Free Christmas Countdown Calendar Printables for Busy Parents

Looking for a cute Advent countdown to Christmas calendar? Here is a complete free printable advent countdown calendar activity featuring teddy bears labeled from 1-25. This Christmas countdown craft can be adapted in many ways for religious and secular advent calendars.  read more

Free Printable Chanukah Crafts for Kids (and busy Jewish Moms!)

Hanukkah or Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, begins at sundown Dec. 8, 2012. On the Hebrew calendar Hanukkah always falls on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar. For busy Jewish parents, trying to juggle work, kids and Hanukkah preparation, life can get busy around the holiday. Here are free printable crafts and activities to keep kids productively (operative word) occupied! Assign children tasks of making decorations and cards. This keeps them happy and out of mischief (for awhile anyway!) read on

How I Set Work-at-Home Boundaries

I've been a WAHM (work-at-home-mom) since 2005. There are advantages to working at home. I see more of my family, I'm readily available. I don't have to go out to work every day. Oddly, those advantages are closely related to the disadvantages. Work-at-home perks caused many problems before I learned to set boundaries. Here's how. How I Set Work-at-Home Boundaries with Myself and Family

How I Keep My Work-at-Home Job from Consuming Me

 Work-at-home jobs aren't always easy to manage. Since there's no official start or end to the work day, it's easy to overdo it. From seven years working at home, here's how I avoid that overwork tendency and balance my nebulous schedule. How I Keep My Work-at-Home Job from Consuming Me

Free Printable Halloween Word Games, Word Search, Word Scrambles, Puzzles

Little ones look forward to Halloween, but so do big kids. And sometimes it's hard to keep anxious kids, young or old, productively occupied while waiting. Got some big kids that need activities to keep them busy till trick-or-treat? Maybe you're a teacher or home school parent that needs activities to keep kids on task? Here are free printable Halloween and trick or treat word puzzles, games and word searches. Games are educational too! Use these free printable word games, word searches and puzzles for classroom lesson plans.   Free Printable Halloween Word Games, Word Search, Word Scrambles and Puzzles 

Montessori mom: At-home preschool dramatic play learning center

 As a special needs and former Montessori teacher, my classrooms have always been organized on the learning center principle. Learning centers are rotational play areas were children perform tasks related to specific content areas: math, reading, science, art, practical life, dramatic play. When I had children, I imported the learning center philosophy into my home. The play room was set up like a modified preschool classroom. Got toddler or preschool age kids? I highly recommend setting up learning centers. If you're homeschooling, learning centers are a must. Here's how this Montessori mom designed an at-home dramatic play area. Montessori mom: At-home preschool dramatic play learning center 

Montessori mom: At-home preschool practical life learning center

I'm a certified special needs teacher and a former home school parent. I also taught in a Montessori school. Both Montessori and special education follow a learning center-based classroom model. Learning centers (also called areas or stations), engage children in hands-on, multi-sensory tasks. Each center focuses on different activities: reading, math, science, building, gross motor, art, dramatic play and practical life. When I taught our kids at home, I brought the learning center concept into our home. If you've got preschool kids or are a home school parent, why not try the learning center approach? Here's how this Montessori mom set up a practical life learning area. Montessori mom: At-home preschool practical life learning center

Helping middle school kids transition to high school

Transitioning from middle school to high school is a lot like starting kindergarten--there are similar woes and worries. Will I make friends? Will my old friends meet new people and ditch me? Do I look okay? Will I get lost? Where's my locker and how the heck do I get it open? Here are parenting tips to help middle school kids transition to high school. Helping high school kids with back-to-school jitters

Parents' back-to-school concerns: Should kids ride the bus or walk to school?

Nervous about kids going back to school? A big cause of back-to-school anxiety for parents is transportation. Should kids walk to school? Are school buses safe? I drive to school; how do I juggle schedules? Here are parenting tips on coordinating school transportation. WAHMs and work at home parents, here are tips to help you decide. Parents' back-to-school concerns: Should kids ride the bus or walk to school? 

Back to School--Best Personal Calendar, Planner, Organizer Apps on the Internet

Okay, I admit it--I am an organizer-ophile. We online freelance WAHMs and SAHMs have to be if we want to juggle it all. With back to school on every parent's lips, personal planners are hot commodities.  But I am also a tightwad--I will not pay for cellphone organizers apps or software. And I don't have to, nor do you, when there are so many free calendar, student planner and personal organizer apps on the net.  Best Personal Calendar, Planner, Organizer Apps on the Internet 

How to Blog--Where to Find Free Blogs

One of the best online tools for sharing content, selling products and promoting freelance articles (if the site allows) is through blogging. Blogs are an online WAHM or work at home parent's best friend. For the SAHM, a blog can be make money, too. Looking for tips on how to blog? I'm your go-to gal-- I maintain 68 blogs (like this one) which get a combined 200,000 to 800,000 hits per month. Think you have to pay to blog? You don't. There are several free blogs and blogging sites. Here's how to get a free blog. Note: in the article, I offered a link on how to import Blogger blogs to Wordpress. That link doesn't work. But you can access that article here by clicking "wordpress" in the keywords list. In fact, this blog provides lots of blog helps. How to Blog--Where to Find Free Blogs

For best parenting practices, nix frequent cellphone texts

During most of my early parenting, cellphones weren't so common and texting was virtually unheard of. Though I've had a mobile device for about 12 years, I still don't have a texting plan. In parenting, I can think of few good outcomes and lots of negative ones from frequent cellphone texting. I'm not referring to business cellphone use, but casual chat. Here's why texting and parenting don't mix. For best parenting practices, nix frequent cellphone texts

How to Add Articles to Pinterest without a Good Photo

Pinterest pals and fellow writers, bloggers--want to add your articles to Pinterest but lack a decent photo? Articles don't pin from site share functions because the template doesn't know which photo to use. My good friend Marie-Anne wrote this helpful, easy how-to guide using photos you upload and attach to the articles. Check out the must-read guide. How to Pin on Pinterest without a Good Photo. 

Teaching kids a healthy work ethic--start this summer

There's a misnomer among kids that summer break from school entitles one to three months of leisure. Not only is that unrealistic, it's unhealthy. All work and no play may make jack a dull boy, but all play and no work makes him self-indulgent and irritating. Summer is a great time to build a positive work ethic. In order to do, we need to dispel and rethink some erroneous assumptions about work.  Read more at Teaching kids a healthy work ethic

Teaching kids a healthy work ethic

There's a misnomer among kids that summer break from school entitles one to three months of leisure. Not only is that unrealistic, it's unhealthy. All work and no play may make jack a dull boy, but all play and no work makes him self-indulgent and irritating. Summer is a great time to build a positive work ethic. In order to do, we need to dispel and rethink some erroneous assumptions about work. Teaching kids a healthy work ethic

Free Printable Blank Checks for Money Math, Economics and Banking Practice

Money, banking and finances are some of the most practical math applications. Students learn to write checks, balance a check book and manage debit, savings and checking accounts. Here are free printable checks, check register, deposit and withdrawal slips. Links and websites listed below have free printable bank and check book activities to give students hands-on money math practice. Use these activities in consumer math classes, special education lesson plans, homeschool and math activities.  Free Printable Blank Checks for Money Math, Economics and Banking Practice 

Free Printable Math File Folder Games--Helps Working Parents Keep Kids Productively Busy

File folder games are a teacher's best friend in classroom resources. They work great for busy working parents, too. File folders games are great for parents of special needs students as they are hands-on, interactive resources. Here are free printable math activities that can be easily made into file folder games. You can print these games and glue the game board to a file folder. Cut out the pieces and laminate game board and pieces. Place game pieces in a Ziploc bag and attach bag to game file folder. The websites listed have free printable file folder games for number recognition, counting, skip counting, money math, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, math facts, fractions, decimals, story problems and other math concepts. Free Printable Math File Folder Games for All Grades

2Houses co-parenting website makes single parenting easier

Gill Ruidant is a co-parent. He shares custody of a son with his former spouse. To smooth the bumps of parenting between two families, Ruidant created an organizational website, based in Belgium, called 2houses. Although I'm not a single parent, Ruidant allowed me to set up an account to see how the site worked. He contacted me to say that I was one of the first to test-drive it. I interviewed Ruidant, asking about what goes into the creation of an organizational website (and soon to be cellphone app) how it can help co-parents. Here's what he had to say. Read more at 2Houses co-parenting website creator makes single parenting easier - Yahoo! Shine

Antidepressants Cause Perceptual, Focusing Problems

Antidepressants Cause Perceptual, Focusing Problems Nine years ago, I began taking the antidepressant Paxil (paroxetine), an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) to combat anxiety and depression. I weaned myself off from it, when I began to put on weight. Since coming off the Paxil, I've noticed several changes in my functioning, notably in the areas of perception and mental processing. It made my job as an online freelancer extremely difficult. I made countless processing errors. Here's how antidepressants affected my abilities and how I'm relearning the tools of my writing trade, sans antidepressants. Read on...