As a family who owns quite a few educational DVDs I can attest to the fact that what LeapFrog is doing with their learning movies is both innovative and effective. Rather than focusing on repetitive drills, or straightforward simplistic presentation of facts accompanied by musical accompaniment, each of the DVDs included in the LeapFrog: Learning DVD Set integrates simple phonics and math principles into an engaging, and entertaining storyline. As a result, our children ask for the LeapFrog DVDs more often than they do any other educational offering we have available on disc.

The LeapFrog: Learning DVD Set incorporates three of LeapFrog’s best titles for preschoolers and provides a comprehensive introduction to the basic preschool/kindergarten skills of letter recognition (short consonant and vowel sounds), basic blending, counting, and animal group recognition.

LeapFrog: Let’s Go to School provides a typical storyline for allaying the fears of children on the cusp of attending a public school (of course, not all children will attend a public school). In a dream-like sequence Tad and Lilly discover that the school equipment is just as nervous about the incoming class as they are about attending. The blocks teach some basic counting skills, the alphabet book quickly goes through letter sounds, the calendar introduces time-telling concepts, the animal figurines teach about sorting and animal families, and so on. Because of the brief introductions given to each topic, this general overview is the weakest educationally of the set. Five sing-along songs and an interactive alphabet book are provided as additional reinforcing bonus features on the DVD.

However, LeapFrog: Letter Factory and LeapFrog: Talking Words Factory more than make up for the lack of depth by focusing in on introductory phonics and blending in DVDs of approximately 35 minutes each. In the first DVD Leap, Lily, and Tad need to go to their father’s Letter Factory where they produce talking letters. While Leap and Lily provide a presentation for a very important customer, Tad is left out due to his lack of reading skills. Taken for a tour through the factory, he visits rooms, each dedicated to a letter of the alphabet. The colorful, animated letters are engaged in activities that embody their sound.

The A’s scream, “Aaaaaah!” when frightened. The E’s are hard of hearing and ask, “Ehhhh?” whenever someone speaks to them. The M’s proclaim “Mmmmm!” as they devour delicious muffins. The set also includes a full set of alphabet flashcards that depict the lively letters in poses, settings, and costumes that represent their sounds on one side, and directions to parents on how to use the cards to teach their children on the other with a simpler representation of the letter.

In LeapFrog: Talking Words Factory Leap, Lily, and Tad are recruited to make more talking words for the very popular talking dictionaries, and to assist Tad in the filling out of a contest application for his father. Various fun machines make vowels sticky, wham words together, and more. Rhyming songs and a fun plot add to the appeal of this title. This is my six-year-old’s favorite of the three – she loves the neat word machines and inventions. Both Letter Factory and Talking Words Factory include a simple, interactive learning game as educational reinforcement.

Created with children from ages two through six in mind, I was somewhat skeptical about the set’s ability to reach younger children. However, the animated, cartoon-style adventures of Leap, Lily, and Tad have not only made her a fan, they’ve also been teaching her the building blocks of phonics! My six-year-old already has a firm understanding of the concepts presented in the set, but she has also really enjoyed the discs for the story alone, and reinforcement has never hurt anyone!

Our children are limited to bringing along one or two DVDs when we travel to visit relatives, and they often ask to bring their LeapFrog movies with them. Only a day or two after watching LeapFrog: Letter Factory, my three year old made an ‘s’ with her wikki sticks and proudly hissed ‘Sssss, this letter says ssss, Mommy!” Right on.

The LeapFrog: Learning DVD Set is an excellent first step into learning for preschool-aged children. If your little ones haven’t had any exposure yet the building blocks of phonics and blending, I can’t recommend this set enough. The associations are fun, lively, and easier to remember in the context of a story-based plot than they are through rote memorization alone. Above all, it’s fun, bright, and engaging – everything a small child could ask for with all the educational value parents’ love.

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT AMAZON.COM!

My husband’s 44th birthday was on Tuesday, December 01st and I failed to announce it here!  Larry is a very sweet, unassuming man who wouldn’t make a big fuss about his birthday if you paid him to, so you won’t find any announcements about the event on his (infrequently updated) blog either!

So, if you’d like to contribute any birthday wishes to him, please do leave him a happy note here!  Thanks .

Are your children about ready to fly the nest? Looking for some training?

If you need some more options for a Business Degree, Business Schools or Culinary Schools, dig in!  This institute has 75 years of history behind it.

Well folks, we were expecting to be in the city for a few more days, but an expected snowstorm with high winds has brought us home to check on the animals, bed them down, and warm up our very, very cold house! Because we heat with wood alone, our house is incredibly chilly when we come home after an overnight visit or a week away!

So, folks in the city who were hoping to see us this weekend – I’m sorry , we’ll be back in a couple of days though and hope to see you soon! I’m not sure exactly when we’ll be coming back, but it should be soon .

Off to play…ehm, exercise on the Wii now .

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of henderson bas. All opinions are 100% mine.

Our family doesn’t really go in for organized sports, but consider this a public-service-announcement for all of our Canadian friends who might appreciate it more than we do!

Nestle/Bistro Crustini is sponsoring a Game Day contest that is open to Canadians who’d like a chance to win a prize package to the Superbowl in Las Vegas.  What’s a Crustini?  Sounds almost like a Crostini (Italian crispy bread), but not quite.  A Crustini is a microwaveable sandwich that can be eaten in one hand – it’s meaty, cheesy filling is wrapped with bread and comes in 11 varieties.  Designed with football fans in mind, it’s designed so you can eat it with one hand, while remote clicking with the other!  Sounds like a good snack for breast-feeding moms too !  Baby on one arm, meaty snack in the other!

So, here’s what’s up for grabs.  After you click on the above link, enter an UPC from any Bistro Crustini product for your chance to win a VIP Trip for two to Las Vegas to watch the Big Game.

The prize package includes:
- Airfare tickets for two 
- Five days, four nights at a deluxe hotel 
- Chauffeured limousine service 
- Two tickets to a show 
- $1,500 CDN spending money 

There are also secondary prizes available including 1 of 3 Home Theatre Systems and a weekly prize of a digital camera.

Once you enter your UPC you’ll automatically know if you’ve won or not – no waiting for a draw.  Only one entry will be accepted per person.

Till next time!

Okay, it’s official – I have the best husband in the world!  After expressing quite a bit of interest in my mom’s Wii, he’s bought me one!  What a dear!  And what a great surprise!  We spent all of last night playing as a family.  My hamstrings are a little bit sore today, but we had a blast!  I think I burned enough calories to eat 2 tbsp. of mayo, LOL.

Seriously though, my husband’s purchase also indicates my serious need to get in shape!  His purchase of a Wii and Wii Fit Plus is meant to essentially replace a gym membership, so I’ll mostly be doing cardio.  I love that the hula hooping doesn’t require a hoop!  The hip movements are far larger than a regular hoop workout involves, but there’s no danger of hitting my little lovies with my wildly swinging hoop in our small living room.  Total bonus.

I’ve also had some problems keeping my children occupied while I exercise without clinging to my legs and crying, and they like to watch the action on the t.v. screen – it’s more like a cartoon movie for them, so they’re happier while I workout.  So if there’s any Wii exercising mama accountability group…let me know!  I’m in .

Scholastic’s collection of 100 Storybook Classics is like no other DVD set we’ve ever owned. Crammed full of animated renditions of well-loved modern children’s classics and a wide range of animation styles that match the feel of the original picture-books, there’s no better bang for your DVD dollar.

Parents will be thrilled to find well-respected works of literature that have endured the test of time – Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings, Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, and H.A. Rey’s Curious George Rides a Bike are only a very small sampling of well-loved tales that are found in this collection.

Newer inclusions in the set include Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr., Max’s Words by Kate Banks (a new family treasure), andDiary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin. This is such an eclectic collection of animated stories that there is something here for everyone. Animation ranges from pans over the original picture book pages in The Five Chinese Brothers by Clare Huchet Bishop, to full-blown modern animation in Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson, to live-action shorts in Frog Goes to Dinner based on Mercer Mayer’s book of the same title. Likewise the production age of the shorts range from the ‘70s through to recent years.

Divided into sixteen separate DVDs, each represents a thematic collection of stories. For example, the Diary of a Spider DVD also includes other ‘critter stories’, one about a mouse, another about a ‘tadpole’, one about a frog, and the other, a termite. Other DVDs include the work of specific authors, the Where the Wild Things AreDVD includes six animated shorts from Maurice Mendak, and the Ezra Jack Keats Collection includes seven stories from – you guessed it- Ezra Jack Keats.

Each DVD features four featured titles that play with optional ‘read-along’ text that displays along the bottom of the screen and changes color as each word is narrated. As a bonus, two to three additional animated shorts are included that don’t have the ‘read-along’ feature. The stories that are the most well known also feature foreign-language narrations and ‘read-along’ text in the target language. Some of the titles include Spanish versions of Make Way for Ducklings, The Snowy Day, Where the Wild Things Are (also available in French), Click, Clack, Moo and more.

Professional narrations are provided by a huge array of voice artists, some notables include: James Earl Jones, Patrick Stewart, Meryl Streep, Pete Seeger, Sarah Jessica Parker, and many others. The stories are wonderfully read, with great matches between the narrators and the stories they’ve been assigned.

With over 19 hours of viewing, and 100 “picture book inspired” animations included in this sixteen-disc set, you just can’t go wrong! Of course there will be some that aren’t your favorites; for instance, I’m not a fan of Maurice Sendak, and the jiggly little-boy-bits of In the Night Kitchen have turned me off of that DVD. On the other hand, there are absolutely wonderful new treasures that we’ve discovered -Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, and The Foolish Frog by Pete Seeger, are great additions to our digital library.

A very handy guide for checking off which Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVDs you own in your collection is included, along with a small activity book that corresponds with several of the stories in the DVD collection.

I’ve never seen such a comprehensive collection of animated storybooks, and I highly recommend it – the cost is less than $1 per animated story, and these treasures will be enjoyed for your children for many years to come.

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT AMAZON.COM!

Alphabetical Title Listing:

Alligators All Around
The Amazing Bone
Angus and the Ducks
Angus Lost
Apt. 3
Arnie the Doughnut
The Beast of Monsieur Racine
Blueberries for Sal
Cat & Canary
The Caterpillar and the Polliwog
Chicka Chicka 1,2,3
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Chicken Little
Chicken Soup with Rice
Chrysanthemum
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type
The Cow Who Fell in the Canal
Curious George Rides a Bike
Danny and the Dinosaur
Diary of a Spider
Dinosaur Bones
Dot the Fire Dog
Drummer Hoff
The Elves and the Shoemaker
Emily’s First 100 Days of School
Five Chinese Brothers
Five Creatures
The Foolish Frog
Fourteen Rats and a Rat-Catcher
Frog Goes to Dinner
The Great White Man-Eating Shark
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Harold’s Fairy Tale
Harry the Dirty Dog
Here Comes the Cat
Hondo & Fabian
Hot Hippo
How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?
How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon?
How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?
How Much is a Million?
I Stink!
I Want a Dog!
I, Crocodile
If You Made a Million
In the Night Kitchen
Inch by Inch
The Island of the Skog
Let’s Give Kitty a Bath!
A Letter to Amy
Lon Po Po
Make Way for Ducklings
Max’s Words
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Millions of Cats
Moon Man
Mouse Around
The Mysterious Tadpole
No Roses for Harry
Norman the Doorman
Officer Buckle and Gloria
One Was Johnny
Owen
Pet Show!
Peter’s Chair
Pete’s a Pizza
A Picture for Harold’s Room
Pierre
Princess Furball
Rapunzel
The Remarkable Riderless Runaway Tricycle
Roberto the Insect Architect
The Snowy Day
Stanley and the Dinosaurs
Stars! Stars! Stars!
The Stonecutter
A Story – A Story
The Story About Ping
The Story of the Dancing Frog
Strega Nona
The Swineherd
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
T is for Terrible
The Talking Eggs
Teeny-Tiny and the Witch-Woman
Time of Wonder
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Trashy TownThe Trip
The Ugly Duckling
Waiting for Wings
Wallace’s Lists
A Weekend with Wendell!
What’s Under My Bed?
Where the Wild Things are
Whistle for Willie
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears
Wild About Books
Wings: A Tale of Two Chickens
The Wizard

Spanish Versions of:

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type
Curious George Rides a Bike
Danny and the Dinosaur
Harry the Dirty Dog
How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?
Make Way for Ducklings
Moon Man
Owen
Strega Nona
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
The Caterpillar and the Polliwog
The Snowy Day
Where the Wild Things Are
Whistle for Willie
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears

And:

Where the Wild Things Are (French)
Interview with Maurice Sendak

When the We-TV episode “Born to Breed” was aired I posted a heads-up about it (thanks to a We-TV publicist) a few hours before it went on-air. Without cable, our family wasn’t able to view it. Perhaps your family is in the same situation, or maybe you just missed the show, but if you have high-speed internet the Jeubs (one of the families interviewed) has compiled the six installments available for viewing on youtube. You can find their handy collection here.

I haven’t watched it yet (I’m hoping to view it tonight with my husband), so I can’t share any commentary. But if you’d like, let me know if you caught the show when it aired, or what you think after you’ve watched the youtube videos.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Victor® Rodent Control. All opinions are 100% mine.

It’s a common misconception amongst city and country dwellers alike that when you have cats, you won’t have mice. After living rurally for over eight years now I can tell you that this just isn’t true. We currently have five cats – two with access to our house, and we still have rodent problems. We hear them in the walls, find mouse scat and promptly take action! My mother-in-law also has some rodent problems despite having cats around – it just seems like a fact of life. Yes – these cats are mousers!

We’ve relied on old-fashioned traps, being largely unaware of high-tech rodent expulsion devices like the Victor® Sonic PestChaser® PRO.  These high-frequency ultrasonic rodent removers chase mice from the home through the use of high-pitched frequencies.  You can learn more about how ultrasonic repellents work here.  Based on laboratory research these safe, non-toxic traps avoid the use of poisons, finger-pinchers, and unhygienic dead mice in the home!

Victor also provides strategies to avoid rodent invasions including advice on how to rodent proof your home, identify signs of an invasion, and answer frequently asked questions concerning controlling rodents.

Looks like we might give up our finger snappers and trade them in for a long-term solution!

I just received notice this morning that The 205th Carnival Homeschooling is now up at the Atlanta Homeschooling Examiner! I know that if I don’t post this notice ASAP it’ll get buried in my inbox (speaking from experience here!)  So if you’re in the mood for a reassuring round-up of real, slice-of-life insights into the homeschooling lives of other families, grab a cup of tea, kick back, and dig in!