the Khan Academy is working hard toward it's goal of becoming the world's first tuition free academic institution that is available to anyone on the planet.  Lofty goals, but as he says on the website, "I can't imagine a better use of my time."

Join me in growing your Knowledge Map by using the Khan Academy and all its resources. http://www.khanacademy.org/

Kathy