Hi Everyone,
I’m a pretty forward thinking person. New and better ways of doing things interest me. We live in the information age and I believe that smart people everywhere are doing just that with the way we teach our children.
I saw a late night infomercial for YBCR. Immediately it made total sense to me so i bought the whole package.
( a month or so ago it happened again with Brillkids Little Reader and Little Math. I was even more excited and impressed with this whole site and community forum so i bought the full Deluxe set of both. Started 10 days ago and boy is it ever worth the money. I really like YBCR and it got us started and we still use it, but Brillkids is far, far more complete and i’m waiting to buy the music and spanish ones also )
When i started looking into some “MoM” or parent sites, i saw a wide range of opinions about teaching young children to read and watching TV at all. In fact my wife was and still is very skeptical and has some strong concerns ( see my other post… Wife scared of TV & Computer learning… http://forum.brillkids.com/index.php?topic=9744.msg59150;topicseen#new"
The idea is just so obvious to me that i’m frustrated with many peoples apprehension.
I wrote the following post, sorry i can’t remember where, for my wife really, and her family… I thought it may help some of you with people in your life that aren’t supporting you as you’d like.
At the time I didn’t know about brillkids programs but my arguments apply to both ,
This is what i wrote in Feb. 2010
I’m actually pretty surprised at all the negativity in some of the comments here. Also, the mis-understanding of what i believe the program is all about and the man’s intentions. This is not just about getting a baby to read, it seems to me it’s a whole different approach to learning language. He clearly cares deeply about his chosen lifes work, is very knowledgeable and reasonable in the way he talks about the subject.
I feel, that after reading these posts, someone should stand up and say, " Just because someone has been doing something the same way for years, doesn’t always mean that it’s the best way".
This system looks like its a better way and i recommend it.
It’s well documented that the reading level of our country’s children is very low in comparison to the rest of the world. Go to Europe and most people have at least 2 or 3 languages. From my perspective, we need to look for better ways of teaching our children. I think this system does that if you get involved personally with your child.
I have a 2 1/2 month old, amazing and perfect son that we all love very much. I was an early reader and I continue to read voraciously. I strongly believe this was a VERY usefull skill that made a big difference to me in my life…
We just bought the whole series, a box full of dvd’s, flashcards, beginner books with pictures describing the words that are also on the dvd’s and a cd with some great nursery rime songs etc.
I have…
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read the parents guide ( an overview of the whole system, a detailed FAQ’s section, and a very frank & open outline of " Should your baby ever watch TV ", discussions of specific studies on the subject, the conditions he recommends must exist if your child is to benefit from watching dvd’s.
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watched the first 60 min?? dvd with Dr. Titzer explaining the whole system and why it will help.
After doing these 2 things i’m very impressed with his completely NON- pushy approach to using these “tools” to help parents interact with our kids in a fun way that teaches them the basics of language. I’m very excited to have a well thought out, researched, multi-sensory plan to help us communicate with our son.
Is it or any program a be all & end all solution?? Of course not and they say exactly that. They are tools. Do they reccomend turning the dvd on and leaving?? No, they suggest a very reasonable and flexible plan that stresses that we look for ways to be creative and make it fun. He stresses that we watch & read the books together as a family. I love that. If we are busy for a few min though, wouldn’t you rather have your child watch a fun educational program rather than the opposite?
Will my child learn to read without the program? sure, but i for one don’t care about pressuring my kid to do anything so he can “get ahead”. I think learning is fun and why not learn written language at the same time as spoken language? Why not have a multi-dimensional way to learn? Why not start early? He recommends that we do a walk & talk about everything we do. Point and say the word etc.
We plan on watching the dvds with our son and interact with him about the words on it. If hes not interested, thats ok, we’ll do it for a few min then move on to something else. At night we’ll have a story time.
I feel like i’m writing an info-mercial myself here and thats not my intent. I was just surprised to read so many people tear down something that they may not know a whole lot about. Is this for everyone? nothing is, and thats ok.
I’ve noticed that in life, people with a well thought out, step bt step plan succeed a whole lot more than people who do not. Worth $200 bucks or whatever?? It is to me and everything that this educator says just makes sense to me. Make learning fun, start language early, use many tools, why not use a multi-media and multi-sensory approach thats visually interesting?.
These books & dvds sure look a whole lot more interesting than what we had when i was young.
Tonight was the first time i read to my son. The book was from this program and there are 3 words per page with slide out windows that reveal a picture that demonstrates the word. Arm, baby, clap. I was in a lounge chair, sat him on my stomach with him leaning back on my knees and he was looking at the book and at me above the book. make sense?? it was a very special time for us. He was very interested in the book as i pointed out that dwas the word, pointed to my arm, to his arm then i opened the slide out window to reveal a boy pointing to his arm. I sound out the word as i point to the word, go left to right, then go back to pointing at my arm & then his arm. He didn’t take his eyes off the book for about 4 min straight. 2 1/2 months… focused and interested. Then we had super baby flying time and lots of hugs along the way.
I think the previous posts were missing the point and it was being un-fairly presented.
I’m very happy to be my son’s first teacher. Its the most important job i’ll ever have and i’m already happy we bought the whole system. What’s $200 ish dollars for a good plan by someone who dedicates his life to finding out what works and what doesn’t when we teach our children?
maybe i’ll keep you posted.
Scott