Internet Safety

These Two Sites WILL Help Your Newborn Sleep. You Can Thank Me Later. Thursday, 15 October 2009 11:31 Written by howefitz

Ok, so the column's called 'Kids Play on the Net' and sounds like it should be all fun. But this time around, I want to tell you about two sites I've discovered since my son was born that I use often to aid in his (and our) sleep. 

 At Howefitz Blog, I covered Dr. Harvey Karp's “Five S's”. Possibly the most crucial of these is 'shushing', at least in my experience. Now, you can either shush until your lips go numb and turn blue, turn on a vacuum or hair dryer near your bouncing newborn, or you can do what any self-respecting geek parent should do: turn to the internet for help. 

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Store Your Memories in a Font Wednesday, 23 September 2009 15:41 Written by peteej

If you are anything like me, you own a good camera that never gets used on the family. Sure, you’ve got loads of macro, nature and pet shots, but less of the family. How will I remember who my kids were while growing up?

For me, it will be via a font collection.

FontCapture is a cool (and free) service that allows you to create a true-type font of your own handwriting. I’ve always wanted to make a font out of my handwriting, but never had the time. FontCapture takes about 5 minutes total, so I went ahead and did it following the incredibly easy steps below:

• Step 1: download the template.
• Step 2: fill in the template.
• Step 3: scan template.
• Step 4: download font.

Being somewhat of a graphic designer, I can identify with the vanity of having my own font. However, being a dad, I can also see how cool it would be to have my kids’ handwriting stored in font form for years to come. That way, when my kids leave home someday, I can obsess over their handwriting by simply pulling up a font.

While the vanity aspect is appealing, the real bonus lies in the longevity. I plan on doing this every year from now on for myself and my girls (if FontCapture is still running that long) or until my someone gets sick of it. By the time they hit college, they will have an arsenal of fonts at their disposal, making for a fun and unique memory of their childhood. Can you imagine creating keg party invitations with a font form when you were 9 years old? Wait, maybe this isn’t such a good idea… All I know is that my kids will be among the first to reminisce about their childhood while writing a term paper.

Family Friendly Fantasy Football & 529 Plans Monday, 17 August 2009 18:27 Written by oneofnine2

The reason for starting this Blog is because I am finding it hard to pay for my kid's college education and went looking for help on-line.  I also happened to be doing research for my fantasy football team and came across this cool web-site that won't help me, but could help you.

It is a called FantasyFootballLeagues.com and as you can see in the name, is targeting Families and Education. 

The interesting thing about this website is that it pays prizes to 529 plans and allows for people to play for Charities.  This is some info I was able to get about the site:

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Don't Let Your Kids Get Bored This Summer, Teach Them To Read! Sunday, 26 July 2009 23:57 Written by howefitz

Summer's in full swing. If your blog's like mine, you've seen some definite reductions in readers. And you know what? That kind of gives me hope. That means we're not quite ready yo live underground in some post-apocalyptic cavern trying to sustain the human race. People are going outside and enjoying their families and nature.

But little ones can not stay outside 24-7. For those moments when they're indoors, why not teach them to read? Wouldn't it be great if there was an online resource for just such an endeavor?

Turns out that there is in a site called Starfall.com. 

Starfall is a site designed by educators to help the reading skills of the young and slow readers. Starfall is designed to make reading fun!

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