Annotated Bibliography

  The sites below are general and specific information websites, mostly concerning parents of secondary school students in planning their college career. Financial planning and IRS programs available to taxpayers and advice on saving for a college education links are also given.  Aids for classroom study and careers in foreign language are also featured.

Family Literacy and Homework Help- Of concern to parents wishing greater personal  involvement with the learning experience of their child.

Funbrain: Educational Kids Games      www.funbrain.com/index.html

Kid Info - School Subjects      www.kidinfo.com/School_Subjects.html

Helping Your Child Learn to Read      www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/Reading/index.html

Kids Korner - Educational and Fun Links      www.webflare.com/adtopia/kids.htm

National Center for Family Literacy      www.famlit.org

Parents and Children Reading Together Online      www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/fl/pcto/menu.html

 Spanish Homework helpsites- Various places for research and homework aids

Language help & topics

http://spanish.about.com/?once=true&

http://www.eduhound.com/espanol/defaultEN.cfm

http://www.elbalero.gob.mx/index_kids.html    Mexican governmental site, geared toward the primary & secondary student.

http://anacleta.homestead.com/thingstomake.html

 http://www.spaleon.com/pres.php

www.elboricua.com A Puerto Rican heritage site with cultural and linguistic items particular to the island's uniqueness. Bilingual.

Spanish- English Dictionary-  Translate Spanish to English, English -Spanish 

http://www.diccionarios.com/index.phtml?redirect=true

Illinois Public University Foreign Language Websites- Useful for determining Foreign Language requirements of incoming freshman & type and degrees offered by the college. A necessity if advanced study in foreign language is contemplated, and useful for determining language requirement for other liberal arts programs.

Northern Illinois University -     http://www.forlangs.net/ 

Southern Illinois University-  http://www.siu.edu/%7Edfll/ 

Eastern Illinois University-    http://www.eiu.edu/~language/ 

Western Illinois University-  http://www.wiu.edu/CAS/depts/mifl/ 

University of Illinois- Champaign-  http://www.sip.uiuc.edu/ 

University of Illinois- Chicago-  http://www.uic.edu/depts/sfip/index.htm 

Illinois State University-  http://www.foreignlanguages.ilstu.edu/

Funding your child's education, methods and means within most citizen's financial grasp. Educate yourself as to how, how much and by what means you can accumulate the funds necessary to pay for your children's university education.

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96309,00.html  Official IRS site concerning Qualified State tuition plans

Illinois 529 College Savings Plans- What they are, how to set one up, their benefits and drawbacks.

https://www64.americanexpress.com/om/comp/template/TemplateA.jsp  Sponsored by American Express, it has a wealth of information that is applicable to ANY 529 plan, and is thoroughly explained.

http://www.independent529plan.org/  An independent site concerning college savings plans.

http://www.collegeillinois.com/en/index.asp  An Illinois -specific 529 college plan site

An Education IRA, also known as a Coverdale IRA. Also, the Hope Scholarship Program and Lifetime learning Program. The official IRS info.

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96275,00.html Official info for 2003 tax year for education IRA plans

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96271,00.html Hope Scholarship Program

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96273,00.html  Lifetime Learning Credit program

Brokerage and mutual fund sites with information on meeting your child's college financial goals. By no means exhaustive, the below links are among the largest and best known financial services catering to 529, Coverdale and Roth IRAs.

TD Waterhouse Brokerage   www.tdwaterhouse.com/

Charles Schwab Brokerage   www.schwab.com

AG Edwards Brokerage  www.agedwards.com

Fidelity Brokerage and Mutual Funds   www.fidelity.com

Vanguard Mutual Fund Group   www.vanguard.com

USAA Mutual Fund Group  www.usaaedfoundation.org

Janus Investors  www.janus.com

American Century Mutual fund group  www.americancentury.com