Hi from the UK!

[Lund]

Hi everyone. I am a mum of 3 children, and I look forward to interact with like minded people.
I have found that people are not interested in discussing early learning or the various methods and materials available. Certainly not where I live or the friends and relatives I speak to *sigh*. Hopefully, I have found it here. I am super excited to have this opportunity, to educate and foster a love of learning, to my chidlren.

Thank you

Lund

[MamaOfWill]

Welcome Lund!  You have come to the right place!   

Many of us feel exactly as you do, the "real world" just don't get us.  There are in fact millions of early learning families and the practice is as old as anything, but unfortunately we're spread thin, in the minority and greatly misunderstood.  Personally, I never talk EL to non-EL parents, it only causes tension, but here you can really speak your mind, ask questions and share your successes without feeling judged (well, most of the time in any case.)

What ages are your kids and what have you guys been up to prior to joining BrillKids?

[Lund]

Hi MamaofWill, thank you for the welcome.

My children are 6, 2.5 and 8 months. With my eldest I feel I lost out on great deal of early learning with him. At the time I was at university and really never got the opportunity to do much with him. I did find YBCR when he was 9 months in 2008. However, due to health issues, I did not manage to do the program justice. I am finally a stay at home mum, and I have more time now, to really give my two younger ones a good opportunity. We currently use the YBCR videos. I am hoping ones I figure out what math program I can start with my 2.5, I will get that. With my 6 year old we are doing Singapore math and the Soroban which we started 3 months ago. But had I done math with my eldest when he was younger, as I did with the reading it would of been much simpler. Henceforth, I am determined now to really become all about math. How about you, how has your early learning path been so far? Thank you ones again for the welcome. You are my first Brillkids buddy

[MamaOfWill]

Wow!  Sounds like you must be really busy with the 3 little ones!  I only have one boy, 3 years old, we started prenatally with lots of reading, I still read to him a lot (about 3 hours a day  at the moment) and this has been the basis of our learning throughout.  Other than that, I've mainly used BrillKids Little Reader and to a lesser extent programs like Readeez, Tweedlewink, BrillKids Little Musician, BrillKids Little Math, Alphablocks, Number Crew etc.  My approach has largely been input based for the first 3 years, but for the last 2 months after his birthday, we've started Kumon worksheets, playing chess games, and doing more structured activities where I can instruct him and he follows "orders" (as a tot he would NEVER do this, but he grew up a lot around his 3rd birthday.) 

My boy's development is strange in the sense that I would give him tons of input and see no signs of him learning anything, then all of a sudden it just all comes out at once.  He didn't talk at all until about 22 months, when he suddenly talked full sentences in 2 languages!  Didn't walk until 15 months, but could run soon after!  He does this sort of thing all the time.  Despite a crazy amount of reading instruction and lessons, he's only just started sounding out simple words and still finds it very difficult, but I half expect him to just take off with his reading at some point just as he's done in many other things.

We also neglected math, we tried the Doman dots method when he was a baby but he never really took to it and I've never really tried other method up to now, we're doing Kumon math and I'm very happy with his progress so far (mainly counting up to 30 and back and writing numbers.)  He did pick up on some basic math concepts through everyday play, smaller quantities, fractions, money, time, etc.  I think he gets adding and subtracting but he doesn't like to be tested and often gives incorrect answers on purpose (in general).

Your eldest might have missed out a bit, but he gets the opportunity to see his younger siblings go through an EL experience.  Does he help you teach the little ones?

I'm no EL expert and I'm sure there's many on the forum who can better help you with math ideas, but I would give Little Math a try for your 8 month old.  Some kids fall in love with it and others never like it, but giving the trial a go can't hurt.

All the best   

[Lund]

I am amazed you read to him for 3 hours, that is really great. You sound like a great mum. Who dedicates good time with her son. Makes me happy to hear that, keep up the rewarding job.  You mentioned your son was late talking and walking. My eldest son was exactly the same, even his teeth were late. But let me reassure you that ones my son spoke it was no stopping him. I'm sure your son will become an excellent communicator. My eldest enjoys reading books to the baby. However, the two year old, he constantly says he can do it all himself. So refuses to have big brother read to him. I'm sure it's the difficult two's. You mentioned you are using the Tweedlewink videos. How is that going, are you enjoying the videos? I am on the fence with that one. What is your overall opinion on them? 

Take care and hope your all well.

[MamaOfWill]

The reading is no 100% reading, it's actually lots of talking about pictures too, but we end up spending about 1 to 1.5 hours 2 to 3 times a day. He loves books!  If it's raining all day then we sometimes spend more, but over weekends its often way less.

TW is not bad at all.  We typically do a 5 minute lesson once a day, about 4 or 5 lessons a week.  They repeat a lot of things that we did 2 years ago, so I'm in part using it for review, it also contains quite a bit of EK bits that we're seeing for the first time.  I've only had it for about 8 months, it's targeted at the under 3's, but since my boy is not really reading yet I'm glad to have it as an additional resource.

I did a lengthy TweadleWink vs LittleReader comparison if you would like to have a look:
http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-to-read/little-reader-vs-tweedlewink/msg103234/?topicseen#new

[MamaOfWill]

Forgot to mention, my boy also teethed late 

Attached is a photo of him at 14 months, haha!

[Lund]

Aaaw he is super adorable...

Thank you for your time and for the link. I will have a read!

Take care!

[lzp11]

Welcome Lund!
I am another Brillkids mum from the UK!
There are a few of us lurking around :-)
I've been using all the Brillkids products since my now nearly 5 year old daughter was about a year. I also have a 2.5 year old son.  We have also used many other approaches to reading such as starfall, phonics based powepoints and some ipad apps. E also took a loooong time to demonstrate her reading ability but is now in reception year at school and has been recently assessed as able to read and is going into year 2 for her guided reading group.
For maths we are largely using the iPad to teach both kids maths (also us using it for soroban for the older one) and it seems to be working well for now. There are some fantastic threads with ideas about maths for 2 year olds. It's really worth doing a search for that.  Numicon is a uk product to consider although we never managed to make it from bring a fun puzzle into a maths curriculum.

[Lund]

Hi lzp11,

Thank you so much for the welcome! I am glad that you are in the UK as well. We love starfall and the alphablocks here. My second son loves that program. I have not heard of Numicon, so will be interesting investigating that, thank you for bring it to my attention. I will have a good read around the forum, I love it already. If you don't mind me asking, how much was it to have Rightstart math and all the kit for level A delivered to the UK, did UK Customs and Royal Mail charge you? Also, did you get the new version or the old one?
I recently ordered from the USA this device called the flashmaster, for my 6 year old to learn his math facts. I was charged by the UK Customs and Royal Mail before I could have the item delivered. Now I am hesitant to order things from the USA.

Thank you ones agaib for the welcome. It's nice to have parents you can share the journey with

[lzp11]

Sorry for being a bit slow!
I can't remember exactly how much it was to get RS shipped to the UK but I can remember that it was painfully expensive!  I have been taxed on several items via customs (and you have to pay a customs fee too) which is also very painful.  It has basically put me off buying anything that needs shipping from overseas.  Now I buy downloads or from UK stores (e.g. I found a UK shop selling All About Spelling and there is one carrying all the Singapore Math books). 
In all honesty, E did not really love Rightstart.  We plodded on through most of level A but it wasn't a great fit.  I will try again when my youngest turns 3 and see if he likes it better.  With E, I'm using a lot of apps and online math learning tools for both ease of use (as we are afterschooling rather than homeschooling) and to save shipping fees.

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