Freely Educate

Thank you!

Good Saturday morning!  I'm working on next week's posts right now, but wanted to pop in here to tell you "Thank you!" for being so supportive during our giveaway days this week. You encourage me with your comments.  The publishers are also pleased, which is a great thing, as then they'll want to be more generous more often!

Winner announcements will be sometime in the weekend of August 6th-8th (we have a young lady turning 13 that weekend, so I'm not sure when I'll make time for blogging!).  You have until August 6th (noon) to enter these giveaways:

Five Classic Books

A Full High School Art Curriculum

A Full Year of Chemistry

A Full First Year of Latin

A Full Spelling Curriculum from All About Spelling

 I hope you win!

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Giveaway from All About Spelling: A FULL Spelling Curriculum!

Today is our last day of the Freely Educate's First Annual Giveaway Week!  For today's giveaway, we're bringing back a favorite...

All About Spelling isn't a - yawn! - workbook method of learning spelling.   Instead, All About Spelling is a hand-on spelling program that will interest every kid in your bunch, as it has ours...

The All About Spelling program is logical and organized enough for even me to figure out and use easily with children at four different levels (grades 8, 6, 4, and 1).  The system uses letter tiles (pictured above) and flashcards to teach spelling.

Our family receives all sorts of educational products to possibly review for Freely Educate, and while we only post reviews of products that we think are good, we don't always keep the products to use in our own little school. All About Spelling, however, definitely will be staying at home in our schoolroom.  It is solving our problem of poor spellers (they are so very phonetic!) while making the effort as painless as possible for the teacher (me). 

 

Here is a little more about the All About Spelling program from the publishers:

"All About Spelling is your clear action plan for teaching spelling. Designed for effective, stress free teaching, the series progresses in a logical, sequential order. Through direct instruction, students learn exactly what they need to know in order to spell well.

The All About Spelling program brings together three pathways to learning - auditory (hearing), visual (seeing), and kinesthetic (touching).  This multisensory approach, combined with a built-in review system and reinforcement activities, ensures that students retain what they learn and understand how to apply it in practical situations."

Go to the All About Spelling site to learn more about the program and to order a free report called, "The 20 Best Tips for Teaching Spelling."

We want to give away a set of All About Spelling's  Level One to one of you.

The winner's package will include:

• AAS Level One set (book and student Material Packet)
•  Letter Tiles
• Phonogram Audio CD-ROM

All of that will be sent to one of you, shipped free, of course!  (value: $56.90 and free s/h)

2009 Note:  Since we are just now starting out with All About Spelling, we started even our big 13yo 7th grader in Level One.  He's whizzing through it, as he should, but the reinforcement of the basics is good for him as well as for his 11yo, 5th grade sister.  Our 8yo (3rd grader) also is doing Level One, at a much slower pace.

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This time, you may enter more than once!  You get one entry per comment, but you may comment more than once by...

 

1. Just leave a comment, saying you want one. That's easy!
2. Visit All About Spelling, click on Articles (top of the home page), then come back here and tell us which of their article titles sound most helpful to what you're facing in your school. 
3. Blog about this giveaway on your blog or website   then come back here and leave a link to the blog post so we can visit you.
4. Tweet about this giveaway (copy your tweet to @freelyeducate).
5. Join our Facebook fan page  or click on the "Like" button below this post.

That's 5 ways to increase your chances of winning!  You can enter up to 5 times.  But, remember, you need to enter 5 separate times, because that makes it much easier for me to count up entries when I go to Random. org to select the winner.

Only one entry per method, okay? Post your entries separately. Entries are open to U.S., U.K., Australian, and Canadian addresses! Random.org will select the winner.  The winning entry will be verified.  Entry deadline: Friday, August 6th, at noon CST.

I hope you win!

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Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Join our Facebook community here

The All About Spelling program is logical and organized enough for even me to figure out and use easily with children at four different levels (grades 8, 6, 4, and 1).  The system uses letter tiles (pictured above) and flashcards to teach spelling.

Our family receives all sorts of educational products to possibly review for Freely Educate, and while we only post reviews of products that we think are good, we don't always keep the products to use in our own little school. All About Spelling, however, definitely will be staying at home in our schoolroom.  It is solving our problem of poor spellers (they are so very phonetic!) while making the effort as painless as possible for the teacher (me). 

Giveaway from Classical Academic Press: Latin for Children Mastery Bundle ($100 Value!)

Classical Academic Press carries some of our family's favorite products.  Here on Freely Educate, we've highlighted and given away their Argument Builder books, a Latin Christmas CD (Veni Emmanuel), and my favorite, Song School Latin for the little ones. 

This time, Classical Academic Press is giving away a huge Latin for Children A, Mastery Bundle worth $100 plus shipping. The Latin for Children curriculum is designed to introduce students as young as third grade to Latin.  My favorite part about the program is this:  "Latin for Children is taught directly to the child, and is a perfect choice for teachers and parent who will be learning along with their students." View a video introduction and learn more about the Latin for Children program at the Primer A webpage.

We're giving away all you will need for a student's entire first year of Latin!  The Latin for Children Mastery Bundle A includes all of the following:

Latin for Children A, DVD & Chant CD Set

 

"Imagine having an experienced Latin teacher walk right into your home and sit down to teach your students. With this DVD set, your students will be receiving just that kind of one-on-one learning experience. This set also includes a CD: " The Chant CD is "is an incredible tool to use for fun memorization." Learn more about the program and listen to audio samples here.

Latin for Children Primer A, Textbook

"[The] workbook text is engaging, incremental, creative, and filled with clear grammatical explanations written expressly for the student." Learn more about the textbook and view sample chapters here.

Latin for Children A, Answer Key

"Full-size worksheets from the Primer, with answers to quizzes, exercises and worksheets in bold print."  Learn more about the answer key and view a sample chapter here.

Latin for Children A, History Reader

"Young Latin students can begin to translate and read a selection of simple Latin stories at their own level." Learn more about the history reader and peek at a sample chapter here.

Latin for Children A, Activity Book

"With over one hundred pages of games, puzzles and fun, these books make mastery of the classic language a blast!" Learn more about the activity book and peek at a sample chapter here.

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Do you want the Latin for Children A, Mastery Bundle?  Well, then, all you need to do is write us a comment below (see "comments," below the ad).

You may enter more than once!  You may comment (and enter) more than once by...

1. Leaving a comment, saying you want one. That's easy!

2. Tweeting this giveaway, then let us know you did.

3. Facebooking about this giveaway, then let us know you did that.

4. Blogging this giveaway, then come back and give us the link so we can visit your blog, too.

Only one entry per method, okay? Post your entries separately. Entries are open to U.S. only. Random.org will select the winner.  The winning entry will be verified.  Entry deadline: Friday, August 6th, at noon CST.

I hope you win!

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Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Join our Facebook community here

Giveaway from Friendly Chemistry: A $100 Teacher & Student Curriculum Set!

After a quick read through the introduction of Friendly Chemistry, you'll find that, hmm, chemistry is a little more interesting than you thought.  Read a bit longer and you'll find yourself surprisingly absorbed in elements and molecules.  Then...gather some students,  teach a Friendly Chemistry lesson and you'll see that chemistry is not only fun, but the kids are asking to have another chemistry class!  Say what?!  I know I never asked for a repeat of a chemistry class when I was their age!  But I was never taught friendly chemistry like this kid is...

That's our 13yo, who is demonstrating "Element Bingo," in which he places playing pieces on element symbols (eg. Fe) as I call out the element's full name (eg. Iron). Friendly Chemistry, a 32-week program, is full of hands-on learning suggestions like element bingo.

The writers and publishers of Friendly Chemistry are Joey and Lisa Hajda, two very qualified teachers.  They describe Friendly Chemistry like this: "Friendly Chemistry was written using simple language and a host of analogies to make learning (and teaching!) chemistry easy.  We believe that the chemistry concepts presented in Friendly Chemistry are NOT watered-down.  The concepts are just explained in ways that are readily understood by most learners.  Coupled with these explanations is a host of teaching aids, labs and games which makes the learning concrete and multi-sensory.  Students find the course fun and painless.  Parents often comment, 'I wish I had had this when I was taking chemistry.   Now it all makes so much sense!' "

Visit the Friendly Chemistry site for answers to questions about the program for homeschoolers or for answers to questions about using the program in private or public schools. The set retails for $100 ($50 for the student edition, including manipulatives + $50 for the teacher edition).

Guess what? The publishers want to offer one of you a free set of Friendly Chemistry. 

This giveaway includes:

• Student text
• Teacher text
• Set of manipulatives:
  •     Doo-wop Board, which is a unique tool to teach electron orbital arrangements and ionization.
    
  •     Element Flashcards
  •     Doo-wop Mania card game
  •     Compound Intensity cards to accompany Compound Intensity Board Game found in the Friendly Chemistry Teacher's edition
  •     Ion Flashcards which are multisized cards which not only teach ion symbol and charge, but also how compounds form.
  •     Bag of playing pieces, chips and dice.

The winning set will look like the one below, although there may be a few differences, since I photographed our set which we've been using for months.

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This time, you may enter more than once!  You get one entry per comment, but you may comment more than once by...

1. Leaving a comment, saying you want one. That's easy!

2. Tweeting this giveaway, then let us know you did.

3. Facebooking about this giveaway, then let us know you did that.

4. Blogging this giveaway, then come back and give us the link so we can visit your blog, too.

Only one entry per method, okay? Entries are open to all countries! Friendly Chemistry adds, "we may need to negotiate postage for an overseas winner if necessary."  Random.org will select the winner.  The winning entry will be verified.  Entry deadline: Friday, August 6th, at noon CST.

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Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Join our Facebook community here

After a quick read through the introduction of Friendly Chemistry, you'll find that, hmm, chemistry is a little more interesting than you thought.  Read a bit longer and you'll find yourself surprisingly absorbed in elements and molecules.  Then...gather some students,  teach a Friendly Chemistry lesson and you'll see that chemistry is not only fun, but the kids are asking to have another chemistry class!  Say what?!  I know I never asked for a repeat of a chemistry class when I was their age!  But I was never taught friendly chemistry like this kid is...

That's our 13yo, who is demonstrating "Element Bingo," in which he places playing pieces on element symbols (eg. Fe) as I call out the element's full name (eg. Iron). Friendly Chemistry, a 32-week program, is full of hands-on learning suggestions like element bingo.

Giveaway from Spears Art Studio: A Full High School Art Curriculum! (and Free Lessons for All!)

Spears Art Studio, Inc. offers "fine art and private & homeschool K-12th grades Christian art curriculum supporting the grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric stages of Classical education."

This art curriculum is Christian based, with many projects working with Biblical themes.  Each lesson  is accompanied by a suggested set of Bible verses to read.  

One of you will win a CD-rom of the 

Spears Art Studio High School Art Curriculum

value $34.90, international shipping included

Here is a description of the curriculum from the publishers:

Spears Art Studio High School Art Curriculum, A Study from a Christian Worldview© is a student manual written for HOMESCHOOL FAMILIES AND CO-OPS, PRIVATE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS, and INDEPENDENT STUDY.

• 
Seven Major Themes, 36 Lessons, 75 Art Activities, 36 Sketchbook Assignments
• Supports the Rhetoric Stage of Classical Education

• Addresses:
• • art elements - line, shape, space, color, texture, form
 
  • principles of design - repetition/pattern, proportion, contrast/value, emphasis/ focal point, balance/symmetry/asymmetry, unity, variety, harmony, movement/force/rhythm

  • perception skills - edges, spaces, relationships, light/shadow, gestalt 
  • 
processes - drawing, painting, sculpture, fiber, printmaking, graphic design

• Contains:
• • connections in each lesson - Scripture, art history, contemporary art connections

  • 144 visual memory exercises

  • unit tests and answer keys

  • helps: tips and subs; how to evaluate artwork, etc.

  • analyzed for National Visual Art Standards

  • 162 pages total, 177 black and white illustrations, 52 color illustrations

• Accreditation option

There are many free lessons at the Spears Art Studio website.  These are full lesson plans, ready to download and save or print:

Free sample art lessons for K-8th

Free sample art lessons for high schoolers

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You may enter more than once!  Here's how:

1. Leaving a comment, saying you want one. That's easy!

2. Tweeting this giveaway, then let us know you did.

3. Facebooking about this giveaway, then let us know you did that.

4. Blogging this giveaway, then come back and give us the link so we can visit your blog, too.

Only one entry per method, okay? Entries are open to all countries!  Random.org will select the winner.  The winning entry will be verified.  Entry deadline: Friday, August 6th, at noon CST.

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Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Join our Facebook community here

Giveaway from Salem Ridge Press for 5 Winners!

One of my favorite publishing companies has offered to kick off our FreelyEducate.com Giveaway Days with our first giveaway of the week:  A softcover book of your choice will be sent to 5 of you! 

A couple of years ago, we received three books from Salem Ridge Press, a tiny family-run publishing company "dedicated to bringing back quality children's books of the 1800's and early 1900's for a new generation of readers."  We received Mary Jane (Her Book), Glaucia the Greek Slave, and The White Seneca. They are still, two years later, three of our favorite books.

My favorite thing about Salem Ridge Press is that I can trust them.  They are so thorough in their review process, that they publish only those books with the highest moral and literary qualities. I know two things when I order a Salem Ridge Press book:  It is a book that is okay for the kids to read, and they'll enjoy reading it. 

The complete Salem Ridge Press listing contains, if I counted correctly, 27 books.  You may view the list by time period, age group, alphabetically, or by author.  

Do you want a free book?

Salem Ridge Press wants to give away FIVE books!  Five winners will receive one softcover book, of the winner's choice, in the mail, straight from the publisher (no cost, not even shipping)! (Value: $14.95 each book, plus shipping)

Here's how to enter:

It's simple!  Go to Salem Ridge Press, choose the book you'd like to win, and let us know your choice in the comments, below. 

If you want to get another entry in the hat, do one or all of these options, after you have entered with the above method:

1. Sign up for the Salem Ridge Press quarterly newsletter.

2. Tweet this giveaway, then let us know you did.

3. Facebook about this giveaway, then let us know you did that.

4. Blog this giveaway, then come back and give us the link so we can visit your blog, too.

Only one entry per method, okay?  Please post each entry separately. Only US addresses this time.  Random.org will select the winner.  The winning entries will be verified.  Deadline:  Friday, August 6th, 2010, at noon CST.

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Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Join our Facebook community here

A couple of years ago, we received three books from Salem Ridge Press, a tiny family-run publishing company "dedicated to bringing back quality children's books of the 1800's and early 1900's for a new generation of readers."  We received Mary Jane (Her Book), Glaucia the Greek Slave, and The White Seneca. They are still, two years later, three of our favorite books.

My favorite thing about Salem Ridge Press is that I can trust them.  They are so thorough in their review process, that they publish only those books with the highest moral and literary qualities. I know two things when I order a Salem Ridge Press book:  It is a book that is okay for the kids to read, and they'll enjoy reading it. 

The complete Salem Ridge Press listing contains, if I counted correctly, 27 books.  You may view the list by time period, age group, alphabetically, or by author.  

Do you want a free book?

Salem Ridge Press wants to give away FIVE books!  Five winners will receive one softcover book, of the winner's choice, in the mail, straight from the publisher (no cost, not even shipping)! (Value: $14.95 each book, plus shipping)

Here's how to enter:

It's simple!  Go to Salem Ridge Press, choose the book you'd like to win, and let us know your choice in the comments, below. 

If you want to get another entry in the hat, do one or all of these options, after you have entered with the above method:

1. Sign up for the Salem Ridge Press quarterly newsletter.

2. Tweet this giveaway, then let us know you did.

3. Facebook about this giveaway, then let us know you did that.

4. Blog this giveaway, then come back and give us the link so we can visit your blog, too.

Only one entry per method, okay?  Please post each entry separately. Only US addresses this time.  Random.org will select the winner.  The winning entries will be verified.  Deadline:  Friday, August 6th, 2010, at noon CST.

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Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Join our Facebook community here

Our Giveaway Week is Starting Tomorrow!

Come TOMORROW for our first giveaway day!

I have lined up:

Something for chemistry

Something for art

Something classical

Something you can read

and Something for spelling

I'm really excited to give this stuff away!  I only invited those publishers and companies who carry products that we use in our little school.  These giveaway items are high quality, high value, and highly enjoyed by our learning kids.  I think you'll like them, too!

Please visit this week and enter to win the items.  We appreciate your support!

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p.s. If you have a product you'd like in front of 17,000 other educators (monthly), let me know.  This giveaway week is full, but I may open another one in August.   ~ Lori at freelyeducate@gmail.com.

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Our Most Popular Free Finds for High Schoolers

We're continuing our Best of FreelyEducate.com series by sharing a few favorite free educational finds for high schoolers.  Click on the titles or screenshots for a full review of the site:

Alice: Computer Programming

LiveMocha: language learning

GCF: math and computer skills

HippoCampus:  Algebra, Biology, Physics, History, to name a few!

Do you have any free high school finds to share with us?  If so, please do in the comments!

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Alice: Computer Programming

LiveMocha: language learning

GCF: math and computer skills

HippoCampus:  Algebra, Biology, Physics, History, to name a few!

Do you have any free high school finds to share with us?  If so, please do in the comments!

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Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Join our Facebook community here

Free Comic Books on Finances (in the mail or online)

Think our students need to study finances?  You bet they do!  The Federal Reserve has published quite a few comic books on the topic of money (banking, foreign trade, saving, and more). 

You may view the comic books online or order hard copies of them to arrive in your mailbox.  I went through the ordering process today and found both methods hassle-free and 100% free, no catches, not even a registration requirement.  You may order up to 35 copies of each comic book.

Here is a peek at one of the comic books:

 

How to Get This Freebie:  Visit the Federal Reserve Comic Books site (while there, you may want to browse around for other free, non-comic-book, publications)

For:  Elementary, Middle, and High School Students

Update added 7/23/2010:  I wrote this post on Saturday, the 17th, and ordered two comic books that day as a review of their process. We received the comic books on Thursday, the 22nd!  Our teen was immediately interested in them and claimed them as his own.

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Today's high quality, 100% free, educational find comes from reader Carrie Bon. Thank you, Carrie! 

Have a resource to share, too?  Email me at freelyeducate@gmail.com

A Great Budgeting Program = Great for Economics Students

We're going to have our teenager work on our family bills and budget this year.  We figure there is no better teacher than Real Life, so what better way to teach him economics than to have him take care of the real deal? 

Mint is created for your budgeting needs, not necessarily for use as an economics course, but I think it's going to be just the right program for us this year:

At Mint, you set up your accounts (super safe), then watch as the system figures out a budget for you, including automatically putting new credits and deposits in the correct budget accounts.

Worth Noting:  You can't move around money at Mint - it's strictly for budgeting purposes - so you don't have to worry about your teen skimming pennies from your accounts.

How to Get This Freebie:  Visit Mint.com

For: Middle, High, and College Students who are studying Economics. And, it's for You.

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Hope You Can Come!

I'm lining up the publishers now.  You'll love what they're giving away!

Held where?  Right here!

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p.s. I have just ONE slot left for a publisher!  Want in?  Email me, Lori, at freelyeducate@gmail.com

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The Periodic Table of Videos

If your students had an Einstein-look-alike with a British accent teaching chemistry, do you think they'd listen more attentively?

If so, you're in luck.  He, along with other scientists from the University of Nottingham, have created the Periodic Table of Videos.  

Lisa, a Freely Educate reader, suggested this site to you.  She says, "There is a fun and instructional video for each element and many will have a cool experiment to show the properties of the element discussed."

How to Get This Freebie:  Visit the Periodic Table of Videos

For:  All Ages Studying the Elements

Thank you for suggesting the site, Lisa!

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