To tell or not to tell!?

[AussieMumofOne]

I'm very interested to hear about your experiences and opinions on the issue of telling people about the early learning things you are doing with your children. My mum and mum-in-law look after my son one or two days a week while I'm working and i'm not sure about telling them what we're doing. The issue with not telling them is that then he is missing out on potential time he could be looking at his flash cards etc etc. But then i'm worried about the judging/questions? What about the other mums in my mums group, in an ideal world i'd tell them and hopefully get them interested and would then have people to bounce ideas off with bub's of a similar age. But the judging and questions...! Would love to hear how others went with this!

Lisa

[Mummamia]

Choose carefully who you tell or be ready to be judged!!!  I know that sounds Harsh but for me thats the way its been!

4 yrs ago when I did this with my son - I told a few people and got shot down, at 2 he was reading books 5 yr olds would struggle with and other parents I knew were pretty much jealous and ignored him!!

Now however i have a 6 month old and am doing it all over again and have mentioned it to a few close friends and mayne because they have seen how well it has worked with my older 2 children they are very keen!!??

I found my inlaws and parents were a little dismissive of the whole idea but now that it has worked are so sso so proud and continually talk about how clever their grandkids are to anyone who will listen!!(annoying!)

[lhdvm00]

Lisa,
I went thru the same thing....started teaching our first at about 3 months, as well, and I just couldn't believe this might work - it does sound crazy, right?!?  But we knew she was probably reading at 9 months, and by 14 months, she was signing words back to us.  There's NOTHING that compares to that feeling when you realize YOUR baby is reading, so we wanted to share it!  But most people just think we're either lying or overexaggerating or bragging.  I remember a sales associate at a bookstore actually laughing and telling her supervisor, "Hey, she's buying all these foreign language and science books for this little baby!". The ones who have seen ours read often feel threatened......I think they feel like they should have done the same with their children.  My mom even went thru some guilt!  Frankly, I questioned myself at first, too: was I taking a part of their childhood away?  Was I pushing? Was this about my children or me?   Those questions have all been settled now, and I don't care what others think anymore.  But, I'll tell you that I used a computer flashcard program off Ebay by Geenogee - it was like $6, works great - they actually recommend NOT telling anyone what you're doing, because you WILL get some negativity.  And that negativity comes at a time when you're just being rocked by hormones - ugh!  You never know....there may be a mother in your group who is also doing the same thing, and it may that others are interested, but don't know where to start - it's a risk, for sure!  Our parents were also unsure at first, but let me tell you, once they see THEIR grandbabies reading, there's just no hushing them!!!!!!      
Seems like anytime we step out in faith and do something a little different, with a selfless, noble goal in mind, most of the world wants to knock us down!  Best wishes, whatever you decide!  Hugs to you!
Lynn

[Mummamia]

Hey sorry to hijack - trying to findmore info on the geenogee flashcard system???

any lnks??

[carpe vestri vita]

I think Geenogee has gone out of business. From ChildAndMe.com

Prodigy Math/Reader for Infants and Toddlers by Geenogee: this is an inexpensive program that helps you through steps 1 and 3. It does get you a little further then Matt’s plugin – it allows 3 and 4 step equations (12/6×35=70), it allows student management, it remembers and reminders you to show the presentations certain number of times per day, tells you how many lessonettes are left for that day. Similarly to Doman, once you get to equations, it just throws a tiny pop up window with the equation, showing only the result dot card on the screen. Not bad, but I wish it could actually offer the entire program: inequalities, sequences, etc. It has numbers, but they are so small… and I haven’t discovered any ways to enlarge numbers, or how to make them red (if you have, please comment below or email  me directly!) It’s a pity, that nobody does it! On the other side, same CD contains Prodigy Reader – similar software to teach your kid to read (see more about it at Teach Your Child with Multimedia).

It links to http://www.geenogee-early-learning-supplies.com/?nobid=1 which is a defunct website.

Back to the original post. I don't tell anyone anything. My mom knows I read to him. That's it.

In a playgroup I attend one of the other moms made a comment about early readers not actually knowing what they're reading. I'm not sure what she meant by that, but this 'skill' apparently shows up well after I personally had a grade 3 reading comprehension. I expected that group to be the most early-learning friendly because a few of them are pro-early-physical-learning. But nope. Everyone there was agreeing with her.

If you want IRL friends that are pro-early-learning but aren't competitive (because that doesn't do anyone any good) you almost assuredly need to meet them online.

[reei]

choose the people you tell, if you really wanna tell.  otherwise, you might be judge or frown upon. as for mother in law and own mum, i dont tell them to flash cards and all, coz' they might pronounce the words wrongly.. also, they are teaching my daughter in their own ways, taking her out to playground, outdoor play, keep toys away after playing, and etc. she is learning something from them, but just not necessarily reading.
i carry my daughter's 1/32 violin in a backpack (for convenience and hiding) when i take her to lessons, i've heard comments of ppl saying.. '2 year old learning violin, the mother is robbing her child of her childhood!'...

[lhdvm00]

Sorry, my Geenogee cd is nearly 6 years old now, so I don't know anything about them currently.  Too bad if they are out of business - a fine company and wonderful to deal with!
The president of our homeschool group has actually said in front of me that "studies show that early readers don't do any better in school than traditionally trained students".   Hmmmmm....I worked in research, so I have a lot of questiions about these "studies",

[Mummamia]

yeah bummer about the geenogee - it seemed a pretty good system from the info I could find about it!

And I too have been told numerous times that "just cos kids read early they wont do any better and chances are they may eventually fall behind more so than others!!"

I really need some solid "research" that supports the notion that early readers go on to thrive because as my little boy is only 4 I cant say that yet.. and Imust admit I do have a fear that he is going to be bored in school and lose some enthusiasm for learning!!

[AussieMumofOne]

Ok then it's settled! No telling people! You're all probably right, it just isn't worth the criticism and judging. I do have a big mouth though so we'll just have to make sure I don't slip!!

[2010BEBES]

AussieMumofOne,
This is really a delicate topic that we all have to deal with.

I am interested in early reading, math, language adquisition and encyclopedic knowledge not for my sons but for 'my grandson'. As me, i know they are other grandmas that also believe in the benefits of this.
I understand you are afraid of mentioning this to your mom and mom in law. I supposed you talk to them about this and got a negative reaction. If this is the case, better for your child to do other games with them and flashing and everything else with you. If not, maybe they will be a good allied and your child will not missed or skip lessons those days.
As read on the other comments, it is difficult to find people that agree with you and most of them react in a negative way. You have to be strong on your beliefs and continue only if you see that your child is enyoing.
My son is not really against but he is not totally in favor neither of early learning. Once he asked if it was not too much that he was learning.
But my daughter is having her first baby on february and she is delighted with all that i am going to teach her child.

I am very excited planning her lessons in advance.

[AussieMumofOne]

2010Bebes, congratulations on your pending grandchild, you are obviously very devoted and doing such wonderful things with your grandson, your kids are very lucky to have you in their lives! I think at the moment part of the problem is that the program doesn't provide instant gratification to those viewing from the outside so they can't see the benefits. I think i may talk about it with family and maybe close friends a bit later on when they start to see the benefits. At this point people who don't take the time to think about the long term benefits for the children, are more likely to judge and think it's ridiculous as they don't believe a baby can take in this sort of information. Frankly I think if a baby can learn a whole spoken language in one to two years, why can't they learn a written langauge? For want of a better word, we typically have low expectations on what we can expect from our children and that's wrong!! Best of luck with your grandchildren.

[reei]

and if you really must tell , write a blog. i'd be interested to read..

[2010BEBES]

I agree, opening a blog is a good idea, just do not tell it is you.

btw reei, i enjoy reading your blog about kindergarten. i am postng a thread on that topic.

[AussieMumofOne]

Hi reei and 2010BEBES, you may like to know that you have inspired me and I have started my own blog! It's only fresh but hopefully you'll have a look and it may be of interest to you!

[AdelMum]

I started using Little Reader with my 15 month old, and have been using since the beginning of January this year. She loves it, she gets mesmorised by it and as soon as I walk in the door she drags me off for our daily computer time, we usually watch it twice in a row and do the actions etc and is great bonding time. I tell people we are using learning software but thats all I say, as she loves the computer and learns so fast. I don't understand the criticism if they weren't playing with this what would they be doing?

I have had people ask me about it, I also use it with my 5 year old step son, who struggles with reading and he enjoys it to. My daughter gets lots of one on one and play time and 5-10mins a day on the PC is something she loves doing as shes Mum and Dad do it when we work from home.

We love little reader!!!!

She has learnt new words to speak from watching so it is helping develop her language skills also.

Those people that sling critiscism are just jealous they cant make the time to spend with their children to do this activity.

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