Free Shipping for the Holidays

Everybody loves free shipping! 

So here is a list of the more popular stores that are offering just that this holiday season:

Walmart - They are offering homefree on over 100,000 items.   There is a $45.00 minimum qualifying order and it will be shipped to your door within 3 - 5 business days. You can return the items for free to any Walmart.  They also have pickuptoday, where you can order online and pickup in the store the same day or next day (depending on the time the order is placed).  This is good for any size order and covers over 20,000 items. There is also sitetostore, but this takes 5 - 8 business days.  It is good for any size order and covers over 300,000 items. Not all items are eligible but go to the Walmart site for the details and if the item is eligible for one of these programs it will tell you when you click on it.
 
Sears announced that they would offer free shipping from Sears and Kmart stores. The offer is available from October 30 to December 19. At Sears.com the order must be a qualified $99 and to receive the savings you must use the code SHIPREALJOY.  At Kmart.com and mygofer.com it must be a $49 qualified order and you must use the code HOLIDAY on Kmart.com and JINGLE49 on mygofer.com.  There is Free instore pickup available on some items at both Sears and Kmart.  Check the sites for details.
Target -  you get Free shipping on eligible items when you spend $50 - there are over 500,000 items that are eligible for this.  Go to target.com for details.

ToysRUs - They have a limited time offer for Free Shipping - It is available on everything with a $75 purchase. It will cover Standard Shipping up to $20.  So if you are buying something heavy you may still have to pay something for the shipping.  Check out the site for details, but I think the limited time offer may be extended with all the competition.

Amazon.com - they have their Amazon Prime program where you get free 2 day shipping with no minimum order size and they offer 1 day shipping for $3.99 an item.  You can get a 1 month free trial and if you sign up after that it is $79 per year.  There is another perk with the Prime program - you get unlimited instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows.  They also offer Amazon Student and Amazon Mom programs with some great benefits.  Go to the site and check out the details.

Those are some of the major stores that are offering free shipping right now.  I will keep my eye out for any other offers.

 Happy Shopping!

Three Sites You Can Join for Free

                        WHY BUY? WHY RENT?

                     PaperBackSwap.com   SwapaCD.com   SwapaDVD.com

               SWAP FOR FREE!

            You need to check out these 3 sites:  http://www.swapacd.com,

http://www.swapadvd.com, and http://www.paperbackswap.com.

Have you ever had CDs, DVDs, or books just sitting around because the kids have outgrown them, or your tastes have changed and you wanted to listen to or read something different?   Almost all of us do.  Until recently, your choices for getting rid of them were pretty limited.  You could sell them online or to used dealers for pennies on the dollar or simply give them away.

Now there is a much better solution.  Join the “Best Swapping Sites in America” for FREE!  Here’s how it works: 

Go to the family of websites and list books (paperback, hardback or audio), CDs and DVDs that you no longer want.  They’ll even give you free credits to help you get started.

Credits can be used to order books, CDs or DVDs from the huge selection of titles on all three sites (largest of all swap sites on the Internet).

You’ll earn more credits when other members request your items and you send them out.  You’ll pay the postage to ship your items to other members, but others will return the favor and send your selections postage paid!

They also have a Wish List, so that if the CD, DVD or book that you want is not available you can add it to your list and when it becomes available they will send it to you as long as you have the credits in your account.  You can also see what position you are in on the list at any time.

So go ahead and join all 3 – they are all free to join and what have you got to lose.  I use them and it is a great way for the kids to trade their old things in for new – it’s like getting presents.

                     5,150,850+ Books   361,462+ CDs   246,437+ DVDs

                    

Did You Know That "Math Doesn't Suck" is a Book!

Danica McKellar is a very accomplished young woman.   She is a New York Times bestselling author, an internationally recognized mathematician and a strong advocate of math education.  She is a summa cum laude graduate of UCLA with a degree in Mathematics. She was also an actress on The Wonder Years and The West Wing.

She has written 3 different books that target math for middle school kids::  "Math Doesn't Suck", "Kiss My Math", and "Hot X: Algebra Exposed".   These books are targeted towards pre-teen and teen girls, but the information in them can be used by both girls and boys.  Just have the boys skip over the "girl" stuff in them.

These books will teach children and their parents in simple and easy to understand terms how to solve equations and formulas that in the past made no sense to them and they just "didn't get it".   Danica explains the math using real life examples and makes it fun to learn!

Click here to find some great prices on her books -    http://amzn.to/t8WRNo

There are schools that are starting to use her books, but for the most part if your child isn't getting it (and we know from statistics that most of our children aren't) then they will just be left behind.  And our country will continue to lag behind the rest of the world in Math and Science.

She may not be able to change the world, but you can change it for your child by purchasing her book.  If you can't afford it right now, check out your local library.  They should have some copies on hand that you could borrow and see what kind of change they will make in your child's future.

Don't wait for our schools to make the change in the way they teach - that is a long way off and our children need to make it happen for themselves.  There is all this talk about how far behind we are in Math and Science, so why not start the change in your own home.

Check out Danica's website at:  http://www.danicamckellar.com  and you can also become a fan on her Facebook page and get her latest news.

Where Does This Stuff Come From?

Where Does This Stuff Come From?

By Courtney Michalec


The light was about to go off. Finally, bedtime had arrived. And then she said, "Hide, quick! I see one, two, free praying mantises!!!" Huh?
I complied, and we huddled under the thick comforter, despite the fact that it was a 90 degree day and we don't have air conditioning. Anna was wide-eyed - clearly it would be a long time before we actually got to sleep.
"Can we peek our heads out and check to see if they're gone?" I asked. She nodded, and we did. We looked around, she squealed, and dove back under. Darn.
They were still there. I started sweating profusely.
After a few unsuccessful attempts to assure her we were mantis-free, a light bulb went off in my head. "Anna," I said, "Let's put on our invisibility shields so we can go to sleep. They won't even know we're here."
"Okay, mom," she replied, clinging tightly to me as we removed the blanket. Whew! I could breathe again. And it was time to sleep.
I laughed about this the next day. Most kids are scared of the boogeyman in the closet, or the monsters beneath their bed. Mine fears.... praying mantises. Tiny green insects. I don't think she has ever even seen one. That got me wondering: where does this stuff come from?
You never know what will trigger a child's imagination, or how ordinary everyday things can take on colossal proportions in their little eyes. And sometimes I have myself to blame for that.
In this case, upon reflection, I believe it was the Eric Carle book, The Very Quiet Cricket, that introduced Anna to this unique insect. This cute little story features a baby cricket who meets other insect friends that try to greet him, but he can't find his voice to greet them back - spoiler alert! - until the end, when he meets another cricket. (Sorry, but I may have just saved you $12.)
Anyway, one such insect is the praying mantis. To make books such as this more enjoyable, I often create voices for the characters. For some reason I decided to give the praying mantis a Joan Rivers-like, raspy, chain-smoker voice. These weird voices always crack Anna up, so it never occurred to me that when nighttime began to get a little scary, courtesy of the alligator, my efforts at humor would come back to haunt us both.
Oops.
Even though we haven't read that book in a long time, suddenly, the now-evil praying mantis has reared his ugly head. Was it my mantis voice that spooked her? Or perhaps the fact that these little creatures really are quite creepy-looking in real life?
I'll probably never know. But, at least I have learned that the mantises know the alligator, so if we can shoo him away, in theory, we should be able to take care of them all.
The point? I don't really have one, other than that it's absolutely fascinating to watch the toddler imagination at work. You never know what will happen next! I'm glad to be a captive audience.
Please check out my blog, My Life with Pie - http://www.mylifewithpie.com. We write about all sorts of things - nighttime fears, bullying, parental exhaustion, you name it. And there are also plenty of amusing photos and stories and videos. We're funny, serious, poignant, thought-provoking, occasionally irritating but always caring. And we're open to your suggestions, comments & participation - so please check us out!!

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Left Brain, Right Brain and the Power of Poetry

Left Brain, Right Brain, and the Power of Poetry

By Kenn Nesbitt


It's unfortunate but true, and probably due to our tech-driven, scientifically orientated world, that when I tell people I write poetry for a living, I'm likely to hear the question, "But what's it for? What does it do?" And that's a puzzler when it comes to literature and poetry. To those of us who love it, it's perfectly obvious what it's "for."
But just in case you're asked that question about poetry any time soon, and you want to have something to say without spluttering in indignation, I thought I'd throw together a few little-know facts about the effect poetry has on children's brains (and ours, for that matter).
Left brain, right brain... Uh, what?
We've all heard this division-of-the-brain theory many times. Personally, I can never remember which way around it goes, but then that probably means I'm a bit of a right-brainer! It all has to do with the way our brains process information, and which tasks get assigned to which parts of the brain, with the right brain supposedly being more 'artistic,' and the left being more of a computer.
Neuroscientists are now learning that, although some things can be fairly well localized, like motor function, our intellectual abilities are quite a bit more complex. For instance, did you know that your ability to speak is stored somewhere completely different from your ability to sing? There are documented cases of people who have become aphasic (unable to speak at all) but who can communicate well if they just SING the words out!
Our memories, our verbal skills and our understanding of meaning are spread through different areas of our brains, a complex network that we draw on without even - well - thinking! And this is where poetry finds a remarkable niche. Why do children memorize far more easily when they are given information in rhyme? Why do YOU still remember songs and poems that you learned when you were small? You probably even still use some of those mnemonics, and you're definitely passing them on to your own children, helping them to learn nursery rhymes and the letters of the alphabet that way.
And beyond the obvious aid to memory, poetry also offers an enhanced understanding of language. It forces our brains to think laterally, to join together different sensory impressions and associations. That kind of layered thinking has been shown, in live MRI tests, to wake up multiple areas of the brain at once. For kids who struggle with language skills, poetry offers an engaging, memorable stealth technology, a way of getting past the brain's standard verbal filters to a deeper language network.
It would seem that our brains have been programmed for this kind of thinking since before anyone even thought of writing anything down. After all, how are you going to pass down the tribe's history to the next generation, unless you turn it into an epic song or poem that people can remember, one verse at a time? Entire moral codes and genealogies were passed on in this manner until came up with the written word, and though we can now access all kinds of words on the internet with a flick of a mouse button, our brains still crave the stimulus that poetry gives, especially when it's spoken out loud.
Those who are 'left-brainers' can definitely use the relaxation that the rhythmic word can bring, and use it to unlock lateral thinking. And 'right-brainers' can harness the power of rhyme to trick their brains into remembering all kinds of things that they shy away from, like the periodic table, or the names of dead presidents. Our two brains WANT to work together, and poetry is the perfect bridge to make that possible.
Kenn Nesbitt is the author of many collections of humorous poetry for children, including The Tighty-Whitey Spider, My Hippo Has the Hiccups, and Revenge of the Lunch Ladies. His poems have appeared in over two million books in print. He is the creator of the world's most popular children's poetry website, http://www.poetry4kids.com.

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Three Simple Ways to Invest in Our Children

Three Simple Ways to Invest in Our Children

By Andrew Nyquist


Tech boom. Hotmail. 9/11. Market crash. Middle East wars. Housing bubble. Another market crash. Facebook. Twitter.
The past 25 years has ushered in social change like we've never seen before. Through all the twists and turns and frets and fears, Americans have adjusted their focus to the here and now, managing "today" like there's no tomorrow. But it's the "tomorrow" part of the equation that's the most important. And the foundation for a better tomorrow starts with our children.
Yeah, it's time to let go and sacrifice our personal fears about today, so we can build a better tomorrow. It's time to teach our future leaders a thing or two about entrepreneurial spirit, Can Do attitude, and gratitude for what we have and what we can achieve. Back to the basics my friends... before all the "Events" altered the way we live our lives. Here's three ways to invest in our children:
1) Teach them how to be entrepreneurial. Sounds difficult, but it's not. It's quite simple in fact. Think kool-aid stands and ice cream cones, baby-sitting and dog walking, mowing lawns and shoveling driveways. Brings back memories, huh? How about an allowance for a set of chores? Or $ for good grades. Set up a savings account/college fund and match dollars to their savings. Allocate a small amount to invest with them, in stocks they know like Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), Nike (NKE), or Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF). And give them a budget whenever possible. Draw them in and make them a part of their own future. Promote creativity and teach them to "want" it and to work for it.
2) Promote a can-do attitude. Today's world has become a bit cynical, so let them know everyday that they have the ability to effect positive change. Be their biggest supporter through adversity. And don't be afraid to embrace technology -- it will drive the next generation (and I'm not talking about video games!). Encourage their involvement in competitive activities: sports, student council, debates, writing, etc... Teach your high schooler how to be more marketable.
3) Remind them how fortunate they are. Give Back. Economic hardship brings us closer together. Frustrating, yes, but it does illuminate the simple things in life. Family, friends, food, games, outdoors, education, sports, etc... Get them involved in their community - there are so many non-financial ways that they can give back.
Be involved and Stay involved. Love them like there is a tomorrow. Have a great day.
Andrew Nyquist is the creator of See It Market, http://www.SeeItMarket.com, a website that provides an entertaining, educational, and well rounded take on investing, economics, and everyday life. Andrew has been actively investing for over 13 years. His blogs, articles, and contributions have been published by highly respected Minyanville, and syndicated to sites including Yahoo! Finance. He has also been cited by SmartMoney.

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