Weekly Wrap Up~ FunSchooling Stuff I Found On the Internet this Week

OK, it occurred to me that there's a slight chance that most people reading this may already spend a good deal of time staring at random things they find on the internet. Perhaps they don't actually need more things on screens to look at, but might even be better off being encouraged to walk away from the device altogether and go enjoy their families? 

But, who am I to judge? I'm staring at a screen too.

Besides, since I keep coming across so many interesting things myself, I thought it would be nice to share. Since this stuff is actually really cool and inspirational, it's not like mindlessly looking at cat pictures. And by inspirational, I don't mean like those ridiculously complex and perfect things everyone Pins but no one ever does. I mean there's educational value here, and I'm all about supporting life long learning.

In fact, some of my favorite findings this week fall into the FunSchooling category. Enough of my rambling...Grab a cuppa something good, sit down and enjoy!

Lego Man Photography   

This guy, Andrew Whyte, spent a year traveling around Britain, taking pictures of his little Lego Man, who was taking pictures of landmarks.  

How fun is that? And it's super cute too!

This totally reminds me of the many hours my kids and I spent photographing their toys in various scenarios and set ups, and writing stories to go along with them when they were younger.  We even have a couple of hard bound books we made from those adventures.


It also reminds me of a friend who was very concerned and surprised when they realized how much of our "homeschooling" time was spent in this way. "Ummm, you did WHAT all day?" Imagine if we had spent a whole year on it! Bwahahaha! (.......)

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Paper Dresses   

OK, I absolutely LOVE the creativity by this mother / daughter team who make the most fun and fabulous dresses out of paper.

I find it especially interesting that the mom did not consider herself a creative (although I'd say she's wrong about that) and I really appreciate that she is just following her little fashionista girl's lead and having fun playing with & learning with her kid. 

I don't know if this kid goes to preschool or not, but she's getting a fine education from her mama it seems!

You can find more on Fashion By Mayhem, which is not actually about fashion, but is definitely fun to look at.

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Gold Medal Mama

The mom of Olympic Gold Medal Athlete Jamie Anderson shares her wisdom and joy with her unconventional approach to raising her kids.

She homeschooled her eight kids, with a focus on letting them be kids, developing at their own healthy pace and learning naturally rather than forcing early academics. 

It sure seems to have worked. Her brood features an Olympian, and an X-games champion, but more importantly, happy young people chasing their dreams, who actually think their parents did a good job! Way to go Lauren!

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Super Cool Science

So, Elizabeth Holmes is a brainy young science chick and Harvard drop out who used her tuition money to found Theranos, a biotech laboratory that has revolutionized the process of blood testing.

She developed a process that requires only drops of blood rather than vials from the patient. It makes blood testing so much less scary, so people are more likely to get tested and therefore get early diagnosis and treatment.

Her methods have substantially lower costs than traditional testing with the potential to save billions of dollars for both tax payers and individuals. Oh, it's faster sometimes too. 

Easier on the body and the pocketbook!  I love when science is both cool and useful in practical ways. 
I wonder if she has family members who still give her a hard time about dropping out? 

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More Fun Science Stuff

Last, but not least, Eva Varga, a fellow Nor Cal Homeschooling mama has come up with a bunch of cool science resources for elementary and middle school aged kids. 

In addition to a bunch of freebies, she also has developed some very reasonably priced curriculum, which could be used by individuals or co-ops, groups etc.  Looks like fun, hands on learning with little ones.

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Do you have anything interesting / educational or just plain entertaining to share in the comments below? You know we're all staring at screens anyway. We might as well be looking at good stuff. And, if you like this post, please "like" ZestyMom on Facebook and tell a friend!

Have a lovely and relaxing weekend! 


PS. If you share this stuff with your kids, it counts as family time!