Product Reviews for Mom

Welcome to Saturday Giveaways, your home for the best bloggy contests and giveaways online!  We just started a new giveaway at Home Ever After today to win a great free food prize pack from our gracious sponsors, Campbell’s soup and V8 Fusion juice!  (This prize pack has an awesome lunch bag, water bottle, SpongeBob soup and 2 huge juices.)

As with most of our contests, you can enter once a day, so bookmark it and get your entries in for the most chances to win.

Enter the Campbell’s soup free food giveaway here.

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Now it’s time to link your blog giveaways or contest prizes below in our Mr. Linky (links will close Friday, November 20th).  Don’t forget to follow the guidelines.

Happy Halloween everyone! It’s time for only treats, not tricks, at Saturday Giveaways, so  link your blog giveaways or contest prizes below in our Mr. Linky (links will close Friday, November 6th).  Don’t forget to follow the guidelines.

Happy Halloween from IS World Media!

Welcome to Saturday Giveaways, your home for the best bloggy contests and giveaways online!  I’m so excited to be hosting the exclusive Weight Watchers Very Scary Giveaway over at our flagship site, Home Ever After.  We’re giving away 3 Weight Watchers prize packs filled with Whitman’s chocolate Halloween candy and much more. 

You can enter to win up to 7 times every day- just click here!

But right now, make sure you link up your blog giveaways or contest prizes below in our Mr. Linky (links will close Friday, October 30th).  Don’t forget to follow the guidelines.

During our first full week of the Preschool Prep DVDs experiment with my son, we had a lot of observations about how they work.  If you missed the explanation of the experiment we’re doing, you can read it here: Preschool Prep DVDs Learning Experiment.

What we really wanted to find out was if they worked as well as the company claims.  Our guidelines were to have Truett watch no more than 2 hours a day, and to watch no other TV or movies except for Preschool Prep.  He took to the movies immediately and started asking for them the next day!

Here are the DVDs he watched for the first week and the times:

Day 1 (9/30/09) – Meet the Letters DVD, letters A through F.  Meet the colors DVD (all). Total time 50 minutes.

Day 2 (10/1/09) – Meet the Shapes DVD (all).  Meet the Colors DVD (partial). Total time 50 minutes.

Day 3 (10/2/09 Friday) – Meet the Letters DVD, letters I-S.  Meet the Shapes DVD (partial).  Total time 45 minutes.

Day 4 (10/3/09 Saturday) – Meet the Letters DVD R-Z.   Meet the Shapes DVD.  Total time 1 hr 14 minutes.

Day 5 (10/4/09 Sunday) – Meet the Letters DVD a-g.  Meet the Numbers (all).  Meet the Colors (partial).  Total time 62 minutes.

Day 6 (10/5/09 Monday) – Meet the Shapes DVD (all).  Meet the Letters DVD a-g.  Total time 43 minutes.

Day 7 (10/6/09 Tuesday) – Meet the Shapes DVD (1.5 times).  Meet the Colors DVD.  Total time 85 minutes.

Day 8 (10/7/09 Wednesday) – Meet the Shapes DVD (all).  Meet the Colors DVD (all).  Total time 70 minutes.

As you can see, during the first week we skipped around and offered Truett a variety of shows.  We didn’t do the same DVDs every day, although I did try to offer the Meet the Letters DVD in sections because of its longer length. The introduction to that movie recommends to split the viewing up and start at different chapters to take into account kids’ limited attention spans. 

His favorite movie so far is definitely Meet the Shapes, which he affectionately calls his “shape show”! 

What surprised me the most about the Preschool Prep tool is that it worked immediately.  From the first time Truett sat down to watch a DVD, when the letter “A” came on the screen, he started repeating after the narrator.  I was astounded.

At the end of the first week, he started pointing to shapes in our house on his own and calling them out.  He even pointed to a star on his bib and said, “Star”!  I really didn’t expect for him to have learned anything by the end of the first week, so I was very surprised.  I’m anxious to continue the experiment and report on the results. 

Next week, we’re narrowing down his viewing to the shapes, colors, and numbers mostly.

Try the Experiment for Yourself

If you’d like to try the experiment along with us, you can purchase the DVDs from Amazon at a discounted price compared to the company’s website.  Below is the purchase information for the set and the single discs.

The Preschool Prep DVD Series 7 Disc Set can be purchased from Amazon for $59.99 + free super saver shipping.  Click here to learn more.

The Preschool Prep 7 disc set includes:

• Meet the Sight Words, Discs 1, 2, and 3
• Meet the Colors DVD $13.49 + free super saver shipping
• Meet the Letters DVD $10.99 + free super saver shipping
• Meet the Shapes DVD
• Meet the Numbers DVD 

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Disclaimer:  This article is a product review which is part of a 2-month experiment conducted by Danelle Ice.  The Preschool Prep 7 DVD set was purchased by IS World Media to facilitate the review process.  We cannot make claims as to the typical results users should expect from this product, as we are trying it for the first time and have no way of knowing other users’ experiences.  This review is the honest opinion of our reviewer and is NOT paid content.  No fee was received for conducting this experiment.  IS World Media / Product Reviews For Mom are not affiliated with Preschool Prep Co.

I don’t know about everyone else, but this has been a crazy week for me!  I’m getting bigger and more pregnant every day, potty training a toddler, starting  to homeschool a 4th grader, and trying to pack up my house to move!  It’s finally Friday and time to relax – and I hope you’re all taking a night off as well.

Take some time now to enter for great giveaway prizes below.  I have to tell you we have a spectacular giveaway coming up this week from Weight Watchers (which involves Halloween candy), so stay tuned at Home Ever After for details on that one.  

Now it’s time to link your blog giveaways or contest prizes below in our Mr. Linky (links will close Friday, May 15th).  Don’t forget to follow the guidelines.

Welcome to Saturday Giveaways, your home for the best bloggy contests and giveaways online!  Who else is happy to see October is here?  Now the Halloween decorating can begin!  I’m sure a bunch of you have Halloween-related giveaways underway; I’ll be on the lookout for them.

Now it’s time to link your blog giveaways or contest prizes below in our Mr. Linky (links will close Friday, October 9th).  Don’t forget to follow the guidelines.

I love experiments, and am very excited to announce our new 2 month experiment testing the Preschool Prep DVD set as a learning tool.  Read my updates for the next 2 months as my 2 year old learns the alphabet, colors, shapes, numbers, and 47 kindergarten sight words.  Come along on our journey  as we update weekly on Truett’s progress with Preschool Prep!

The Preschool Prep DVDs have parents and teachers claiming that their babies and toddlers have learned the information to complete mastery in as little as 2 weeks. 

The back of the package says, “A study of over 50 babies and toddlers, who watched Meet the Letters, resulted in over 90% of these children having complete upper and lowercase letter recognition by or before the end of the two-month study.  Many learned their letters in less than two weeks.”

I want to know if these results are typical.  If the Preschool Prep DVDs really work this well, all parents should be using them. 

The Background

Recently, my husband and I noticed severe foundational problems in the education our oldest daughter, London, has received in public school.  We embarked upon research to find programs that can help our toddler son address these same learning gaps before they become a problem.  This research is how we came upon the DVD series called Preschool Prep.

There are 7 DVDs which address the fundamentals of preschool and kindergarten curriculum:  colors, shapes, numbers, letters, and sight words.  4 of the DVDs can be used by babies as young as 9 months and the other 3 DVDs are for babies 15 months and older. 

The company’s tagline is, “You will be amazed at what your little one can learn!”  and I decided to take them up on that challenge!  Will I be amazed at my son’s results from using this educational tool?  I want to find out!

The Experiment Information

In order to test this program fairly, we’re going to use it with our 2 year old for 2 months straight.  He won’t watch any other television or movies besides the Preschool Prep DVDs.  At the end of 2 months, we’ll gauge his mastery of the 5 subjects:

1. Colors: Recognition and identification of 8 colors, including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, black, purple, and white.
2. Numbers:  Recognition and identification of 11 numbers, from 0 through 10.
3. Shapes:  Recognition and identification of 8 shapes, including circle, oval, diamond, octagon, triangle, rectangle, star, and square.
4. Letters: Recognition and identification of all 26 letters of the alphabet.
5. Sight Words:  Recognition and identification of these 47 kindergarten sight words: all, at, be, by, from, her, him, look, one, or, some, there, this, up, word, are, as, but, go, had, here, his, like, my, on, see, she, they, was, we, with, of, play, it, he, you, in, I, to, have, and, a, said, is, the, for, that. 

Experimenter: Danelle, mom of 3

Test subject:  Truett, toddler boy, aged 25 months.  Truett has had no formal education (preschool) and has not previously participated in any educational or learning programs, DVDs, computer games, books, or toys.

Dates of Experiment: September 30, 2009 – November 30, 2009.

Time Spent Viewing Program: 1-2 DVDs per day or 1-2 hours of viewing per day, including weekends, spread throughout the child’s normal day in reasonable chunks.  All other TV time will be eliminated.

Order of DVDs:  The DVDs will be viewed randomly, alternating and in no specific order.

Try the Experiment with Us

If you’d like to try the experiment along with us, you can purchase the DVDs from Amazon at a discounted price compared to the company’s website.  Below is the purchase information for the set and 2 of the single discs.

The Preschool Prep DVD Series 7 Disc Set can be purchased from Amazon for $59.99 + free super saver shipping.  Click here to learn more.

The Preschool Prep 7 disc set includes:

• Meet the Sight Words, Discs 1, 2, and 3
• Meet the Colors DVD
• Meet the Letters DVD
• Meet the Shapes DVD
• Meet the Numbers DVD

The Preschool Prep DVD “Meet the Letters” can be purchased from Amazon for $10.99 + free super saver shipping.  Click here to learn more.

The Preschool Prep DVD “Meet the Colors” can be purchased from Amazon for $13.49 + free super saver shipping.  Click here to learn more.

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Disclaimer:  This article is a product review which is part of a 2-month experiment conducted by Danelle Ice.  The Preschool Prep 7 DVD set was purchased by IS World Media to facilitate the review process.  This review is the honest opinion of our reviewer and is NOT paid content.  No fee was received for conducting this experiment.  IS World Media / Product Reviews For Mom are not affiliated with Preschool Prep Co.

Welcome to Saturday Giveaways, your home for the best bloggy contests and giveaways online!  Thanks to all you blog superstars for a stellar turnout last week; let’s see if we can do it again this week!

It’s time to link your blog giveaways or contest prizes below in our Mr. Linky (links will close Friday, October 2nd).  Don’t forget to follow the guidelines.

We’ve been happy to have Dutch Boy paint as the sponsor for some of our nifty Home DIY projects this summer.  Dutch Boy Refresh paint has been our paint of choice, and we’ve had a wonderful experience using it.

If you missed our home DIY project in which we did a makeover on kitchen cabinets, go check it out now to see some amazing before and after pictures!

Review: Dutch Boy Refresh Paint

Packaging:  The packaging on this new paint is definitely designed with ease of use in mind. 

• The Dutch Boy plastic package is much lighter than the traditional heavy paint cans.
• The Dutch Boy square shape instead of a round can is a much better use of storage space.  These paint containers can not only be stacked on top of each other, but line up exactly next to, in front of, and behind each other on shelves with no wasted storage space.
• The easy on, easy off Dutch Boy paint lid is so easy that even those with a diminished grip should be able to manage it’s opening and closing.  The screw on lid turns to go on and come off with 2 easy plastic grips protruding to use as leveraging “handles”.  No more prying off a metal lid from a traditional paint can!
• There is a built in plastic carrying handle that stays to the side when at rest.  

Smell:  Although the fumes from paint can be quiet obnoxious and overpowering, the paint smell was not present with Dutch Boy Refresh paint.  We noticed a definite difference between this brand and traditional paints, in that there is no “paint odor”.  The house we were working on barely hinted that there was a painting project going on, as there was no tell-tale paint smell or any strong fumes.

Consistency:  This creamy paint has a very even consistency, and unlike many other paints, does not separate out.  We noticed that it was barely even necessary to stir the paint before adding refills to our paint pan.  The pigment is very evenly distributed, making for a more even application on your desired surface (which was laminate kitchen cabinetry, in our case).

Website Color Selection:  The feature on the Dutch Boy website for choosing your paint color is truly unique (shown at right).  Not only can you select a room that mimics what you’ll be painting (e.g. bathroom, nursery, etc.), but you can then have the color swatch virtually applied to the room to get a better idea of what it will really look like when finished!  You have to check out the Color Simplicity Tool here. 

Cons:  There wasn’t anything about the Dutch Boy Refresh paint that I didn’t like.  Even the price is affordable, perfect for frugal DIY homeowners! 

The Short Version

From start to finish, from their packaging design process to their considering my user experience, Dutch Boy has done a top notch job.

While using Refresh paint, I could tell it was created to make it easy for women to do home DIY projects.  It’s apparent that their Research & Development funds were wisely used and that real consumers’ input was important when designing this new product.  I was pleased as can be with this paint, and it definitely gets the Home Ever After stamp of approval!

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Disclaimer:  This article is a product review conducted by our editor, Danelle Ice.  The Dutch Boy Refresh Paint was provided to IS World Media at no cost by Dutch Boy to facilitate the review process.  This review is the honest opinion of our reviewer.  No fee was received for the writing of this review.  Dutch Boy images and logos were used with permission by Dutch Boy Paints.

Welcome to Saturday Giveaways, your home for the best bloggy contests and giveaways online!  We’ve got some exciting giveaways going on in the IS Media Network, including our Hannah Montana Clothes giveaway, which you can enter once every day, and our Oscar Mayer free money & free food giveaway!

Now it’s time to link your blog giveaways or contest prizes below in our Mr. Linky (links will close Friday, September 25th).  Don’t forget to follow the guidelines.