A Guide to Learn Windows 8

Everyone is talking about the new Windows 8 so I wanted to learn a little more about it as I like keeping myself current with new technology no matter how rapidly it is changing :) This book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Microsoft Windows 8 by Paul McFedries has helped me to understand and learn about Windows 8.

Learning from a book is always more detailed, especially when it is a book like the Complete Idiot's Guide where all the details are explained and nothing is left out.  As the author says, Windows is simple and easy to use only once you know how to use it.  Therefore we must learn it first.  
When we first start using Windows 8 without the visual hints and prompts it is quite hard to figure it out.  The book is organized into 4 parts; getting to know, having fun, getting things done and customizing, maintaining and troubleshooting Windows 8.  

After learning from this book and practicing I feel comfortable using Windows 8.
I like the fresh features of Windows 8.  The built-in and other apps that can be download through the Windows store is very useful.  I find having apps such as the travel, weather, music, Netflix, Skype, Evernote, Dropbox apps in the start screen makes it easy to navigate and use.  Once we learn and start using Windows 8, we are sure to appreciate all its features.   

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Fun digital books that children will enjoy cuddling to

These fun digital books have professional narration, background audio and enlarged artwork for each scene that children will enjoy.  Young children will like touching the pictures on iOS devices to see individual words being highlighted and read.

Dr. Seuss's Hunches in Bunches digital book shows us that it's easy to become overwhelmed by advice when we haven't made up our own mind. Sometimes the best plan is to trust our own hunches and disregard the vocal bunch of Hunches clamouring for attention.  The nonsense and cleverly crafted message in Hunches in Bunches is similar to Dr. Seuss's many other classic picture books.  My son enjoyed the fun to read rhymes and thought it was cool to read the silly words and started laughing.

The "Record and Share" feature in the book will be really enjoyed as it lets readers record their own voice and share the recording with family, friends and teachers.  

Just Shopping With Mom is about Little Critter going shopping with his family that turns into an eventful day.  While at the grocery store, his little sister becomes upset when she can't buy candy, cake, dolls, toys and many other things.  She makes a big mess by pulling items off of the shelf and then gets lost in the store. 

Little Critter's patience pays off when mom finds a fun way to end the day.  Mercer Mayer's Little Critter stories address major issues of growing up that both children and parents will enjoy reading and talking about.  

The Berenstain Bears Hug and Make Up is about the whole Bear family waking up grouchy one morning and the mood in the house is not happy.  We will find many things that happen in the story that we can easily relate to :) 

By the end of the day, the Bear family learns that sometimes laughter is all it takes to hug and make up.  

This book is recommended for children age 4 to 8.  Reading this book as made it even more exciting for us to experience watching the Berenstain bears on stage in March.

Your little ones and you will enjoy cuddling up and reading this book, The Kissing Hand.  Chester Raccoon does not want to go school, so to help ease Chester's fears, his mother shares a family secret called The Kissing Hand.  This gives Chester Raccoon reassurance of her love that he can have any time when his world feels a little scary.  

This book is a children's classic that is useful to parents and children especially at times of separation.  

My children enjoyed reading and talking about this book with me.  We agreed that we would remember the kissing hand when we are all out and about in our worlds exploring and learning, and know that our loved ones are always close to us.  
These colourful digital picture books can be read over and over as children learn to read.

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Beaded Jewelry: Creating our own style

Maya Brenner introduces us to simple, bold and modern jewelry making through her book Beaded Jewelry.  Her designs are worn by celebrities and are featured on many magazines and media.  

Collection of Dr. Seuss digital media books for Children

I believe we must embrace new technology when we are teaching our children.  From a very young age even before my children turned one I have allowed them to use our smart devices such as the iPad and iPod for entertaining and learning purposes.  However, I do put restrictions on how much time they get to use it because smart devices can be addictive :)
As parents, we all know that sometimes it is difficult to find the time to sit and read, so having useful educational apps make it easier for us to teach our children in a fun way.

We have all heard of and know how educating Dr. Seuss's books are for children.  Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection #1 and #2* and McElligot's Pool* digital book apps are fabulous for children who are learning to read and well as those who have started to read.  It will also benefit people who are learning English.  

The original books written by Dr. Seuss have become livelier through these digital books and technology.  Our children will be more interested and motivated to read these books using the digital book app in smart devices.  Giving a book and asking to read doesn't always work, however I know that when we get them involved and teach them through play is very likely to keep our young ones engaged.  The collections of these Dr. Seuss digital books are interactive so my children are more willing to read.   

The books are full of beautiful drawings and graphics, which are an important part of reading and learning for young children.  The original artwork from Dr. Seuss's books can be panned and zoomed through these digital books.  I like this interactive touch based learning that helps curious minds.  

When children touch the pictures and words on the digital books it reads it to them.  This helps my son who is learning to recognize letters and sounds by relating it to pictures.  My daughter clicks on the words that she has trouble pronouncing, so she can continue the story without getting frustrated by one word that she has trouble with.

These digital book apps are not only geared for visual learners but also to auditory learners.  Children who like learning by listening will enjoy the sound effects and the stories read to them.  

In addition to the professional narration of the stories, these digital books allow us to record our own voice and share.  I thought that this is very neat, and is one of the features that we enjoy using.  Young children love when they hear their favourite story being read by a familiar voice i.e. parents or siblings.  A familiar voice tends to soothe little ones and as parents we all have a few stories memorized because we had to repeat it a few hundred times :)  My daughter is also encouraged to read because of this recording feature by inputting expression into the stores so she can hear back her voice or allow her brother to listen to.

We can buy the collections and keep adding new digital book titles as they become available through iTunes.  We can download the free Dr. Seuss Bookshelf app to keep our self organized because once a few books are downloaded it could make the iPad look cluttered.  This bookshelf app helps us rearrange and organize the way we prefer by type, price or age so we can easily find the specific books we are looking to read.  

This Dr. Seuss Bookshelf has made it easy for my little ones and us to browse all the Dr. Seuss apps and keep up-to-date when new books are released.  Keeping up-to-date will help us to take advantage of free books, introductory pricing and sales.  

Parents can either lock or unlock the app store so the little ones will do not download the books and apps without our permission.
These digital books are valuable for children who are learning to read and will benefit having it easy to access when we are at home, travelling, in schools, Montessori's and day cares.

A closer look at some Dr. Seuss book titles:
*McElligot's Pool by Dr. Seuss is about young Marco casting his fishing line deep into McElligot's pool and imagining curious sea creatures that might bite.  This book appeals for readers of all ages.

*The Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection #1, will help young children to enjoy reading.  The 5 titles in this collection are recommended for children age 2 to 6.  The book titles are (this list is from iTunes)

1. The Cat in the Hat stars a cheerful and exotic Cat that brings chaos to the house of two young kids on a rainy day while their mother is out.
2. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish is a freewheeling plot about a boy and a girl and the many amazing creatures they meet.
3. The FOOT Book introduces the concept of opposites through funny and creative depictions of different kinds of feet!
4. Mr. Brown Can MOO! Can You? is Dr. Seuss's Book of Wonderful Noises and explores with children the sounds they hear everyday, and how to mimic them!

5. Fox In Socks features two delightful characters Fox and Knox, who converse almost entirely in rhyming tongue-twisters. "A tweetle beetle noodle poodle bottled paddled muddled duddled fuddled wuddled fox in sox, sir!"

*The book titles in Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection #2 are (this list is from iTunes)

1. Green Eggs and Ham: One of the best-selling children's book of all time. Sam-I-Am is determined to share the tasty treat of green eggs and ham with his doubtful companion. Containing just 50 unique words, this title is a must-have for beginner readers.
2. Dr. Seuss's ABC: From Aunt Annie riding an Alligator to the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz, Dr. Seuss teaches children the ABC's through whimsical Seussian words and illustrations, guaranteed to entertain as much as it educates!
3. The Cat in the Hat Comes Back!: The behatted and bow-tied cat is back and stirring up his own brand of mischief. This time he enlists Little Cats A through Z to help him clean up the mess. But will they be a help or a hindrance?
4. There's a Wocket in my Pocket!: This charming, light-hearted story follows a young boy around his house as he introduces the reader to the amusing imaginary creatures that live with him.
5. Hop on Pop: Known as "The Simplest Seuss for Youngest Use," Hop on Pop offers simple, delightfully entertaining rhymes to inspire children to read on their own. "Pat. Cat. Pat sat on cat. No Pat No. Don't sit on that."

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Dazzling duct tape bracelets

I made these cute bracelets following the step-by-step instructions from the Dazzling Duct Tape Designs book by Tamara Boykins. This book has lots of ideas with colourful pictures for us to make cool things using duct tape and other easy to find material. I was surprised to see the duct tape sandals, which can be worn. The other ideas in the book include handbags, wallets, wall art, fashionable accessories, party banners, and many more.

Using colourful patterned Duck Tape to pack gifts

Using colourful duct tape in creative ways is the newest craft trend.  Since "ductivities" are becoming popular there are a lot of coloured and patterned duct tapes available in craft stores, home hardware stores and online.  

I have been using grey duct tape to make crafts such as this rattle and to fix things around the home.  When I saw the beautiful varieties of duct tape Duck Brand has I felt very excited as it helps us become more creative.  

Duct tape crafts are durable, no mess and wonderful to do on our own or as a group.  Although, there are so many things we can do with these creative Duck Tapes the project doesn't have to be complicated.  For starters we can use it to do small creative things such as using it to decorate holiday gift bags.  For this "eco-friendly activity" :) you will need...

Paper shopping bags

colourful Duck Tape

scissors

permanent marker

I reused paper shopping bags that I had.  

Use colourful Duck Tape and paste it over the area you want to cover.  Then personalize each bag by writing a message with a permanent marker over the tape. 

Using a roll of decorative duct tape is only limited by our imagination and these types of colourful duct tape help us get started and become creative.

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A Science Kit that Entertains and Educates

This Science Kit from DK books has taught and entertained my children and I with many scientific facts.  There are over 100 experiments inside the kit that allows us to experiment with easy to find material from around our home.  The kit also includes some material that we need to start experiments. 
Although, this kit is intended for children over 8 years my 4 year old son liked joining his sister and me to do these experiments and to be part of it.  My daughter inferred her knowledge from school when we did some of the experiments.

This type of kits and books encourage children to start liking a subject such as science and makes it a part of their lives, rather than just "school subjects".  When parents get involved with teaching and making this type of learning fun from an early age, children will not think of it as a "chore" to learn subjects like science and geography.
This Science kit has action packed experiments that teach how everyday things work, so we can see and marvel at the mysteries of science.  We don't need to be a "science whiz" to do these experiments because the instructions are step-by-step.  I just wish the book has close up pictures on some instruction that need us to cut or do things more carefully; for example when we did the spinning helicopter it didn't exactly turn out the way it is supposed to because I didn't understand on how to cut the straw correctly, but we still had fun experimenting and trying to figure it out.  After all when experiments go wrong that too is science; that is what I told my children :)

When we did this experiment of inflating a balloon without blowing on it my children were involved and looked in awe at the result :)  I felt good trying to make connections and teaching them about carbon dioxide and how gas molecules take up more space than liquid molecules.  

You will need...
a balloon
glass bottle with a narrow neck
vinegar
baking soda
funnel

1. Pour vinegar into the bottle until it fills 1/4 of the bottle.
2. Fill baking soda into the neck of a balloon through a funnel until it is half full.
3. Stretch the balloon over the mouth of the balloon and leave it to hang.
4. When you are ready for action quickly lift the balloon so that the baking soda falls into the bottle.
5. Voila the balloon will inflate.

I asked my children to record the observations of the experiment in the book that came along with the kit.  My little one drew the picture while my elder one labeled and wrote what happened in the experiment.
I like that these types of kits encourage learning while children have fun.
Contest:
DK Canada books is having a holiday contest so we can win a DK shopping spree worth $250.  The contest ends on December 17th. 

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Sports Illustrated magazine for kids

Sports Illustrated for kids is a magazine for boys and girls who love sports.  This magazine presents sports the way kids like to read it, which encourages even reluctant readers.  The magazine has action photos, easy to read stories about athletes, instructional tips from pros, humour, comics and lots of activities such as word search, puzzles etc.  

Both my children enjoy reading and watching sports from young days mostly because their dad plays different sports with them and talk about it so much that it has become a part of their daily activity.  So my children enjoy looking through the pictures, reading and doing the activities in the magazine.  

Sports Illustrated for kids is a magazine that has won the highest honours from the Association of Educational Publishers and the Parent's Choice Award.  When we subscribe we can get 12 magazines in print or the tablet version for about $20 a year.  

This magazine would be perfect to take while traveling and it makes a wonderful gift to give any child.  Getting a copy right to the door every month or on their tablet throughout the year will make any child that likes sports happy.

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The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Giveaway

The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Valarie Budayr & Roscoe Welply is a fabulous enhanced eBook for children.  The 174 pages of this eBook is entertaining and educational.  The animations, games, recipes, videos are fun for children and parents.  This interactive eBook walks us through the famous children's story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, although this guide is not associated with Roald Dahl's book.

The activities in the guide give us the opportunity to stop, think, make crafts, cook, laugh and learn.  This engaging guide allows us to "jump" inside the pages.  There are over 20 crafts and activities such as creating Gobstopper Gum and Chocolate Rivers, handmade Willy Wonka hats and many more.  The illustrations in the guide bring wonder and amazement through Willy Wonka's world.  My children and I enjoyed the fun activities in this interactive eBook.  We thought it was easy to follow and understand as we enjoyed reading and learning.  We like the videos in the book as it helped us see the explained activities.  My children also enjoyed the special effects on some of the pages.

One of the activities in the guide was to decorate marshmallows with edible paint.  To decorate different faces in the marshmallows we will need...
marshmallows
edible paint or edible gel
straws, pasta, toothpick optional

Using edible paint decorate the marshmallows.  After making the faces, children can build towers or shapes with the marshmallows using straws, pasta or toothpicks.

Building with the marshmallows and toothpicks was lots of fun as we talked about 3D shapes, structure and about building.

With this interactive book we can have fun at our own pace and experience the story.  It is beautifully written and illustrated children's book that will allow children and adults to imagine as the ebook brings art, literature and technology together.  
This eBook is available on downloadable PDF, iBooks and iTunes.  We enjoyed reading this book on the iPad.  
Follow Jump into books on Facebook, twitter, pinterest and YouTube to see about other fabulous books. 

Giveaway:
I am glad to host a giveaway of this wonderful eBook, so you can enjoy with your little ones anytime anywhere.  
2 people from US or Canada can win their choice apple enhanced eBook or downloadable pdf OR a $15 Amazon gift card by entering the giveaway through the rafflecopter below.  The giveaway ends on October 24th.
Update: Congrats Abbi and Jenna

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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School struggles book review and giveaway

I had a wonderful opportunity to read and learn from the book School struggles.  This book is easy to understand as there are no jargons.  I liked the "take a way points" and tips at the end of each section in this book.  I agree with lots of things in the book and realized that we have to make changes as parents to avoid problems in the future.  Labelling children with problems, doesn't help anyone because many variables and factors contribute to the problems children may face in school.  The author Dr. Selznick has worked with families over 25 years and recognizes the complex mixture of cultural, socio-economic backgrounds and uniques of each family.  He offers guidelines based on his experience, professional practice and research.  He recognizes that these struggles that children have are because of their differences and does not label it as a disability.   

The author explains that children become shutdown learners when there are cracks in the foundation because of time + lack of understanding + strained family communications = school struggling shut down learners.

Children that will struggle in the future can be identified early as 4-5 years of age.   Even when parents feel there is something wrong and approach the educator, they are usually told not to worry.  The signs that a child is struggling in school work emerge in upper elementary grades and become more pronounced by high school, at this time it becomes overwhelming for the family.  

Timing is important, so dealing with the problem patiently before it matures is something we can do.  Some signs to look for and consider so we can intervene early will prevent children from becoming shut down learners.  

• If the child is tuning out during circle time, 
• Highly spatial and visual learners, 
• Active or over active, 
• Having trouble with language based activities i.e. reading and writing.

Here are somethings we can do to help the children

• Trust your feelings when you think something is wrong
• Know what to target and help with skills that needs more practice.
• Look for small things to boost the child's self esteem i.e. "Wow, I like the way your working without being asked to."  
• Get the child involved in creative extra curricular activities such as sports, art, cooking, music etc.
• Maintain equilibrium between fun and learning.  Don't let school problems dominate every interaction i.e. play board games or do crafts
• Support and connect with the child to let the child know you are in the same team.  
• Keep homework time calm.  Yelling and telling the child to try hard doesn't help.  Set a point system to reward the children and encourage. i.e. however try to avoid monetary compensation and reward with fun trips, going out for ice cream.
• Encourage children to read out loud.  After grade 2 children usually read independently and we might not recognize if they are have reading or comprehension problems.
• Lack of understanding that there is a skill deficiency adds up and causes frustration to the child and adults.
• Teach the basics i.e. phonic sounds.  Reading and comprehension problems can be helped by prompting and talking to the child so they can start thinking.  i.e. the author suggests programs like glassanalysis.com
• Stay organized from the start.
• Technology has changed lots of things in our daily activities and has created less interaction between families, which is why it is important to set a family time to talk and play with each other.
• Let children contribute to the guidelines and rules on what will help them do the homework and study.

Children who struggle with their school work face lots of social problems as well and get picked by peers, family, which effects their self esteem.  We can help these children by preventing the problems and taking a step back to see which basic skills need practice i.e. follow directions, play with others, identify letters, sound out the words etc.  

Throwing children into special education is not the solution.  Medications that are available out there to control behaviour is not a solution either, these types of medication come with lots of harm.

This book will help parents and professionals help chldren take a less rocky road in school.  The book is available online and at bookstores.  I am glad to host a giveaway of the books The Shut Down Learner and School struggles to one person in US or Canada.  The giveaway ends on September 30th, please enter through the rafflecopter below. 

Update: The winner is Elaine

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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