I made this video by way of a progress report to see where we are at right now. My children are not the product of any one reading program, rather their abilities are the result of Glenn Doman's teachings in his book "How to Teach Your Baby to Read".
You can never have too many children's books. Over the years we have collected reading materials from various companies as well. You don't have to go all out like we have to be successful. I'm just an early learning junkie. :) The following all contribute to their reading skills. This is not a comprehensive list, nor do we faithfully follow any of these programs religiously. They are just a good place to get your feet wet. This list is not meant to intimidate or overwhelm, but rather to serve as a reference for those looking for reading materials ideal for babies/toddlers/preschoolers. We also read a lot of books.
We also have homemade materials we draw from, such as Flip-up Cards and Bits of Intelligence.
For my older kids, we are simply finding materials at their level and read with them. Patrick and Helen still do their formal reading with me. Helen's favorite book this year was "The White Sea Horse" by Helen Cresswell. Peter reads on his own and I periodically check in with him, ask him about the story-line, who the characters are, and clarify anything that may be confusing. His favorite book this year has been Charlotte's Web.
Early learning has really made regular school so much easier!
By the way, I made the text portions of the video using VideoMakerFX
Our family truly loves BrillKids.
I've mentioned before why I love Little Reader, the Deluxe materials,Little Musician, and Little Math. But these products are only a part of my journey with the company as I have followed them through the years. After the products, Here is my top 5 list for why you should check the website out.
A month into the new school year, it's time to finish this draft as I do want to share what we are doing this year. I was going to do school year-round but opted for a break in August and it has been a good time for me to do some curriculum research and get excited about what is possible. So much is possible! So many goals tend to fade over time as real life hits, but if you never set goals, if you never raise the bar, you will never improve. It is better to aim for the stars and hit the tree tops than to aim for the tree tops and land in the mud, so to speak. So when I set goals, I also give myself permission to adapt and change them.
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. :)
One of the first concerns people have when I tell them what I am doing with my children is the amount of screen time they are getting. You're using DVDs to teach your baby to read? Isn't that bad for them? Indeed there have been many studies that suggest that our children need less, even as the average amount each child receives tends to rise. We live in a technologically driven world, and it is hard to escape it. Natural parenting blogs boast of their children not having any screen time until they are two, others shamefully wish they could have avoided it. The Waldorf schools pride themselves of ridding themselves of it entirely, and I am certainly not out to get them. Their schools are lovely. I associate with the natural parenting movement in many ways, but not on the issue of screen time.
Last week I took a tab on how much screen time my children receive, and it averaged about 3 hours a day- sometimes more, sometimes less. I have no intention of changing that figure, and in fact we may soon increase it.
Let's step back a moment and look at some of the misconceptions behind the no-screen movement.
First, it is often assumed that all screen time happens when a child comes home from public school, as is often the case. If a child spends 7-8 hours at school, then comes home to spend 3-4 hours in front of a screen, that child will indeed have little time to go outside, experience nature, have free play, and otherwise interact with their family and peers. But for the homeschooler, the child does not spend 7-8 hours at school, and the screen time they have is an important part OF their school. I have found that the cheapest and easiest way for me to delegate some of my teaching, so I can meet the needs of all my children, is to give them high quality screen time.
Second, is the assumption that the screen time is always mindless, passive twaddle. Is it always? What if the screen time is helping them develop good sense of timing while they practice the piano? What if they exercise with someone on screen? What if it legitimately teaches them how to read? If it is their opportunity to hear a native speaker of a foreign language? If it accelerates their academic progress? What if I know I'll never take my children scuba diving in the great barrier reef, and this is the only way to expose them to what ocean life is like? What if the teacher on the screen simply does a better job teaching a given subject than me? Our big break in early learning started when we purchased Your Baby Can Read, and it has only grown from there. Originally I thought I wouldn't use screen time much at all, and in fact we still don't have a television, just a laptop and a portable DVD player. Most of the screen time my children have comes from our personal purchases. What an amazing difference it has made for our family.
Third, the assumption that it's an either or thing. If they have screen time, they don't get free play time. They don't play outside. If the screen imagines things for them, their own imaginations will be hindered. While this relates to the first, it is in fact quite separate. My children have plenty of time to play outside, plenty of time to play. During that free-play, I admit that elements from their screen time play a part, but I would hardly say it limits their imagination. Why reinvent the wheel? My children may not have come up with the idea of space travel on their own, in fact I doubt it, but because of the screen time they have received, including non-educational elements like Star Wars and Star Trek, their play in enhanced. My son makes space ships out of boxes, and models out of his legos. They pretend to invent new technologies that make space travel faster, more enjoyable, and/or more energy efficient. I love that kind of imaginative play because it is very relevant to the needs of our society, of the inventions we will need in the future. Einstein is often quoted for saying "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If
you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." I think that technology only enhances our ability to fill our children's head with good stories.
I am not as concerned about the quantity of screen time that my children receive as I am about the quality. I love watching them learn and improve from the screen time I give them. I'm proud of them, while likewise feeling relieved that I won't have to be the one to teach them whatever it is they are learning. Sometimes I'm learning with them, and that's even better. We always talk about what we learn, and often reinforce the lessons off-screen.
So these are the thoughts I have on it. This is what is working for my family. It turns out I'm not the only one who has been thinking this way. I recently came across an interesting post about a family that doesn't limit screen time at all. I agree with much of her article, while also admitting that there are some limits in my home. For example, non-educational programming is limited to Saturdays, and only religious programming is allowed on Sunday. Here's her fantastic post: http://www.cheeseslave.com/why-we-dont-limit-screen-time/
She makes a good point that most jobs require a knowledge of how to program, type, and otherwise know how to use a computer. My husband is a computer programmer, and it has given our family great security knowing that his skills are in high demand, even when there is a lull economy. I am very grateful for his computer skills. Many of the inventors, innovators, and engineers that shape our world and our future spend most of their work days in front of a computer screen.
Furthermore, one of my friends started a blog that is centered on the idea of Push-Play learning, and there are many children in the early learning communities I participate in that have excelled with well-chosen screen time. My children are not alone.
My purpose in writing this post is not to convince you to give your children more time in front of a screen. After all, what works for one family doesn't always work for another, and I certainly don't know your personal circumstances well enough to suggest what may work better for you. Certainly I would argue that it is important for children for children to read quality literature, to spend time exploring nature, and to be able think for themselves, and for the family that feels screen time is interfering with these things, maybe less screen time would be a good move for you. I have read the opposing arguments and I understand and appreciate the virtues of a screen-free life.
No, my purpose is an apologetic article for the other side. In the past when I have brought up our curriculum choices and practices, reactions have varied. Some have applauded my efforts, as the results can clearly be seen. Others have their doubts and wish to find a way to get the results without the screen time, something can most certainly be done, and I do my best to point out the best resources as far as I know them. But others have been downright hostile to the idea, telling me how wrong it is to give my children so much screen time at such a young age. I presume that such attitudes are a good sampling of the attitudes of the general population. So to whom it may concern, these are my reasons for choosing screen time to enhance, supplement, and even provide my children with the education I want to give them. I offer no apologies, nor do I feel the need to defend myself.
I suppose the purpose is of this post is to do my part to remove the stigma and guilt homeschoolers often experience when they do turn to the tube, DVD collection, computers, or tablet devises for help as they educate their children. Technology is a wonderful asset when used properly, just as unwise use can be our downfall. I encourage you not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. I encourage you to rethink the use of technology in your home, to purge that which doesn't edify and uplift, and to keep and seek out those things that will help you in your quest for a more enlightened home. For my part, I know that screen time has played an important, nay, critical role in my children's accelerated education. My 2-year-old would not be reading 2nd grade materials, my 4-year-old would not know most of her times tables, and my 6-year-old would not be reading chapter books, among other things, without the programs I have employed. So it works for us. Take what you want and leave the rest. :)
This post is long overdue, but this last week we purchased their full reading kit so I am prepared to give the full inside scoop, and I am so excited to tell you about this reading program. This post is a little history of my relationship with Krista, how we have watched the company grow, and why I finally bought the complete program and couldn't be happier. Full review of the product coming soon (it's taken me awhile to get through all of the material. Wow, 10 DVDs!), so I decided these should be separate posts.
When I first started our early learning journey, I was determined to do it without the help of a package. I wanted to be frugal, I wanted to make materials myself, and I was reluctant to spend any kind of money on a fancy program. My oldest, Peter, was my guinea pig. I found and read Glenn Doman's books before he reached his first birthday, and I found a wonderful yahoo group (which is no longer very active), and I was on my way. I made bits of intelligence cards, worked with my son, and overall our learning program was a success. He was a smart little cookie. Except, he couldn't read, which was the early learning skill I wanted to give him the most. His third birthday rolled around and he still wasn't reading, and I was feeling discouraged. I know that may seem strange to the average citizen, but let me put things into perspective by stating that I was/am actively participating in online communities where the average success begins at 1, and even 9 or 10 months. Videos were shared of 2-year-olds reading full books, and not just by random people on the internet, but by individuals who were becoming my close friends. I realized that it was time for me to step back and re-evaluate my approach. Part of the problem was that I was trying a phonetic approach where these mothers were doing a whole-word approach, but part of it too was that they had purchased/utilized better tools to get the job done.
One of my friends that I especially looked up to was/is Krista. Shortly after my son's third birthday, she made a post about her youngest daughter. She had picked up reading a little later than her siblings, but had recently made a breakthrough and was picking things up quickly. She shared this video to show her progress.
This particular video was so very inspiring to me. It made me realize that it wasn't too late for my Peter to be an early reader, I just needed a different approach. I was able to acknowledge to myself that I wasn't a failure because he hadn't picked reading up yet. This video gave me fresh courage and determination to find success.
Shortly thereafter we purchased "Baby's First Words", and while my toddler daughter liked it, Peter simply didn't. Maybe it was because he was in the older-limit of who the videos were designed for. Maybe it was because many of the words were drawn from Glenn Doman's recommended starting point and thus were similar to the words I had already shown him and he had grown bored with them. But whatever the reason, Peter was my top priority at the time, not Helen. (This particular DVD has been redone, and the new version is much better.) So we looked at our options. They were different then than they are now. The BrillKids reading software didn't come with books. MonkiSee was a younger, smaller company. I didn't want to rely too much on screen time and Your Baby Can Read came with cards and books, so we chose YBCR. I felt a little guilty posting my first success video because I didn't want Krista to feel bad that I hadn't chosen her package (silly, I know, but a woman thinks these things), but she was the very first to congratulate me and share meaningful commentary. Krista is very excited and passionate about early learning in general, and she has always offered support regardless of what products a family is using. When I stop and think about it, this makes sense to me especially in the context of knowing that my family's success cannot be attributed to any one product, but to the symbiotic use of all of our resources and our overall learning environment. " 'Do you think John would like a book for Christmas?' 'No, John already has a book.' " Still, praising programs that do compete with hers takes character and I love her for it. I know many people like myself who have all three programs and like me, they love all three. But I digress.
Peter soared through the YBCR materials, but he wasn't reading books independently. That transition was something we needed to do on our own. I relied on three sources to figure that process out. First, our fantastic local library, second, Glenn Doman's book, and third, Krista's video "A Guide to Teaching Babies to Read." I've been watching the MonkiSee company so long I bought it as a digital download before it was available on DVD. If you don't want to read Doman's book, watching this video is the way to go- many of the principles are demonstrated well and she brings fresh ideas to the table. Part of my problem in making my own materials is I spend too much time creating durable materials designed to last all of my children. While those materials are still in our family's library, the time involved in making them QUALITY limited the QUANTITY I could make. Krista's homemade books and materials were simple, effective, and so easy to put together. I looked at those books and realized that I could easily replicate them at home, and I did! So even though Peter didn't learn to read with the MonkiSee materials, MonkiSee was indeed still instrumental in his ultimate success.
Meanwhile, Helen and Patrick were learning to read, enjoying the Your Baby Can Read and a couple of MonkiSee videos alike. Helen largely learned to read with Peter at a slower pace, but Patrick has been in a class all his own. He was an infant when we purchased YBCR and was often present, but being a baby, I also regularly showed him the "Baby's First Words" video. As soon as he was old enough to voice his opinion, he showed a strong preference for MonkiSee. I am friends with Krista on facebook and between that and her signature on the BrillKids, he sees Howie and Skip (the starring monkeys) often, and without fail, he not only points them out every time he sees them, but also requests to watch the video. His favorite Christmas present last year was "Animals at the Farm." (Thank you aunt Crystelle!) He adores the characters. Helen quotes the poetry in the films, and has picked up a few nuances in her speech like "I don't know why, but I _____" and "I try to ______ with all my might."
So my kids love MonkiSee, and it was time for me to reevaluate our reading program. Here's where my family sits. Peter (almost 6), is reading on about a 5-6th grade reading level, has recently started reading chapter books like Lego Ninjago on his own. Helen (4) is on a 3rd grade level, and Patrick (2) is on a 2nd grade level (my best guess, my kids have not been tested.) So these three have their foot in the door as far as reading goes, they just need a library card, which leads me to my daughter Ruth (13 months).
Overall, I have collected a nice library of early learning tools to teach her with, and she has been already exposed to much. The conflict I have run into is that, well, I'm a busy mom, and even with my resources, the thing I need to do is balance my time with my all of my children and their unique educational needs, not to mention that without fail, they seem to want dinner every night. I'm finding that our screen time needs to balance out as well. While we love to play outside and explore nature, and they have plenty of free play time, I shamelessly admit that we also use technology to aid our learning, including screen time. We have one portable DVD player and one laptop. The computer is used for our BrillKids products, for piano, for Netflix and YouTube, for StarFall, and other educational learning games. There are so many things I would like to do every day and sometimes it is hard to fit everything in. While the daily Little Reader lessons do happen, and I maintain that it is enough to teach a baby to read, the bottom line is, the more you do, the faster they will progress, and the more they will learn.
I think that OFF-screen learning should ideally happen too, which again is why I originally went with Your Baby Can Read. At the time, they had the best physical materials to supplement the DVD reading instruction. The only problem is, those materials didn't hold up. It's not that the materials were not made of high quality materials, but rather their design could have been better. Children are used to turning pages left to right, so the page-size lift-a-flap books tore easily and have been taped and re-taped, and often sit in our book hospital instead of the bookshelf for handy use. The pull-out-cards were also very appealing to my children, but they bend too easily, and then tore. They're mostly gone. This leaves me with the beloved teaching cards, which I have used and loved much, and they're still here. But they are words only, and only teach reading. I know all too well that babies not only love pictures, they learn better when they understand what is being taught. If you had never seen a tricycle before, the word would be meaningless, but with a picture, you instantly understand the concept of "tricycle" and are more likely to retain both the vocabulary and the reading ability. Seeing a tricycle in use is even better, but that's not possible in an off-screen flashcard session. Seeing a picture is a grand reward for tiny children. I wanted physical materials that I can use with Ruth while the other children have their screen time, while driving, or simply during our down time, and I have not seen anything on the market that compares to the value and quality of the physical elements in the MonkiSee reading package.
Don't get me wrong, the 10 DVDs looked great to me and my baby gets screen time too, but ultimately it was her reading cards and books that led me to take the plunge. Sure, Patrick was absolutely thrilled when he saw the movies and I'm confident that the poetry and rich vocabulary will benefit Helen and Patrick immensely, but ultimately this purchase was for Ruth. I know I have never been so well armed to give an infant reading success. What a lucky baby!
Today I'm going to talk about pirating. First off, I give my sincere thanks to all who are honest in their dealings with their fellow men. I have been thinking about this topic for awhile now, and while it may not be a "feel good" post, it is one I feel I need to address.
This post could as easily be labeled "living with integrity" because of the universal nature of this problem, but the place I see it the most is in the homeschooling community because I am active in homeschooling forums and the local community; it is what I have experienced. I also know as a creator of digital goods, and having dabbled my feet in the music industry when I was a student, that intellectual property is of value, and when you copy and otherwise distribute intellectual property, you hurt the company's bottom line. You destroy a company's incentive for creating quality products in the first place. I really hope I'm preaching to the choir. My purpose is not to belittle or make anyone feel bad, but to invite you to reflect on how you use educational (or other) materials, whether you have purchased them or not.
When you download a product you haven't paid for, that's stealing.
Obviously if someone uploads a program they don't have the rights to, that's stealing. Not only is it not ethical and dishonest, it's illegal and can land them in jail. They are a pirate. But consider the lesser crime- watching a video that has been illegally uploaded. Doing this supports pirates. Whether they are getting more views, or even earning advertising revenue, which I have increasingly seen on YouTube, they are profiting from intellectual property that is not theirs. If you watch these YouTube videos, you are encouraging this practice, as well as enjoying fruits that you did not pay for. What if, instead of watching these videos, viewers reported them to the rightful owners. Online piracy could be drastically reduced! Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
In a digital world where sharing files has become easier than ever before, some families pitch in and purchase curriculum as a group. If said curriculum was sold for individual family use, this group is pirating.
It is not legal to photocopy consumable books. This especially means workbooks, but includes any other item labeled "consumable". It is also not legal to reproduce these workbooks by placing them in plastic sheets or laminating them for marker use, or to write your workbook answers in a notebook. These later items border into the grey area of what is ethical and what is not, but such is the law.
It is not legal to share digital files you paid for (or received free as a special promotion) with others unless you have permission from the owner.
It is illegal to make copies of your digital files to lend to others, unless specified. It is legal to make a copy for your own personal backup.
Sharing software with other families is illegal. Some software allows the purchaser to download two copies for personal family use. This means you can put it on your home computer and a laptop, or on your computer and a grandparent's computer for use only when you visit. You have purchased it for your family to use and the company offers the option of two downloads for your convenience. If someone sees this option and purchases the software with another family for split ownership, unless the license agreement specifies that they can, they are abusing the company's trust. They are also breaking the law.
It is illegal to copy materials from the public library. I have heard people justify this practice because public funds have paid for them to have access to said material. This is faulty thinking. Public funds have paid for these materials to be made available to patrons one at a time, for shared use. Copying library books or media is illegal. If you do this, you are a pirate.
Hey, mateys, if I've pricked your conscience, I have some advice. There are a lot of pirates out there, but if you've joined the crew, you don't have to turn yourself in to cease pirating. Here are my top 10 things you can do to stop pirating.
Destroy pirated materials and/or files in your possession.
If you want a product, pay for it, save for it, or go without.
Report pirating activity to the copyright owners.
Do not pirate copyrighten materials.
Do not let others pirate your materials.
Forgo "group purchases" that violate license agreements.
Do not allow your bandwidth to be used for file sharing communities. Even if you are not the one sharing files, you become a partner in crime when you allow others to use your resources this way.
Purchase consumable books for all of your children instead of once for repeated use.
Do not watch illegal file uploads on video sharing sites like YouTube- consider purchasing if you enjoy the programming, or again, go without.
Discourage pirating when others mention the practice. Pirating is common, but it's not a victimless crime and we need to call it what it is.
Sigh. I know that homeschoolers often do not have a large budget to work with. I resonate with not wanting to go without. I understand wanting to be frugal, to pinch pennies, and stretch our dollar to give our children more. I also have worked very hard to procure money to spend on my children and recognize that not everyone has that opportunity. I know I'm lucky. Even so, I'm not rich, and I have researched enough to know that there are cheaper alternatives to the glitzy programs being advertised. There are free curriculum sites. There are plenty of the best curriculums of yesterday available from google books and others. There are genuine programs and how to videos on YouTube. There is often even a local library stocked with exactly what you need. We live in an information age, where the materials and resources genuinely needed for a solid education are freely available to anyone in the world who has internet access. With a little work, the needs for any subject are freely available to anyone, rich or poor. We are not talking about stealing a loaf of bread for a family's survival. Intellectual property is not a need, it is a want.
I also understand the motivation homeschoolers use when they pirate intellectual property. They do it because they want to give their children a better education. To teach their children some academic principle. May I suggest that the best principle you can teach your children is to be moral? To have integrity? If you set a good example to your children, both in what you choose to give them, but also in what you choose not to give them, they will appreciate your efforts and are more likely to learn to be honest themselves. Certainly this life lesson will be harder to teach if your example of correct principles cannot be seen.
My challenge today is to homeschool with integrity.
This post is a response to a funny video I've been thinking a lot about.
It's funny! It's a bit over the top. But seriously, what an awesome Mom! And by the way, we really like Fisher Price toys. The part about this video I want to comment on is the line at the end,
"Hey, don't worry. Learning happens."
Who's worried?
Does the mother look like she's worried? Granted, she's an actress, but to me it looks like she's having a lot of fun with her kid. And what toddler doesn't want to spend that much time with their mother? He looks happy too.
If anybody is worried, it's an onlooker who is judging the mother for being too involved in their child's education. And really, it's none of their business. Even so, as an early-learning advocate, I have heard many people tell me not to worry about teaching my kids such and such a subject, and I think it stems from a western cultural misconception that kids learn best when their parents just leave them alone and let them play. It also stems from a cookie-cutter timeline mentality. 1-year-olds begin to talk. 2-year-olds stack blocks. 3-year-olds are potty-trained. 4-year-olds run and speak well. 5-year-olds start kindergarten. Sadly, some people will worry about how you parent your child no matter what you do, whether it's to validate their own parenting style, they are competitive, or because they are trying to cover up their own insecurities. There isn't much I can do about the last group, but I do want to touch on the first two.
Young children should just play.
I agree that children should play. They should play a lot. They should be able to explore their world on their own terms. They should have a safe environment where they are allowed to explore. One of my favorite blogs is http://playathomemom3.blogspot.com/, which has lots of fun activities to help children learn through play. It's an awesome, awesome site.
It's the just part that doesn't fit my parenting approach. I think young children instinctively want to learn. I think it is my duty as a parent to teach them. They have what Montessori calls an absorbent mind- they are like little sponges eager to learn how to survive in this big world. Learning is a game for them, why shouldn't I be allowed to play? Why shouldn't I give them the tools to accelerate their learning?
In fact, that's the key to successful early learning- introducing educational topics in a playful, age appropriate way. It's not wrong to teach a toddler to read, as long as they enjoy it. I doubt a 2-year-old would learn much if they didn't want to sit with Mommy and would rather be somewhere else. If, when you try to do flashcards they are squirming to get away, let them, evaluate your approach, and try again later.
I often witness a big misconception when people see my 2-year-old reading. They think I must have worked hours and hours teaching him through traditional schooling methods. It must have been very hard. The poor kid should have just been allowed to play. The reality is that we simply use products like Little Reader, Your Baby Can Read, and MonkiSee for a few minutes every day, we've been consistent with it, and because he enjoys it, he learns and progresses with it. Teaching a young child to read is easy, if you know how to do it, and/or have the right tools to get the job done. The same goes for any academic topic.
I can sympathize with the overall message of articles like In Preschool, What matters Most- Education or Play?, however, I think we are missing the boat when we think that one precludes the other. I venture that children should have structured educational play, and that such play shouldn't end with preschool. Learning should be made as enjoyable as the subject matter allows, whether the child is a preschooler, or an adult. We retain more and learn better when we relaxed and are having fun. Having said that, it is no sin to teach our children how to work, and expect them to have a good attitude.
Age Milestones
Milestones have a useful purpose. Knowing that 1-year-olds typically learn to walk is good to know if your 18-month-old is still crawling. Maybe they need more time on the floor. Maybe you could spend more time helping them. Maybe there is a developmental problem. Maybe a child is talking late because they have a hearing problem. Maybe their struggle to focus is because of a dietary issue. Maybe they struggle with reading because they have dyslexia and they need a different approach. Parents don't know to look for alternative solutions unless they have milestone guides. Three cheers for milestones.
One of the reasons that people may choose to homeschool, however, is to get away from society's expected milestones and let children learn at their own pace. I applaud parents who recognize that it's not the end of the world if their 9-year-old homeschooled child struggles with reading. I recognize that they have probably learned a lot of other valuable lessons, those things which the family holds to be most important. I recognize that children are individuals and that their parents know their children best. I trust that in the vast majority of cases, parents have their children's best interests at heart. They love their children, and they want them to grow up to become successful adults. While there really are homeschoolers who let their kids play video games all day while they drink booze and gamble online, I haven't met any of them personally. I haven't met a singe homeschooler who wasn't homeschooling because they thought it was what was best for their child. I know a lot of homeschoolers.
I also recognize that regardless of what kind of education a child receives, if the parents aren't involved and don't care, that child will inevitably suffer for it. The kids who struggle most in public school are the ones with parents who simply don't care. The children who are at the top of the class have supportive parents at home. One of my public-school-teacher friends suggested that the reason homeschoolers score better on average than public-schoolers (80th percentile) has less to do with the quality of their schooling and more to do with the parental involvement. Few of the parents who simply don't care about their kids homeschool them. Public school is like free babysitting. That fact alone will shift the testing results. I think he made a good point. But that's a tangent. My point is, we shouldn't judge parents or children based on a child's "slow" academic progress. Chances are, that parent is fully aware of the status quo and how their child compares, and they have provided for it in their own way. They know and/or are discovering what that child needs and are providing for it. (by the way, brain gym has helped a lot of struggling kids. That's a post for another day.)
Many homeschoolers are aware of this. There is a lot of support offered for children who are "behind", and collectively we are eager to reassure those parents that each child is unique, that they learn at their own pace, and that we should simply be looking for progress. In a word we say, milestones are a handy reference, but don't take them to heart.
So, backing up a little, why am I making a defense for children who are behind when this article is more about accelerated children? Because I have been hurt a few times when the same people who reach out with affirmations that we shouldn't compare our children to society's expected milestones turn around in the same breath and tell me I shouldn't "worry" about teaching my 5-year-old such and such because he doesn't need to know that yet.
According to whom?
Early Learning children have different needs than their peers. If they aren't moving forward, they are regressing. I'm not teaching my 5-year-old his multiplication tables because I'm "worried" about him becoming a math genius when he grows up. I'm teaching him multiplication because that is where he is at academically. The end. Yes, a typical child in kindergarten is learning cvc words. That's great. But Peter has done that already. He has moved past that. He is ready for chapter books. When other people tell me I shouldn't worry about introducing him to chapter books (or whatever), it doesn't encourage me to relax my draconian educational approach. Heavens, I'm not that organized. Much of the day my son is playing with his legos or digging in the dirt outside. No, all "don't worry about that yet" comments really do is show me that they don't understand where my family is at and what the needs of my children are. We've done cvc words. We've done the story books. I'm not worried about his reading progress, I'm eager to take the next step. It's a good thing too. A very real problem gifted children have when they enter school is that they easily soar through it. School is super-easy for them and they can get lazy. By and by, their peers catch up academically AND they have learned how to work. EL kids need to learn how to work too.
If we truly want to eliminate milestone dependency, we need to give on both sides of the spectrum, and allow other parents to do the same. Reserve judgement. Encourage and applaud parent's efforts, no matter where their child is at. Where they are is not as important as where they are going. In the immortal words of Walt Disney, "Keep Moving Forward".
A couple of years ago (most of my Jan 2011 posts were really from my old website when I switched to blogger) I started teaching my son how to play chess. I managed to teach how each of the pieces move and how to set up the board. However, it's been 2 years and we still haven't played a full game. However, we have managed to start playing candyland, so it's time to dig a little deeper and begin playing the game of champions, as well as teaching my 3-year-old from scratch. The only problem is, I realized that somewhere along the way I missed something. I was so excited when I found Sherie's chess program at Learn Lots. It is filling the gaps for me.
Included is a 48-page instruction manual with full-color printouts of each piece (bit cards), and
printouts to make hats so the children can pretend they are the pieces.
It's a well-organized book- easy on the eyes and perfect for small
children. Then there is a 24-page student booklet and a video. My children
have been captivated by them. We love listening to her British accent too. :) So here's the lowdown on each of these components.
The Teacher's Manual:
The manual is written with the perspective that you are introducing chess to your child for the first time, and more importantly, that your child is very young. I would not recommend this book for someone wanting to learn chess as a young adult or even a 7 or 8 year old because I think there are other chess programs better suited for older kids, although they could still certainly benefit. (I like www.chesskid.com) But my kids aren't older, and it's perfect for us. Why is is good for younger kids? Because she recommends fun activities to bring them in. Singing games before setting the board up. Play hats so children can pretend they are the pieces. Advice for how to coach children through their moves. Motivation for why it is important to teach your kids chess, and how, yes indeed, it is possible! This e-book is unique on the market because there are so few programs out there that assume that you can and should teach a 3-year-old chess, but Sherie has done it twice and I'm optimistic that in a few weeks my children will be playing chess too. She is a fellow Early Learning mother, and her writing style was refreshing and enjoyable to me.
The Workbook
Hooray for colouring pages! (hey, it's a British e-book after all. Wink). But seriously, my children have loved having pictures to color and it has helped them recognize the standard pictographs. The pages get progressively harder, ending with "Is the light king in check or checkmate?" The worksheets are to be completed after the child has had a lesson at the board, either immediately after or later that day. What I love about the worksheets is that they are little puzzles that can be completed within a tiny child's initial attention span, helping to build their endurance for "the big game".
The video:
The videos are designed for the
parent and consist of Sherie teaching her 3-year-old how to play chess from start to finish. They are high quality. My kids have enjoyed watching the videos with me. Watching the videos really helped everything "click" for me. Her daughter was enjoying the game. She didn't make some of the mistakes I made, like over-analyzing game play. In her manual she reminds us that a 3-year-old that can play chess on any level is already an "advanced" player for their age, and I have learned that I need to let a lot of things go in the initial stages.
I'm going to go on a tangent now about the thought process this has given me. Children learn as much if not more from their successes as they do from their failures, and indeed, so do adults. Success gives us the motivation to try again and keep at it. For example, we lost a lot of money on our first home because of a mold problem, and even though we know there is a lot of money to be made in real estate, we are leery of investing in a house again. (at least the wife is). Whereas someone who made a lot of money on one deal, even if they loose on the second, will know they did it right once and can do it again. We only have a track record for failure. Learning how to loose is a skill. A child who learns to play chess at 8 has had the opportunity to learn this skill with candyland, crazy eights, chutes and ladders, and a myriad of other games, but a 3-year-old has not learned that it's okay to loose yet. Naturally I'm not suggesting that we never let our child loose, in chess or anything else for that matter, and neither does this program, but she does suggest that you let the child win their first game. What I am suggesting is that children need to learn and taught how to loose when they play a board game, and we should evaluate what our goals are and WHY we are teaching our children chess.
I am teaching my children chess because, aside from the fact that I love chess and it's just super awesome that way, I want my children to learn how to solve puzzles. I want them to learn to analyze, how to look ahead and make decisions based on what may happen in the future. Chess is a big deal for my brothers and I see a lot
of benefit in chess because after you know the basics there is so much
depth to the game. But I need my kids to play a whole game first! Looking at the full board with all of the
pieces for the first time can be quite intimidating so I think letting
them win a few times will make it less scary. Advocates of never letting a child win weren't suggesting that you teach a 3 year old chess. I suggest a new strategy, R2: let the Wookie win.
This product is part I in her series, and ends with a child's first game of chess. In
her final notes she says that part II will delve more into strategy and
how to become and advanced player. Castling will be taught in part II. Full disclosure, I actually traded my music
e-books and a blog review for this product, so I didn't actually buy
it. But I would have, and I will purchase part II when it comes out! I give it two thumbs up, 5 stars, what have you.
This product is perfect for where we are and fills in the holes I had in
my own approach. It's a 12 week program, and I plan on giving an update when we finish so I'll give
another update then. It may be awhile before my children are playing
each other but that will be my next goal when I finish this program. Thank you for reading!
I really love Your Baby Can Read, as I have blogged in the past. I was very happy this morning when I found Dr Titzer's letter on facebook. (dated Aug 17th, 2012). I think it is worth sharing here. I have been on an emotional roller coaster over the recent lawsuit, and trying to contemplate how this could happen in our country. There were no outraged customers that wanted a refund, instead there were thousands of happy, even passionately supportive customers that have rallied to Dr. Titzer's defense. I have been hopeful that they would still be able to sell their products internationally, and this letter confirms those plans. As a result of the lawsuit, many good, hard working Americans have lost their jobs, and those jobs have essentially gone overseas. I hope the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood is happy now. Dr. Titzer is proud to be an American and would have liked to have kept his business on American soil, but Early Literacy is an important message, and he is sharing it only way he legally can. I will always be grateful to his company and his products for what they have given my children. Please allow me to share Dr. Titzer's message:
Dear Your Baby Can Read Facebook Fans,
First of all, I want to sincerely and openly thank each and every
family who shared success stories here or elsewhere and I thank the
customers who defended us while we were not defending ourselves. Some of
your words of support came when attacks were coming from many
directions and it made this time easier knowing I had the genuine
support of so many famili
es who have actually used the products.
I want to thank all of the former employees of Your Baby Can for their
years of dedicated service while YBC had the rights to Your Baby Can
Read from September of 2007 until August of 2012. These employees were
devoted not only to their company, but also to the program. We had many
competent, hard-working employees who lost their jobs through no fault
of their own. I also want to thank the initial management team who
believed they could make the world a better place by helping babies
learn. Thank you for spreading the program to so many families who would
not have taught their babies to read without your vision.
Finally, I want to thank the people who allowed our tiny company to
regain the worldwide rights to the products. We will stand up to the
people and organizations who brought down the company because this is
much more than a business to me. We believe our programs provide some
tools and some ideas that could help children around the world –
especially in underprivileged areas.
Your Baby Can Read is
probably the most-studied baby video in the world with at least a dozen
studies looking at aspects of the program. All of the studies show
positive results for babies who have consistently used the program. We
will not be silent on issues surrounding early literacy. We will provide
studies, explain everything more clearly, and outline the theoretical
reasoning behind Your Baby Can Read. We will be creating websites with
scientific information where parents and other interested parties can
look at all of the data and decide if babies should be learning the
written form of language at the same time as other aspects of language.
The Infant Learning Company is a small, family company that flourished
from word of mouth sales for more than a decade. Our little company is
happy to have the rights back and we remain dedicated to helping
individuals advance through early literacy and infant learning.
We are excited about the opportunity to communicate with you more
directly! The next few months will be especially busy and we appreciate
our customers continuing to help each other with personal comments
related to their use of our program. We look forward to having Your Baby
Can Read available again soon outside of the US, then eventually in the
US as well.
I have been using Little Musician with my children for about a week now, and I wanted to give a full review since the product is on sale until September 2nd. You can read my full review on my other site here:
It has only been a year and a half since we started using
YBCR. You can see where he was then
in this earlier post. He
has come a long way since then. After he
finished the YBCR program, the “Your Child Can Read” videos helped further his
progress, but at that point we had our foot in the door. I made a few home-made books, like the “Krypto”
book in the film, to help with the transition from single words to
sentences. This gave him confidence in
his ability to read “real” books. He
also loves Starfall.com, so we bought a set of their beginning readers. Most of our reading program since has
consisted of reading a lot of books from the library.
Helen has had access to the “Your Baby Can Read” videos
since toddler-hood, and usually watched the videos with Peter. However, I was focusing my attention on
helping Peter first, and have only recently started working with her. My program with her has been more of a mix
between YBCR, Monkisee, and “Meet the Sight Words” from Preschool Prep.
The latter is a new addition to our library,
and while I was skeptical at first, it has proven to be a valuable
asset. Peter learned sight words on his own quite
easily just from context. I never “taught”
them to him specifically, in other words.
There’s no real need for it.
However, in Helen’s case, knowing the sight words has been her road to
reading. Almost every sentence has at
least one word that she knows, and usually more. This has given her
early confidence. I suppose her reasoning is, “I know half the
sentence already, just tell me the other half and I’m good to go!” When
our family does scriptures every night,
she reads a verse. We point to every
word, and she reads the ones that she knows.
When she doesn’t know a word, we simply say the word and she repeats
it. We read a lot of story books this
way as well. Helen doesn’t like the
flash-cards as much as Peter did (he loved them). Her program is to
watch the videos, and read
a lot.
Patrick is 22
months and is also becoming a young
reader. He knows quite a few words from
YBCR, but is more excited about sight words. He likes to point them out
when we read. If there is a book with a dog, he will point
to the picture of the dog and say “dog”.
He can read “dog”, but he won’t point to the word. Instead, after
pointing to the picture, he’ll
point to the word “like” and say, with as much enthusiasm, “like!” It’s
really cute. He knows more than 50 words.
In closing, I wish to again express my regret that “Your
Baby Can Read” has closed its doors this month.
I feel like we are losing a lot of our freedoms in this country, and
this event is a testament to that. Many
of their products are still available on Amazon.com and Ebay, so if you are at
all interested I would think that now would be the time to buy before they sell
out. I hope that the Campaign for a
Commercial Free Childhood doesn’t go after the other early learning companies
out there. Some of the alternatives to
YBCR are as follows:
Monkisee
I
have only purchased the first DVD, so I don’t have a lot
of experience with this program, but my children love it. There are
cute rhymes and puppet shows, which
I really like. The only thing I don’t
like about Monkisee is that there isn’t very much repetition in the
video. You see the word once, and then
have a cute mini-lesson to understand the vocabulary. There is a
flashcard track that
helps, but the repetition isn’t built into the main video. However, if
you had her reading program, you
would have the flashcards with the pictures, and using these cards would
more
than compensate. One thing I really like
about Monkisee is that it uses large red words, as recommended by Glenn
Doman. Red is an attractive color for
very young babies. The volume 1 DVD also
uses the words Doman recommended starting out with. I also bought her
"Teaching Babies to Read Guide", which was helpful, especially if you
haven't read Doman's book.
Starfall.com
We have a family membership, and my children LOVE it! About 8 months ago, I asked Peter what helped
him learn to read the most. His answer
was “The man in dext.” Huh? It turns out he meant the main index on
Starfall. We also bought their beginning
reader books, and the kids really like them.
It’s completely free, and was created by Larry Sanger. Sanger co-founded Wikipedia, but left when it
started hosting pornographic content.
His son Henry was an early reader and has been an inspiration to our
family. Much of the content on Reading
Bear was in part created by other parents, and I even helped a little. It has more of a phonetic approach, which
is helpful if you are starting with a 3+ year old child.
I have been a member of the online community for a couple of
years now. There are a lot of parents,
as well as early learning experts that frequent the forums. It’s a great place to go for advice for
teaching many subjects to young children, not just reading. Things like foreign language, music, art,
math, and music are discussed regularly, and if you don’t see what you like,
you can start your own topic. The forum
is free, and it’s a great place to start.
I have also been eyeing their Early Reader, especially after watching
their recent promotion video. It comes
with 25 books! I also love the idea of
working with customizable software. I’ve
done a lot of that on my own, but it’s a lot of work. If you have a nice budget to work with, I
think Early Reader would be the way to go. I'm a sucker for this kind of thing though.
In spite of all the other products we already have, I want this for
Christmas...
I have no experience with the Leap Frog videos, but we have
a neighbor who learned to read while very young with the help of Leap Frog
videos, specifically the word factory one.
I vouched for the “Meet the Sight Words” videos in my post,
but they have other products as well, including books. Apparently there are a lot of libraries that
have these videos.
I’ll put a plug in for him whenever I can. His “How to Teach Your Baby to Read” book is
what started it all for me. My
philosophy for early learning changed when I read that book, and the very name
of this blog (Professional Mothering) came from his charge to become a
professional mother. His books tell you
how to make your own reading materials for cheap, as well as giving tips for
creating homemade books and flashcards.
Then
of course you don’t NEED a program at all to teach your
child to read. Library books have
ultimately been the bulk of our whole reading program. Spending lots of
time reading to your
children teaches them the “why” for reading in the first place. We want
them to love books! When something clicks in their heads that they can read to themselves, nothing can
hold them back. I love watching my
5-year-old read to his younger siblings.
He loves it, and they love it too.
Peter is not limited to looking at pictures when he is interested in a
book. He can also learn what the text
around it has to say. He can learn about the things that he is interested
in. He LOVES to read.
On July 16th, 2012, Your Baby
Can, creators of the “Your Baby Can Read” and the “Your Child Can” series, was
forced to close its doors due to legal battles with the organization “Campaign
for a Commercial Free Childhood”.
CCFC argued that babies can’t read,
and accused YBCR of false advertising.
Although they have no proof of this, reading experts who witnessed
babies reading from this program gave their opinion that the children in the
YouTube videos were not really reading, but were only memorizing the
words. Furthermore, CCFC pointed out
that the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend television or movies
for children under 2. Such was the
foundation for their case. “Your Baby
Can” still strongly believes in their products, but could no longer fight the
legal battles.
As a parent, I think I’m smart
enough to decide for myself what products I will buy for my children, and judge
whether or not my child really learned to read from Your Baby Can Read.
I attest that they can read, and
I was very happy with my purchase. If I
was unhappy, they would have given me a full refund. In a free market, parents(the consumer), not
reading experts, would decide whether or not the product worked for their
family. If the product was not good,
consumers would stop buying it and the company would have folded on its
own. However, YBCR was immensely
popular, and the company grew.
It grew a lot.
It is only because of the legal
battles that it was forced to fold. I was
very sad about that when I heard about it.
When my husband got a new desk for Christmas, he offered me the table that he had been using. Of course I don't want it! Where would we put it?!? Well, fortunately I gave it a second thought and consequently produced the best organizing achievement of Tamsyn history. There have been so many blessings that have come from our new system and I have been very excited to blog about it today.
Days of our lives
The crux of the system revolves around having a bin for every day of the week. I borrowed this idea from heartofwisdom.com. The basic concept is that at the beginning of the week you take a few minutes to put worksheets, manipulatives, and other school items in the daily bins and when the respective day comes you just take the box out and complete the work inside it. We have been doing this for about two months and it has worked great for us. My young children have noticed that school will be done when the box is empty. This is easier for them to understand than a check-off list. They are learning the days of the week too!
This tote came from Wal-Mart, and was made from two plastic dressers. They came with four small drawers and three large drawers. Michael and I each had one and I stole two little drawers from him. He wasn't using them anyway. :o)
School supplies
The funnest part of this project for me was gathering the school supplies from the four corners of the house and bringing them all together in one place. Now the pom-poms, craft sticks, crayons, glitter glue, play-dough, flashcards, and all the other random supplies have gathered into one space where I will ACTUALLY USE THEM! As my family grows, I will probably need more of these drawers, but for now we are content to have labeled: Paper Supplies, Craft Supplies, Flash Cards, Manipulatives, Laminated Toys, Workbooks, and one left-over drawer which is begging me to finally buy tempera paints since it's out of the children's reach.
Puzzles
Before: Puzzles were stacked on the bookshelf so the children would be drawn to them. Result? Mommy did the puzzles more than the kids and the puzzles were conveniently never unpacked when we moved here.
After: The puzzles have a home in a tote with a lid. This tote was previously filled with random school supplies, but when they found a new home in the drawers, this tote was repurposed. Result? The puzzles are getting used without destroying my sanity. The other tote that is the same size as this one is our sand exploration center
School Toys
Any toys that were originally purchased for educational purposes were gathered into this tote, leaving less clutter in the playroom, and more focused use by the children in the clean environment of the kitchen table.
Bits of Intelligence Cards
These are part of Glenn Doman's Encyclopedic Knowledge program. Construction paper is stored in the back for easy access.
Conclusions
This is a wonderful addition to our kitchen. Aside from the common advantages like "a place for everything and every thing in it's place" and "store it where you use it", there have been a few unforeseen advantages to having the school supplies in the kitchen.
·Housekeeping is not my forte, and if I have to choose between a school session and cleaning up after lunch, I always choose the first. I tend to avoid the kitchen... Having the supplies downstairs has been great for the kitchen table and the floor underneath. I don't want sticky pancakes on our puzzles!
·Educational toys make great temporary entertainment while I finish making dinner. When I'm in the kitchen, the children love to be there too, and I can help them with their puzzles and toys while I'm cleaning.
·Child-led school time. Understandably, the table is a tempting place for the kids, but I have strictly enforced that it is MY table. However, every night they have the opportunity look in the drawers and pick out activities for the next day. I also tend to give in when they beg me to do school with them.
·Brief sessions during mealtime. With the bit cards so handy, we have started pulling them out. As the children watch the cards, they sometimes forget about being picky eaters.
As our family grows and their needs change, we will add more totes and perhaps a bookshelf, but this kitchen learning center is here to stay!
Glenn Doman's Gentle Revolution series
These are the books that changed my perspective on early education and started my journey of homeschooling my tiny children. Child and Me
This website is made by one of my cyber-friends, and it has been invaluable to me. Especially helpful are the many power-point presentations to show your tiny children. She also maintains a blog highlighting her homeschooling experiences. Toddler Curriculum
A free curriculum with specific age suggestions. She shares ideas for literature, religion, poetry, speech and vocabulary development, games, musical exploration, foreign languages, nature study, and arts and crafts. Starfall Reading Program
We LOVE this site! This is an interactive reading program that has given us the entertainment side of learning to read. For a baby, it is an activity for you to do with your child because you will serve as the clicker to keep things moving. This website truly made a big difference in teaching my son his letters. Brill Baby
This website offers free power point presentations and an online forum. They are also a company with products designed to help you teach the Doman method. The Children's Reading Foundation
A website that has helped Susan begin homeschooling her son. International Parenting Association
Printable flashcards that more-or-less follow the Doman method. The reading program combines whole-word reading and phonics by teaching phonemes in the context of words. I really liked it and made my own. There are also helpful reviews for Doman's books. !tzalist Science Directory
Internet website directory with a lot of great science websites. Mormon Nursery Manual
I am LDS (a Mormon), and religion plays a very important part in our education. This is the manual that they use to teach the toddlers on Sunday, but it was also designed for home and family use. The whole manual may be downloaded for free.
