Homeschool | 3 Boys And A Dog

Review & Giveaway: Rock N Learn

June 4, 2011 By Erika

I want my kids outside active but sometimes they need good things to watch on TV…okay I’m guilty I do use the tube as a sitter sometimes but with five kids I call it survival some days. It does make me feel guilty sometimes and is probably why when it comes to what my kids watch on TV or DVD, I’m one picky Mama! I’m always on the hunt for good DVDs to take in the van for a long ride or to use as a supplement in our homeschool. So as I mom and teacher to these lovely kiddos, I have to tell you that I am mighty impressed with Rock N Learn!

I was given the opportunity to review their educational DVDs and I am super impressed and SO ARE THE KIDS! I think their favorites were the Letter Sounds and the Getting Ready for Kindergarten ones. They are are three totally different levels in the reading process {at ages 6, 4, and 2} but they all enjoyed these DVDs a whole lot. I caught my daughter just this afternoon singing the K song as she was swinging {her name starts with K, of course}. The cutest is to watch my 2 year old signing the songs about letter sounds! Maybe we’ll have an early reader with him thanks to this lovely program? The Getting Ready for Kindergarten not only touches on things they will do at school but also how responsible they need to be at home by making their beds and picking up after themselves. {LOVE!}

My favorite ones were two others the Alphabet Exercise {which I did with them and I got a work out!} and the Spanish one {something near and dear to this Hispanic Mama’s heart}. Really this Spanish DVD is an answered prayer because I’ve been so bad about speaking it with them. They like it too and they even started asking me how to say certain things from the DVD! Gracias Rock N Learn! If the last couple of weeks are indicators of how hot this summer is going to be, the Alphabet Exercise DVD will be our family favorite. I might even incorporate it to our school next year as part of our Physical Education program. ;)

I’m going to invest in their Science DVDs for our homeschool next year and use it to guide our Science program! I’m so excited! Mommies, I really loved these DVDs {can you tell?}! They are kid tested, mommy tested and teacher approved! Really, they are educationally sound! Here’s a clip to one of their videos:

Ready to buy? You can visit them and use this Coupon for 25% OFF: Code JQ7711, or you can buy them at your local teach supply stores or Barnes & Noble.

rock n learn Review & Giveaway: Rock N Learn

And I have GREAT news…since we mean business & we love our readers so much at 3 Boys and a Dog, we are going to giveaway FOUR (si quatro, 4) DVD Collections. That’s correct, not four DVDs but instead four collections! Which ones you wonder? Well hop on over to Rock N Learn’s website and take a look {oh and don’t forget to come back here and tell us which ones you’d just LOVE to have for your kids as a REQUIRED entry}. Here are the Giveaway Collections (x2):

1. Math Rap DVD Collection (contains Addition & Subtraction Rap, Multiplication Rap and Division Rap DVDs) = 3 DVDs

2. Preschool & Kindergarten DVD Collection ( contains Alphabet Exercise, Spanish, Getting Ready for Kindergarten and Letter Sounds DVDs) = 4 DVDs

So FOUR lucky readers will be blessed with these fabulous DVDs. What do you need to do?

REQUIRED COMMENT: Visit the Rock N Learn website and tell me something you’d love to have and why. Or visit Rock N Learn’s Educational Blog and tell me something you learned.

BONUS #1: Follow @momof3boys3702 on Twitter and RT this contest. The easiest way to retweet is to simply click the green ReTweet on the top right of this post. YOU MAY TWEET ONCE DAILY

BONUS #2: Like Rock N Learn and 3 Boys and a Dog on FaceBook then share this post by clicking the FaceBook share button at the bottom of this post.

Other bonus entries:

#1. Spread the word about this review by: email, forums, blogging, Digg, or putting the link in a meme. (one entry per thing done)

#2. Follow my blog.

#3. Subscribe to my RSS feed.

#4. Put my button on your blog.

#5. Leave a comment on any other post (excluding giveaways!) Be sure to leave a comment here saying which post.

#6 – Vote for me at Picket Fence by clicking the button on my sidebar. Be sure to leave a comment saying you did! YOU MAY VOTE ONCE DAILY!

CONTEST ENDS: at Midnight CST on 6/17

OPEN TO: US and Canada

*DISCLAIMER: I was sent items by Rock N Learn to help facilitate my review. Any opinions stated are strictly my own.*

Filed Under: 3 Boys & A Dog General Posts, Giveaways, Homeschooling, Just for Kids, Review and Giveaways, Reviews Tagged With: dvd, dvds, educational products, giveaway, Giveaways, Homeschool, Homeschooling, kindergarten, learning aides, preschool, review, Reviews, rock n learn, School, supplemental learning, videos

GIVEAWAY: ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy

May 3, 2011 By Erika

So you know that we homeschool ALL five, f-i-v-e, 5, cinco, yes all five of our children. No, I’m not crazy…{although some days I do feel like if I don’t take them outside RIGHT NOW, I might just go crazy}…I love it, really I do! Yet to remain perfectly sane {just like in the classroom} I have to have a schedule and a discipline plan in place. Part of the beauty of home educating is that you get to use one plan all day and for everything around the house from chores to classwork . One of my kids favorite treat is to get enough “tickets” to get on the computer and play educational games. When 4PM rolls around, they are lined up at the computer ready to play. So I as mommy/teacher, am always looking for the perfect educational, yet fun, games for them to play. After all, if they aren’t outside running and playing, they need to be doing something were they are learning {at least that is our family motto}.

This is why ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy has become part of our daily homeschool day for my little ones! As a mom and teacher, I totally love it! It truly is a full scope curriculum online! There is really nothing, nada, about it that I can complain about. The beautiful part of it all is that they too use a ticket system. As the children go through the lessons (which spiral from easier to harder as they achieve each level) they earn tickets which they can later use to “buy” things; all digital of course and for their school rooms.

Each child is set up with an avatar of their choice and liking. I sat with my five year old daughter and three year old son to set their’s up. The program is for students ages two to six. All subjects are covered…it really is a great program! I am super impressed with it and will definitely continue to use it with my children. Some days I even let them stay on and ”play” extra time {which allows me more time to work one-on-one with my two older sons}. Why? Well because they are still schooling but to them they are just playing another computer game {shhh…don’t tell them please}. My daughter and son really can’t get enough of it. Actually, today after spending a couple of hours outdoors I gave them some TV time and they begged to to ABCMouse.com instead!

ABCMouse.com Early Learning Academy has six academic levels, over 350 lessons, and every level includes five main curriculum subjects: Reading, Math, World Around Us (Content Area), Art and Colors and Music and Songs.

The Reading Curriculum Includes: Uppercase and lowercase letter recognition, Phonics, Recognizing sounds, and Rhyming words and word families. In addition, there are stories that are read to your child while displaying the text below it.
The Math Curriculum Includes: Recognizing and counting numbers 1-100, “More than” and “Less than”, Identifying as well as drawing shapes and simple patterns, and the meaning of addition and subtraction.
The World Around Us Curriculum Includes: The body and health, Sports, Plants and animals, Weather and the seasons, and The Earth, moon, sun, and stars!

The Art & Colors Curriculum Includes: Primary and secondary colors, Shades of colors, Paint-by-number activities, and Number and letter dot-to-dots.
The Music and Songs Curriculum Includes: Instrument names and sounds, 26 original A to Z alphabet songs, Children’s classics, Counting and number songs, and Song styles: folk, pop, jazz, and more.

Some additional features (just so that I can totally fall in love with it):

♥ Lesson Builder

♥ Progress Tracking

♥ Tickets and Rewards System

♥ Customizable Avatar

♥ Interactive Zoo

♥ Interactive Farm

♥ Aquarium

♥ Record a Book

♥ Best of all it is SAFE: no advertisement, no pop-up ads, and no external links!!

So for it’s wonderful graphics, educational component, and entertaining aspect, I give ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy:

Of many programs out there, this one is TOP NOTCH! Through the use of Art, Books, Songs, Puzzles, Games, and even Printables, So go give it a try yourself (they have a free limited access available). So hop on over and get ready to subscribe today!

But wait there is more!! One lucky winner will get a membership to their site. That is a $95.40 value for one lucky reader! Here’s what you need to do to enter:

REQUIRED COMMENT: Visit the ABCMouse Early Learning Academy website, look around, then come back and tell me something you liked, want, or learned.

BONUS #1: Follow @momof3boys3702 on Twitter and RT this contest. The easiest way to retweet is to simply click the green ReTweet on the top right of this post. YOU MAY TWEET ONCE DAILY

BONUS #2: Like ABCMouse.com Early Learning Academy, and 3 Boys and a Dog on FaceBook then share this post by clicking the FaceBook share button at the bottom of this post.

Other bonus entries:

#1. Spread the word about this review by: email, forums, blogging, Digg, or putting the link in a meme. (one entry per thing done)

#2. Follow my blog.

#3. Subscribe to my RSS feed.

#4. Put my button on your blog.

#5. Leave a comment on any other post (excluding giveaways!) Be sure to leave a comment here saying which post.

#6 – Vote for me at Picket Fence by clicking the button on my sidebar. Be sure to leave a comment saying you did! YOU MAY VOTE ONCE DAILY!

CONTEST ENDS: at Midnight CST on May 17^th, 2011

OPEN TO: US Only

“Disclosure: I was provided with a membership good for ABCMouse.com at no cost to them in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.”

Filed Under: Gaming, PC, Wii, PS2, DS, Giveaways, Homeschooling, Just for Kids, Organizing, Parenting, Review and Giveaways, Reviews, Teachable Moments Tagged With: 3 Boys & A Dog General Posts, abcmouse.com early learning academy, academy, blog, blog software, Blogger, Children, children learning, computer games, computing, contest, curriculum, discipline, discipline plan, distance education, e learning, early learning, education, educational games, facebook, five year olds, four year olds, games, giveaway, Giveaways, Guest Blogger, home educating, Homemaking, Homeschool, internet, kindergarten, learning academy, math curriculum, mathematics education, music education, preschool, preschool education, reading education, review, Reviews, rhyme words, six year olds, teaching, technology, three year olds, world wide web

GIVEAWAY: WebWatcher Monitoring Software (170 dollar value)

March 22, 2011 By Erika

Ever seen a crime-scene/investigation TV show when the victim is a teenager? You know those shows that the lead investigator takes this teen’s computer and looks for signs of where she/he could be, whom she has had contact with, things she may have said in an e-mail, on Twitter, or even in Facebook? In this day and age when our own children are much more computer savvy than we, it is vital to be one step ahead of them. Being vigilant of what our children do is important and when they are online, even more so. The world wide web (WWW) could be a wonderful place (like this lovely blog) or it could also be a scary place. How do we avoid or prevent the unnecessary? Since we can’t be in two places at once (though I wish I could bi-locate, almost on a daily basis) it is important to find the right piece of software that will be your “assistant”, sort-of speak, while you aren’t right next to your child(ren) when they are on the computer.

I’ve heard and looked into many other programs in the past but never got a chance to “test-drive” one until now, introducing WebWatcher Parental Control Monitoring Software! From their website:

Webwatcher monitoring software is the best keylogger for Your PC or laptop because it lets you remotely ensure that there is no inappropriate activity taking place on your computer without your knowledge.

WebWatcher is your online chaperone! Webwatcher monitoring software not only helps you monitor what your child(ren) are doing online but also control it. That’s correct, you can either “white list” sites you’d like your child(ren) to go to or/and “black list” those sites you don’t want them to visit. So not only do you see what your child is doing online (from any computer in the house or at work, it works remotely) but you can also block those sites you definitely don’t want your kids to visit. This was one of my most favorite features of the program! You can also individualize this feature, for example I have a 13 year old and a 6 year old who share a computer. They each were assigned a log in so that the 6 year old would have different sites available to him and vice versa. This is how it works:

Some of the additional features are:

Facebook & Myspace Activity
Read every e-mail sent or received on your PC
See all Instant Message and Chat (both sides)
Monitor every website visited
See every web search performed and the links that were clicked
Capture every keystroke
Take screenshots
Be notified when alert words are used

The beauty of it is that you can set up as many or as little monitoring as you’d like! If you want to give your child more privacy, that’s fine or if you want to know everything they did, that too is possible!

So how does it work? Easy, just follow these simple steps:

Set up was simple and setting up the monitoring was easy too! Don’t think you are computer savvy enough to do this yourself? Not to worry, WebWatcher will help you and do the settings that you’d like for you. How much easier could they make it??? Want to see how easy? Just watch this video demo of the software.

To order your copy by either download or to receive it in the mail, visit WebWatcher’s website.

Guess what??? We are thrilled to announce that WebWatcher is happy to participate in a giveaway to offer one free version of Webwatcher monitoring software to you, our readers! Just follow these easy steps:

REQUIRED COMMENT: Visit the WebWatcher website, look around, then come back and tell me something you liked, want, or learned.

BONUS #1: Follow @webwatcherkids and @momof3boys3702 on Twitter and RT this contest. The easiest way to retweet is to simply click the green ReTweet on the top right of this post. YOU MAY TWEET ONCE DAILY

BONUS #2: Like WebWatcher and 3 Boys and a Dog on FaceBook then share this post by clicking the FaceBook share button at the bottom of this post.
Other bonus entries:
#1. Spread the word about this review by: email, forums, blogging, Digg, or putting the link in a meme. (one entry per thing done)
#2. Follow my blog.
#3. Subscribe to my RSS feed.
#4. Put my button on your blog.
#5. Leave a comment on any other post (excluding giveaways!) Be sure to leave a comment here saying which post.
#6. Vote for me at Picket Fence by clicking the button on my sidebar. Be sure to leave a comment saying you did! YOU MAY VOTE ONCE DAILY!

CONTEST ENDS: at Midnight CST on April 5^th, 2011

OPEN TO: US Only

*DISCLAIMER: I was sent a free version of this software by WebWatcher to help facilitate my review. Any opinions stated are strictly my own.*

Filed Under: Giveaways, Homeschooling, Parenting, Reviews, Safety Tagged With: alert words, black list, block, blog, blog hosting services, chat, computer savvy, computing, contest, contests, crime scene, criticism of facebook, e-mail, facebook, Freebies, Giveaways, Guest Blogger, Homemaking, Homeschool, IM, Instant Message, internet, keystroke, Links, monitoring, monitoring software, monitors, myspace, Online, online social networking, parental controls, PC, program, screenshots, social information processing, social media, software, step ahead, technology, Twitter, web 2.0, web search, website, websites, webwatcher, webwatcher parental control monitoring software, white list, world wide web

Homeschooling Fun: How to Draw a Comic Strip

March 10, 2011 By Kelli 4 Comments

As a homeschooling mom, I struggle to find real art thing for my kids to do… you know, besides just coloring pictures! Kids love to get involved in contests, as Bob Weber knows!

“Oh Brother!” Comic strip illustrator and writer Bob Weber, Jr. offers kids and parents step by step instructions on cartooning

“If you like to draw and aspire to be a professional cartoonist, all you need to get started is a pencil, paper, and the determined desire to draw every single day. The more you practice drawing, the better your cartoons will be. Many aspiring cartoonists spend a lot of time drawing faces. That’s fun, but you’ll need the ability to draw a wide range of things in order to effectively illustrate your jokes or stories in an interesting and convincing manner. Go to the library or bookstore to find cartooning lesson books. These books can be valuable resources for learning to draw faces, hands, motion, backgrounds and perspective. You might also want to consider taking a cartoon class in your area.

Another terrific way to greatly improve your drawing skills is by studying the work of cartoonists that you admire. Allow yourself to be influenced by the styles and techniques of successful cartoonists. In most cases, the cartoonists you admire were themselves influenced by cartoonists that came before them. Don’t worry about your art looking too much like those you admire. Over time, as you continue to practice, your own unique drawing style will develop.

Finally, a cartoonist needs an idea before he or she draws. Being a good artist isn’t enough. You need to be somewhat smart, clever and witty. The more you know about the world around you, the more brain food you have to feed your imagination, and the more interesting your cartoons will be. Read as much as you can. Pay attention to the people and world around you. By observing the everyday activities that take place around you, you will soon find that you have plenty of ideas to draw from.

Now go find a pencil and draw, draw, draw!”

For more great advice on cartooning, visit the “How to Draw” section on the “Oh Brother!” website. And don’t forget to enter your child into the “Oh Brother!” Is Your Kid a Character contest where one lucky child will get the chance to be featured in a nationally syndicated comic strip! All you need to do is fill out the form provided on this post, tell us a brief funny story about your child and he or she will be entered to win. A panel of humor and lifestyle bloggers will select the winners. Results will be revealed the week of March 21.

This is really such a great thing for homeschooling the arts!

*This post is sponsored by the Role Mommy Writer’s Network.

Filed Under: Crafts and Hobbies, Homeschooling Tagged With: art, arts, bob weber, cartoon, cartoonist, coloring pictures, comic, comic strip, crafts, draw, drawing pictures, fun, Homeschool, Homeschooling, homeschooling notes, how to draw, jr., li'l abner, mass media, oh brother, robert weber, strip, visual arts

Giveaway: Avery Binders, Dividers, Tabs, OH MY!

February 15, 2011 By Kelli

I got some new toys: binders, dividers, labels, and tabs from Avery! I say it over and over, but I am seriously addicted to Office Supplies. wlEmoticon smile Giveaway: Avery Binders, Dividers, Tabs, OH MY! I keep telling my husband that I need my own office in this house to hold all my supplies. As it is, I am making do with a corner of the playroom. Yeah, it gets pretty distracting in here. Anyway, I am off the subject… new toys from Avery. wlEmoticon smile Giveaway: Avery Binders, Dividers, Tabs, OH MY! Plus, as always, my Avery products came with Box Tops to send to my middle son’s school!

Many Uses for a 3 Ring Binder

So, for what do you use a binder ? I have them everywhere in my house and grow a little panicked when I don’t have an extra supply of empty ones.

Recipe Binder
Address Book
Household Notebook
Paperwork File for EF
Lap Books for homeschool
Unit Studies for homeschool
Paperwork file for homeschool
Medical records
Scrapbook

That is all I can think of off my head, but I am sure there are more in use around here. wlEmoticon smile Giveaway: Avery Binders, Dividers, Tabs, OH MY!

One lucky 3 Boys and a Dog Reader will win a varied selection of office organization goodies from Avery!

REQUIRED COMMENT: Leave a comment telling me what you use binders for.

BONUS #1: Follow @AveryProducts & @momof3boys3702 on Twitter and RT this contest. The easiest way to retweet is to simply click the green ReTweet on the top right of this post. YOU MAY TWEET ONCE DAILY

BONUS #2: Like Avery on FaceBook and 3 Boys and a Dog on FaceBook then share this post by clicking the FaceBook share button at the bottom of this post.

Other bonus entries:

#1. Spread the word about this review by: email, forums, blogging, Digg, or putting the link in a meme. (one entry per thing done)
#2. Follow my blog.
#3. Subscribe to my RSS feed.
#4. Put my button on your blog.
#5. Leave a comment on any other post (excluding giveaways!) Be sure to leave a comment here saying which post.
#6 – Vote for me at Picket Fence by clicking the button on my sidebar. Be sure to leave a comment saying you did! YOU MAY VOTE ONCE DAILY!

CONTEST ENDS: at Midnight CST on March 1, 2011

OPEN TO: USA and Canada

*DISCLAIMER: I was sent items by Avery to help facilitate my review. Any opinions stated are strictly my own.*

*Photo courtesy of FlickR*