eMission - the Facebook Game That is Fun and Makes a Difference!

It's not very often I will download a Facebook App, especially not a gaming app, but this time I couldn't help it...

Image courtesy of DoSomething.org

Have you tried eMission? I found it last night (because you know, I really didn't have enough to do online already *ahem* :Þ) and OMG it is sooooooooooo fun!

I'm going to let the creators of eMission explain this themselves because well, they do it best since it is their product after all. :o)

From their About section on Facebook:

"eMission is a unique Facebook game (currently in Beta) with a social mission that gives you the opportunity to fight climate change! Created by DoSomething.org, in partnership with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR program, this game allows you to protect your own coastal habitat online and share your successes with friends.

Here’s how it works: [this is the part I love! ~L.] eMission encourages players to protect their online world by reducing their CO₂ in the real world—all while scoring points in the game. To earn the most points and reduce the most CO₂, you need to complete the energy-efficient and environmentally friendly offline missions—such as changing incandescent bulbs to ENERGY STAR qualified bulbs; powering down your computers; recycling plastic bags, bottles, or aluminum cans; walking, biking, or taking public transportation instead of driving; and more!"

How cool is that?! To succeed at this game online, you actually have to complete eco friendly tasks offline. Brilliant! I love a good game that won't leave you feeling like you've totally wasted your time. This is also a game that I won't mind my children playing at all and in fact I can't wait to show it to them!

Through finding eMission, I also found the webssite, as I mentioned above, DoSomething.org. From looking around and checking it out, it is a fabulous website for children and teens that encourages them to get involved by intertwining online and offline activities. You can also pop over and visit them on their Facebook page too. Whatever your child is passionate about, I'm sure they'll find something here that interests them and encourages them to get involved and make a difference!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

With love and light ♥,

Great Finds for Moms and Teachers (Homeschoolers, that includes you too!)...

I decided this week that my secret to successful homeschooling is going to be teaching through thematics. With two boys aged 3 and 6 and my daughter who is 8, I found I was bouncing around between the three of them going in all different directions and at the same time trying to juggle their different developmental abilities and interests. It was totally exhausting and while we were getting a little bit done here and there, I can't really say we were having much fun!

After I had my light bulb moment of Thematic Teaching, I sat down last night and made a huge list of every possible subject my children might be interested in (I'm all about lists lately as I am sure you have noticed in my last two posts :Þ) and made sure at the same time I would be able to incorporate just about any subject matter into each theme as well.

I thought the easiest and most interesting way to get started was looking around more at our community and and all the wonderful people who make it such a great place to live. Thus, we are starting next week with "Community Helpers". I am sooooo excited and I am hoping it will grab Matthew and Noah's attention when I focus on Police, Fire and EMS, and anything related to big trucks that dump sand, plow roads and go fast with lights and sirens, while also meeting Maria's need to help out and be and active part of her neighbourhood at large. The great thing is, is that it is a huge topic with so many great directions to go in and so many fantastic resources available out there.

After doing an extensive search last night I found two wonderful websites that are excellent when it comes to teaching specifically with a thematics approach.

The first one is Teach-nology.com This is an exceptional teaching resource with *thousands* of free worksheets, lesson plans, teaching tips and more, in addition to a great section on teaching with themes. There is an option to get a membership, but from the poking around I've done in the last day or so it seems like there is plenty for free!

The second wonderful site that will support our thematic approach to learning is EnchantedLearning.com. Here I simply typed "firetrucks" into their search box and came up with everything I need to teach Math, Spelling, Phonics, Art, Science and more that revolves around...you guessed it, firetrucks! Matthew and Noah will be thrilled! I'll probably have to tweak it a bit for Maria but either way it is a great start with hundreds of ideas to use and work off of. There is also a membership option and while there is a lot for free there, there isn't as much as say Teach-nology in the free section. I did get a membership though and it has been well worth the $25 already!

Last but not least in my quest to make my homeschooling life easier (aka Noah entertained for longer than 5 minutes!!) I found I found a brilliant Etsy shop called Time for Tots that specializes in and I quote:

"... creating dynamic, durable, and hands-on activity kits for young learners. Each game and activity includes colorful manipulatives, counters, and fun learning tools that will provide rich learning opportunities for each and every tot."

Look at these adorable little kits!

Early Toddler Learning Kit by Time for Tots on Etsy

Word Games Kit by Time for Tots on Etsy

Those are just two examples of the unique and distinctive learning kits they offer (in addition to offering customizable kits to meet your specific needs), so definitely check them out to see everything they have to offer! I noticed on their Facebook Page that they have some great deals for the month of March, so be sure to head there too!



I just stumbled across their site yesterday so I have not yet had the chance to order from them (I will be this weekend for sure!) but they come highly recommended by fellow Mothering.com members and have a perfect Etsy feedback score.

If you are looking for other great learning resources on the web, be sure to go back and check out our post from January 28, 2011!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Spring is almost here, woohooo! :D

With love and light ♥,
 

Dealing With Snow Days? Looking For the Best Tasting Omega 3 Supplement? Then You'll *LOVE* Our Best Friday Finds so Far!

I seriously don't even know where to start, I have sooooooooooooooo many great things to share that I found this week!

Hmmm where to start, where to start...let's go with the tasty Fish Oil I found this week at Community Natural Foods (I love that store!).

Yes you read that right, fish oil. That is DELICIOUS no less!! I'm totally not kidding! I know you are skeptical, so was I, but the lady at the store pinky swore promised me that my kids would be begging me for it, it is that good. And you know what? She was completely right! It is called Barlean's Omega Swirl in Lemon Zest flavour. I hate lemon flavour in almost anything, so I was trying not to cringe when Maria dared me to try it first. But this tastes like lemon mousse, or one of those yummy lemon marshmallow candies you used to eat when you were a kid. Eat it by the spoonful (seriously, that is how good it is) or drizzle it over ice cream or yogurt.

In our house, Matty especially needs the extra Omega 3 Fatty Acids and I have tried *everything* over the years and he hated them all. But this? This he loves! There is over 1000 mgs of Omega 3's per 2 teaspoon serving (720 mg of that being EPA and DHA), there is zero sugar (it is sweetened with zylitol), it is organic and it is also gluten free.

It comes in a variety of different flavours (think Pina Colada, Chocolate Raspberry, Orange Creamsicle and Mango Peach) and there is also a vegetarian one in Strawberry Banana, and a vegan one too in Pomegranate Blueberry! They only had the Lemon Swirl where I bought it, but I can only imagine how yummy the others are. I am desperate to try them all now! So if you are searching for the tastiest way to get Omega 3 Fatty Acids into your family's diet then you have to try Barlean's Omega Swirl, I promise you will love it! :D

Okay, onto other fun and fabulous things that are great for our kids!

I have found some of the best learning websites out there, that I had no clue of before. As a homeschooling mom I am always looking for ways to make things like math and language arts more fun and entertaining. I also have quite a few friends on the east coast who are faced with more snow days (hang in there guys!), which is causing them and their kids to go a little squirrelly this week!

If your kids are bored of the standard more popular websites, have them try out these. Not only will they have fun, they'll also be learning all at the same time.

For Math:

Math Under The Sea

This is specifically for Grade 3, but even Matty enjoys it and keep up with some parts (he's in Grade 1). It was designed by Alberta teachers and follows the Alberta Math curriculum. Kids love it and it is wonderful no matter what part of the world you live in. The only thing that would be different is just the money part, which is Canadian of course, so you can skip that if you aren't in Canada or use it as a interactive lesson on different currencies

Another lovely site is Math Playground. It has great games for all ages (Pre-K and up) and makes things like statistic reasoning and algebra entertaining, even for the younger ones!

Have you seen IXL Math yet? I just found it this week and I wonder what have we done without this cute interactive math website!?!? It covers Pre K up to 8th Grade and again, makes the whole concept of math actually enjoyable.

Now our all time favourite in this house is DreamBox. If there is one website that has my kids captivated for hours, it is this one. I also love that it emails me updates every time they complete a level and it lets me know how they are doing. There is a two week free trial so you can seriously check it out and it also has a whole parents section so you can go through and see first hand what your children will be doing. I just stumbled across this site this week so we are just on the free trial right now, but I will be getting the subscription for all 3 of my kids. It's worth every penny!

And last but not least for Math, is Cool Math 4 Kids. This isn't your typical math website! It focuses more on critical thinking skills, developing strategy and perseverance. Admittedly my oldest two (who are 6 and 8) got a tad frustrated (to say the least) when they first started playing until I pointed out to them that every game was solvable, they just had to figure out how. Once they knew that the possibility was there to win, they were all for it and will sit and think and strategize for as long as they need to.

For cool kid friendly educational sites that are more all encompassing and go over other subjects, have your kids check these out:

I Know That.com covers every subject for PreK and up, again in a fun and interactive way and there are a lot of great games to choose from!

TutPup.com is also a fabulous site that covers all subjects and if you have a child that is even remotely competitive, they will love this one! A lot of the games on here are about beating your opponent or winning a race by adding the most numbers correctly, for example.

For the little scientists or nature lovers in your house (hi Mads!♥) then a must see is Cosmeo.com by the Discovery channel. There is a free trial and it offers help on homework, report writing, brain games and more. My kids love this site!

Now, if you are like me, you adore free stuff! We're all for free stuff right? I have spent I don't know how much money on reading curricula for my kids this year, only to stumble across this site yesterday, that offers everything I need.....for free! :D Progressive Phonics covers everything from the basics to advanced phonics and even handwriting. You simply register there and you have access to all the books, worksheets and more by simply saving a file and then printing off what you need. There are even forums on there if you are a message board addict like me! :Þ

Of course we still have our old standbys in this house that will love to play. BrainPop Jr., Poisson Rouge,  CBC Kids and Starfall have all been bookmarked for at least the last 6 years on our pc's!

And one final site that is a huge resource for me is from the Alberta Department of Education. A few sites that I have listed in this post today can be found here on their site, but there are hundreds of wonderful learning websites listed as well for you to peruse through when you get a chance! For grades 1-9, just click on the appropriate link: Click here for Grades 1-3 (all subjects). For Grades 4-6, click here. Grades 7,8 and 9 can click right here.

Last but not least for this weeks Friday Finds, I have to thank my friend Sallie and her friend Margaret! :D This week on Facebook sSallie asked in her status about the best and most efficient container for sorting and storing Legos. There were some great ideas and recommendations, but I wanted to jump up and down with a girly squeal and hug her friend Margeret when she recommended THIS:

Box4Blox people. Say it with me now: Box4Blox! I just about fell off my chair when I saw this. This is exactly what we need in our house! We have Lego's everywhere and it drives my kids nuts (okay, me too) when we are trying to find that one little itty bitty piece and we waste 20 minutes looking and then eventually dump it on the living room floor which of course, means that it gets all over my house in a nano second. But this! This I must have! *drool* The gist of this is, you simply put all your Legos in through the top and then shake it and it automatically sorts them by their size into separate bins. I need to think of genius things like this! :D

What have you found this week that you feel in love with? We have a ton of readers, but you are all so quiet! Speak up, share your thoughts, we won't bite! Promise! :D Feel free to post in the comments for find us on Facebook!

Have a fantabulous weekend everyone!

With love and light♥,