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Times Machine is a database of New York Times articles that allows students to access exact digital copies of the famous newspaper from 1851 to 1922. With articles on the assassination of Lincoln to the sinking of the Titanic to... Continue reading

The American Sign Language University offers both ASL I and ASL II on their site, free. Each course equals .5 credit for American high school, 6 CEUs, or 4 University semester hour credits. This is a simply created course. It... Continue reading

I heard of SwagBucks for a long time before I started using it, but I kept ignoring it because things that sound good sometimes also sound gimmicky. Then I started noticing that a lot of you visit Freely Educate each... Continue reading

A few days ago, I attended a virtual webinar on lactose intolerance. Interesting type of webinar to attend, no? I was interested in learning more about lactose intolerance since my mother has problems with it, and to raise my own awareness since lactose intolerance is progressive; many people develop a lactose intolerance later in life. Here is a bit of what I learned in the webinar: What is Lactose? • Lactose is the major carbohydrate in milk and other dairy foods • Lactose (milk sugar) consists of two simple sugars – glucose and galactose • Lactose must be broken down into glucose and galactose by the intestinal enzyme lactase before it can be absorbed by the body What does it mean to be Lactose Intolerant? Most people produce that natural enzyme, lactase, which breaks down lactose (sugar in milk). The amount of lactase your body produces will determine how much lactose your body can break down. There are a few options for those with lactose intolerance: Eat dairy foods that don't typically bother a person with lactose intolerance: yogurt (especially Greek yogurt), cottage cheese, aged cheeses, and butter. In the grocery store, you may have noticed LACTAID, a dairy product... Continue reading

Over 5 million kids across America and Canada have bowled free in the Summer! Registration has opened for Summer 2013. Your children may bowl two games per day for free (your bowling center determines whether or not shoe rentail is... Continue reading

Three of our kids and I - the three who are too young for full-time jobs - are heading to DisneyWorld in Orlando today. We were invited by Disney, along with about 174 other bloggers, to spend Mother's Day weekend... Continue reading

In less than 24 hours, three of the kids (the three who don't have jobs!) and I are heading to DisneyWorld in Orlando. I have been invited, along with about 174 other bloggers, to bring my family to play in the Central Florida sun while learning what Disney has to offer families. Below is a collage of our 2012 trip down there. I'm so happy to go back but sad our now-17yo can't go with us. He has a full-time job, and the trip across America was what he chose over the Disney trip, since he had never been in the Western states. It was a good choice, but we will miss him very much. This year, I decided to focus on a theme: how homeschooling families can benefit from going to DisneyWorld. I'll be looking for all sorts of learning opportunities and collecting tips for you! I'll share them on FreelyEducate.com, my other blog, or here. While I'm away, look for my photos of magical moments on Instagram. View the tweets here. And read my Facebook updates here. Have you been to DisneyWorld? Continue reading

Since our 17-year-old, a homeschooler, is preparing to attend college next year, I am researching how to best prepare him for the exams he will need. In my research, I have looked at many test preparation options. Recently, I was... Continue reading

A homeschool blogger who uses the Charlotte Mason approach, Practical Pages, teaches art appreciation by creating traced line drawings of famous artists' works. Using tracing paper, she creates the drawing, then prints it out for the students to then fill... Continue reading

I was recently given a beautiful craft book to review: Sew Pretty T-Shirt Dresses (and I have one to give away! Hang on a minute; let me tell you about it first...). The book has over 25 patterns for t-shirt dresses for little girls. Wait, even if you don't sew much! Here is what I really really like: the dresses all begin with a t-shirt. All you do is add the skirt material and embellishments. And they are cute. Even though the book's patterns are especially for girls aged 2 to 8, I find the patterns easily adjustable for my 10-year-old. Even just using the concept is helpful! The book is a glossy, quality paperback with full-color illustrations and photographs throughout, including a 12-page T-Shirt Dresses 101 tutorial. To Learn More about Sew Pretty T-Shirt Dresses: Visit To Purchase the Book, or to View Pages: Visit the Sew Pretty T-Shirt Dresses page on Amazon (if it's still out of stock, visit the publisher at Sixth & String Books. To Enter the Giveaway of one book shipped to one winner for free: Enter the information into the entry form below. a Rafflecopter giveaway This giveaway/review is part of a blog tour.... Continue reading

I will experience the quite literal pain of moving a child into and out of his college dorm or apartment within the next two years. I look forward to many things about him going off to college (related to him... Continue reading

An artist created a free template for a paper globe. Assemble the paper globe to teach geometry and geographic concepts. One teacher had the children color the globe. The globe includes assembly instructions, which may be downloaded in metric or... Continue reading

We Give Books is a free website that much to children: free books to those who need them, free access to read over 100 books online, and free reading and book lesson plans for educators. In other words, We Give... Continue reading

The kids and me.... Continue reading

I introduced you to Coursera a couple months ago, but seeing a course on tomorrow's calendar reminded me to let you know there are many courses beginning in the next month. At Coursera, dozens of universities offer hundreds of courses... Continue reading

On March 18th, we fell in love with a little rescue puppy, who had been abandoned in town with her two little sisters. Her sisters were adopted over a 3-day arts & crafts festival weekend, but nobody wanted the black puppy....until we came along and fell in love! Who couldn't? She has been expensive... ...she has become part of the family.... ...and she has been a little bit spoiled...just...just a little bit.. And she has triped in size! This photo was taken just three weeks after the first photo - when she was 11 weeks old.... Welcome to this crazy family, Rivière. Continue reading

MIT has created a free lesson plan using Lego building blocks. The LEGO Chemical Reactions lesson introduces students to molecules, atoms, chemical notation, and chemical compounds (or reinforces these concepts) through an engaging hands-on wet lab, and LEGO models of... Continue reading

Making memories is one of the most important parenting goals for me, and it's part of the beauty of being mom and dad: you get to make dreams come true. In fact, our eldest two children are right now on a road trip across America with their grandparents from California to the Florida border. Since I believe in making memories, Make-A-Wish® is my favorite charity, and I'm so happy to share how to help them this month... What is Make-A-Wish? 30 years ago, a boy's dream came true when he became a police officer for a day. His wish inspired the founding of Make-A-Wish®, and since 1980, Make-A-Wish has granted wishes to thousands of kids with life-threatening medical conditions. This year alone, Make-A-Wish will grant over 10,000 wishes! When you help Make-A-Wish, you not only help a child create a memory, but you may also be helping the child become healthier! A granted wish often gives the child renewed hope and strength. Parents say the wish strengthens the family bond. And medical professionals say the wish is often a turning point in the child's battle for health! That's enough incentive for me! How can we help Make-A-Wish make more wishes... Continue reading

Understanding how to manage finances is one of the most important areas of education, and yet this is an area where many students are not taught. CompareCards.com, a trusted credit card comparison site, has recently published free financial lesson plans... Continue reading

And...they're off! We flew our teens from Florida to California, so they could drive across America with my parents, their grandparents. They've seen the Sierra Nevada Mountains and San Francisco so far. Tomorrow, the Pacific Coast beaches (and surfers!). Continue reading

Concordia University in Chicago has created beautiful art history lessons on many popular artists. There are ten free art history lessons for elementary and middle school students, grades 1st-7th. Artists and Their Art: Sharing Visual Stories focuses mainly on art... Continue reading

Blick, a huge art supply company, offers free multicultural art lesson plans and now free video workshops of their most popular lesson plans. The lessons are clearly marked by grade level, and there are art projects for all skill levels... Continue reading