Carnival of Educators, Nary a List in Sight Edition

Hopefully spammers are learning that they won't get their posts included in the Carnival of Educators, with this last awesome edition. In includes insightful and humorous tidbits from teachers and educators... as was intended when the carnival of educators was created.

A big thank you goes out to I Want to Teach Forever for hosting this excellent carnival post.


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Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom

Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog

Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com

Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources

Educational Website Review: Verbalearn.com

I recently had the opportunity to review verbalearn.com, both the free program and the paid Verbalearn Plus program.  I will start by telling  you I like it.

Verbalearn.com   is a website that helps students improve their vocabulary by focusing on words they don't know.  In it's simplest version Verbalearn allows you to insert your vocabulary words into the website, or
it can recommend words for you.  It will then test you on the words using multiple choice sentences.  The program will take words you already know of of the list so you can concentrate on the words you don't know.  Depending upon the level of membership you choose, you can download words on an MP3 player, use the words in crossword puzzles, or review flashcards.

Sure, there are other programs that allow you to play with your words online and in downloads, but Verbalearn is superior as it will help a student study words according to grade level, standardized tests, or ESL needs.

There are three levels of membership available.  The first level is free, and allows students to build word lists and review them in context (fill in the blank multiple choice sentences.) The second level Verbalearn Plus which is only $19.99 (one time fee) In addition to the other features, it includes MP3 studylists, advanced review, video flashcards, crossword puzzles, and the ability to print flashcards.  In the third version, for only $40.00 one time fee, students can also have the chance to earn their money back as they learn their vocabulary words.

I highly recommend this program for homeschoolers and others too.

See the Press Release of the program here:    Vocabulary Site VerbaLearn.com Guarantees Higher SAT, GRE and ACT Test Scores

(I was not paid for this website review)


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Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom

Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog

Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com

Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources

Carnival of Educators - Spam Free Edition, January 12, 2010

Carnival of educators

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Welcome to the January 12, 2010 edition of carnival of educators.

This blog is a few hours late, but it was important to get it right.  It is called the Spam Free Edition, because it is just that... free from spam.  You will find no 100 best college this, or 50 best books resources from websites remotely related to education that sends in dozens of blog posts per week, each from a different submitter.  No sir-ee.  On this carnival, you will hear from all educators all the time.  Heck, I am not even going to distract you with a cute theme... not this week anyway.  I want to hear what educators have to say, and if you are still reading this... so do you, so let's get started with the Spam Free Edition of the Carnival of Educators!

I am categorizing the entries based on what I believe is the occupation/ viewpoint of the writer.

Education Advocates

Joanne Jacobs presents Do children need to be bored? posted at Joanne Jacobs.

Sarah Ebner, School Gate presents Every child matters....Henry Winkler (aka the Fonz) speaks to School Gate posted at School Gate - Times Online - WBLG,
saying, "I was lucky enough to meet the Fonz (aka Henry Winkler) and to
chat about how every child matters and education needs to change....."


Diana presents There’s No Such Thing as ‘Teaching’ posted at The Core Knowledge Blog.

Andrea presents What do grades matter anyway posted at Education Headlines Examiner

School Teachers

elementaryhistoryteacher presents Bespoken Blacksmiths posted at History Is Elementary, saying, "a little vocabulary discussion, a little history, and a few of my pictures from a recent trip all rolled into one.


Carol Richtsmeier presents Invisible Snow, School Cancellations & Yearbook Page Proofs posted at Bellringers.

Mimi presents The Teachers' Lounge - Proceed At Your Own Risk posted at It's Not All Flowers and Sausages.

 Siobhan curious presents Bad class? Define ?Bad.? posted at Siobhan Curious, saying, "Is a "bad class" always bad? Or am I the one with the problem?"   Siobhan also presents  The New Semester: 10 Resolutions saying, "10 intentions to follow through on this semester."


Tom DeRosa presents Tear Down the Ladder of Consequences: How to Become a Master of Classroom Management posted at I Want to Teach Forever.

homeschooling parents

Annette Berlin presents Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions posted at Craft Stew, saying, "I’m a big fan of technology books written for kids. I first discovered them when I homeschooled my son for 7 years."

Dana presents Homeschooled kids: Did they fall through the cracks? posted at Roscommon Acres.


Denise presents 2010 Mathematics Game posted at Let's play math!, saying, "Did you know that playing games is one of the Top 10 Ways To Improve Your Brain Fitness? So slip into your workout clothes and pump up those mental muscles with the 2010 Mathematics Game!


Andrea presents Home-Schooled, The Movie posted at Atlanta Homeschooling Examiner . She also presents Scholarships for homeschoolers  at  Notes from a homeschooling mom



That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of educators using our
carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags: carnival of educators, blog carnival.



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Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom
Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog
Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com
Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources

Canival of Educators: New Beginnings Edition is up

Carnival of Educators: New Beginnings Edition is Posted at Minds in Bloom.

There are many helpful articles and musings for you to enjoy.

The next carnival will be right here at Notes from a homeschooling mom.  Let me know if you can volunteer to host it on your blog and to enter a submission follow this link to the handy dandy submission form.

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Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom

Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog

Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com

Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources

Scholarships for homeschoolers.

I am working on listing 2010 Scholarhips over at Examiner.com

That got me thinking about scholarships open to homeschoolers. Here is what I found.

Homeschool.com listing of homeschool scholarships. The full ride scholarships for Alfred State College in NY caught my eye.

College Scholarships.org has a list of scholarships for homeschoolers with advice for getting access to all scholarships.

Eclectic Homeschool online lists a few as well.

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Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom

Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog

Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com

Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources

Is homeschooling against the rules?

In dealing with a family where the public school child has NO CHANCE of passing the school year, the only option I could see as an answer was homeschooling.

Maybe my approach is a bit drastic, but failure to such a degree at half year, could only spell out disaster at the end of the year.

In the end, the parents decided to grin and bear it, feeling like homeschooling was somehow breaking the rules... cheating the system

Maybe I'm a radical, but at what point do you stop following rules when they are not working for your kids?

Aren't some of the most successful people in the world rule breakers? Consider this example:"Rule breakers bust up business models. They explode in an industry by offering a new paradigm so compelling in its benefits that it simply cannot be ignored. By virtue of the insanely great value proposition of their offers (think Apple in 1985, Amazon in 1996), they quickly redefine their industries and instantly change the norm. Recently, examples of this would be Autobytel and E*Trade. Rule breakers often cause a shift that carries organizations to new, unexplored territories." (from Risk strategies: Are you a rule breaker, shaker, maker, or taker? )
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Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom

Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog

Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com

Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources

Entries needed for Carnival of Homeschooling

The 4th anniversary edition Carnival of homeschooling will be posted at Why Homeschool this week. They are requesting more entries. Get the New Year started off right and get your blog noticed.

For more information go here.

Also send a quality education based blog to carnival of educators.



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Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom

Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog

Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com

Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources