Phonics Friends

One of my favorite early reader resources is a series called 'Phonics Friends' published by 'The Child's World'. The beginner version is called 'Alphabet Friends' but is based on the same principle. The cost is unfortunately prohibitive and simply not something I can image a family purchasing outright. Rather, I would recommend that you check with your local library to see if they have either version. 
          In 'Phonics Friends' children are familiarized with the various sounds a particular letter makes.  We read 'Umberto's Summer Day, The Sound of Short U' today. The book is laid out in a simple, easily understood, format. The first page is an introductory page which can be read by the parent or educator to the child. This page introduces the child to the letter and phonics feature or sound highlighted in that issue. Concluding the book is a page with word lists including the words the child read in the book.  The sentences are easy to understand and a child will feel quite accomplished after reading one of these books. There are photographs on the left page and the right page features two to three sentences. Even an early reader can easily read and comprehend the short, illustrated stories within these books. Each sentence is reasonably short and contains at least one repetition of the phonics sound featured in the book.


My son (who will be six years old in August) loves these books and chooses them over and over again at our local library. He can read the books by himself with minimal assistance. I am a big believer in teaching children to read via phonics, adding high frequency word recognition only once phonics has been mastered.  If I had to rate this series I would quite possibly give it a five out of five stars.

One of my favorite kitchen tools - The Misto

I bought a Misto roughly 4 months or so ago and it's become one of my favorite kitchen implements. It is a stainless steel canister with a built-in, easy to prime, pump that you can fill with a bit of your favorite oil.

Why I like it:
a) It was inexpensive. I paid roughly $10 for it.
b) No propellants or additives to my sprayed oil.
c) Because of point 'b' my pans, etc no longer have gummy, sticky, impossible to clean, gunk on them.
d) Because of point 'b' I don't have to wonder what I am inhaling when I use the spray and what I am feeding my family.
e) More economical than regular cooking sprays in the long run.

What I don't like:

Well, only one thing really. I wish it came in different colors because I would love to buy one for other oils that I use. With only one color canister I would get confused and use the wrong oils for my foods if I can't see at a glance which oil I am using.

What do I use it for?

Spray my cooking grates, pans, meats and vegetables, pasta, fish, etc with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Great Gift Idea for Any Parent Interested in Education

Fun in education has come a long way since I grew up. Take the above pictured set for example.  I wish they had stuff like that when I grew up!  So what is this you ask?
Combine richly illustrated 'Britannica' produced books with  a SD-X Interactive Reader Pen and let the magic happen. It did in my house. So much so, that the kids had fights over who got to use it when and how long.  We purchased the the above pictured set at Sam's Club for about $25 and it's worth every penny and more.  The set contains 3 books and a 'Reader' Pen which when placed at various points on each page provides hours of additional information and audioclips. We bought the set which has 'EARTH', 'HUMANS' and 'SPACE'. There are, however, other combinations available.  The set is published by PIL Books and here, for your convenience, is a link to their interactive store. In addition to the hours and hours of interesting soundbites your child can also challenge herself with quizzes.  Now, because this set became the ball everyone wanted to play with in our home I appreciated the added bonus in the headset port available on the pen's top. This was helpful for us as one kid was able to listen to his heart's content to the lessons while perusing a richly illustrated book without distracting his sister who was working on something else at the same time. We simply used the headphones from his I-Pod Shuffle.  I contacted the boss-man of PIL Books in the hopes of getting a 'give-away' arranged but unfortunately my e-mail was ignored lost.  But don't let this stop you from checking out these cool book sets. This investment is a treasured part of our growing home library.

Product Review and No ! I am not getting paid for it.

My daughter has a severly defective skin barrier. Her skin was always dry to the point of me vaccuuming her bed in the morning because of the 'snow'.  We used to go through about a 1 lb container of Vanicream every 3 weeks in addition to other lotions, potions, oils, creams, medications etc. And then about 2 months ago we found Aveeno Intense Relief Repair Cream. Since it cost as much as the Vanicream and we had a basket full of all kinds of creams etc we decided to try it. Her skin since then improved by about 90%. It is fragrance free and unscented which is a must for us due to allergies to that as well.  This stuff is UNBELIEVABLE.  I have to write them about it because we are absolutely terrified they'll stop manufacturing it. That stuff has truly helped to change the quality of her life. The skin remains well moisturized even hours after application. It doesn't burn her sensitive skin and absorbs cleanly.  I told the nurse at the Pediatric Pulmonary and Allergy Clinic of Iowa University Hospital about it too. My washing machine is happy as well. Before starting this cream I had to clean the crud off the top of the bucket every few weeks because of the scum that adhered to it. No more! For us this cream is nothing short of a miracle. Since we've started using it we've been able to stop her topical medications since she doesn't need them. The topical stuff included Protopic which has  been endowed with a black box warning and tons of topical steroids. One note of caution... this cream does contain Shae butter so avoid using on tree nut allergic individuals.