You’ve got kids, the internet has Facebook. It’s inevitable. More and more and more teens and tweens are signing up for a Facebook profile. I have touched on keeping teens safe online in the past. But now, my 15 year old does have a Facebook account. As mentioned before, I have her password. But, I’ve added a new weapon to my online tracking- MinorMonitor.com

MinorMonitor is a FREE online service for parents to track your child’s actions on Facebook. I love it. There’s a few things I wish it did more of, but for what it does do, I’m happy. If you have multiple children, you will need multiple accounts, one account may only be linked to one facebook profile. No big deal. Registration and set up are very easy. Once you register on their site, you will need access to your child’s facebook profile, but you do have their password, right?! You’ll need to authorize the app, once authorized you’re good to go and your child probably won’t even know. They’d have to go digging through their profile to find the list of apps they’ve given permission to in order to find it.

MinorMonitor tracks comments, statuses, photos and videos. You can change settings to be alerted when keywords are posted. In some cases you might not be able to click through to read conversations unless you sign in to your child’s facebook profile or “friend” their friends. It’s all in the Facebook settings of the other person (you know, that allow friends of friends thing…). One thing you don’t see is private messages. Those only show up when there’s some on the alert list. Not too big of a deal to me, I do want to give my daughter some type of privacy.

I just can not recommend this program enough. It has more potential, but what it offers (and free at that!) is wonderful and fills the need. And let me tell you, this thing does not skimp on alerts! The phrase “I’m going to get off the computer” was red flagged for get off, and “tempted to say” was flagged as mild profanity.

Note: I logged in today to grab this screen shot (where I’ve blurred out personal information) and I see a link to add a child. I get a pop up telling to upgrade in order to add multiple children. I knew they mentioned adding this feature in the future, so definitely something to keep an eye on.

UPDATE: I was just informed by MinorMonitor by the ability to monitor multiple children was just rolled out this week (I knew I hadn’t seen that before) and it does not cost extra. I have given them a screen shot of the pop up I received and I’m sure they’ll get it fixed right away. I’m sure it won’t be too long before my second child asks for a Facebook account. For now, he’s content having me follow his favorite soccer team and enter contests

Check out MinorMonitor and let me know what you think!

Tell them I sent you by using my email address, steph_atm@hotmail.com, when you sign up!

Pinwheels for Peace was started in 2005 by two art teachers, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan. The idea started as a way for their students to express what was going in the world and their lives. The project spread quickly. The first year has an estimated 500,000 pinwheels and in 2009, an estimated three million pinwheels were whirling.

Participation is simple. Just create a pinwheel, as simple or as complex as you desire, and plant it. On the site, you’ll find a template and directions. You can also print a certificate of participation for the members of your group or family if you desire.

To learn more about the International Day of Peace, visit Peace One Day and International Day of Peace.

School lunches create an excess of 3.5 billion pounds of garbage each year. An average elementary accounts for 18,760 pounds annually. Stop with the paper bags and start using a reusable bag or lunch tote.

To get yours, simply enter the UPC of two Annie’s products, along with the purchase date and you’re good to go. I just happened to have 2 boxes of Annie’s Gluten Free Bunny Cookies.

Tell them I sent you by using my email address, steph_atm@hotmail.com, when you sign up!

Homeschool Skedtrack is a FREE online lesson planner, scheduler, and tracking system rolled into one. The heart of the system is the automated scheduling of activities that frees you from the headache of rescheduling everything once an activity/lesson is missed.

You can put in your “students”, all of their courses, they’re schedule, track grades (if you wish), create report cards and transcripts. I spent a month getting everything put in for the next school year, well, not quite all assignments yet. I knew that having a kindy now, the big kids would need something to track what they need to do each day as I would be too busy with the little ones. This is helping TREMENDOUSLY. Each student gets their own log in. They log in each morning and see what assignments are to be done, they check them off when completed. I log in when I can and approve things. I can edit assignments as needed. Subjects can be scheduled whatever days you want, so they don’t have to be done each day. If something isn’t completed, it shows up the next time that subject is scheduled.

To be honest, it was very confusing to figure out at first, but once I got the hang of it, I love it. The kids do as well. They’re no longer waiting for me to decide what subjects to do or make the necessary copies (did all of that at the beginning as I put the assignments in). They’re pretty much on their own, they just need to make sure they grab me when I’m free for those subjects where they need me. My oldest son, T1, knows what is expected of him and for the most part gets it done! I’m not hounding him to stay busy and stop getting distracted. He knows what he has to complete each day, he can do it in the order that satisfies him and he can see what he’s done and what’s left to do.

To continue my lovely organization attempt, I did my own version of Sue Patrick’s Workbox System. She has a great system, but it required too much of me and too much space in my house so I modified it. I bought each child a 30qt Rubbermaid tote to keep all books, binders, papers, pencils, crayons, everything together. They just grab their box and go. When not in use, the boxes go next to my desk so that as I have time, I can look through completed work. No more searching the house for an hour to find that missing book or pencil (yes, that has happened quite often!) I’m finding though, as we’ve used for a few months now, that T1 is getting a bit lazy with returning his books to his box. It’s still better than before though so that’s a plus.

For $1, you can send trees to your family and friends. What a great gift for the person that already has everything. File this one away for the holiday season! But don’t forget Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and birthdays as well. You choose the tree and the country

Brighter Planet will donate 136 pounds of Carbon Offsets for no charge at all. All you need to do is click above and claim your gift. The average American emits 136 pounds of carbon dioxide daily just from every day activities. That’s enough to fill 5000 balloons! There is a limited number of gifts and they’re given out on a first come, first serve basis, so hurry!

My gift to you this holiday season is to have one carbon neutral day! After you claim your gift, click on over to Brighter Planet’s blog and see how you can conserve this holiday season.