Freely Educate

How to Keep the Kids Busy This Summer

If your kids are like mine, they are not averse to rotting their brains in front of the TV, Wii and XBox all Summer.  (Imagine those things being at all interesting to kids!)  This morning, I created a chart for  the kids.  I told them they need to spend 30 minutes doing each of these today:

• Something educational on the computer
• Something that makes you move
• Something that you can make or do (a project)
• Something that you can write or read

"Something educational on the computer" included any of the highlighted sites from here, Freely Educate.  Tomorrow, I'll add Activity TV to the list of allowed sites.  I think this one will keep them interested longer than 30 minutes (yay!).

Activity TV is a digital cable program that also offers its videos online, at ActivityTV.com.  The available projects range from origami to juggling, so you'll have to check this one out to see all there is to offer!  I know our 4 kids (14, 12, 10, 7) will enjoy this one!

This high quality, 100% free educational find was sent to me from Amy Machin, who said, "My kids (8, 7, 6, & 4) love it!"   Thanks, Amy!

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4 Free Piano Lessons Sites

I have two three! four! piano lesson sites for you today.  The first was sent in by a FreelyEducate.com reader (thank you!), who suggested  Get Piano Lessons .com.  

The second site for you is Piano by Chords .com.   This method teaches you to play your right hand by ear while your left hand plays chords.  The first lesson emphasizes memorizing the piano keys, and the remaining lessons expand on that, teaching chords and how to play by ear. 

Now we have a third recommendation, thanks to FreelyEducate.com reader, Jen.  This site is called Zebra Keys. The site creators write, "Our site provides over 50 free piano lessons for various levels of difficulty. Each piano lesson is accompanied by visual flash animations that allow learners to view and hear songs as well as play along with the animations on their own piano keyboard. Learning piano with Zebra Keys is fun and easy!"

Here is a link to the 4th option  (highlighted on September 21, 2009).

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here 

Have a resource or giveaway to share?  Email me at loriseaborg @ gmail.com

I have two three! four! piano lesson sites for you today.  The first was sent in by a FreelyEducate.com reader (thank you!), who suggested  Get Piano Lessons .com.  

The second site for you is Piano by Chords .com.   This method teaches you to play your right hand by ear while your left hand plays chords.  The first lesson emphasizes memorizing the piano keys, and the remaining lessons expand on that, teaching chords and how to play by ear. 

Now we have a third recommendation, thanks to FreelyEducate.com reader, Jen.  This site is called Zebra Keys. The site creators write, "Our site provides over 50 free piano lessons for various levels of difficulty. Each piano lesson is accompanied by visual flash animations that allow learners to view and hear songs as well as play along with the animations on their own piano keyboard. Learning piano with Zebra Keys is fun and easy!"

Here is a link to the 4th option  (highlighted on September 21, 2009).

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here 

Have a resource or giveaway to share?  Email me at loriseaborg @ gmail.com

Free Music Lessons (including piano, guitar and music theory)

Piano Lessons, Music Theory, Guitar Lessons, and Harmonic Dictation are the courses offered through G Major Music Theory, a site dedicated to providing music lesson free and free of membership.

The site is not pretty, and it has more ads than I normally tolerate, but I took a look at the lessons and think it's a pretty good deal at the price of ...free!

Mandi, a FreelyEducate.com reader, sent in the link.  She wrote this about the free piano lessons:  "[This site] provides everything you need for piano lessons, even theory work pages and first pieces.  There are familiar favorites and original pieces.  This is a fantastic resource."

Thanks, Mandi!

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here 

Have a resource or giveaway to share?  Email me at loriseaborg @ gmail.com

Online Piano Lessons

I have two three! piano lesson sites for you today.  The first was sent in by a FreelyEducate.com reader (thank you!), who suggested  Get Piano Lessons .com.  The site may be worth a dig into it to see if it has what you're looking for in piano lessons.  Note:  Beware of clicking on the random highlighted words throughout the text.  Nothing bad will happen if you do; you'll just be carried away to other sites via Google, when all you really want is to look at piano lessons!  Scroll to the bottom of this page to view 10 beginner piano lessons. 

The second site for you is Piano by Chords .com.  This site is better laid out for you, so it is easier to navigate (more time for playing the piano!).  This method teaches you to play your right hand by ear while your left hand plays chords.  The first lesson emphasizes memorizing the piano keys, and the remaining lessons expand on that, teaching chords and how to play by ear.  This course interests me, so I'm sure I'll be learning right alongside any of you who also choose try it!

Now we have a third recommendation, thanks to FreelyEducate.com reader, Jen.  This site is called Zebra Keys. They write, "Our site provides over 50 free piano lessons for various levels of difficulty. Each piano lesson is accompanied by visual flash animations that allow learners to view and hear songs as well as play along with the animations on their own piano keyboard. Learning piano with Zebra Keys is fun and easy!"

Guitar Lessons

I highlighted Justin Guitar once before, but am running it by you again because I recently bought my first guitar (why not?) and need to learn how to use it!  I'm impressed with the free video lessons and print outs offered at Justin Guitar. 

I'm on this lesson, the D chord (as you can see, below, it's the first lesson, so, um, yes, my progress is mighty slow):

My fingers don't look like that.  Mine look like big lobster claws clasping onto a bit of driftwood.  I keep telling myself that if I can learn knitting, which also felt incredibly awkward at first, then I can surely learn how to strum a guitar!

Anyone else in?

Music Theory Workbooks

We're buying a keyboard this week, so I was happy to discover (thanks to a local homeschool mom) the site above.  The lessons begin with "The Keyboard and Treble Clef."  Translation:  They start at the very beginning and you don't need to know anything to begin.  Yay!

Free music theory workbooks are found here. The site also offers Free Piano Music (oolala, in French, too!) and Free Guitar Music.

Graph Paper & Writing Paper to Print

Can't find that stack of graph paper you only use a couple of times each year?

Need some writing paper for your Kindergartner, but don't want to take a trip to the store?

Do you need just a few sheets of music paper, accounting ledgers, storyboards, but don't want to invest in an entire stack of 100?

Well, for the cost of paper and a bit of printer ink, you can have many types of papers to fit many needs!

Here are a few samples of what IncompeTech has to offer:

Thank you, Frantically Simple, for this high quality and 100% free educational find!

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Guitar Lessons Online

Through videos, photos, and text, JustinGuitar.com offers free guitar lessons*

Below are a sampling of the lessons available at JustinGuitar.com: 

• The Basics
• Beginners Course
• Technique Lessons
• Chords
• Scales
• Arpeggios
• Aural Training
• Masterclasses

Here is a direct link:  http://justinguitar.com/

*Note:  The content is 100% free, but the owner does have a way for people to donate, if they so choose, which he mentions often.

Enjoy this high quality ~ and free! ~ educational freebie from FreelyEducate.com!