Author: admin

Posted on

When one is interested in product design and you know nothing about it…..

I searched for how to become a product designer on YouTube and a video popped up explaining how to become a next level product designer. He mentioned the Human Interface Guideline for Apple products. I had never heard of it and decided to look into it. The Human Interface Guidelines are basically the principles for how the product should look and how mankind interacts with it.

The young person who is interested in this agreed to read the foundations section and take notes. I am still researching this area, such as design principles, UX/UI design, graphic design and coding. What is necessary? Classes on the list, so far are:

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe In Design ( because why not?)

Adobe XD

Figma

Basic HTML and CSS

The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair. It is a short history on different colors.

Universal Principles of Design by Lidwell, Holden and Butler.

Classes on Domestika and Udemy

https://betheltech.net/curriculum/uiux

https://coursecareers.com/

This is the start but we need to find the the time to implement the plan.

Posted on

The Important But Unappreciated Course of Study- Home Economics

Home economics is a vital but wide subject matter. The important subjects under home economics can vary from person to person. I believe it is something that starts in the home early, however if one did not start early, start where you are, I surely did. I personally came to the party of home economics quite late. In high school I took wood working to avoid home economics.

In my homeschooling, we do not have an official home economics course. The children were introduced to it early, so I would hopeful reduce the drama surrounding the need to help each other at home.

For example, as babies I would give them baby wipes to clean the tray of their stroller while we were running errands. They would clean everything and I would enjoy peace and quite while we shopped.

Also as babies they lived on my back when I spent time cooking and cleaning in the kitchen. As they got older I would place them on a chair and give them the scraps of vegetables I did not need, so they could pretend to cook.

I would also have them clean the table and the countertops. If they were in a bad mood, I learned if I gave them a job to do most of the time the bad mood would dissipate while cleaning cabinets or chairs.

They played in the empty laundry basket while I ironed. I bought a play stove, kitchen cookware, laundry, child size brooms and supplies so hopefully it would condition them into thinking work is fun, which it can be by the way. I think it worked for the most part, I do get some complaining every once is a while from the younger ones.

Once they could walk, I sent them to the garage to spend time with their papa. He was either working on cars, motorcycles, cleaning the garage, cutting grass, fixing the house or building something. Saturday mornings and afternoons were spent with him. He would place them in the stroller and move them around as he mowed the garden. We also renovated our house so there was a lot they could help with. This provided a way they could see that cleaning and home maintenance were important part of our lives. The quality of our work would dictate and quality of our life at home.

For financial literacy, I would give them receipt books from the store and they would make up menus for their fake restaurant. I talked and read books about money to them. We talked about investing, budgeting, 401k plans, IRAs, life insurance, generational wealth, millionaire next door, stock market, trading stock market, economics, taxes, real estate, accounting, finance and other subjects surrounding money. I admit, personal debt is not something I focus on because we want to live debt free. I would like them to own assets that can pay for current and future liabilities.

Home economics, at least for me, includes character. Without character a person will struggle in life. I want the children to have as many positive character traits they can get and continue to grow until the Lord calls them home. Traits such as honesty, discipline, courage, kindness, attentiveness, diligence, discernment, loyalty, perseverance, respectfulness, selflessness, teachable, vision, zeal and a spirit of excellence in everything they accomplish. This is a lifetime goal that should be worked on daily. What you practice when you are young is what you will do when you are old.

There are many subject one could included under home economics, however I will address them another day.

Posted on

To emerge as an excellent sewist or sewer, why not?

This list is my ultimate guide to learning sewing. You never know if sewing skills will be needed in your future and would it not be better to have at least the skill of sewing to a high level? I am forced to care about the quality and fit of clothing because my family, include people, who fall outside of the “average” range of clothing which means money spent on alternations. There is overlap with the list of classes but repetition is a good thing, correct? If time and money were no object, these are the classes I would take in fact, I am taking a few of those right now.

https://sew-it-academy.thinkific.com/ Basic to advanced sewing skills

http://www.tailor-academy.com Basis to advances sewing skills

https://www.craftsy.com/ Multiple types of sewing classes

https://ninoviaconsulting.com/ Purchase on Udemy cheaper – drafting and pattern making

https://www.threadora.com/ Making a half size dress form and half size dresses

Dominika Syczynska classes on Udemy Fabric manipulation

https://www.theshapesoffabric.com/ Blocks and fabric manipulation

https://www.dressmaking.academy/ Beginners, wedding dresses, beaded dresses and more

https://www.glamhfabrics.com/pages/ghf-couture-masterclass Couture beaded skirt, beaded dress, corset and bodice blocks

https://patterndesignschool.teachable.com/ Pattern cutting

https://www.learnpatternmaking.com/ Pattern making

https://www.theprintschool.com/ How to design fabrics for production

https://www.instagram.com/maryna_kisil_studio/?hl=en Quickly covers basic draping up to advanced draping

https://www.handcrafttailor.com/ Classes to sew suits

https://couturebeadmasters.com/ Couture bead work, Luneville or Tambour technique

Supplies Sites

https://www.frencheuropeaninc.com/

http://dugdalebros.com

https://www.muellerundsohn.com/en/ Reference books

https://www.modeliste-creative.com/ Blocks

http://bblackandsons.com

https://jelimate.com/ Half scale dress forms

https://theshopcompany.com/ Dress forms

https://www.apparelartsproductions.com/ Building Pattern book – pattern making

Posted on

Word of the Day

Coupon

I was in the car talking and realized the word coupon sounded a bit strange. It did not sound like an English word at all. I thought it sounded French. So needless to say I looked up the word and it is indeed a stolen French word.

Coupon

1822- Certificate of interest due, a piece of paper cut off. If anyone is old enough to remember, it perfectly describes a coupon payment book one had to send in with a payment on a loan.

1860- expanded use of the word as a discount ticket.

1906- financial discount

Taken from the etymonline.com

Posted on

Reading the Bible in Three Months

I just finished reading/ listening to the entire Bible in three months. I enjoyed it greatly! I would recommend it to everyone. It is something I always wanted to do but found it very difficult because of my own lack of discipline. This time, I completed with a group and the accountability in the group was extremely helpful to complete the task. Now that it is done, I believe, I will find it easier to do the next time. Once, you accomplished something, repeating it is less of a struggle.

Why should one read through the Bible from cover to cover and quickly?

You get a clearer picture of how God moves in the lives of His creation.

The time line is clearer. Have you every sat in church and during the sermon wonder where we are in the Biblical history? How does Old Testament connects with the New Testament? Certain events happening and you are not clear on the why?

We can see clearly why God hates sin. What a mess!

We might start to exam your life closer after reading how God dealt with the sin. I did.

We see how God shows love, grace and mercy to mankind.

I picked up on things that were missed by only reading or studying certain sections of the Bible.

Reading through it in a shorter time frame allowed me to remember more of the story because I was not forgetting things I have read months or years ago.

Getting closer to God by reading His Word is a blessing.

Posted on

The Most Basic Start of the Accounting Life

Today, with the young folks, we will quickly learn the accounting equation. One of them is familiar with the concept but the others are totally clueless. In fact, they may not be interested at all but that is no excuse not to know the bare minimum. This will be a literally twenty minute lesson.

First ten minutes will be the accounting equation itself with examples. The second ten minutes with be the financial statement. I do not expect them to know it well after this but they will hear me ask questions about it until I feel like it has settled into the brain.

Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s Equity or (Stockholder’s equity)

Asset Accounts

  • Have a normal debit balance.
  • To increase an asset account, you must debit the account.
  • Assets are located on the left side of accounting equation.

Liabilities Accounts

  • Have a normal credit account.
  • To increase a liabilities account, you must credit the account.
  • Liability accounts are located on the right side of the accounting equation and on the right side of the T account.

Owner’s Equity Accounts

  • Have a normal credit balance, it is located on the right side of the accounting equation.
  • To increase the owner’s equity account, you must credit the account.
  • In place of owner’s equity can be stockholder’s equity which is the retained earnings account.

Financial Statements

Balance Sheet

  • Shows the financial position of a company at a certain time.
  • Assets, liabilities and equity (owner’s equity or stockholder’s equity) are contained in the balance sheet.
  • Helps to determine the financial strength of a company.

Income Statement

  • Contains the financial transactions of a company at a certain time period.
  • Revenues, expenses, profit/loss.
  • It shows the companies profitability.

Statement of Cash Flow

  • It shows the inflow and outflow of cash.
  • Looks at cash flow from operating, investing and financing .
  • Establishes where cash is being generated or used within the business.

Posted on

Geometry, the Repetitive Nature of Definitions

The blog will also be a record of what concepts my children learn. I need a place to put this besides random pieces of paper spread all over the place. So with that stated, this blog post will be definitions in Geometry I have covered with some small person that lives with me. These definitions are really for me. I hate looking back in the book because I forgot something I just looked at two seconds ago.

Line- a straight line. Arrows going in both directions means continuous line.

Point- a specific location on a line.

Plane – three or more points that are not on the same line. Makes up a flat surface.

Postulates- statements that are accepted as true.

Theorems- can be proven true through a series of steps.

Line segments- is a part of a line.

Midpoint- is a point that is midpoint between two other points on a line.

Rays- is a section of a line that has a beginning point and continues on forever.

Parallel Lines- two line that do not cross each other.

Intersecting lines- line that cross each other.

Bisectors- lines that cross each other at the midpoint.

Transversals- a line that intersects two other lines.

Vertex- the point of the angle.

Bisecting rays- divides one larger angle into two angles of equal parts.

Supplementary angles- two angles that add up to 180 degrees.

Right angles- 90 degrees angles.

Complementary angles- two angles that add up to 90 degrees.

Perpendicular lines- two lines that intersect and make right angles.

Acute angles- less than 90 degrees angle

Obtuse angle- greater than 90 degrees but less than 180 degrees angle.

Adjacent angles- angles that lie next to each other.

Vertical angles- angles that are opposite of each other.

Congruence- when two angles are equal.

Corresponding angles- when a transversal line cross two are more lines.

Posted on

The Brusque History of the English Language

“King Alfred’s English. A History of the Language We Speak,” by Laurie J. White.

This was a fun book to read. I love languages including my own mother tongue. It is a brief history of how English became English. It starts with the Romans conquering Gaul and Britannia.

Topics included are:

Old English

  • Brief overview about the English Language
  • The Church and Latin enter the scene
  • The Vikings and Old Norse leave their marks upon the language

Middle English

  • The Normans and Old French came calling
  • The first English Bible
  • Printing began, Gutenberg
  • Changes to spellings
  • The Great Vowel Shift

Middle to Modern English

  • Greeks leave their mark
  • Ancient knowledge comes alive again
  • Martin Luther

The making of the English Bible which led to a lot of important events.

Shakespeare was responsible for many words and phrase we use today in English.

It was an enjoyable book.

Posted on

One Way to Learn a Historical Event

Pick an event.

Pick a book you like about the events, no children’s book.

Read the introduction of the book. Maybe the author explains why he wrote the book.

Read a chapter.

Make a list of unfamiliar names and titles of said persons. Research and names and title.

Make a list of the famous writers of the time period, the author quotes in the book. Research those writers and their worldview. If possible read a book the writer has written. Read about their lives and personal beliefs.

Look up the names of the power payers in the chapters. Who are the main characters? Read about their personal lives and accomplishments.

Research events, laws or organizations mentioned about the event. Learn about their histories.

Do this for every chapter or only the chapters that interest you.

Explain it in a story like manner (narration) to your children.

Ask simple questions they can answer. It is only to check if they are actually listening.

Ask them if they think certain things were right or wrong to do.

Read about the author. Figure out his worldview. How does his worldview slant his interpretation of the historical event?

Read about the political climate, economy, religious, cultural climate of the time period of your event. Be brief.

What were a few of the major court cases of the time period, if applicable.

Read parts of the book out loud to your children.

Discuss possible long term consequences from the event.

Look up any information you don’t understand. Let your children know that you don’t know but show them how to find it.

Read about the political climate, economy, religious, cultural climate of the time period. Brief overview.

What were some of the events happening around the world during this period. Be brief.

Read parts of the book to the children.

Are there any long term consequences from the events?

Look at the index. There is a wealth of information from the list of periodicals the author uses.

Look up anything you don’t understand.

If you have the time, do this with several different books.

Posted on

Foreign Languages

I absolutely love the idea of speaking several languages. Personally, I do not speak a foreign language well but one day it may change. The children, on the other hand, have the time and the resources to learn multiple languages. We already speak a 2nd languages in the home which is German. German is a must and is not considered a foreign language.

The first real foreign language is French. Some of the small people have been taking it off and on for several years now. They have been to French Saturdays school, college classes and several French tutors. It would move faster if they were able to speak more often.

There is also Japanese and a little bit of Italian, Old English and Farsi. There are so many wonderful resources to use for self learning and home schooling. In my world, I would love to have the children learn a Romance language; a language that contains a few new sounds and the alphabet is a little different and then a completely unfamiliar language. For example, first learn Italian, Romanian, or Spanish, then Russian or Greek and lastly Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic or Hebrew.

When they learn a language well, they can branch off to other languages within the language family. Knowledge of German can lead to having an easier time learning languages such as Swiss German, Dutch, Yiddish and Afrikaans.

In my mind, it would be fun to read Beowulf in Old English.

The resources for language learning are fantastic. Netflix has two different programs available. The first one is Language Learning with Netflix. With this one, you can listen to the TV series or movie in your foreign language and see the subtitles in your foreign language and in your naive language. You can click on a word to see the definition and pronunciation of the word. You can change the speed of the speaking for better understanding.

Ling Q is the other resource you can use with Netflix. You have to download the ling Q import extension into Netflix. The TV series or movies must have the language you want to import into ling Q. The entire vocabulary for the series or film is available in dialogue form to learn.

Here are some of the foreign language resources we have used or plan to use.

There are plenty of other ones but these are what we used.