Can someone expain PEPSI STUFF?

Well I'm a soda-holic and have been saving lots of coke rewards and pepsi stuff codes for months now in a drawer.

The Pepsi Stuff selection is very weak right now. And it is limited to what you see on the Pepsi Stuff website (it usually has a bar underneath stating the amount of points required to purchase). You cannot purchase anything you want on Amazon. There are no gift cards, a very crappy selection of DVDs, and eagly Pepsi merchandise. The best item right now as you stated is the jump drives.

Believe it or not, Pepsi Stuff use to have hundreds of DVDs to pick from including dozens of complete television seasons. However that stock has since been depleted to what you see today. For the complete reason why this has changed read my blurb below:

About 3 months back, Pepsi Stuff ran a 2-day promotion where you could receive a free 5-point code by just entering your email address. However, Pepsi failed to state that the email address had to be real and failed to limit the number of entries to one per account. Therefore, some jerks figured this loophole out and started entering thousands upon thousands of fake emails and receiving upwards of 60,000 Pepsi Stuff points. Because the max capacity of each account is 3,000 points, they just opened up numerours Pepsi Stuff accounts and filling them to capacity. Needless to say, once they accumulated these massive amounts of points, they redeemed them for hundreds of DVDs, eventually depleting the stock to the junky DVDs you see today. They also redeemed them for other things such as dozens of shirts and towels that they didn't want or need but could turn around and sell them for profit.

How do I know this you might ask. I was on eBay about 2 months back and saw several auctions for 3,000 points. I wondered how someone could accumulate so many points at once and why each code was 5-points, when the largest code you could get was 4 points (check the Pepsi Stuff rules). Anyway, I emailed this guy and asked him how he got the points and he told me exactly what I stated above. This guy had already redeemed his points for close to a 100 DVDs, dozens of shirts, and dozens of towels. Now he was just trying to sell the rest of them for more of a profit. Eventually however, eBay pulled the auction because it was illegal to sell Pepsi Stuff points (check the rules again). However, this guy did manage to sell 3 auctions for $80 a pop. Also, I emailed Pepsi Stuff and asked them why the selection was so small. They replied stating that intial lot of DVDs allocated for the promotion "had been depleted." They never indicated if they would ever update the site again, but I wouldn't count on it.

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First of all we need a reality check: Homework and fun rarely belong in the same sentence. However substitute the word satisfying, productive, more enjoyable or non-confrontational and your goal of making math homework more fun for your child, and the family, can easily be met.

1. Remind yourself you are the parent, not the teacher. Your job is to provide a place, enough time, materials and a positive environment for your child to do their work.
2. Music? Yes, television? No! Background music without words, so you can just barely hear it, helps create a positive fun homework atmosphere. Some new age music and classical music work well. Bach is mathematical in its construction. This music should not be from their everyday iPod lists!
3. For the struggling math student, breaking the math assignment down into manageable chunks by creating quick and simple rewards for completion of each chunk often helps. Create a blend of snacks (not candy), drinks, points and stickers for rewards. Some students will prefer an all-at-once-no-stopping plan. Just be sure the option to break it down is always available.
4. Encourage the student to talk and move while they work! Home is not school, they can make talk, sing, sit on their legs, squiggle, as long as they are focused and working!
5. Use flash card drill assignments to make math homework fun by using them to play a game. Throw a Koosh! ball or shoot baskets while reciting cards. Get a game board out with a spinner or dice. Roll or spin and read that number of flash cards before moving.
6. Get a bunch of Legos. Each problem/row/page finished means receiving Legos. Adapt by creating conditions for each size or color. If the answer has four digits, they get four singles, or two doubles or a triple and a single. Multiples of 3 mean blue only. Be creative. When the assignment is complete they can build!
7. Use your Jenga blocks! As a problem/ row is completed take one block out. If the answer is odd, take off two. Try to finish before it falls
8. Once and awhile, if it has been a tough night, or is late, use a simple game board and move and spin as each problem is finished. This puts you with the child and and keep the momentum going and prevents the dreaded head down and I'm too tired moment.
9. Movement can make a difference with any homework assignment's enjoyability factors. Since so much math involves sitting with pencil and paper, look for ways to incorporate movement into the other assignments for the night, thus clearing their heads and make the brain ready for a more concentrated task of math.
10. You are the parent, not the teacher.  Never equate approval with grades in school!  Praise them for who they are, not what they do.

Creating a healthy overall math environment at home is one of the best things any parent can do. Let the students see parents using math in everyday situations as well as having a variety of fun math games and activities for the whole family to use will contribute to the positive atmosphere needed to make math homework fun as well.

Sue Gnagy Fegan used a structured, sequential multisensory teaching approach for the past 34 years. She saw first hand the benefits of engaging students in productive, hands on activities in class. She created and has presented Make it Fun! Make it Challenging! Make it Multisensory! workshop at conferences across the country.

Parents will benefit from having a secret weapon available to them at home with a variety of well researched, fun and innovative ideas at their fingertips. On http://www.squidoo.com/makeing-math-fun parents will learn more about specific activities to try.

I have just started a new blog at http://sfegan-makemathmorefun.blogspot.com/ with more ideas and suggestions.