Piano Wizard Review

Piano Wizard, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.  But first, let me give you a tour.

I love the fun animation that draws my children to the program.  They can practice the same song on levels one and two in several different "worlds", with a variety of icons.  They can choose whether they are in the ocean, in outer space, in dinosaur land, or skiing down the hill with Santa Claus, among other things.  This variety makes practice time less dry and more fun.  In the beginning, it is very much like a video game- a wonderfully fun video game- but it goes much farther than that.  Piano Wizard works like training wheels with the goal of getting you OFF the computer and into your piano books.  The best part is that my children recognize this important difference and long for it as much as I do.  They love to learn the song on the computer, which is a safe haven where they can learn the correct fingering, rhythm, steady beat, and correct notes in a fun environment.  However, like me, they recognize that this is just a game mode and they want to play out of real books, without the aid of the screen.  My 4-year-old daughter was quite proud of herself when she took the book to Grandma's house and was able to play for her on their non-electric piano.  From the beginning the curriculum is designed to get you off screen and I love it.

I love how the curriculum starts at the very beginning but progresses rapidly.  Like many piano courses, it begins on the two black keys- notes that are easy to find, and promote better hand posture.  Here my 2-year-old plays the first song on level one.

And here my 4-year-old plays the seventh song on level 5 (out of the book).  We filmed this two days after she started this song.

My 6-year-old son has really struggled putting his two hands simultaneously together in the past.  In songs that require it, his approach has always been to play the left hand first, hold the notes down, and then add the right hand.  Otherwise he has done quite well in the piano, knowing the rhythm and quickly picking up how to read notes.  Anyway, it was the hands together thing that has really been a struggle for us.  Here he plays "Merrily We Roll Along", which is the fourth song in the curriculum, on level three.  Within 5 minutes Piano Wizard had him playing two notes together- something I, with all my piano teaching experience, had failed to do up to this point.  So this next clip represents a major breakthrough for us.  It has not been the last.

One thing about the software that at first I wondered about but now, having seen it in practice, have grown to love, is the way Piano Wizard scores your playing and only reinforces correct behavior.  You can play all the wrong notes that you want and it won't dock your score.  To a degree that's where Mom comes in.  For example, in the first song that only uses the two black keys, a child could hypothetically bang on those two black keys with both hands the entire song and they would get 100%.  That's cheating and I tell my kids it doesn't count.  But in actual practice, if the kids DO start banging around and loose their focus, they get a lower score, and they know it.  They know that they have to get 90+% to get their sticker and finish their piano for the day, and to do that, they have to focus.  If they are playing a lot of wrong notes, they won't score high enough because that 10% margin of error is usually applied not to wrong notes but instead to late notes- if you don't play it in time, you don't get credit.  So there is a major focus on playing the right notes at the right time- only then will you get the high score you seek.  I also like this because, let's face it, there are a lot of little kids in my family.  When I practice, it's nice for me to be able to focus on my own game without having to shoo them away.  They can bang on the upper and lower keys all they want and it won't effect my score.  They can improvise around a melody.  If they are memorizing a song, they can tell the software to play either the left or right hand only while they play hands together, then they can work on hands together with the visibility challenge shown in the first video. The icons in levels 1 and 2, and the notes in levels 3 and 4 have animations that will ONLY be activated if they are played at the right time.  If an icon fails to turn into an animation, THEY know, without my input, that they have missed that note, and because they want a better score, they will try harder to fix it next time OF THEIR OWN ACCORD.  Children are not that unlike birds and other animals- they train best with positive reinforcement.  This software gives it to them.  As a piano teacher, I used to mostly only point out notes played incorrectly to my students, telling them what was wrong and how to make it better.  Granted, I was always eager to praise them and I tried to always give them as much praise as I could.  But it is impractical and would be rather annoying if I were to say "right, right right" after every correct note they played, staying quiet on the notes they missed.  But it's not annoying for a quiet animation to do the same thing.  Teaching my own children, my role is to pull out the stickers when they get a 90+% score, and then to give them feedback as a regular piano teacher when they reach the 5th level.  This is something that does not take years of training to do, and I imagine most parents will be able to help their children in this way. 

As my younger sibling's piano teacher, I am not there every day to help them practice, but Piano Wizard will likewise transform my role as a teacher.  Instead of the standard model of them coming and passing off every song before being assigned a new one, I will now be more of a mentor.  They can show me their progress, but they don't need me to stamp my approval on every song before they move on.  Instead, I will help them work on their goals, give them feedback on their technique and form, offer suggestions, and help them learn how to compose their own music- music that we can plug into this software.  I loved having piano lessons with the "mentor" model when I was a teenager, but now I can teach with this model much earlier, and I have Piano Wizard to thank.

(some of the images in this video are outdated, but I like the general overview and how the methodology is explained in this video.)

Piano Wizard is also great for teaching improvisation, not just in jam mode, but during regular songs as well.  I would love to do a separate post on how I do this, but I cannot promise it right away.  Someday.  I love Jazz piano and played in the Jazz bands when I was in college, so this is a subject that is near and dear to me.  I am excited at how Piano Wizard is so adaptable for so many different needs, and this is another one that it meets beautifully.

I love the online campus.  When you purchase the Piano Wizard curriculum, you become a "gold member" and have access to bonus materials, videos, as well as the free-version content like the forum.  I have not fully explored this resource yet as it is vast, but I was particularly thrilled with one of the bonuses- the LDS Hymns and primary songs.  One of the reasons the MIDI adaptability was so appealing to me is because I want my children to learn these songs- to be able to practice the songs that they are learning in primary, and to be able to play the hymns as they grow older as there is always a great need in our church for members with this skill.  In fact, in Utah among Mormons, it is a popular requirement for parents to tell their children that they have to take piano lessons until they can comfortably play the hymns.  Only then will they let them quit if that's what they want.  Many parents told me this was their goal when I was teaching piano.  As a parent, I'm not much different.  While I want my children to be able to do more than just play the hymns, one of my primary goals is to prepare them well to be able to serve the church as a musician- both in playing the hymns and being able to serve as an accompanist.  So I had the goal of making MIDI files for the hymns and primary songs.  I was SO thrilled and impressed that this was one of the bonuses available for download from the academy.  If you are LDS and have similar goals for your children, you will be happy to know that Piano Wizard has made this part easy for you.  There is also a wonderful library of Christian music, so while the Piano Wizard curriculum itself is a secular program, some of the bonuses make it very easy to adapt it for religious use.

MonkiSee Review

I am so excited to tell you about this program.  Intellectual Baby is a company that has grown so much in recent years and I finally took the plunge to see what their reading kit is all about.  See why I chose to buy it now in this post.  Now it's time to get down to business.  :)

First of all, I LOVE the flashcards.  This reading kit comes with 200 solid, glossy cardstock, full-color flashcards.  One side shows the word clearly in large, non-serif font using lower-case letters.  The other side shows a full color picture to demonstrate the word, as well as a small grey word for parent's reference, as shown in the video.  I love these flashcards so much that henceforth, whenever anyone asks me how to teach a tiny child to read without any screen time, I will tell them to read Glenn Doman's "How to Teach Your Baby to Read", as before, AND to purchase these flashcards to save them from a lot of work.  In fact, the cost of making the cards if you're going to print out pictures on the other side would be more than buying them from MonkiSee, so unless you want to clip pictures from magazines from the thrift store and you've got more time than money, this is the way to go.  Alone the flashcards from the kit are $85, or $17 for each set of 40.  I am so glad that this resource is available for parents now.  My baby Ruth, (13m) especially loves the cards and I enjoy being able to show her words during our downtime, like in the car, and even while I nurse her.  I love watching her eyes light up when I pull them out.

Second, the books.  The first thing my husband said when he saw them was, "Wow, these are really high quality".  He was impressed by the classy layout of the pages that show the words isolated from the pictures, as well as the idea of using pictures of the leading puppets, Howie and Skip, on a colored background.  He commented on how simple and intuitive they are, and how effective that kind of simplicity can be.  I agree.  Patrick was especially delighted to read the books because Skip is his favorite character out there.  Alone the books retail at $12 each, or $24 total.

All of this talk about the physical aspect of the program, when the DVDs are the best part, especially if you are looking to buy a reading program for the first time.  The physical materials drew me to the program because I needed them and I already have Your Baby Can Read and Little Reader, so I didn't NEED the videos.  But each of these companies that I love, each showing they have been influenced by Glenn Doman in their own way, are unique.  They have their own special way of approaching the material, and it's nice to have variety.  Rest assured that I love the DVDs.  So let's talk about them.

Volume 1, Baby's First Words:

This is the first MonkiSee DVD I purchased several years ago.  If anyone else is in the same boat, I am happy to report that it has been updated.  While I loved the poetry and puppets in the first version, as well as how beautifully words were defined and illustrated in video and song, it wasn't my favorite for teaching actual reading.  The reason for that is because each word was only shown once.  They showed the word "Baby", then showed what it means for up to a minute without seeing the word again.  They only read "Baby" once during the entire film.  As a result, we watched the full video occasionally, but mostly used it for the slide-show clip that shows.  Again, this DVD has now been updated.  Now you get to see the word "Baby" several times while they define it, and so on with every word in the film.  I am thrilled with this change.  Hey, the original Signing Time videos were redone after the company grew.  I believe in second chances.  It's part of growing up.  :)

Volume 2, All About Colors:

In this volume Skip bemoans that he while he would love to paint a rainbow, he doesn't know the colors, so his big brother Howie helps him.  In addition to the basic rainbow colors and brown, black, white, grey and pink, Skip also learns indigo, silver, gold.  My favorite part of all of the MonkiSee videos is Krista's rich use of poetry.  I am amazed at her ability to pen little poems and ditties for such a variety of subjects, as her spectrum of videos have shown us.  It's cute poem after cute poem all the way through all of them.  For example, a PART of the color red shows her children eating licorice while we hear, "Licorice is red, licorice is sweet.  Licorice is my favorite treat".  Or while we see beautiful flowers in the breeze we hear "Purple flowers, dainty and fair, make me want to stop and stare".  Krista told me that she loves to read books with poetry to her children and it naturally extended into their videos.  I suppose I should read more books with poetry!  All of the videos are rich with them.

Volume 3, All about Shapes:

Skip gets a box of shaped cookies from his grandma that he shares with his brother Howie and Olivia as they teach him how to identify all of the different shapes.  Skip learns circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, diamond, heart, hexagon, pentagon, octagon, star, and crescent.  One thing I love about these videos are the little references they make to the benefits of reading.  For example, "These old books are rectangles that sit on the shelf.  I can read one of these books by myself."  There are also lots of interesting facts squeezed in, like "This bolt head is a hexagon with six sides around.  They are stronger than nails, pound for pound."  The video ends with an original song, "Shapes are Everywhere", a review of colors and shapes combined, and a slightly awkward scene where Howie and Skip politely say goodbye because they need to get rid of us before they can eat their cookies.  haha.

Volume 4, Around the House:

Let's face it, this one is my favorite.  Bar none.  Why?  There are three original songs, "Around the House", "Door Song", and my favorite, "Tricycle Song".  These songs are really cute.  This is the perfect time to introduce DaVida.  The four oldest Guerrero daughters have started their own guitar band and it's been fun for me to watch them grow as their talents have increased.  I love seeing family bands and singing groups, partially because that is my dream for my family some day.  I would love to help my children do that, if they are willing.  Let's just say that I have a soft spot for homeschooling families that draw closer together through their music.  Their talents are beautifully showcased in this volume.  My four-year-old told me she wants to learn how to play the guitar after watching this movie.

Action Words:

So, if I'm allowed to have a favorite, I'm also allowed to have one that isn't my favorite, and this is it.  My kids love it.  It's one of those movies that the kids love and the parents put up with because the kids love it.  The film is centered around an action song.  It's very repetitious.  It's a good exercise film for them.  They love to do the actions.  So in one room we have little kids laughing and interacting with the film, while mom is rolling her eyes in the other room as the song gets drawn out a little longer as each new set of action words gets plugged into the song.  Then again, one time I came in and did the whole song with the kids.  When you actually do the actions while you listen, I guess the song isn't so bad.  Olivia's enthusiasm is really cute.  The rich vocabulary and poetry is present like in all of the videos.  I can like a movie (I really do like it) without it being my favorite.  Besides, even the Hokey Pokey can get old if you're not standing in the circle.

Each of these five videos are $20 each a la carte.

MonkiSee Music DVD:

This is a special DVD they recently put together that has the music of the videos in one collection with follow-along words so you can sing them karaoke style.

MemoFlix Video Flash Cards:

These are such a rich resource!  If you have read "How to Give Your Baby Encyclopedic Knowledge", you will understand the value of exposing your children to "bits of intelligence", otherwise known as flashcards.  But they aren't just flashcards, they are "bits" shown in categories that help babies to make connections.  It's nice for them to know that blenders, waffle makers, and microwaves are all kitchen appliances.  That bricks and concrete are both building materials.  That acrobat and abacus both start with A.  There are hundreds and hundreds of these words, divided into categories, and organized in a user-friendly menu so you can find what you are looking for.  I LOVE the MemoFlix videos.  So much time was put into making these.  They're better than flashcards at home too, because there are often sound clips shown with the pictures, so you can hear what sound a snake makes while you see the picture after the word, and so forth.  Volume one is full of categories like "Mammals I" and "Christmas".  By "full", I mean three pages to dig through and choose from.  There's a lot of content here!  Volume two is for the letters.  See a rich variety of words for each letter.  Volume three is for consonant blends, including "ch", "ph" and "sh", as well as "kn", "wh", "sw", and common combinations like "st" and "cr".  Volume four is for word families.  This is for words that end the same, such as "ore", "ug", "ack", and so forth.

Guide to Teaching Your Baby to Read:

I already touched on how this film helped me teach my oldest, Peter, to read in my first MonkiSee post.  In short, there are a lot of books out there (not just Glenn Doman's book, there are older ones like Winifred Stoner's Natural Education, and newer ones like Timothy Kailing's Native Reading) to help you teach your baby how to read.  If you didn't want to use a pre-made program and just want to do it on your own, or you simply want to understand why and how it works, I would refer you to one of these books.  But if reading isn't your thing and you would rather "wait for the movie", this is it.  Krista does a great job.  She has a lot of experience and she brings her own tips and tricks of the trade to the table.

The MemoFlix and Guide DVDs are $50 on their own.

All of these are really worth the money individually, so to get everything I've reviewed thus far for $140 is a real bargain in the "Baby Reading Kit Plus".  You can add their two newest DVDs, "Animals at the Farm", and "ABC Roundup", as well as two more sets of flashcards if you get their complete reading kit, which is $185.

Animals at the Farm:

This was bar-none my 2-year-old Patrick's favorite Christmas present last year.  This video is especially filled with interesting facts about animals.  Howie has been reading and he's eager to share what he's learning.  Cats can run up to 30 miles an hour.  Ornithology is the study of birds.  Donkeys have incredible memories.  I'm kicking myself for not taking advantage of a special opportunity that was available for this film- MonkiSee fans submitted high quality videos of their children either on a farm, or dressed up as or acting like a variety of farm animals.  My parents have a farm 20 minutes away and I never got around to it.  :(  But rumor has it that they will be making an ocean animals movie in the future with the same opportunity, so if you want to potentially jump on this kind of an opportunity in the future, it may be there if you subscribe to her newsletter.

ABC Roundup:

The first time I watched this video, I thought it was really cute and well done.  That was about it.  Then our family signed up for Netflix and I finally had an opportunity to watch "Leapfrog Phonics Farm".  Now I'm not out to get Leapfrog because I thought it was cute, overall.  But watching that film made me realize how spoiled I've become with the high-quality programming we have chosen, and what I have come to expect from an educational children's film.  There's good, better, and best.  I only mention leapfrog by name because it is a very popular series that is widely acclaimed for it's educational value.  I will call it "good".  But I couldn't help but compare them since they were two new alphabet videos for us watched in the same week.  Leapfrog shows us a funny "Noisy Newt".  First of all, newts aren't noisy, but it does show us the sound an "N" makes.  In ABC roundup, we see three examples, one of which is a real video clip with a Nuthatch bird (new vocabulary for Mommy, I admit), complete with the bird call, as we hear "'N' is for the Nuthatch, nibbling nervously.  He grabs a chunk for his lunch, and then the Nuthatch flees."  ABC roundup explains the three different sounds an "X" makes, and how "K" is silent in "KN", among other phonetic variations.  My children love ABC Roundup, and they giggle every time they see the Monkeys going ballistic trying to catch floating letters.  I love the original music, and as always, the poetry and rich vocabulary introduced to my children.  I will call ABC Roundup "best".  What makes the video all the more endearing is knowing that it was primarily made by one homeschooling family.  What an amazing family project!

Full Disclaimer:  I purchased the reading kit at a discount as they took into account some of my previous purchases through the years.  It was a purchase I chose to make because I needed the cards and I wanted to give MonkiSee a full review on this blog of my own accord.  I was also given a free copy of ABC Roundup and the two new flashcard sets to review.  I was not otherwise compensated for my review, and my opinions are fully my own.  :)

Free Piano Lessons 4 Kids Review

Today I'm so excited to share a wonderful resources with you- FREE piano lessons!  No joke, check it out.

https://www.hoffmanacademy.com/


His videos are also available on YouTube, like this one.

When I was a teenager, I remember asking my Dad, an entrepreneur, why he one of his products was so much less than his competitors.  Why not charge the same and make more money?  His answer was that he knows how much he himself loves to find a bargain, and how much bargains have helped him raise a large family.  He said that whenever you can make something more affordable, you are doing a service to your customers.  He told me he would rather serve 100 people to make $100 bucks than rake a couple of people over the coals for the same amount of money.  Likewise, he likes to give his business to people who share that philosophy and are serving the community with their business.  Yes, you do have to put food on the table, people understand that, but the wonderful thing about making something affordable is that you will attract more customers.  You serve more people, and you still have your needs provided for.  That lesson from my Dad has really stuck with me.

In the music education business, websites like freepianolessons4kids are a breath of fresh air.  As a musician, I have been really surprised at the cost of many music materials.  Math websites an resources are a dime a dozen.  Same goes for reading, spelling, and writing.  Why not music?  I've been so shocked at the price tag of some of the music products I've come across in the past.  When I first examined Joseph Hoffman's site, I immediately thought of what my dad had said and I loved it right away.  He is a good man who sincerely wants to help more children learn the fundamentals of music and he has made it very affordable.  This website is a real gem and a service to the online community.  This is his business model:

The piano lessons are free.  Completely, totally, 100% free on YouTube.  They are the meat and potatoes, and they are designed so that you don't really need anything else to progress through the lessons.  Isn't that wonderful?  The lessons are fantastic too.

For sale is the e-book that has a printout for every lesson.  Sometimes it's a cutting activity.  Sometimes it's a coloring activity.  Sometimes it's the music written on the staff so you can become more familiar with reading music.  There's a rich variety from lesson to lesson.  It's very well done.  You can also purchase the videos on DVD.  I love this business model.

So now that we know that it's affordable and I like his business model, it's time to look at why I love the piano lessons themselves.

First off, my kids love them.  They really love Mr. Hoffman.  My 4-year-old is so proud to tell people that she is taking piano lessons and Mr. Hoffman is her teacher.  Every time we finish watching a video she waves at the screen and says "Goodbye, Mr. Hoffman!"  She really loves him.  My 5-year-old especially enjoys the movement incorporated into the lessons, and the Early Learning community will be happy to know that while my 2-year-old hasn't actually played the lessons on the piano, he is gaining a lot from the lessons as well.  He is able to count the rhythms "ta, ta,  ti-ti, ta", sing the songs, and overall has a good sense of accomplishment at the end of the lessons.  He knows he is getting piano lessons too and he loves it.  Mr. Hoffman is his music teacher too.  I don't hesitate to recommend these videos to very young children, they don't have to practice on a piano to benefit.  (although obviously for best results you would.)  Concepts like low and high, fast and slow, steady beat, the music alphabet, and SOLFEGE are taught very well and thoroughly. 

I think it's awesome that he teaches solfege.  He teaches the ABCs and incorporates movable do (which I prefer over fixed do) into the lessons, so Do-Mi-So is synonymous with a I chord.  By the end of the e-book you are playing simple melodies, like the frog song in my review video above, in the right hand, while accompanying with chords in the left hand.  And they kids will understand the why behind the chord as well.  I love the theory in the lessons, and the e-book reinforces it very well.  By the way, it's a full-color e-book, I just printed it out in black and white to save ink.

I love the story he uses to teach where the C is on the piano (and all the other letters).  It really stuck with my kids.  We've been using a piano insert with the letter names and the kids have been reluctant to get rid of it.  Well, shortly after watching these video clips, my 4 and 5-year-olds told me they didn't need it anymore.  And they were right!  So check out his videos for that perk alone.

The videos are short and sweet.  This is great for short attention spans.  You can move at your own pace.  Since my children have already had some piano exposure, we've been going through about 3 lessons a week although we will need to slow down soon.  If they don't "get" a topic, they can watch the video again.  It's short enough they can watch it before practicing each day really.  So go slow.  Go fast.  It's up to you.  Mr. Hoffman is always encouraging.  If the kid didn't practice for a week there's no awkward apologies necessary.  Just pick up where you left off and work through it.  I am finding that short video lessons with worksheets and other non-media reinforcement afterwards has been the best education model for my kids and our family.  That's what we're doing with http://thehevproject.com/ too.  It's a great way to learn.

I've hit on it already, but I love the kinesthetic reinforcement.  Children stand up and move to demonstrate Do-Mi-So, proper posture, bad posture, and steady beat.  Awesome.

I love the Kodaly elements that are in the lessons.  I recognize that influence, and I think it's fantastic.  Things like showing notes on a one-line staff, rhythm solfege, the rhythm and letter flashcards, and the kinesthetic elements are things I associate with the Kodaly/Orff teaching methods.  The most powerful, life-changing music class I had in college wasn't one required for my vocal peformance degree.  It was my Orff training I had one summer before I internshiped with the Cache Children's Choir.  My piano-teaching approach dramatically changed after that class, for the better.  My students were better able to understand and internalize music concepts with the tools I gained.   And it's so much more fun!  I wish every music teacher could benefit from this kind of training.  I wish every music student, especially children, could gain from this kind of teaching approach.  Well parents, Mr. Hoffman's got it and he's nailed it.

The other question is, does this replace piano lessons with a paid teacher?  Well, that's up to you.  Ultimately there's no replacement for real-life feedback.  If you are uncomfortable with teaching piano, hiring a teacher is a great option.  There's something to be said for a weekly commitment with a teacher.  If you pay for something, you take it more seriously too- they say you get what you pay for, and it goes both ways- sometimes you get what you pay for because you expect to get it and put in the effort.  But we're talking about the very basics of piano here.  These videos will not prepare you for Solos and Ensembles or other like-music competitions by any means.  But they will teach the basics, no matter what age you are.  If you know nothing about piano, you can learn with your children.  I wouldn't put an upper or lower age limit on these videos.  You are where you are.  If you are a beginner, you will benefit from watching these.

As an early learning advocate, I'll put in a special plug as well.  It is hard, it can be nigh impossible, to find a teacher willing to take a 3 or 4 year-old for piano lessons.  Usually it's not because young children can't learn to play piano, but because they lack the attention span for a 30 minute lesson, which seems to be the gold-standard length for children.  Not only that, we seem to think young children HAVE to practice 30 minutes a day for it to be worth the money and effort to take them to lessons.  Because of this barrier, many wait until their children are 7 or 8 to start.  Even then, there's still the issue of jumping in and creating burnout.  Even at 7 or 8, a beginning piano student needs to taste success and unless they are naturally inclined to music, they will reject the new 30 minute workload.  20+ years later we hear them regret that they quit piano when they had the opportunity as a child.  I think these online piano lessons are the perfect bridge for preparing children for formal lessons with a teacher.  A child who has gone through these lessons will have a good foundation and will be ready for that workload.  Alternatively, these videos are an excellent tool for piano teachers to use with their beginning students.  Let the videos and e-book be their homework, and an in-person teacher can reinforce what they have learned.  Either way, you win.  And the videos are on YouTube!

It's giveaway time!

www.www.freepianolessons4kids.com is hosting a giveaway for 3 (three!) copies of their e-book that accompanies lessons 1-41.  Thank you so much!  Good luck everybody.  :)

Entry-Form

Disclaimer: www.freepianolessons4kids.com gave me a free copy of the e-book for review.  I was not otherwise compensated for the review, and my opinions shared are my own.

Review of Little Reader Deluxe materials

Little Reader is available only at www.brillkids.com

Get 10% off with coupon code BKAFF13180

In a previous post I reviewed the Little Reader software, which is the meat and potatoes of this program.  It was $150, and for $100 more, you can get the Deluxe version with the physical products I review in this video.  We have been using Little Reader for a couple of months now, and we are seeing some amazing results.  I love the convenience of the software.  It takes much less screen time to do Little Reader then it did to watch DVDs, while being more effective.

The story books are very cute.  They are my favorite part of the whole program.  The start out very easy, but even the easy versions are stories.  Children know the difference between readers and real story books, and these books have the feel and quality of the real thing.  In the first video, you can watch my 1-year-old read one of these books.  This was 2 weeks after we got Little Reader, and it was his first book.  However, he already knew his sight words from "Meet the Sightwords", and most of the animals from "Your Baby Can Read".  Learning individual words is fairly easy, but putting it all together for story reading was one of the most challenging parts of teaching my oldest to read.  This becomes even more challenging when you consider that my little boy is still speaking with 2-4 word sentences.  In essence, he can read better than he can talk.  Reading full sentences has really helped him with his speech development.  The BrillKids Little Reader storybooks have made that process of reading full books easy.  The practice from these storybooks has helped my 3-year-old expand her reading abilities, as well has develop her confidence to do so.


 
Here is more detail about what is included in the Deluxe package.

Little Musician Review

Little Musician is available at www.brillkids.com 

Get 10% off with affiliate coupon code BKAFF13180

Little Musician is a new software-based curriculum designed to give babies through preschoolers a foundational understanding of music.

A little back story

A few years ago, I remember reading this excerpt from Glenn Doman’s “How to give your Baby Encyclopedic Knowledge”

“Babies can learn absolutely anything that you can present to them in an honest and factual way and they don’t give a fig whether it is encyclopedic knowledge, reading words, math, or nonsense for that matter.

They’d prefer great things—reading, math, all the presidents of the United States, the nations of Europe, the great art of the world, the song birds of the eastern states, the snakes of the world, the kings and queens of England, the great music of the world, the international traffic signs, the dinosaurs, the state flowers, or any of the millions of fascinating things there are to know on this old earth.

But they’ll even take nonsense if that’s all they can get.”

Despite the humor in the last line, this quote stirred me deeply.  I immediately questioned to myself as to how I could teach my children the great things of the world.  “The great music of the world.”  What does that mean?  As a trained musician, I felt a duty to succeed in that aspect of my children’s training.

So far, it has been a haphazard approach.

I’ve checked out books at the library about composers.  I developed “Beginning Rhythm” with Doman’s philosophy in mind.  I’ve played classical music excerpts to my children.  I’ve even developed a solfege manipulative system that I will be releasing within a couple of weeks.  Music is one area that I really want to succeed in teaching my children well.  I have a lot of resources to do it, from instruments, books, and recordings, and I have the skills to do it well.  So far, our music program has been fairly good.  However, it feels like I'm taking a stab in the dark to get it done.

Backing up a little, I want to look at my reading program with the kids.  I worked very hard to make materials to teach my oldest how to read.  I read several books, I made flash cards, I tried different approaches, and materials.  It wasn’t until I purchased “Your Baby Can Read” that we got our foot in the door, and then, I still had a lot of work to help him get to the stage where he was independently reading books.  Now, in hindsight, I look back and I can see what worked and what didn’t, and I felt more prepared to teach my other children.  Everything that worked was in BrillKids reading system, “Little Reader”.  I bought it, I love it, and I’m amazed at the scope of the program.  I just have to push play for a few minutes every day, and my younger children will learn to read.  I’m a busy mom with 4 little kids, and I need that help if I’m going to be consistent with their reading progress.

Why little Musician is a good fit for our family

Consistency.  That is what my music program was lacking.  Not only that, but after reading some of the success stories of other parents in the BrillKids forum, I realized that I may be cutting my own children short as to the scope of our program.  I had to eat a little humble pie, and admit that while I do have the resources and training, I could use a little help.

Little Musician has daily lessons that are short, thorough, and taught through the right-brain education methods espoused by Glenn Doman.  The lesson presents musical bits of intelligence in a fast paced, engaging way.  My children love it!

Each lesson teaches bits in the following categories: 

Chord recognition (similar to the Eugichi’s perfect pitch program), Music Appreciation (an exceprt from famous musical literature), note sounds on the staff, solfege, instrument recognition (including an avatar playing the instrument, to show how it is played), ear training, and steady beat practice sessions.  Famous composers are also taught during the course.

There is one lesson for every day, but because of the nature of the software, I can show the same lesson to my children twice and it will be different every time.  For example, Lesson 4 teaches the concept of “Ludwig van Beethoven”.  A voice says his name, we see a picture, and hear a 5-10 second sample of one of his famous pieces.  However, what picture is shown, which voice says the name, and which sample we hear changes every time.  The concept of “Beethoven” repeats throughout the course, so there is plenty of opportunity for children to get the whole picture, but I like doing music twice a day for now, and I love the variety the software allows.

At the end of every lesson, the lesson takes you to a resource page with links to YouTube to supplement each lesson.  Where ever possible, the musicians demonstrating a concept are children.  We have really enjoyed this supplement, and I appreciate all of the moms in the beta testing team that volunteered their time to help find these videos.  (I should have but didn't.)

I love solfege and ear training.  I think they are important.  I didn’t learn these things until I took Aural Skills in college.  Many of my fellow students hated these classes, and I’ll admit that it was a lot of work for me as well.  But I never hated it, I loved it.  It offered a fresh perspective, a paradigm shift, if you will, for how I listened to music, for how I internalized it.  Then I had the opportunity to internship with a superb children’s choir, where I saw how young children could thrive on those basic aural skills.  I vowed that my future children would have that opportunity.  Little Musician is worth it for the ear training alone.

Solfege.  That brings me to another point about Little Musician.  I was a member of the beta testing group for Little Musician, and I remember that there was a lot of discussion on whether the program should teach “Movable Do”, or “Fixed Do.”  What each is, and the pros and cons of each, are beautifully explained in BrillKids’ free e-book, “Everything you need to know about Teaching your Young Child Music.”

I was disappointed when they decided to teach “Fixed Do” with this program.  I see the merits of both, and have been trained in both, but I prefer “Movable Do” for my children.  “Little Musician” is an international product.  Their audience spans six continents, and they come from many different cultures.  That were sitting in the hot spot, trying to please everybody in the forum, but ultimately they had to make a choice.

"Moveable Do” is more prevalent in the United States.  I had a lot of things going on in my life, preparing for a new baby and what have you, and I stopped being active in the forum when they chose “Fixed Do”, thinking the product would be incompatible for my children.  The product was released last June, and with school starting, I re-examined the product for my children.  

Little Musician has two semesters of content, with the first semester focusing on “C Major”.  In C Major, it doesn’t matter whether you teach “Fixed Do” or “Movable Do”, as it is the same.  Also, because you receive the software with the program, I can easily edit the content in the second semester to fit my needs.  I can record my own voice singing the scale, and tell the computer to use my singing instead of their voice recordings.  I can change the note heads used.  I can add my own sound clips.  All of this is optional, but for me, the ability to customize the software was a great bonus.  In the second semester, I will leave 95 percent of each lesson as it is, and I can tweak the rest of the lesson to reflect my personal preferences.  I really like that.

Why Little Musician may not be a good fit for you

If you have a preference for Moveable Do, you will either have to tweak the system like I will, or eliminate portions of each lesson in the second semester.  I say it’s better to learn “Fixed Do” than “No Do”.  It really doesn’t matter that much which system your child learns, there really are benefits to both.

Another point.  Little Musician has a broad spectrum of music appreciation skills that are beneficial to any age group.  I’m learning new things with my children, even with my college degree in music.  I’m a little rusty in my aural skills, I’ll admit it.  I’m making my husband listen to the lessons too.  It’s good for him.  However, it is important to note that Little Musician was created with the baby and toddler in mind.  The names of the composers are presented in a way to help young children read the words, with an arrow pointing left to right.  Syllables are also color coded to help young children divide the word, reinforcing phonics.  This is fantastic if your child is very young like mine, but you may want to tweak the programming for an older child if they perceive that aspect to be “baby-ish”.

But speaking of baby-ish, there is a greater offence.  In the clap-along session, the avatar is a toddler boy or girl, clearly depicted in a diaper.  You can turn the picture off, but you still see said avatar at the end of the lesson, acting as a conductor, wearing a tuxedo shirt with the diaper and bare legs showing underneath.  It’s cute if your student is a young child, or if they are older watching on as their younger sibling does the program.  But for the 8-12 crowd, it screams “baby product”, and they may not want to have anything to with the program.  It just wouldn’t be cool.  I’m going to give BrillKids that feedback, in hopes that they may add an older avator to the program.  That’s all it needs to be a great program for these older children.  For that matter, the material in little musician would be great for high-schoolers, or college students.  Even mommies with a musical background like me.  But taking it all in with a diapered avatar is a bit much for some to swallow.  My husband joked that if you replaced the baby avatar with a gothic teenager, and switched out the nursery rhymes for punk rock, you would have guitar hero.  The steady beat concept taught is the same.

The only other reason it may not be a good fit is the price.  It’s a premium product.  Yes, it’s only a computer software, but it took 4 years of development, and then 6 months of beta testing to get it where it is today.  A lot of parents volunteered to gather YouTube videos to supplement each lesson, as well as offer suggestions for music clips in the appreciation portions of the lesson.  It takes a lot of work to create digital products.  I should know, my husband does it for a living, and I’ve dabbled in it myself.  That work has a cost, and it is reflected in Little Musician’s $199 price tag.  I came up with the money by deciding not to enroll my preschooler in the local children’s choir.  I figure that it will give my children a solid foundation in music that will save money/time teaching these concepts to my children later on.  It’s a great deal really, but it’s still not cheap.  Unless you’re rich, it will take some budgeting to add Little Musician to your resources.  Only you can make that decision for your family.

In Summary

As a musician, and an Early Learning advocate, I whole-heartedly give Little Musician 5 stars.  It’s essentially my dream product for my kids.  They love it, and so do I.  There are a lot of music products and curriculums out there, many of them very good, but I really do think that this is one of the better ones.  Daily lessons, and you just need to push play.  Technology plays a big part in our emerging world culture, and I think that media is especially important for music as it is aural in nature.  Music can’t be fully experienced in a book.  It can be experienced in the head only after the learner has heard the music itself.  Little Musician gives young children that aural experience.  I highly recommend Little Musician.

BrillKids Little Reader review

*edit*  The two week trial for Little Reader is a 14-day trial, AND the first two weeks worth of material.

Here's a little of our back-story: (Skip if you have already been following my blog)

It all goes back to Glenn Doman, and my discovery of his book, "How to teach your baby to read".  It changed my life!  I read it when my oldest was less than a year old, and I became very enthusiastic about the whole process.  I made lots of flash cards and got started.  But then a few discussions with others as I discussed the whole-word method, and with my own prejudices against it, I decided to try a phonetic method instead.  If you are curious, you can see what we tried and why I think it didn't work in this earlier post:  http://www.professional-mothering.com/2011/01/phonics-for-toddlers.html

A year and a half ago, we purchased Your Baby Can Read.  We love their program, and are so very sad that their company went under last month due to legal battles with a company that didn't like them.  I wrote a tribute to YBCR, with a home video of my children reading.

I maintain that you don't have to have a fancy program to teach your baby, toddler, or preschooler to read.  Doman's method has worked for thousands of parents.  Companies like YBCR, BrillKids, and MonkiSee were designed to help parents with his method, but you don't need their products to be successful.  You can buy index cards and write a bunch of words on the blank side, and show them to your child and joyfully tell them what the word says.  Start with words that have special meaning to your child, like the names of family members, or parts of the body.  Make labels and tape them around your house, so that the computer is labeled "computer", the couch is labeled "couch", and so on.  Read lots of books to your child and make a habit of running your finger under the words as you read.  Play games where you make labels for a group of toys and show your child the word.  Ask them to get the toy that goes with the card.  There are a myriad of games and activities like that that will make learning to read fun for you and your child.  I have outlined some of my favorite reading resources in my Reading Update.

Where we are now:

Recently my husband asked me "So what's next for Peter?"  What a profound question!  He still needs to learn some basic skills like how to write, but he is on a fourth-grade reading level, and is accomplished academically in many other areas.  Now, at age five, he is ready for desk work, and he is the trailblazer in our homeschooling journey.  I know that I need to spend a lot of time and effort to help him excel, and that's where I want to put my efforts this fall.  What an exciting time this is for our family!  Peter is not gifted, he has just had access to an early learning education.  It has been a joyful experience for our family.  His three-year-old sister wants to read books like him, and she is progressing rapidly.  Even our 23-month-old is well on his way to learning how to read.

All of this without Little Reader.

So why do I come to it now?  Well, I watched their recent promotional video and saw a few things about it that I really liked.




Why Little Reader is a good fit for our family

• I now have four kids ages 5 and under, and I simply don't have the time to devote to teaching my younger kids to read that I did with my older two.  This program is a ready-made curriculum and all you have to do is push "play" two times a day for five minutes as you sit with your little child.  I don't have to remember which flash cards we have seen and what's coming next.
• When the reading sessions are at the computer, the baby can't eat the flashcards.  :o)
• This program also incorporates Doman's philosophy of teaching Encyclopedic Knowledge.  These reading lessons will increase my children's vocabulary and their awareness of the world that surrounds them.  Now that I have the program and have previewed upcoming lessons, I know that my own vocabulary will increase as well.  Have you ever heard of a durian?  Maybe, but I hadn't.  Then again, vocabulary never was one of my strong-points.
• This program is comprehensive and finishes with your child reading simple books.  "Your Baby Can Read" was fantastic for teaching my oldest how to read more than 100 words.  But then what?  While there were a few phrases in YBCR, and Peter could read several individual words, I was on my own to make the transition to reading actual books.  We have a fantastic library here in Logan with books like Thomas the Train and Diego the Animal Rescuer.  Those books were highly motivating for Peter, but we had to make that transition ourselves.  Doman's book was instrumental in helping me accomplish that.  In little reader, Doman's recommendations are built in.  It goes from single words ("cup") to couplets (two words like "pink cup"), to short sentences ("I drink from a pink cup"), to actual books.  The 25 books that come with Little Reader are a new development, and my children will be reading them by the time we finish the course.  (The Little Reader books weren't available when I chose YBCR over LR).
• Doman has great ideas, but his books can be overwhelming.  Take what he says with a grain of salt!  He tells you to make a chart with all of your word cards, rotate words in and out which requires tracking, and to make several homemade materials, which takes a lot of time.  Parents have succesfully taught their children to read doing a small fraction of what he suggests in his books, so you don't have to do everything.  However, Little Reader does all of that work for you (ALL OF IT), and you only have to push play.  That's not part of their sales pitch, in fact I don't think they even mention Glenn Doman, but I have read most of his books, and I can plainly see that Doman was the inspiration behind it.

To purchase through my affiliate link, go here:  http://www.brillkids.com/ra.php?BKAFF13180 
To go to BrillKids without an affiliate link, go here:  www.brillkids.com

Why did I decide to become an affiliate?

 I'll be honest, I'm not a very good salesperson like my father.  We have dabbled with the idea of a few multi-level marketing companies in our family, and I told my husband that I just couldn't do it.  I may recommend my new blender, or green cleaning supplies to you if I love them while our kids play at the park, but I just can't see myself trying to get you to buy them.  I'm very uncomfortable with that.

But!  Early learning is a passion for me.  (The name of this blog comes from Glenn Doman's admonition to become a Professional Mother).  I would love to spread the idea that babies can read, they do read, and that they love to.  That's a reality for my family, even if there is a lot of hype in the promotion videos.  If you come to one of my "house parties", my goal will be to show you how you can accomplish that for your child.  I'll show you our bracciation ladder and crawling track.  I'll show you our home-made cards and manipulatives.  I'll show you our "Your Baby Can Read" materials, and how they work.  I am only wishing to sell you on the idea of early learning itself.  I have had several moms come to see our materials already and it was really fun for both of us.  I didn't have anything to sell.

Simply put, I would love to help others experience the same joy that I have had with my children.  Truly, that is what is motivating me.  I'll show you how to do it for a few dollars if you're willing to put in the time to make the materials yourself.  The Logan library has Doman's "How to teach your baby to read", and I have two personal copies that I would love to lend to you.  If "Little Reader" is a good fit for your family, great.  I get a commission, and you get a 10% off coupon code (BKAFF13180).  It's a win-win.  If I'm going to recommend this product anyway, and the only way I know to help you save money on it is by being an affiliate, then this route just makes sense to me.

But I'm not going to try to sell you a premium product ($250) if it's not a good fit for you, especially when I know from my personal experience that you can teach your child for much less.  If you are curious, you can come to my home and see how Little Reader works, or better yet, download their 2-week free trial and see for yourself.

In Summary

I love BrillKids.  I have been an active member of their forum of 93,000+ members for a few years, and the other parents there are so inspiring to me.  I love Little Math and Little Musician too!  I'm just another mom on the crazy parenting journey.  I've found an amazing tool to give my children early literacy, and it has brought a lot of joy to my family.  I would love to answer any questions you may have, and if this is something you want for your children, I'll help in any way I can.  Let me know if you want to do a playdate with me!

Here's my review of the Deluxe materials.

Memory Magic Review

Note: I am in no way compensated for this review. I am not affiliated with "Accelerated Learning Methods" in any way. I simply love this product and I wanted to write about it.

What is Memory Magic?
Memory Magic is a computer CD from www.acceleratedlearningmethods.com, designed to help young children develop photographical memory and speed reading. There are progress charts and reward certificates that you can print out and use with the program.

The elements I love
Silly Story

This is my son's favorite part of the program. Based on Makoto Shichida's program for developing photographic memory, the game helps children to easily memorize 100 objects in sequential order. When I first heard about this, it seemed incredible to me, but because of the silly nature of the story, simple animation in the computer game, and the funny voice that tells it, I was personally able to memorize them within a couple of days, and my 3-year-old followed suit within a week, with some story prompting. The game also includes a printable file, which is pictured here, and used in the video. This video was made a week after we got the program in the mail, and features the first 20 cards.  It was the first time we "played the silly story game" that day.  If we want to do all 100 at the same time, we do it on the computer.



Bits of Intelligence Cards
This was the meat and potatoes of the program for me. There are 380 bits of intelligence cards (Based on Glenn Doman's philophies) that you can print out and use with your children. That's 38 sets of 10 cards with a colorful picture on the front and a set of 5-9 facts about it on the back. Pictured here is one of the fruits, vegetables, and nut sets that I made on 8 1/2" by 11" card-stock for my children. Cost of printing, paper, and lamination not included. It may be awhile before I make all 380 of them…

Rapid Memory Flash games
These are associated with the bit cards. They quickly show 10 related bits, with the picture first and then the text. Then you can go to a screen with 20 or so small pictures and click on the ones that were previously flashed. If you get it right, the image is replaced by a star, if you get it wrong, it turns into a splotch of paint and disappears. When you have selected the ten that were shown, a smiley face comes out and says "Good job", regardless of how many you may have gotten wrong. This game is challenging for me! I usually play it with Peter and we try to remember the pictures together. Alternatively, you can just let the computer flash through any of the 380 pictures and let the kids watch it like a video. This is what I do with my younger children.

Eye Tracking Cards
These are neat. I wouldn't pay six dollars for them, but my children like them and I think that they are a valuable asset to our bits program. We show them during breakfast every day, and it takes about 20 seconds to do. My five-month-old baby can do these.  My husband has been studying eye health for himself, and he was very impressed.

Follow that Dot!
This is a computer game that flashes a dot in a specified shape. On the next screen you click on the outline of what you saw. Harder levels flash more than one shape before you get to click on what you saw. This is a challenge for me! With my children, we only watch the flashing, which they love. Picking the outlined picture is frustrating for them, so we do not do it.

What I didn't like*
The programming. This is an older program, and it was not very user friendly to set up. My husband thinks that the makers were originally developing a subscription website, and when that didn't work for whatever reason, they put the whole website onto a disk. You essentially are getting a webpage in disc format. Included are pdf images of buttons used in the game, and other weird files that my husband could decode but are Greek to me. The "name" of the disc comes up as "Drag contents to" Instead of "Memory Magic". I also had to install a flash player off the internet to play the games. In the "Learn More" section, the information links to their website, so you have to have internet access to learn more, AND some of the links are broken. But don't let that stop you.
*See comment by company below

Conclusions
The content is fantastic. If you are potentially interested in purchasing this product, I recommend subscribing to their website. We purchased this product when a secret sale came up that I only knew about because of my subscription. After seeing the quality of this product, I will probably be purchasing from them again, and I enjoy their e-mails. They have a lot of useful information, whether you purchase from them or not. I have been subscribed for a year and I look forward to their e-mails.