I do think that the exact nature of the research question being asked will have a big impact on the questions asked as well as the need (or not ) for a control group.

Manda please correct me if I'm wrong but I had the impression that you were seeking to conduct a descriptive survey of learning methods used by families carrying out EL (in particular teaching reading) and to establish parents opinions as to the effectiveness of different teaching strategies. This would be more of a qualitative piece of research and as such does not require a control group and would actually benefit from a biased group in that the aim is to seek out self defined EL parents and find out their views on how they taught reading. Of course it would also be helpful to target EL parents who had lesser or no success as this is also extremely important. Questions about attitudes towards teaching and daily learning routines might also be very interesting. The collated data could certain,y be used to develop a how to manual from a parents point of view. Generally qualitative data such as this might then stimulate a larger funded research trial which needs a lot of time and resources to carry out effectively.

Another slightly different study would seek to establish statistically which are the most effective methods for teaching early reading and to calculate at what age kids typically learn to read using them. I must say I think that would be quite difficult to carry out a quantitative study such as this and get valid numerical data without a control group.

I use the following websites a lot:

http://www.visual-soroban.org/

and

http://www.sorobancymru.co.uk/

For flashing words quickly using LR, have you tried using the word lists from the categories rather than using the LR lessons?  This has less repetition and allows more control as you can include settings about speed of flashing, whether to include videos / pictures etc.

Wow some great ideas! Thank you everyone 

Keri - thanks so much for such detailed suggestions. I know that E will love the window art idea. She absolutely loves any kind of art project. The only question is whether she will be willing to tear herself away from creating window art masterpieces to do any maths at all 

Tamsyn - great suggestions. And we have more Starfall already. I forgot about the maths part!

Using a soroban and RS has definitely solidified the 5+1,2,3,4,5 combinations.

We have also covered number bonds to 10 in a couple of ways: the Thinkout app http://thinkout.se/
And the song (sung to row row row your boat)
9 and 1 are number bonds
8 and 2 are friends
7 and 3, 6 and 4
5 and 5 are twins

I have lots of new ideas now. I also like the unifix bonds which can be used like cuisinnaire rods crossed with a rightstart abacus. I think our next step will be to re-cover Little Friends of 5 (number bonds to five) in preparation for soroban regrouping.

There are so many different methods for learning math facts!  It can get overwhelming.  I'm guessing that all methods used consistently will get there. I'm not in a big rush - I want to make sure they make sense to her at the same time.  This has been a good reminder to me to be creative and keep re visiting different goals. I may make it a summer project to look at (but not necessarily feel pressured to master) math facts to 10 in different ways.

There are some great ideas here - we are at a similar stage.

But.... any advice for a child who doesn't really like to play games and is not particularly fond of worksheets either??!!! 

We are currently doing "app-maths" because it's the least stressful (and most enjoyable) way for us to approach maths.  We are having a rest from rightstart at the moment.  but might try to restart it soon.  In the meantime, we do 10 problems from each of two different maths apps (maths skill builders https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/maths-skill-builders-primary/id541619420?mt=8, splash math kindergarten (nearly finished) https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/splash-math-kindergarten-fun/id600426787?mt=8 and then 10 problems using the ipad soroban app Know Abacus)

It's not much but we do it daily and are making steady progress.  But in terms of really learning maths facts, I'm not sure if it's enough.  Any other ideas or inspiration would be most welcome!!

My oldest was 4 in April and in the UK we start school the following September. So she will be starting reception class then. She will be attending our local village school within walking distance and with many local friends who attend the same nursery. We chose school because the school culture is important to us ( thank you Tamsyn for helping me to articulate this!) and also because I work part-time.

I was happy with the school when I visited last year and they seemed very open to working with a child at a more advanced level but I will keep a close check and monitor what happens. She has easily completed the reception year curriculum for maths and further for reading. I plan to afterschool as far as possible. This first year is part of an early years foundation curriculum that follows from preschool and is largely play based. I have no problem with this - I think she will have a lot of fun at school for this year and we can cover a lot of academic ground in small steps at home as we do now. I may start another thread for advice on after schooling! But actually I think most challenging work (maths!) will be best done in the morning before school and then leave general reading and piano for after school when she is tired and grumpy.

lzp11, I'm eating my words, and I don't think you're crazy.  Sorry about that, everyone, I wasn't thinking.   

Tamsyn - I probably am at least half crazy, but that's a whole other story....   
I'm just too disorganised and busy to get one - I might get round to it but in the meantime I just send people in the direction of other people's discount links 

I wont add too much to everyone's really great and detailed posts.  I also have Soft Mozart. At the time I was also considering between PW and SM and I chose SM for a few reasons.  Firstly because it seemed to me to have more options for teaching different levels. I wanted to teach my kids but I also have always wanted to learn piano myself. I could already read music having played another instrument as a child and I was happy that SM had less of a 'game' approach that I could use for myself (putting it onto screen setting 6 - where the music simply appears as standard music notation is perfect for me), but still offers a lot of support and training for me as an adult learner.  I'm really happy I have been able to make a lot of progress and learned to play some quite challenging musical pieces with the support of Hellene from the forum. I feel like I'm part of a genuine music academy.

My DD was 2.5 when I first got SM and she was not interested at all in learning, so we used Little Musician (which we love too!) for a while until her co-ordination and motivation developed a little further. Now she has just turned 4 and she is really developing confidence and is doing brilliantly with SM.  I am so excited to see how well the international community of children of different ages have performed in the recent recital and she was very motivated to see some other 4-year olds playing really difficult pieces of music so beautifully.

So we love SM. We use it at least 4 times a week each and it has been one of our best EL investments. I don't have any affiliate link, I'm not organised enough to get one - but I still love the product 

I love having this forum - and I hugely value everyone within it.  It is like a safe haven to discuss EL in complete freedom, which is such a huge part of my life and yet remains an almost taboo subject in other parts of my life, as most of my local friends would think I was crazy or pushy or hot-housing....  So many negative stereotypes for people who want to support their kids to do well and reach their own amazing potential.  It makes me really sad sometimes that I can't talk about this more.

I haven't had much success in finding a local EL buddy, which is why this forum remains so important.  I'm not homeschooling - I will be afterschooling alongside working part-time myself and it is great to connect with others in a similar situation.  I have a friend who seemed really enthusiastic when her baby was born, so I tried to support her and even gave her our used YBCR DVD set, but she didn't even play them once and has since become quite negative about EL. She's really sensitive and I think she might feel guilty deep down about not doing EL, so I find it best to keep very quiet about it these days, as she's a lovely person but just has different priorities when it comes to learning.

I did join the Facebook page and I love that too - unfortunately I found it difficult with it being an open group, to stop my posts coming up in my personal news feed and this lead to a couple of comments that made me feel quite uncomfortable.  One was from a mother of one of my daughter's little friends at nursery who will also be starting school with her in September. I don't want my DD having any negative experiences because others are jealous or anti-EL so I always follow it with great interest but have felt it necessary to limit the detail that I post there. 

So overall, Yay for Brillkids! And thanks to everyone collectively for making it a great place for those of us who find it difficult to connect in other ways 

I'm in too!!

nadia0801 THANK YOU for mentioning the self-management issue. This is something that I also struggle with but it's not always easy to admit to this.   This is the first step that I have taken that I think has paid off big time. Like you, I was finding that my patience was getting very short and that EL activities were becoming less and less enjoyable. Our relationship became a bit strained and I felt quite down as I did not want to give up on EL but wanted us to have a happy loving relationship at the same time. Six weeks ago I found the Orange Rhino blog and made a commitment of NO yelling at all.

For those who have not seen it, this very inspiring blog was written by a woman (The Orange Rhino - forget where the name comes from!) who decided to "Yell less and love more" over one year ago. She managed a whole year straight and it seems to have made a huge impact on her and her family.  I found her blog incredibly honest and moving. She openly admits that she often feels angry, irritable, tired etc but has found ways to not yell even when this is the case. She also has a facebook page which I highly recommend.

Here is a link to one article on her blog about the benefits of not yelling: http://theorangerhino.com/10-things-i-learned-when-i-stopped-yelling-at-my-kids/

So, I committed to this and have almost completely not yelled for 6 weeks now. This has been the starting point of our journey of change and I think probably the most important part. It's not just about the yelling - I did not yell every day -  but for me it is also about being compassionate and empathic, and using consistently calm and clear communication with the kids rather than snappiness and irritability. I have a range of things I do instead of yell - ranging from walking away, to validation and empathy, to using descriptive praise (if I can). I also learned some great techniques on a process called "Collaborative Problem Solving" for kids who are somewhat inflexible and highly emotional, in a fantastic book which I recommend called The Explosive Child http://www.amazon.com/The-Explosive-Child-Understanding-Chronically/dp/0061906190/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1369739459&sr=8-1

I have seen a major change from this alone. After 6 weeks, my 4yo's attitude is way better, we are closer, we laugh more, we hug more, we talk more and I go to bed feeling proud of myself rather than kicking myself for being grumpy yet again. I am not seeing my own negative attitudes and words reflected back at me but magnified x10!

As for the Descriptive Praise, I have only been doing this for 2 days!!!! You are ahead of me 
I do hope that this honeymoon period does not wear off too quickly but I can imagine it might.  Just from reading your post, I have a couple of thoughts and possibilities:

Are you using descriptive praise rather than slipping into being too general? (e.g. saying, "I noticed that you completed that worksheet right to the very end today and I didn't have to ask you to keep going even once, that shows a lot of perseverance" rather than simply "you are really hard-working today"). 

I find that tone of voice makes a big difference. In fact, being overly enthusiastic and positive actually seems to switch my daughter off. I think she can already sense that it's a bit over the top and she does not take it seriously. So I've started giving praise in a more matter of fact, descriptive tone of voice, while clearly describing exactly what she's done that I approve of. This seems to work best for us.

Finally, I also think that with younger children you do have to mix things up and there is no one miraculous answer. We also use some rewards (e.g. for practicing piano) because I'm not sure I could honestly motivate her to practice daily without this at the moment. Another thing I do that works well for us is scheduling. Knowing what she will be expected to do and when is important. And if I'm stepping up a goal or making something harder i've discovered it is best to tell her this in advance (e.g. the day before) so she knows to expect this.  Also I sometimes plan an activity for later in the day that we have to look forward to. I make it clear that this is not a reward for good behaviour - it's just something nice for us to do (e.g. go to the park, play in the garden, do some painting etc).  But I will also schedule other learning activities that must be completed before we go and say "come on, let's get through this super fast so we can get to the park".  And if she does not comply then I can threaten to withhold this activity.  I've no idea if this is good or bad but it does work quite well for us.

Book review: Calmer Easier Happier Parenting: Descriptive Praise by Noel Janis-Norton

This is a free one-chapter e-book which comes from a more comprehensive book of the same title. The author says that this is the most important skill of her whole book and the best place to start. The approach is suitable for children from age 3 upwards, although i suspect many younger children may also benefit. I read it because I am finding that my 4-year old can be less than cooperative with many activities including EL and I wanted to find ways to positively motivate her, as well as to encourage a love of learning and find ways to encourage effort and a positive attitude towards trying new challenges. And to get back the fun and joy of learning together.

As a backdrop, I've been heavily influenced by books such as Mindset (which has been extensively discussed on the forum) and Punished by Rewards / the Perils of Praise.  But for me I felt a bit stuck as to how to fully apply the principles in practice. And while I tried hard to praise effort over intrinsic 'cleverness' this it didn't seem to be helping to motivate my highly sensitive, perfectionist, strong-minded daughter.

 At first glance a book with the term "Praise" in its title sounds like the exact opposite of the other books, but having read it, I think there is a lot of congruence as all the books talk about specific praising rather than using non-specific superlatives such as "you are great!"

This book focussed on how to use specific descriptive praise to encourage positive behaviour and this could be applied to developing any valued skill such as independent self-care, politeness, cooperativeness, or self-directed learning. 

In a nutshell, you should choose one or two behaviours that you wish to work on. Then you begin by specifically praising any small move that the child in that direction. You are supposed to avoid or minimise criticism or negative statements. For a challenging behaviour you may have to start by praising as often as 10 times an hour and gradually reduce over time. I have elected to work on cooperativeness with learning activities, and caring behaviour around the home (tone of voice, manners, kindness towards sibling etc). Some praise I used today was "you came upstairs the first time I asked you today, that showed a lot of cooperation" and  "you practiced the piano today without once saying no, and you tried a piece for the first time with two hands and played it all the way to the end". "You talked didn't scream or hit your brother when you felt upset just now, really well done."

Other areas we may start to include are showing grit / determination / perseverance, trying new challenges and being independent in many ways, including self-motivation in learning.

My worry was that continual praise might be detrimental or create a "praise junkie" who can only operate when being praised. Interestingly, the author says that it is actually the opposite - the children internalise the rules and become far more self-motivated. I have been trying this for only two days and I already see a marked difference! This is why I'm writing this review because I can see such a major change. When lost for words ive tried reminding my DD of a recent time that she behaved more positively in a similar situation and that really seems to help. She is already telling me proudly when her behaviour shows caring, or cooperation!  In a way I feel like a terrible mum as I wish I'd been better at this before. I can't help wondering if everyone else finds it easier and does this more naturally!

Anyway, the book is free so would be very interested to hear if anyone else finds the ideas useful. I'm fairly sure I'm going to buy the full book in the near future! There is also a book on homework which may also be helpful for afterschooling or homeschooling families.

here's the link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00B1SWVY8/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb

I don't think this is available currently in the US Amazon site - maybe try here instead: http://www.ebooks.com/1112320/calmer-easier-happier-parenting-descriptive-praise/janis-norton-no-l/

Here is another useful soroban teaching site. I think it is very helpful for novice parents teaching kids without a tutor. I don't think this has already been listed but apologies if I missed it

http://www.visual-soroban.org/

Just thought I would post this picture of my homemade soroban. It's not perfect but it is much easier for small hands to use than the other one that we have and hopefully will cause less frustration. I do have larger basket, so could add more columns if necessary!

Great blog post!
We really enjoy dialogic reading, although my DD sometimes gets fed up with me continually asking her questions and tells me to just get on with reading the story 
Manda - love the idea of looking at a busy picture and WRITING down a story that the child has come up with. I think this could work well for us.