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SWRForum.com Kickstarter Campaign has launched!

Info for SWR Kickstarter Campaign!

UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open for contributions! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT.   We welcome you to join us for Launch Day Friday, April 15, 2022 This will be the opening day of our fundraiser on Kickstarter  to lay the foundation for the SWR Forum & Resource Center! If 300 people each contribute $30, we will surpass our minimum goal of $8,500. Follow our pre-launch page to receive notification from Kickstarter when we go live. Twenty-one days is a short window so please plan now how you can support this project. At your service, Becky Click on these questions to find the answers on this blog. (Or click here to see all the info in one place on our campaign page.) If you have questions of your own, please ask below in the comments! How will the funds be used? What is Kickstarter? What is the SWR Forum & Resource Center? Will SWRForum.com be different that other current options? What is my reward fo

Challenge Words (SWRForum.com Sample Video)

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UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open for contributions! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT. See this post on our Kickstarter page to play the video without the hassles of YouTube. Have you ever wished someone else would dictate words for your student(s)? you could watch someone else dictate words? to see the SWR method applied to words not in the WISE Guide? for a way to spice up a lesson at the end of the week? Here is another type of resource we are planning to make available in the Resource Center at SWRForum.com if we can secure enough funding. If you would like to help choose any or all of the first 20 Challenge Words to be dictated for the Resource Center, head over to our Kickstarter campaign --it begins Friday, April 15th!  Would you please comment below with your feedback? 

Rewards: SWRForum.com Kickstarter Campaign

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UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open for contributions! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT. On Friday, April 15th, 2022, when our Kickstarter Campaign goes live--also known as launching--on the right hand side of the campaign page there will be several rewards you may choose from as a thank you for your contribution. The campaign will only be open for 21 days. Most of these rewards are prepaid Premium Memberships to SWRForum.com at the Kickstarter Backer exclusive introductory pricing of $10 per month. A Premium Membership includes full access to the Forum and the Resource Center. * Here is an overview of all the rewards: For a pledge of $10 or more, you may select one month of Prepaid Premium Membership . For a pledge of $30 or more, you may select three months of Prepaid Premium Membership . For a pledge of $60 or more, you may select six months of Prepaid Premium Membership . For a pledge of $110 or more, you may select on

Add-Ons: SWRForum.com Kickstarter Campaign

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UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open for contributions! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT. After our Kickstarter Campaign has launched (Friday, April 15, 2022) and you have chosen your reward and entered your pledge, you will be able to select from a variety of add-ons . I like to liken these to the plethora of toppings available at a good fro-yo shop. Be a Forum Tester! The first twenty individuals who add this treat will be admitted to the Forum to help us start the conversations and track down the bugs. Be the First Premium Member! If we are able to build the SWR Forum & Resource Center, you could be the First Member to cross the threshold at the Grand Opening! Choose a Challenge Word --or up to twenty! These will be many of the first challenge words dictated on camera for Resource Center videos.  SWR endorsed trainers are offering to meet with you remotely or in person to discuss facets of the SWR method. Rhonda i

Multi-Level Enrichment Game (SWRForum.com Sample Resource)

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UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open for contributions! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT. See this post on our Kickstarter page . If our minimum funding goal is met and we can build the SWR Forum & Resource Center , this is an activity that we are planning to include in the Resource Center. Visit SWRForum.com  to make your contribution to our Kickstarter campaign on Friday, April 15, 2022! *     *     * Supplies: gameboard (Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, etc.) place markers cards prepared as below How to play: Cards are face down. Players take turns reading a card and moving the number of spaces indicated on the card. If students get to the end of their stacks of cards before reaching the finish line, shuffle, turn them over and use them again! Preparation: Write a phonogram or word on each card as well as a number (1-6 or see tips below). The cards may be prepared for individuals or teams working at similar SWR levels

A-Z Phonograms with ASL (SWRForum.com Sample Video)

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UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open for contributions! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT. Click here to see this post  on our Kickstarter Campaign page to avoid YouTube hassles. If our minimum funding goal is met, we can build the SWR Forum & Resource Center ! This is a sample of one type of video we hope to host in the Resource Center. Please visit  SWRForum.com  to make your contribution to our Kickstarter campaign on Friday, April 15, 2022! This video was made at the request of students in a Basic Seminar toward the end of 2021. Several of said students learned a language other than English as their first language. Forming the sounds of English was challenging to them. Trainer Rhonda Bedee of Wise Spelling had shown me how she uses a mirror to demonstrate how phonogram sounds are formed. I combined that idea with also showing the American Sign Language (ASL) hand shapes for fingerspelling.  Using the ASL alphabet i

Alternate Silent Final E Words for Reference Page

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UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open for contributions! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT. Click here to see this post  on our Kickstarter Campaign page. If the funding goal is met to build the SWR Forum & Resource Center , this is one of the resources that will be available there. Alternate Words for the Silent Final E Reference Page

Think to Spell: Farm Animals (SWRForum.com Sample Video)

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See this post on our Kickstarter page to play the video to avoid YouTube hassles.  Our Kickstarter Campaign is open! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT. Think to Spell: Farm Animals This is a sample of the Think to Spell videos we hope to host in the Resource Center--if we secure enough funding to build the SWR Forum & Resource Center . Please visit our Kickstarter campaign  to make your contribution before May 6, 2022! Did you show this to your students? Let us know what they thought in the comments below!

Q&A: How do I contribute to building SWRForum.com?

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UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open for contributions! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT. Excellent Question: How do I contribute to help lay the foundation for the  SWR Forum & Resource Center ? Answer: Thank you so much for asking! Follow the Kickstarter pre-launch page here. You will receive notification when we launch on April 15, 2022. There will be instructions in that email for where to contribute. The above pre-launch link will also take to you the campaign page for contributions once the campaign is live. Do you have a question about the SWR Forum & Resource Center ? Feel free to ask in the comments below or email me.

Q&A: Will SWRForum.com be different?

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UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open for contributions! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT. See this post on our Kickstarter page . Excellent Question: How will the SWR Forum & Resource Center be different than the SWR support group on FB? Answer: The SWR Forum & Resource Center will reconnect SWR users with author Wanda Sanseri and other trainers who do not participate in FB--much like the former Yahoo Group used to. The Resource Center will host videos, enrichment activities, and more. Everything will be in one place and free of ads. Personally, I don't like the way YouTube has changed so that they can put ads in whatever videos they want to. It really makes me hesitate to show videos on their platform to a class, and especially to children. SWRForum.com will be our private platform that we control so we can use the resources worry-free. Over the twenty years the Yahoo Group existed, Mrs. Sanseri and her train

Almosta Forrest Pizza Night

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  new GF crust recipe (thank you, Nora!) olive oil pink salt cooked ground venison cooked pinto beans broccoli

How will the funds be used?

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UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT. Especially in today's economy, $8,500 is a lot to ask. Our plan is to begin the SWR Forum & Resource Center without going into debt, which is one reason we are seeking advance funds to sustain the site for the first six months. Here is how your dollars would be used to lay the foundation of the SWR Forum & Resource Center: click graphic to enlarge Initial website cost: $1,500 First 6 months website cost: $2,100 Reimburse personal savings: $260 Professional consultations (legal, etc.): $3,200 Budget for unexpected expenses (10%): $706 Kickstarter fees (5%): $388 Payment processing fees (5%): $388 If 300 people each contribute $30, we will attain $9,000, securing our minimum with some to spare.  If your pledges stretch even more generously above that amount, we have some ideas to build a better Forum from the beginning: click graphic to en

[Flyer] Teachers Work Hard. Support Teachers.

UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open for contributions! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT. Are you connected to a school or other group that uses Spell to Write and Read? Use this flyer as an invitation for parents and other community members to support local teachers by supporting SWRForum.com on Kickstarter .  Here is a direct link to the flyer. Feel free to share electronically and print to post in real life. I would love for you to come back and comment below where you placed the posters!

[Flyer] Do You Use SWR? Join Us!

UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open for contributions! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT. For the SWR Forum & Resource Center Kickstarter campaign to be successful, we need to broadcast the news far and wide. Would you please help us? Are there places in your area which homeschoolers frequent? I'm thinking of used bookstores, learning supply stores, board game stores, buildings where co-ops meet, libraries, and more! Would you please ask them to post this flyer? This is the link to where you may download and print this flyer.   I welcome comments below with the names of the places where the flyers are posted. Thank you for helping! SWRForum.com

SWRForum.com: What is Kickstarter?

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UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open for contributions! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT. Kickstarter is a website to enable a crowd to fund a project. In our case, we hope to raise funds to begin the Spell to Write and Read Forum & Resource Center . A fundraiser conducted through Kickstarter is called a campaign . A Kickstarter campaign is all or nothing. The funding goal must be met while the campaign is live, or the project goes unfunded. Crowd members, aka supporters, are called backers . Each backer makes a pledge to contribute a dollar amount. If the total of the pledges meets or exceeds the funding goal for the project, then when the fundraiser ends, the backers are charged and the funds are given to the project's "creator." I like to compare how contributions to Kickstarter work by using this example of self-serve frozen yogurt. When you decide to make a pledge , it is like choosing your dish: small,

The Big SWR News

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UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open for contributions! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT. Here is the big news! We are preparing to build the Spell to Write and Read Forum & Resource Center! Our hope is that this Forum will bring together SWR users from all over the world to connect and exchange ideas with each other--and connect with Wanda and us endorsed trainers on our own private platform. The Resource Center will contain a library of activities to support all levels of Spell to Write and Read instruction from Section A to Section Z. Soon we will be launching a Kickstarter campaign to collect contributions to fund the foundation of the SWR Forum & Resource Center. Our goal is to raise a minimum of $8,500. If 300 people each contribute $30, that will bump us up over our minimum and demonstrate that SWR users also see the need for this private platform. We would love for you to help us in two ways: 1. Share the news

April Third Virtual Field Trip

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Allllrighty, folks! Here are some pictures I took in the field on April third, two thousand twenty. Can you identify these species? No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4 No. 5 No. 6 No. 7 No. 8 No. 9 No. 10 No. 11 No. 12 No. 13 No. 14 No. 15 No. 16 No. 17 No. 18 No. 19 No. 20 No. 21 No. 22 No. 23 No. 24 No. 25 (this is a black spider up and right from center) No. 26

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Pumpkin, Banana Bread for a friend

I made this for an event two winters ago. A friend of mine who eats gluten free absolutely loved it. In fact, I think it's quite charming that she has mentioned it nearly every time I have seen her since then. Also since then, I have been able to eat gluten again. Therefore, preserving this recipe here is serving two purposes: an easy way to share it with Penny and keeping it for forever on the internet so if I ever need it in the future, I'll know where to look. [And since I came back to publish this draft, my body has decided it doesn't like glutinous products again.] Dry ingredients : 5 cups Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 GF Flour--the blue label ( see note below ) 6 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons baking powder ( see note below ) 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon sea salt to taste: ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon Wet ingredients : 5 bananas (brown spots are good) about the same quantity of cooked and pureed pumpkin (or canned) 3/4 cup coconut sugar 1/4+ cup pure m

A Mindful Mothers' Day

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I wrote this for last year's Mothers' Day.  And then was shy to post it.  I'm feeling emboldened this year. Seeing me with my family today, you have every reason to think, “She has plenty of reason to celebrate this Mothers’ Day. Look at those five children, beautiful in heart and countenance!” (Full disclosure: I’m biased.) Yes, I am celebrating. I am so very thankful for our five blessings. But did you know I count six? Before any of these who can be seen, there was another. Seen only by his or her Creator before passing on. Today I am rejoicing and weeping. But my tears are not only for my sorrow. I weep with others who have grief hidden and stories silenced by societal expectations, fear of judgment, or weariness of reliving the events. Often on this day, they are wounded perennially by overheard sentiments showered upon others, or perhaps made directly to them. Today I am mindful of an acquaintance who has never been able to conceive. I a