Review: Read and Share: Stories About Jesus

This school year I am homeschooling my kids for catechism (or Faith Formation as it is called now).  I have the book that is part of the curriculum our church uses but it can be a bit boring.  The stories in Read and Share: Stories about Jesus are just the right length for short attention spans.  At this age my kids don't really understand a story read straight from the bible with out lots of explanation.  This book takes those well know stories of Jesus from the bible but uses language that is easy for them to understand.  My daughter is also reading on her own and the language in the stories is well with in her expertise.  This book is aimed toward toddler and babies, as it is a board book, but I find that it works well for older kids too.
Read and Share: Stories about Jesus By Gwen Ellis includes 13 well know stories about Jesus from the bible.  Each two page spread has one story and picture(s) to go with the story.  I like that the book also lets you know the exactly where the story is in the bible.  I was also very happy that they included the story of Jesus healing the blind man as it is one of my kids favorites.  A very well written version of bibles stories aimed toward kids and in words they will easily understand.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: Slice™ Safety Cutter - Great For Couponers

I am a coupon cutter!  I love using coupons so I spend less at the store.  What I don't like is cutting those coupons out.  Now I don't buy extra newspapers so I usually only have one or two inserts to clip coupons from but it if is a good week it can still be a lot of coupons.  My hand have gotten tired before, open and closing those scissors. So when I heard about the Slice Safety Cutter and I was intrigued.  The Slice Safety cutter uses a tiny ceramic blade that is suppose to last longer than steel and since it is ceramic it stays sharp and unlike steel can't rust.  The design also means that it is easily used by left and right handers.  My first thought was to use it for clipping coupons or cutting wrapping paper.  After I received the Slice Safety Cutter I found I have been using it for lots of other things too.  I really like using it on DVD and CD shrink wrap.  I have broken nails in the past or scratched the case when I tired using scissors to get that shrink wrap off.  My most surprising use was cutting those sticker pages out of books.  My kids are still little enough that they like receiving books that come with stickers.  The stickers are great but once they are used I have a blank waxy page in the beginning of a book.  I admit I damaged a few books trying to get those empty sticker pages out.  I damaged so many I vowed never to removing them again.  I decided to risk it and try removing those pages using the Slice Safety Cutter and I am happy to announce that it worked.  I went through a whole stack of books and successfully removed those stick pages and did not damage the books at all.  Can you tell I was a little excited?

One last thing I have to share is: it has a magnet inside!  Now that does not sound too exciting but it means I can keep it on the side of my refrigerator for quick access instead of losing it in the junk drawer. 

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: AppliedLabels

When I was growing up my mom always wrote our names on our stuff using permanent ink pens.  It was a good thing she labeled them as it was how she was able to get back a few sweater of mine that were being worn by other kids.  I was sent some labels from AppliedLabels.com and used them right away.  I like that they are not going to fall off in the dishwasher or the laundry.  My daughter is allowed to have a water bottle at her desk but the one she wanted to use is one she and lots of other kids earned from a school fundraiser.  That means usually a few kids are using the exact same water bottle each day.  I wanted to make sure she knew which one was hers.  Since I put the label on her water bottle I have run it through the dishwasher many, many times (I wash it every other day during the school week) and the label still looks great.  Once you send your kid off to school, or anywhere else without you, things will be misplaced.  Having a label with your child's name on it increases the likelihood you will get it back.  It also helps if you buy your kids a popular item.  My youngest has an umbrella which last year was unquie.  This year at least 10 other kids at her school have the same one.  I know that since we have my daughter's name on her I know we are bringing ours home and not some other child's.

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.

Piggy Mermaid

Princess A made a mermaid piggy in book club to go with the book, Mercy Watson. The book club is 3rd through 1st grade so both of my princesses can be in the same book club, well at least for this year. They both loved the book and are reading more from the series. Both of the girls had fun making and painting their paper mâché pigs.