THE SMARTSEEDS COMPANY, LLC ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF THEIR THIRD TITLE: BIG CATS .

Cudahy, WI March 29, 2007 - The SMARTseeds Company, LLC has launched its third title: BIG CATS , once again promoting school readiness skills in a fun and effortless way.  

The third of 52 thematic kits, Big Cats provides parents with fun activities, music, games, and art activities, this time with a twist.   General Partner, Mary Garcia, explains it this way: "We were presented with a challenge - take the great features of PLAY WITH ME and make it even more affordable for parents so that we can broaden the appeal.   We met that challenge by releasing this title as a book and accompanying CD.   In addition to the accompanying music and big cat sounds, the learning activities are on the included CD.   Parents can put the CD into their computer and print out the activities.   This makes the kit even more affordable, lengthens the life of the kit and makes it easier for parents with multiple children."  

The SMARTseeds Company is the brainchild of husband and wife, Carlos and Mary Garcia.   As parents of four young children, they were faced with the challenge of making learning fun and effective for their own children.   While helping her children get ready for the school years ahead, Mary wanted a product that she could open up and just begin doing with her children - but one that included all the elements of a good classroom thematic unit - music, literature, art, movement, and play.   Not being able to find anything that fit the bill, she began creating her own curriculum for her children.   The Garcia Family launched The SMARTseeds Company in 2006 to publish their materials.   Parents can currently choose from three titles: Birds, St. Valentine's Day , and the newly released Big Cats .  

What makes the PLAY WITH ME products unique are that the kits are built not only to educate but to provide opportunities for parent/child interaction through literature, music, art activities, fun and games.   Parents will appreciate the convenience of the product and the fact that it promotes school readiness skills.   Children will enjoy the one-on-one time spent with Mom or Dad.   Each time the child and parent opens up PLAY WITH ME they open up opportunities for growth and development.  

For more information on The SMARTseeds Company, LLC, visit the company website at http://www.theSmartSeedsCompany.com.

PRESCHOOL AT HOME, by Mary Garcia
October 5, 2006

As parents of preschool-aged (ages 3-6) children, we often times find ourselves being bombarded with messages of what we should be doing to prepare our children for the school years ahead. The pressure can be even greater if your children are home with you. As a mother of preschool-aged children who were home with me, I often wondered if I was doing enough for my children. I enrolled them in classes, but I wasn’t sure if that was all my children needed. If you would like to know what a typical preschooler is learning in school, there are places you can go to for help. One place to start is the NAEYC, the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The NAEYC is the national organization that monitors early childhood educational programs and creates guidelines for what an early education program should look like. Their focus is on school programs, but as mothers of young children, we can incorporate their research to see how we can provide our children with learning rich environments in our homes.

According to the NAEYC, play is fundamental to a child’s growth and development. Play encourages children to explore their surroundings, learn how to best relate to others, figure out how things work, try out new ideas, and build confidence. Some play can be structured, such as playing a game or learning the necessary moves to riding a bicycle, but other play is less structured. Some of my favorite playtime with my children is putting on music and dancing freely with them. I am always amazed at the complicated ways in which they can move their bodies. Some play can be independent play such as when children use their imagination and act out different scenarios with their toys. Other times, play is done between parent and child. In the early years of life, relationships with responsive adults are an indispensable context for learning.

There are many ways that you can introduce some school readiness skills in home to your child. Some ideas that you might want to try at home are:

· Sit down and read to your child every day. This is the single most important thing any parent can do to prepare their child for school. Talk about the stories that you read and any lessons that may be present in the stories. Children like to make up alternative endings for the stories. Ask your child, “What would happen if ____ (fill in the blank) happened instead of how the story did end?”
· Try establishing a daily and a weekly routine for your children. Giving them a calendar to look at which contains pictures or symbols for what the highlights of your day will be will help them to be able to plan for their day and to make predictions.
· Provide your child with his own places for his things. A lower placed coat hook will encourage independence and responsibility.
· Notice what interests your child and expand on these interests. Finding a cicada “hatching” from its nymph stage while camping spawned my children’s interests in cicadas. We took pictures of the bug and saved the shell. Upon returning home from our trip, we researched cicadas in an encyclopedia and wrote our own book about cicadas. My children drew the illustrations. This bug is still a favorite that my children love to share with anyone who comes to our home.
· Sand and water tables are full of opportunities to learn. You can purchase a sand/water table or use a clear Rubbermaid bucket. We place our bucket on top of a children’s table. Fill it with different interesting items that children like to “get into” – beans, rice, cotton balls, confetti, even water. Save those old canisters, funnels, scoopers and containers and have fun together. Children love to explore the different textures and to see what they can do with the items in the bucket. They are learning about cause and effect, practical math (measuring, pouring, comparing), and increasing fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination. And, since it’s in a bucket, the mess is contained.

The important thing is to have fun with your children while they are learning. And, through the process, you will learn a thing or two, as well.

THE SMARTSEEDS COMPANY, LLC ANNOUNCES THE LAUNCH OF ITS FIRST PRODUCT: PLAY WITH ME, FOR THE BENEFIT OF PRESCHOOLERS AND THEIR PARENTS.

Cudahy, WI September 29, 2006 – The SMARTSEEDS Company, LLC has launched its new product: PLAY WITH ME for the benefit of preschoolers and their parents. The PLAY WITH ME kits are designed to provide opportunities for parents to bond with their preschoolers.

The first of 52 thematic kits, Birds provides parents with 5 activities from which to choose, each of which takes no longer than 30 minutes to complete. Each kit contains nearly everything that the parent and child will need to complete the activities. Parents may choose to do one activity a day or take more time and complete the kit at a more leisurely pace.

After 4 years of product research and development, Carlos and Mary Garcia officially launched the SMARTseeds Company, LLC, in early 2006. The Company is dedicated to providing parents with quality at-home materials that provide for special one-on-one interaction time between parent and child.

The PLAY WITH ME kits have been designed with quality and convenience in mind. Each kit contains a book, a CD of audio and data files, a toy, games, learning activities, and art activities that the parent and child can enjoy doing together. Each kit is functional, out of the box, with little or no advanced planning necessary. The PLAY WITH ME kits are printed and assembled in the USA. All of this value is offered at a reasonable price.

What makes the PLAY WITH ME product unique is that he kits are built not only to educate but to, most importantly, provide opportunities for parent/child interaction. Parents will appreciate being able to open up the product and immediately begin the activities. Children will enjoy the one-on-one time spent with Mom or Dad. Each time the preschooler and parent open up PLAY WITH ME they open up opportunities for growth and development.

For more information regarding the theory and research behind The SMARTseeds Company, LLC products or to purchase PLAY WITH ME, visit http://www.thesmartseedscompany.com.

THE SMARTSEEDS COMPANY, LLC SIGNS ON TO HOMESCHOOLESTORE.COM

Cudahy, Wisconsin September 20, 2006 — The era of digital delivery is here and The SMARTseeds Company, LLC is at the forefront. You can now easily download our education material 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at HomeschoolEStore.com.

We are happy to announce that we’ve teamed up with HomeschoolEStore.com and can now offer you, our customers, homeschool and educational products as secure eBooks on this exciting, new site. Check out our eBook educational products right now by visiting www.homeschoolestore.com.

HomeschoolEStore.com is the only eBook and audio book site specializing in Homeschool curriculum. This dynamic and user friendly site employs the latest Adobe server technology, allowing us to make our full line of products available to you easily, instantly, cheaply and completely free of shipping costs. HomeschoolEStore.com takes extra books off your bookshelf and puts them on your computer or CD-Rom, saving you much needed space. No longer will you be plagued by broken or missing audio cassettes and CD’s, or drink-stained workbook pages! Your books will now be effortlessly stored, as small, easy-to-use files on computer or disc, to be viewed or printed at your convenience.