I have just purchased Little Reader, Math and Musician.
We are a multilingual family (English and Catalan, the latter spoken in the north-east region of Spain) and we have been wondering what would be the best procedure to teach her to read in both using Little Reader:
A. doing first the whole course (1 year) in one language and then the same course in the other ?
B. or in the same course, one session in one language and repeat the same day the same session in the other
C. or doing the two sessions of the day one language each
D.or combine both languages in the same session ?..
…
So we would really appreciate any recommendations the community could give us based on your experience.
Also when combining the three programs (Reader, Math and Musician), do you have any recommendations as to how to schedule the sessions ? (using the three of them daily, or one of them a couple of days a week, etc…).
Thank you very much; any comment you can give us would be very useful !
This has worked for me with some success. My family also purchased LR, LM, & LMus. For many months, we were doing 1 session daily (Due to time contraints) one after the other. The children seemed to enjoy it enough that it worked for us. Sometimes, children decide that they don’t want to do a subject and begin to revolt. At that point, we remove 1 or more programs for a while in hopes of reintroducing it at a later time. My twins are 26 months old and won’t sit in their chairs anymore while our ‘school lesson’ is going. I know that their interest will wane from time to time, and I can deal with it.
If your child can sit through numerous ‘school lessons’ a day, then it’s probably best to break it up so that they might get LR and LMu twice a day, and LM at a seperate time than LR and LMu but still get two lessons daily.
If your child enjoys the lessons, I say go with it, if not, then do what you can but always remember that you don’t want to force a subject on your child just because you are trying to stay on a schedule. Always keep it as fun and enjoyable as possible. That means putting a ‘school subject’ away for a later date if need be.
I really hope this helped in your quest for EL. Keep up the good work, give your child lots of love, and keep a positive attitude! You’ll see the difference guaranteed.
We are also a multilingual family, from Brazil, and we speak English (non-native) and Portuguese.
I was planning to teach my son to read in English before his school teach it in Portuguese. Then when I discovered BrillKids I was amazed and I was pretty sure I’d teach him to read in English. He is 17 months now and there are two months we are doing LR. I also bought LM and I plan to buy Little Musician next month.
We start daily with LM and then LR, only one session each since we don’t have much time. My son is at school full-time.
About Portuguese… I honestly didn’t stop to plan about it, but so far I’m not teaching him to read in Portuguese. In my head, I know that I’m actually waiting to see how he’ll do with LR English. I think if there are people who start learning phonics by themselves after whole language, perhaps reading in Portuguese may come naturally too. I don’t know but I’m not in a hurry for that.
Lots of thanks John and Mario for your comments ! They really help !
It is amazing to see people we are from different places sharing a common interest and willing to help others.
Wonderful product and community here at Brillkids !