Know How You Learn

Recently, my son and I were meeting about our novel. Joshua started to describe the changes he thought we should make to a particular scene and told me I could just jot down whatever I thought I needed to. I told him to hold on for a minute while I got a blank sheet of paper, then I promptly did the following:

1. Numbered each note as he spoke
2. Put sub notes under the note with the character's initial and the motivational changes that Joshua thought we needed (M: Needs to begin this scene....)
3. Drew arrows to and from things as he spoke

Then when I was ready to rewrite that scene, guess what I did? I typed those notes all up--complete with the numbering and sub-numbering, etc.

Why am I telling you this? If you are a student, pay close attention to HOW you learn. I could not have written from paragraph notes. I could not have written with a word or two for each point. I could not have written from my handwritten notes--I needed to type it up in order to further understand it.

Whatever you do as a student to learn tells you a lot about how you learn! Utilize this information for test preparation, writing projects, and more. And like I always tell my students: "You know more than you realize you know!"

day 10: free kaplan download

Tomorrow we will continue with tips for unlocking words with prefixes and suffixes, as well as a mini lesson on root words. However, the following note came through one of my message boards, and since it is time-sensitive, I wanted to pass it on to you right away. (I do not have an i-pod, etc. to download, so if it doesn’t work, please let me know!)

Kaplan is one of the companies that produces many of the SAT/ACT study guides, among many others. (My daughter is studying for the master's entrance right now, and Kaplan publishes the GRE study books for that too.) Even if you do not think you will use it right away, most of the SAT/ACT type books are applicable for a couple of years, at least.

MESSAGE:

Barnes and Noble is offering over 130 ebooks published by Kaplan for free

download until January 17. Once you download the books, they are yours

forever, but you must download before Jan 17 to get them for free.

These include many AP class study guides as well as SAT, ASVAB (military

entrance), including graduate programs and etc.

You do need to create an account at www.barnesandnoble.com (free), then

search for Kaplan, in nook books (ebooks) and select the download now button

for the books you are interested in.

day 4: homophones—homo means same; phone means hear

We tell our students all the time that you know more than you think you know! And that if you take what you already know and apply it to what you do not know, you will soon know even more!

Take the word homophone, for instance.

Homo—means same

Phone—means hear

Thus, homophones sound the same what you hear them. Homophones are words like their, they’re, and there and to, too, and two—words that sound the same when they are spoken but only look different when written.

We will do a lot of “word dissecting” on LL 365! That is something we begin teaching early in our curricula as it can unlock the meanings of so many words—and helps everybody learn to take what they already know and add it to what they are trying to learn.

day 2: two thousand eleven!

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity, and its first chapter is New Year's Day."  Edit Lovejoy Pierce

The first month of LL 365 will be focusing on words! Then we will move to phrases, clauses, sentences, punctuation, and much more!

And the first word we will look at it is the year! Yep, 2011 seems like a simple word. How can you mess that up?

Well, a lot of people do--by saying two thousand AND eleven!

Technically, the word AND in a number is only used when reading numbers aloud (or writing them out in words) to denote a decimal point.

Thus, these are correct:

1. Four dollars AND ten cents ($4.10--the and goes where the decimal point does)

2. Fifteen hundred dollars and forty-five cents ($1500.49--the and goes where the decimal point does)


But these are incorrect:

1. Three hundred and five dollars--no and is needed since it does not show a decimal point

2. Two thousand eleven!

So...only use and when you move from dollars to change or from whole numbers to decimal numbers when writing numbers in words or speaking them!

Happy two thousand eleven!

day 1: welcome to language lady 3*6*5

Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Welcome to Language Lady 3*6*5! If you are a student, parent, teacher, professional, better-yourself-type-of-person, or college kid, LL 365 is for you!



                                    What can you expect from LL 365?

~Daily tips in your inbox or FB feed in the areas of grammar, spelling, usage, writing, and speaking

~Sticky Tricks to Help It Stick: Fast tricks and mnemonics to help you learn the concept of the day better

~Detailed label categories so that if you want to go back and look up a tip later, all tips are easy to find (i.e. spelling rule, homophones, research, etc.)

~Pop quizzes to let you apply what you have learned!

~Posts written to you as a learner that you may use to teach others or learn for yourself

~Homework Help one week each month (last week of the month) with more detailed lessons for those wanting even more help--and for parents to help their kids learn their language arts lessons even better


Language Lady 3*6*5 will have something for everybody, so check in often! Invite your friends to join the fun! And become more articulate in speech, more sure in usage, and more savvy in writing in the coming year--one little tip at a time!


Sincerely,
Donna Reish
aka Language Lady

author of Character Quality Language Arts, Wisdom Booklet Language Arts, Meaningful Composition, Ready to Give an Answer, Write On! Quick Kit, The Well-Trained Heart, and Character Training From the Heart (seminar and audio)

visit our parenting blog at http://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/

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visit our homeschooling website http://www.tfths.com/

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