Hunt, peck, hunt, peck....how are those typing skills?

This quote on my friend's Pinterest page last night got me thinking about typing or keyboarding!

My boys are computer experts.....at playing video games! They can hunt and peck to converse with their friends or send an email to Grandma but they are not typers per say. So....we will be adding typing/keyboarding games as part of our weekly lessons in for our Fall 2012-2013 school year! I want them to be able to type a letter proficiently with little mistakes and if they do make a mistake, the auto correct doesn’t catch it before they do! They need to be able to spot their issues. They are going to be in 9th and 10th grade. They will be writing papers in College before I know it and while I had to do mine the old fashioned way, on paper with a pen and then transfer to a typewriter or word processor.....they need to be able to use the keyboard on their computer! Which leads me to ask, how proficient are YOU on the keyboard? If not, maybe you should consider adding a typing game to your homeschool for your kids!

Where in the world is ----------? Adding Geography to your Lesson Plans!

As the 2011-2012 homeschool year is winding down....I am already looking ahead to our 2012-2013 school year! I will have 2 in high school! SHOCK! I cannot believe it! It seems like just yesterday I was at their Kindergarten orientation.... And as I sit down and make out the list of courses for them for next year, I realize that we need to bump up our geography lessons! To me, geography is VERY important! Think of the news, this happened in Somalia, that in Iraq, weapons in North Korea, tornados in Texas....each one of those talks about an area of the world and I want my boys to be able to know generally where they are! So.....I am going through different geography programs to find one that works for their age level. This is the challenge as there are lots of great programs out there but they are 14 and 15, 9th and 10th grade starting in the Fall. They are beyond what they consider "baby" programs. English, Math, History, Geography, Science are all on our lesson plans for the Fall.... thinking of adding a foreign language and ???? Whatever Mom comes up with!!!! Insert evil laugh!!! So, have you started you lesson plans for Fall yet? What is on your agenda?