Does it help 3 and 4 year olds?

[Watsonmel]

I have a daughter who turned 3 last week and a son who is 4 years 4 months old. We started the Your Baby Can Read DVDs last January. I will say that the kids got tired of them faster because they were older so they didn't watch the DVDs the twice a day that was recommended. However, my son didn't actually pay much attention. My daughter paid a little more attention.

In general, I started the hard copy flash cards consistently with them around April. Now, my daughter recognizeds about 90 words and my son knows about 15 words. My daughter learns them much faster, but my son needs a lot of repitition. Both kids know most of their letters and letter sounds, but are not blending yet.

I am really interested in helping the kids learn with a phonics approach since the sight words can only go so far. How much does this program do with phonics? And, what about starting math as well?

And, will it hold my kid's interest and is it too late?

My kids are bright. My daughter just went through developmental testing as part of a research study and she is developmentally 6 months to 18 months ahead of her age. I don't have numbers on my son and he doesn't pick up words as quickly as her, but I think that memory is not his strongest thing. I should mentione that we are strongly suspecting ADHD with my son.

[DrPrimo]

if you are interested in phonics (and possibly math) let me suggest leap frog videos:  the letter factory, the talking words factory and the complex word complex and math circus.  my daughter, who started these young, already knows letters and how to sound out words, etc. and is learning how to count, add, subtract, etc.  it has been a great thing to do after YBCR, LR, LM, doman bits, etc.
another thing (that might be even better for your 3-4 yr. olds) is the dr. jones genius program.  it is both reading and math and i believe they are the perfect age for it.  we have had good luck with is so far, but it is really designed for your age child.  if you go to his website you will see videos of kids your children's age doing instant math and reading at 4 and 5.  it is incredible!  here is the site:
http://www.jonesgeniuses.com/
if you have any questions (as the site is not fabulous) feel free to contact them and they will answer any questions you have.  also, there is a dr. jones thread on this forum if you want to take a look.
good luck and keep us posted.  your children sound fabulous and you must be a great parent!
cheers,
the doc

[Watsonmel]

Thank you for your reply. We found the leap frog DVDs and that is how my kids picked up on the letters and sounds. We have also done a few of the others and are continuing to show them in the car almost every day.

Tell me more about what the Jones program looks like. I am assuming it would be the Early Learning Curriculum, but it doesn't say anything about how the lessons are structure, what the materials are like, and how many lessons, etc.

[Ouroboros1]

Maybe check into videos by "Preschool Prep" company, namely the 3 Meet the Sight Words DVDs.  They're repetitive and hard to watch as an adult, but I think they would hold the interest of an older child much better.

[DrPrimo]

hi Watsonmel!
the dr. jones program starts at 2 yrs. and goes until 17 or 18.  that is the nice thing about it.  i would check it out.  there have been EXTENSIVE discussions on this forum that you might want to read, but do look at his website and give him a call as i think this may be right up your alley.
good luck!
the doc

[Sarah108]

Doc, is this a Left or Right-brain way of teaching them to read? Do you know? Is it fast, flashing images, or slower?

Doc, waiting with baited breath for "you know what" tra la la!

[DrPrimo]

It is a mix of both. The cards provided you can flash fast and the book is slow. A perfect combo... And it is coming!
The doc  

[Watsonmel]

Right now I am continuing with the YBCR flash cards even though we don't do the video much anymore. I am also doing the Pre-K Hooked on Phonics even though it seems too easy for my kids - it is a good review for them - my daugher is half way through the first of the two books in only a month and we spent half of that time on rhyming (she didn't get this at first). My son is taking about twice as long (short attention span). I have the Preschool Prep Meet the Sight words and plan on starting to show these later this week. II also purchased the flash cards and the easy reader books. The kids also watch the leap frog videos.

However, with math, we have done very little - just a few pre-K level work books.

We are starting the process of learning to write the letters as well.

There is just so much to teach that I wish I had started when my kids were babies. But, the good news is that I have fround a way to engage my son. He likes to pretend that we are at a store and I "buy" cards from him. I put them all of the floor and he reads a card and hands it to me. I then give him a penny. He started older so he doesn't have the same level of visual gestalt as his sister, but I am beginning to point out some details about the words and he is picking them up faster. He can now look at cats and clap and realize that clap ends in a p sound and so it has to be the word with a p in it. We spent months confusing these two words. I really think that he will do better with the phonics approach.

Chris from Jones emailed me back with aphone number to call him. I will either do that or the Hooked on Phonics Kindergarten level next. I do need something for math as well.

[zoe22]

! I can't recommend hooked on phonics enough! I think it's a fabulous resource to have. I came accross it when my son was 4 years old. Prior to that I had no idea of how to teach kids, I was just going to wait for him to start school and be taught there.

We started on hooked on phonics and he caught on really quickly. He learnt all his letter sounds very easily a d started to blend them. I think the best part was the fact that within a week, he had read his 1st book. Once he learnt A and T, he could read words like fat, cat etc, and the 1st book has sentences like fat cat sat. It was amazing. He was so excited.

Now, he's nearly 7 and is Reading at the level of at least a 10 yr old. I'm definitely going to use it again for
my daughter.

So pls, have a go!

[DrPrimo]

Do you have a website you can post?
 

[zoe22]

hop.com

you could get them on eBay or amazon as well. But check the website so you can see all the things they have an pick an appropriate one for your child.

They came up with some really cool videos last year. You could check them on YouTube. they should come up if you type in hooked on phonics. I plan to get them for my daughter when she's a bit older. 

[Watsonmel]

Yes, regarding the Hooked on Phonics Pre-K edition, my kids enjoy watching the level 1 DVD because it has catchy songs that go along with the letters. When you buy the package, it also gives you access to the website. For Pre-K, that includes one additional vidoe, one game, one worksheet, and on illustration of how to write the letter for every lesson. Unfortunately, right now, there is an echo in the video portion. I emailed the company and they told me that they are working on it. I did find that they didn't have very much on rhyming and my daughter had trouble with this concept so I had to go out and buy some supplementary materials for her.

Zoe22 - glad to hear that they are working well for a child that started at 4.

My biggest thing is that I want my teaching to be fun. My son doesn't like to learn just for learning sake - regular flash cards need a game to keep him focused. When learning letters, we did art projects with those letters. He really needs hands on and multi sensory teaching.

[waterdreamer]

I peronally like some of the HOP materials, but my son gets bored fast if he uses the workbook to often. However he has a great understanding if the word families we did complete in the kindergarten program so I may pull it out again and use it at bedtime reading.
Another program that my son loves is Explode the Code.
http://www.explodethecode.com/01_overview/
We do the workbooks. I skipped the books A,B and C and jumped right into Book 1 after talking to our local homeschool store owner. It is a book that has the child write and read at the same time to help the material sink in better. This makes sense to me because as a student I always had to rewrite my notes while studying in order to absorb it.
We also do Sidney Ledson's method, Bob Books, Headsprout, and Reading Eggs. I also successfully taught my son a few hundred sight words using the Glenn Doman method at the age of 4. The sky is the limit!!

[patreiche]

Colin finds hooked on phonics boring. He just turned three. The material is not as vibrant and interesting as other videos. So far it has been a waste of money because he won't watch it. Colin is vary hard to captivate so if your child is easier to entertain maybe it will work for you.

[ShenLi]

I'm coming in a little late on this topic...

I know this is the obvious answer and I'm sure you're already doing that, but I think it can't be stressed enough how much it helps to read books aloud to your child. 

http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/

The recommendation is to read to your child three books a day.  Ideally, it should be one favourite, one familiar and one unknown, but if your child wants to hear the same book three times, that's okay, too.  By the time you get through a year, you will have read over 1000 books to your child.

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