Good morning, welcome to our Homeschool Resources: Grammer. I would like to ask you to take a look at the websites and let me know if you’ve used these resources with your students. As for Charlie he is being to check out Frogland: Frogs, Fables, & Parables!– this morning because Charlie loves Frogs. Would you like to join us as we check out this new website?
Vocabulary Quest Lifetime Download
Vocabulary Quest is an award-winning, Windows game-based vocabulary builder that will keep users captivated as they battle monsters, join guilds, and unlock new gear using just their word power!
Cozy Grammar – Spelling Course– Grades 6-8, approximately, with parental supervision
This commercial website that sells Language Arts curriculum packages developed by a long-time classroom teacher, offers a free, thirty-six-week spelling course appropriate for the 7th-grade level.
When you get to the site, scroll down to “Other Free Resources”, click on LEARN MORE, review the information and videos, and then register for the free course which includes:
- Pre-Test
- Exercises
- Dictation Sentences
- Final Test
The lessons cover:
- Plural Nouns
- Suffixes
- Prefixes
- Doubling The Final Consonant
- Possessive Forms
- Contractions
- Capitals
- Letters and Syllables
- Special Words (i.e., Compound Words, Root Words, Synonyms, Antonyms, Homonyms)
You’ll also find a list of “Spelling Rules” that may be handy to print out and have around the house.
WordBuild is based on morphology, the study of units of meaning – roots, prefixes, and suffixes, so there is no memorizing word lists. It can help expand vocabulary and improve reading comprehension in just 10-15 minutes per day.
Frogland: Frogs, Fables, & Parables!– All grades, with parental supervision
The “Frogland” website was developed by a frog-lover to show that the Internet can indeed provide a wealth of useful information and still be fun. Dedicated to educators, the site inspires interest in Herpetology, Biology, Environmental issues, and Language Arts!
For this Language Arts review, we’ve focused on a section of the Frogland website that doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles, but it does have over a dozen short stories that feature frogs, all with a thought-provoking moral or lesson.
There is also a caveat: “Frog Lovers be-warned! These stories often have VERY UNFORTUNATE endings for the frog!!”
Here are some examples of what you will find:
- The Scorpion and the Frog – A scorpion asks to cross a river on the back of a frog. (This is one that ends disastrously for the frog.)
- The Mouse, the Frog, and the Hawk – A frog fastens himself to a mouse by the leg, with terrible results for them both.
- Frog in a Milk Pail – A frog lands in a milk pail and does not give up until he finds a way out. (This one has a happy ending.)
Many of these stories have been used to pass down collected wisdom from one generation to another. See how many are familiar, and how many new ones you can discover. The thought-provoking fables can be used to increase your student’s cultural literacy. They are great conversation and story starters as well.
When you’ve read them all, explore the rest of the Frogland site that has lots of frog-themed information, resources, and games.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
