Virtual tours and learning
It will soon be a new year, and with it come new learning adventures. It's winter now, which for some of you means not too many outdoor activities or learning opportunities there. Still, that doesn't mean it's always books and worksheets.
On days when the weather really is too bad to go out, use the internet to visit places like museums and parks. There are tons of great sites that take you on virtual tours, at places you might never be able to visit in real life. Use these sites as assignments relating to your current curriculum in history, science, and language arts.
A good place to start is Virtual Free Sites, which has hundreds of free virtual tours of museums and exhibits.
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museum,
virtual tourLabels: History, Language, Science
Word games
Language arts, grammar, and spelling don't have to always be dull and boring to your child. Using the Merriam-Webster word games, your child can sharpen his skills and have fun doing so.
I browsed through the games and there are actually a few that I have played before on a social networking site. These games will test your child's spelling and definition skills. Games like Word Drop and Scrabble are included in the mix, and it's a long list of games. If your child gets tired of one game, it's no big deal to go to another game, thereby keeping everything fresh.
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languageLabels: Language
Communicating with others
I work with several Spanish speaking people, and I find I'm learning a lot of everyday, conversational Spanish. The ladies I work with are, in turn, learning more everyday English. Neither is the lesson by lesson, second-language kind of English or Spanish. But it's useful language skills that we can all use at work and in other areas of our lives.
I'm not saying I could go into a Spanish speaking community and understand everything or ask for something like acne pills, but I can now carry on some conversations in a rather broken Spanish. I can get most of my message across with a weird mix of Spanish, English, and gestures.
I think it's important to be able to communicate with those around you, and for them to be able to communicate with you. The ladies I work with do pretty much as I do...speak with a mix of some English and some Spanish, and some gestures.
Labels: Language
Free worksheets - grammar
I used to get the emails from Daily Grammar and used those lessons almost exclusively for my children's English Grammar lessons. They aren't available as emails anymore but you can actually still download and print them from the archives on the Daily Grammar site.
There are 440 lessons available completely for free. Also available for a reasonable cost are a workbook and a lessons ebook.
Whatever you choose from this site, I think you'll be happy with the very complete information. While some of the free lessons could be useful for younger children, middle school grades or upper elementary, I found that the lessons were actually well suited for children right up through high school.
Labels: Free stuff, Language, Worksheets
SpellQuizzer software
Every so often, a new computer program is developed that is designed to enhance learning and captivate children in a new way. SpellQuizzer is just such a program.
Dan Hite, the developer, says
I've developed an educational program for Windows called SpellQuizzer that helps children learn their spelling and vocabulary words without the battle that parents often have getting them to sit down and write them out while the parents dictate to them. The parent enters the child's spelling words into the software making a sound recording of each word. Then the software helps the child practice his or her words. It really helped my children with their weekly spelling lists.
I've looked over the site, visited the videos and watched the demo and am pleased to be able to recommend this product to both homeschoolers and those whose children are in public or private schools.
It's very reasonably priced at $29,95, making it affordable for almost anyone. Homeschoolers can use this in their homeschool co-op classes or in their own homes. I can see this being used as a study aid, as part of a larger language arts curriculum, and as a testing tool. Or to create spelling lists to incorporate into unit studies.
The spelling lists can be created by the parent for children of various skill levels, or you can download spelling lists to import into the program.
I think this tool is so important that I'm going to add a direct link to it in my sidebar. As this post falls away, the link will remain to guide you to the source of the program.
Labels: Language
Writing skills
This is the time of year when I get a lot of invitations - graduation invites, wedding announcements and birth announcements. I'd love to be able to respond to all of them, but I have to carefully choose which ones I actually buy gifts for and which ones are not people who are close enough to me to warrant a gift.
I do, of course, let the person know that I'm honored they thought of me. It really is an honor to be invited to an event, especially when you understand that there are a limited number of invitations or announcements that are sent out.
These events are a good time to teach your children to respond graciously. If a gift is received by your child, teach him or her to send thank you notes to the giver. I feel that this is quickly becoming a lost art and it always warms my heart to receive one.
I especially love the ones that are hand-written or ones where the child has drawn a little picture on the front. This shows thought and effort on the child's part.
Thank you notes should include an appreciatory note about the gift, what the gift was, and how the recipient is using it.
Labels: Language, Writing
Online free English lessons
This site is intended for ESL classes. While they do refer to a book, this could still be a good beginning to
learn English on your own if it's not your first language already. They have 50 lessons within 10 units and include a "Listen to it" feature. You will need to download Shockwave and Real One media player, both free downloads.
The lessons are arranged in a logical and functional order. You will learn English that you can really use in everyday life.
Labels: Free stuff, Language
Business English Courses
For those who are interested in improving their English, more specifically their business English, you might do well to look into taking
Business English Courses in the country that is the birthplace of the English language, England. There, you can take a variety of courses with Business English as the primary one.
You can secure accommodations to stay in England and even enjoy some of the social aspects of a city such as London.
Language courses aren't limited to Business English, however. If your intention is to have a career in an international field, you might also want to avail yourself of the
french courses London has to offer so that you can effectively do business in France or with French speaking business persons.
Even here in the States, there are many Spanish speaking people these days, which means you might want to look into the
spanish courses London also has to offer. With the prevalence of Spanish speaking people here and around the world, knowing this language could enable you to reach out to your Spanish speaking customers in a way that makes them feel quite welcome.
A language course taken in a foreign country could be fun and interesting as you learn more about your own history, visit the landmarks you may only have seen in pictures, and make new lifelong friends.
Labels: Language
SAT test prep blog
Yes, there's a blog for everything including the SAT. This blog gives you a word of the day plus all sorts of information about the SAT. They even give you free practice SAT tests. This is an excellent service and if you homeschool, is especially ideal for you to use. You can apply the "word of the day" to your child's vocabulary/spelling lessons. Let your homeschool child try his hand at the practice tests to see what kind of progress he's making or where he needs to work harder.
Just visit
SAT Practice Tests and see for yourself. Leave a comment, too, since it's nice when we hear from the people who are reading our thoughts.
Labels: Education, Free stuff, Language, Link love, SAT, Spelling, Vocabulary
Noah Webster 1828 dictionary
This is the online version of the wonderful
Noah Webster 1828 Dictionary. I highly recommend this resource because Mr. Webster collected all these words and definitions plus added Scripture to much of the dictionary postings. This site uses a search to find the word you want and it's free to use.
Use this resource for your spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and other language arts studies in your homeschool.
Labels: Education, Free stuff, Language, Resources, Writing
Vocabulary is, to me, one of the most important parts of a homeschool Language Arts curriculum. Without it, your child has limited use of the English language and has difficulty understanding some words that he may hear or read. If your child is struggling with this, check out
Vocabulary and try out their free games and activities that help strengthen your child's vocabulary. These are engaging ways to reinforce what you're teaching in your homeschool.
Labels: Education, Educational games, Free stuff, Language, Writing
Creative writing lesson plans
The author of these plans states that it's the complete plans for a 13 week creative writing course. With 22 years of experience under her belt, I'd say it's a safe bet she knows what she's doing. As a homeschooler, I believe you will be able to make good use of these lesson plans by working them into your current Language Arts curriculum. After reading over the page just a bit, I think these are well worth the time to look at them and to use them in your homeschool. Just visit
Lesson Plans for a Creative Writing Course and see for yourself.
Labels: Education, Language, Lesson plans, Writing
Web Spanish lessons
There are only three lessons on this site, but they are free and include audio to help you with pronunciations.
Web Spanish Lessonsby Tyler Jones and Jennifer Chambers.
Each lesson is loosely organized around a central theme. New words, sample sentences, pronunciation guides, grammar explanations, and self-tests are included in most of the lessons. In addition, each lesson contains audio of that lesson's new words being spoken (by me) to help with pronunciation.
There are also links to other language sites listed at the bottom of the page. It seems to me that this might be a good place to start learning Spanish, then fill in other lessons from other resources.
Labels: Education, Free stuff, Language, Writing
Free Spanish lessons
From what I can tell, the lessons and quizzes on this site are free. You may find out differently and if so, then I apologize.
The MultiLingual Center is offering
free online Spanish lessons for your Spanish language needs. Learning another language expands the brain and also makes it possible to converse with those who only speak Spanish.
The site includes Flash movies to help you learn pronunciations better. It also has lessons focused on healthcare and other areas.
Honestly, I can easily see this being used in the homeschool to prepare a child for a job since there are many Spanish speaking people in our communities now.
Labels: Education, Free stuff, Language, Writing
Literature study guides
One of my very favorite places to find free literature study guides was
Glencoe.com. They have hundreds of downloadable, printable study guides for classic and award winning books. We used these extensively in our homeschool beginning at the middle school level and going right on through high school. Since the levels of the books they list vary, you can find what you need for your child pretty easily.
Labels: Education, Free stuff, Language
Literature lesson plans
I love to read and really tried to foster that love in my children when we homeschooled. Elizabeth is still an avid reader. Her favorite choices are historical based fiction and historical novels. She loves the old classics.
Literature is an important part of any homeschool curriculum. It adds depth as well as breadth, but sometimes it's hard to know what's appropriate for a given age or grade level.
Discovery School has literature lesson plans you can use. They are well organized and will lead you through the steps needed to implement them in your homeschool classroom.
Labels: Education, Language, Lesson plans
Language Arts lesson plans
Language Arts covers not only grammar, but also reading, writing, and literature. With such a broad base, it's easy to see why it's so time consuming in our homeschool day. To help make things just a little easier, some free lesson plans would be great, wouldn't they?
Just browse through
ReadWriteThink for lesson plans for grades K through 12. These lesson plans are complete and include your resource list, the rubric, items to be copied and handed out to students, self-reflection, and standards.
Labels: Education, Free stuff, Language, Lesson plans
