We started our encyclopedic knowledge program at the beginning of the month. We were going great for a bout 8 days then we fell apart for a few days and have restarted now. We have about 8 encyclopedic knowledge categories. At day 12 I decided to retire some bits and put in new ones. Here is where I need help Domanmom. My 3 yr old knows about 8 of the 10 bits in each category. Should I replace 8 cards at once or should I just do 2 at a time. My problem is if I have to replace 8 bits at once every few days we will run out of material faster than I can present it and make it, thus we will have gaps in our program and it won’t be consistent. Any suggestions? TIA
I believe you are supposed to retire one bit from each category every day.
Okay, here’s the thing. I personally do not retire one or two cards from each set everyday. I found this too confusing. I simply show a set for five days (three times a day) and then retire the whole set and get out a new one. I do this because:
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I usually do not have more than ten or so cards from each division anyway. For example, I often have only ten works of art, or ten constellations, etc., etc. so once I’ve shown it for five days I don’t have any new cards from that category to add in. Therefore I just retire the whole set all at once and then get out a new set.
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It is a LOT easier to keep track of your bits if you just retire a set after five days (or for however long you show it - in the beginning I believe you’re supposed to do it for ten days, and then for five days, but eventually your child’s brain pathways will be developed enough so that you only have to show it for three days, or two days, or even one day).
HOWEVER if you do prefer to retire one or two cards each day from each set, it is quite simple to do this. For example, if you have a category of say, the fifty states of the USA, show the first ten states, then after five days retire two states and add in two new ones. Each day you will be retiring two and adding two (you retire two rather than one because there are ten cards per set, and each card should [initially] have a lifespan of five days). Once you’ve gone through all fifty states, you retire the whole category and get introduce a new category (i.e. countries of North America).
If you’re concerned about your cards not lasting long enough, either way you do it (retiring the whole set at once or retiring two cards per day) each card will last the same amount of time. If you retire your whole set after ten days, and then introduce a new set and show it for ten days, each card will have a lifespan of ten days. If you retire one card per day, then each card will still have a lifespan of ten days, because it will take ten days before it rotates through and gets retired.
Your problem of going through materials faster than you can make it is not a new one - I think ALL mothers who do the Encyclopedic Knowledge program have that dilemma. It takes you hours to research and create each set of bits and seconds for your child to learn it. And while it’s wonderful that little kids learn so fast, at the same time it presents a problem of time and resources.
However, even though your child learns at lightening speeds, it is important that your program is consistent. It is far better to have a modest program that you enjoy and do consistently than to have an extensive program that overwhelms you and you do inconsistently. Here are my suggestions to staying consistent:
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Start ahead and stay ahead. It is ideal to have several months worth of materials ready ahead. Making materials for next month’s lesson is fun. Making materials for tomorrow’s lesson is not. Being several months ahead will prevent any breaks in the program.
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If you don’t have a lot of materials ready right now, show fewer at once and work on getting ahead in the meantime. For example, you’d be better off teaching, say, two divisions per week (or ten days) than to teach eight divisions in one week and then not have any for the rest of the month. Yes, I know your child is probably a glutton for knowledge and wants to see ALL of them (and more) but it’s better to be consistent and HAPPY than to be inconsistent and overwhelmed.
I have been doing Doman for just over a year, and doing the Encyclopedic knowledge since January. Those two points that I just shared with you are the two most important things I’ve learned in the past year. Nothing will take you farther in regards to consistency than to start ahead and stay ahead. I’ve lost SO many weeks of doing NO program because I would get all my materials ready for one week, and then the week would be by and gone and I’d be sitting there with no materials, and end up going two weeks without any program before I finally got my act together again… and then after another week it would start back all over again. It’s been discouraging, but I’m finally staying AHEAD and it’s the best thing you can do for yourself.
So, start getting ahead NOW so you can be consistent, and in the meantime teach fewer bits at once to make them last longer. Just remember don’t be tempted to go back over old bits again and again - little kids love to learn but they do not love going over and over old information.
I hope this was what you were looking for, if anything wasn’t clear feel free to ask (it’s really late here so I’m not sure if that all made perfect sense - but I hope so!) Good luck and God bless on your wonderful journey of teaching your little child!
i do the same thing as domanmom
it just got to be to much trying to change the cards every day
i show 4 categories of 4 cards (i have a 23 month old and this is the most she will sit for)
she sees them 10 times then i switch them all
this is what works for me
i find it easy to make the cards i have made a thousand of them so far
it’s the programs of intelligence that takes forever 
i think it would be great if everyone doing encyclopedic knowledge would post the categories they are making
so we could share info and save time
i am in the middle of researching programs of intelligence for 12 vincent van gogh paintngs if any one wants the info when i am finished let me know
good luck all 
Would LOVE the info for the Van Gogh programs! There really, really needs to be some kind of forum or download section or SOMETHING where parents who are doing the POI can post what they’ve researched. It would be SUCH a blessing and save SO many parents SO much time.
The POI are probably the most important, intelligence-boosting aspect of the whole encyclopedic knowledge program - something needs to be done so that parents can share their POI. I would say for each bit of intelligence (with ten programs of intelligence) it is probably at LEAST an hours worth of work, AT LEAST, more likely two or even three with some difficult ones. A set of BOI is probably 3 - 10 hours of work.
To have a place where moms of common vision could share theirs and be blessed with the sharing of others, would be probably the best resource I ever found on the web!
i totally agree
i have five van goghs done
each one has taken me about 3 hours to complete
art seems to be way harder then the other categorize
you start to panic when you see the time it take to make one set
then you look at all the ones you still have to do
so if you have some poi’s to post that would be a big help
i am doing most of the categorizes doman talks about it his book
plus tons more art animals poets and stuff like that
oh i all so have inventors done
and some other ones
how should i send the info?
I actually have very few POI done so far. I have been collecting information, but haven’t started teaching them yet because I believe Doman said to start doing them after 1,000 bits and we just recently hit that mark. I should have been planning ahead and had them ready to start teaching before we got to 1,000 bits, but unfortunately I haven’t. It is an awful lot of time to make them, and I agree it is somewhat scary when you consider the time investment and how many thousands more you have to go, but the work still seems such a joy because you know how important the seeds you are sowing into your child’s future, and not only that but also into your grandchildren’s futures, and into the future of the world. Incredible how much dedicated parents are willing to give their children - now I know why not everyone in the world has caught onto the Doman program! It’s certainly not for everyone, though I wish it was - wish everyone was as dedicated to their children and not willing to hand them over to day cares to raise them.
But anyway, I need to finish the ones I’ve started so I can start teaching them, and start making them available to other parents!
And yes, I agree, art seems to be a difficult category - most encyclopedias have information about certain artists but not about each work of art, making it difficult to find. And even most books about works of art don’t have the full, 10-programs of information that you need.
And I’m not exactly sure how you should send the info. I could just say PM me but that wouldn’t help everyone else, now would it? Perhaps you could just post them as posts in the Early Learning forum, under the name of the set like “Paintings by Van Gogh”? However that would be somewhat difficult to find down the road when it’s no longer an active post. I’m really not the one to ask, perhaps this would be a good question for the forum moderators, maybe they can even make a new section where parents can post this information in an easily accessible format, like a new section in the downloads? Administrators? Moderators? Any suggestions?
I actually suggested this about a month ago. I have been doing my encyclopedic knowledge categories in the download sections. I recently got several of the doman BOI categories(gotta love birthdays!) I have done the inventors and half of the reptiles categories. I am going to try to get all of my categories(8?) up but it takes a while to record all of the programs. I would love to share POIs with other moms. We could really cut down on our research time that way. Right now I am working on Dinosaurs by myself. It is my first category to make POIs for. We just started our encyclopedic knowledge program, but like domanmom recommended, I am trying to get ahead!
Why don’t we all agree to call our POI categories {name of category}-encyclopedic knowledge? For example: Great Inventors-encyclopedic knowledge
This way we would all know what to look for!
Domanmom you are my inspiration to keep my program going, thanks for sharing all your insight on how to work these programs!
Thanks for all the suggestions.
We’ve been meaning to expand the Early Learning boards to let it branch out into teaching reading, teaching math, teaching music, etc., and perhaps teaching encyclopedic knowledge can have its own board.
Would a dedicated board serve these purposes? If you had files to share which is too big for post attachments, how about uploading to the Useful Files section and linking from this board? If there really is a lot of files relating to Encyclopedic knowledge that are being uploaded, then we could spin it off into it’s own Download section.
What do you think?
i am trying to plan ahead
she has just seen 500 bits
so i am trying to make my poi so that when she hits 1000 i will be ready
the problem is i am still making bits
so it’s hard to decide how to spend you hour of free time
i am also trying to use little reader
but it’s harder for me to keep organized
do you use little reader to teach hunter?
the great thing about doing encyclopedic knowledge
is that you learn so much yourself
i went to school to be a teacher
taught for 5 years
and ran a school in Africa for 1 year
but i have learned so much more in the last year teaching muse
then all that other stuff put together
as much as i complain about how long it takes
it one of the best things there is
learning with your baby
what could be better
I don’t know if there are alot of files being created, but why not give it a section and see how it does? If there isn’t much activity, you can always get rid of it, right? A forum would be great also. I didn’t think about the useful files section, but now that the voice recorder saves files much smaller I haven’t had much of a problem with the files being to large to upload.
I think your suggestion is great KL I was going to suggest uploading them to the useful files too but a board would be much better definitely 
I think it doesn’t matter if the posts are a lot or a few, if each post takes so much time like you guys are describing then even a handful of encyclopedic knowledge would be worth so much, wouldn’t it ?
the time it takes to make a poi varies a lot
i don’t want to scare anyone a way from doing this great program
some programs like animals are really easy because the info is easily available
i did all the poi’s for 14 cats in about two hours total
sadly that got lost so i no longer have them
the reason art takes so long is because to answer some of the seemly simple questions
takes a great deal of knowledge about the artist and about that particular work of art
but even that gets easier your first five will take forever but after that it’s not so bad
a board would be wonderful
all my poi are just word docs or written on the back of my bits
since i just discovered little reader and have been working on my GD program off and on for two years
so i have a lot of bits made that i won’t be putting on little reader but would still love to share the poi for them
by the way does everyone know how to make poi?
in the book GD gives a very simple formula for each of the categories
so you just have to fill in the blanks as you find the information for each bit
if anyone doesn’t have the Encyclopedic Knowledge book i would be happy to post the formulas for the ten categories
here is the poi for the first 3 paintings by vincent van gogh
will post more tomorrow
enjoy
Wheatfields with Crows
1 Wheatfield with Crows was painted by Vincent van Gogh
2 Wheatfield with Crows was painted at Auvers-sur-Oise, France
3 Wheatfields with Crows is a painting, Oil on canvas
4 The wheat in this field is ready to be harvested.
5 Notice the black crows against the blue skies and golden wheat.
6 Wheatfields with Crows was painting in July 1890
7 In this painting Vincent used vivid colors, thick application of paint and distinctive swirls and spirals brush strokes.
8 Wheat fields with Crows is one of van gogh’s last paintings.
9 Today Wheatfields with Crows is in the Van Gogh Museum, in Amsterdam
10 Vincent van Gogh painted a painting a day in the last 70 days of his life.
Extra
Van Gogh talked about this canvas in a letter to Theo, describing it and another work he was painting at the same time as having “enormous outstretched wheatfields beneath angry skies.” He continues, “I have consciously tried to express sadness and extreme loneliness in them.” He communicates that sense very successfully.
Portrait of Patience Escalier
1 Portrait of Patience Escalier was painted by Vincent van Gogh
2 Portrait of Patience Escalier was painted in Arles, France
3 Portrait of Patience Escalier is a Painting, Oil on Canvas
4 A gardener and shepherd named Patience Escalier is the man in the painting.
5 Patience is wearing a straw hat with a red ribbon woven in it.
6 Portrait of Patience Escalier was painted in August, 1888
7 Vincent van Gogh’s brush strokes were short choppy dashes, slashes, dots and swirls. He used bold colors and laid the paint on very thick. Sometimes he would squish the paint onto his canvas straight from the tube.
8 Vincent van Gogh paint Patience Escalier three times. He like to paint him because he reminded he of his father.
9 Portrait of Patience Escalier is in a Private Collection.
10 Van Gogh spent a year as a missionary to coal miners in Belgium.
Starry Night Over the Rhone
1 Starry Night Over the Rhone was painted by Vincent van Gogh
2 Starry Night Over the Rhone was painted at Arles, France
3 Starry Night Over the Rhone is a painting - oil on canvas
4 Vincent painted the reflections of the lights in the city across the glimmering blue water of the Rhône
5The sky above is illuminated by the constellation known as the Great Bear
Or
if you look close you can see two boats and two people walking
6 Starry Night Over the Rhone was completed September 1888
7 Vincent used a lot of little dashes of bold color in this painting
8 The challenge of painting at night intrigued Van Gogh.
9 Starry Night Over the Rhone is now at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris
10 Depicting color was of great importance to Van Gogh. In letters to his brother, Theo van Gogh, he often described objects in his paintings in terms of color
extra
In a letter to his sister Wilhelmina, Van Gogh said “At present I absolutely want to paint a starry sky. It often seems to me that night is still more richly coloured than the day; having hues of the most intense violets, blues and greens. If only you pay attention to it you will see that certain stars are lemon-yellow, others pink or a green, blue and forget-me-not brilliance. And without my expatiating on this theme it is obvious that putting little white dots on the blue-black is not enough to paint a starry sky.”
New board created! “Teach your child encyclopedic knowledge”!!
Feel free to use this as a place to share your BITS, collaborate, etc. etc.
would anyone like me to up load the BOI that go with these POI
i know someone just made a great van gogh download
but the paintings are different then the paintings i am doing the POI for
if this would help let me know
thanks for making the new board
i hope we can all help each other with encyclopedic knowledge
Hi titana, domanmom,
thanx for sharing such useful info. I don;t have much details on doman programmes…just have basic knowledge…can you please explain the terms BOI and POI. I also want to do these details programmes for my daughter…right now just showing her picture cards in general categories (animals, birds, fruits,transport etc).
thanks!!
titianna please do upload everything you have whenever you have time ! BOIs and POIs and everything! :wub:
BOI=bit of intelligence or the picture card
POI= program of intelligence or a fact about the picture
Thanks KL!