With all the enthusiasm for Open Office I thought I'd start a thread where we could post free and cheap software we've found helpful in our homeschooling. http://www.openoffice.org/ (of course) - A superior office suite and alternative to Microsoft Office. GIMP - A free and powerful alternative to Photoshop. Inkscape - "An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X." Great for the artist in your family. Desktop Calender - a very simple calender program with a free version that will create pop up reminders. Budget Calendar - this one has a free 30 day trial and is $15 but worth it if spreadsheets and budget worksheets never made sense. Having my budget laid out in calender form seems to make all the difference for me and after using it for a few months I can actually put together a budget the old fashioned way.
Do you know how to use GIMP? I downloaded it once and couldn't make heads or tails of it.. I loved the old Picture It (I think it's what it was called, it was on my XP machine), and I like Photoshop.. I love doing digital scrapbooking but can't afford to buy Photoshop, so when my trial ended so did my creativity.
I generally google GIMP tutorials when I need to use it for something I haven't tried before. I digitally ink stuff so I was googling "GIMP inking". I found a tutorial on digital scrapbooking with GIMP here!
Thanks so much, I have a migraine today, but tomarrow when I feel better I will have to study and play!
For those of you who use openoffice. do you add on the add ons? Do they make it even better or are they a waste of memory space. I would like some feed back on this before I download them.
It depends on the add-on. I do a lot of writing to friends who live in Mexico and Spain, so the Spanish spell checker is going to be invaluable to me. I did DL and extension today that's supposed to turn your slide show into flashcards. I thought this would be good for the boys, but I see it as only useful once they are a little older... like maybe 5th grade or so. I do like how it rates your mastery level for each flashcard based on how many times in a row you get it right. (in other words, knowing the first time isn't good enough. you have to consistently show that you know it before it marks it as long-term mastery).
How about some one stop shopping. Filehippo.com Everything there is organized. The stuff they have will not put spyware on your system. They will tell you if there is a catch or if it is freeware or a demo. There are only a few demos, and lots of stuff that is totally free to use. I have put together dozens of computers using only stuff from this site. Antivirus, anti spyware, cd burner software, dvd viewing software, the works it all there and free.
CRAZYMAMA- I hope and pray you feel better soon! I have been right where you are this week! God Bless!:love:
I use fineprint.com software to print stuff out! My DD has 2 stories for school that I needed to print out and I made each "story" into a little booklet so I saved paper and made it easy for us to take with us PLUS I don't mind her highlighting words she doesn't know. Oh I first got it because it will help you print on both sides of the paper by telling you HOW to put the paper back in the paper tray It tells you to take it out and just set it in or rotate 180 etc so everything prints right.
Thanks, hope you are feeling better too. Now to only get through today and tomorrow when you have that spaced out brain feeling and life will be grand again until the next one decides to menace me.
Well, I just DL'd Daisy Maths and it wouldn't work. I have the newest version of Java (I checked before the DL) but it wouldn't launch.
I'm sure most already know this but Homeschool Tracker is a popular record keeping software and has a basic free edition. Also, Easy Fun School provides a LONG list of free resources. I haven't been through them all but I'm sure everyone will find something useful for them there. I can't post the URL's since I am a newbie but if you google them, you can find them easily.
I Downloaded this and 10 year old gs loves it...he informs me this has really helped his learn his 7 multiplication facts!!
