Education Uncensored

This is about a great guy I met through an online conference.  He has been a huge help for me in every obstacle I’ve faced.  You can read more in my review of him Kevin M Roy – Countdown to Ignition

On Monday, there will be more about his upcoming product…..don’t miss out….

From his own site:

Kevin believes that life should be lived on your own terms.

Kevin is a firm believer in living everyday to its fullest. He strives for a balanced life that focuses on strong relationships and following his passion for staying active and improving the lives of those around him. He began his career as a Family Wealth Planning and Probate Attorney. While practicing law, he realized that being an entrepreneur was his true calling.

This background has given Kevin an even stronger perspective on the importance of life and the value of appreciating the prosperity you have and sharing your legacy with those around you. With any luck, you will find your own happiness and prosperity by experiencing life to its fullest and pursuing your dreams.

He created Roy Labs and developed a revolutionary membership program for his private customers.  These “Vee Members” understand that business and life center around Vitality, Energy and the Experience.   His mission is to help people create businesses around their passions so that they can make money  while having fun.

Don’t Miss out on my review of Countdown to Ignition!

APT & PBS KIDS GO! LAUNCH WRITERS CONTEST

Local/National Contest Encourages Children to Write and Illustrate Their Own Stories

Alabama Public Television and PBS KIDS GO! have announced a new contest designed to let children’s creativity flow while they improve their literacy skills. The PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest, a local/national contest for children in kindergarten through third grade, invites children to write and illustrate original stories, then submit them to APT for judging.

Original stories written and illustrated by the child must be mailed to APT (postmarked no later than March 26, 2010), who will select first, second and third-place winners in each grade level. Winners will be notified of their winning status and will receive a certificate and prizes for their work at the Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery on April 17. 

Local first-place winners will be entered into the national level of the contest, where a renowned panel of judges will identify the best of the best. National contest winners will earn additional prizes including laptops, digital cameras and MP3 players.

For contest details, rules and entry forms, log on to www.aptv.org/rr. A PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest Web site, at www.pbskids.org/read, will include the winning stories in each of the contest categories as well as an archive of winning stories.

Cindy Kirk, vice president of educational services at APT  explains that developing writing and other communications skills early is important in school achievement.. “This contest also gives free rein to an active imagination for added value,” she adds.

The PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest is a part of PBS KIDS^® Raising Readers, a national program that uses the power of public media to build the reading skills of children ages 2-to-8, with an emphasis on children from low-income families.  The effort is funded by a Ready To Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education, part of a cooperative agreement with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), PBS and The Ready To Learn Partnership. 

Now, don’t you want to get your first grader to get going on that first book? This replaces the Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators contest that APT has been part of for more than ten years. It’s so exciting to see the kid’s faces when they read or have their story read at the Alabama Book Festival! There’s tons of information at the above Web site.

We are re-visiting the topic of Rainbow Brite because if you read the post, About Rainbow Brite, you know that I was expecting a CD or two or maybe 9 or 10 to give away.  And, indeed, that’s exactly what I’m here to tell you.

So, here’s what’s up for grabs:

Four winners will receive one CD Pack which contains Rainbow Brite games and activities.

Here are the rules:

Contest Information!

1. The contest starts at midnight, Central Time on January 24th and ends at Noon Central Time on January 31st. 
2. The contest is open to U.S. Residents only unless otherwise specified.
3. The winner will be given 48 hours to reply with a mailing address and then another winner will be chosen.
4. The winner will be chosen via Random.org’s Random Integer Function
5. Most of my giveaways require one entry and I give tons of bonus entries. Each additional entry is always optional and EACH ONE MUST BE LEFT IN A SEPARATE comment to count. If you don’t follow the giveaway rules I will just delete your comment.
6. I don’t like to devote posts to winners nor do I like to mention it in my posts. My plan is to keep those posts in the pages area in the right sidebar, I will simply mark them closed with the information to identify to the winner in the post until the prizes have been claimed by the winner. Please make sure jareason@gmail.com is white listed in your email so that you can receive information from me regarding contests

Giveaway sponsors are responsible for shipping prizes that are offered on Education Uncensored. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery of any prizes won. If you do not receive your item AFTER that time, please email me and I will follow up with them.

Mandatory Entry:

The mandatory entry is for you to visit Rainbow Brite and return with a quip about your favorite item.

Extra Entries: Various Combos of this Can and Will be Used

1. 5 extra entries will be awarded for subscribing to Education Uncensored.

2. 2 extra entries will be awarded for posting about this contest on your blog, you must return and leave a comment with the link to the exact url of your post, not your general url. If you have multiple blogs, you can post about this contest once on each of your blogs and receive 5 extra entries for each blog.

3. 1 extra entry each will be awarded for following me on Twitter @The_Jerri_Ann . If you already follow me, leave your twitter name, if you are just following me, come back and leave your twitter name so I know to look for you so I can follow you back.

4. 2 extra entry each will be awarded for bookmarking each post in places like Digg, Kirtsy, Technorati, etc. You can get 2 extra entry for each place you bookmark it but you must leave that information in separate comments.

5. 1 extra entry each will be awarded for bookmarking any other post on this blog to any of those same bookmarking sites listed above. You may do this as often as possible with as many posts and as many bookmarking sites, however you MUST leave a separate comment for each. (I realize this one is a bit far fetched and out there but hey, some folks have all next week….anyway, naturally it’s an extra entry but could get you some massive entries)

6. 1 extra entry each for tweeting about this contest with @The_Jerri_Ann and the link to this contest in your tweet. You can do this a maximum of 5 times a day.

7. 1 extra entry each for tweeting about this contest with @The_Jerri_Ann and the link to this contest in your tweet. You can do this a maximum of 5 times a day.

Disclaimer: Education Uncensored’s reviews and its author assume no liability for damages associated with any prizes awarded here or contents contained therein. Prizes lost in the mail or those not delivered by sponsors are not the responsibility of Education Uncensored or its author. Prizes not claimed within two weeks of notification to the winner will have to be forfeited. Entrants must be 18 years of age or older to enter, and entrants must follow state and local laws concerning sweepstakes.

Alabama Public Television—long a favorite destination for trusted educational programs for kids—is now offering its free online multimedia educational resource, APTPLUS™, to parents! Recently enhanced with the Learn360 database, APTPLUS offers parents (and their children) a service that teachers in our state have valued for years.  Providing audio and visual explanations of hard-to-teach and difficult-to-learn concepts, APTPLUS creates an environment for learning for Pre-K students through twelfth graders. It gives users the ability to stream or download videos and still images in the areas of the Arts, Health and Guidance, Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies and World Languages along with speeches, songs and other material. And it’s available 24 hours a day.

Using this learning resource, parents and students can also access educational PBS programs that bring another dimension to learning, such as NOVA, Between the Lions and Cyberchase.  Tools for parents and teachers to create blogs, podcasts, multimedia assignments and quizzes to promote creative and critical thinking skills are also available on APTPLUS.

Alabama’s stories are told through the APT-produced content available in the APTPLUS Digital Library database including the story of the migrating Whooping Cranes that fly over Alabama and the array of talent displayed by Alabama craftsmen and artisans in the series entitled Alabama Craft: Tradition and Innovation, all on APTPLUS.

Just think of it as your own private library, filled with videos, still images and audio that’s at your disposal when you need it. Best of all, there’s no questionable content that you might find on a general Internet search engine. Remember, we’re talking APT, here. Trust is our middle name!

Registering for and using APTPLUS^™ is easy at www.aptplus.org. Parents should click on “Parent Registration” and scroll down the page to complete the online form to request a username and password, which will be e-mailed to them within three business days. For registration assistance or answers to other questions, go to www.aptplus.org and click on “contact APTPLUS.” Registration is not required for the other APTPLUS databases including the APTPLUS Digital Library and the APT Adult Education database. For registration assistance or answers to other questions, go to www.aptplus.org and click on “contact APTPLUS.”

I’m not sure this is going anywhere.  I had big intentions when I thought of this title hours ago.  I was going to tell you something funny, ironic, prolific that one of my kids said.  but, now, a few hours later and about 15 kids at a birthday party to boot..I have no clue what it was. 

So, instead I’m going to share a funny with you.  One of the parents at the party substitutes quite frequently at my son’s school.  And one day recently when she was working Walker’s room and they were doing a math sheet.  And, all the kids were asking questions.  Finally, my dear sweet adorable cherub who knows way too much math as it is already decided that if everyone else was going to get some face time with the substitute by asking questions, he would give it a try. 

When he arrived at the teacher’s desk with his math paper in hand, the substitute said, “Now Walker, you know how to do these problems….” and my son, replied, “well yes, but I just wanted to tell you something else…”

He knows that kid..he thinks he can work a crowd or at least tries to work adults any way..

If this sounds like I’m just grumpy, it’s because I am.  Basically, my grumpiness stems from nothing important and nothing really based on anything….except…well unless you consider others when you make decisions….yea, I’m grumpy!

Like most school’s, our school has this monstrous parking lot issue.  There is a diagram that they hand out at orientation explaining it all.  But, the bottom line is, people start lining up at least 45 minutes before school dismisses….some even more.  And, that’s not anything for me to really be grumpy about.  But…you knew there was a but didn’t you?

But, the last 2 days I’ve been behind a parent who not only has a kid that’s too small to get in the car alone and so it requires the teacher to pick the kid up or the parent to get out and she has his car seat installed on the opposite side of the car from the sidewalk.  Why? 

Why can’t the kid get in the car on the side like every other kid in line does?  What is up with that?

And, then, today, there was this grandmotherly looking woman driving, or actually she was sitting….in the lane in which parents of children the age of my son use to leave the disaster that is The School Parking Lot.  Now, given, if she doesn’t come often or ever, then she probably doesn’t know but the parent who sent her…should have explained it because total chaos ensued. 

And that chaos had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that not only did I not take my purse (or any money basically) with me to the school to pick up my son, I didn’t get dressed (per se, I had on a t-shirt and shorts and that’s certainly not dressed), I didn’t put on any shoes and my gas light was on.  And I’m stuck in this friggin’ parking lot where someone has blocked the only outlet. 

Really, grumpy is not exactly the best word for it, but still…yea I’m grumpy.

Don’t let the diagram fool you into thinking that this is a place of pure chaos just because I can’t draw…it is pure chaos because…well that grandmotherly figure in the way and…well because my drawings can’t even depict how chaotic it really is…..but normally…it works for some reason..but not with that grandmotherly woman in the way….nope, nada…grumpy!

Are you familiar with Rainbow Brite?  If not, why?  I have some awesome news for you either way.  Rainbow Brite will be bringing to life their new Rainbow Brite fashion doll collection in February at Toys R’ Us and TArget.  You can check Rainbow Brite’s website for availability. 

While you are on the site, you can also check out the games, the theme song and coloring pages that you can download.  This is definitely a don’t miss opportunity.  And, finally, soon I will have Rainbow Brite CD’s containing games and activities and you may just get one. 

If you want to be notified of the contest to win the Rainbow Brite CD’s once I get them, simply leave a comment here on this post with your email address and I will email you to let you know where to find your chance to win one for your little dolls.

I’m curious to know if you have a clingy baby?  What about a clingy 5 year old?

If you recall from reading here or on any of my other blogs, my children simply adore my mother.  I never had a grandparent that I was as crazy about as my kids are by my mother.  The oldest has always preferred her over me.  The youngest went through spells but he has mostly been a momma’s boy. 

But, in recent weeks, he had basically turned to his Nanny and it didn’t matter what I was doing or where I was going, he did not want to leave his Nanny’s house.  The older one as I said, has always been that way.

And then…………..

You knew that was coming, right?  And then, my mom and I had a little argument.  And, while my husband and I rarely argue, we don’t hide it from the kids at all when we disagree.  But, the arguments they’ve witnessed between my mother and I are way worse and always have been than anything they hear between my husband and I.

Since that time, both kids have asked to go to my mom’s less.  Now, my mom had a chemo treatment last Monday and she has been quite sick.  So, it’s not like they could go see her anyway, but honestly, they simply haven’t asked.  And, when the 5 year old found out that I was going out of town last Sunday (he didn’t know until Saturday), he literally walked around the house holding on to my pants leg.

By Sunday when I left, I was upset terribly because it was obvious he too was bothered.  When I returned, they were both just head over heels with joy to see me (needless to say, I went on many trips last year and they never acted this way at all). Neither of them asked to go to my mom’s at all this week.  Not.at.all.

They did go to church with her today as usual but last Sunday when they knew I was leaving that afternoon, neither of them went.  I couldn’t tell you the last time they chose to stay home instead of go anywhere with my mother. 

I don’t mean this disrespectful at all and I certainly hope that my children forget about the argument soon.  I don’t want my children to have bad feelings toward my mom. 

Our kids go to bed in their own beds but migrate to ours during the night.  And this past week, the 5 year old will wake up if I get up to go to the bathroom to ask me where I’m going.  And, many times, too many too count, he has twirled my hair in his sleep and just repeated “mommy, mommy”.  He hasn’t called me “mommy” in a long time. 

I have to say that having a clingy 5 year old is no where near like having a clingy toddler but I do hope that he gets his confidence back soon.  He doesn’t seem to be too bothered to do things like go to basketball practice with his dad without me but yesterday when they went to the game early to have photos, he asked multiple times if I would be there by game time. 

So, I wonder…anyone have any thoughts on this?

Learning happens all day every day.  For those of us involved in formal education, we know that there is an endless about of learning to be done outside the traditional classroom.  But, at the same time, students can gain from the occasional learning experience that looks like the days of old school and sitting in desk.  Reading is one such tool that you and your child can benefit from. 

And, if you find yourself with a struggling learner, you need to know that there are online sites that can help you and your knowledge seeker.  Tutornext is one company where you can go to find tutoring.  Whether your child or high school student or maybe even you need a little help, you can check out  online tutoring.  Online math tutoring and math answers are available for you and you can find extra  math problems so you can keep up the skills needed to succeed.  And if it’s Precalculus help or statistics help, there is definitely no shame in looking for help.  Another area that you mind want to investigate is chemistry help because if you are like me, once your learner reaches high school, you will need someone who is fresh on all the up-to-date knowledge.