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.