Vocabulary In Your Inbox, Spelling On Your Screen

You can have vocabulary sent to your inbox! dictionary.com has a daily-word service. Just sign up with your email and voila! You're off and running. We like this one because it's not geared towards the very-littles like many vocab resources are. While the words are rarely *very* difficult, they are the sort of words you probably remember from the SAT, GRE, and other tests. They send the word with definition, pronunciation, definitions, etymology, and a few examples of the word as used in existing writings. If your child wants more, the Weird and Wonderful Words series of books are an awful lot of fun, but they list words like "spanghew" which, while entertaining, probably won't come up in any practical way unless your life is an awful lot different than ours is. :)

spellingcity.com is a really great (free!) resource for any age. I believe that it was originally conceived as a webpage that parents and teachers of young kids could use and it works well for that, but since it allows you to add your own words, it's flexible enough for any level. One caveat - when the site was getting started, I don't think they were prepared for someone like me who wanted to add SAT-level words and it could take a few days for new words to be "approved." (They need to add sound files so the kids can hear the words and this is done individually.) If you plan on using very unusual words, try to enter your lists ahead of time so that everything is available when your child logs on. The site gives you practice, quizzes, and games to play for reinforcement. I would encourage everyone to check it out - if it's the sort of thing your child will click with, it's a wonderful tool.

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***Speaking of free resources, I need to amend my recommendation for the HandiLand chore-charting website. When they sent out a survey asking if we'd be willing to pay for the service, I was afraid that they'd already made their decision and it appears that I was right. You can still do minimal activities for free, but now you need to pay for a lot of what made the site fun for DD. I don't think we'll continue to use it. It's too bad that this happened. I think it was a great site and they already had ways to make money in place without requiring subscription fees.

Help With Getting Chores Done!

******UPDATE - Handiland has begun charging subscription fees in order to access most everything above the most basic functions. We will be leaving the service and I can no longer recommend it unless you're not watching your budget. :(

Do your kids resist doing their chores? Do chore charts help, but maybe they need an extra boost? Have you discovered HandiPoints yet? (http://www.handipoints.com)

Handipoints is an online system where parents and kids can assign and track chores. Parents assign a certain number of points for each chore and the child checks off the chore as it is completed. You can easily list chores as daily, like brushing teeth after each meal, or weekly, like taking the garbage cans out to the street for pickup. You can also choose any combination of days that work for you - useful if Child A does dishes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while Child B does dishes on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday! In fact, for many chores, I choose the daily option so that we have the flexibility to assign points whenever the chore is completed - some things just aren't scheduled for the same day each week.....

For each chore completed, the child actually receives two kinds of points - the system keeps track of each separately. One type of points can be saved up and used to 'purchase' rewards from Mom and Dad - 10 points to play an extra board game with Dad, 40 points to choose a movie to watch, etc. You decide on the rewards and how much it will take to earn each one.

The second kind of points is used to 'buy' virtual items in the HandiPoints world. Each child has a cat character that they get to customize and play games with. (Some of the games offer the chance to earn more points) With HandiPoints, they can choose to 'buy' items to decorate their virtual room with, clothing pieces to dress their cat in, or do things like send virtual postcards to other cats.

Handipoints is most likely to appeal to younger kids, though I know of quite a few pre-teens who really love playing in the virtual world of HandiPoints. Even if the virtual-world aspect is "too young" for your kids, the point-tracking system alone is worth joining. (As of now, it is free to join. Rumblings suggest that this may change.....) With younger kids, internet security is, of course, a concern for many parents. Handipoints handles this well - kids communicate with each other using a set menu of G-rated statements, questions, and answers. There is no way for them to give out personal information, so that's one worry out of the way! They can also make their cats do things like wave, dance, sneeze..... My daughter particularly enjoys sneaking up to my cat (I do log on sometimes to see what she's up to - she's aware of it and we have fun together.) and sneezing on her. LOL