Kindle Collections Manager

Do you have a Kindle? Do you love your Kindle? Do you have a lot of books on your Kindle? Do you find it somewhat difficult to manage your books/collections? Well, then there is a possible solution: Give your Kindle to someone that does not get annoyed at anything -ever. Problem solved! 

Of course, just kidding. Buy that person their own Kindle! and then download the Kindle Collection Manager. It is in beta at the moment and is only for Windows but it makes it somewhat easier to manage your books/collections on Kindle. Here's how it works, somewhat ;)

You go to Kindle Collections Manager website and register. You will receive an email with the download link. From there you will download the zip file that has the installation software. You will have this application on your computer in whatever location you put it (mine automatically goes to Program Files).

When you want to manage your books, plug in your Kindle to the computer and open the Kindle Collections Manager program. It will come up with a window like this (give or take a few books and most likely the collection titles will be somewhat different ) To get a better look at it, click on image (use back button to come back to this post)

When it comes up, it has every book on your computer that is compatible with Kindle (on the left) and it also shows all the books on your Kindle (on the right). It also shows duplicates –even when you don’t know you have any and even if you think that you don’t have any and it shouldn’t be showing that you do, such as the little snippet below. There are a lot of duplicates on my Kindle according to this.

You can rename your books, delete them (gasp!) and/or move them into collections or start new collections. When you download the software it comes with a “Brief instructions” notepad document. It’d be good to read that over before going to far but as far as I can see, this program is fairly easy to use

Well, another software/application to add to my growing number of technology gadgets

Free Bible/Geography Resources

Thanks to Diane @ Cabin In the Woods, I've a link to share that really is a treat. It is for free downloads for Bible and Geography resources from Kids of Courage. It does require you to register before downloading.

There are downloadable units on North Korea, Sudan, Turkey, Iraq, India, China, and so many more. Here are a few screenshots of the available downloads:

In each of these you find geographical, population, and cultural information. But as Diane pointed out, it isn't just about that, it is also how God is working in the area and the people's lives. 

Here is a snippet of the Pakistan download (it's 53 pages)

All images are screenshots made by myself from Kids of Courage website and a PDF download available at their site.

Free eBooks and Other Freebies

A Thinking Love ebook from Simply Charlotte Mason

• Available from Simply Charlotte Mason this ebook is available in PDF, ePub and even Mobi (for Kindle!).  From the website: "It’s easy to give our children an indulgent love that caters to their every whim. Or a lazy love that follows the crowd and does what is easiest. But giving them a thinking love requires some effort."

NASA illustration

• How to Fly an Airplane (28 minutes!) & Rocketry Acceleration (mini lesson and videos- Slingshot Rocket) from Supercharged Science (Aurora Lipper). The lesson on flying an airplane is from a real flight instructor. The rocket lessons use simple materials that you probably have around the house. Short and fun :)

• That Printer of Udell's free PDF ebook. From Living Books Curriculum, this was a President's Day special, here is what Sheila Carroll says about this book in her email:

"That Printer of Udell's (an inspiring story)

Ronald Reagan's mother gave him this book to read at age 11. Reagan says that it inspired him to become an evangelical Christian and made a lasting impression on his life. After reading it, he felt convinced to become a Christian and was baptized in his mother's church. At age 66 Reagan said that the book "left an abiding belief in the triumph of good over evil."

That Printer of Udell's (1903) is a novel by Harold Bell Wright, who was a minister and later a writer. In his book he created a compelling story of Christian redemption that is still in print today.

The hero of the story, Dick Falkner, comes from a broken home. His father is alcoholic and as a result his mother is starving and ill. After both parents die, Dick goes to the Midwestern United States to take a job. A printer named George Udell hires Dick. Through a series of circumstances both of them decide to become Christians. Eventually Dick becomes a revered member of a Christian community due to his public speaking abilities and optimism. At the end of the book, Dick gets a political job in Washington, D.C."

• Free Resource of the Day (02/24/2011) from Learn Out Loud: The Future of Nuclear Energy by Andrew C. Kadak. (video) From the email sent by LOL: "Get ready for a great debate on the future of nuclear energy in America. Andrew Kadak is an MIT Professor of the Practice of Nuclear Engineering and he argues that in the face of global warming we need to face the "second inconvenient truth" that in order to deal with global warming all non-CO2 emitting energy sources must be used, including nuclear energy. Victor Reis was the Senior Advisor in the Office of the Secretary at the Department of Energy and he argues in favor of growing nuclear power with recycling in order to reduce nuclear waste."

Just one of the guides available

• And last but not least, here are 15 MORE Free Guides That Really Teach You USEFUL Stuff brought to us by Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators.  Facebook Privacy Guide, Automation Guide for MAC Users, A Dropbox Guide (which I've no real idea what is but sounds interesting- makes all your information/programs/files accessible to all your computers), Guide to USB Flashdrive, Windows 7 Ultimate Guide (I still have Vista...I'm resistant to change), Guide to Gmail, Wordpress and others.

Enjoy!

KISS Grammar- Free

Thanks to Michelle @ Beyond the Silver and the Gold, I've discovered KISS Grammar, a free grammar program.

Now I haven't looked at this very well because as Michelle mentions in her post, this site can seem overwhelming. And actually I'd purchased Jensen's Grammar to use for both of my kids already (last year). 

Anyone else use this free resource? Look interesting?

Free for January! Funnix

Looking for a reading program? Funnix is a program that is free for the month of January!

The two-year program is free for download until January 31, 2011. That still leaves about 11 days :) If you have beginning readers or struggling readers this could be for you. When I went searching on the site, I discovered the authors of this program are some of the top dogs of reading readiness education! From the site: 

The authors of the program are headed by Siegfried (Zig) Engelmann, a professor of Education at the University of Oregon (one of the top schools for education), and senior author of more than 50 instructional programs, most of which are available through SRA McGraw/Hill.- Authors page on Funnix.com (information added based on my research)

Simply put "the goals of Funnix are to teach all the skills your child will need to learn to read and enjoy reading, and to teach these as efficiently as possible." From the website.

Is this something that you would be interested in? Something that would be useful for your school? If so, you'll want to hurry over to Funnix for this free download.

Spanish Help from Houghton Mifflin

I am taking a Spanish class through the local community college to meet the foreign language requirements for my BA degree. I tried to do it online but nu-uh, wasn't working. So far it's only been one class, one hour, but I think that it will be a good class. The instructor is John D. Nesbitt (he's an author and has a Ph.D in English, in case you're at all interested lol); he is laid back and calm- so far. This is his third year teaching Spanish at the community college. The class is made up of 7 ladies! I think it will be a good class.

Anyway, I've been reviewing my previous knowledge of Spanish (since I did take the Spanish class before this but years ago at a different college, in a different state!) and I came across the website for the text we are using. It has Grammar Quizzes, Web Search Activities, Audio Flashcards, etc. I've been practicing with the ACE Grammar Quizzes and I'm surprised that I've gotten some right and some wrong (I thought I'd be horrid at it all). 

The book we are using is The Basic Spanish Series (ISBN: 0-618-50569-5). The website I am using now is Houghton Mifflin Textbook Online Study Center. And if I had of looked online first, I could have saved over $50...sigh, lesson learned. Again. 

Well, thought I would share a resource for Spanish that is being used at a community college (in Wyoming, anyway).

Freebie: Bible Explorer for Windows or Mac

Thanks to For Such A Time As This for giving the heads up about this free download. 

Bible Explorer- download for free!

I recommend checking out the features of this download. I think you'll find that it is full of great features and it's amazing that it's free!

Here are just a few things you can do with Bible Explorer:

• Access Trusted Commentaries on Bible Passages
• Cross Reference Any Verse or Passage
• Compare Multiple Translations Simultaneously
• Author/Share Your Own Books and Notes
• The Easiest to Use Bible Study Software

You should know...

Bible Explorer is completely free, with no strings attached. Download it at the link above, then browse the over 200 free Bibles, Commentaries, Dictionaries, and more. The software is full-featured, not a trial or demo. We hope you enjoy it!

System Requirements

• Windows 98, NT4x, 2000, Me, XP, Vista, or Windows 7.
• 64 MB RAM
• At least 40 MB of hard drive space for the average library. The initial download is around 28 MB.

Grow Your Electronic Library

You can click here to browse a complete list of over 200 free books, or browse and search our full catalog of electronic books.

And another little note: I have high speed internet and it took a bit to get this downloaded. Patience is the key :) 

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