This bundle of up to 5 software products offers 70 curriculum-based interactive lessons.  I wish I had this when I was growing up.  Just looking at the products offered got me excited about learning new stuff!  The great aspect of this offer is that it is not just for the summer time.  Once school starts you can use these products to reenforce what your student is learning in the classroom.

With the purchase of one of the following Academic Fitness products: Elementary School, Middle School, Math Bootcamp, SAT Preparation, or Grammar Improvement; you will receive a combination of some of the following products.

For just $29.99 your package may include:

Academic Fitness’s “Video Learning”: Bonus DVD video lessons that can be played in your DVD player and displayed on your TV. With these videos, you can even learn while sitting on the couch!
Encyclopedia Britannica’s “Children’s Learning Suite”: This software has it all!  Offered for grades 1-9, it includes more than 75,000 Encyclopedia Britannica articles, dictionary, thesaurus, world atlas, and much more.
Encyclopedia Britannica’s “Multimedia Edition” DVD: This is very similar to the Children’s Learning Suite except geared for an older learner.  This software includes more than 100,000 articles, interactive articles, homework tools and much more.
Merriam-Webster’s Visual Dictionary: This dictionary is geared for all ages and features more than 20,000 words with their definitions along with 6,00 full-color illustrations.  Unlike most dictionaries, this visual dictionary is organized by subject area and covers a variety of subject areas.
Merriam-Webster’s “Spanish-English Dictionary”: This dictionary offers more than 100,000 translations and more than 80,00 entry words and phrases.  With this software you can search for both English definitions of Spanish words and Spanish definitions of English words.

This is over $100 in value for just $29.99.  Act fast for this amazing offer ONLY at your local Sam’s Club!  Don’t let this great offer pass you by!

For more information as to what your package would include, click here

Innovative Knowledge has brought this concept into the 21st century.  The new Book Recorder tool allows parents to record their child’s favorite book or text book to make following along much easier for children.  This application is not only great for children learning to read but also children struggling with reading.  The Book Recorder uses a dual sensory technique combining audio with visual reinforcement which makes the application more effective than a simple audio book.  It allows children to read along in the book while they listen and follow along at their own pace.

One of the great features of the application is that children have the ability to adjust the playback speed faster or slower.  If they are just starting out, the child can have the playback set slower until they progress more with their reading.

I know that technology can sometimes be confusing but if I can operate this application anyone can!  Once the book title, chapter, and page number are all set up; all you have to do is hit record.  It’s that simple!  Children can then navigate through their bookshelf and pick the book they want to read. When they are finished they can close the application. Book Recorder will pick up right where their left off when they are ready!

This program allows parents to actively get involved in their child’s learning process.  For the struggling reader, a parent can record that weeks text book assignment into the Book Recorder and the student can follow along in their book while they hear the words.  If parents get involved in this way and read from their child’s text book, they will know exactly what their child is studying.  From there, both parent and child can actively engage in the material being learned.  This will also help parents ensure that their child is comprehending the material.

This great application will be available on both PC and Mac platforms as well as the iPad; which makes this a great mobile program that children can use anywhere.  To learn more about Book Recorder click here and keep an eye out for this great product coming out soon!

3, 2, 1, Record!

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PLANNING A STAYCATION THIS YEAR? LOOK IT UP NOW IN
MERRIAM-WEBSTER’S COLLEGIATE ® DICTIONARY, ELEVENTH EDITION

SPRINGFIELD, MA, July 2009—Hardworking word-lovers everywhere can now learn the meaning of the word staycation (“a vacation spent at home or nearby”) along with nearly 100 other new words and senses added to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. America’s best-selling dictionary offers its new 2009 entries in its updated print edition and online at Merriam-Webster.com.

“Our language evolves in many ways,” said John Morse, president and publisher of Merriam-Webster Inc. “As we’ve seen from our Open Dictionary feature on Merriam-Webster.com, people enjoy blending existing words, like combining ‘stay’ and ‘vacation’ to make staycation.  Staycation is a good example of a word meeting a need and establishing itself in the language very quickly.  Our earliest record of use is from 2005, but it seems to have exploded into popular use in 2007.”

“Another example of this kind of creative wordplay from this year’s list,” said Morse, “is frenemy: one who pretends to be a friend but is actually an enemy. But, in addition to these ‘portmanteau words,’ we have added new words from more predictable categories, like science, health, technology, and popular culture, which have also seen widespread use across a variety of publications.”

Many of the new words reflect the importance of the environment (carbon footprint, green- collar), government activities (earmark, waterboarding), health and medicine (cardioprotective, locavore, naproxen, neuroprotective), pop culture (docusoap, fan fiction, flash mob, reggaeton), and online activities (sock puppet, vlog, webisode).  Other words added include haram, memory foam, missalette, and zip line.

For a sample blend of the latest Collegiate Dictionary entries—and their definitions—please visit www.Merriam-Webster.com. For additional information on how words are selected for a Merriam-Webster dictionary, or to arrange an interview on this topic with Merriam-Webster’s Editor at Large Peter Sokolowski, please contact Arthur J. Bicknell, Senior Publicist, at the above address.

Merriam-Webster, Incorporated
Merriam-Webster Inc. acquired the rights to revise and publish Noah Webster’s dictionaries in 1843. Since then, Merriam-Webster has maintained an ongoing commitment to innovation, scholarship, and love of language. Today, the company continues as the leader in both print and electronic language reference publishing with reference products, learning tools, and word games. For more information about the company, visit www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Luckily, Academic Fitness is a great way for parents to be able to help their children and provide them with great quality educational software at a $39.99 price point. This means that the kids don’t have to miss out on opportunities to improve their achievement in school.

Academic Fitness addresses the key issues associated with scholastic struggle:

Reading. If your child is struggling with reading or reading comprehension, the software ensures success by reading aloud as well as having the text show up on the screen.   A graphic or video is also displayed for additional reinforcement.

Math. The software contains a very extensive math selection that teaches both simple and complex concepts effectively. Parents are then are able to work with their children to solidify understanding. Academic Fitness covers everything from basic addition and subtraction to Trigonometry.

Additionally, Academic Fitness covers all core curriculum including Science, History, Literature and Geography. Academic Fitness is a great learning tool geared to help students move past the road blocks that are getting in the way of their education and onto success.

It is important to remember that even though our software will be a great help alone, with parental involvement, the student has all the tools they will need to be academically fit!

This is what happens when you drop your iPhone on the floor wihhout a case!

I don’t recommend it to anyone!!  This devastating event occurred on Thursday and we are getting ready to go to the “National Charter School Show” in Washington DC this weekend. I needed to have my iPhone in order to demo our iPhone/iPod Touch software; the cracked screen of my iPhone would not have made for a good demo.

This morning I got up at 4:45am on a mission, and went down to the mall near my house, and I was number 1 in line to get the brand new iPhone 3Gs. It just so happened it was released today.

First in line for the iPhone 3Gs

There were two lines that were forming. One line if you pre-ordered your iPhone online and the second line for those who did not have a pre-order.  When they finally opened the door to the mall, there were two guys already in line, imagine that, they snuck in a locked entrance.   That was ok, since I was still number 3 in line it did not bother me much.   There were 5 of us in the “didn’t have a pre-order” line at 7:00am (when they opened the doors) and about 100+ people waiting in line for the pre-order phones.  I was in and out of the Apple Store in 15 minutes while those poor people that already purchased the phone had to wait for up to 2 hours to get theirs.   Apple did better on this release than when the iPhone 3G was released but obviously their system is still flawed!

When I got back to my office at 7:30 this morning, I opened the box, synced the phone and immediately started playing with it. The new  iPhone 3Gs is VERY fast. Our new App Store title, Academic Fitness Daily Trainer, is going to run very well on this new device.

Have you dropped or broken your iPhone? Did you pre-order one and have to wait in a longer line than those who didn’t? Did you luck out like me? Share your thoughts!

Apple today, released version 3.0 of their iPhone and iPod touch Operating System. This highly anticipated release includes many updates and upgrades that make these devices even better.

The new features include:

- Cut, Copy and Paste

- Landscape View for Mail, Notes and Messages

- Landscape Keyboard for Mail, Notes, and Messages

- Support for Multimedia Messages (MMS) which will be available to  ATT customers later this summer. The date is still TBD.

- Find My Phone feature which locates a missing or stolen iPhone. This feature is integrated in MobileMe.

- Remote Wipe is now an option in MobileMe to protect your data in case the phone winds up lost or stolen.

- Turn by Turn GPS-based directions

- A new Voice Memo app has been added

- Spotlight search for contacts, emails, and media content stored on the iPhone

What does this mean for education?

As we all have either seen or heard about, the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch are phenomenal devices to extend learning on-the-go. In this age of technology, we need to embrace and utilize the tools which make teaching engaging and effective. With the latest tools available to developers, applications that run on these devices do more and make more things possible than ever conceived before. Innovative Knowledge is hard at work developing and testing the next-generation of it’s mobile learning suite and should be on the App Store by the start of the new school year.

Academic Fitness Daily Trainer is an application, set to be released on the new iPhone/iPod Touch 3.0 platform, that will provide students with review questions that tests their knowledge and ensures they are ready for tests, quizzes, and overall school success. The material is presented in an interesting and engaging way and has pictures that accompany each question in order to assist students.

Here is a sneak peek of the application:

Mike Rothstein was doomed to use his hands, not his brain. This, the St. Louis Park native said, was the verdict of his high-school guidance counselor as he neared graduation in the early 1980s. Rothstein’s lifelong battle with dyslexia, a disorder that hampers reading and other commonplace skills, had left him lagging academically behind his peers. Still, he was convinced he was smart enough to make it in college. No, the counselor insisted. You’ll be a baker.
Rothstein, now 43, recalls blurting a few obscenities and stalking from the room, nearly convinced that staffer was correct but intent on trying to prove the person wrong. This set him on a path to eventually found Innovative Knowledge, an educational-software company that helps other kids attain their full school potential.

It was no easy journey. Unable to follow his friends to the University of Minnesota after high school, he settled for Normandale Community College but haunted the U’s Wilson Library in his spare time. It was there he met a nearly blind man listening to tapes – transcripts of his textbooks, as it turned out. Rothstein learned that the Library of Congress did transcription work for other blind people who requested it, so he said he was blind and got his audiobooks. (He still feels a bit guilty today about lying.)

Magically, he said, these recordings somehow helped him master printed text, too, and he finally became a reader. Rothstein was then accepted into the U’s General College, but found that taking class notes was a major challenge. Still, he was able to “keep adapting, keep finding new ways of breaking through to the next level.” He graduated with degrees in marketing and journalism and, not long afterward, embarked on his long career in software publishing. This culminated in 1999 with the founding of Silicon Valley-based Innovative Knowledge, which he says is now doing well.
Rothstein still faces doubters. Many don’t think educational software like his Innovative Knowledge titles can be a valuable complement to classroom lessons and after-school tutors. He argues his educational computer discs are different from “edutainment” platters, which he says are basically games with embedded lessons for kids. So, again, he finds himself on a stubborn mission to prove his skeptics wrong. Watch out, Rothstein says, he’s just getting going.

By: Julio Ojeda-Zapata
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Parents who see iPod fever as a pox may want to reconsider, says Mike Rothstein of education-software publisher Innovative Knowledge. His Silicon Valley firm has long provided hundreds of computer mini-courses for schoolkids. Now, the iPod is getting in on the fun. Almost anything found on computer DVDs, such as “Mastering Middle School” and “Mastering High School,” can now be moved to one of the Apple players for learning on the go, with only minor format changes for the tiny screen. It’s easy to pick and choose what gets onto the iPod. For example, we synced over “World Literature: Greek Mythology I” from the “Mastering Elementary School” disc. Individual lessons – including “King Midas.” “The Labors of Hercules” and “Jason and the Golden Fleece” – were then easily accessible via the iPod Notes menu, which is tucked within the Extras master menu.

Many lessons consist solely of audio, often with pleasingly mellifluous narrators, but video-based lessons also are available for those with newer video-compatible iPods. Innovative Knowledge offers nearly 500 individual lessons, which are divvied up in nearly 40 packages. But not all of these are iPod-compatible. “Preparing for Kindergarten” and “Mastering High School SAT Math” are iPod-less, for instance. About 15 packages do provide iPod compatibility, and new releases will all be iPod-ready. Material on Innovative Knowledge discs comes from several textbook publishers, the Meriam-Webster reference-book firm, teachers hired by Innovative Knowledge and the Weekly Reader, a famed series of classroom magazines and education supplements on all subjects under the sun.

As a result, content on the disks tends to be more reliable than what kids would dredge up via Google, and its age-appropriate and kid-safe, Rothstein says. It’s not intended to supplant classroom instruction, Rothstein adds, but it’s a potential cash saver for parents who might drop thousands on supplementary tutors or learning centers. “While those are great and definitely beneficial, parents shouldn’t overlook this software,” her says. “They’ll have a great tool right at their workstation.”

Math

U.S. History

Science

English/Literature