It's not uncommon for me to promote new projects I'm working on here on the blog. However, in the interest of full disclosure, I want to be clear that my husband and I own Island Kayak Tours.
As you know, Simply The Good Life is all about living the life you want to live with as little stress and chaos as possible. So, it should be no surprise that when Mr. Good Life and I decided life was, once again, becoming something it shouldn't, we made a change. I realize some of you might be thinking, "Owning a business can be VERY stressful and chaotic." Yes, it can be, but in a much different way. As a business owner, you are in control...and that makes all the difference.
It's hard to feel the stress and demands of owning your own business when you're on the water. Paddling through shady mangrove tunnels, and pulling up to the sandy island beach just have a way of melting away your troubles. I mean, really, how hard can it be to get up for work each day when that is the view from your kayak office?! As the old saying goes, "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life."
I encourage each of you to find your passion, and make it your livelihood. Of course it won't be easy, and it may take a few tries to find a way to make your dream profitable, but persistence pays off. Take control of your life and your happiness. Live your good life, simply.
If you happen to find yourself in the Tampa Bay area, please look us up and come out for a tour. We offer guided and self-guided (read as rental) tours through Shell Key Preserve, leaving from Tierra Verde, which is near St. Pete Beach. We'd love to have you!
-Karissa
The idea for this post was originally going to be a Mid-week Morsel. However, once I started gathering resources and putting it all together, I quickly realized that this was not a morsel. It's a whole meal!
If you are concerned that your children will forget last school year's lessons over the summer, you're not alone. It is estimated that students start the next school year 2-3 months behind where they ended the year before. As a result, teachers spend much of the first month or so trying to get back that lost knowledge.
Preventing summer learning loss doesn't have to be time consuming, boring, or even expensive. I've compiled a short list of websites that offer summer programs specifically designed to help prevent summer learning loss. There is something for everyone in the list. Some are free, some are paid. Some focus on a specific subject, others combine subjects. Some are straight forward practice pages, some are game and adventure based. Check out each one to see what will work best for you.
Did I leave out a website you think should have made the list? Share it in the comments below!
Karissa
Free Resources:
The Quantile Framework - Math, Reading
The Summer Math Challenge - The Quantile Summer Math Challenge is a free math skills maintenance
program targeted to students who have just completed grade 1 through 7
and is designed to help children retain math skills learned during the
previous school year.
Find a Book - The Lexile “Find a Book” tool is a fun and easy way to select books
based on a child’s Lexile measure and interests. You can use this free
search tool to build custom lists for readers of all ability levels and
then locate your selections at the local public library.
Khan Academy - Math, Science, Computer Programming, History, Art History, Economics, and more
Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a
personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their
own pace in and outside of the classroom. Our
math missions guide learners from kindergarten to calculus using
state-of-the-art, adaptive technology that identifies strengths and
learning gaps. We've also partnered with institutions like NASA, The
Museum of Modern Art, The California Academy of Sciences, and MIT to
offer specialized content.
Ten Marks - Math
Assignments contain a wide variety of question types across all depths
of knowledge to ensure your students understand the core concepts in a
variety of ways. Immediate feedback promotes learning and retention.
Hints and video lessons are embedded in every question. Scaffolded hints
help students remember core concepts. Video lessons refresh
foundational skills.
Book Adventure - Reading
Book Adventure is a fun, free way to motivate your child to read! Kids in grades K-8 can search for books, read them offline, come back to quiz on what they’ve read, and earn prizes for their reading success.
Brain Flex - Math, Science
Get active and happy this summer. Build your math and science skills with daily practice. Pick the subjects you want to practice. Practice something every day. Anytime and anywhere. We will help you stay on track and monitor your progress. Invite students to get a head start or review concepts they missed. Track your student's progress over the 8-week challenge.
Paid Resources:
Brain Chase - multi-subject - $79/6 week adventure
The Summer 2016 adventure starts at 9 a.m. EST on Monday, June 20, 2016.
Students in grades 2 through 8 will log in to the Student Dashboard
watch the first animated webisode and meet Mae Merriweather as she and
her team of adventurers search for the Mask of Tomoe Gozen. Also, check
the mail for a mysterious object that you’ll need during the 6-week
adventure. Each week you have four tasks: earn 10,000 energy points on Khan
Academy, write a journal entry, do one bonus challenge, and complete
either reading or language assignments. We provide seamless access to
all of our online curriculum partners for you, and all tasks are
adaptable to the student's level. This isn’t just fiction—there’s a real treasure buried somewhere on
Earth. The first adventurer to decipher the clues and discover the
treasure's location will receive a trip to dig it up and a $10,000
scholarship.
LeapAhead! - Math - $24.95/8 week session
LeapAhead! offers 4 assignments a week for a total of 8
weeks. Its daily assignments motivate
children to log in everyday to find what challenges await them. Children
love the interactive nature of online worksheets, and they can find out
their mistakes and scores right away! All worksheets are fully aligned with the
Common Core State Standards. Assignments will be automatically graded upon submission. An online
report keeps track of each child's scores and progress. Every child will
receive an online printable certificate upon completion of the program.
Summer Splash - Math - $29.99/8 week program
Halt the summer slide (students lose 2-3 months of math skills during the summer break if they do not practice regularly). Review Skills from the current grade and practice key skills from the grade student is entering this fall. Program is available for students from Kindergarten through Grade 5. Diagnostics and practice assignments aligned to Common Core Standards. Individualized report which summarizes the child’s progress and aptitude on both previous and next year’s math skills. A Certificate of completion at the end of the program.
K5 Learning - Math, Reading - $14.95/month
K5 Learning is an online after-school study program for kids in kindergarten to grade 5. We build reading, math and study skills. K5 kids learn to focus and work independently. K5 allows kids to progress, unrestrained and un-pressured. K5 organizes, instructs, and quizzes your child and provides reports to you. We use simple interfaces, spoken instructions and bite sized lessons. No ads, no chat, & no external links. 100% online. No downloads and nothing to install.
IXL - Math, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies - $9.95/month
Embark on a virtual treasure hunt as you tackle math challenges and
reveal colorful prizes. The more you practice, the more you win! With IXL, it's easy to meet your learning objectives! All of IXL's skills are fully aligned to Florida standards. Get unprecedented insight into student performance with IXL Analytics. View real-time data on usage, trouble spots, and more!
As you may recall, I like to have my kids do some sort of school work over the summer. My kids don't like it as much as I do, but I do try to make it more fun than regular school-year type work. I try to use the kids' interests to build fun and interactive elective-type classes for summer time. One year, we spent the summer learning the science behind cooking. There were some lessons to read, some worksheets to complete, and a lot of cooking & eating.
Lately, my 12 year old has been very busy writing. She has taken a real interest in storytelling. She has several works in progress, from short stories to screenplays to full-on novels. So this summer I thought it would be both fun and beneficial to give her a class on how to write a novel.
Of course, I'm NOT a novelist! I am, however, pretty good at scouring the internet for information. I spent a few weeks doing research and gathering resources from people who ARE novelists, and came up with a 7 unit course to take her all the way through the writing process. I'm still debating whether or not to add a unit to the end about the editing process. I kind of feel like that could be a whole course of its own.
The included units are:
- Before You Write
- Story Formats
- Theme
- Character Development
- Set Building
- Subplots
- As You Write
To make all this information easier to access and organize, I compiled all the articles and worksheets into one website. If you have a budding author in your house, are one yourself, or are just looking for quasi-educational summer activities for your tween or teen, please take a look at Writing for Storytellers. As always, the resources and worksheets are free for personal use. If you wish to share them, please link directly to either that website or this post.
Karissa
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
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
