Got my motor running, my brain is on fire thinking about everything I want to accomplish this year.  Number one on the list is letting you know what you can expect from On Living By Learning this year.

As I mentioned before, I’m planning to retool On Living By Learning to focus on Enrichment, but from the feedback I received, it’s clear that there is a demand for other topics that interest me, as well as personal reflections.

The 2010 On Living By Learning Plan

Plans are inevitably the kiss of death for me.  There is something about a plan that makes me want to rebel, but I know that I need to set some limits.  Otherwise, I end up scatterbrained, jumping from deadline to deadline, unable to focus long enough to finish a project.  Living in crisis management mode ain’t pretty.

Instead, I’m setting realistic blog objectives, that are reasonably attainable.  If I end up with time to spare, who knows, I can always “head out on the highway looking for adventure.”

1. Blog Aesthetics – Although I like the highly customizable Thesis theme for this blog, I’m not crazy about the current look, and I still haven’t found the logo of my dreams.  As I work on the blog’s appearance, I also want to focus on function: revamping pages, editing categories, organizing posts. Overall, I want to ensure that the blog’s form follows the function of enabling readers to easily find subject content.  I’ll post occasional updates on the blog remodel for aspiring and/or experienced blogging friends.

2. Blog Content – There may come a day when I am moved to write a poem or share a recipe.  It’s highly unlikely seeing as how I don’t cook, and I’m no poet.  Nevertheless, I reserve the right to write about whatever moves me, even odes to my Chocolate Lab, Yoohoo.  For the most part, however, I’m going to stick to writing about the following subjects:

Publishing Quest:

I said it before, and I’ll say it again.  I will get published in 2010.  To fulfill this quest, I will be following advice to do all kinds of weird and wacky things like: writing, mapping goals, writing, organizing contacts, writing, developing a social media platform, writing, oh yeah, and writing some more.  Periodically, I’ll share resources that I uncover, and I’ll post updates on my progress.

Enrichment:

• School Enrichment – I’m going to write a series of articles based on my past experience volunteering at a suburban elementary public school.  Over the years, I helped develop programs that are well worth replicating; however, this information rarely gets passed on from one academic year to the next, much less between schools.  I intend to create a sustainable resource for parent volunteers and/or Enrichment Coordinators.
• Family Enrichment – I’ve written a few articles about enrichment activities that we do as a family, most notably through digital learning, service learning, and travel learning.  I plan to organize these posts into an archive that can be accessed in the On Living By Learning’s pages, while adding posts on current and past adventures.  Believe it not, I’ve barely begun to share our Reading Across America Road Trip!
• Girl Scouts – Expect to see articles about Girl Scouts.  As a Girl Scout leader, I advise a troop of Teen Cadettes who are working on earning their Silver Awards (the highest award at the middle school level given for an outstanding service project.)  I’m also creating an online presence for my Girl Scout Service Unit, as well as a better way to communicate the leadership development model.  Again, I’ll share our experience so that other adult volunteers can learn from my experience (and maybe those who’ve been there can comment with their tips as well!)
• Cub Scouts – My son’s Webelo Den of fourth graders is becoming more independent, and capable of taking on more ambitious projects.  It’s exciting to see what they are doing, and where they are going.  Of course, I’m going to share this with you.
• First Lego League – Our young team has cleared the rookie year hurdle, and is looking forward to seeing what they can accomplish now that they know what to expect.  Personally, I’m eager to report on next year’s challenge, “Body Forward,”  in which:

children will be asked to explore the cutting-edge world of biomedical engineering to discover innovative ways to repair injuries, overcome genetic predispositions, and maximize the body’s potential, with the intended purpose of leading happier and healthier lives.

• Enrichment Links – There is a veritable cornucopia of enrichment opportunities, too many to try personally.  I plan to post a weekly roundup of the most promising options that you can use, or discard, at will.  I hope to benefit my readers while creating a searchable database so that I can find these programs when they may be of interest in the future.

Digital Learning Conflict:

Personally, and as a parent of teens and tweens, I’ve been struggling with the pros and cons of digital learning for years.  While I tend to embrace technology, I strive to do so mindfully.

This year, I will review a couple of books that are worth comparing, discussing, and debating.  I hope you’ll join me in reading: iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind by Gary Small, M.D. and Gigi Vorgan; and Born Digital: Understanding The First Generation of Digital Natives by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser.

In an upcoming post, I’ll set up a topic schedule derived from these books covering hotly debated subjects like technology addiction, privacy, and overload.  I’ll also invite comments from experts, parents and educators, and we’ll see what we can learn together.  Stay tuned for more!

Homeschool NY:

Well, yes, I am homeschooling my son the rest of this fourth grade year, and most likely through fifth grade as well.  I will continue to post our homeschool records on this blog, as well as reflective articles.  Day to day, however, I’m not chronicling our homeschooling.  If you would like to follow more of our homeschool adventures, please visit my son’s blog at Leperdy.com.

High School Transition and the Global Student:

In June, Teen Daughter will be graduating from the small, private school that she currently attends, and transitioning to a public high school that is bursting at the seams with over 1,000 students.  Already, I’ve had to attend a parent orientation in which I discovered that she will have to take a battery of qualifying tests for entry into Honors classes.

Truly, the American high school experience is an obstacle course whose goal is college entrance.  Unfortunately, successfully traversing this gauntlet does not ensure that the high school graduate is college ready.

Fortunately, there are alternatives beyond what Maya Frost, author of The New Global Student: Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education, labels the “four by four plan” (4 years high school, 4 years college.)  I will investigate and report on our options and choices, and you can see what Teen Daughter has to say on Elferkid.com.

Post Frequency:

I’d like to commit to daily blog posts, but that’s unrealistic.  I tried it once, during NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month in November, 2008,) but once was enough.  Many of my days are spent running around, chauffeuring kids or running meetings, with no time to write until late at night.  Although I’m a night bird, and actually enjoy staying up late to write, I can’t keep up the late nights when I have to rise early to tend my flock.  Some nights I have to go to bed at a reasonable hour.

Bottom line, don’t expect daily posts from On Living By Learning, but do expect to see new articles 3-4 times per week.

In the immortal words of Steppenwolf, “Yeah, darling, Gonna make it happen…”*  2010, it’s a new decade, a time for bold feats of daring and perseverance.  Are you with me?

*Born To Be Wild – Steppenwolf

Get your motor running
Head out on the highway
Looking for adventure
In whatever comes our way
Yeah, darling
Gonna make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once and
Explode into space
I like smoke and lightning
Heavy metal thunder
Racing in the wind
And the feeling that I’m under
Yeah, darling
Gonna make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once and
Explode into space
Like a true nature child
We were born
Born to be wild
We have climbed so high
Never want to die
Born to be wild
Born to be wild

Amazon Book Links:

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Did you think I’d forgotten you?  Or that I was on another extended trip far away from digital devices?

No, I’m here, and I’m brimming with new ideas and new projects.  Bursting, even!

I’ve been busy exploring new technology (Oh, yes, I’m surfing the Wave!), developing new goals, redefining my ambitions, etc., etc. 

As we head into the new decade, I plan to overhaul On Living By Learning to focus on Enrichment.  I’ll explain what I mean, in another post.  And, I’ll share the remodeling process, in other posts.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you.  Are there blog features that I’ve done in the past that you’d like me to bring back?  Would you like to see more articles on homeschooling in New York or about digital learning?  Do you enjoy the Mommy Blog posts about my family? Tell me!  Post a comment, or contact me directly.  I want to hear from you! 

Don’t worry, I won’t go as far as these guys!  Or will I?

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It seems kind of silly to write a disclosure statement for this blog when I have yet to crack the three digit barrier.

I thought about skipping it altogether, but I’m scared of the consequences.  Who knows what the FTC could do to me?  Hang me up by my thumbs? Throw me into an isolation chamber?  Or worse?  They could make me read the 81 page Federal Trade Commission Disclosure Guidelines.

I’m taking the path of least resistance, and copying from other blogs.

Fill In The Bubble

The easiest way to create a disclosure statements is to fill in the bubbles on the forms in DisclosurePolicy.org:

This policy is valid from 01 June 2009

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

Personalizing The Disclosure Statement

Then, the savvy blogger can add their personal adjustments to the generic form.  And the really lazy blogger, i.e. me, will use another bloggers’ “personal adjustments” as a template to describe similar forms of compensation:

BlogHerAds – I am a member of BlogHerAds. One ad for BlogHer appears in my blog’s sidebar. I receive monetary payment not based on the content published on my blog but for showing their ads in my blog’s sidebar.

BlogHerAds has strict rules regarding the content I publish on my blog and I am bound by contract to adhere to their rules. For example, I am prohibited from posting any reviews for which I’ve been paid money to write.

This is the only source of monetary compensation that I have received for this blog, but it isn’t the only affiliate program that I’ve tried.

No Free Lunches, or Books

When I was starting out, I looked through affiliate programs, hoping to find something that I could confidently recommend.  Most of the items I saw in places like Clickbank just seemed like overpriced crap or dust catchers.  Nothing that I’d buy, or recommend.  However, I’m a heavy user of Amazon’s Two-Day 1-Click and Wishlist buttons, and it made sense to sign up for the Amazon Associates Program:

Amazon Associates Program – Purchases made through Amazon affiliate links on this blogs, or those of my children (see sidebar) yield a small referral fee. This applies to all purchases made on Amazon regardless of whether the product the consumer purchased was mentioned by me or not. The consumer’s purchases are confidential; I don’t know who has purchased items using my blog’s Amazon Associate links.

Note that even after years of referring Amazon links, I have not earned enough to meet the minimum needed to receive a check.  Pathetic, I know.  But, I don’t enjoy writing book reviews, and I suspect that’s a necessary prerequisite. 

That’s it.  I have little or nothing to disclose at this time.  When I do, I’ll let you know. 

Disclosure Statement Tips:

• DisclosurePolicy.org
• Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit
• How to Turn Affiliate Marketing Disclosure Into a Selling Point
• FTC Disclosure Icons (Warning: View at own risk!  May cause spontaneous laughter.)

A Few Good Disclosure Statements:

• The Thinking Mother
• Jessica Gottlieb
• Real Mommy Review
• JOHO – Journal of the Hyperlinked Organization

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If you’re nothing like me, you may be able to generate a Home School Quarterly Report in seconds.

Perhaps you already have all the data input into your Homeschool Tracker program.  Or, maybe you just need to pull out your daily lesson plan book where you’ve recorded grades, and daily assignments.

If you’re anything like me; however, your home school record keeping looks like piles of paper spread in colorful disarray through one or more rooms in your home. 

Those of you who have been following this blog from the beginning may wonder how this is possible.  In a blog post last year, I boasted about my amazing home school organization.  However, that was just two months into home schooling.  Reality hadn’t set in yet.

Our reality is that although we live in a state that requires reports on a set schedule, our learning projects don’t necessarily conform to that schedule.  We get distracted by new interests, and sometimes we’re too busy to keep track of everything that we’re doing.

Fortunately, I’ve come up with a system for producing a quarterly report out of this chaos.  Here are my 10 Easy Steps to a Home School Quarterly Report:

1. Upload the last quarterly report, and save it as the current document.  I label my files with a name that easy to find later; for example, “quarterly_ 03312009.”  If this is your first time, you’re welcome to copy our quarterly report and modify it for your use. (See Homeschool Quarterly Report for details on what must be included in the report to meet New York requirements.)

2. Math – This is usually the easiest section to tackle as my son is working through material in the order that it is presented in the Singapore Math Home Instructor’s Guide.  I just check where we left off in the last quarter, then I look in the table of contents chart to note what I’ve crossed off.

3. Language Arts – In the past, I listed all the books that my son read during the quarter.  Now, I’m making this easier on myself by just referring to my son’s blog and Librarything account where he reviews most of the books he reads.  I also check the table of contents in his Language Arts workbooks to note what was completed.  Frankly, I don’t try to list every single Language Arts activity that Alex completes. That would involve more detail than required, and way too much effort on my part.

4. Social Studies – It’s easy to remember what we’re doing in Social Studies since this drives much of what we do in our home school program.  Usually, I refer to the sections that we covered in Story of the World.  However, this quarter we ended up spending a lot of time on China, which was just one small chapter, but which we expanded with material that I had on hand.  Ancient Rome is covered in much greater depth, but we also expanded this section with resources that I had at home.

5. Science – I was struggling to remember what we covered in Science this quarter.  Fortunately, I was able to look at our blogs, as well as the kitchen counter, for a reminder.  It helped that much of the science work was driven by our social studies units.

6.  The Arts – Again, the social studies units determined the arts curriculum, and I looked to our blogs to remember the projects.

7.  Health and Physical Education – I lump these together, but I don’t stress over describing these as they mostly get covered through our daily routines.  As I looked over the IHIP and my son’s blog, I noticed that he had been discovering Advocacy, one of the Health topics, so I included this.  I also check the Cub Scout Handbook as this is where we cover many of the Health subjects.

8. Foreign Language -  Technically, I don’t need to include this as it isn’t a requirement in the Elementary grades.  I do anyway because this is a reference for us, as well as the school district. 

9. Technology – This is another subject that I don’t need to list, but choose to do so anyway.  I just tapped my memory to fill out this section.

10. Evaluations – I don’t give Alex too many tests, so I can’t provide grades.  However, I know day to day how he is faring in his subjects since he doesn’t move forward without mastering current material.  If something isn’t working, I change my approach or the materials right then and there.  At the end of the quarter, it’s pretty easy to generate an evaluative written narrative based on what I already know from working with him one-on-one.

Home School Quarterly Report, Grade 3 III

Home Instruction Quarterly Report

March 31, 2009

Name: Alex

Blog Website: http://alexhomegate.blogspot.com

Grade: 3rd

Hours of instruction this quarter: 247.5+

Math:

Having completed Singapore Math 3A, Alex is now well into Math 3B where he completed the section on mental calculations in Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division. He also just finished the section on Length and is starting the one on Weights. Alex handles this material easily, and is on target to complete the Third Grade Math Curriculum on or before the end of the academic year.

Language Arts:

Alex is zooming through books, and has reviewed many of these on his LibraryThing account and on his blog. He also discussed Babe, The Gallant Pig and the importance of setting with a book club modeled on Deconstructing Penguins that encourages literary analysis. Additionally, he completed several nonfiction reading assignments as part of the Science and Social Studies units.

Generally, Alex’s reading skills are well above grade level. A recent SCAT test, taken as part of the Johns Hopkins Academic Talent Search, which asked him to complete analogy questions leveled two grades above his current grade level, qualified Alex to participate in the Center for Talented Youth classes.

Alex practiced basic Language Arts skills through work book exercises in Grammar on: homophones, pronouns, conjunctions, and capitalization. He has also just completed the workbook exercises in Read and Understand: Myths and Legends (Evan –Moor) which covered: reading comprehension, vocabulary, structural analysis, figures of speech, and story elements.

This quarter, I decided to change what we were doing with Spelling as I wasn’t seeing much progress previously. We are now using Houghton Mifflin’s Spelling and Vocabulary workbook that is leveled for 4^th Grade. This phonics based program has sufficiently challenging exercises in phonics-based spelling, vocabulary, and grammar to engage Alex. I am now seeing some progress in his ability to spell, but it is still a weak area for him.

Additionally, Alex has been developing writing skills through blog posts, entries in his Writer’s Notebook, a neighborhood news project, and developing work in 5-paragraph expository essays. His writing skills are still a source of frustration as he is unable to handwrite at the level that he can read and verbalize, but he is making significant progress.

Social Studies:

Alex completed a unit on China, and is finishing up a unit on Ancient Rome. In both units, we focused on the five standards: social, political, geographic, economic, and historic. Alex especially enjoyed the hands-on learning assignments, and retains much of the information that he absorbs in his reading.

Science:

This quarter, our science curriculum has been closely tied to the units covered in social studies. Since we were studying China, and the Chinese language, we read about the science of language as covered in an issue of Odyssey Magazine. This interest also inspired a visit to the Communications exhibit at the Liberty Science Center.

Similarly, our coverage of Ancient Rome led Alex to learning about Roman building innovations such as aqueducts and cement roads.

Just for fun, Alex sat in on a lesson given by his older sister, on the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Currently, Alex is in the middle of a series of Crime Lab Chemistry experiments as part of a unit on forensic science.

The Arts:

As part of our units on Rome and China, Alex visited the relevant sections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art where he took a guided sketching tour of Chinese Arts.

Alex also tried a variety of Chinese arts such as: landscape paintings, panel paintings, Chinese ink lettering, and paper cutting.

Music- Alex listened to a sampling of traditional Chinese music.

Health and Physical Education:

Health – Alex is starting to learn about advocacy, and has recently used his blog to post articles on issues that concern him.

Physical Education – Alex gets daily exercise through weekly fencing lessons, daily dog walks, outside play, and seasonal activities such as: snowshoeing, ice skating, skiing, and biking.

Foreign Language:

As part of the China Unit, Alex was introduced to Mandarin.

Technology:

Alex is becoming more confident in his keyboarding and use of digital technology, and is beginning to occasionally post blog articles on his own. He also continues lessons with a young mentor who is teaching Alex how to create video games on Roblox and on other programs.

Related Articles:

Individualized Home Instruction Plan, Third Grade

Home School Quarterly Report, 3rd Grade I

Home School Quarterly Report, 3rd Grade II

Keeping The Paper Trail In Homeschool Record Keeping

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My daughter, and her Tween friends, had no interest in reading Louisa May Alcott’s  Little Women, the treasured novel of my youth.

I thought, mistakenly, that the Book Babes, our Mother Daughter Book Club, would be eager to read Little Women, as it was at the center of a book that we all adored, Heather Vogel Frederick’s  The Mother Daughter Book Club.  Anticipating a pleasant road trip to the Louisa May Alcott home, the real setting for this fictional account, I expected that the girls would delight in reading the book first.

“Too long” and “Too boring” whined the same girls who soon after devoured all four mammoth Twilight books, and whose squeals at the movie premiere recalled the Beatle’s glory days.

I wheedled and cajoled to at least get my daughter to read the book.  I even tried to read it aloud, but at 650 dense pages, with little time for read aloud, we didn’t get too far.

Nearly a year passed, before the perfect opportunity to cram this book, no, sorry, to lovingly share this literary gem as an audiobook presented itself in the form of a twenty hour road trip to Florida.

It took nearly the entire trip to hear this very long book.  At one point, several hours into the book, my son asked, “Aren’t they women, yet?”

Little by little, I noticed that both kids, despite claiming to ignore the book, were clearly following the story.  Barbara Caruso does a beautiful job of breathing life into the characters, and the kids were not immune to this engaging account.  By the end of the book, they were fully involved in questioning Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March’s choices.

Discussing Little Women

Since our road trip took place the day after watching the Twilight movie, which was after reading the entire book series, Bella Swan, Twilight’s heroine, kept popping into our discussion.

• Little Women begins with the sisters celebrating a very simple Christmas, as their father is serving in the Civil War, and the family has fallen on hard times.  Even so, the March family gives up everything they have to a family that has less than they do.  Do you admire this altruism?  Would you give up all your holiday gifts to help someone in need?  Does Bella do anything that is as noble?
• How are the sisters in Little Women, living in the 19th century, the same or different to the girls you know, or to Bella?
• Each of the sisters had a different “Castle in the Air,” or daydream.  Describe their ambitions, and discuss whether they achieved their dreams.    How are the Little Women’s dreams similar or different to Bella’s?  Would you want the same things?
• Each of the sisters had a “major character flaw: Meg, vanity; Jo, a hot temper; Beth, shyness; and Amy, selfishness.”  How did they overcome these flaws as girls, and again as women?  Does Bella have a character flaw, and does she try to overcome it?  Do you think you have a flaw, and how are you working to overcome it?
• Why do you think the book was titled “little women?” How would you like to be labeled a “little woman?”  How do you think Bella would respond to being a called a “little woman?”
• Should Jo have married Laurie, or should Laurie have done something different to win Jo’s love?  Do you think all the sisters and Bella chose the right husbands for themselves? Why or why not?

Mixing History and Service

Next on our itinerary, a road trip to visit Orchard House, home of Louisa May Alcott, in nearby Concord, MA!  The holidays are a perfect time to visit as the home displays the “festive simplicity” of the Alcott family, and this year we can look forward to a Holiday Program that:

…honors the service and sacrifice of our nation’s military personnel and their families, drawing upon not only the beloved classic, Little Women (the first half of which is set during the Civil War), but also Hospital Sketches, Louisa May Alcott’s highly acclaimed work detailing her real-life Civil War nursing experiences.

This year, December through February, we can even bring donations for US troops as Orchard House takes up a special collection.

Tween Take On Little Women

While my children initially weren’t thrilled to listen to the Little Women audiobook, they found it very entertaining.  It definitely made our road trip fly by!

Audiobook To Avoid:

At the same time that I downloaded Little Women from itunes, I also purchased the A Little Princess as narrated by Rebecca Burns.  This was the worst reading of a story that I have ever heard.  Ms. Burns’ monotone rendition nearly put me to sleep, not a good thing while driving.  A Little Princess is one of my all-time favorite children’s books, so I’ll have to find another version to share in the car.

Related Articles:

Reading On The Road – Ideas for selecting and discussing an audiobook; book discussion questions for Animal Farm.

Confessions of a Twilight Mom – My, admittedly biased, review of the Twilight series.

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Last night, long after she should have been asleep, I found my 11-year-old daughter sitting up in bed. I asked her why she couldn’t sleep, and found out that she was the victim of a vivid imagination. She couldn’t fall asleep because she was spinning stories in her head.

I love that she is so imaginative, but the daily shadows under her eyes suggested that she needed more sleep. I suggested a solution that has often worked for me – reading college textbooks. She tried to read the Columbia History of the World, and found it quite interesting despite not understanding most of the words. So interesting, in fact, that she decided this would be a good time to improve her vocabulary.

It was 11:00 PM, and I was faced with a dilemma. Do I seize this golden opportunity to promote vocabulary development, or do I insist that she has to go to sleep right now?

Perhaps a better mom than I would insist on sleep, but I remember well the many nights at her age when I stayed up until 1AM reading. So, I asked her if she wanted me to bring her one of the stack of vocabulary building books.

No, she had another suggestion. She wanted to read the encyclopedia. Okay. Well, we have the online Encarta (but I wasn’t going to let her get on the computer at that hour) or the Scholastic Children’s Encyclopedia.

I had already moved this book to her brother’s room thinking that she had outgrown this reference source, but she insisted that she would learn new vocabulary this way. And she was right.

As always, the best learning occurs when a person wants to tackle the subject. It also helps to have a variety of resources.

While building your vocabulary is an ongoing process that reflects your interests and experiences, the following list provides some entertaining ways to target your learning.

Vocabulary Building Resources

The best way to build a child’s vocabulary is to read aloud. Over the years we have covered a lot of books and words this way. Right now, I’m reading Little Women to my daughter and Arabian Nights to my son. Usually, I read one book to both kids. Last holiday season, the kids learned about the true meaning of Christmas – and picked up many, new vocabulary words – when I read The Christmas Carol.

Vocabulary Building Books:

• Painless Vocabulary – My daughter likes this book as the lessons are quick and entertaining.
• No Fear Vocabulary: Just The Basics – This book features “zany stories” to keep you interested, but I think these appeal to teens, not tweens.
• No Boring Practice, Please! Grades 4-6 – The words aren’t too challenging; but the exercises are fun.
• Building Your Vocabulary And Making It Great! – This is a good resource for an educator, but isn’t likely to appeal to a student. It includes word lists, roots, prefixes, and vocabulary games.
• Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop – These leveled vocabulary books are accompanied by an Online Audio Program that allows students to hear the pronunciations.

Online Vocabulary Resources:

• Vocabulary Workshop – Leveled word lists, audio pronunciation guides, and games.
• Vocabulary University – Thematic word lists, book word lists, games and puzzles.
• The Word Detective – This is an interesting blog on word histories.
• One Look Dictionary – Compare word definitions in a browser of over 100 dictionaries.
• Vocabulary Coach – Word lists and games.
• SAT Institute - Daily word lists and SAT advice.
• Free Rice – An addictive word challenge where each time you get the correct answer, 20 grains of rice are donated to fight world hunger. Read about this online game at How to Build Your Vocabulary – And Feed The World.

Do you have other suggestions for building vocabulary? Please post your suggestion with the comments link below.

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