My sister’s kid is a genius. I watch him from a distance. I say “from a distance” because it seems he’s always sitting glued to the computer screen. However, I worry about all the time that he spends and if it is being channelled into something challenging.

This got me to thinking. Chances are, there are hundreds of kids in my nephew’s French Immersion school, also sitting at home with their eyes glued to monitors. Are they learning new and exciting things or are they instant messaging their friends?

I can see a solution. For the cost of perhaps 50 cents or a dollar per kid, all of the students in your child’s school (and in my nephew’s school) could be accessing online arcade games teaching English, French, Spanish, German and Italian. These games are terrific. They would be a valuable resource for the students of any school.

A subscription price of $399 per year allows all students and teachers of a school to have access, both at school and at home, for an entire year. Teachers even have access to an additional 3 sites with downloadable lessons and quizzes to use at school.

Linguascope is something that every school and PTA across the country should consider. After all, we aren’t just investing in what students are doing at school, but what they are doing at home too. Click here to learn more about Linguascope, try some sample pages, and subscribe online.

Sometimes, in the big rush of meeting deadlines, we forget that our most precious times are those spent with family. Last weekend was a time of anticipation and celebration because my son, Benjamin came to visit. He lives across the country and spends much of his time traveling to distant and exotic destinations. I don’t get to see him often but we did spend some time in one of the most exotic places in our community, the Butterfly Conservatory. Ben, who is a professional photographer, can take great photos even with my small camera. I’ve included a few here.

Click to enlarge images.

Speaking of the big rush to meet deadlines, we will be celebrating the launch of our “Singing Sight Words” series on October 15^th. This neat series is based on the famous list of ‘sight words’ compiled by Edward Dolch. This new program is a fun way to help all students, young and old, learn to read English. You can purchase “Singing Sight Words” in advance, at a very special discounted price.