My favorite thing about homeschooling is that anywhere in the world can be our classroom. Usually we conduct our schooling from our dining room table, but on occasion, we venture outdoors and soak up some rays while studying. This week, temperatures hit 87 degrees and I had to take advantage of the beautiful weather. So we took our classroom to Central Park.
We completed math, grammar, and writing exercises before we left. We packed up our school work, along with the laptop, an iPad, and a Nexus 9. (My 4-year-old uses the Nexus 9 for his Spanish school work, which also requires the internet.) Our history, geography, and social studies lessons are focusing on Africa, and the day’s work included filling out an African map using the internet to look up countries, major cities, and major rivers. I don’t let my kids work together on assignments like this because the oldest ends up doing most of the work and the younger one copies. So I give them each their own electronic device whenever they do map work. Since our devices require access to the internet, we brought along an AT&T Unite Explore mobile hotspot by NETGEAR. This hotspot allows connection for up to 15 devices, so each kid was able to surf the internet on their own, right from our blanket in Central Park.
I don’t think I would recommend taking homeschool lessons outside every day, but it is hard to turn down a perfect spring day. Our African map probably took us a little longer than usual, but the Vitamin D was beneficial to all of us and Central Park’s greenery always lifts my spirits. In fact, being outdoors always lifts my spirits. Good thing I am now the owner of the Unite Explore so I can take our homeschool lessons anywhere there is a LTE/4G connection.
Here’s another great thing about the Unite Explore by NETGEAR: my youngest (10 months) considered it her personal chew toy, but my older kids never lost their connection despite my daughter throwing, dropping, or chewing on the Unite Explore. This is what makes the device “rugged.” It is shock proof, dust proof, and water resistant. If it can handle dangling from a baby’s hands, it’ll last inside whatever bag you’re totting around.
Homeschooling parents will also love that the AT&T Unite Explore by NETGEAR has a content filtering feature. The students can search the internet without being susceptible to harmful sites. And if you are letting the kids have some free time on the iPad or tablets, you can set a timer which automatically will turn off WiFi. For those of us parents that don’t want to fight with our kids over how much time they are spending on YouTube, this is a handy feature.
This device is now on the packing list for all our family trips, whether we are homeschooling in New York City or abroad. I recently wrote about all the ways the AT&T Unite Explore by NETGEAR would have benefited my family in our past travels.
Our homeschooling day ended before we were able to take part in a geocaching hunt in Central Park, so look out for those #RuggedWiFi tweets and Instagram pics in the near future.
Disclaimer: I have partnered with Life of Dad and NETGEAR for this promotion.
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