Wednesday, November 25, 2009

How to incorporate writing into your lapbook project

A great way to reinforce knowledge gained on a particular subject is to create a lapbook around that theme. Lapbooking has become wildly popular in the homeschool arena as evidenced by the sites poping up to provide free downloadables for your lapbook or to sell you everything you need in one easy-to-use kit.

But one thing that has been a struggle is how to incorporate more writing into the lapbook process. Time4Writing has tackled this challenge with their online writing tutorials for kids from 2nd to 12th grades. You may enjoy reading abut how to bring writing to a lapbook project on any given subject.

In addition, this website has a great blog post including a video of a finished lapbook project or 2, just in time for Thanksgiving.  Directly from the website:

"Still not sure what a lapbook is? I wasn't either, until I saw a few that others had created. One of my daughters' Thanksgiving lapbooks is showcased in the video below (found on the site)."

Check it out and enjoy!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

list from onelook.com/browse.shtml

General dictionaries and glossaries indexed by the OneLook® search engine:

Compact Oxford English Dictionary: [41947 words, 22Nov2008, More info] - contacted ann 4/11
The Word Spy: [2628 words, 30Mar2009, More info] Paul McFedries - not a real dictionary....
V2 Vocabulary Building Dictionary: [2042 words, 30Mar2009, More info] - word builder product
Encarta® World English Dictionary, North American Edition: [107301 words, 14Aug2003, More info]
Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, 11th Edition: [107545 words, 27Sep2008, More info]
Cambridge International Dictionary of English: [66408 words, 19Nov2007, More info]
InfoVisual Visual Dictionary: [3884 words, 9Apr2006, More info]
Wiktionary: [580200 words, 22Feb2009, More info]
Reuse terms - Not at all clear. It seems that I could bring over the wiktionary, have it available on the site and query my copy of it. posted at:


Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Ed.: [80134 words, 15Sep2008, More info]
The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus: [47719 words, 09.01.2001, More info]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: [89248 words, 24Dec2008, More info]
Infoplease Dictionary: [127110 words, 25May2008, More info]
Dictionary.com: [775929 words, 1Apr2008, More info]
Online Etymology Dictionary: [21462 words, 30Mar2009, More info]
UltraLingua English Dictionary: [103294 words, 22Jan2009, More info]
Cambridge Dictionary of American English: [37791 words, 4Jul2002, More info]
Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms: [5132 words, 4Jul2002, More info]
Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia: [3201550 words, 2Sep2007, More info]
Cambridge International Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs: [1929 words, 4Jul2002, More info]
Online Plain Text English Dictionary: [111778 words, 5Sep2007, More info]
Webster's Revised Unabridged, 1913 Edition: [88773 words, 31Oct2003, More info]
Rhymezone: [229780 words, 23Dec2008, More info]
CMU Pronouncing: [118581 words, 18Nov2007, More info]
My Hebrew Dictionary: [974 words, 16Apr2008, More info]
Grandiloquent Dictionary: [2039 words, 10Aug2008, More info]
Faclair G?idhlig - Beurla Gaelic - English Dictionary: [5173 words, 26Dec2008, More info]
AllWords.com Multi-Lingual Dictionary: [175063 words, 12Aug2002, More info]
R-O-Matic Italian/English Dictionary: [3504 words, 14Sep2007, More info]
The Spoken Taino Language: [334 words, 13Dec2007, More info]
GREEK-SERBIAN DICTIONARY: [3932 words, 3Sep2007, More info]
Strange and Unusual Dictionaries: [1769 words, 20Oct2007, More info]
Langtolang English from/to French dictionary: [20075 words, 29Aug2002, More info]
Webster's 1828 Dictionary: [62949 words, 27May2008, More info]
1500 acronymes de l'�cole: [8239 words, 18Nov2007, More info]
18 LANGUAGES MULTILINGUAL DICTIONARY: [9309 words, 10Mar2006, More info]
1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica: [34595 words, 31Jul2008, More info]
A to Z list of the most popular idioms: [207 words, 21Nov2008, More info]
ANTIDICO (L') - LE DICTIONNAIRE DES MOTS ABSENTS DES AUTRES DICTIONNAIRES: [7027 words, 18Jan2009, More info]
All About Homonyms: [1506 words, 18Nov2007, More info]
American-Britih Dictionary: [362 words, 29Nov2008, More info]
Bali: The Online Travel Guide: [978 words, 26Sep2008, More info]
Britih-American Dictionary: [365 words, 29Nov2008, More info]
Celtic Dictionary: [129 words, 17Aug2008, More info]
Chinese Characters: [398 words, 29Aug2002, More info]
Cl�sica expresi�n Canaria: [320 words, 25May2008, More info]
Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition: [50831 words, 18Nov2007, More info]
Columbia Gazetteer of North America: [33247 words, 12Mar2008, More info]
Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition (Encyclopedia.com): [7267 words, 5Mar2006, More info]
Dict.cc Englisch/Deutsch Wörterbuch: [750745 words, 15Mar2006, More info]
Dict.cc Englisch/Deutsch Wörterbuch: [293932 words, 15Dec2007, More info]
Dictionary of Americanisms (1848): [2158 words, 5Sep2007, More info]
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898): [14825 words, 11Apr2003, More info]
Dictionary/thesaurus: [412668 words, 18Jan2009, More info]
Dizionario Esoterico: [1855 words, 14Mar2006, More info]
Double-Tongued Word Wrester: [1249 words, 13Dec2007, More info]
E Cobham Brewer, The Reader's Handbook: [5277 words, 29Aug2002, More info]
ESL Idiom Page: [401 words, 21Aug2008, More info]
Election glossary: [61 words, 17Feb2009, More info]
Encarta® Online Encyclopedia, North American Edition: [4994 words, 26Aug2003, More info]
Etymologically Speaking: [236 words, 10Aug2008, More info]
Etymologies & Word Origins: [429 words, 4Mar2006, More info]
Eurodict Online: [81035 words, 23Jan2009, More info]
Foreign Words and Phrases: [73 words, 28Nov2008, More info]
Free Dictionary: [254453 words, 18Feb2008, More info]
GREEK-CATALAN DICTIONARY: [2470 words, 13Jan2009, More info]
GREEK-ENGLISH DICTIONARY: [2403 words, 22Nov2008, More info]
GREEK-SLAVONIC (LANGUAGE OF THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA: [3776 words, 9Feb2009, More info]
Gaelic Language (Manx): [48957 words, 18Nov2007, More info]
General English-Spanish: [20735 words, 29Aug2002, More info]
Hutchinson Dictionaries: [17065 words, 15Apr2008, More info]
Hutchinson's Dictionary of Difficult Words: [14455 words, 13Dec2007, More info]
Japanese Kanji & Chinese Calligraphy Dictionary: [1958 words, 26Jan2009, More info]
Langtolang: [51081 words, 29Aug2002, More info]
Le Dicomoche: [553 words, 10Oct2002, More info]
Lexical FreeNet (shows word connections): [134189 words, 4Jul2002, More info]
Logos Multilingual E-translation Portal: [60678 words, 21Nov2008, More info]
LookWAYup Translating Dictionary/Thesaurus: [187425 words, 22Nov2008, More info]
Luciferous Logolepsy: [9029 words, 17Aug2008, More info]
Mnemonic Dictionary: [147153 words, 26Dec2008, More info]
My Hebrew Picture Dictionary: [180 words, 24Sep2008, More info]
MyWord.info: [2507 words, 13Feb2009, More info]
New English Words: [112 words, 24Dec2008, More info]
OneLook Dictionaries "Frequently Asked Words" (FAW): [1 words, 4Jul2002, More info]
Online Talking Dictionary: [293864 words, 18Jan2009, More info]
Phrasal Verb Page: [173 words, 17May2003, More info]
Phrase Finder: [939 words, 11Feb2009, More info]
Robb: German English: [439 words, 14Mar2006, More info]
Robb: Swahili English: [31 words, 15Apr2008, More info]
Russian dictionary: [157 words, 25Mar2006, More info]
Siglas de Organizaciones en Guatemala: [981 words, 28Nov2003, More info]
Stammtisch Beau Fleuve Acronyms: [23068 words, 20Oct2007, More info]
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: [6639 words, 13Dec2007, More info]
The Phrontistery - A Dictionary of Obscure Words: [16690 words, 10Aug2008, More info]
The Word Detective: [1601 words, 22Dec2008, More info]
The Free Dictionary: [49963 words, 13Jan2009, More info]
The Free Dictionary: [49756 words, 18Jan2009, More info]
The Free Dictionary: [49803 words, 18Jan2009, More info]
The Free Dictionary: [5417 words, 18Jan2009, More info]
The Free Dictionary: [41088 words, 18Jan2009, More info]
The Free Dictionary: [20162 words, 18Jan2009, More info]
The Free Dictionary: [23409 words, 18Jan2009, More info]
The Free Dictionary: [49756 words, 21Jan2009, More info]
The Free Dictionary: [24247 words, 21Jan2009, More info]
Turkish Acronyms to live by: [138 words, 15Mar2006, More info]
Typographical Errors in Library Databases: [5114 words, 16Nov2008, More info]
UVic Writer's Guide: [319 words, 23Jan2009, More info]
UltraLingua French Dictionary: [38910 words, 25Jan2009, More info]
Urdu/English Dictionary: [118573 words, 23Jan2009, More info]
VERBAL VESTIGIA (Words Hanging On By A Single Phrase): [50 words, 29Aug2002, More info]
Virdainas - a Sudovian Dictionary: [5918 words, 21Sep2003, More info]
Who2: [3321 words, 22Feb2009, More info]
Wikimedia Commons US English Pronunciations: [7192 words, 10Feb2009, More info]
WordNet 1.7 Vocabulary Helper: [119160 words, 2Aug2003, More info]
World Wide Words: [2219 words, 22Jan2009, More info]
Worthless Word For The Day: [4003 words, 30Mar2009, More info]
Ye Olde English Sayings: [41 words, 24Dec2008, More info]
Yiddish-Hebrew-English-German-Russian Picture Dictionary: [186 words, 25Mar2006, More info]
bab.la: [512709 words, 23Dec2007, More info]

Online dictionaries to use

Looking for free online dictionaries with definitions, antonyms, synonyms, phonetics, tenses, and example usage.

Wordnet from Princeton U.
Lexiteria - not free- contacted 4/10
As-U-Read - from Fanix - contacted 4/11
http://wordweb.info/ - very promising
should I try chatterblox on vocab as an affiliate?

TheFreeDictionary.com by farlex.com - contacted 4/11
http://www.onelook.com/browse.shtml - wow, what a resource!


Wordweb for horse: Not the simplest definition....
Noun: horse hors
Solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times- Equus caballus
A padded gymnastic apparatus on legs- gymnastic horse
Troops trained to fight on horseback"500 horse led the attack"; "500 horse cavalry led the attack"- cavalry, horse cavalry
A framework for holding wood that is being sawed- sawhorse, sawbuck [N. Amer], buck
A chessman shaped to resemble the head of a horse; can move two squares horizontally and one vertically (or vice versa)- knightVerb: horse hors
Provide with a horse or horses
Sounds like: hoarse
Derived forms: horses, horsed, horsing
See also: equine, horse-drawn
Type of: cater, chess piece, chessman, equid, equine, exerciser, framework, gymnastic apparatus, military personnel, ply, provide, soldiery, supply, troops
Part of: Equus, genus Equus
Encyclopedia: Horse Horse, Akhal-teke Horse, Przewalski's

As-U-Read is an OS-level, quick and easy one-click English dictionary system for online reading. It makes every word on your computer screen click-able. As you read through on-screen text and encounter a new English word that you wish to know the meaning, just use your mouse and Control-Right click the word; As-U-Read will instantly and conveniently show you the word's meaning in a small tooltip-like window next to the word. The window is small and being shown in a smart way: it does not cover any text you are reading and will disappear automatically if you move your mouse out of the word. By giving you instant explanation with a simple mouse click, As-U-Read not only saves you time looking up in dictionaries but also gives you comfortable and confident reading experience not known before to help you tackle the information overload that you may have to deal with today. Free to try!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Homeschooling Special Needs

Homeschooling Special Needs

I thought this story was really interesting and so I'm sharing it.

There I sat once again searching for the right curriculum for our children. We had decided to home school our kids the year before and we still hadn't gotten ourselves situated in a routine. What was wrong with me? How can all these moms be so organized and home school multiple kids but I couldn't? I began to dread to go to home school meetings because the mom's always seemed to have it all under control. How come only my kids didn't want to get up and school? Was I the only one that didn't have a clue as what her kids were going to do from day to day? The questions kept going through my mind and I continued to search for something that would be "right" for us. I would buy workbooks, text books, flashcards and software all relating to education. We even went to the library about two days a week but nothing seemed to be what I was looking for in an education for my kids. Our hunt for curriculum was a little different than what some kids need because of our kids' situation.

Vocabulary Website

Learn English Vocabulary

Vocabulary.co.il is a great vocabulary builder. This word game website is a fun way to build English vocabulary.

Vocabulary is Fun is a leading vocabulary website worldwide with the best flash online word games. The vocabulary games include an online word search, an online crossword puzzle, and hangman online (our version is called HangMouse). Users choose the vocabulary list that the online word game will use in the word game. The vocabulary games are popular for use on smart boards for word games to build vocabulary skills in classrooms.

Many people build their English vocabulary through a blend of methods -- by taking English classes, reading books, watching movies in English, and studying English with English language software. Playing word and vocabulary games is a valuable part of learning English. There are thousands of vocabulary words in our vocabulary lists.

Vocabulary Learning Resources
FCAT Vocabulary
Expand Vocabulary
GRE Vocabulary
Increase Your Vocabulary
Power of Words
Vocabulary List
Vocabulary Builder
Vocabulary Software
Vocabulary Words
TOEFL Vocabulary
SAT Vocabulary
Million Dollar Vocabulary
Vocabulary CD
Business Vocabulary
Why Improve My Vocabulary?
Improve Your Vocabulary Fast

Building FCAT Vocabulary Skills

Here are a few suggestions for FCAT practice to improve your foundation skills and vocabulary for the FCAT test. The free vocabulary games for FCAT preparation on this website include a number of great games for building vocabulary skills. For FCAT elementary skills, students will benefit from the Letter Blocks, Quiz, HangMouse, Unscramble and CrossWord. To build FCAT vocabulary for middle school, students should also consider the Vocabulary Builder MatchIt Game. FCAT High School Vocabulary skills should use the middle school games plus the SAT Vocabulary Game. Some of these vocabulary games such as WordSearch, CrossWorld, UnScramble, and HangMouse allow students to pick their own vocabulary lists. Note that if you look under the word grade, there are FCAT vocabulary word lists organized by grade level.

Preparing for the FCAT Writing Assessment

focus specifically on building writing skills, you might consider taking an eight week online writing course from Time4Writing.com.

Building Foundation Skills for the FCAT

Many students improve their language arts and math skills with afterschool study by using Time4Learning.com's online automated learning service. Time4Learning also provides more specific information on building skills online for test preparation online.

Elementary Writing: The Writers Workshop

It seems like Writer's Workshop and Six Traits Writing are two popular approaches to learning to write in schools.  But how is a school ...