Mind Mapping – Freemind Review

What does mind mapping have to do with homeschooling you ask? Plenty! I wanted to bring you this Freemind review to let you know about a nifty little program you can use in many aspects of homeschooling or home business.

If you’re not familiar with mind mapping, basically it is a way of organizing thoughts and ideas in circles that connect to each other. It is amazing how an idea in your head or even on paper can be made clear and understandable using a mind map.

I heard about Freemind quite a while ago and have used it several times mostly in my home business. It can be used for anything you have to do though. It can help you figure out how to get your house clean, how to plan a unit study in homeschooling, how to help your child take notes, etc.

You just start by downloading the software for free from Freemind. You do have to give them your email address, but I haven’t received hardly any emails from them that I know of. The software is well worth a little email address.

Don’t get too worried about using a software program if you’re not technically minded.  Your child will be able to use this program with ease, so you should be able to use it too. You start out with a circle where you put your main topic. It can be “Homeschool 2010″ if you want to plan out your next year, or “Ancient Greeks” if you want to plan a unit study. Use your imagination here. Freemind can help you organize and plan out anything!

After you have filled in that main box, then hit enter. Then go up and hit the little lightbulb button at the top of your screen. Another circle will appear as an off shoot of your main idea. Here you can put in a main topic for your idea.  You can just keep hitting enter and a new line will appear for another topic. When you are ready to start breaking down those topics into more detail, just go to a line and back up to the little lightbulb icon and click it. Then that topic will be able to be broken down even more.

This is a nifty little tool you or your children can use to help you organize and plan anything relating to anything.

I hope you liked this Freemind review and that you get a free copy and try it for yourself!