A "Magic Sleeping Potion" Recipe...

We've been experimenting with aroma therapy at our house, and my kids absolutely love it! Here's Violet's recipe for "Magic Sleeping Potion". If you ask the kids, they will tell you it REALLY works and they ask for it every night before they go to bed!

Click here for a great place to purchase essential oils and supplies. Enjoy!


Disclosure: The opinions we have expressed are honest opinions and have not been influenced by the companies of the product. 

Gecko Monitor Software Review and Giveaway

The Good:

Does the important stuff well and out-of-sight. Simple to install and use.

The Bad:

Keylogger did not always work. Price is fair, but not down to today's expectations.

The Bottom Line:

If you need a stable, discreet monitoring software, this is it.

If you want free and basic, it's not.

If you want to filter internet, that's a different product.

When I was asked to review this product, I was thinking about how clunky my present internet filtering program is and how I would not mind replacing it. When I installed Gecko (which was an absolute breeze), I realized that it was not what I was looking for and doubted that I would have much use for it. Surprise! I did.

It just happened that at this time, a certain tween has been doing computer programming AND, um, uh, “testing” of the games – I mean “programs”. So it has been a little programming and a lot of games. Well, the issues became clearer when Gecko began taking screen shots every so often. Suddenly, I knew what was going on throughout the hours. Yes, there was the online homework and math help sites, but there were also a number of hours where the Gecko screen shot showed no change in the code, just more games. It gave us all a common data set to talk about time management and setting limits. I am sure it will come in handy as the children get older and use the computer(s) more and more often.

The screenshot feature was very helpful, but Gecko also tracks the keystrokes (careful! even your own passwords!) web sites visited, applications used, printing activity, and so on. The “Timeline” feature is handy, just giving the highlights over time so you can quickly zoom in on activities as needed. You can even set it up to send you email reports, although gmail gave me a bit of trouble (not Gecko's fault).

One trouble I had was that the keylogger did not work all that well or that the files were somehow lost. They tracked me as I was testing it, but I could not find the archives over the past couple of weeks.

All in all, it is a handy program that does exactly what it says it does, and discreetly. If it is worth it to you, then spend the money. Less than $40 is cheap compared to the myriad problems that the software may point out before it gets too late.

If you are interested in a monitoring program AND an internet filter, there is nothing that beats the following: place the computer in the middle of the house within easy sight of everyone.

Giveaway! 

If you would like a free trial of this software, the first 10 people to leave a comment will win a chance to try!
Here's how:

1. Let me know what your biggest kid internet concern is.

2. Leave your email address

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Review: Knight Costumes

Pros: Good service, nice quality costume, good value.

Cons:  The helmet seems to run slightly small compared with costume, but still works.

Summary: If you are looking for nice quality costumes in any size with lots of accessories to choose from, check out Costume Supercenter!

Review:
For school, my son K had to give a "history live" presentation in costume as "King Richard the Lionhearted".  After researching what King Richard wore, he chose the "Deluxe Dragon Slayer" knight Costume to do his presentation in. Truthfully, he wasn't really a knight...but he was a medieval warrior and this seemed like a great match for the part.

I am always amazed at how small they are able to package these costumes! It arrived in a small package, but came out looking great without any ironing or effort. The costume seems well made and includes everything pictured except for the black pants. K was impressed at the shiny silver fabric part of the costume that looks like chain mail.  The body of costume seems true to the sizing chart offered on the website.  The helmet however seemed a little snug although workable (your experience may be different due to variations in head sizes! :)

So if you would like to be a dragon slayer, or King Richard...I would recommend this as a great option! :)

Disclosure: We received the Deluxe Dragon Slayer costume mentioned above  for  review. The opinions we have expressed are honest opinions and have not been influenced by the companies providing the product. No other compensation was received.

Teaching your kids to ride a bike...the easy (and cheap) way.

So after having tried all kinds of methods and after many tears and crashes, training wheels, no training wheels, running with little biker,etc...we've finally learned the secret! 

I was recently searching on line for the best ways to teach children to ride on two wheels and learned that bikes with no pedals, which are often quite pricey, work amazingly well. My hubby also heard that the best way to teach adults and kids with special needs is to just take all the pedals and training wheels off. 

We had kids "bike" by pushing with their feet in big "walking on the moon" steps. We made it a game to see how long they could balance without touching their feet to the ground. A few short weeks of practicing and they were balancing for about 10-20 seconds without touching the ground.

We put the pedals back on, and just like magic they all took off riding!

*Note:When removing the pedals, the left pedal is usually threaded differently than the right pedal to avoid unintentional unscrewing during riding. The LEFT pedal is RIGHTY-LOOSEY (clockwise), LEFTY-TIGHTY (counter-clockwise). 

Coming Soon: A Review of Time4Writing

We will be using Time4Writing as a summer writing program for the next couple of months.  We are excited to get started with the interactive lessons.  Our online tutor will correct our work and give us writing tips on how to sharpen our writing skills.  Come visit in a few weeks to see how we like it.

Review: Time4Learning

Pros:   

• Fun lessons cover lots of material in small amounts of time. 
• Animations, colorful graphics, and interactive funny dialog keep kids engaged. 
• Clear explanations and feedback for right and wrong answers. 
• Parent access to quizes and grades, easily printed for record keeping.  
• Clutter free schoolwork, great for big families or small living spaces.  

Cons:    

• Using Time4Learning on a tablet is a little tricky and can be slow.  
• Parental controls do not include the ability to digitally assign specific lessons or assignments.

Summary:  

If you are a busy parent and looking for an effective educational tool that your children will love to use either as a curriculum, supplement, or tutoring alternative for preschool through 12th grade...Time4Learning is a excellent resource!  

Try it:   Time4Learning.com  

Review:  

There are many things to love about time4learning...but I will keep it simple and just name a few.

1. Effective teaching tool
Time4Learning is both fun and really great at teaching concepts and skills to a large spectrum of learning styles.  The lessons are very well written and designed to help children learn and retain the material. We were pleased with how well our kids did on standardized tests this year.

2. Makes life easier
I don't know about you...but as a homeschooling mama of four, it's hard to juggle everyone's schedule some days. This program is kid and parent user friendly and keeps track of where everyone is at. If a subject comes easy for your child, they can fly through...if its more difficult, they can watch the lesson again until they get the concepts.  Work that is finished and graded for you is easily printable for record keeping and reporting.

3. Stuff Free!
Having had a child in public school, I was amazed at the volume of paper that came through the door! It was a constant battle to stay on top of it all and I found myself having to recycle 99% of it to reclaim the space it took up in our house!  Although Time4Learning has optional printable supplements to go with lessons, the work is almost completely digital. It is an ideal curriculum for families living in small spaces as it eliminates the need for many text books. It's also great for traveling as all you need is a computer (or tablet) and an Internet connection.  

Overall we really love this program (we have been using it for years) and we are excited that Time4Learning is launching their new high school program this fall! We hope Time4Learning will become more iPad friendly in the future.  

Disclosure: The opinions we have expressed are honest opinions and have not been influenced by Time4Learning. Compensation was received for this review.

Make your own ketchup

 

When I use to teach preschool, as far as the kids were concerned, there were the 4 basic food groups...and one of them had to be ketchup! We decided to make homemade ketchup and we really liked it! No chemicals or corn syrup like the store bought brands and the kids still love it! :)

Ketchup Recipe

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

1 (6 oz) can of tomato paste

1/4 cup honey

2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon garlic

Blend all ingredients together well and pour into empty ketchup bottle and refrigerate.  :)

A Meaningful Easter Gift

I've been on the look out for meaningful gifts and activities to do on Easter... To be honest, I'm really tired of the typical Easter basket fillers, and I'm overwhelmed at the colossal amount of candy and junk that goes through our house all the time! In the process, I found this lovely little book:

The Jesus Storybook: Every Story Whispers His Name...  The wording in this little book is so beautifully written and I love the way the heart of the story shines through in such a kid friendly way! I chose the deluxe edition which comes with 3 audio cd's of the entire book which is so pleasantly spoken.

Here is an example:

I'm looking forward to listening to this on long car rides, putting it on my kids mp3 players, and playing it at bedtime when my little people are falling asleep!
   
Disclosure: The opinions we have expressed are honest opinions and have not been influenced by the companies of the product. No compensation was received.

Signing Time On Demand and iPad 3 Sweepstakes!

                                                   

Pros: No commercials, watch any time or place, watch on a variety of media options, entertainment on the go, always there for you to load onto future computers, phones, or tablets!

Cons: Cost may be a factor..especially if you want them all!

Summary: This is a great stuff-free gift you can give your children or others that they can continue to use for years to come!

Review :

My 4 Year old was thrilled when she saw the pictures on this post and said, "Oh I LOVE 'silent' time with Alex and Leah!"  :) We've loved these videos since our children were babies, but since we bought our first dvd's, a few of them have gotten scratched and no longer work.  We love the idea of Signing Time on demand! No more storing dvd's or worrying about them getting scratched. And if you happen to get a new computer, phone or tablet,  you can just log in and reload the videos you've already purchased!

We received the digital video from Series 1, Vol. 5 video, ABC Signs..  This video teaches the sign language alphabet and also includes signs for numbers 1-10.  For those of you who aren't familiar with Signing Time, they are wonderful instructional videos geared towards children from infants to around 8 years old.  We love it!  These are great videos to have your children watch over and over again when you are waiting for doctor appointments or traveling, etc... These videos are also great tools to use in the classroom to promote better communication or to teach a second language. 

Click below to download a free Signing Time on demand video and enter to win an iPad3 until May 18, 2012!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Grace Garden

This year we made a "Grace Garden" for Easter.

 We filled a basket with an empty cave (made from air-dry clay), a wooden cross made from sticks, lots of green plants and a butterfly.

The grace garden helps us remember our garden fall and His garden grace. 

You can read a beautiful post explaining how to make one here at A Holy Experience.

St Patrick's Day Activities For Kids

I was just searching for some fun things to do with my family on St. Patrick's day and thought I'd share...

1. Read a story about the real St. Patrick. or Watch "The Story of St. Patrick"(Chapter 6) on the Veggie Tales Sumo of the Opera DVD. 

2. String fruity Cheerios to make rainbow necklaces and bracelets.

3. Make "rainbow" pictures on paper with  Fruit Loops and glue..

4.Eat lots of green foods...kiwis, salad, cucumbers, parsley, cookies, grapes, etc... use your imagination!

5. Go to your local St. Patrick's Day parade or festival.

6. Wear lots of green!

7. Here's a tutorial on how to temporarily color hair with chalk pastels..in case you want green hair. Don't forget to paint your nails green! :)

What do you like to do on St. Patrick's Day?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A Story About My Mom... (a Mother's Day printable keepsake for Mom)

Here is a printable fill-in-the-blank worksheet for Mother's Day.  It can be used for a toddler or preschooler and filled out by an adult, or bigger kids can fill it out themselves. 

Make sure you have them draw a picture of Mom inside the heart at the top.  It can also be cut out with fancy edging scissors and mounted on scrapbook paper and kept forever and ever! :)

 Yes...this is a picture of me! :o)

Printable Mothers Day Story

© Be Blessed! 2011

Pin It

Fun Printable Worksheets and Puzzles for kids

I was looking for some fun worksheets to do with kids today and found this printable worksheet website on education.com.  Just type in the grade level and subject you are looking for and then choose a worksheet to print!

My bigger kids are loving the  Lion Sudoku puzzles from the 3rd grade math section today...and the preschoolers are working on Cutting Snake Spirals.


Use the widget below to find a worksheet and print!

Education.com worksheets

Worksheets and Printables

Get your own widget

Easter Egg Dye T-Shirts

Ever wonder what to do with that Easter egg dye when you're done coloring eggs?

 

We decided to tie-dye t-shirts... First we sectioned the t-shirt randomly with rubber bands.

Then we spooned the left-over egg dye onto the t-shirts until they were completely soaked with bright colors.

Removed the rubber bands and hung them up to dry...

We love how they turned out!

**We used PAAS brand Easter egg coloring.  Be sure to place them in the dryer for several minutes and/or iron them to make the color more permanent.

Big Green Alligator Review

We LOVE music in our house!  We were delighted to receive Big Green Alligator by accustic/pop artist La La Lisa to review! :)

La La Lisa has a lovely mixture of upbeat kid-friendly songs about everything from silliness and monkeys to family and faith!  K, my happy six-year-old, said he thought the "My Little Brother" song was really funny!  J, my dancing 5 year old, said she likes the Big Green Alligator Song and the Count Down Song.  In addition to being silly and fun, the messages in the songs encourage kids to ask questions, to get along with each other and take pride in their work.  They also talk about the love, faithfulness and creativity of God.

Lisa will be donating a portion of her album proceeds to a charity called Teen Mothers Choices International, a program that allows volunteers from local churches to provide a support system for teen mothers to help them to further their education and learn how to be good moms for their babies.

If you are looking for something light-hearted and fun with a good message for your kids to sing and dance along to...I recommend this CD!  Preview the songs on this CD or order the mp3's individually here.  To order the CD visit Blue Myrtle Kids.

This was not a paid review.  The CD was sent by The Adams Group for review. 
Be Blessed's Disclosure Policy