We did a full program 11-30 months. We did physical, word cards, EK, math dots plus tot school, brightly beaming resources home preschool all in two languages-German and English. What were our results?
She did not learn to read or do math. She liked the math dots. We cycled through the program three times. She solved a few random equations but I’ve seen no lasting advantage. With reading, she could point to the right word most of the time but we never transitioned to actually reading. I think it took her longer to process because of the two languages.
The most lasting effects have been from the most unpopular programs here. Physical and EK. She is very physically fit, has good balance, can walk and run long periods of time. She got on a neighbor’s bike and took off riding with no training wheels. We weren’t even planning on getting her a bicycle yet.
Most people only do bits and expect it to work. You really need to do POI. Cycling through the magnitudes over time is what cements the facts in. You do 100 or 10000 or however many bits and then cycle back through the 1st magnitude in all of them. Each time you cycle back through you build on what they have already learned. That is what has really stuck with her.
But here is the point of this post. We had to quit at 2 1/2 yo. Life happened and there was no way to do all this. It has been two years. We have seen a gradual slide.She went from being incredibly bright, soaking up everything to maybe above average. What I am trying to say is that if we don’t do this long term the advantage gradully lessens on effect.
We are starting again. She is very receptive. I have hopes of at least getting back to where we were.
Is it a particular program that you used for the 11-30 months?
That is so great that she is so physically fit! The effort you have put forth in her early education is an inspiration! repetition is the key!
Have you tried different methods to teach her reading other than the whole word method? My son learned phonic sounds with the preschool prep phonics DVDs. Another great resource for teaching phonics that worked for us is the BrillKids LR program and the website www.readingbear.org
My son has started picking up on math equations by physically seeing the objects he is adding, subtracting etc. I have been using activities from two books Marshmallow Math and eenie meenie miney math math play for you and your preschooler.
I also use a number line with math activities.
http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/ca|searchResults~~p|RR391~~.
Sometimes it gets hard to keep a schedule with early learning. We have taken breaks that have lasted weeks and I find that when we start back up my son has a higher level of interest and surprises me by showing that he remembers things he learned months ago.
Edit: I am having trouble posting the link to the number line from Cayden’s iPad. If you go to the lakeshore learning store website you can find it by searching elementary number line activity chart. It ha also been a great tool to teach him counting even, odd, by 2, by 5 etc.
We did traditional Doman method. My daughter is reading now, but it is slow. The Doman program got her to recognize words(pick the correct word out of two choices) but not to really put them together to read a book. We never got to the point of reading without constantly doing cards. She reads phonetically now. I was just stating that it was not the most effective EL for us. Maybe if we had been able to continue.
Our problem has not been scheduling. We lived with relatives with no internet and none of our things. Then when we finally got a house I went through a very rough pregnancy with all kinds of complications. My health is finally better and we are starting again.
It is a shame we have such a huge gap, but we are going full blast now.
Shadahfree, I also did a program ( probably less intensive than you) with my oldest daughter when she was 2-3 years old. Then had to stop, various reasons but her new sister had a lot to do with it. At age 4 it was clear to me that the physical effort we put in had dramatic effects and that the general knowledge did stick as I based it all on her interests. similar result to you it seams.
However she is older now. 8 years almost 9. I can say without doubt that ALL that effort I did with her was not a waste of my time. She learns easily, picks up skills much quicker than her peers and enjoys learning with a rare fascination for everything. She learnt to read at an incredible rate, in school, quickly surpassing her peers and she remains well ahead. Now learning speed reading easily. if she encounters an area I didnt even touch on in her early learning she is actively keen to learn, but in areas I did teach she zips throughout he learning like lightning. It must be in her brain still.
For general knowledge she still prefers to read non fiction books and is apparently " a wonderful addition to ANY class discussion on ANY topic" ( her teacher tell me she always has something interesting to add)
Finally the physically superb skills have lasted through time and developed to an amazing level. Every race, every carnival, every competition she always gets the gold. Her coaches are fighting for her dedication to their sport ( her and I think it’s hilarious!) but she loves all sports!
Now as a comparison i have her sister, who i spent far too much time sorting out behavior on and not enough time EL. She is still quite advanced but the finesse and enthusiasm for it learning and perfection just arnt there. I can’t say for sure this is a result of different teaching or different personality but can be sure every bit helps. Even if you stop, every bit definitely helps!
Shadahfree, this was very interesting! It inspired me to pick back up my physical program with my toddler. We stopped a couple months ago when I was so pregnant and it was so hot that I wasn’t willing to jog with her or use the brachiation ladder anymore. But now that the baby’s been born I can start back up again in a few weeks. It’s fascinating that doing a physical program affects all the other areas. It makes sense, but I’d never considered it before. That’s another reason to motivate me when I really don’t want to do it.
Can you recap for me how to do POI? I read the encyclopedic knowledge book once and decided it was too much work for the results. But now that I’ve leared more about it, I’d like to start. If my older daughter doesn’t like it, since she’s quite a bit older, I’d at least like to do it with my younger one. I can’t remember exactly how POI worked, and although I swear I got the book from the library last time, the library says they don’t have it now.
Sorry I didn’t reply right away. We don’t have internet at home. I also skimmed through the EK book. They have several suggestions, but the one that resonated with me was:
- Show 100 categories of 10 bits each. This may take months.
- Show these again saying 1st magnatude.
- Keep going through the whole set of catagories until you have finished all of the magnatudes.
Each magnatude increses in difficulty. Your child will be older every time you cycle through. We don’t allow them to forget a bit because they are reminded of it periodically.
The book suggested that you could make the magnatudes as sentence cards in addition to the bit or make each POI into a book.
I have adapted these but I don’t think they are as important as showing the bits and adding fresh knowledge each time.
Because this is so focused, I plan to narrow my catagories to things I reaaly think need to be memorized for the future. I do show bits just as bits. Some catagories are interesting but not necessarily important enough for POI.
Just as a note. Dd has a better memory for homemade flashcards than ppt. of other computer,dvd methods.
A crawling, creeping program has been helpful. Her language and reading explodes when we also focus on creeping/crawling.
Woofwind if your older child doesn’t like the POI as flash cards try making them into mini books. My kids will happily read through mini non fiction style books. Home made or not. If you revisit the book month about you can be fairy sure the info will stick. You could make 100 books of 10 pages each and shuffle through them for a complete program. Leave one or two in the car if your child self reads. The pictures will need to be good/ interesting.
To save work you could make them A4 sized bits show them to bubs then collate them into a book as you finish with them for your daughter. You will need to pull the book apart for the second round of magnitude though. ( unless you come up with a clever way to use the same pictures…)
I never liked the idea of showing cards and then retiring them to the dusty storage for the grandkids, waste of quality information and time.