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iSchool.

October 12, 2011June 18, 2012 Rachel Callahan Actually Possibly Informational, Anal Retentivity to a Fault, Homeschooling: Not just for the socially awkward anymore., Stuff I like

Ali is infinitely more interested in learning if it’s happening on an electronic device.

(I have NO idea where she gets her geekiness.)

After seeing her excel greatly in schooling while using apps on my iPhone, we bought an iPad as an investment in our homeschooling future. Obviously, there are still many things that we do the old fashioned way, but the iPad has greatly increased her interest in learning as well as the speed of her learning curve.

Good apps, however, were not as easy to find as I had anticipated. I’ve spent weeks researching and scouring the app store in order to fully utilize our new tool.

With that being said, here are my reviews of the best apps (all available on iPhone and iPad) that I’ve found. They’re great for homeschooling, for supplementing school, or for simply for letting your kid play “edutainment” games that will teach them without them even knowing it – it’s like sneaking carrots into their cookies, virtual style.

Teach Me Kindergarten / Teach Me First Grade – these two apps are by far my all-time favorite learning tools. They have everything that makes an app great – depth of learning (it swaps up between addition, subtraction, sight words, and spelling to keep the kid’s attention and give variation in learning), increasing difficulty, rewards (it gives them coins when and only when they get the answers right, and the fun rewards cost different amounts of money so they learn to save money), a high level of parental customization and tracking, usability for multiple students, and it is entertaining. Ali played Teach me Kindergarten on my iPhone for a year, and is now doing Teach me First Grade on the iPad and still loves it. If you only download one educational app, download one of these.

Math Bingo – This is one of Ali’s favorite apps. It’s great because it’s super educational, but also extremely entertaining. You get to put “Bingo Bugs” on your bingo sheet at the right answer for math problems. You can play addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or all four. Within the first week, Ali learned how to add double digit numbers because she wanted to play Level 3 Addition. By the third week, she learned the basics of multiplication because she wanted to play in that mode. She can either play this one alone in the lower levels or with me helping her learn in the harder levels, which makes it more interesting for her and more dynamic of a learning tool. It also has a fun game that you get to play as a reward.

Word Bingo – This is the same as Math Bingo, except with sight word recognition. It also has multiple levels and a fun reward game. It’s great also, but Math Bingo is our favorite.

Super Why – This is one of the best imagination-driven games I’ve seen – it is just like the television show, except that the kids really are getting to participate (rather than the awkward pretending to participate thing that kid’s TV shows do these days). The level of it is for very beginning readers, though, so it isn’t very challenging and doesn’t increase in difficulty. But Ali loves to play it anyway!

Bob Books #1 / Bob Books #2 – There are hardly any apps out there that focus on actually reading, and this one is about as close as it gets. The graphics are beautiful, and the words are great beginner words. HOWEVER, it’s very shallow – it starts back at the beginning every time, each page stands alone and doesn’t continue a story, and there’s no way to skip around to different pages. I don’t even know how many pages there are, because Ali always gets bored before she gets to new ones. This app has the potential to be great, but for the price ($3.99), it’s not worth it yet. Maybe check out the free version first.

Jungle Time – I was very excited when I found this app and it’s sister app, Jungle Coins, because it fills the gaps of first grade Math not covered in the Teach Me First Grade app. This one teaches how to tell time, and you can set it at varying levels of difficulty. Very cute app, but Ali got bored with it pretty quickly. I’m hoping she’ll become more interested in it later.

Jungle Coins – Ali likes this app much more. It also has varying degrees of difficulty in learning what coins are, counting coins, and making change. This is a great game for teaching something that I’ve had trouble in the past getting Ali interested in learning.

abc PocketPhonics – This game is great for practicing the basics of recognizing letter and blend sounds and writing letters. It’s very easy to use without any help, and Ali is entertained by it quite a bit. It’s not necessarily challenging, but it is good for reinforcing concepts.

Shake the States – I’ve downloaded several geography apps, but this one is by far our favorite. It’s a simple puzzle-like game (you can choose to have the outlines of the states turned on or off for difficulty), but the voice names each state as you put it on, and the graphics are great and very entertaining. After playing it just one time, Ali was easily re-familiarized with all of the states, even the tiny ones.

Stack the States – This is another fun geography app, but it’s a little too advanced for Ali, as it requires reading the questions. Also, some of the questions are pretty challenging. However, the fun of stacking the states makes it compelling for her to play, even if Mommy is having to tell her the answers to most of the questions. I do, however, tell her the name of the state that is correct and let her pick it out of the four choices– it helps her recognize their shapes.

Stack the Countries – Again, the questions require reading and are way too hard for Ali (I’ve learned quite a bit, though!), but she still loves it. And a tip with this game: the first bonus game you “earn” is a simple game of placing the countries on the correct place on the map, something I’ve been looking for in an app for ages. So I actually prefer the bonus game for Ali rather than the main game.

FreeFall Spelling – This app is just “cute” – cute graphics, cute rewards, cute music. It’s not very deep and doesn’t have increasing difficulty or more than one element of play, but it’s cute, and it will keep the attention of a kid for a while and help them practice spelling while they’re at it.

iTouch iLearn Words – This game is just okay. It’s very low-level for early readers, doesn’t have many options, has annoying voice-overs, and is pretty shallow. But Ali finds it entertaining, so it’s not all bad.

MeeGenius – This is a free book-reading app (i.e. it reads the books to you). It comes with several classic books loaded on it, and it wants you to buy more. Ali has loved the freebies, and we have not bought anymore. She lets it read and re-read these books to her over and over. It’s a great free app.

LAZ Reader Sets – I REALLY wanted these to be good, because there is a severe shortage of reading apps. But since the sets are $6.99 each, I downloaded a couple of the free single readers before buying (like A Seed Grows). And although I love that the books teach kids simple science facts while reading, the interface itself is terrible – if you touch the screen to point at a word, the page flips. It’s impossibly hard to help a kid learn to read without touching the screen!! Other than that major and most annoying flaw, these readers have great potential. Maybe just download the free singles until they fix it.

Toddler Teasers Shapes – This is an excellent first game for a small child (and free!). This was one of the first apps I ever got for Ali, and she loved it. It’s super simple and just quizzes the child on shapes, but it’s a great way to learn how to use an iPhone, and great for kids still learning their shapes. It also has a fun sticker reward system.

World Countries – This is a great geography app, having different quizzes on countries, flags, and memory match games. Even though she’s really too young for it, Ali loves it. I am disappointed that it doesn’t have an iPad version, though.

Moms With Apps – This is a free app with a great catalog of apps for kids. It’s divided up into different categories, and I found a lot of great apps via their app.

Here’s my summary grid information on and my opinion of all of the apps listed above:

What apps have you discovered? What apps are your kid’s favorites?

I added more apps in my sequel post, available here.

Radicalization by Fear.

Posted on September 23, 2021September 27, 2021 Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories A Bit More Vulnerable Than I Usually Am, On a more serious note. . ., Thoughts about Faith, Writing WAY Out of my Comfort Zone

I wrote this essay in the fall of 2020, before the election and right in the middle of the extreme tensions surrounding the election, COVID issues, and racial justice issues. I would rather not enter into the fray of current debates when they’re actually happening, and still am not debating any of the issues themselves.

A year later, I feel that the tenets still apply, and I finally felt comfortable sharing this. The second part is written to Christians specifically, but if that isn’t your category, I hope you can read the post for what it is, and understand my heart.

We are living in a time and place that is being cultivated by the extremities of fear.

Besides fear of COVID and/or fear of conspiracies around COVID, we now have even more fear being pumped into us as the election grows closer and closer.

Our two political parties have shifted their bait – more this year than ever before. They have gone from having a platform of ideals, beliefs and stances to having a platform constructed of nothing but fears.

They have learned that due to social media, nothing sells faster, draws people in deeper, and makes them more evangelical for a cause more efficiently than fear.

Fear radicalizes even normally logical people.

The fears I see used the most – and this is not an exhaustive list, are:

The Republican Party controls by the fear of:

Loss of rights (especially religious and gun rights)

Loss of money (through taxes and social services)

Criminals and unrest

Corrupt / conspiratorial rulers

Censorship

The concept that life as we know it will be over (with regards to freedom and democracy)

The Democratic Party controls by fear of:

Poverty – individually or community-wide

Death / disease

Injustice and inequality

Global warming and environmental issues

The concept that life as we know it will stay forever (with regards to racism and injustice)

Here’s how those fears bloom, with the help of social media, into hatred.

Step One: Fear is offered in an attractive way (as attractive as fear can be offered.)

…Democrats offer their fear as a bite of compassion toward others, of human decency, and sometimes through shame and fear of being ostracized/cancelled.

…Republicans offer their fear as a bite of patriotism and religion, the two often so braided together that they cannot easily be unwound, and causing religious people to slowly and unknowingly replace their actual religion with the religion of patriotism, liberty, and freedom.

Step Two: Fear is ingested by those already bent toward those beliefs. As it digests, it morphs and grows.

Step Three: Fear is shared. On social media, through sharing articles that confirm one’s fear of choice. Often accompanied by a status such as “This is terrifying” or some other hot take to impress on the readers the urgency of fear realization.

“Do you realize that unless we do something about this fear, there will be much suffering and grief?”

…But then the sharer sees other people in their social media feeds sharing the opposite fear from the opposite party.

“Did you know that caving to that fear creates extreme suffering and grief in this other way??”

Step Four: They read that opposite fear and it creates deep indigestion and anger as it mixes dissonantly with their own fear.

And hatred is born.

Step Five: Their social media posts, which used to be pleading and fearful and even informational and informative at best, mold and curdle. They turn in their phrasing and slant and become accusatory and hateful, damning and exclusive.

“If you don’t buy into my fear, then just unfollow me!”

“If you are going against my fear, then I will take it as a personal attack on myself and my family.”

Insert anything you wish into those fear spots…

…Wearing masks / not wearing masks.

…Gun control / Right to bear arms.

…Racial injustice / Critical Race Theory.

…Getting a vaccine / not getting a vaccine.

But here’s the bottom line:

ALL of those people on both sides of every issue are being controlled by fear, and being used to breed hatred. And by so doing, they are fulfilling the prophecies that they are fighting against.

…They are fulfilling the fear that life as we know it will be over – because we are a fractured, polarized nation feasting on fear and hatred, rather than seeking logical and compassionate discourse that first looks to love, see, and understand others.

…They are fulfilling the fear that life as we know it will stay forever – because when the discourse is being focused in a negative, hateful, accusatory way, it is not constructive, does not bring anyone over to their cause but only causes the “other side” to further entrench, and only grows the rifts that they want fixed.

…They are fulfilling the fear of being censored by spreading hate and violence haphazardly, which often leads to spreading misinformation without realizing it.

We must step away from the fear, and from the devices / channels / apps / media / political parties that are using us as vessels of fear. We must be committed to separating our emotions from our discourse, and practice seeing issues from both sides. We must embrace the idea of nuance, as none of our societal issues are rightly answerable by one extreme or the other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To my fellow Christians:

Over the past two years I have watched as the above pattern has leached through the Christian community at an accelerating rate. It has infected our churches, our community groups, and our families. Social media has been full of the taking of sides, the forming of battle lines, the rude jabs that take place on the internet between people who claim to love and respect each other, and the continuous pushing of fear-agendas and conspiracy theories.

We as Christians are called to live in a different place than this. On a different plane of mental existence. With different focus and priorities and perspective.

Psalm 43 (The Passion Translation) says:

“For you are where my strength comes from and my protector, so why would you leave me now? Must I be covered with gloom while the enemy comes after me, gloating with glee? Pour into me the brightness of your daybreak! Pour into me the rays of revelation-truth! Let them comfort and gently lead me onto the shining path, showing the way into your burning presence, into your many sanctuaries of holiness. Then I will come closer to your very altar until I come before you, the God of my ecstatic joy! Then I will say to my soul, ‘Don’t be discouraged; don’t be disturbed, for I fully expect my Savior-God to break through for me.’ Yes, living before His face is my saving grace!

Specifically regarding the fear that Christians are losing a battle in government, The New Testament’s words about government never had to do with Christians gaining power and influence or not losing their rights. Also, we can clearly see by looking at many of the politicians who have claimed to be Christians that Christian Power does not always promote Christian Values. In fact, often it does the opposite – it corrupts, it exposes hypocrisy (politicians using Christianity to gain votes and then having their own lives exposed) and it ultimately drives many, many people away from Christ.

What the Bible does tell us, repeatedly, about Government, is to submit to it.

1 Peter 2:13-17 (ESV)

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Romans 13:1-2 (ESV)

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

If we find ourselves in a place where we are suspicious and rebellious against everything that our Government suggests, urges, or promotes, or in a place where we’re quicker to follow any random conspiracy theory than our government, then perhaps we need to reassess our hearts and see if we’re doing that out of true biblical conviction, or out of a seed of fear. Regardless of whether the government is right or wrong, we have been commanded to be subject to it.

On a related note, the Bible tells us not to worry. A LOT.

Psalm 37:8 (NIV)

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.

Philippians 4:6-8 (ESV)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the PEACE of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

What if we applied the second part of that passage to what we allow ourselves to post — or click through and read — on Facebook? And what if, instead of sharing and growing fear, when we feel fear, we apply the first part of that passage?

I know it’s not easy. I’ve personally struggled with fear of judgment from others, and fear of where all of the radicalization of opinions will lead to. I have had too much fear to post this essay about fear. Ironic, no?

So I’ll tell you what I keep telling myself. If you find yourself in a place of great turmoil, anxiety, or depression with regards to anything having to do with the here and now, the temporal, the political, or even the viral, I recommend reducing your social media time, turning off the news, closing your browser windows, moving away from the present, and immersing yourself in the Kingdom of God. The peace that passes understanding is the solution to your fears. It is the reason for our hope. It is the balm to our anxiety and depression caused by living in this fear-addled time. And it is what truly matters.

~~~~~~~~~~

This post is not about any of the specific issues that were mentioned as examples, and will not be a place for debate about those issues. Any comments trying to spread fear or debate issues will be disallowed, for the safety of the environment and the keeping of my sanity.

On 2021, Society, and the Loss of Humor.

Posted on September 22, 2021September 27, 2021 Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories A Bit More Vulnerable Than I Usually Am, On a more serious note. . .

I have been doing a lot of pondering, and a bit of mourning on why I cannot write anymore…or why I do not write anymore…whichever it is.

I miss writing terribly, and I’ve tried several times over the past couple years to return to it with regularity, but I find myself unable to do so. I’ve lost my voice, and lost my ability to write in the humorous way that I enjoyed so much.

Part of it is that my kids are grown, and funnier things happen in a life with toddlers. And sometimes when funny things happen to 10 and 14 year olds, they don’t want it shared – which is totally fair.

But there’s a lot more to it than that – because I used to write about way more topics than my kids.

Last month, it struck me that my humor isn’t only gone in my writing. I actually feel less humorous and less light-hearted in real life, and in my head as well.

So then I began pondering that – working through the whys and whats and how I’ve changed and why I’m more reserved and serious.

Although it has been slowly building for several years now, I have a much greater paranoia post-2020 about everything I say. 2020 was a year of breaking apart in new and different ways, along with a breaking apart more violently in familiar ways. COVID became a thing that people had vastly differing opinions on, and there wasn’t always necessarily a predictable pattern on who would feel what – and when. Many people shared their opinions forcefully, leaving those of us who read their opinions to shrink back when we were with them, concerned about offending them. Many of us have even had vastly differing opinions from ourself from month to month.

In every interaction with every human, whether grocery store clerk or best friend, we all learned to have a running commentary in our head. “Am I standing too close for their comfort? Are they offended that I’m not wearing a mask? Are they offended that I’m wearing a mask? Oh my gosh did I just spit a bit when I spoke?? Will they be offended if I don’t hug them? Will they be offended if I do hug them?”

Okay, the grocery store clerk would definitely be offended if you hugged him. But besides that.

We learned these tics from living with the uncertainties of people’s feelings with COVID, and my tics continued on into my everyday life, breaking down every word I said, whether they had to do with COVID or not.

I became more cautious, more grave, more paranoid, and much more analytical of every word and hating myself for all the ways someone could have taken it. I became terrified of nearly all social situations because of the post-social-anxiety I knew I’d have on the backside. I would even pray “Dear God please don’t let me say anything that I’ll find a way to feel awful about afterward.”

I wasn’t saying anything more offensive than I would normally say – in fact, I was, and am, saying far fewer things than ever. But my mind can find a way to create a pathway for any sentence I say to be offensive.

If COVID had been the only issue of 2020 that separated us, we all might have recovered quicker. But there were so many more. It was a year that was determined to pit everyone against each other, and to radicalize many people to the extremes of their leanings. Nuanced, middle-ground people who have friends on both sides and can understand how both arrived at their conclusions backed away and became silent to prevent being attacked by both sides.

In my analysis of what has changed, I further realized that many people now look to the internet to find something to be offended by rather than to be entertained by, or even to be encouraged by. The most innocuous lighthearted joke in an Instagram caption can set someone off, and although sometimes I’m amused by the displaced outrage that comes my way, it always hurts a bit – knowing that anything I say can be misconstrued. One of my greatest fears is people finding me offensive or rude or mean or unlikable – and so, the internet is now a swimming pool stuffed with sharks specially trained to destroy my psyche.

Because of this, the range of things that can be funny is about 3% of what it was a decade ago. For example, Ali, who wants to help me blog (and I have a secret vision of her taking over the blog one day), had this hilarious idea for a blog post and was extraordinarily excited about writing it. “You know Mom, it’s kind of like the one you wrote in 2009…” (She’s been reading all my old blogs via the printed books that I made for the kids.) But I had to explain to her that yes, while her idea is funny, and it is very much like that post I wrote in 2009, you can’t write things like that anymore because some people would read it and misconstrue it in “x” way and be offended.

“Oh. I would have never thought of that connection. But we wouldn’t mean it like that at all.”

I know, but some people would assume we did. Because they’re looking to be offended, not entertained. They’re reading with an eye for insult, not humor.

And so, I talk myself out of writing almost everything that comes into my head. And less things come into my head for lack of exercise. And therefore, I’ve lost my sense of humor.

Because everyone has either lost their sense of humor to their own outrage, or they’ve lost their sense of humor to everyone else’s outrage.

And now with COVID being re-stirred and Delta and masking of vaccinated people and all the arguments back and forth between the angry-because-some-people-aren’t-vaccinated crowd and the Government-can’t-force-me-to-do-anything crowd…last month was when I had to say “enough.” I couldn’t handle reading the extremities of opinions anymore. I couldn’t handle seeing us torn apart as a nation over every single issue. It is dangerous for my mental health and state of mind and frankly, my personality. I don’t like my humorless, frightened-of-every-word-I-say self.

For me, the first step was having Apple limit my Facebook time, so that I could not mindlessly scroll.

(Tip: on iPhones, you can limit yourself by going to Settings –> Screen Time –> App Limits, Then you can choose entire categories of apps or specific apps, and designate an amount of time per day that you’re allowed to use them.)

I left myself enough daily time for quickly checking notifications and seeing what one thing Facebook considers most important for me to see before I get kicked out.

I need away from all of the radicalization, the extremes, the outrage.

I need my heart and my mind to be able to breathe, to heal, to reflect the love and peace of God rather than to be battered and scarred by the world.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
– Romans 12:2

I am hoping that by limiting my intake, my mind can heal and I can find my voice to write again.

~~~~~~~

If you are feeling similar feelings, feel free to reach out – I feel you, I understand what you’re going through. If you’re not, nothing is wrong with you – it’s me, not you. I tend to take every bit of outrage to heart even if it doesn’t apply to me. I somehow feel a tiny bit guilty inside every time I read a rage post on Facebook – even if I’m not in the group it is raging against. So clearly I’m the broken one here, and if you’re not broken, I applaud you, and am a little bit jealous.

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