For more great videos like these and fantastic tips from teachers check out The K5 Blog.

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A phone is a phone, is a phone, is a phone…unless it is the iPhone and then it is M-A-G-I-C!

I don’t buy things because everyone else buys  things. I’ve always been a non- conformist in that way. In fact, the phrase “you must get one” will make me back away quicker than the Beatles did from Yoko Ono.

Keeping up with the Joneses is about as low on my to-do list as cleaning out the Diaper Genie. After all, I’m the girl who didn’t carry a cell phone for five years because I found its popular appeal obnoxious.

Which leads me to my topic.

Like many others I thought the iPhone was just another marketing ploy to get name brand-suckers to spend a king’s ransom on a piece of technology that could do the same job as its cheaper competitors.

I. Was. Wrong.

My Man brought home a shiny new iPhone last night and I confiscated it quicker than you could say 3G. Like everyone else with a pulse I had seen the commercials about Apple apps. I heard what other people had to say but I didn’t really get it until I had one in my hot little hands. No wonder there are throngs of people in the Apple Store all the time.

APPLE APPS ARE COMPUTER-CRACK!

I couldn’t put the thing down. From about 7pm to midnight I was downloading Shazam, Bump, Tweet Deck, Ambiance and Score Center. My daughter suddenly wondered what happened to Mommy and why she couldn’t stop shaking Daddy’s new toy because of a thing called the Urbanspoon.

I even SLEPT with the thing! (only because I found this great WhiteNoise app and went to sleep with a soothing grandfather clock ticking lightly in my ears-Ahhh…heaven).
One thing is clear. The iphone is so technologically advanced that it might as well be Tinker Bell’s fairy dust.

Christmas is right around the corner, and the iPhone is on the tippy top of Mamma’s list.

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Writing:

• My kids keep a daily journal to help with their writing skills.  It’s nothing more than a 3 ring binder filled with lined paper, but it does the job.

• When they “don’t know” what to write about, I give them paper and some crayons to draw a picture.  Then they write the story behind it.

• I have a four year old who is still learning how to write.  Some days I have her dictate a story to me. I write her story with a yellow marker and she traces over my words. And some days she experiments in writing gibberish.

Reading

• You are never to old to be read to.  When I read from our current book for bedtime, even Dad comes in to listen.
• Several bookstores carry their own line of Children’s Classic Literature at a discounted price.  There you will find timeless stories, both in original and abridged versions.

• Don’t limit yourselves to other people’s book lists.  Did you love Nancy Drew?  Chances are your kids will too!

• Take a look at Grandma’s bookcase, chances are she and Grandpa have some great books that you and your children would love.

Math

• The book series “Mathematicians Are People, Too: Stories from the Lives of Great Mathematicians” is a great resource for parents and teachers!  In this set, you will learn how Archimedes died doing a math problem, and how Sophie Germain studied math at night by candlelight against the orders of her parents.

General Tips for any subject

• Whenever you can, give them a subject appropriate activity where they can cut and paste.
• Paint makes everything more fun.

When all else fails, move on to something new!

• You may be able to spend a month on the Pilgrims, but your little ones may not.  Sometimes they can only take a day or two before they need a change

• Let your child pick what they want to learn about once in a while.  You’d be surprised how much there is to learn about tigers or motorcycles.

Image Credit

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"Use Twitter to get rich!" We hear it all the time. Making easy money using Twitter is a dream, we all know this, but we still see all the Tweets that say "Use Twitter to Make Money Online" or "Easy Money using Twitter" and we all know this is just sleazy. Twitter is made to communicate and engage, not to make quick money.

So how can you really make money because of Twitter? You can't. Well, kind of, but only because I wrote a book about Twitter and you can earn commission for spreading the message to your friends and readers!

When you sign up to become an affiliate for The Smart Girl's Guide to Twitter, in the simplest of terms, it means you will talk about the book, or do a review, and have ads on your blog or online platforms. Every time someone clicks to the Twitter Book site and purchases the book you will earn $5.00 commission. You will have a special link that tracks it all and at the end of every month your commission is deposited directly to your Paypal account.

It is that easy. With every book sold, a donation of 10% to Compassion International is made, and 25% commission goes to you. There are many different ad sizes and styles to complement personal blogs, and we'll be happy to help adjust colors to match a specific look of your site.

I wrote the book to help give women all the tools they need to use Twitter for everything from keeping up with friends to building their business. The hope with this affiliate program is to help more women finally get Twitter and help provide some extra revenue to their budget. Don't you  love a great win-win.

You can feel comfortable promoting the Twitter User Guide because there is a 100% guarantee on the Smart Girl's guide to Twitter. Not one single person has said they were disappointed, much less has asked for their money back. It is just that helpful and easy to understand.

To apply for an affiliate account, apply at the sign up page of The Smart Girl's Affiliate Program. Simply click on it and get the party started.

And just for fun- Here is a peek at some of the buttons for the Smart Girl's Guide to Twitter. Enjoy!

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It is very hard to escape competition in the market place.  Even if you have developed a new type of product, you will have imitators before you know it.  Establishing the things that make your product different from the competition will help you solidify your customer base, as well as attract new customers.

Your customers have many choices to choose from when buying a product.  They want to know why they should buy the product from you, and not from someone else. Take a moment and think about the answer to that question.  Once you have the answer, convey this message in all of your marketing materials.

What type of features does your product have that your competitors' products do not? Let's say you sell cosmetics; perhaps each product comes with a mirror in the lid so the customer can easily apply it, where ever they may be.  If you sell a digital product, such as a how-to guide on planning a party, you can provide free checklists or a Top 10 list of theme ideas.

What kind of benefit does your product provide your customers? Is it going to save them time or somehow make their life easier?  Using the above example of selling cosmetics, you could play up the time saving features of all in one products or pre-made kits.  Using the example of the how-to guide, a benefit could be that the guide is easy to read and can be adapted for planning children's parties, family reunions, and more.

For some people, price will play an issue. However, the majority of people will pay a slightly higher price if they feel they are getting a better product.  Before you undercut your competitors, make sure that your target market won't mind paying a higher price.  For example, start out by charging $19.95, and if your product isn't selling as well as you would have liked, drop the price to $14.95 and so forth.

For many people, the quality of your customer service will also help your product stand apart from the competition. You can let your customers know you appreciate them by following up with your customer correspondence in a timely manner, providing helpful, free information, and occasionally offering customer-only events.

Setting yourself apart from the competition is a very smart business move. Over time, your product can develop a reputation of its own.  People will know that your product is the product for them, and will start coming straight to you.  They won't need to even look at your competitors' products.

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Bees and flowers are a natural combination. In fact, the flowers provide food for bees. While some flowers could survive without bees, many species of flowering plants would go extinct without bees to transfer their pollen. This is because the flowers do not produce enough pollen to be transferred by wind or other methods.

This relationship between the bees and flowers where both organisms benefit is called symbiosis.

Even young learners can learn "big" words if they understand what it means. Try this definition:  Symbiosis : Two living things help each other.

For enrichment, kids can research Obligate Symbiosis.

Bees need flowers for food and flowers need bees to pollinate them. What is pollination? For information about pollination, see SEED MAKERS.

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Everyone will go through times in life, where motivation is scarce.  It is normal to experience this every once in a while, but a lack of motivation can become a problem if it becomes a frequent habit or lasts too long. If you feel that you need some help getting back on track, you may want to research a business mentoring group.

A business mentoring group consists of a group of people who come together because they want to succeed in business.  They want to be surrounded by like-minded business people and share their goals, celebrate their triumphs, and find solutions for their problem areas.

Business mentoring groups can be found both online and offline. Your local paper may list meeting times for various groups, such as the American Business Woman's Association, or you could even choose to start a local mentoring group for your specific industry  on your own.

There are also many online business mentoring groups online.  Some may be free and others may require a membership fee.  Try searching on Google or asking other online business friends for any recommendations that they may have.

Business mentoring groups provide motivation in many ways. These people are going through the same things that you are.  When you are facing a business problem or are trying to make a decision, the members of your mentoring group can offer sound advice.  Each of these people will have a unique perspective and will offer different opinions.

Some people thrive on being the best, and mentoring groups can offer you a bit of friendly competition. Perhaps you can form a new contest each month or each week.  These contests will vary depending on the type of businesses you have; people in direct sales may have a who can book the most parties contest and a group of internet marketers may hold a who can write and submit the most articles contest.

These contests will not only help motivate you, they will also keep you accountable. No one will want to report back to the group and confess that they didn't do anything during that week.

You don't need to participate in a contest for the mentoring group to help hold you responsible. You can simply tell your group what goals you would like to accomplish for the month and give them weekly feedback on your progress.

Since your group is made up of other business people, they will understand exactly what you are going through and how hard it can be to achieve the goals you have set.  This makes it harder to give them excuses when you haven't accomplished your goals.  They know what it's like to be a busy parent, to have errands to run, a house to clean, and dinner to cook.  They are finding a way to accomplish their goals, and they will expect you to do the same.

This tough love can do wonders for your motivation. Knowing that there are a group of people who are rooting for your success, and that they won't accept your excuses, can really help you work harder.

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Chemistry is a great home study science. Kids of all ages can work together and still study curriculum appropriate for each individual age. This can be achieved by using fun and easy investigations that can be expanded to provide enrichment for more advance studies. An example is the chemistry of rusting.

Anyone who has used steel wool cleaning pads knows that as long as they are kept dry they don't rust, but get them wet and you best watch where you place them. The rust that forms stains many surfaces.

So what is happening? Does the steel wool rust because the soap is washed out exposing the steel to air? UUM! This is a good question but one that is easily solved since you can buy steel wool without soap where paint supplies are sold. So, it has to be the water. You can discover for yourself if it is the water or soap that promotes the rusting of steel wool cleaning pads. For a fun investigation, see Rusty Wool.

If rusting is the combination of iron and oxygen, what does water have to do with it? For an explanation, see CHEMISTRY:RUSTING.

For an explanation of how to write the chemical reaction for rusting, CHEMISTRY:RUSTING EQUATION

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Last week, I received an e-mail from our internet provider informing me that we had abused our internet connection by attempting to download a movie via a bittorrent service. I'm quite the geek, so I know about bittorrents and downloading movies, but we were not the ones responsible for this particular activity.

We had, however, been running on a non-secure wireless connection via our router. Someone jumped onto our internet connection, committed copyright infringement, and we were responsible for it. Because we are running on our own personal router, we are responsible for all activity on the router. I took the steps to secure our connection on our router, and now I'm going to share the ones I find to be the top three with you.

• Secure remote administration access. Most routers can be accessed via a web browser. The default username and password are generally "admin" and "password." Many recommend simply disabling the remote administration, but at the very least you should change the password.
• Engage WPA or WEP encryption. There are differences between the two, as well as arguments for and against both, but any form of encryption on your connection is better than nothing. It's also a good idea to change these encryption keys on a regular basis.
• Disable SSID broadcasting. This feature broadcasts your network's name to other devices and networks nearby. By turning this off, you will make your network nearly invisible, making you less tasty-looking to hackers needing a quick jump.

There are plenty more methods to secure your connection, but these are the three I've found to be most important. While searching, I found a website called Practically Networked, with tons more tips, tricks, and advice for staying secure while you're surfing the internet.

Do you have any tips for keeping your connection secure?

Photo by Paul Klintworth

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Your business brand is an integral part of your business.  Your brand is a message that you send out to clients and prospective customers that tells them what you and your business are all about.

For instance, Subway Restaurants have branded themselves as a healthy, fresh alternative to other fast food options. When you walk into one of their restaurants, you see posters and images of healthy, fresh vegetables and whole grain breads.  When you turn on the television or radio, you see and hear commercials that feature people who lost weight while enjoying Subway for lunch as well as when you flip through magazines you see advertisements with the same marketing message.

Once you have established your brand, it is important to incorporate that brand into all of your marketing materials.  This will help you create brand recognition.  Potential customers will understand from the get-go what your service or product is all about and past customers will automatically think of you when they are in need of your product or service.  They wonít even bother checking out the competition.

The easiest way to communicate your brand to others is to develop a logo or slogan that easily conveys what your product or service is all about.  Try to develop something that is simple, unique, and easy to remember.

You should display your logo and slogan prominently on your website/blog.  This may be the first impression you make on potential customers, and past customers may become frequent visitors.

Business cards are a great way to market your business. There are a hundred uses for them, plus they are easy to carry and inexpensive.  Most printers are more than willing to include an image of your logo on your business card.  If, for some reason, that isn't possible, you can still use your slogan as the tag-line on your card.

Signature lines for your email program work in the same manner as logo or slogan and can easily be created. Your email program can automatically insert your signature line when you send email.  This creates a professional image.  You do not have to create anything fancy.  A simple line that states your name, business name, URL, and perhaps your slogan is sufficient.

You can also tie your brand into your products. For example, Rachael Ray has built an empire on the 30 minute meals.  One of her television shows and several of her books have encompassed that tag-line in their title as well as she always features a few 30-minute meal recipes in her monthly magazine.

The more of your marketing materials you can tie into your brand .. the more people will remember YOU when they see it.

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