Hi! I have been enjoying your free resources and am considering the paid membership. I do see that its $9 a month afterwards. Is the cancelling process easy if I do not need/want to continue the membership?

Also I see that you are going more towards the K/1st grade stuff so will you continue to add NEW PreK stuff?
Also are you available to send in ideas and request to? Sorry for sooo many questions but money is TIGHT so even at less than $30 its still a big chunk for me.

Answer:  I am thrilled that the free stuff is such a huge hit (over at [1] www.freeabcschool.com)  The membership is $27 for the first month -If you want to continue the membership – it is only $9 a month.  The directions for continuing it is pretty simple – click on the yellow box and access your personal account area for Peanut Butter Crunch  – there is a box that gives offers for additional memberships – The payment of the $9 is via [2] www.Paypal.com. You control everything – since the payment is via your personal account (which I do not have access to at Paypal).  Access your Paypal account (it is free to set up a PayPal account – and easy – I am not affiliated with Paypal but prefer their service) if you ever want to cancel – just go there and put in the order. 

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Next – I am adding new K-1 Transitions – but I will continue to add preschool items too.  If you notice I also have PECS style (PEWE) items also.  Because of my experiences – I know that many of the ‘areas’ can and do overlap.  Example – many children do not have an opportunity to attend preschool, so when beginning kindergarten, they may not have ever had ‘graphing’ opportunities or word recognition of the colors exposure.  A Kindergarten teacher is expected to bring all ‘typical’ students to the same level of learning – no matter – the children’s beginning term skills.  Adding this new section will add to the students exposure.  One can only reteach number recognition to 10 or 20 so many times ….. at some point counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s need to be introduced.  You – as the teacher – can meet those needs economically via PBC.

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I would also love to hear your requests – I do try to accommodate when possible.  Example – I have created some mini interactive bulletin boards in the past and intend on resuming some of the creations because of past requests.  These bulletin boards will begin to appear (if all goes well) in the next year.    Please let me know what you would like to see in the membership – I love hearing others suggestions and am open to new concepts and ideas.  As my mother put it – (she has worked with many areas of education and is retired now – still volunteers though!) – Everybody can learn, we just have to figure out how to teach it.  This is not an exact quote but I do believe in its meaning. 

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The big question here for me is ‘what is your background?’  As the people that know me personally could tell you – I tend to be very private – but I think it is important to answer this question ….. with some detail.  So here it goes…… I have worked and volunteered in the early childhood level fields.  I have worked in the preschool – home and center based – environments.  I have studied in the fields as well.  At this moment I am going to skip to  ‘what I do now’ – I create the curriculum with my family being my number one priority.  WARNING – Very personal info coming up …….. I could only have one child biologically …. So when the opportunity arrived my husband and I were very blessed to be able to adopt.  We fostered in the beginning – and it was heart breaking for me to see my children leave – even when the moments were suppose to be happy ones for reunification with their bios.  When the situation was determined by the courts that reunification was not in the best interest of the child – we were given the chance to adopt (Thank Goodness!!!!)  I am a very lucky person – I have 6 beautiful children now.  This was many years ago ….. because when our youngest arrived – we knew within the first 2 years that he was very ‘special’……. Since then my knowledge has expanded far beyond the basic early childhood level education requirements. 

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I know first hand about working with the diversities of autism (PDD) and the possible adversities that come along with having to learn to live with Asperger’s or very low functioning autism.  I know about ADHD / ADD.  My knowledge has expanded with research and personal experiences to include Seizure disorders, Tourette’s, Oppositional Defiance, Fetal Alcohol Effect / Syndrome, OCD, Reactive Attachment Disorder, hallucinations….. the list can go on …. And some of the diagnoses still do not exist.  

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I hope that this gives you some incite to my background – as I said earlier – I am open to suggestions.  I believe that every person can learn – we just need to find the way.

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Back to the membership – when I began – it was with the intent of ‘what would I use if I opened  a preschool based center’ – and I wanted it to be affordable and to meet requirements …. And be FUN. 

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I advocate a play to learn environment …. But with the pressures placed upon our young children and teachers / parents – the environment must include certain educational aspects that a regular daycare may not have.  It would not surprise me to see a mandate passed within the next decade - that all children must attend preschool.  Preschool has become the ‘new’ kindergarten.  Whether we approve as parents or educators – this is the way things have evolved.  I know that many of the higher leveled educators find themselves restricted by the thought ‘teach to test’.  I do understand the premise was to make sure the teacher did their job and the student gained knowledge.  Unfortunately this has become the focus of higher education and possibly detrimental to the gaining of knowledge for the student. 

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Each individual learns differently …. I know that I am a hands on, read it over and show me again kind of person ….. What are you?  Do you learn exactly as I do?…. Of course not!  So inside of PBC you will find that I will be adding my Funtastic Phonetics program (I was originally going to offer this as a second membership option – but with the economy – we all need a break somewhere and you need the most ‘bang for the buck’!)  beginning at the end of May  to the beginning of June.  I will also begin adding PEWE books based on sight word recognition.  I am a known advocate of teaching phonetics – and not pushing the ‘sight’ word based education.  Sight words are picked up while learning through the Funtastic Phonetics program.  Big Wake Up for me …. My youngest son may never be able to use phonetics …. He may only be able to learn via sight / memorization.  So ….. I am open to ‘what ever it takes’ to make our students successful!  Therefore – you will find many resources inside of PBC that advocate different styles / techniques.  It is not because of being a ‘contradictory’ kind of person – but realizing that as parents, daycare providers and educators we must meet the needs of every student.

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Finally – to answer the very last portion of the questions – at the moment I create the curriculum / resources – offer some tangible samples on Ebay  and place my family first.  If on a given day I planned on working on the computer for a particular project and I get a call from the school that one of my sons had a seizure or one of my other children needs something – that will always come first.   

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I do love what I do on www.Resource4Preshool.com – creating is my way of giving back to society.  So if I can help you – then I am thrilled because this is what I do / am. If this did not answer your questions thoroughly enough – please do not hesitate to ask – I will always do my best to answer more completely.