You don’t need an expensive tutor or a five-year plan in order to improve your vocabulary. All you need is the determination to learn just one word a day.

One word a day doesn’t sound like much, does it? If you’re wondering how this works, read on!

Read

Today more than ever, your access to quality online content is super easy, super instant. You can read on your tablet or your smartphone on the way to work, you can read a print book in the park, and you can read at home while taking a bath or listen to an audio book while you’re cooking.

In other words, there are no excuses here when it comes to finding the time to read. So grab a book (or download one, whichever is your thing) and delve right into a story.

Even if you read just a few pages, you will probably stumble upon a new word or phrase. Look it up and try to use it that day or the next day. This way you will be able to recall and use your new vocabulary again when the circumstances call for it.

Dictionaries are your new best friend

I’m not talking about the bulky dictionaries that seem to weigh as much as a car. I’m talking about an app you can download on your smartphone or tablet so that you have an offline dictionary at your disposal at any given time.

Whether at school, college, or work, the world’s knowledge will be literally at your fingertips. When you come across a word you don’t know, tap the app, learn what the word means and how to use it, and go back to your life. It doesn’t get easier than this!

Subscribe to a word a day service

To help you stick to your a word a day pledge, do the most sensible thing possible: subscribe to a service that provides exactly that. Most online dictionaries offer this feature, usually in the form of a daily email. Here are a few you should give a try:

Dictionary.com: Word of The Day

Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Word of The Day

WordSmith.Org: Word A Day

Don’t wait any longer. Start improving your vocabulary today!

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Learning vocabulary is tricky. Teaching vocabulary is also tricky; it’s an open-ended process that’s often laden with setbacks. You try new practices only to realize they perplex your kids rather than support them in learning new vocabulary faster.

New technologies can be the answer, but sometimes they seem a tad intimidating at first. They often appear too complex to set up, much less use. Busy parents don’t need a program that requires you to learn to program software before you even start the first vocabulary lesson.

eReflect’s professional software design team perfectly understands the concerns that homeschooling parents are faced with, and have developed a user-friendly, fun program for learning new vocabulary at home: Ultimate Vocabulary™ EDU.

The program is unique in its curriculum-compatible approach to vocabulary building. What this means for you is that no matter in which English-speaking country you and your family live, the software can be tailored to that region’s curriculum so that you can rest assure your children are learning what they’re supposed to. This is particularly useful for homeschooling parents who need to comply with specific state or school district requirements.

Cloud Based

The EDU release of Ultimate Vocabulary™ is on the cloud. This means that:

– Access is available anywhere, anytime. Going for a 4-day trip to another state? No worries. You can access your accounts from any internet-enabled device and practice vocabulary while on the go! It offers you the ease and simplicity of instant access and instant syncing across devices for smooth, uninterrupted practice day in and day out.

– No installation is required, and you don’t need to download the software on your computers and laptops. It’s all accessible via the cloud.

– Upgrades are handled automatically by the eReflect support team, directly on the cloud, ensuring seamless and uninterrupted practice for you and your children.

A 142,647 word database

Enough said. This is a dictionary-sized database. You can offer your children the opportunity to expand their vocabulary to a greater extent than ever before. This essential skill with words will help them become:

– Better communicators, both writing and speaking

– Knowledgeable, reliable individuals who inspire confidence and respect

– Ahead of the curve when taking high-stakes exams like the SAT and the GRE

– Creative and original thinkers able to express themselves with clarity and precision

What’s equally important for many homeschooling parents with younger children is the fact that vocabulary building with Ultimate Vocabulary™ EDU is fun. The activities, lessons, and games are all designed by language experts so that they optimize the learning experience and ensure the user is engaged, motivated and focused throughout.

Social Media Integration

Ultimate Vocabulary™ EDU is integrated with Facebook. This is an easy way for your children to share their success with friends and family on the popular social network.

After successfully completing any practice session, the user is prompted to share this success on Facebook. By doing so, your kids will feel the satisfaction of having their hard work acknowledged by others, something that motivates them to try even harder so that they can again share their success on the social network.

Recognition of hard work is a fundamental aspect of success, and the work of vocabulary building is no different. So why not offer children the pleasure of sharing their success with their peers?

Fun Learning

Hundreds of lessons, addictive vocabulary games – both new and classic ones – all offer your children a wide spectrum of learning options.

Learning is comprehensive with this cutting-edge software, but best of all, it’s fun. What’s noteworthy about Ultimate Vocabulary™ EDU is how much work has been put into developing a learning environment that’s easy to use and at the same time appealing to users of all ages. Children and adults alike will be eager to try out the various games and activities because everything about the software is so efficiently designed and put together.

Science-driven Learning

But it’s not just fun. The program’s approach to vocabulary building is informed by years of research. Using the latest insights from scientific studies, Ultimate Vocabulary™ EDU promotes learning through an approach known as “depth of processing.” In other words, the user is immersed in a wealth of information for any given word to ensure they master it completely, not superficially. From definitions to real-life usage examples, etymology to spelling, the user masters one word after the other in the most comprehensive manner possible.

Personalization

Ultimate Vocabulary™ EDU offers a winning combination of science-driven learning and lesson customization. Not two children are the same, so why should their practice sessions be?

Each student can tailor their learning according to their goals, capacity, and needs. If something is too challenging, it can be overwhelming for a student – on the other hand, something that’s too easy can make them feel bored and uninspired to practice further. eReflect strikes a balance by offering practice personalization.

Ease of Use

eReflect has taken ease of use a step further. The user can navigate the software’s environment confidently as soon as they first log in.. Everything is intuitively designed and placed to ensure that the user is confident and comfortable with the interface.

Progress Tracking and Reporting

Ultimate Vocabulary™ EDU comes with powerful reporting. You and your child will be able to review their personal progress and analyze their strengths and possible weaknesses through easy-to-understand chart data.

Your child’s progress is tracked automatically by the system, every time they practice. You’ll get powerful insights to help you make data-driven decisions as to how to optimize their vocabulary building even further.

eReflect just gets it.

Don’t make homeschooling any harder than it already is – not when there are solutions you can use to make learning a million times more fun and efficient.

Some words create warm and fuzzy feelings when we hear them: lullaby, chocolate, firelight. Other words send shivers down our spine: alligator, zombie, thunderstorm. But what is it about words that makes us have these unconscious reactions? Part of it is experience – anyone who has been startled by a snake will automatically think of that moment the next time they hear the word, and a cold winter snuggled under a warm blanket brings back memories whenever you read the word “comforter.”

Researchers recently found a possible link that explains trypophobia, or “fear of holes.” In a study done by Geoff Cole at the Centre for Brain Sciences at the University of Essex in England, images of things like a blue-ringed octopus or a lotus seed pod can set off fear reactions in people, and that this emotion may be connected to the fact that many poisonous plants and venomous animals have rings or other brightly-patterned coloring that would have warned off our earliest ancestors. In the depths of our brains, we still connect those patterns with danger, even when we’re looking at something as harmless as a piece of Emmentaler cheese.

Sometimes the same word can be used to mean something that’s both good and bad. For example, if you’re pervicacious, it means that you’re very stubborn. On the other hand, if you look at the word’s etymology, you’ll see that it comes from the Latin root vincere, which is the same root that gives us the words victorious and invincible. Being stubborn for the right reason can lead to good things. Hold firm to your resolution to improve your vocabulary, and you’ll come out a winner in the end.

Nourish your vocabulary and you won’t have the conversational equivalent of a nutrient deficiency. People and animals who practice geophagia (literally “dirt-eating”) generally do so because there’s something missing in their diets. Minerals like calcium or iron, and substances like salt, are found in soil, mud, and cliff faces where elephants, parrots, and even butterflies will eat and lick the ground to get the supplements not found in the plants and fruits they eat. If you make sure to get your daily dose of words, you’ll have a healthy vocabulary, and will be hungry for more good words.

Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it.
– George Santayana (1863-1952)

If you want to be someone that other people look up to, and go to for advice, then you need to words to express the knowledge that you have to share. A good vocabulary is essential, because with a wealth of words to draw on you’ll always have the right ones for any situation. Being able to come up with the perfect phrase at just the right moment is a hallmark of both education and erudition. Many well-known writers and philosophers were praised for their skill with words, and their aphorisms are remembered and shared today.

An aphorism is a wise saying. Technically, only the original speaker of that saying or phrase has uttered an aphorism; once the saying is repeated over and over, it is more commonly referred to as a maxim, although the two terms are now fairly interchangeable.

If you desire many things, many things will seem but a few.
– Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

The word aphorism was first used in the 16th century in English, and has its roots in the Greek word horizein, meaning “to limit” or “to set a boundary.” Essentially, an aphorism is a phrase that contains a complete thought, set apart from other phrases because of its originality. If you want to set yourself apart from the rest of the crowd, you’ll need to develop your vocabulary so that you can share your original thoughts. As Benjamin Franklin pointed out, the more words you learn, the more you’ll want to learn, and there are enough words in the English language to keep you learning for years to come.

Vita brevis, ars longa, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, iudicium difficile.
(Life is short, and art long, opportunity fleeting, experience perilous, and decision difficult.
– Hippokrates of Kos (460-370 BCE)

If you did a survey of people’s New Year’s resolutions, you’d probably find one item on almost all of those lists: losing weight. Maybe it’s the thought of a new year and new beginnings, or the realization that the holiday season and all its feasting has left a rather substantial impact on the waistline, but excess poundage is definitely something people want to get rid of at the end of the year. Other people look at the new year as an opportunity to get rid of old habits, or to clean out their closets and get rid of old clothes. In any case, it’s a good time to make a new beginning and think of the extraneous things you could leave behind that will let you make room for something new and better.

The meaning of the word extraneous is fairly easy to figure out when you look at the first half of the word. When you think of the word “extra” you might have a good feeling, like the one you get when the person making your peppermint mocha adds a bit more sweet whipped cream than usual, with a smile and a wink. On the other hand, you might be thinking of having too much, being burdened, carrying around a heavy load that you’d like to get rid of. A lot of websites and books and even television shows are based on the concept of “getting rid of clutter” to make life easier and simpler, and that’s definitely included in the meaning of the word.

Synonyms for “extraneous” include irrelevant, nonessential, superfluous, and redundant. In conversations and writing, you can practice being concise and using only the words you need to communicate your thoughts. When you’re communicating in a clear and precise fashion, you’ll find that it’s easier to connect to other people and impress them with your ideas. Getting into shape is always a good goal, and if you find that your pantry is full of nonessential snack foods or baking mixes, you could donate them to a local food drive. Instead of continuing to accumulate a clutter of toys in a child’s playroom, go through them and donate ones they’ve outgrown as well, to local churches or community centers.

But don’t throw out the words you’ve been adding to your vocabulary! Unlike packaged cake mixes and plastic toys, vocabulary words take up no room at all in your brain – there’s always room for one more. Make your resolution this year to fatten up your vocabulary, and start 2014 with new words and a new perspective on language.

For many people around the world, it’s a time to give and receive gifts. The spirit of sharing is something that brings families and friends together, but you can also give yourself a gift to enrich your own life. Investing in your education, subscribing to a professional journal to help you advance your career, signing up for that yoga class you’ve been thinking about, or just taking a day off of work are all things you can do for yourself. When it comes to your own health and well-being, it’s no time to be ungenerous.

Today’s word is one that you’ve probably heard applied to Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge, the tight-fisted and selfish miser who learns to give. Parsimonious didn’t always have a negative meaning, though. While today it means “unwilling to spend money, miserly, stingy” the word originally referred to simply being thrifty and saving money. Holiday gift-giving, whether to yourself or others, doesn’t mean that you have to spend all of the money in your bank account, of course. Sometimes the smallest things are the ones that are most appreciated. Here are some examples of ways to share the wealth that won’t make you feel like a spendthrift*:

Read bedtime stories to your children, or volunteer at a local community kid’s center to help struggling readers. Literacy is key to helping children succeed in school and beyond, and they’ll be grateful that you’ve helped them discover the world of books.

Don’t forget that books make great gifts too! If you can’t think of a good book for kids your local library will have recommendations. Adults may appreciate a gift certificate to a bookstore instead so that they can pick out their own favorites.

Make time for yourself and you’ll have more time and energy to share with others. Studies have shown that even a brief nap or 15 minutes of meditation during the day will boost your mental state, and that’s something that helps make every holiday a happy one!

* spendthrift: someone who spends money recklessly, a profligate

Are you a leptosome or an acersecomic? Are you frequently montivagant or ostentiferous? We certainly hope that you haven’t been a participant in a biblioclasm, because there were probably many useful images in those texts that you could have used for your vocabulary study. The five words we’ve highlighted here have marvelous images associated with them, which you can view as illustrations done by The Project Twins as part of their A-Z of Unusual Words series. While you might not find many opportunities to use words like these in daily conversations, we’re sure that the unforgettable illustrations will help you remember the words for a long time.

Visual learning is an important aspect of many areas of study, and vocabulary building is no exception. When you add an image to a word, you’re stimulating other parts of the brain to work together and linking the speech and vision centers. When more connections are made, that reinforces the memory centers and also makes learning easier and faster. As you learn each new word, find an image that represents that word and look at it while you’re repeating the word out loud to yourself. Saying the word out loud prompts even more mental activity, and helps you learn and remember the right pronunciation, too. You might even want to draw the image yourself, which will involve the motor functions of your brain, creating even more links and connections.

Links and connections are a good way to learn about a word, and it’s helpful to write down a new word and then surround it with all of the other words related to it. This will help you understand the meaning of the word, and how it can be used. Creating a word map will teach you new words as well, and when you use these connections to create groups of words, you’ll find they’re easier to remember together than separately.

Using flash cards is a good way to bring the visual element of word study into your routine. The Ultimate Vocabulary program has a function that lets you create and print your own flash cards, but you can also purchase pre-printed ones (useful if you’re studying for a specific test like the SAT) or buy a box of index cards and make your own. Don’t forget to add images to the cards to reinforce your learning. Once you have a set of cards, you can even use them to lay out a word map, grouping related words together.

What’s your favorite visual trick for learning unusual words?

Most public school teachers arrive at their job knowing that they’ve got a preselected list of lessons and books to work with, and a district-developed set of tests and curricula that they will be using throughout the year to teach their students. When you’re a homeschooling parent, it’s often a little harder to find the right tools to teach your children. That’s why websites like Cristina Grau’s AHomeschoolMom.com are so useful for first-time and long-time homeschoolers – she’s living the process and has valuable tips to share with other parents.

UV: It seems like with four children to homeschool, you’ve got more than enough to keep you busy, and yet you decided to set up this website a few years ago. How do you find time to do everything?

CG: Before taking on anything new, I think a great deal of prayer is necessary. I want to make sure that any new adventure I wish to embark on is not of my own doing, but that my family is behind my endeavors and God is a part of the plan. Once those requirements are in the clear, the next is to organize my time. Blogging is last on my list of priorities, honestly. My family, our homeschooling, and other ministries come first. So, if I plan to add blogging to my list of activities, I need to schedule time into my routine. This is simply done by figuring how much time it takes to handle our learning, then by adding in our chore time, and finding what remaining time is left between the end of lessons and dinner time. I generally schedule a post for the following day so as to remove any stress of having to rush to a computer and get today’s post up and running for people to see. I will often post for several days as well; this helps me manage those extra busy days when blogging would otherwise be impossible. If I had to boil it down to one simple formula, I would have to say a lot of organization and planning ahead.

UV: One section of the website is devoted to books and resources, and we’re grateful that you’ve added our Ultimate Typing software to your list! How do you decide which books and resources to feature in this category?

CG: Any items on the HM Bookshelf are tried and true. If we don’t use them on a regular basis or if they didn’t meet our needs, I do not feel comfortable sharing with other families. I want to pass on information which is reliable and honest. If they worked for us, they just might work for you.

UV: In a post you wrote back in February, you mentioned that you encourage your children to look up words and look for ways to use them in conversation. What other ways can parents help their children improve vocabulary skills?

CG: There are various ways by which we can help our children increase their vocabulary. Reading is the easiest and most beneficial way to make this happen. Don’t be afraid to get outside the picture book section of your library and start adding more challenging reads. While they might struggle at first, they will catch on quickly and be proud of their accomplishments. Besides reading, there are lovely games like Boggle, Scrabble, and more which can increase their vocabulary. Play along with your children and purposefully use words which they are unfamiliar with. This will, hopefully, prompt questions about your words and encourage their use in the future. Balderdash is another exciting way to increase vocabulary. Grab your handy dictionary, pick a word, and let your children help you decide what the “real” meaning of the word is. Through creativity, learning vocabulary will not only be a breeze, but loads of fun!

UV: The “Homeschooling 101″ series is a great introduction for people who are new to the process and need an overview of what they can expect over the next ten to twelve years. What advice do you have for people who have been homeschooling for several years already, and might be losing some of their early energy and enthusiasm for the task?

CG: I think all of us have moments of “burn out”. I think the key is in remembering these are moments. Being tired today, does not mean we need to give up entirely; it means we need a moment to breathe. The best advice I could give is to take those moments! We are not living on someone else’s schedule or routine, we are not machines which need to function at a certain capacity. If you need a break, take one. I have read that some homeschool nine weeks on, one week off; this seems to alleviate stress and keeps everyone focused on the coming break. Others simply take a day off whenever they find it necessary; there is more than enough time in the year to finish learning, one day off won’t hurt. Find a routine that works for you and implement it.

If you are finding the work itself is becoming bothersome, switch things up! Do not become a slave to curriculum. Books are there to work for you, not to be filled by unwilling slaves. Pick a different method or resource to learn by; try something completely different from your normal routine. Change things up! Sometimes we just need to step outside the box and learn by new means in order to reinvigorate our love of learning and keep the flame alive.

UV: You talk about co-op sessions with other homeschooling parents, where several families get together for classes and activities. What are the advantages of working in larger groups like this, rather than always staying at home with your own children and your own specific course of study?

CG: I love being at home with my kids. I get to work out my own routine, take breaks when I wish, and spend one-on-one time with my kiddos. Every once in a while though, we feel the need to step outside our walls and see what the outside world has to offer. Being a part of a larger homeschooling community allows us the security of meeting with like minded people who will encourage our love of learning, come alongside our goals, and infuse us with new ideas. Co-op, and other such venues, allow our children exposure to areas of learning I might not have considered; broadening our scope and planting seeds of thought for future areas of study. Our children are able to socialize with people of all different ages, not just their own, helping them become well-rounded individuals. Parents are able to use this time to observe their children’s interests, their ability to work with others, their character, and share ideas regarding issues which might be of concern or value. No matter how it is accomplished, either through a formal registry or just visiting with friends, being a part of a larger community has something to offer everyone. If nothing else, we need no longer feel alone.

Cross-posted at the Ultimate Typing blog.

If you think about the teachers who have inspired you in the past, you’ll soon realize that they had at least one thing in common: a love of teaching. People who bring enthusiasm and energy to the job of education will communicate that positive energy to their students, and foster a love of learning. But even the most inspired teachers need some help and reinforcement sometimes, especially with today’s overcrowded classrooms and “teach the test” curricula. At www.DailyTeachingTools.com, educator Chad Manis creates and collects the resources that busy teachers need.

UV: One of the sections of your website is about motivating students, helping them to get focused and work together for both individual and class goals. With all the pressure and time constraints they face, what are some ways that teachers can stay motivated themselves?

CM: I don’t think any educator anywhere would disagree that kids work best when they are properly motivated. And yes, Daily Teaching Tools has an entire section devoted to exactly that. My thinking is so geared to driving student achievement that I’m having to force myself to focus on your question–how do teachers stay motivated themselves?

If we don’t do it, no one else will. We teachers didn’t pick the wrong profession; everyone else just chose the wrong heroes.

UV: Reading and writing are essential skills that underlie nearly all other aspects of study and learning, and your website devotes a lot of sections to resources that teachers can use in this area. We especially like the one on “context clues” where you provide lessons on learning to figure out a word’s meaning from the sentence and paragraph it’s used in. Do you recommend that teachers and students also spend time on vocabulary development?

CM: The short answer is, unquestionably.

However, students must know that life has surprises in store for them. They will find, as we teachers have found, that most new endeavors involve unfamiliar vocabulary. I guess what I’m trying to say is simply this. Life is a process of learning. When we stop learning, we are merely passing time. And time is something that none of us can afford to waste.

UV: One of the best ways to learn more vocabulary is to read more books, and helping kids get a love of reading is one of the best things a teacher can do. You’ve got links to good reading recommendations, but are there also ways that teachers can use classroom time to promote reading skills?

CM: I constantly use a significant portion of classroom time to promote reading. But, like anything else, when it comes to justifying the purpose of an initiative and how it impacts the lives of students, I try to demonstrate why reading is so important and how pervasive it is in our lives. I have found one particular activity, discussed in detail on the motivation page of Daily Teaching Tools, to be effective in doing just that.

Kids pick up on that, believe me. If you love reading, they’ll be more inclined to follow your lead. There’s much more I could say regarding this topic, and I cordially invite your readers to come by the site for exploration.

UV: More and more students are using computers to write their essays and papers, and less and less time is spent on developing good handwriting. What’s your opinion on typing vs. longhand skills?

CM: When I was a freshman in high school, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I took a one semester class for beginning typists. We used standard, upright, nonelectric, Remington typewriters with blank keys and long, one-armed, carriage returns.

No. Longhand cursive writing skills belong to another age altogether. I’m not celebrating its demise; I’m simply suggesting that we get over it and move on to something that is more worthy of our attention and focus—reading leaps to mind.

UV: You mention that you’re hoping to get back into active teaching to continue to share your love of learning with more students. Will you still continue to expand and update the website even after you return to the classroom?

CM: In all truthfulness, as corny as it might sound, I dearly love teaching. I miss making crucial connections with kids, touching their lives, and being a part of what they are to become. For those reasons and more, I am actively pursuing ways to get back into teaching—not on a full time basis, however. I’ve spent 33 years in the classroom, and as they say, been there, done that.

Best wishes always to you and your kids.

It’s time to go out into the fields and gather in all of the new words that have been added to the English language recently – or at least a few of them. There are so many words that get created, and so many others that change in meaning, that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. However, the editors at the Oxford English Dictionary are up to the challenge, continuing a century-long tradition of keeping one main resource and reference for English vocabulary words. In the September update, they added new meanings for words like fudge and barnstorm, along with a list of dozens of words that have come into being to communicate terms and concepts that describe ways of working, of living, of speaking, and of viewing the world around us. Here are few of the words that were incorporated into the OED in September:

aquafarm / aquafarming noun / verb
With the increasing need to find ways to feed people around the world, how to get a harvest from the world’s oceans is a topic of conversation in local communities and global government organizations. Aquafarming may be the answer in some places. Also called aquaculture, this can mean several things, including (1) the practice of raising fish or mollusks in cages in the ocean; (2) using ponds or other enclosed areas to raise fish; or (3) combining traditional agriculture with fish farming, such as systems that take the waste from the fish and use it to fertilize crops, which in turn are used to feed the fish. Various forms of aquafarming have been providing food for people since at least 2500 BCE.

buzzworthy adjective
Any time something new is discovered – or something old is rediscovered – it creates “buzz.” The level of buzz is even higher these days due to Twitter, YouTube, and other social media, and anything that deserves its level of exposure and comment is described as buzzworthy.

fleishig adjective
A word based on the traditional Jewish food restrictions concerning meat and dairy, this Yiddish word has now been added to the dictionary (with its alternate spelling of fleischig) and the meaning of “containing meat.” The word milshig (milschig) was also added, with the meaning “containing dairy.” Both words are commonly used to describe what foods are and are not kosher.

ohmigosh interjection
We’ve talked about text speak before, and how abbreviations and acronyms are becoming standard English. You’ve probably seen (and used) OMG in your online conversations, but probably haven’t used it when you’re talking face to face with someone. This new word isn’t really new; the spelling omigosh is also fairly current, and both are a condensed form of the phrase “oh, my gosh!” that we’re sure you’ve said at some point!