The joy of the Lord is my strength.

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Teacher Workshops and Classes

Thank you for the wonderful inservice program you presented today. Your friendly, open attitude was appreciated by all. We are very optimistic about Spelling Plus. I am impressed by the common sense element that runs throughout your teaching process. Mark Twain once said, "The only thing common about common sense, is that it is not common." Your spelling program is down to earth, and it stands to reason that if our sixth grade students can master, and I really mean master, the basic 1000 word list before leaving our golden arches for the challenges of junior high school life, we will have done our job.

--Roderick L., principal

I really enjoyed this class. It is great to take a "nuts and bolts" class from someone with real classroom experience who knows how it feels to work with real kids! I appreciate the way you try to get the most mileage from everything in terms of efficiency.

--Barbara M., teacher

Within minutes of being in this class, I was glad I had chosen this course over other choices. I am relaxed being here and impressed with Susan's presentation and her easygoing "real" manner. Thanks for addressing questions I've had and for respecting my questions. I appreciate the tips that go beyond teaching spelling. Great class!

--Jacquelyn K., teacher

I have thoroughly enjoyed this class. All the information was really relevant to happenings in the classroom. Your enthusiasm is catching!

--Nancy B., teacher

The instructor put an extrordinary effort into providing material that fits "right now" into a teacher's program. This was probably the most useful course I have taken in 20 years of teaching.

--Dennis W., teacher

Everything the instructor gave to us and presented was usable. This was probably the best class I've taken in 54 graduate credit hours.

--Scottie C., teacher

Basically, when attending a conference, I hope to glean one "take and use" idea per day. So far I'm "batting" one per 30 minutes! WOW!

--Mary G., teacher

This class has been wonderful! The ideas are really useful, which is not always the case. Everything is going straight back to school to be used rather than joining that large file cabinet of things I might use someday. Thank you for all your time and energy. You have given me things that will add to my teaching and save me time, which is becoming very precious. Your materials are classroom tested and this is very important. I know they will work because they have worked for you and others!

--Judy L., teacher

I think we need more teachers like you with high standards and expectations. Sometimes it seems that with new trends in education, too much emphasis is placed on fun and game and "frills" to the exclusion of higher standards.

--Charlotte P., elementary school librarian

Thanks for having materials available. Sometimes you get lots of ideas, but you have to do the work yourself.

--Lisa T., teacher

This class (Fun with Facts) certainly fits into the "teaching across the curriculum" theme. I've received so many ideas here that it's hard to know where to begin!

--Joan L., teacher

This is one of the first workshops that I have attended that all information gained is useful and can be transferred to actual classroom experiences. Many thanks!!

--Susan M., teacher

I appreciate your enthusiasm for education and your obvious commitment to kids. My wish for my daughter is to have throughout her school years teachers like you!

--Becca M., teacher

It's nice to be in a professional development situation where the teacher truly is an expert and is not afraid to talk about our profession. It's obvious you are not motivated by professional stature or money. You genuinely want to enhance teachers' ability to teach kids, and you realize that involves much more than just subject matter. Thanks!

--Chuck M., high school teacher

I am very impressed with the facts books and your presentation. Everything is very teacher-friendly and lends itself to being easy to use and not taking a lot of time to utilize. I've been teaching for over 25 years and I just retired. Now I wish I had waited to turn in my retirement papers because with your ideas, I think I could teach another year with enthusiasm and perhaps without the 24-hour days I put in last year. Where were you last year?

--Margaret L., teacher of grades 5-8

This class was absolutely fabulous! As a high school English and reading teacher, I found many ideas that I can use in my class. I hardly know where to start with planning activities and I am excited to take this material and plan for next year. You should be doing more inservices for schools--you are a bundle of excitement and knowledge!

--Judy S., teacher

As a librarian, I can't believe that per chance I was able to find a really worthwhile course. In the past, I've usually tried to make things interesting, but you have opened up new doors for me. Thanks for the inspiration and hard work. You make facts fun. I am so excited about using this material!

--Sue D., elementary school librarian

I just wanted to thank you again for the Facts Plus book! Yesterday it helped again! It is a "must have" for us home school moms who really have a hard time explaining things. Ashley had to do an outline for a science report and trying to explain to her how to get started was difficult. I told her to pull out Facts Plus and there it was explained perfectly!

--Eileen M., home school mom

Facts Plus is an experienced teacher's dream. This book is worth ten others on my shelf. Having so much information I can use all together in one volume will save me hours!

--Nancy H., 5th grade teacher

I'm back from my trip and I gave Toby his Facts Plus. He loved it and had a fourth of it read by the time I left, and was quoting all the good "stuff" he was learning.

--Leila R., grandmother

Your book Facts Plus is a marvelous tool for me as a home school teacher. It has proven to be an extra nice ready-reference. The fruits of your labor have been an absolute blessing to us!

--Elizabeth D., home school mom

We had a wonderful response to your materials at the National Council for Social Studies conference in Nashville. Everyone thinks the book is far superior to anything they've seen.

--JoAnne D., bookseller

I used Facts Plus at the Multicultural Summer School and the kids loved it. In fact, I finally had to hide it from the 6th, 7th and 8th graders because all they wanted to do was look at the book!

--Donna D., 4th grade teacher

We need to order another copy of Facts Plus. We really enjoyed it and we miss it. We went to Hawaii for two week and we knew we would use it so we took it along. We met another home school family that just loved it, so we gave it away.

--Luann N., home school mom

I have kids come into the library and spend their entire lunch recess reading Facts Plus.

--Jane M., elementary school librarian

What a gold mine! --Joyce S., teacher

Teaching in rural schools, I often find great activities but have been unable to do them because the resources aren't available. It is great to have activities where the materials needed are already provided.

--Marilyn W., teacher

I'm the mother of small children asking hundreds of questions. I find Facts Plus invaluable. It would take us a lot longer to find the answers anywhere else. You can't really see the value of this book until you've used it. The more we use it, the more we like it.

--Deborah P., home school mom

I am having more fun with your book (Facts Plus). 8-year-old Matt and I dressed up in white sheets (togas) and gold-leaf wreaths last week and enacted p. 164. I put a couple of sentences on the board all in capital letters and we put on a skit where we invented punctuation and small letters. It was completely impromptu but he really got into it. Our challenge spelling group takes word demons from your book each week.

--Carol B., 2nd grade teacher

Facts Plus is one of the most popular books in the library. I've never worked with a reference book that was so well indexed. You took the time to index it the way kids think.

--Lauri P., elementary school librarian

Your book is wonderful! We bought one to peruse with the idea of sending it on to our grandchildren. We need it! So I'm ordering another to send to them in California. I am certain the girls will get a lot of good out of this. I cannot get over how all-encompassing it is!

--Princess L., grandparent

Facts Plus saves me hours of work. It's a rich source of information. Yes, most of the information is out there somewhere, but not in my school library. I use it for all my enrichment math--comparing, rounding, ordering numbers, categorizing data. Without Facts Plus I'd spend hours getting these activities together.

--Angela W., 6th grade teacher

Kids need help in becoming information literate. Facts Plus is a wonderful reference tool that teaches users how to find interesting information in one volume. Skills obtained in learning to use this reference resource can be applied to other reference materials. The index is thorough!

--Ruth Jean S., library resources manager

A couple of weeks ago I took my grandsons to the library and as I browsed through the children's section, my hand fell on Facts Plus. I checked it out for myself and thoroughly enjoyed reading, scanning through, and sharing with my grandsons. We sometimes all climb on my bed and DEAR (drop everything and read), and I have shared with them some information from Facts Plus. This is such a wonderful little book! I wish all five of my grandchildren had their own copy. I really enjoy reading and thumbing through this book; I bring it to work with me, I read it on the train to and from work. Thank you for putting this book together.

--Ester J., a happy grandmother

Facts Plus is full of extremely useful information on which to base the use of word processing, databases, spreadsheets, and mail merge activities. The information is on target for elementary students and fits into my work just perfectly!

--Toni V., educational computer consultant

I found Facts Plus at my local library as a reference book. It is the best all around reference book I've ever seen for elementary school aged children. As a matter of fact, its clear, concise presentations of so many daily "things to know" could be used by anyone of any age!

--Marie G., parent

Every year our school district sponsors a summer reading program in which we mail packages of books to the families of all school age children. We would like to order 144 of the Facts Plus books, as well as two of the Facts Plus Activity Books. Facts Plus is one of the best reference books on the market, and we know that our students would benefit from having this in their homes.

--Vicki R., library resources department of a school district

In reviewing your Facts Plus: this is incredible! Everything I saw was what I send kids to look for in the library and limited classroom reference books. With my emphasis on interdisciplinary / cooperative learning and teaching, your book will be invaluable! I hope I can convince my principal that a class set is essential for my style of educating!

--Shirie D., middle school teacher

Teaching research skills has always been one of the weak areas in my library program, and I think your almanac is "kid-friendly" which I have not seen before in reference books. I'm planning to buy a class set of almanacs and also request that the school purchase one for every classroom so teachers can have a ready reference on their desks.

--Pat C., librarian

What is great is that much of what I consider essential for kids to learn I have scattered throughout my files. It is in Facts Plus all in one place! Items contained in the Handbook section will be most helpful, especially the tips for homework and study. I wish I'd had your book last year. I ran myself ragged trying to provide all the references my students seemed to need. I had a class, mostly the boys, who thrived on facts and odd bits of information.

--Joan L., teacher

Facts Plus is a great resource book for giving students confidence in many areas. One activity seems to spark another and before you know it you've done lots of learning.

--Lorelei B., teacher

You have brought children a great service. . .a great set of reference materials! As a special education teacher, I've found that many students I work with will never be good at memorization. One of my teaching goals is to teach them to compensate. They may never remember the names of the planets in the solar system, but they will know where to find that information. Teaching the use of reference material is an important skill that will help them through life.

--Susan P., special education teacher

Both books (Facts Plus and Facts Plus Activity Book) make my life easier and enrich my classroom. Thank you for writing and publishing books that are helpful to teachers. Your books and ideas seem to push aside the "fluff" and allow for a teacher to get down to the business of teaching something concrete, be it useful or interesting.

--Jacquelyn K., teacher

Facts Plus is an excellent, appealing, useful, informative, delightful compendium of knowledge and activities! Congratulations! Susan, you are beyond any doubt a superb writer! Your content engages me, of course, but so does the clarity of your expression.

--Marie S., Catholic School teacher

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Spelling Plus Program

I love your spelling program. My kids practically failed spelling in a Christian school. They had them alphabetizing, using words in a sentence, things like that. Busy work. Now they're actually learning how to spell. I recommend this book to everyone I know.

--Home school mom

We have been home schooling for a number of years, but I had never found a satisfactory spelling curriculum. they always seemed too vague or too complicated. Yours feels "just right." I appreciate the way you have laid out what to do so specifically and simply. We all feel as though we know what is expected and the success the girls have had has given them a real sense of accomplishment.

--Beth J., home school mom

After I started doing it this way, I liked teaching spelling. I always knew the other ways didn't work but there weren't any alternatives. I didn't know any other way so I was stuck. It was a waste of time. I wasn't making any impact so I hated wasting part of my valuable day. It was busy work. When it became meaningful, I wanted to do it. Dictation is wonderful. It's practical application. If you don't review constantly, kids won't retain.

--Ann L., 6th grade teacher

Thanks for your spelling program. As a third year home schooling mom, this is the most helpful and practical program I've found. And so affordable!

--Cheryl G., home school mom

I was delighted with the amount of knowledge I gained from your seminar, Spelling for Success. Spelling has always been a weak area in my own skill set and actually teaching it is a real stumbling block. Not only was the information you presented interesting, the notes you provided were detailed and understandable. Thank you for investing the time and effort to offer such a worthwhile program. In general I enjoyed your speaking style because of your enthusiasm and evident love for teaching. Additionally, I appreciated the level and rate at which you disseminated information. You were able to maximize the amount of information without any loss of presentation aesthetics.

--Lorraine G., home school mom

I "did" spelling, but I don't believe I actually taught spelling. At least not as enthusiastically as I will now. After learning the Spelling Plus system, I can tell students it's not just a word, it's an adventure!

--Leo J., 6th grade teacher

I'm excited about the possibility of teaching handwriting, spelling and a language lesson in 30-40 minutes a day. I've been spending a lot of time on spelling with little success. This can condense it and produce better results!

--Heidi K., teacher

This is not only a word list of the most used words but a process that ensures students are learning to spell, a process that is an effective compromise between totally individualized lists and totally "whole class" lists.

--Patsy C., teacher

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What I like best about Multiplication Facts in Five Minutes a Day is that the kids do it independently and it works. I appreciate the extras, the review masters and challenge masters. I really feel I got my money's worth.

--Amy G., home schooling mom

Your math program has been a great success. I have never enjoyed drill and neither have my kids, but with this they see progress and they are excited to try to beat their previous times and scores.

--Beth J., home school mom

I learned so much in your fourth grade class. I am in seventh grade now and I get straight A's. I was so excited when I saw your Facts Plus Almanac for sale at my school. I started seeing all my friends with it and it was kind of fun to brag about how you were my teacher. At first nobody believed me!

--Lissa S., one of Susan's 4th grade students

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for being one of Matt's best teachers. You made history come alive for him! You sparked his love for history. I believe your influence on him has been the reason he has continued to love history and is now considering it for his major at college. Thank you for putting up with all his questions and all his mischief! He still has your first edition of Facts Plus!

--Linda W., mother of one of Susan's 4th grade students

May he give you the desire of your heart, and make all your plans succeed. Psalm 20:4