Hi Velvetkatze,
I read through your post and thought that I may have a bit of something to share. This is something we tell parents who use our programs quite often - and some of them do get to the 'panicked' and 'stressed' state of
"why are my children not learning anything?"Yes, we believe that all children have the innate ability to learn to read. However, when parents ask "when will I see results?" we always answer thusly:
Our strong advice is NOT to focus on results.Focusing on results tends to bring about negative emotions such as anxiety, pressure, stress and disappointment; we know how sometimes you may not see it as putting pressure on your child, but when you begin to use words like 'blame', 'disheartened', 'push', then it may be a signal for you to sit and just rethink your approach to teaching.
These negative feelings - regardless of whether or not you show them outwardly - may be picked up by your child. This is the one thing we try to help you avoid at all costs!
Instead, we encourage parents to treat lesson time as a time for bonding with your child. The aim is to
expose your children to reading and to have fun while doing so, thereby giving them a joyful and loving experience. Keeping a bonding-focused mindset will make you a much more effective teacher, and you are also likely to find that your children learning to read is a very pleasant side-effect.
Even Doman placed importance on this: that's why he called early education a GENTLE REVOLUTION. This whole teaching process and the education of your children is a beautiful adventure, and it's an adventure you are meant to enjoy rather than stress over.
Having said that, it is very difficult to say when you would start to notice that a child has started to remember words. It's important to remember that all children are different and develop at a different pace. A lot also depends on when you start and how much your child is enjoying the lessons.
Some parents who started early (eg., at 5 months) started noticing that their child can recognize some words as early as 9 months. Some parents who started later (eg., at 2 years) notice this even after 1 month. Some parents have reported that their children never showed any signs of learning for many months, until suddenly one day they read out words that they see in the street.
Whatever the case, always remember that
this is not a race!
Any exposure to reading that you give to your child during the early years will already be very beneficial. Kids will only show that what they have learned when they are ready to do so - this cannot be predicted.
Now, just sit down, and give yourself a pat on the back. If you have worried thus far, it just means you care for your kids' education and you put importance in it, and that's a good thing. But try not to lose sight of the ultimate goal: to have your children AND YOU enjoy this learning journey. If your children find that you are enjoying the amazing process of learning about the world, then you have already laid a great foundation for them to eventually learn to LOVE LEARNING.
Hope that helps!
Digg
