I’m wondering what the benefits of teaching encyclopedic knowledge are. Who here teaches it and who doesn’t? If you do, what are your experiences with it? If you don’t, may I ask why not? Thanks!
We teach the encyclopedic knowledge. When you show a child pictures/flashcards of people/objects you are giving them the pegs to hang future information on and the encyclopedic knowledge in that information. What is the benefit of being able to identify George Washington if you don’t know who he was or what he did and how he connects to other famous people/event in history? Encyclopedic knowledge provides this framework so a child can make the connections.
I teach Encyclopedic Knowledge and have since our son was four months old. What are our experiences with it? Well, they’re like this…
- I’ve learned a great deal preparing all the materials. I’ve spent hours researching a topic and I learned things I never knew before. I feel like I truly educated myself!!
- I got to know my son more intimately, including his likes and dislikes. When he fell in love with Bits about butterflies, I knew that he would probably like the butterfly exhibit at the state fair (and he did). I got to know him better as a person by seeing which cards he enjoyed, and I got to better tailor our outings and expeirences to his likes and dislikes.
- I’ve been amazed–truly–by the amount that my son can retain. He only needed to see Bits 10 times to learn them. Then that changed to 8. Then only 3. Now he probably knows them after seeing them only once. Showing Bits has left me in awe of an awesome God who designed our children to be so intelligent.
- I’ve got to expose my son to a wide variety of information and not just things in our everyday experiences. There aren’t any penguins around here, but I got to teach him all about penguins through Bits. The same with bears. So I got to broaden his worldview.
- I got the pleasure of knowing that my son’s brain was growing with every card shown. I knew that we were helping his neural pathways to make learning more easier. When you’re doing something right for your child, it makes you rest easily at night.
- I got to be amazed, at times, with things I thought my son had forgotten. Remember those cards we showed 10 months ago? He still remembers every one of them! Wow, did my son just say something about a chrysalis!?
Does making Bits take a lot of time? Yes
Do I show ten sets every single day? No, not even close.
But…
Would I do it again–absolutely.
I’ve learned, he’s learned, and he’s grown his brain. What more could you ask for??
i never teach my daughter about Encyclopedic Knowledge yet. but now i think i have to start. can any one tell me about preparing materials for teaching Encyclopedia. do i have to show picture or words. how do i go with it.
someone pls help me
Wow, Texaslady, I was going to respond, but I think you just about summed it all up!
I read something somewhere about a grown-up who’s mother did encyclopedic knowledge when he was young. He found himself remembering all kinds of facts that he didn’t remember ever learning.
Rixu, I suggest browsing the whole encyclopedic knowledge board here on the forums. You will find a lot of info on how and what to do.
A great place to start might be Glenn Doman’s book How to Give Your Baby Encyclopedic Knowledge.
Basically, you present a fact in picture form. You want the picture to be as detailed as possible, so instead of showing a bird in a tree you’ll want to just show a bird. Then, you show the picture to the child and give it a very specific label “Red-Crested Day Bird” instead of just “Bird.” The child will learn that a bird that looks like that is called a Red-Crested Day Bird and if he ever sees one outside, he’ll remember it. I’ve seen it happen!!
I’ve seen some really great Encyclopedic Knowledge right here on this site in the free downloads section–by all means start there!
But be warned…once you start your child will never want to stop!!
I was wondering if this sort of thing would “stick” and if anyone had or heard of older kids that benefited from it. Thanks for sharing!
I saw an interview with a teenager 16 0r 18 I think and they interviewed him on bits he hadn’t seen since 2 yrs old and he remembered them.
hey
im really thankful to all
for your kind help
You have to remember that Bits help you to grow the brain and not just memorize facts. They are worth the effort.
Yes you are creating anetwork of facts and in doing so helping the brain create a network of connections.
Texaslady22,
Thank-you for all of your input to the forum. Karma to you! I have also started to read your blog which is very inspiring. I appreciate the time you take to share your experiences in such great detail (when you already spend so much time making bits and arranging such wonderful activities to share with your son). I have been trying to get through reading the Doman books as quickly as possible. Although, there is just so much that can be taught, I am really struggling to find ways to stucture our days (schedule). I truly admire your dedication and efforts.
On the subject of teaching encyclopedic knowledge, did your son retain information from the bits you showed early on when he was a young baby?
My son has just turned 6 months and I really want to start getting into teaching encyclopedic knowledge.
I’ve no children of my own, but I’m a firm believer in teaching encyclopedic knowledge, perhaps because of the simplicity of the concept: you are not just feeding your child’s brain numerous facts and figures, but you are helping your little one piece together the puzzle that is his world.
And it doesn’t have to be a stringent exercise to teach BOIs - you can do it as lovingly as you can while preparing his flash cards or Little Reader lessons, or you can do it while you are going grocery shopping! Talk about what milk is, facts about where it comes from, and what’s in it that makes him healthy; all this information will help him grow his understanding of the world around him, and spark the curiosity in him to learn more.
While I encourage you all to teach encyclopedic knowledge, I also think that the focus of education shouldn’t revolve around the mastery of just encyclopedic knowledge alone. What I think is more important is to nurture a desire for continuous learning and to develop the skills to accrue new information.
Just my two cents. 
i love bits
they are by far my little girls favorite part of her “school”
i don’t know how much she remembers
but she can pick out lots of different countries on her world map
and when your 2 year old knows more about fine art and music then you do you know it was worth all the work
texaslady22
what is the name of your blog?
karma to you for your great post
I am not specifically teaching BOI to my daughter - I have no flashcards, but occassionally I will show her a session on Little Reader just for interest sake and to see what she enjoys. Mostly I teach encyclopaedic knowledge while out and about - she knows an enormous amount of fruits and vegetables for the fruit store where she can touch and feel them as well as see them, she’s had a whole lesson on tadpoles growing into frogs because we have a whole lot of tadpoles in our swimming pool (long story and the pool is about to get cleaned), she’s learnt about peacocks from our resident garden peacock and she’s been told about the water cycle when it rains (and even when we pull the plug out the bath) I do need to do some learning myself on some subjects as I sometimes run out of things to tell her or don’t know the answers I think she might like to know.
I’m not sure I will ever do flashcards for this knowledge as they are just too time consuming, but it is easier with Little Reader. I also show her pictures in real encyclopaedias (they are ancient ones from when I was a child, but they work for most subjects except things like recent presidents or actors)
its better to teach them more knowledge when they are young. I am impressed by all the mums here who have made so much effort in educating their children!! Kudos to everyone here!!