EcoBrain is an online ebook store that offers thousands of titles from top publishers about sustainable, green living, home and garden, cooking and more. Since ebooks don’t use paper and ink to produce, or fuel to deliver, you’ll be saving yourself money while doing something positive for the environment.

What’s in it for you?

EcoBrain has a great selection of elementary, middle school and academic environmental science material like A Guide for using The Magic School Bus® Inside the Earth in the Classroom. Many of their ebooks would be a great resource for parents, teachers and homeschoolers.

Of course, they have cookbooks! One title that I’m considering downloading is A Fork in the Trail, a book of 208 lightweight, mouth-watering recipes to turn an ordinary backcountry trip into a gourmet adventure. I’m always freaked out about the over-processed junk that we bring camping “for convenience sake.” With recipes that you can cook and dehydrate before the trip or just add boiling water, it sounds like this book can help us do much better.

EcoBrain recently added some very cool titles like:

• Skinny Bitch
• Big Green Purse
• The Home Energy Diet: How to Save Money by Making Your House Energy-Smart
• The Compassionate Carnivore: Or, How to Keep Animals Happy, Save Old MacDonald’s Farm, Reduce Your Hoofprint, and Still Eat Meat

Check them out!

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The Vtech – V.Motion Active Learning System arrived on our doorstep a few weeks ago thanks to Vtech and the Parent Bloggers Network. You should have heard the commotion when I opened the box – squeals of delight, crazed jumping up and down, and lots of “thank you mommy” from Nathan and Lucie.

The V.Motion Active Learning System is an educational video game for children ages three to seven years. Basically, it’s like an educational Wii system for little kids. It incorporates learning about basic math, reading, science, and spelling with motion-activated gaming.

Features

The console plugs directly into your TV, DVD or VCR and while it can run on AA batteries, you should spend an additional $10 and get a 9-volt Vtech – V.Smile Adapter adapter to plug it into an outlet. (The adapter also works with Vtech – V.Smile Pocket Learning System, the LeapFrog® Leapster® Learning Game System, and a variety of other electronics.)

The V-Motion game console is also 100 percent compatible with the entire V.Smile Smartridge library. So if you already have a Vtech – V.Smile Pocket Learning System, you have games compatible with the V.Motion Active Learning System. (We’re a Leapster family so we don’t.)

It’s more expensive than most gaming systems for kids as it retails for $69.99 with the games going for around $24.99, online from Amazon as well as retail outlets like Target and Wal-Mart. However, it’s way cheaper than getting a Wii, which is around $250 if you can find one.

The V.Motion Active Learning System also includes a VTech V.Link™ that connects kids to VTech’s secure online site for kids to track their scores and unlock bonus gameplay.

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Horizon Organic sent me samples of their single serve milk, which is available in reduced fat plain, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. Immediately got the cooperation of two test subjects – my children. Nathan tried the plain and the vanilla for two school lunches. And Lucie got the chocolate and strawberry.

Our review

Both children LOVED the flavored milks. And enjoyed the expandable straws that come with the milk even more. (Both children kept the straws and insisted that I wash and save them.)

They’ve had Horizon flavored Single Serve Milks before at Starbucks and have always enjoyed drinking them. However, Nathan did not like the plain reduced fat. He thought it tasted weird. I’m not surprised after having a flavored drink. Plus, ultra-pasteurized milk does taste odd when you’re used to fresh milk.

Is the expense worth it?

If I was to buy the milks for my children, I’d stick with the flavors. However, while I love the idea that Horizon Organic Single Serve Milks are safe to drink at room temperature, they’re very expensive. This week they were on sale at my local grocery for $1. They’re usually $1.25. That’s a lot of money for the convenience of organic milk.

But what are your options? Either you buy the 25 cents milk at school that isn’t organic, send them in with a thermos of milk from the organic milk that you have at home, or better yet, let them drink water during lunch. After all, water doesn’t sour, it’s free, and is probably the healthiest option of all.

Still, if you want your kids to drink organic milk when they take their lunch to school, Horizon Organic Single Serve Milks are a practical – and delicious – option.

For more of my reviews of Horizon Organic products, go to:

• Horizon DHA Omega-3 milk: a review

For links to delicious recipes using Horizon Organic products, check out:

• The “Smart People Drink Milk” Contest
• The “Milk is Brain Food Contest”
• What Eddie can do with some Jack-O-Lantern Smoothies

Children’s book publisher, Kane/Miller recently released four World Box Sets:

• Explore the World
• Discover the World
• Travel the World
• Asia: Award Winning Picture Books

At $35-36, these boxed sets are half of the retail price of buying the books separately. They of limited quantity, so you may want to purchase one or all of them now and dole out the books over the course of the year, or save these for Christmas and birthday gifts.

After a trip to our local Benihana’s, courtesy of a gift card from Pierson Grant Public Relations, I’m especially intrigued with the Asia box set:

• From India: Kali And the Rat Snake
• From Japan: The Story of Cherry the Pig (previously reviewed here)
• From South Korea: While We Were Out
• From Japan: Singing Shijimi Clams

I think it would be fun to go on a trip to an ethnic restaurant while you reading through the box set. There’s nothing like experiencing the cuisine of other countries to teach your children about other cultures. It makes them adventurous diners, too.

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My kids love video games, but we’ve managed to avoid buying gaming consoles. Then we went over to a friend’s home and they had a Nintendo Wii. Seeing all the fun the kids had with it, I’m seriously considering asking Santa for a Wii this year. I want it for the Wii Fitness and my husband, who regularly bowls in a league, thought the bowling game was very cool. The kids loved the golf and the baseball, too.

But I know my kids. Gaming for them is like heroin and I could see eight-year-old Nathan going into a store and coming out with Grand Theft Auto. That’s why I’m glad a GameStop opened closed by. GameStop is a family-friendly source for video games of all kinds and for all ages. Their employees have helpful suggestion while keeping in mind the ESRB standards. In fact, they will actually refuse to sell mature-content games to a child who isn’t of the appropriate age. Love that.

If you’re a gaming family GameStop offers a trade-in program that lets you bring in the old games and get credit towards new titles or systems. This is great when your kids grow out of their old games, get bored with them, or find a few oldies but goodies at a garage sale to trade in.

If there’s not a GameStop in your local mall, you can also shop online at their website. Right now their prices seem comparable with online retailers like Amazon. The Nintendo Wii Accessory Bundle sells for $349.99 and their Wii Fit Bundle (shipping 9/5/08) $149.96. Both bundles come with lots of extras. Also, some of the bundles are not available in their stores.

Dear Santa, go by GameStop and get me a Wii, please.