Although scheduled to begin actively learning to read this year in Kindergarten my little Peanut has been chomping at the bit to get some reading fundamentals down.

In comes ClickN READ Phonics.

The ClickN READ Phonics is a scientific research based online reading curriculum program designed to provide an interactive learning experience in an individualized environment…. It’s been created based on research to provide a great reading program that works for kids in a nutshell.

I was given the chance to review this program for my little Peanut (at just the right time I might add) and offer a giveaway to YOU! There are two programs but I’m reviewing ClickN READ Phonics but you can win either ClickN READ Phonics or ClickN SPELL.

The Gist:

Click N READ Phonics is set up as interactive animated lessons with an outer-space type theme and character (dog) that guides your student to the various learning rooms and through the various lessons, such as letter sound chamber, and listening cube, to work on phonics lessons.

You start ClickN READ Phonics at a specific point in the lessons depending upon where your child is in the reading game. So say your child has already been learning to read and may have the letter sounds down (the case with my child) then you would start at a later lesson. If your child is just starting on the path to reading then you would start at the beginning. A child who may be having a bit of difficulty grasping reading would start at another spot. And so forth.

It’s internet based so to get to work you simply log on with a simple logon and password and then you can further customize it and lock that down with a password so your child can fiddle with it except to learn.

When you first start you enter you child (or children’s) name and what lesson they will be beginning on. They take it from there and follow the guided instruction through phonics reading lessons.

At the end of each lesson there is a read out of what was missed, how many times, and what could be worked on. The parent can view progress reports at any time. You can preview lessons, print out practice sentences and words for ongoing review and view samples of lessons to come.

Drawbacks:

No product is perfect for everyone.

If  your child needs more personal support in learning to read then this might not work for you.

It’s all online so if you’re on dialup or don’t have great computer access this probably would not work for you.

Your child will need to be slightly proficient on the computer (using the mouse and occasionally keyboard).

My Experience:

Since we have a few computers in the home and I do work on one I like to have a few educational programs for my Peanut to enjoy at times during the day.  Although she learned basic letter sounds at the end of preschool last year and is scheduled to actively learn to read (phonics) this year in Kindergarten I decided it would be a nice idea to supplement with some activities such as  ClickN READ Phonics until school starts in a few days.

I have to say I am impressed and had I known about ClickN READ Phonics before I probably would have started my daughter on it a year ago. Seriously. Sometimes a child wants to learn things faster than they are being taught in school and she has been chomping at the bit to read. We all know every child and their capabilities are different but I like what I’ve seen so far. I started her with the sample to see how I would like the interface and if she could do it by herself (I’m in the room).

Although it is animated I very much liked that it wasn’t rife with glitchy loud music and goofy antics that had no relation to what the goal is which is teaching your child to read. This was important to me as I have tried a few programs that think I want my child to learn through rap or rock. No thank you. The dog character has small interactions with the animated screen which are not over the top (in my opinion) or too distracting. It was just enough to make it fun for her.

BUT! Is she learning?! Yes! She’s been at it for a week and we (my husband, I and other family members) can see the progress. Of course she doesn’t read the daily paper to me each morning but she has been pointing out words here and there that she is reading. They are usually four to five letter words.

Don’t just take my word for it. Head on over to ClickN READ Phonics and sample the lessons for yourself.

GIVEAWAY:

Okay I probably should have had a separate post for this but here are the giveaway details for ClickN READ Phonics

One winner will recieve a free account for either ClickN READ and ClickN SPELL for their child.
#1 visit the ClickN KIDS site
#2 try the ClickN READ and ClickN SPELL FREE lessons on the homepage (on the right hand side)
#3 Come back here and leave a comment about the programs
#4 Extra entry for doing that twitter thing where you put @momtools in the post (you can follow me too but that’s not necessary nor will it earn an extra entry)
#5 Extra entry for writing a post on your own blog and tracking back to this post.

Giveaway ends Wednesday September 22nd at Midnight

Winner will be picked via Random.org. I’m taking my lovely assistant off duty since she will be in school and needs her sleep. I’ll contact the winner via email (so please leave a valid one).

{Although I am an affiliate for this product the above review and links are without an affiliate code. I did recieve an account to try with my child. If you do decide you would like to purchase an account after reading my lovely review and want to use my affiliate link here it is: ClickN KIDS }

My Purple Viking potatoes got scab! They taste great anyway. Something new to read up on for the winter months.

I admit to taking a spin on the book Use What You Have Decorating. When I say Use What You Have Cooking I’m talking about garden produce and items in your pantry.

As the summer begins to make it’s merry way into hibernation I find myself baking and cooking a bit more.  Also making extra meals for the freezer.

I recently sent one of my best friends a couple of my favorite freezer and mix cooking books so she could make ample use of her extra garden produce and stock her freezer with delicious meals and snacks.

As much as like cooking for the freezer I just don’t have the energy to make a day of it. Strangely enough I tend to make my freezer meals the day I come from  grocery shopping. I have all my ingredients fresh and ready to go.

Here is a list of what you’ll usually find in my freezer…

Lasagne (great tasting dinner the freezes well)

Parmesan Chicken (from The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet)

Beef and Ground Turkey Blend Meatballs (based off of the swedish meatball recipe in the Joy of Cooking

Master Beef Mix which I turn into soup (from Make-A-Mix)

And that’s it for completed meals. I also have homemade frozen cinnamon rolls and wheat blend dinner rolls that will be set out to rise and then bake.

This is all sandwiched by my ice cream, frozen chopped onions, carrots and celery. And frozen packages of ground beef, buffalo (my sister got me started on this), some steak.

So what is in your freezer?

I get the bug every year. Around the time school is getting ready to start I have a deep desire to clean and decorate the home.

It’s not unknown you know. Autumn Cleaning

Some years I’m better at it than others. This year I seem to want to decorate.  Our master bedroom needs some love badly so I’m taking my time about it but making changes in a few things. No paint but bed and maybe a tiny bit of new furniture.  I also need to purge and organize the home office to make space for all that goes on there. How many paint sets, crayons, workbooks, scrap paper, construction paper, chalk pieces, pens, tapes, scissors and glue does a five year old need anyway? And she knows if I’ve gotten rid of something.

But enough about me. Here are a couple of tools and sites I’ve been visiting as of late…

Haven of Home. I’m just having an all around good read here. Roxanne’s blog is a delight to read and she makes no apologies for enjoying the 50′s. Although this is from her spring cleaning series circa 2009 I like it for any time of year. She starts with decluttering her home room by room and then cleaning and then decorating.  (The link I’m sending you to is for the Spring Cleaning series.)

Spring Cleaning Year Round. These are just so cute. If you’re having trouble keeping on top of your chores consider picking up one of these darling chore boxes. Decorated so cute how could you help but keep on track? You will want to display this in a prime spot where you can smile at it’s sunny disposition each day. If you do end up ordering can you tell her Q&Q sent you? Thanks!

Crayola Giveaway Pack

This Giveaway Has Now Ended.

#2 Amy V is our winner (will be contacting you)

Crayola now makes green products and they want you to know. Using recycled plastic, solar energy, and reforested trees in their products to have less impact on the environment.  Just watch this video and read on about the giveaway.

Giveaway

Crayola and MyBlogSpark is sponsoring this giveaway where the winner will receive…

Crayola Green Marker pack

Crayola Green Crayonspack

and a Crayola Green Colored Pencils pack for your kids to take back to school

To Enter

To enter just leave me a comment on your thoughts about these green products and/or ways you may be teaching your child/children about helping the environment.

Get an additional entry by tweeting about this post and letting me know you did that.

Giveaway ends midnight August 31st. Hope this is in time for school.

The supplies for this giveaway have been generously provided by Crayola through MyBlogSpark (see my button on the side?)

It’s back to school time and that means thinking of healthy portable lunches for the kiddos. It’s nice to have a system in place when pulling lunches together. One less thing to think of is how to pack it all. Well Easy Lunchboxes has that all set for you and this week The Menu Mom Christine Steendahl is having a giveaway for an Easy Lunchboxes set.

Head on over and enter.

We had such a great crop of potatoes last year that we knew for sure we would have a great one this year.

Well….

Yes and No.

We planted two varieties again. The Purple Viking and last year’s winner German Butterball. All derived from Seedsavers.org (love em).

So it’s now mid-August and even though we’ll be harvesting all of them at the end of the month (like we did last year) we pulled a few today for dinner.

Waahhhh! The Purple Viking have scab. We pulled 4 of them and 2 had it really bad and two were not so bad. The German Butterball were lovely as usual.

Purple Viking Potato with Scab

I like to think of myself as a new vegetable gardener. I did have a veggie garden eons ago while I was still in college (go figure I told you I was domestic) but we lived in an area that must have been toxic because there were no bugs and we didn’t really know what we (my mom and I) were doing but we got a good harvest. I only did it one year and I ordered plants from those places you see in the inserts in your Sunday newspaper.

So like I was saying I’m new at this. I didn’t read about all the things that can go wrong with potatoes. I found one article about how to grow them in pots and went for it. I’m reading about it now.

That being said I now have started my list on growing succesful potatoes so next year we hopefully won’t have this problem.

Gardening is not perfect. A learning experience all the way.

Okay so here are today’s gardening links…

Seed Savers Potatoes (out of stock until later)

Dissertation to Dirt (I just liked this blog on gardening. Cute couple. And yes the link is about potatoes)

WSU’s page about purple potatoes (don’t be mad UW)

Saving of Seed Potatoes how to

And old post on a veggie garden

How do you wash your dishes?

There is some debate whether to use dish cloths or sponges to wash dishes. I’m of the dish cloth camp myself. Probably due to my love of vintage homemaking stuff.

I also have a fondness for ordering my household tasks by the days of the week. Some time ago I picked up some dish clothes with the days of the week on them. I’m not necessarily completely happy with them but I have yet to find the perfect days of the week dish cloths (you etsy crafts people hint, hint).

I also wanted to pick up some dish cloths with the days of the week on them. I found one pair but didn’t like the look of the cloth itself.

You see I was in need of some new dish cloths. My previous set had disintegrated rather rapidly I thought. I browsed the internet looking for that perftec dish cloth. What I did find was some information stating that linen dish cloths are the best. They apparently last a long time in addition to doing a fabulous job on the dishes. So I went to see if I could find some. They sell the fairly cheap overseas in England but the shipping made a purchase like that prohibitive. I found them here in the states too but the shipping again made the cost rather high. I like seven by the way.

So my crafty aunt came to the rescue and knit me a lovely (in my favorite) linen dish cloth using a pattern from her copy of Knitter’s Stash

The cloth is pretty to look at and has a good texture to it for washing dishes. Many dish cloths feel like slipper somethign or other but not this dish cloth. I’ve asked her to knit me a few more.

Wanna see?

Linen Dish Cloth

Linen Dish Cloth on Dish Cloth Rack

Reusable Felt Duster Before Washing

About two weeks ago I got this big lovely package in the mail from Right at Home. Inside were cleaning supplies in a nice big white cleaning caddy. I was in love!

One of the items included was a Pledge brand duster. You know like the Swiffer ones. I went right to work using it to tidy up my badly neglected blinds. It works really well for this and even better if you spray it first with Pledge or something.

So I happily used my Pledge sprayed duster to clean up the blinds but then it was all icky and I knew I needed to get a refill. As I was in the slow process (I looked for them if I happened to be in the store) of searching for refills I looked online to find out if any experimenting soul had tried rewashing these. Instead I landed on etsy where people were selling handmade felt or knit reusable Pledge/Swiffer refills. The thought intrigued me and I was just about to whip out my credit card (I’m quick to pay for a cleaning product) when I noticed that a lot of the ones I liked were all made out of felt.

Well still having a ton of felt from my daughter’s birthday presents (she says her house needs stairs, and a chimney) I thought it would befit me to see if I couldn’t use the badly neglected sewing machine in our home and do some of this myself.

So I did! You can see the picture up top there before I tossed it in the wash to beat up some. The instructions were via Sew Much Ado (thank you to her great instructions).

The only thing is now my daughter has claimed the duster as her own and I don’t get to use it much.

From now until August 7th purchase a Couponizer get a free shopping list refill

CODE: freelist08