Mom’s Homeroom on MSN, sponsored by Mini-Wheats is an online resource packed with tips and tools to help your child succeed in school. You can enjoy videos from their panel of moms, explore the library of articles and printables as well as connect with other moms on the message board.
My favorite part of the website is the widget on the left side of the page. You can choose a topic like reading, writing, attentiveness and more and see videos, tips and articles pertaining to that subject. This makes it easy to navigate to the information you need. Visit Mom’s Homeroom for all of your school related questions.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. In addition, Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

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The awesome people at allchildrensfurniture.com are giving one of my readers a Little Tikes Americana Table and Chairs Activity set! All Children’s Furniture sells everything from kids furniture to bedding and even toys. Here is some information on the set:

Seamless, one-piece top is perfect for eating, playing, crafts and other projects. Fully assembled set includes two child-sized chairs. Soft colors complement the bedroom, playroom or living room. Durable, easy clean surface.

Features:

• Ideal for ages 2 – 6 years
• Table and two child-sized chairs
• Soft colors
• Durable, easy clean surface
• Dimensions: 22.5″H x 19.5″W x 22.9″D

The Little Tikes Americana Table and Chairs Activity set sells for $42.87 on their site but you might just win it for free!

Mandatory 1st Enty go to allchildrensfurniture.com and look around. Then come back here and leave me a comment with the name AND item number of your favorite item on their website.

Bonus Entries to be completed after the mandatory 1st entry. Leave seperate comments for each one.

• 3 bonus entries for having my Back2School Bash button on your blogs front page. Make sure you leave me a link to your blog.
• 3 bonus entries for blogging about this giveaway. Your post must include this sentence “All Children’s Furniture sells everything from kids furniture to bedding and even toys.” and you must link the words “kids furniture” to http://allchildrensfurniture.com. AND link to this post. Leave me a link to your post in your comments.
• 1 bonus entry for subscribing to my blog via the RSS feed (click on the orange heart). Current subscribers let me know who you are!
• 1 bonus entry for following on Google Friend Connect. Current subscribers…you know what to do.
• 1 bonus entry for checking out This Sheet Works. Leave me a comment letting me know you did it. This link is trackable and I will verify.

This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada and will end at 8:00pm on August 20, 2009.

The post Little Tikes Giveaway appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Packaged in a squeezable pouch and equipped with a re-sealable lid, GoGo squeeZ is perfect for kids on-the-go. Originally designed for NASA astronauts, each all-natural pouch contains a full serving of fruit – just simple, clean ingredients. GoGo squeeZ is the perfect snack for kids of any age.

“Children are interested in flavor and a fun design – but we know parents are looking for a snack of more substance they can be sure their kids will eat when on-the-go,” said David Istier, Materne’s North American VP of Marketing. “GoGo squeeZ comes in a fun package, is simple for kids to use independently, and actually tastes good. Parents can enjoy the benefits of providing their children with a no-mess, no-fight, healthy snack option.”

Currently available in “appleapple”,  “applestrawberry”,  “applecinnamon,” “applepeach” and “applebanana” flavors combine the health benefits of all-natural fruit with a great taste. All GoGo squeeZ products contain no artificial flavors or preservatives and are gluten-free, dairy-free and kosher-certified.

GoGo squeeZ might seem too healthy for children to find it appealing; but its French counterpart Pom’Potes has proven otherwise. Since the brand’s inception in 1998, Pom’Potes has grown into the favorite snack brand in France (with more than 50 percent market share of the applesauce pouch category last year), selling more than one billion pouches across Europe and gaining a regular spot in McDonald’s Happy Meals. Since the product’s US launch in June 2008, GoGo squeeZ’s distribution has grown to 1,900 supermarkets and children’s retailers across the US.

GoGo squeeZ 4-packs are available for MSRP $2.99. GoGo squeeZ single pouches are available for MSRP 99 cents. Consumers can purchase GoGo squeeZ through Whole Foods, the natural section of supermarkets like Stop&Shop, Shaws and Jewel-Osco in select Toys ‘R Us/ Babies’ R US, and other retailers across the US.

The post GoGo squeeZ Applesauce appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Organizing at home for school success: Clutter makes it difficult to study.

• Whether your child’s homework area is a desk or a study table like the Malaysia’s best ergonomic tables, it needs to be cleaned off regularly and have the supplies organized and accessible.
• Keep pencils in a pencil cup for easy access.
• Use an expanding file for organizing projects.
• Use the tools you have to their full potential. If your desk has a file drawer organize color coded files by subject to keep papers organized etc.
• Teach middle and high school students how to use a planner to organize their time and activities.

Organizing your child:Organization relieves stress and increases confidence.

• Teach your child HOW to organize and pack their backpack. The big section for books and binder, middle section for lunch and smaller section for accessories.
• Teach your child HOW to organize their binder. Shoving papers into a binder does not equal being organized
• Have a place for the child to empty their backpack daily
• Purge the binder at least once a week
• Set out their clothes the night before
• Elementary and middle school students need their parents to oversee and guide their organizational habits. Parents must take an active role in making sure papers and books are traveling to and from school as needed.

Establishing clear organizational routines and following through the routine will help your child feel more confident about school. Also, get your child involved from the beginning-make a list and go shopping together, work out the routines together to help him take ownership of the tools and the process.

Organizing your homeschool: This will vary by family and homeschooling style.

The teacher on the panel said to clearly differentiate between living space and school space in your home. We tried that…we have a small house, it didn’t work for us-it may work for you. Here are some of my homeschool organizational tips.

• Color code by child-Each child gets their color for the year. This helps them know what is theirs as well as helping mom know who left their supplies laying around.
• If the child works in multiple places around the house use a plastic bin to store all of their school supplies. They can take their bin to wherever they are working today be it the kitchen table, living room couch, back porch or grandma’s house.
• Daily file papers into the proper binders. Paperwork can easily overtake the homeschooling household, file daily to avoid the clutter.
• Before buying everything new for the new year, see what you can re-use or re-purpose from the previous year.

While you are doing your back-to-school shopping, make sure you check out OfficeMax’s kid-centric school supplies line, Schoolio-Von-Hoolio.

I don’t know about you but I dream of owning Peter Walsh’s In Place System for organizing all of my homeschool and home office filing.

Disclosure-Office Max sent me a sampler of their Schoolio-von-Hoolio products as a thank-you for being part of this webcast.

The post Getting Organized for Back2School appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Thanks to Litzky PR, The Mom Maven has something for your preschooler..PLAY-DOH! I have always been a PLAY-DOH lover. The smell of PLAY-DOH actually takes me back to memories of Sunday School, where they had huge canisters of PLAY-DOH we could play with before class started.

The PLAY-DOH BURGER BUILDER set is back and better than ever! Interchangeable molds offer everything kids need to create the perfect PLAY-DOH hamburger including tomatoes, lettuce, buns, and more. In addition, kids can crank out pretend potato or pickle chips with the exciting TWIST-A-CHIP Super Tool. Set includes five 2-ounce cans of colorful PLAY-DOH compound. Available at most major toy retailers nationwide and on HasbroToyShop.com.

We had a blast playing with The PLAY-DOH BURGER BUILDER set. My son and I played for over an hour creating hamburgers, cheeseburgers, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes and french fries.

LitzkyPR is giving one of The Mom Maven’s readers their own PLAY-DOH BURGER BUILDER set!

Mandatory 1st Entry Leave me a comment sharing one of your favorite PLAY-DOH memories.
Bonus Entries

• 3 entries for posting my Back2School bash badge on your blog’s front page. Leave 3 comments with the link to your 1st page in it.
• Subscribe to my blog (click on the orange heart in the side bar) leave me a comment letting me know you are a new or current subscriber
• Follow @MomMaven on Twitter AND tweet this “I just entered to win PLAY-DOH for your preschooler from @MomMaven you can too! http://bit.ly/h3XOs” leave a comment with the tweet URL in it **You can do this 1x a day

This give away is open to US residents only. This giveaway ends on 8/17/09 at 8:00pm. I reserve the right to  remove comments that do not follow the above entry rules.

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Join Lands’ End for the Ultimate Back-to-School Twitter Party!

Lands’ End hosts will be available to answer back-to-school shopping questions and the party will feature more than 20 product giveaways from co-hosts, 5minutesformom.com .

Date: Thursday, August 20th
Time: 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. CST
Location: #landsend

Save the date and log-on to Twitter for an evening of shopping tips, socializing and great giveaways!

You don’t have to wait until the 20th to shop Lands’ End. Right now they are having their back-to-school sale with up to 30% off children’s clothes, school uniforms, backpacks and lunchboxes. You can also have fun playing in Packland on the Lands’ End website. I created this savvy pirate fantasy backpack.

The post Back2School Twitter Party with Lands’ End appeared first on The Mom Maven.

GoPicnic meals are ready-to-eat meals featuring natural ingredients, no artificial flavors or colors, no trans fat, HFCS or MSG. GoPicnic meals are shelf stable and require no refrigeration nor do they need to be heated. GoPicnic meals are great for school, work, field trips, car trips, picnics or any other time you want to eat!

Our Monday schedule this fall is going to be crazy. We leave the house at 8:45am and head across town to the chiropractor for a 9:15 appt. Then the Homeschool Bowling League bowls from 10:00-11:30. Aaron has English class at the community college from 12:00-1:00pm before we head back home for the rest of our school day. I wasn’t sure what we were going to do for lunch. I didn’t want to spend $9.00 per person on burger meals at the bowling alley, they are expensive and not healthy. We will be eating GoPicnic meals instead.

GoPicnic has a full line of 20+ ready-to-eat meals which fall into 3 brands.
GoPicnic BreakMeals contain protein, whole grains, dairy, fruit and a sweet indulgence for dessert and retail for $6.99. We tried the AnywhereBreak meal which contains 16g of protein and is gluten-free, and has no fish & shellfish ingredients. The AnywhereBreak meal includes Jack Link’s beef steak nuggets, Corazonas Squeeze of Lime tortilla chips, Ortega mild salsa, Copper Cowbell white cheddar cheese slice, Mrs. May’s cashew crunch, Mariani dried cranberries, and Swiss Delicato dark chocolate. This was my family’s favorite meal.

GoPicnic GoMeals contain five to six choice food items plus any necessary utensils and moist towelette in each meal. We tried the GTrek Meal. It contains 18g of protein and fewer than 340 calories. It is gluten-free and contains no fish or shellfish ingredients. This meal ncludes Jack Link’s beef steak nuggets, Copper Cowbell Swiss cheese slice, Sheffa zesty snack mix, Mariani cranberries & pineapple blend, and Swiss Delicato milk chocolate. This meal was good but the pineapple was tasteless/ The GoMeals retail for $2.50- $4.99 each.

The third brand is the MightyMunch Kids Meals. Each kids meal is balanced to limit overall fat, saturated fat and sugar content, and contains protein, grains & fruit as well as a sweet treat and a fun surprise. Natural ingredients are at the core of MightyMunch kids meals – our food contains no trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, artificial flavors or artificial colors. MightyMunch kids meals also have no peanut or tree nut ingredients. We tried the GalaxyMunch Meal. It has 70% of DV of Vitamin A and 11g of protein, and no fish or shellfish ingredients.The GalaxyMunch Meal includes Old Wisconsin beef salami slices, Copper Cowbell cheddar cheese spread, Late July classic rich organic crackers, Sensible Portions apple-cinnamon multigrain crisps, Mariani Ultimate apricots and Surf Sweets all-natural gummy bears. TheMightyMunch Meals retail for $5.99 The box this meal comes in has games and riddles printed on the inside, making it more kid-friendly. We also enjoyed this meal.

The generous people at GoPicnic are giving 1 TheMomMaven.com reader their choice of any 5 GoPicnic Meals! Thet are also giving my readers a 20% discount on all orders placed during the month of August! Just use code GPMOMS at checkout.

1st Mandatory Entry (please follow instructions, I have had to disqualify several entries lately for people who do not follow the rules) Go to GoPicnic’s website and look around. Come back here and leave me a comment telling me which meal you want to try.

Bonus Entries you may do as many of these as you choose after completing the mandatory entry.

• For 3 entries-Grab my Back2School Bash button from my sidebar and display it on your blog’s front page for the rest of the Bash. Leave me a link o your blog. (Leave 3 separate comments) **If you already have this badge you get 3 entries too!
• Subscribe to my blog (click on the orange heart in the sidebar) and leave me a comment telling me you subscribe. Current subscribers of course you get an entry too!
• Follow me on Twitter and Tweet “There is such a thing as a FREE lunch! @MomMaven is giving it away. http://bit.ly/3E07Ka” you may do this 3x a day. Leave a separate comment for with each tweet’s URL

This giveaway is open to US residents only and will close at 7:30pm on 8/15/09. The winner will be chosen by Random.org.

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“To ensure that every child goes back to school in style this year, Goodwill Industries International and Family Circle have teamed up to launch a five million pound clothing drive which will run from Saturday, August 1 through Wednesday, September 30, 2009. The partnership will be featured in the September issue of Family Circle, the magazine’s first ever issue dedicated to Back-To-School, as well as www.shopfamilycircle.com , the brand’s new e-commerce destination.

Family Circle and Goodwill invite parents to put their gently used adult and kids’ clothes to work by donating them so that another child can have a “new to them” outfit for their first day of school. The donated items will be sold at more than 2,300 Goodwill® retail stores, making affordable, contemporary clothing available to families on a budget. The program will also generate revenue that funds Goodwill’s job training programs and career services to help families achieve economic success.

“Not only is donating to Goodwill a great way to clean out closets and teach your children about gratitude, responsibility and the opportunity to help others, but your donation will help fund support services such as youth programs and childcare so that people can stabilize their families while finding good jobs,” said Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International.

Readers can help Goodwill and Family Circle reach their five million pound goal by attaching this donation couponwith their clothing contribution.”

Let’s all do our part and help with this clothing drive.

The post Giving Back at Back2School Time appeared first on The Mom Maven.

This very informative website features several articles on foot health, the shape of a shoe, proper shoe fit and caring for your child’s feet. It also has information for parents of newborns, pre-crawlers, crawlers and beyond.
Start-rite shoes has recently opened a social parenting community on their website which is filled with parenting advice on topics ranging from hobbies and activities to how to choose the right athletic shoe to health and nutrition. There is something for every parent at the Start-rite shoe’s online parenting community, please go check it out and join in the community. In the activity area of the community there are fun craft ideas and downloadable activities for you to do with your children.

As you start your back to school shopping, make sure you stop by Start-rite shoes to do some shopping and the Start-rite shoes community to meet some other great parents.

This post is sponsored by Start-rite shoes.

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The bash will be held August 3-15th and will be filled with tips to make back-to-school fun and organized. I have also lined up product reviws and giveaways from 7 companies so far, and I hope to get a few more. I’ll have giveaways for school supplies, food, clothes and even some concert tickets!

If there is a back-to-school topic you would like me to cover during the bash please leave me a comment on this post. I am here to help you be the best mom you can be.

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