Journal Buddies Review

Today's world tell us that it is important to focus on our external, what others have and what we aren't or don't have. Well, I think I speak for most of you when I say that isn't what we want for our kids. This is why I was so excited to get the opportunity to review Journal Buddies (girl's edition) by Jill Schoenberg. This interactive journaling system has won the Dove Family-Approved Seal and also won the 2008 Mom's Choice Award. Dove's review of the girl's version said that it is:

"a very creative way to help
encourage self esteem in young girls. It is so important in this day and age to
help children with their self-image. This delightful ingenious journal will show
them a way to capture their imagination, ideas and thoughts and share them with
others. Giving the diary concept a different look. This is a perfect gift for
young girls."

So as you can imagine, I had high expectations when I opened up the envelope from Jill Schoenberg. I wasn't disappointed! Now I have to say, I have always wanted to journal but am very intimidated by the blank page so I was unsure how to get my kids into journaling. Journal Buddies completely takes care of that. First off you are looking for good traits in friends and in yourself. Then it gives you oodles of creative ideas of what else to put into your journal. I love the encouraging statements and words to focus on. I also like the fact that she encourages the kids to go to parents if they have a problem and to get input on their journals so it isn't some secretive activity that sequesters the kids.

You can get this great system from Amazon or order from Journal Buddies for only $16.95. If you order it from Journal Buddies you will get a ton of extras:

• You'll receive a signed copy of the book!

• Over $83 in free bonus gifts (listed here)

• A rock-solid 45-day money back guarantee

• A free pack of creative journaling supplies compliments of the author, Jill Schoenberg

So you know how much I love it. Now you need to get it for your child or any child that you care about!

(This is a Family Review Network review!)

Tiny Prints Contest!!!!

I love Valentine's Day cards! That was one of the few things that I loved in grade school. You would have you little mailbox and then go home and look at all the cards you were given. I loved it so much that we do that here in our family and also have cards for the kids' friends. So you can imagine my delight at seeing Tiny Prints new line of Valentine's Day cards. They have cute kids cards, photo cards and even "green" cards for the environmentally concerned. So how would you like to win a $50 gift certificate that is good not only on Valentine cards but anything they carry? Well, here are the rules to our game!

How to enter:

1. Go to Tiny Prints website and set up an account.
2. Choose your favorite Valentines Daycare and add it your "favorites" located directly under "personalize" option.
3. Tell me why you chose that card as your favorite.
4. Leave your email address, make sure the email address the the same one you set up your Tiny Prints account with!
5. Do all this before February 5th.
   

Need more ways to enter?

• Blog about this with a link back here and Tiny Prints
• Subscribe to my feed

Make sure to leave a comment for each entry.

* Fine print: This is open world wide. This contest is running on several other blogs, as you can & should enter on all of them, please know you can only win ONCE per Companies rules. Please enter all the contests available for the best chance to win! Good Luck!

All About Homophones

Those of you who read my blog may remember my love affair with All About Spelling. Well, they have created another obsession for me called All About Homophones. I received the e-book to review and I must confess that I was disappointed to not get the paper book. But my disappointment was quickly gone as soon as I opened the file. This book is full of awesome tools, ideas, worksheets, games and more!

I love the ideas they have for graphic organizers that your students can build their own collections of homophones. Also they have various worksheets and crosswords broke out by grade levels. This is where the e-book becomes extra handy. I can print out as many as I need for each kid and they are perfect (this is versus a photocopy out of the book). There are also various card games that you can just print onto cardstock. Then if the cards get bent or otherwise destroyed just print them again.

I love homophones because it really helps the kids to learn how to use context and logic in order to decipher the proper meaning of the word. So I am thrilled to say that I love this resource for teaching homophones from kids in kindergarten all the way to 8th grade!

Nana Star Review

We recently received the Nana Star doll and book to review and the NerdPie loved it! This soft doll is just precious and comes with her star and the twig he sits on. The book is sweet and well illustrated. The only bad thing that could be said is that is was a bit short. But it is so sweet and also comes with a cd. This is that perfect grandparent gift because NerdPie will have this doll and book for years! They also have a Moonman for boys and it is also very cute!

So go check it out!

Skin MD Review and Giveaway

I must declare, I am a California girl. Now, I don't live on the beach but I do live in a place in which it gets very hot and the sun is usually shining. I am also very fair (I believe the term some high school friends used was "glow in the dark white"). So wearing a daily sunscreen is a definite need. Pair that with the fact that I don't wear foundation, I have to moisturize well and take care of my skin. That is why I was so stoked to get to try Skin MD Natural.

Skin MD Natural is a shielding lotion that has an spf 15 in it. So what is a shielding lotion? It is a protective lotion that keeps out all the environmental ick and at the same time adds humectants to your skin keeping it moisturized. I really liked it. Because I am always on a computer or washing my hands, due to keeping house, I am very picky about my skin feeling oily. Skin MD Natural didn't leave an oily feeling at all. This is also the first product I could use on both my hands and face! I have sensitive skin that can be prone to breakouts and I was pleasantly shocked that I didn't breakout at all! The lotion has a light sunscreen odor that quickly dissapaites and has a light feel as you apply that is completely weightless.

Win it!
So how would you like to win a 4 oz bottle of Skin MD Natural of your own?

To enter:

* Go to the Skin MD Natural website, use the Store Locator and tell me (in a comment) where they sell Skin MD Natural around you. That’s it!
* A random winner will be selected and notified on Jan 24th.
* The winner will then have 3 days to claim their prize.

To earn extra entries, you may do one or all of the following. Each one counts as an extra ticket but you must leave a separate comment for each one.

* Subscribe to my feed.
* Mention this giveaway on your blog with a link back here.

This giveaway is open to addresses within the US. Please leave a way to contact you in case you win.
(This is a FRN review)

KinderBach Review

I got the opportunity to try out the KinderBach program with my kids and I LOVE it! For $86 you get a year's access to over 300 lesson aimed at teaching music to kids 2-7! For us this came at a perfect time because we had just gotten a piano. I was contemplating getting the 7 year old into piano lessons and then planned on trying to use that information with the rest of the kids. So when I priced out lessons I was looking at $40-$50 a month and everyone said the other kids were to young to learn yet. Well, this program is so entertaining and engaging that all the kids really plugged in. KinderBach uses games, songs and even coloring sheets to really draw kids into music and what composes it. This maybe the group birthday present for the NerdFamily kids this year, I loved it that much!

Cute story: After just the first set of lessons we took the 3 year old into the church service that Sunday. A friend of the family was playing the piano during the offeratory and Nerdling started getting so excited. I wispered in his ear asking him if he was excited to see Aaron the stage. He said, "No mom, Aaron is playing notes on that piano to make up the song". That is when I knew he was getting it!

KidsWealth Money Kit

Money and money management seemed to be a problem for everyone and the kids are a little young for the full Crown Financial program. So how do we teach our kids about it? Well, I recently received the KidsWealth Money Kit for my kiddos and I really like it. This isn't a math based money program but a reality based one.

Basically you give your kids a portion of the money you already spend on them. Then you divide it into separate wallets (which really helps with the division in their minds) that each have their own spending areas: wealth, plan, learn fun and angel. The program encourages you to always take the fun wallet out with you and when your kids ask you to buy them something you simply put the ball back in their financial court. The wealth wallet is interesting because it is about growing their wealth. That can be savings, stocks or maybe something else (I am thinking a little business)

So the down sides (what can I say, I am a critical person). I don't really spend a lot of extra money on my kids (you know the toys when you take them shopping for socks at Walmart). So that throws off the base idea of a monthly amount to give them out of what you already spend on extras. But it does help us decide what to do with the money from grandma or the pay for extra jobs they do. The other (slight) downside is that the fun wallet is so big. It won't fit in my son's pants pockets and my 5 year old doesn't carry a purse. So it could be one more thing for mom to chase or just sub in a wallet of your choice for the fun wallet.

Over all we really liked it and will be employing it with all of the kids for years to come!