Useful school/educational websites and stuff

There are a lot of resources out there and educational games etc. As you have probably already noticed, some are great and some are dire... Here's what we've found (but every kid is different so, as always, what one loves another will hate):

Games:
Most games are repetitive exercises disguised in various formats - which is not a bad thing, certainly helps practice & reinforce what they are learning. The ones I would recommend for K-2 based on our experiences are:
Reader Rabbit - spelling, reading
The Jumpstart series - a lot of different areas - maths, english, music...
Boost Maths from the Learning Ladder (they also have the start stile which is fabulous as well, and I notice there is now also Boost English - we haven't tried that one) - Maths practice with rewards as games (or you can add parent rewards as well)
Zoo Tycoon - is a strategy game, can be played in sandbox mode for the littlies and can help promote reading (as they need to read the messages) and maths (to work out how many animals they have etc)
Clifford Phonics - english/spelling

Websites:
Spelling city - warning - it is American, so you need to be careful, teachers can use it to set up spelling lists & practice games
Mathletics - often schools have this as part of their program - it is very good for practising maths

There are more which I'll try & remember to put up here as I go... Also ask your teachers if they use The Learning Federation resources through Scootle - all DET schools and most NG schools have access to this.

the sun may not always be your enemy

interesting:

Sun may be a factor in food allergies

don't you think it's interesting that so far (touch wood) none of our lot have allergies, and we all have a relatively similar attitude to things like sun and germ exposure? there may be something, or of course nothing at all, in that.