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 }

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.

This Giveaway is Now Closed. Bummed about missing it? Check out my latest giveaway…

Tiffany is the winner

Since the dedication of Yellowstone as the world’s first national park in 1872, America’s parks have been visited by hundreds of millions of people who marveled at their beauty, found peace in their wildness and shared their experience with others. (You can view some of America’s National Parks right from the comfort of your computer at PBS.)

However, these national treasures need care and support to help them flourish.  To help preserve our national parks and ensure their existence for generations to come, join Nature Valley® and author and travel industry leader Patricia Shultz, to help support the National Parks Project. This year, the National Parks Project will focus on restorative work at Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Biscayne National Parks.

To get involved, simply purchase a box of specially marked Nature Valley Bars and mail in your wrappers to the address below:

National Parks Project
PO Box 450328
El Paso, TX 88545-0328

Nature Valley will not only recycle the wrappers, but will also contribute $0.10 to the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) for every wrapper received (up to $600,000 in total).

To learn more about the National Parks Project and how you can make a difference, check out PreservetheParks.com today.

Giveaway

And in support of The National Parks Project Nature Valley has provided me with a giveaway pack via MyBlogSpark (see the button on my sidebar) which one lucky participant will also receive (see the nice picture).

Water bottle

Nature Valley Snack Bars

Compass

Flashlight

Backpack

and Patricia Shultz’s 1,000 Places to See…Travel Book

How to Enter

Giveaway ends Monday August 16th Midnight

*This giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry) who are 18 years or older.

Prizepack will be sent directly from MyBlogSpark via FedEx. Must have a valid U.S. address.  No P.O. boxes please.

Leave a comment (here) telling me about some National Parks you have visited or would like to visit.

Additional Entries (must do entry above first)

1. Blog about this post and link back (1 time, 1 extra entry)
2. Tweet about this post include @momtools in the tweet and leave me another comment letting me know you did this. (again 1 time, 1 extra entry)

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

Are you a Right at Home member? Well if not it may be a good thing. Just about a week ago I had this huge box delivered to me containing all kinds of neat cleaning things to try from the Right at Home people. I especially appreciated the Pledge duster thingy which helped me to make quick work of cleaning my icky blinds (I detest blind cleaning kind of like laundry).

Every few weeks or so they have another giveaway but you have to act fast (and if you have received one in the previous three months you are ineligbile). The current giveaway is for a Ziploc® Back-to-School Gift Pack. They are limiting it to the first 10,000 responders so…act fast if you’d like to get some free goodies in the mail.

And while we’re talking about back to school Ziploc stuff  you may want to grab this back to school menu plan from Ziplock. This is hosted at one of my favorite cooking sites Taste of Home You just need to add the UPC codes from any 2 Ziploc products.

Well the giveaway has closed. And we have a winner.

My lovely assistant (Peanut) is currently getting her beauty sleep so I used my backup which is random.org

Number 11 was chosen (sans my own trackbacks) which is Liz. Congratulations Liz! I will be sending you an email (yawn! Tomorrow) but if you read this first please email me your mailing information.

Thank you to all the participants. I liked reading all of the comments.

I have to say I enjoyed this challenge and giveaway. I have a load in my washer that technically I could put in the dryers since my own challenge is over but I think I’m going to continue on for now. The hanging of the laundry is going rather smoothly and I don’t think I could stand to stick my head in a hot dryer right about now so on with the show!

Today’s the last day to enter my Seventh Generation Laundry Line Giveaway.

I’ve been enjoying drying our clothes on the line. It’s really painless and it keeps the house cooler. We’ll have to wait to see about the bill because I’ve been running enough fans in this heat to…well to do something big. Just not sure yet.

Well hurry up folks. Giveaway ends tomorrow at midnight.

It’s week 2 in Project Laundry line and so far I’ve kept to washing our laundry in cold water and hang drying our laundry.

Here’s a little about our setup for this.

We live in a windy area in the Northwest hat has been raining pretty much non-stop.  I decided that hanging our laundry outside was pretty much out. So we made the decision to hang the laundry to dry in the garage (which is not being used to house a car).

The line dryer we received (and the one our winner will too) is pretty big so this is working out.

I’ve been washing in cold for about a week and so far so good. Dry time is a little longer.  Last night I resorted to ironing some sheets since I wanted to use the line dryer for a new batch of clothes. They were pretty much dry but I wasn’t 100% sure so I ironed them to make sure. My husband commented that the washing thing seemed to be going well and since I was doing dreaded ironing that I don’t like so much I growled at him.

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway and win a pack of your own laundry supplies.

The Giveaway is now closed.  Winner update post here.

Thank you to all the participants.

In this era of cutting costs and going green Seventh Generation has a timely challenge my family is excited to participate in.

The steps are switching cold water washing and  line drying our laundry.

The aim of this challenge is two-fold; environmental savings and wallet savings. My husband is excited about the latter.

I’ve had to, for lack of an electric dryer, line dry my clothing in the past. I never thought it much more than a hinderance. This is the first time I’m choosing to line dry even with the convenience of a dryer.

To help encourage this line drying stuff Seventh Generation has provided me (and will provide one of my lucky readers) with a Project Laundry Line kit.

Seventh Generation Natural 2x Concentrated Laundry Liquid (good for 66 loads of laundry)

A portable laundry line (this thing is huge!)

A package of clothes pins

And a laundry basket

I’ll be posting weekly or so about how it’s going and when we get our bill if we’ve seen a nice drop in the amount.

For the record I was already a Seventh Generation Laundry soap user. I use lot’s of different laundry detergents and even some I’ve whipped up myself. In my regular rotation is Seventh Generation, Method, and LeBlanc Linen Wash

For now though let’s get with the giveaway details.

Seventh Generation “Project Laundry Line” Giveaway

Enter to win a Seventh Generation “Project Laundry Line” pack which includes…

• Seventh Generation Natural 2x Concentrated Laundry Liquid (good for 66 loads of laundry)
• A portable laundry line
• A package of clothes pins
• And a laundry basket

Giveaway ends Midnight on Thursday July 15th. (this is a long one)

How to Enter

*This giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry) who are 18 years or older.

Leave a comment (here) telling me about your line drying experiences and/or other things you are doing to lower bills and cut costs in the home.

Additional Entries (must do entry above first)

1. Blog about this post and link back (1 time, 1 extra entry)
2. Tweet about this post include @momtools in the tweet and leave me another comment letting me know you did this. (again 1 time, 1 extra entry)

The supplies for this challenge and prize pack have been generously provided by Seventh Generation  through MyBlogSpark (see my button on the side?)

We have a winner of the Costco Snacks Giveaway,

Number 4. Donna.

I’ll be contacting you so you can give me your mailing information.

Congratulations!