If you are not an early riser, be sure to set your alarms for the total lunar eclipse that will start tomorrow morning at 7:45AM EST. Take the opportunity to talk to your children about the moon, the galaxy, the…
Author: Diane
Education is a gift to be treasured
Why do parents sometimes treat tutoring as a punishment? I can't begin to count the number of students that I have tutored who tell me that their parents told them "If I am good, I don't have to come here…
Get your kids to be a fanatic reader???
James Patterson doesn’t just write great adult fiction. Check out his latest contribution to the young readers of the world. And then read the article by the acclaimed author James Patterson about how to get your child to be a…
Picture Books
When reading with your children, be sure to point out the pictures and ask them to tell a story with the picture. This helps young readers learn main idea and details. It also starts the process of predicting outcomes, which…
Home-schooling
I have been thinking more and more about home schooling lately. At this point, I think it has so many positives that far outweigh the negatives. I think that “out of the box” thinking and learning is at an all…
More about Judy Blume
I have posted about Judy Blume before. She is a prolific author of literature for young people and even a few for adults. National Public Radio did a great story on her recently. Some of the article is about censorship.…
Teach charity and school subjects at the same time?
Free education and donating rice to starving people at the same time? Seems impossible, right? Well, it’s not. Be sure to check out FREE RICE. While you play by answering quiz questions on a variety of subjects, every correct answer…
Why do homework?
The movie “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines” is about about a race from London to Paris in 1910. In the movie a German officer reads a book in order to learn how to fly. It doesn’t work too…
This day in history
November 18 1820 Captain Nathaniel Palmer discovered Antarctica. 1886 Chester A. Arthur, the 21st president of the United States (1881–1885), died in New York at 56. 1928 Mickey Mouse made his debut in Steamboat Willie.
Free and inexpensive books available for Kindle or other reading devices
I bet you thought the only way to save money on books for students was the library. While the library is a great place, there are other ways to also save money. Be sure to check out Pixel of Ink.…
Pinballs by Betsy Byars
I just finished a really great book for young people. The Pinballs by Betsy Byars is a book about 3 youngsters who have been brought together in a foster care situation. Each child has a very different personality and a…
Sharing a great website for readers of all ages
Check out the website called “I CAN READ” Yes, it is a commercial site, but they have so many great ideas. I can’t begin to say enough about this website. It is fun to read and has so many insights…
SAT vocabulary in a sports column???
A good new word is temerity. I was reading a sports writers description of the Sunday night football game and he used that word. It’s surely a good SAT word and to see it written in a news story made…
Cramer’s Rule
Cramer’s Rule is a method of solving systems of equations. There are many methods including substitution and elimination. Sometimes though the coefficients of the equation are ugly. (Ugly isn’t my terminology, it is one given to me by a student.)…
Reading is fun
Do you read? Do your children/students read? One of the obvious things in life is if you answered yes to the first one, the answer to the second one is almost a given. If you read, your children will grow…
Thoughts today…
I leave tutoring every day with so much energy. Sometimes, I have gripes to share with my husband, but most of the time I am just so thrilled to have seen some light-bulb moments in a student’s eye. To save…
Link
This year my favorite SAT prep book is the McGraw Hill SAT 2012 with CD ROM. It has great a vocabulary reference area that includes learning word roots, prefixes and suffixes. It has 10 total practice tests. Because it has 2 online tests it really is able to give a “score” for reference that is far better than just taking a test and using an answer key to figure out how you are really doing. It is not a very expensive book and it is worth its weight in gold. It is available at most book stores and also for delivery from many online resources.
Next SAT test date is 6 days away!
The next SAT date is just 6 days away on November 5, 2011. Check out the College Board site to get the latest information about test dates, including registration and late registration deadlines.
When should I start preparing for the SAT?
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard that question from students and parents alike. The truth is preparation started the day a child learns to speak. The SAT verbal section is broken down by vocabulary or sentence…