For years I’ve been creating printables for our family and you all, many of those largely based on the preschool and younger ages. But – our kids are growing up! (Don’t worry, there will still be a sprinkling of early learning printables here and there!)

Every now and then I share posts about what our older children (grades 4 – 7) are doing, but the day in and day out learning of a middle schooler isn’t as colorful or exciting as the life of a preschooler.  Several of you have emailed me with questions about our older kids, but I would love to know:

What would YOU like to see more of here? Would you be willing to take a quick survey, answer a few questions, and let me know your thoughts? I’d love to hear!

If you don’t have time to complete the survey, please feel free to leave a quick comment with your thoughts. I love to hear from you all!

Complete the reader survey HERE.

When you’re done, don’t forget to enter the $50 Amazon gift card giveaway below! (Because every mom needs a little Amazon!)

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One of the most common emails that I receive has to do with PDF downloading or printing errors. Maybe you’ve experienced them when trying to download a file on my site or somewhere else. Just today, I’ve received six emails that said essentially the same thing.

I’m trying to download and print one of your files, but it keeps telling me the file is damaged/corrupted every time I try to open it in Adobe. Can you help?

You are not alone! BUT the problem is typically very simple to solve. Here are a few things to try the next time you run into the problem. The first one on the list solves the problem 99% of the time – I promise!

1. Try using a different internet browser. If you are a Chrome or Safari user, the problem seems to pop up the most in those two, so try using Firefox or IE instead. That typically does the trick!
2. Be sure that you have the latest version of Adobe Reader installed. Don’t ask me how the file knows that there was an update, but those files can be picky. Adobe Reader is free and takes just a few minutes to update.
3. Are you a MAC user? You may want to set Adobe Reader instead of the Mac Viewer as your default for opening files. That could be causing the glitch.
4. Is the text in the file printing as ‘gobbledygook’? Images look ok but the fonts are unrecognizeable? Look under your ‘advanced’ settings tab when you click print and chose the ‘print as image’ option.
5. If you are having trouble printing directly from your browser, try downloading a copy to your desktop and then opening the file and printing directly from the file.

Have you ever had trouble downloading or printing PDF files? What trick worked for you? Please share any tips you have in the comments.

Over the last few weeks, I have received NUMEROUS emails that all have a similar theme:

“I am trying to download/print one of your files. When I try to print it, only the first page is showing up and I can’t see the rest of the file. Is the file corrupted?”

The files are all fine on my end {after a period of my heart stopping and panicked phone calls for friends to check} and usually the issue can be resolved rather quickly by trying one of the following:

1. Try opening and saving the file using a different browser. If you use Chrome {most of the issues have come via Chrome}, try either Internet Explorer or Firefox. This has resolved the issue for the majority of readers. Firefox is my personal favorite and the browser that I use.
2. Be sure to install the most recent Adobe Reader update. Don’t ask me how your computer knows that it’s not up to date…but it knows.
3. Are you a MAC user? Instead of using the standard Mac PDF viewer, switch over to Adobe. Many times, this will solve the issue right away.
4. Save the document directly to your desktop and then open it from there, rather than trying to view/print via your web browser.
5. If none of these solutions help, check out this Facebook thread that Carisa from 1+1+1=1 shared ~ there are some other great tips from readers!!

I really hope that this will help you all out and I’m sorry if you’ve been one of the people having an issue. If you have a solution that has helped you and don’t see it listed above, leave a comment and let us know!

I was just wondering how to use some pages on your preschool packs. I think generally they are pages 3 and 4, they look like flashcards, but one page has a line separating the word from the picture.  I haven’t know how to use these pages, so I’ve just been letting my 3 year old practice her cutting skills :) But I’d love to know what their actual intention is.

Each of the printable packs that I’ve put together typically has 2 different vocabulary pages that look similar to the above pages. One of the pages shows an image with the word underneath it and the other page shows a line dividing the image from the word.

Here’s a look at how we do the 2-part vocabulary cards in the packs. The first few days we review the words and their beginning letter sounds and have Kaleb point to the word as we say it. On the third day, I cut apart the 2-part cards and slide the words into our table top pocket chart {I love that we can prop it right up on the table next to us and work together}. Kaleb then picks up the pictures and slides them behind the right picture {usually based on looking at the beginning letter sound}.

Basically, this is just an added ‘boost’ to help children understand that there is a relationship between pictures and words and that letters make sounds.

If your child isn’t quite ready for this step, you can also play a matching game. Lay out the vocabulary cards that are not separated with a line and have your child match picture-to-picture and then see if s/he can match the words together as well.

Hope that helps!!

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