Q: I heard on NPR that kids who develop large vocabularies early on have huge advantages all through school. We read with our first- and second-graders every night. Should we do word lists with them, too?

A: Keep reading, but nix the lists. It's important for young learners to build strong vocabularies; research shows that the more word power they have, the better readers and writers they become. But research also suggests that memorizing definitions isn't very effective because kids forget them when the words are introduced without any context for their use.

"Learning anything, including new words, involves connecting new information with what you already know," says Timothy Rasinski, Ph.D., a Kent State University professor of literacy education. "There's a fun way to learn new words. I call it 'word-harvesting.'"

Word-harvesting highlights the words found in children's books and magazines as well as poetry and song lyrics and makes them more visible to kids.

"Here's how it works: Before reading each night, ask your children to listen for interesting words. When you've finished a passage, ask if any words intrigue them," says Rasinski.

For example, say you're reading William Steig's "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" (Aladdin, 1987): "Sylvester Duncan lived with his mother and father at Acorn Road in Oatsdale. One of his hobbies was collecting pebbles of unusual shape and color. On a rainy Saturday during vacation he found a quite extraordinary one. It was flaming red, shiny, and perfectly round, like a marble. As he was studying this remarkable pebble, he began to shiver, probably from excitement, and the rain felt cold on his back. 'I wish it would stop raining,' he said. To his great surprise, the rain stopped. It didn't stop gradually as rains usually do. It ceased!"

"This 95-word excerpt is a treasure trove: pebbles, extraordinary, remarkable, flaming, gradually, shiver, ceased." says Rasinski. "Harvest these words on a family word wall or in a paper or digital notebook that kids can refer to."

Poems and songs can yield a great crop of words, too, says Rasinski. "I often sing '(You're a) Grand Old Flag' when word-harvesting with primary students. We collect high-flying, grand, acquaintance, boast, brag, brave, peace, and emblem -- great words for young writers to use."

As you go, elaborate on the meanings of the chosen words and offer synonyms, Rasinski advises.

"Often, it's helpful to reread the passage," he says. "Once you've harvested the words, use them in sentences and conversation in the following days. Share the words with grandparents so that they can use them with your kids. Post them on the family Facebook page."

Many experts think primary-age students should master 3,000 new words each year. When you word-harvest, they add up quickly, notes Rasinski, author of the series "Building Vocabulary From Word Roots" (Teacher Created Materials).

"If you harvest 10 words a night, five nights a week, your children will have acquired 2,600 words just in your nightly reading," he says. "And the family's had great fun in the process!"

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: Our son is headed to college. While he got into his match school, we haven't heard from his first choice school yet, which is also the most expensive. We need a financial aid package. Should we wait until we hear from them all to apply for aid?

A: Don't wait until he's accepted to apply for aid. At a minimum, you'll need to file a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form from the U.S. Department of Education (fafsa.ed.gov). The FAFSA form for the 2013-14 school year went online Jan. 1.

"The FAFSA is used to apply for federal student financial aid, such as the Pell Grant, student loans and college work-study jobs," says Kalman Chany, a financial adviser who has helped families obtain college financial aid for nearly 30 years. "Most schools and state agencies use FAFSA information to award aid. Some schools and states require additional forms.

"Be sure to file all required documents by their respective priority deadlines (set by the school or state agency) to ensure maximum consideration for funds."

Chany, author of "Paying for College Without Going Broke" (The Princeton Review Inc., 2013 edition), offers more tips:

-- Assume your child is eligible for aid. Don't rule out a college because you think it's too expensive. The higher the cost, the more aid you may receive.

-- Research the forms you'll need and due dates. "The process can be overwhelming," notes Chany. "Many colleges have different deadlines for different aid forms. Chart each school's and your state's aid application requirements so you don't miss any deadlines. While most are due in February and March, some are due in January.

"Check to see if any of the schools require the College Board's 2013-14 CSS PROFILE or other forms besides the FAFSA."

-- Figure out your "expected family contribution." Before you apply for aid, use the worksheets in financial aid guidebooks to calculate what the college will estimate you can afford to pay.

"Make sure you have the most up-to-date information, as rules and formulas change every year," Chany cautions.

-- Maximize your child's eligibility. Consider making appropriate adjustments to your assets, debts and retirement provisions before you submit the FAFSA.

For those with high school juniors and younger: Freshman year need-based aid awards for college are set in part on income for the tax year ending Dec. 31 of the student's senior year of high school.

-- Do your 2012 tax forms early. To meet early aid application deadlines, you may need to estimate your 2012 tax return data.

-- Practice and proofread! "Many parents make costly mistakes in aid applications and fail to get the aid they're eligible to receive because they don't understand how their responses impact aid eligibility," says Chany. "The forms are complex and take time. Do a practice run on paper before you submit anything online. Double-check everything. Do you have forms for the correct academic year you are seeking aid? Have you answered all the required questions? Did you sign and date them? Keep copies!"

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: Our family overspends, and our 2013 resolution is to budget! Our kids are 15, 13 and 6. Are there materials to help teach them how to manage money better than their father and I do?

A: According to the Financial Educators Council, most parents don't talk to their kids about money because they don't feel they know enough to guide them. Yet learning good financial habits early helps young people avoid common mistakes, such as accumulating too much credit card debt. Young adults ages 20 to 25 make up the largest group filing personal bankruptcy, so helping your children become savings-savvy will give them a good foundation for money management.

While learning to budget is important, make financial literacy your goal, says Gail Karlitz, author of "Growing Money: A Complete Investing Guide for Kids" (Price Stern Sloan, 2010). "Financial literacy is knowing how money works," she says. "It's a set of skills to help you earn it, manage it, invest it to earn more money, spend it and donate it to help others."

Karlitz likes to use allowances to teach children to manage money. "Don't tie allowances to household chores -- those should be done without pay as part of being a member of the household," she says. Pick an amount you feel comfortable with. Many parents give a dollar a week per year of age.

With your family, discuss needs (food, clothes, housing), wants (treats, entertainment, things we like but aren't essential), goals (things we must save for, such as a new car) and giving (church collections, presents or charity), says Karlitz.

Explain to your kids that, as parents, you will take care of the family's needs while they are growing up. Have your two older children keep notebooks with sections for their needs, wants, goals and giving. List what they want to include in each and estimate how much of their allowance will go to it.

Involve your older children in a similar discussion of the whole family's needs, wants, goals and giving. The Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy has a simple online calculator called "reality check" to make this a fun learning exercise. Plug amounts into key expense categories to see the relationship between your spending and your income. The exercise will not only help your family create a framework for budgeting, it will give your teens a snapshot of what they have to earn to maintain the lifestyle they envision. (For more information, go to jumpstart.org/reality-check.html. Check the site's map for financial education programs in your area.)

Your 6-year-old can join in too. A new nonfiction series called "Smart Start: Money" (Red Chair Press, 2013) provides a good introduction to financial literacy. The four stories -- "Super-Smart Shopping," "Kids Making Money," "Saving for the Future" and "Sharing With Others" -- align nicely with the concepts your older kids will be discussing.

"Smart Start: Money" author Mattie Reynolds says, "Young children can easily grasp the concepts of earning, saving, spending and sharing money if they read about them in the context of their daily lives." (Go to redchairpress.com to find the four-book set.)

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)