I\'m Summer, a mouthy, sarcastic bitch. I\'m passionate about natural birth, long term breastfeeding, and living naturally. I curse too much, love tattoos, and will some day be crushed to death by my book collection. I homeschool, dream of gardening, and swing to the left. 
Jumping Into Adventure And Giving Some Away
This is Evan. Actually this is Bugsy Volcanoface, but it’s Evan playing him. See this little guy is Evan’s character at JumpStart. Oh yes, we’ve been doing the JumpStart craze for a couple weeks now. And loving it!
I’ll admit that I’m the horrible mom who doesn’t let her kids play on the computer. I know, it’s deprivation. My 5 year old does not know how to type, text, or twitter. It’s a shame. But since we were given a free membership I thought I’d let him have a chance playing on the real computer, instead of his toy one. And who knew he’d take to it with such gusto? OK, so everyone who doesn’t shelter their kids from technology probably knew that. Bite me. Or, byte me.
He’s been racing on the dune buggies, running around grabbing bags of gold, and even hanging out in an area called Storyland, which is mainly aimed at 3-5 year olds (they also have an area called AdventureLand, for kids in kindergarten through 2nd grade and soon will launch a third world called Future Land for kids from 3rd to 5th grade) .Once he figured out that he gets “money” for playing games and can buy cool stuff for his character he’s become obsessed. His only complaint so far is that there’s no Mohawk choice in the hair styles. So, get right on that JumpStart. Evan says the spiky doo just won’t do.
I do have to give a warning, however. If you’ve got an old, crappy computer just walk away. Seriously, we’ve been fighting this thing on the laptop since we got the membership and I’ve been cursing every night over it. Then we were loaned a new laptop (long story) and suddenly it flies like magic. Like a flying magical unicorn with glitter to be exact. (It’s 3 AM people, deal with my insanities)
I’ve been debating whether or not this goes against my TV-Free July plan, since it is still a screen type of entertainment. I’m going to go with no since he’s actively playing a game. And because he’s just so darn cute when he gets excited over his character doing something. I can’t help it, I’m a sucker for that cheesy grin of his.
Is anyone else playing on JumpStart.com? They are doing a multi-player option soon, so I thought it might be fun for Evan to get to play with some kids I “know”. In the loose “I kinda know their parents online” kind of way. Well, if not don’t worry. While we’ve been running all around the JumpStart.com land, I’ve been holding onto a second free membership. Yep, I’ve got a free 3-month membership account in my pretty little hands that I’m going to hand over to someone.
All you have to do is check out the JumpStart.com website and tell me one thing that you like or think you will like. That’s it. Leave me a comment here between now and this Friday (July 17), then on Saturday I will pick a winner. Be sure you leave a comment with a valid email address so I can contact you about it. If you want extra chances just Twitter this post and leave me a second comment telling me your Twitter name so I can check and see (Yes, I’ve had fakers in the past and they suck). Sound easy enough? Then get to it!
Stands to reason he’d pick it right up. Goes with Waldorf theroy that kids dont have to be born with a computer in their hands in order to know how to work electronics. I’m glad to hear he’s having a good time!
I’ve browsed the JumpStart site before and even contemplated purchasing a membership.I really like how imaginative it is. The kiddos can really get into it and put those brains to work!
My email is sugrboo99@yahoo.com
Awesome blog! Where do you find the time? Do you sleep??
Yes, both of my kids have put my computer skills to shame. I don’t mind, because they’ll really need these skills in school and in the work-place later on. YES!!You have to be so careful with chat rooms and internet preditory scum-bags, but it seems the Jump Start site is safe. I’m going to get my daughter a membership. Thanks!!
Gina Browning (author)
http://www.eloquentbooks.com/MoonbeamDreams.html
My kids (6 and 4 1/2) both love starfall.com if you’re looking for other good kid computer sites. Starfall is free, too, which is nice of course.
We’d love to try Jump Start!
I found your blog through Christine Moers…
Mayhem\´s last blog post..Minnesota