NEW BEGINNINGS

"Ask and you shall receive" lol...Thanks to Jennifer one of my readers for asking for some girly girl student planner covers for her daughter. I LOVE to make girly girl things when I can.

Here are four new  girly girl student planner covers that are on the Free Student Planner page. You can download there. Enjoy and thanks Jennifer for asking!

I have heard from so many of you that are making their planners or recipe books/cookbooks right now. If you have pictures, I would love for you to share how you individualized yours.

TIME SENSITIVE FREEBIES  (hurry hurry today)

Sign up for a complimentary 2-issue subscription to Family Circle - October Issues. It looks like October 1st and 17th are the free issues.

https://www.valuemags.com/freeoffer/freeoffer.asp?offer=familycircle-rdc

Free Pearlessence Flora Reeds

For fragrant diffusers. Natural rattan reeds draw up fragrant solution and diffuse selected aroma into the air.

Freshen any room with these colorful floral wicking sticks.

http://astracandle.com/free-pearlessence-flora-reeds/

Amazon has free Native American Flute Lullabies (GREAT music with a Native American Co-op or Field Trip coming up) I listened to part of it...I just love the flute....

As always Amazon changes their freebies frequently, when you go to download the prices should say $0.00.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005BYUQ68/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thefreblo08-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B005BYUQ68

FREE WEBSITES  - WHEN YOU HAVE TIME FREEBIES.

Free Children's Books. Cute stories to download and book mark for reading.

http://www.childrensbooksforever.com/index.html

Free All About Me Book to print off from First Grade Fanatics. Each year while the boys were in elementary school-- I still do one for my youngest, we do an All About Me book. They are good for looking back over at the end of the year for a keep sake.

http://firstgradefanatics.blogspot.com/2011/07/few-back-to-school-items-and-freebie.html

 I found this site when I was looking for recipes for a "crowd'. I seem to cook ALL at once for a bunch and then just for family. Anymore nowadays my boys eat enough for a crowd...but I have been eyeballing a few of the recipes she has for free.

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/meals-to-feed-to-a-large-crowd

 NOW, this is just absolutely the coolest things I have seen lately.

It is FREE ware and it is a program where you make a mosaic out of your photos for the year. I just downloaded it and can't wait to start playing with it.

The pictures above are from Andrea's site to give you an idea of what you can do with the freeware. Thank you to Andrea for providing this free. 

http://www.andreaplanet.com/andreamosaic/

Hugs for today and remember,

"Blessed are those who can give without remembering and

take without forgetting."

~Elizabeth Bibesco ~

(Teenager Teacher Training in Progress....)

I always use to wonder how moms did it all.....then I figured it out...get those "all knowing" teenagers to teach their siblings......

Why is it that the most "simplest" of science activities intrigues them?

 Here my oldest is teaching about a simple pulley. Our materials were 1 spool, one straw, one twelve inch string, 2 - eight inch strings (one for each paper cup), washers, and 2 paper cups.

This activity was from A Reason for Science one of my favorite resources because they send you almost everything you need to perform the activities ( I don't like the fact they went up in price significantly after I brought my curriculum, but it sure is nice to have almost all your materials )

For the experiment, stick the straw through the spool.

Make two loops on each end of the 12 inch string, and wrap it once or twice around the spool.

Then stick two holes under the rim of the paper cups at the top. One on each side of the paper cup. Use something big enough to make the hole with so that the string fits through and doesn't come untwined.

Stick the 8 inch string through both holes then take the ends and stick them through the one loop on the 12 inch string. Do the same with the other paper cup.

Then use your pulley to raise and lower using the washers to show how the pressure changes. The pulley should look like this.

 (Of course we have all these materials now)

And yes that is my youngest guy who has now moved to sit on the table so he can do the activity better...

 I'm telling you girls, put that "teenager to work".

Compact For Reading

This freebie is from a Compact for Reading that has guides for Kindergarten to third grade CHOCK FUL of assignments in each guide.

 I have a couple of pics I took from the Kindergarten download above and each grade has similar activities to cut and write. When you click on each grade, look at the top for the download to download the whole grade instead of just parts of it.

http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/CompactforReading/index.html

 Free Sunflower and  Let's Play Dough E Books

Grab these two freebies from the Nature Store..

http://nurturestore.co.uk/free-ebooks

And then here are some time sensitive freebies as well. As of today, they were active and working but with freebies you have to grab 'em when you see them.

 This is for a FREE PC or Mac Game - Hidden Wonders of the Depths 3: Atlantis Adventures .

 The code is: WDFREE . The price is regular $6.99 Click buy it and prompt along and use the code. You will need to give an email account. So be sure to use one that you don't mind giving out.

I always have two or three different ones I use for things like so I don't give out my main email account.

http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/7883/hidden-wonders-depths-3-atlantis-adventures/index.html

Subscribe to one of organic valley lists and then after you subscribe you get a screen asking you if you want the free welcome  kit. The Welcome Kit includes: Rootstock Magazine, a Kid’s Activity Booklet, a Go Organic! bumper sticker, and a booklet of Organic Valley coupons!

http://www.organicvalley.coop/community/subscribe/

And the free two year lego subscription is available again.

http://club1.lego.com/en-US/subscription/default.aspx?step=2&SkuId=9052b50e-271e-46d2-9abb-e1950f8cc438&CountryId=US&cahandle=

Hugs to you today.......

From Todd Wilson

The Smithsonian is just a wonderful resource for free educational materials but I especially like this unit. It is an introduction to a nature journal. I know in the past we have not really used a format for nature journaling, we just kind of drew and wrote something. So I love page 10 that shows what more your child could add. Nice lesson plan. . .

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/journals/index.html

I know there are homeschoolers who either need to keep or prefer to keep their lesson plans on line and not a paper planner. ME, I still prefer paper planners..hee hee....I am HOOKED on them as I love forms, etc..... but for some folks I know paper planners aggravates them.

BUT if I had to use one, it would be this one. It is TOTALLY free and can do so many good things. It keeps grades, (prints progress reports), you make class assignments, you can create new classes and upload documents, video and create flashcards. It has a LOT more than we will use as homeschoolers but I prefer having more than "barebones" when I use FREE things.  Can you tell I am impressed? Take time to watch the video, it is WORTH it to get the maximum use. It operates much a like a spread sheet where you move from cell to cell. How do you think it compares to Homeschool Tracker? I think it's a tad better.

https://ww4.engrade.com/

Free printable behavior charts that has "behavior bucks", cute idea. Check it out.

http://www.freeprintablebehaviorcharts.com/behavior_bucks.htm

An award-winning FREE interactive digital storybook destination. Classic children’s stories brought to life by TV star Kathy Kinney as Mrs. P. From the site: It is completely free, making it a fun and educational online destination for teachers. The site also contains interactive games, coloring sheets to download, and activity guides to accompany chapter books like “Alice in Wonderland”. Every story also offers read along options so children can see the words, which is helpful to early readers, and ESL students. We have created a handy link for you to be able to sort through video stories to find the ones that are age appropriate, or time appropriate, under our "View Just Videos Link". This way you can bypass the Magic Library and get straight to the videos. We also have made a "Fun Activities" link for you to be able to find coloring sheet downloads, activity guides, and other freebies in a snap of a finger! Both of these are located on Mrs. P's main page for your convenience. Fun word and spelling games! Mrs. P also has a dictionary for kids to look up words, downloadable posters at our press site for you to use in your classroom.

 http://www.mrsp.com/

I enjoyed this quote, it is so true about our homeschool journey. Leave negative thoughts behind, they don't do anything for us.

When the world says, "Give up,"

Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."

~Author Unknown~

Hugs to you today,

~Tina~

Free Daily Clipart. Great for any use.

CLICK HERE TO GO THERE.

When I read that statement in our science book after we had eaten our "atoms and molecules" during one of our activities, it took me back to my boring science classes in early elementary school.

In the early years, science should be especially fun. Inferring, measuring and predictions go hand in hand with experimental cooking.

Edible and hands on science is a great way to get the WHOLE family involved. Even the youngest member can add an ingredient or two to a edible "rock formation". Very young ones understand the texture of different cereals and learn fractions naturally by eating one-half of a biscuit or apple.

Simply put, hands-on and edible science lessons brings learning to life. Growing rock candy and watching it for days then eating our "crystals" instilled a love of learning science in my boys.

Everyday items like eggs (used to teach float/sink and why), salt, sugar, food color dye, marshmallows (build a water molecule with the different colored ones), jell-o, chocolate and reese's pieces (great for showing layers of earth or teaching parts of the cell), milk turned to yogurt (teach fermentation) and rice crispy cereal (use to teach positive/negative charge) are there in your kitchen waiting to be "explored".

Science is about life and marveling at even the tiniest things the Creator has made. Don't get bogged down in teaching so many facts that your children get bored. Review at every grade can be incorporated-just keep the wonder alive.

Since some science books can be dull and boring try to incorporate books that teaches stories along with hands on activities. Knowledge is very important but so is the process of acquiring that knowledge.

Feed your children's curiosity and remember so many of those "supplies" cost pennies -taken right out of your own kitchen. if you ever come across the statement "don't eat your science experiments" - walk out to your garden and eat your "results".

©2011 Tina Robertson - New Beginnings

©2011 Jupiter Image

Even though New Beginnings is located in Texas, our aim or goal is to help new or struggling homeschoolers anywhere. The workshops are a perk of our program, but the private e-loop is the focus of it. Our support program is not "location specific" but "individual specific".

By joining New Beginnings, we are confident you will feel better equipped to home school your children.Go here to join.

Free E-Book. 22 Fun Activities for Kids.

Click here to go there.

Using something like this will guide those of you who have not taught reading to get familiar with the phonograms. It's an excellent idea they have of printing them off and storing in loose leaf binder.

Too, if you want to put together your own prek, K or even 1st grade lesson plans,  these are still taught and reviewed in those grades.

Click here to download.

Grab some nice downloads about fruits and veggies here. There are some nice colorful downloads to use as worksheets and learning cards along with some recipes.

Cute resource.

Click here to go there.

Download this nice 92 page Little Kid Crafts Minibook - Year Around Crafts for Kids 2 and Up:P.

Go here to download.