Ancestry Provides Free Resources to Educators

Ancestry, a leading genealogy company, is providing free resources to educators and parents. The purpose of providing these tools is to make this school year a little easier. For the first time, Ancestry will provide K-12 teachers across the US a free 6-month World Explorer subscription to access billions of historical records, providing support in lesson development and project creation for the school year ahead. The subscription includes: Unlimited access to most records on Ancestry, including more than 3 billion international birth, marriage, death, census, military, church and other records Access to all public family trees on Ancestry Access to … Continue reading

YouTube Introduces YouTube Kids App Profiles

YouTube started rolling out Kid Profiles on November 2, 2017. The purpose is to have a kid-safe YouTube Kids account that your child can use to access kid-friendly content. It also means that parents won’t have to share their YouTube account with their children anymore. YouTube explains the decision to create Kid Profiles this way: “After talking to parents all over, we know that kids who love the YouTube Kids app are getting older and want a platform that’ll grow with them. Whether kids are watching Monster High, DC Kids, LEGO, learning their ABCs, or picking up the latest tricks … Continue reading

Why Some Parents are Unschooling Their Kids

Unschooling is a form of homeschooling that involves less structure and more child-centered learning. Parents who are unhappy with the way that learning is presented at schools have been turning to the unschooling movement as their solution for what their child’s education should be like. Unschooling has some similarities with homeschooling. In both cases, a child stays home and receives his or her education there (instead of in a classroom at a school). Each educational style allows parents to be very involved in what their child is taught. Parents can set the speed that information is presented in order to … Continue reading

Fifteen Minute Breaks Could Help Kids Stay Focused

When adults take a fifteen minute break at work, they tend to come back a bit less stressed and more able to focus on the tasks at hand. It turns out that kids at school can obtain the same benefits from a fifteen minute break. Schools in Finland have already implemented this strategy. They’ve been doing it since the 1960’s. A typical American public school could include one 30 minute recess per school day. The exact amount of time can vary. Some schools might have recess that lasts for 45 minutes, while others might only allow 20 minutes for recess. … Continue reading

Free Range Parents Cleared of Neglect Charge

It can be extremely frustrating to have someone criticize your choice of parenting style. Imagine how scary it would be to have the police tell you that your parenting style is considered to be a form of neglect. This situation happened to parents in Maryland – who have since been cleared of child neglect charges. It all started with a trip to the local park in December of 2014. Parents Alexander and Danielle Meitiv allowed their son and daughter to go to the park, and walk home, by themselves. Their son, Rafi, was 10 years old, and their daughter, Dvora, … Continue reading

Coloring Books Aren’t Just for Kids

Think back to when you were a child. Did you spend time happily coloring the pictures that were in your coloring books? Today, many adults are rediscovering their love for coloring. There are several different types of detailed coloring books out there which are intended for grownups to use. Coloring is fun. It’s something that people first learn how to do when they are in preschool or kindergarten. Little kids can improve their fine motor skills by grasping a crayon and using it to color a picture. They find it rewarding to color a picture all by themselves and are … Continue reading

Vermont has the Healthiest Kids

We all want our kids to be healthy! It appears that the state of Vermont is doing very well towards making that hope a reality. Data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control about the Green Mountain State shows that Vermont has the healthiest kids in America. How does what Vermont is doing compare to your state? The Centers for Disease Control’s Data Resource Center released a survey called The National Survey of Children’s Health. It took the results of the survey and presented them in a way that made it more accessible to parents (as well as other researchers … Continue reading

Ways for Kids to Celebrate Flag Day

Flag Day is celebrated every year on June 14. It is a holiday that was designed specifically to honor the American Flag. How much do you know about the history of this holiday? Here is a quick review of the history of Flag Day, and some suggestions about how children can celebrate it. The first Flag Day occurred in 1885. BJ Cigrand, who was a schoolteacher, was the first to get it started. This teacher arranged for the students in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 as “Flag Birthday”. The date was selected because it … Continue reading

Frugal Ways to Entertain Your Kids this Summer

Summer vacation is a time that most children excitedly look forward to. It is easy to see why. They get a whole lot of free time! Parents are going to need some frugal ideas for fun activities that will entertain their children. Here are a few ideas to try. Bubbles Little kids cannot get enough of bubbles! You can pick up small bottles of bubbles, complete with bubble wand, from a dollar store. Check the dollar racks at Target, too. Parents can sit down outdoors and blow bubbles that their toddlers will chase. Older kids can blow bubbles on their … Continue reading

Swapdom Lets you Swap Kids Clothes with other Parents

Are you looking for used baby items? The traditional way to find them is to ask your friends and neighbors if they are willing to give you the baby items that their children have grown out of. This method is generally “hit or miss” and requires a bit of networking skills. Swapdom.com offers a more efficient method for finding free baby items. There are many different methods that a parent can use if he or she is looking for free baby clothing (and other baby items). You could let your family members, friends, and co-workers know that you are in … Continue reading