MId-week Morsel: Word Frequency Counter

As they say, variety is the spice of life.  That sentiment also holds true our writings.  Whether you are working your way through my Writing for Storytellers program, writing your own blog post, or writing an essay for school, you don't want to be repetitive with your word choice.  It is easy to fall into a rut and over-use words, which can give the appearance that you have a small vocabulary and make your work less interesting.  Write Words, an online writing community, has a simple word frequency counter to help solve redundancy problems.  Simply paste your text into their box and press the submit button.  To show you how it works, I pasted the text of this post into the box.  Here are the result...

6 the

5 your

5 you

5 writing

5 to

4 a

3 into

3 have

3 for

3 and

2 words

2 word

2 they

2 that

2 text

2 post

2 of

2 it

2 is

2 frequency

2 counter

2 box

2 are

2 an

2 also

1 writings

1 write

1 works

1 working

1 work

1 with

1 which

1 whether

1 what

1 way

1 want

1 vocabulary

1 variety

1 use

1 true

1 tips

1 through

1 this

1 their

1 submit

1 storytellers

1 spice

1 solve

1 small

1 simply

1 simple

1 show

1 sentiment

1 school

1 say

1 rut

1 result

1 repetitive

1 redundancy

1 program

1 problems

1 press

1 phrase

1 pasted

1 paste

1 own

1 over

1 out

1 our

1 or

1 online

1 my

1 make

1 life

1 less

1 interesting

1 i

1 how

1 holds

1 here

1 help

1 has

1 give

1 fall

1 essay

1 easy

1 don't

1 do

1 community

1 choice

1 check

1 can

1 button

1 blog

1 better

1 be

1 as

1 appearance

They also have a phrase frequency counter to check out. What tips do you have for better writing? Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Free SAT Customized Preparation

 If you have kids in school, chances are you've already started thinking about college.  Or at least, you've started thinking to yourself that you should start thinking about college.  

College admissions has become very competitive.  There are programs to help increase your child's odds of receiving scholarships and admission to the college of his/her choice that start as early as middle school.  Unfortunately, for many years now, the best SAT scores have statistically gone to the students who could afford personal tutors to train them specifically to score well on the SAT.

Beginning in March of 2016, the SAT has been revamped to help level the playing field and give all students the possibility of a high score.  The exam itself has been modified to better test what students are actually learning in the classroom.  In addition, it will now also include questions about other skills that have been deemed necessary for college and beyond.

The final piece of the restructuring of the SAT comes from Khan Academy.  Yes, the same Khan Academy that your student uses to brush up on math skills.  The College Board approached and partnered with Sal Khan to create free customized SAT prep.  If your student has already taken the PSAT or SAT, you can link to his/her scores so that the site knows what areas (s)he needs help with.  If (s)he has not, there are diagnostic quizzes to determine where to start.  There are also practice tests, video lessons, and instant feedback so your student gets the appropriate help every step of the way.

In addition, Khan Academy has set up a page to give you an overview of the college admission process.  It is a great place to start so you can see how the process has changed since you were in high school, and gain the confidence that you are giving your child(ren) the best chance for success.

What are your tips for success in education?  Share them in the comments below!

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Wish Lists for the 21st Century

As usual, right after Christmas, the kids start finding things they wish they would have put on their Christmas lists, or bought with their Christmas money.  And as usual, I tell them to ask for the items for their birthdays.  The only problem is that none of their birthdays are for a few months, and no on can ever seem to remember those really cool, I've gotta have it right now, items when the birthdays start rolling around.

This year, I decided to seek out a more modern way to keep track of all those must-haves.  A quick Google search showed that there are several free online wish list services available including, AddWish, WishListr, Giftster, and WantsThis.  I did a little more searching and found some reviews.  Using the information I found, I was able to narrow my list of possible sites down to two, WishListr & WantsThis.

Since they are both free, I decided to set up accounts on both sites so I could truly compare them side by side.  Both were easy to use, and visually appealing.  Both had nifty bookmarklet options to make adding items to the list convenient.  Both also allowed visitors to mark items as purchased so as to prevent duplicates, however, there was one feature on WantsThis that I really liked; the rest of the family doesn't have to sign up for an account in order to view the kids' lists.  The reason for that just happened to be one of my daughter's favorite features on WantsThis.  Each user is given his/her own url.  It works like this; if I were to set up a wish list with the username Simply The Good Life, my url would be SimplyTheGoodLife.WantsThis.com.  My daughter thought is was really cool that the website's url stated that [she] wants this.  When it comes time to share their lists with family members, all we have to do is send one mass email with the each child's url, and everyone can keep up with their ever-changing wishes.  Hooray!

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Where NOT to Trick-or-Treat

Halloween is almost here.  It's the time of year when we are gearing up for the holiday season, and thinking warm fuzzy thoughts.  Most of us do not take the time to think about each and every house we let our little ones walk up to as they parade around town in their costumes, but we should.  We all like to believe that our neighborhoods are safe.  Take a moment to be sure.  The U.S. Department of Justice's National Sex Offender Public Website allows you to search your area for registered sex offenders.   Several states and counties hold Halloween events that specifically require offenders to attend so that they aren't out with trick-or-treaters, but it is always best to know if any offenders live or work nearby.  Point those houses and businesses out to your children and let them know not to interact with anyone there.   Knowledge is a very powerful tool.  Educate yourself and your children, and have a happy and safe Halloween.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: So Much To Do...

 

You know the old saying..."So much to do; so little time."  That pretty well sums up how I feel these days.  We are up to our eyeballs with school.  There are projects to complete, lessons to do, and tests to take.  Many days we've found ourselves doing school up until time to start dinner.  After dinner is the battle of the shower.  Then, once I get the kids in bed, it's my time.  

Normally, I work on setting up the next day's lessons, and writing my posts.  However, right now I'm making a Halloween costume.  My daughter has decided to be a Colonial American girl.  After many hours searching the internet for patterns or even images of historical colonial fashion, I'm now making my own pattern based off of a couple of pictures of good reproductions.  There are a few historical patterns out there, but they cost more than I am willing to pay.

It's coming along nicely (after a couple of tries).  I'll post about it more once I get it complete, although I keep forgetting to take pictures as I finish each stage.  I'll start you off with a picture of my inspiration.  This is the best photo I've found of the type of outfit my daughter had in mind.  What do you think?  What will your kids be for Halloween?  Are you making or buying costumes?

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Creative Block

I know it happens to everyone once in a while.   Still, I can't help but feel inferior when it happens to me.  I'm talking about creative block.  Not only can I not write, but I can't do anything creative.  All of my projects have come to a complete standstill, and I feel like I don't know how to pick up where I left off.  It's kind of like when you can't think of a word.  It's right on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't think of it.  That's how I feel about the sewing project I'm stuck on, coming up with foldables for my daughter's lapbooks & notebook, and even topics to write about here.

I want to hear from you.  What do you do when you have creative block?  What do you tell your children when they are stuck on a project?  What tips do you have to help pull me out of my hole and get me back to myself?  I'm just not me when I can't be creative.  Thanks in advance for any suggestions you have to offer.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Land of the Lost

How many sets of Legos do your kids have that can't be put back together because the instruction sheet is MIA?  How many of you have learned that lesson already and now have an entire file full of every instruction manual that has ever entered your home?  I have a solution for all of you.  Let's Build it Again is a website dedicated to providing instruction manuals for Lego sets online for free.  Simply choose the theme name, then set name to see or download the instruction sheet for building that set.  Now your kids can rebuild all those sets that are sitting in pieces, and you can clean out your filing cabinet.  Talk about a win-win!

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Talk Like a Pirate Day, It Be Me Hearties!

Shiver me timbers! Tomorrow is talk like a pirate day.  It's a great day to act silly and have some fun.  It's also a great day to sneak in a little history and science...along with the fun.  I've found the motherload of pirate resources for your little lads and lasses.

Before you can be a pirate, you need to learn about pirates.  Older pirates will get a real feel for the life of a pirate by watching any of the pirate documentaries a available on YouTube.  After that, let them learn which flags various pirates flew and what those images meant.

Younger pirates will get a thrill out of learning to talk like a pirate, and generating their own pirate names.  Disney has an entire subsite dedicated to pirate crafts & activities for younger children.

To be a pirate, you need pirate gear.  Younger pirates will enjoy this adorable yet simple duct tape sword.  This homemade compass is a great science lesson on magnetism.  Every pirate needs a telescope to see far off treasure.  I've found one tutorial that looks more like a pirate spyglass, but does not have lenses, and one less traditional looking telescope that gives a great explanation of how the lenses work to magnify distant objects.  Finally, pirates must love the water, and your little pirate will absolutely love making his own ocean in a bottle.

So smartly get yerself ready to be a pirate, or the youngsters may send you to Davy Jones' Locker!

Karissa
(Sal "One-Legged" Curnow)

Mid-week Morsel: Stencyl Game Studio

The next stop on my list of ways to jazz up our learning this year is at the Stencyl Game Studio.  Stencyl allows users to create their own games, playable on iOS, Android, and Flash without coding (although you can write your own code if you wish).  Character behaviors are customizable using building blocks similar to those used in Scratch.  The freely downloadable program comes complete with resources for creating countless games, and also allows users to import their own resources to create truly unique games.  The Crash Course game and tutorial has you making your first game in minutes.  There is also an extensive "Stencylpedia" available to answer any questions you may have.  Once you have made your amazing new game, you can make it available in the App Store or Google Play Store.  You can also display the game on your website or blog.  BLiP is just one of many games available in the App Store created using Stencyl.  Of course, if you want you can simply play the game on your computer as well.  What will you and your children create?

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Zooburst Digital Storytelling

As I continued my search this summer for ways to make school more fun, I set out to find a way to motivate my reluctant writer.  After numerous searches (that I couldn't retrace if I tried), I stumbled upon a website that was just what I had been looking for; Zooburst.  I was familiar with sites like Storybird and MediaChalk that allow users to create digital stories, but Zooburst takes digital storytelling to the next level. Users can create pop-up books either from preloaded clip art, or art they upload themselves.  I like having the option to upload our own art, particularly if my children have a specific topic they are to write about.  As I said, I was looking for a way to encourage my reluctant writer.  What I didn't expect to find was a creative and interactive way for the kids to study & display what they have learned.  Check out this great Zooburst story reviewing math's order of operation rules...

One final note:  as with many great sites, Zooburst offers some of its features free, however other features are only available to paying subscribers.  Oh, and they have an iPad app also.  What cool tools have you found to keep your children excited about learning?

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Playing the Stock Market

Even when my children attended traditional public school, it has always been important to me to teach them the things that aren't taught in school.  My 16 year old boys got their first checking accounts this summer, but they've known how to manage and balance a checkbook for several years.  It was one of our summer school topics a few years back.  Now I've found another great resource for my older kids; a free virtual stock exchange! HowTheMarketWorks.com features a stock market game allowing players to practice trading real stocks using imaginary money.  It will make a great addition when we learn about the stock market.  Speaking of which, they also have an education center on their website where both teens and adults can learn the basics of how the market works.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: How Nutritious is My Homemade Meal?

Writing last Saturday's post has inspired me to try out new recipes for breakfast and beyond.   However, when I get creative and start changing recipes to suit my family and our tastes, I often wonder if the end product is as nutritious as I want it to be.  As I was researching new recipes, I discovered this recipe analyzer from about.com.  It's easy to use, and free! There is nothing to sign up for, no account to create, and you don't have to post your recipe anywhere.  Simply enter each ingredient, it's quantity, and the total number of servings, and Calorie Count will calculate the number of calories and nutritional breakdown of each serving.   Now you can have your cake, know it's nutritional value,  and eat it too.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Scratch

Most kids aren't too excited to get back to school.  While they may have a favorite subject or two, there are plenty of other less well liked subjects to curb their enthusiasm.  Whether your children attend a traditional public school, are unschooled, or fall somewhere in between, adding something truly fun to their school year can work miracles in terms of keeping up their morale.  I have found several ideas for adding some fun education this year that I will be revealing in upcoming Mid-week Morsels .  The first is Scratch.  What is Scratch?  Their website explains it best..."Scratch is a programming language and an online community where children can program and share interactive media such as stories, games, and animation with people from all over the world. As children create with Scratch, they learn to think creatively, work collaboratively, and reason systematically. Scratch is designed and maintained by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab."  Scratch is a great free way to introduce your children to the world of programming.  My next idea will be introduced in the August 27th Mid-week Morsel.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: What kind of learner is your child?

How does your child learn best?  Is he a visual, aural, read/write, or kinesthetic learner?  Perhaps he's a multimodal learner, meaning he uses more than one way of learning.  More importantly, how can knowing what type of learner your child is help him be a better student, and you a better teacher?  Understanding how your child learns best will enable you to present information in a format that most interests your child, and allow him to absorb the information.  Even if your child attends a traditional public school, knowing what type of learner he is, and passing that information along to his teacher, can help her know how to interact with him in order to bring out his best.  Furthermore, understanding your child's learning style gives you the information you need to teach him study strategies that will actually work for him.  Writing down and reading notes is not an effective study method for a child who is not a read/write learner.  Have your child take this 16 question VARK (Visual Aural Read/Write Kinesthetic) questionnaire to determine his learning style.  Then read the helpsheet(s) for your child's learning style(s).  They offer tips to improve your child's input, study methods, and output.  In case you're interested, there is also a questionnaire for adults, too!   So you both can get the most out of this school year!

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: 2013-2014 School Planners

August is just around the corner.  Although I hate to cut summer short, it's time to start thinking about getting ready to go back to school. This can mean different tasks for different people.  For traditional public schoolers it means buying a list of school supplies, and perhaps new uniforms.  For homeschoolers it means planning your curriculum and lessons for the year. For us virtual schoolers it means choosing our children's schedules for the year.  One task we all have in common is getting organized.  Regardless of what type of school your children attend, they cannot be successful if they are disorganized.  Even if your children are pre-school aged, it's nice to make a plan to keep their education (and your life) organized.  To kick off the back-to-school month of August I'm linking you to a few school planners to help you get organized.  They are aimed at homeschoolers, but are very useful to any student or parent who wants to stay on top of assignments and grades.  The Home School Mom has a list of planners with descriptions of each.  Some are free, others are not.  Some are printable, others are software or databases.  Also, Erica from Confessions of a Homeschooler made three printable planners.  One is free, the others are $5 each.  

How do you and your students stay organized during the school year?  Do you have a planner or system to share?  Let me know in the comments below.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Beach Fun (and education)

For many people the summer is quickly coming to an end.  Families are heading to the beach to soak up the last of the summer sun.  Two favorite activities at the beach are building sandcastles and looking for seashells.  This week's mid-week morsel highlights two resources for taking sandcastle building and shelling to a whole new level.  First, Delray Beach, Florida has a very informative section on their website which explains all about sandcastles and the physics behind them.  And then, Seashells.org has an extensive seashell & sea creature identification guide.  Be sure to bring some of the shells you find home with you; this Saturday's post shows you how to preserve your favorite beach memories.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Using Paste Paper for Crafts

I love paper crafts.  Maybe it's the kid in me, but I have so much fun cutting, folding, gluing, and taping paper to create things.  It might also have something to do with my lack of ability when it comes to painting & drawing, but that's another story.  I didn't fully realize my love for paper crafts until I started making scrapbook baby books about 10 years ago.  It was great! I could create these unique works of art without having to draw or paint anything.  There were so many decorative papers to choose from.  Although, sometimes, even after spending an hour or more searching through all the different papers at the scrapbook supply store, I still couldn't find just the right style of paper to suit the page or craft I had in mind.  Now that I've discovered paste paper that will never be a problem again.  I'll just make the paper I want!

I've taken the papers I made last week and used them to create different types of paper crafts.  There are so many creative ways to use decorative papers.  These are just a few ideas to help spark your creativity.

Origami  Origami can be fun, relaxing, and even educational.  The fact that you can create wonderful creatures and objects with just a few simple folds amazes children.  What they don't know is that while they are busy folding and creasing, they are practicing laws and theories of geometry as well.  Maria Rainer from OnlineDegrees.org guest posted an article on Math Insider detailing some ways origami improves math skills.  I personally have used two fun origami math books from Scholastic's Teacher Express.  In fact, this whale comes from their 2nd-3rd grade book.  We also have the 4th-6th grade book.  They are great for summer learning, but are not free.  (Hint:  watch for them to go on sale during one of Scholastic's Dollar Deals sales.  That's what I did.)

Handmade Cards  In today's world of e-cards and Facebook posts, handwritten notes and cards are becoming more and more scarce...and more and more treasured by those who actually receive them.  Whether you want to send the cards yourself, or give them as a gift to someone you know who still takes the time to send cards, these handmade note cards are sure to be appreciated.  Simply make your paste paper on cardstock, then cut the sheet into cards.  Depending on the size of cards desired you should be able to cut 2-4 cards from each 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of cardstock.  I used rub on transfers to add the words and decoration to my cards, but you can also run the cards through your printer, or hand write a message inside.  Finish them off with either store bought envelopes, or make your own.

 

 

Personalized Notebooks  Even better than handmade notecards, is personalized notebooks.  Both children and adults who enjoy doodling, jotting down ideas, or journaling will absolutely love receiving a handmade personalized notebook.  They are very simple.  In a word processor, set your page to print two pages on one sheet of paper.  This can be done using either columns or in the page set up menu.  Use the underscore key to create blank lines on the page (unless you want a totally blank book for doodling.)  If you wish, add any sort of embellishment.  As you can see, I added a heart to each page.  Print as many pages as you wish.  Be sure to print on both sides of the paper.  I printed 5 sheets, which gives me 20 pages in the notebook.  Finally, crease all of your pages & cover down the middle and staple them together.  If you don't have a large enough stapler to reach the center of your notebook, you can simply sew a straight stitch down the center of your notebook.  If you have your children write over the summer, or homeschool, these notebooks are great for daily writing prompts.  You can even leave some blank space at the top of each page so that children can include a picture with their writing.

You may find that you have scraps of paper left over from your crafts.  Don't throw them away!  You can use them to create something new and wonderful as well.  Use larger pieces to create bookmarks.  Save all of your small pieces and make a mosaic picture from them.  The possibilities are endless when it comes to what you can make from your paste paper.  What will you make?

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: A Little More Internet Safety

On Saturday, I posted about keeping our kids safe online.  I realize that my post only scratched the surface of ways we can protect our children.  For this week's Mid-week Morsel I decided to give you a few more resources for protecting your little (and not-so-little) ones online.  Let's start with your computer.  Most operating systems have some sort of built-in parental controls that you can set based on your preferences.  Here is information for setting controls for Windows XP, Windows 7, and Mac.  If you let your children on sites like Facebook and Google+, you may be wondering what information can be seen, and by whom.  GoGoStat offers a Facebook monitoring service to keep you in the know.  I also found a Parents' Guide to Google+ from ConnectSafely to help you be sure you are using all the privacy controls available to keep your children safe.  If you have any other tips or resources, please post them in the comments so that other parents may benefit from them as well.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: 4th of July Crafts

Tomorrow is the 237th anniversary of our independence.  What a great reason to celebrate!  And children love to celebrate.  Waiting until dusk for the fireworks to start is so hard when you love to celebrate.  I've found a couple of websites that love to celebrate the 4th of July, too.  All Kids Network shares over 20 crafts kids can do to celebrate the 4th.  If you want more than crafts to help you celebrate, Enchanted Learning offers activity books, worksheets, and coloring pages in addition to crafts.  There's a whole lot of daylight between now and fireworks time, so break out your crafts supplies, warm up your printer, and get the party started.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Summer Recipes

I love summertime!  The long days.  The sense of freedom that comes with no school, no homework, and no after-school activities. Okay, not as many after-school activities.  Unfortunately, it also comes with sweltering heat that makes you want to live off of sweet tea and ice cream.  For this week's Mid-week Morsel I've gathered up a trio of websites to help you find your new favorite summer recipe.  Brown-eyed Baker lists 185 summer recipes sorted by course.  Simply Recipes has a neatly alphabetized page of nearly 100 summer recipes.  Finally, if you have a favorite summer ingredient, Taste of Home's Summer Recipes page categorizes it's summer recipes by main ingredient.  These inviting recipes are sure to help freshen up your summer menu.

Karissa