Break Time or Learning Time?

Fun Holiday Family Activities for Kids

Is it best to let my children take the whole holiday season off from learning? Bonnie Terry, America’s Leading Learning Specialist is on FOX Morning News sharing her insights and activities with you.

There is a simple answer to that no, but what you can do are some fun activities that will create family memories as well as build skills: memory skills, factual knowledge skills, and ultimately improve reading comprehension skills when your children go back to school.

The longer you let your children take a break from learning skills the longer it will take them to get back into the ‘groove’ of learning. I think you know exactly what I mean by taking awhile to get back in the groove – we’ve all been there before. It is always difficult to get back in the swing of things after a holiday break. So, I suggest doing at least 3 family activities that will promote fun family time as well as learning. And you know as well as I do that holiday time is the perfect time for family activities. Your children are primed for that extra family time and they know it is only a few weeks and they will be back at school. It’s different than looking at several months off during the summer.

Fun Holiday Family Activities for Kids

Watch the interview on FOX Morning News where Leading Learning Specialist Bonnie Terry shares both indoor and outdoor family activities for kids that your family will enjoy.

Family Activity Book…

I recall so many wonderful activities my family did when I was growing up: ice skating, seeing the Christmas lights, visits to my grandparents or Aunt and Uncle’s house, trips to the Art Institute or the Field Museum in Chicago, and of course baking those delicious spritz cookies! My children recall many of our family holiday activities in the Sacramento area. We did go ice skating in downtown Sacramento- they set up an ice rink downtown. We also went to the Crocker Art Gallery and the Railroad Museum; we made lots of Christmas crafts and collages, and of course we baked and decorated those same spritz cookies my mom had taught us to bake. I can even smell them now. So, my Christmas gift to you is the BT Family Activity Book where there are over 80 fun family activities in 7 different categories.

1. Weekly Trips
2. Nature Activities
3. Outdoor Activities
4. Do at Home Activities
5. Recommended Games
6. Recommended Books According to Grade Level
7. Award Winning Books

You can download it here: BT Family Activity Book

The Ultimate Must  Do to Make Your Holiday Family Activities Count

And, remember to take that last step with your holiday family activities: create a family scrapbook or collage that covers the activities you did. That is where the true learning of the activities takes place. The scrapbook or collage can be kept from year to year and even added to over the years. When you go back and review those places you went to or activities you did, the memory system is enhanced which improves learning skills. Family activities are a great way to build learning skills.

Back to School Tips with


Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Bonnie Terry, America’s Leading Learning Specialist, shares some of her favorite back to school tips on FOX News Morning Show.

Watch here for 3 of Bonnie Terry’s Back to School Tips:

1. Backpack Organization
2. Time Management
3. Secret Tools to Help with Homework: the dreaded word problems and writing assignments

(More tips under the video!)

Don’t forget to sign up for additional step-by-step homework tips to your right.

Back to School Tip 1:

The school year is about to start or has just started. Be sure to let your child know how excited you are about their new school year and that you know they will have a good experience with their new teacher. You may want to meet their new teacher either a few days before school starts or during the second week of school – just to introduce yourself. That effort will let the teacher know that you are an interested committed parent.

Back to School Tip 2:

If last year was a difficult year, your child had a hard time, let them know that you remember how rough it was, but that this is a new year and you want to help them to have a really great experience this year. Ask your child for their suggestions for what they think you might do to help them have a great year.

Back to School Tip 3:

Look at the newspaper ads together, plan what kinds of supplies they may need this year. Take a trip together to get school supplies – notebooks, book covers, pens, pencils, backpack, assignment book, etc. Think ahead of time about the different subjects your child has so you get different colored notebooks, book covers, and folders – one color per subject so that all of their math books & folders are one color, English books another etc. This will help your child keep track of their work and make finding the correct folder easier.

Back to School Tip 4:

Help your child organize their backpack by using color-coded folders and book covers – and you may want to check it the first few weeks to help them keep it organized.

Back to School Tip 5:

Help your child organize their study or homework area so they have the supplies they need in one place. Keep a container filled with the supplies they need. You also want an area that is free of clutter and distractions for them to work in. It can be a desk in their room, in the family room, or even at the kitchen table. You may also want to help them organize their desk (after school) if they have trouble with it on their own.


Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills includes planning calendars and school supply lists for different grade levels. The Writer’s Easy Reference Guide is the ultimate cheat sheet for any writing assignment and the BT Easy Math Guide is the ultimate cheat sheet for any math assignment whether it’s addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, word problems, fractions, decimals, or percents.
My last back to school tip is to remember to enjoy learning, learning should be engaging, interesting, and a bit challenging. For more homework tips, don’t forget to sign up for our 10 free homework tips at the top on the right (above my photo) and start your back to school time with a bang.

Help Your Kids Improve Reading Skills

As a parent you do have the power and ability to help your kids improve their reading skills. There are 4 easy to implement activities that each take just a few minutes a day to improve reading.

1. Improve reading fluency in 5 minutes a day
2. Improve spelling and learn the 8 ways we put letters together to make words
3. Improve reading comprehension by playing a reading comprehension game
4. Improve writing skills using specially designed graphic organizers

Today I’m going to talk about the first activity you can implement in just minutes a day.

Improve Reading Skills: Reading Fluency Training

Reading fluency training is one of the easiest activities for parents to do with their kids to improve reading skills, and it only takes 5 minutes a few times a week to make a dramatic difference. Reading fluency training works to improve reading skills whether you have LD, dyslexia, are falling through the cracks, or are even gifted.

You may not realize how important reading fluency and accuracy is, so here is an example on how it impacts your reading or your child’s reading.

For example, you are reading a passage and read Susan can go to the store. You finish reading the selection and go to the questions and there is a question that asks, Why couldn’t Susan go to the store? You think to yourself – What…I read Susan can go to the store. This question doesn’t make any sense to me. BUT, what the sentence actually said was…Susan can’t go to the store. Your eyes skipped the apostrophe t…The whole meaning was lost.

That is one of the things that the Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills reading fluency training program corrects. With improved reading fluency, you don’t skip or omit words or parts of words. You don’t miss out on important pieces that are critical to reading comprehension. That is why it is important to have accurate reading for reading comprehension.

Parents want to help their kids improve their skills. That is a given as far as I’m concerned. All parents want the best for their children and when learning reading, writing, or spelling is hard they often don’t know where to turn. Parents often spend a small fortune seeking the help they need for their child.  I know what it is like, being a parent as well as a teacher.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve purchased materials that haven’t worked. That is what I keep in mind when I design materials to use with my struggling (LD, dyslexic, ADHD, or gifted) students – whether they are in 1st grade, 5th grade, 8th grade, high school, or even adult students. I want to create materials that will work, that will improve their reading skills, writing skills, and spelling skills and be affordable at the same time. It truly is one of my passions.

Each reading, writing, and spelling product is developed out of the needs of my students and is tested with them to be sure they work. We look at ease of usage and the results the reading, writing, and spelling materials produce. But, I don’t want you to take my word for it. After all, I created the materials, although I am truly inspired when I create them, so I can’t take total credit at all!

What I would like to do is to share what Donna Morello has to say about our program here – our Awaken the Scholar Within Program where I coach you on how to help your children yourself and provide you with the reading, writing, and spelling materials to do so. Because I walk you through the materials – the program, holding your hand so to speak, they work. You are no longer alone just buying something and hoping it will work.

With our Awaken the Scholar Within Program you have the opportunity to ask me your questions twice a week. You have every avenue of support available to you. Do yourself a favor and listen in to hear what Donna Morello and Janet Landerholm have to say.

Donna Morello

Janet Landerholm

Awaken Your Scholar Within Today! Give our international office a call today: 530-888-0351

Mid Summer Training – What You Can Do to Prepare Your Kids for School

I Can Hardly Believe It? Check it out…
The FREE Live Teleseminar is filling up fast – Only 100 68 52 Spots left!
Reserve your spot now.

Mid-Summer Training Call

I have had so many calls from parents recently, wondering how to help their child between now and when school starts back up. They realize it’s not too late to give their child a boost, but they also want to be sure they have an enjoyable rest of the summer. So, I decided to have a teleseminar where I will present information on summer activities to help your child’s skills improve as well as activities rich in experiences and family time.

I’m hosting a FREE Live Teleseminar on Wednesday July 14th at 8 pm Eastern, 7 pm Central, 6 pm Mountain, and 5 pm Pacific. Upon registering you will receive a FREE Handbook on the 5 things you can do to help your child over the summer. Those that attend live will receive a surprise FREE gift.

Searching for Mid-Summer Activities to Improve Your Child’s Skills and Still Have Fun?
FREE Live Teleseminar on Wednesday June 2nd at at 8 pm EST, 7 pm CST, 6 pm MST, and 5 pm PST.
Space is limited. You can attend via phone or via internet!

Reserve your Teleseminar line now at:
Title: Mid-Summer Activities to Improve Your Child’s Skills and Still Have Fun
Time: Wednesday, July 14th at 5:00pm Pacific
Listening method: Phone + Web Simulcast

To attend, visit:
Mid-Summer Training Call
LD Specialist and Board Certified Educational Therapist Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., is answering your questions about summer activities to help your child improve their skills. The teleseminar will be recorded; if you can’t attend, you’ll be able to listen later. Plus special surprise bonus just for registering! Those that attend live will receive another surprise FREE gift.

Mid-Summer Training Call

It’s the almost middle of Summer Vacation and as you know, it is the perfect time to give your child a boost in their learning skills, but you still want to have fun…

Join Bonnie Terry’s call and find out what you can do in just 20 minutes a day to boost your child’s reading, writing, and math skills and have fun at the same time.

I’m hosting a FREE Live Teleseminar on Wednesday July 14th at 8 pm Eastern, 7 pm Central, 6 pm Mountain, and 5 pm Pacific. Upon registering you will receive a FREE Handbook on the 5 steps you can take to help your child over the summer even if they have a learning problem, LD, dyslexia. The activities and steps are for all age students – kindergarten through adults.

Those that attend the Live Teleseminar will also receive a surprise FREE gift. And, of course, if you can’t make it live on the call, you will get access to the recording!

Mid-Summer Training Call
FREE Live Teleseminar on Wednesday July 14th at 8 pm Eastern, 7 pm Central, 6 pm Mountain, and 5 pm Pacific.
Space is limited. You can attend via phone or via internet!

Reserve your space for the Teleseminar now at:

Title: Searching for Summer Activities to Improve Your Child’s Learning Skills and Still Have Fun?
Time: Wednesday, July 14th at 5pm Pacific, 6 pm Mountain, 7 pm Central, 8 pm Eastern.
Listening method: Phone + Web Simulcast

To register, visit:
Mid-Summer Training Call

Learn About:
1. How to improve your child’s reading, writing, and math skills in just 20 minutes a day
2. 5 steps you can take to help your child
3. Activities to do at home, in the yard, or in your neighborhood

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Paragraph writing can be daunting for kids, especially the first few times. Often teachers give an assignment to their students such as, “I want you to write a paragraph about…” Unfortunately many kids freeze up and just stare at their sheet of paper, unable to write anything. It’s not that they haven’t read a lot of paragraphs, but writing a paragraph is a whole other thing.

Writing doesn’t have to be so hard! There are easy ways to teach paragraph writing, using graphic organizers. Paragraph writing becomes as easy as putting a hamburger together. Their are a few key ideas to use with the graphic organizers and your kids will be on their way to paragraph writing with ease. Watch and see how easy paragraph writing can be.

Order your graphic organizer study skills book, Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills today.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Summer stretches out before you. Your kids are excited about being out of school. However, it doesn’t take too long before your kids are claiming they are bored. So, to keep your kids interested over the summer, one of the easiest things to do is to provide fun learning games for your kids.

Research has shown that when kids are not involved with learning activities over the summer, their skills don’t just stay where they were at the end of the school year. Instead, your kids lose ground and retention of what they learned over the prior school year. So, one thing you can do to prevent this learning slide, is to play learning games over the summer.
Here is a Review of Bonnie Terry’s learning grammar game The Sentence Zone written by Lori Seaborg of http://www.FreelyEducate.com:

We are having a great time learning grammar.

“What?!” you say, “You’re having great time in grammar class?”

Why, yes. That’s exactly what I meant. Thanks to The Sentence Zone, a grammar game designed by Bonnie Terry Learning, grammar can not only be bright and colorful, but as much fun as a game of Monopoly. Here is how it works, as described by Bonnie Terry:

If you’re looking for a fun way to improve writing and grammar skills, this game is for you! For 2 to 6 players, grades 1st and up. Rules are easily mastered. The Sentence Zone can be played at six levels – from Level 1 in which the player builds a subject and verb sentence, to Level 6 in which the player builds complex sentences with independent and dependent clauses. With over 500 color coded cards, students are sure to be unique and entertaining every time. A great reinforcing individual activity where a player keeps track of his score from day to day, trying to top his previous score, or a great group activity where competition drives creativity and learning.

It took me a little while to figure out The Sentence Zone. It wasn’t a game that we could play right out of the box. But after reading the directions, and realizing the many directions the game could go, we got started learning our grammar and – enjoying – it! Since enjoyment leads the way to a love of learning, The Sentence Zone is a success in our home.

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So, do yourself a favor, check out The Sentence Zone and Bonnie Terry’s other reading game and math game too!

Can you as a parent really improve your child’s reading fluency over the summer? Reading fluency training is one of the easiest things for parents to do to improve their child’s reading and it can be done in just 5 minutes a day.  Summer is the perfect time for parents to implement a reading fluency program and make a real difference with their child’s reading.

Sally Shaywitz, author of Overcoming Dyslexia states, “I urge parents of dyslexic children [or any child] to make fluency training – repeated oral reading – their number one priority. Because it involves reinforcement rather than teaching a child a new concept, it is ideally suited for the home.”

Here is what April from http://homeschoolblogger.com has to say about Bonnie Terry’s reading fluency program Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills.

We received  Five Minutes To Better Reading Skills to review from Bonnie Terry Learning. I’ve been using the Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills with my 8 year old son.  He’s reading, but still lacks confidence and speed.  He loves doing the speed drills in the book!  He’d rather do that than try to read a book, actually.  It’s partly because it is instant success.  He looks at a list of short words that he can read with over 90% accuracy.

Too many beginning reading books throw in harder words every now and then that discourage him. The goal of Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills is to read a list of words (from left to right)  as quickly and accurately as you can within 5 minutes.  The teacher keeps track of how many words are missed, and how many are read within the 5 minutes.  That is used to calculate the “words per minute” rate, and the student’s accuracy.  There is a helpful chart at the beginning that shows what speed different grades should be reading at, so you can judge your child’s reading ability and their progress. A student cannot move onto the next list until they have improved their speed and don’t miss more than 4 words per page.

This reading drill helps them begin to “recall” their phonetic sounds more quickly and blend them together quicker.  The drill helps their brain establish better retrieval of words, which helps them read faster, which helps them stay focused on and remember what they are reading.  Reading speed increases reading comprehension.  The harder your brain has to work to actually read the words, the less your brain can remember what you read.

Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills includes a spiral-bound softcover teacher’s book and a student book. The teacher uses a plastic overlay and a write-on/wipe-off marker to keep track of the student’s progress.  The books are totally reusable, non-consumable.  The teacher’s manual includes helpful charts for tracking your student’s progress.  The student book and teacher’s guide are sold for $60.00.  This is not a complete phonics program, but is phonetically based and should be used to supplement other phonics programs. He has been doing well, and we will continue mixing the reading drills in with reading practice from books to continue to improve his reading skills.

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So,  parents, spend five minutes a day and improve your child’s reading skills.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET