Touchjet

Touchjet - Shared Fun

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Fun Fall Movies to Watch on Your Pond - Touchet

What’s on your list of favorite fall movies to watch? Here are four of our favorite films to download on your Pond this month.

Movies on your ceiling or wall? Not just movies, NETFLIX! See what else you can watch on the Touchjet Pond projector. 

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Creative Ways to Make This Year’s Halloween Extra Spooky - Touchet

Looking to make this year's Halloween extra spooky? Take a look at our creative Halloween ideas to get in the holiday spirit.

Can technology really be apart of decorating? Yes it can! See how you can use the Touchjet Pond for the upcoming holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas). 

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How Can Technology Make You More Productive at Work? - Touchet

How can technology make you more productive at work? Join in the discussion.

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Teachers, Win A Touchjet Pond™ Projector! - Touchet

Know a hardworking teacher or education professional in your life? We want to hear from you! We're hosting a Touchjet Pond giveaway just for educators.

Teachers! It’s your turn to get rewarded and we’re here to make sure that happens. #PondForTeachers is the hashtag that will get YOUR teacher nominated to win one of 5 Pond Projectors for Christmas :) 

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How Interactivity Can Help Moms With Homeschooling

Homeschooling is an area that continues to grow—even through tough economic times. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 3.4 percent of the school-age population is receiving an education from home. Since 2007, the number of homeschooled children has increased by 300,000. And while promoting interactivity and fun within traditional classrooms is simple enough, homeschooling parents have to work harder to do so.

Using Real-World Skills

A common assumption with homeschooling is that children don’t have the same opportunity to socialize and develop real-world skills—this is particularly true if the homeschooling parent has a single child. Jimmie Lanley, who homeschools a single child, runs a successful blog, and co-authored an e-book called, “Homeschooling An Only Child: When Just One Is Just Right,” has found her own way to work around this assumption. “The main principle is to place your child in a wide variety of situations with different kinds of people, even people of a wide range of ages,” says Lanley. “Interacting with younger children or adults still counts as socialization even though most people assume socialization equates to interacting with peers.”

Giving informational and entertaining presentations is another interactive and fun way for students to develop real-world communication skills. Learning how to present in front of people—whether it’s one person or one hundred—is crucial to future interpersonal and networking skills. 

For example, Google Drive Presentations allows students to create their presentations online. Our product, TouchPico (we’re so proud of it, we had to squeeze it in!) helps take this to the next level: the TouchPico is an Android PC with projector capabilities that allows any Android app to be projected onto a flat surface and used interactively as a touch screen. This way, putting on presentations becomes an exciting and interactive experience for children.

Fun & Edutainment Apps For Children

The educational system is becoming more interactive as technology develops. Edutainment (educational entertainment) is a booming industry; developers are constantly looking for new ways to offer fun, educational programs to children, and parents are looking for new, interesting ways to teach their children at home. 

There are many fun and entertainment apps that homeschool students can learn from. Even simple apps like Pinterest can go a long way, says Lanley, where her daughter “bookmarks pictures to sketch or drawing tutorials.”

Google Play for Education is a special section of Android’s Google Play that features thousands of teacher-tested and approved apps for students in grades K-12. For example, Duolingo teaches students how to learn different languages in a fun way—and it’s entertaining for parents as well, particularly on a large screen.

Danielle, founder of blog, “The Handcrafted Homestead,” suggests the “Countries of the World” app to help children have fun learning geography. She says the app is “packed with the kind of information I’d like for my kids to know but have a hard time making exciting enough to make them want to learn.”

Other fun apps include Toddler Preschool Activities (teach colors, shapes, letters and more), BrainPOP Featured Movie (watch an animated movie each day in different subjects, followed by a fun, interactive quiz), and Zeus vs. Monsters (combines mathematic lessons with Greek mythology). These apps also work great with TouchPico (we did it again).

Take Outside Courses:

Many homeschooling parents suggest putting children in an outside program as a part of a regular schedule to further encourage interactivity, such as a twice-weekly art classes or dancing lessons. These type of courses not only promote interactivity between children, but also help them to learn skills you might not be well-versed in. “If you’re a supernaturally gifted person, you can teach all these things yourself,” says Cindy, mother or six and writer for homeschooling blog, Get Along Home.

Lanley agrees. “I am a fan of outsourcing homeschool classes,” she says. “This is one way to make sure only children get those valuable socialization opportunities. Plus it adds variety to your routine.” Lanley says she uses online classes for writing and economics, in-person classes for co-op and art, and private tutors for foreign language.