[I wish I bought LR way back then!!]

Thanks for posting.  It's very encouraging to see that you had great success even when starting a little late like I am.

Well, as of yesterday, when I finally got the opportunity to download a lot of files that other people created (into the trial version)... I'm completely sold on Little Reader.

Jeesh, I first found this website when my son was an infant, while googling Doman.  For some odd reason though, I really wanted to be a Doman "purist".  Now in hindsight, I truly wish that I spent more time reading comments in the forums section on this website back then, because I would have been saved from the headache and heartache of trying and failing to create countless flashcards, and actually keep up with it.  I wish I bought LR way back then!! I am completely confident that he would be reading by now.

Thankfully, I have found Brillkids again after so much time has passed.  As it is, I have great hope that my son will be whizzing into high gear with LR, along with Reading Bear and Starfall, plus any other goodies out there that I'm not aware of yet.  He loves them all.  This morning I showed him a powertool presentation from LR that someone had created, and he wanted to see it over and over and over again!  And when watching the LR curriculum, he is fully engaged.  It's wonderful!

When I wrote my first post several days ago, I was greatly despaired (and very tired), and now after spending a lot of time reading posts here and asking gobs of questions, I feel absolutely rejuvenated and so excited about continuing to feed my little guy's insatiable thirst for learning.

You are all wonderful!

Oh thank you so much, I didn't even see the testimonials -- didn't scroll down far enough!

Good to know, thank you!

Thanks for all of your responses!

Incidentally, am I the only one who writes a post, then inadvertently hits the back button and loses everything written?  Arggh.

Anyhoo, it sounds like LR is indeed more versatile -- the better the bang for the buck, the easier it will be to get my husband on board!

I also didn't realize that the segments were 30 minutes long for YBCR.  Most likely, my little guy would not be pleased if I tried to turn it off early.  He doesn't watch tv, and up until we started the LR trial version a few days ago, Baby Signing Time, ppt presentations, and the occasional educational youtube video were all he's seen.  I really don't want to get into the habit of having him watch so much in such a long chunk.  As it is, it's all too tempting to sneak out of the room and get something done while he's watching Reading Bear or Baby Signing Time.  Thankfully, he really likes so sit on my lap to watch, so he keeps me in check! 

Okay, so has anyone actually had real reading success with LR?  (Sorry if my question seems ludicrous.)  I know DadDude's son has done very well with YBCR, combined with his flashcards, etc... so I wonder if anyone has had equal reading success with LR.

Thanks in advance for any comments -- these posts are extremely helpful!

Okay, thank you!

Not sure yet if I'm going to buy LR yet, (still using the trial version), so it may be a moot point since it appears that the presentations only work in LR.

Thanks again.

Thank you !  That's what I've been looking for, but couldn't find for some reason.

I downloaded a couple of them into my trial version of LR and they don't seem to be any different than the ppt presentations available in the Free Downloads section.  What I mean is that there's a word and a picture; doesn't EK include various facts as well?

Hi,

This is probably a question that has been covered many times, but I really haven't had time to do much digging in old posts, therefore: does anyone have a preference between LR and YBCR?  If so, why? 

Has anyone tried both?  If so, with which did your child learn better?

In brief, my son just turned 22 months.  I started him on Doman cards when he was an infant.  Having a difficult time keeping up with making cards, I switched to ppt presentations.  Since I was using presentations I found online, the words I showed him were more haphazard in nature, no longer really following a structured method.  Over the last few months, for various reasons, (including not having enough structure to really feel like I was accomplishing much with my son), I slowed my efforts down considerably, to almost nil.

So essentially, I feel like I'm starting from scratch again and would like to use a more structured method.  I'm currently using the LR two week trial which has so far held my son's interest.  But does anyone have reason to believe that one program is more beneficial than the other?

Incidentally, I also just recently started using DadDude's Reading Bear (excellent!), his flashcards, plus Starfall.  To further augment my son's reading program, either LR or YBCR would be great, I'm just not sure which one at this point.

Any recommendations?

Thank you in advance!

Hello again,

I have noticed that a few people have read this post but that no one has commented.  Does that mean that no one knows the answer to my original question, or does it mean that my question(s) were confusing? 

Just wondered if the ppt presentations found under the Free Downloads tab are the same as the EK collaborations that people were working on as noted in this link: http://forum.brillkids.com/index.php?topic=9354.0. 

It appears that at one point, a group of people were working on a collection of Encyclopedic Knowledge, yet I don't see that category under the Free Downloads tab.  If they are different from the regular ppt presentations, are they located somewhere else?  If so, where would that be? 

Thank you!!

I have to second that.  Reading Bear looks very professional -- and it's amazingly free!

The woman who pronounces the words and does the voiceovers nails it, managing to be neither dull nor obnoxiously animated.  Her voice is also very clear and soothing.  The pictures and video are great, and of course each word being underlined as it is pronounced is fantastic.  And then there's the art and musical interludes -- icing on an already delicious cake!

This morning after doing DadDude's flash cards, my little guy started mimicking the boy swinging a bat in the "a" section on Reading Bear and headed down the hall toward the computer indicating he wanted me to follow him.   I confirmed by asking him if he wanted to watch Reading Bear and he nodded wholeheartedly.  How great that he initiated it!  (He shows interest in a lot of other things as well, but never his Doman cards, as much as I wished he would have!)

DadDude, you've been an enormous help to me in answering a multitude of questions, I really appreciate it.  And thank you again so much for your wonderful contributions!

Wow, great website!  Thanks so much for posting.

Started my 22 month old on it a few days ago and he loves it.  It's wonderful!

Is the Encyclopedic Knowledge Collaborations noted below, the same as the PowerPoint Slideshow Library found in the Free Downloads section?  If not, where is it located?  I've clicked on the original links to no avail, unless I'm just missing it.  Thank you!


MOVED: Encyclopedic Knowledge Categories for FREE - made by all of us!
« on: September 11, 2010, 04:34:06 AM »
   
This topic has been moved to Encyclopedic Knowledge Collaborations.

http://forum.brillkids.com/index.php?topic=9354.0

Thank you all so much for taking the time to comment!

It’s reassuring to know that I’m not the only one who hasn’t been entirely consistent and has bouts of overwhelm. 

Thank you for the support regarding sleep, I am indeed working on the sleep issue via a sleep book that I’ve been working my way through, but two looming molars in my son’s mouth have been more than a little disruptive. 

My son absolutely loves to read, thankfully, and we spend gobs of time doing it.  He’s just such a little sponge that I’ve felt bad that I haven’t met many of my goals thus far.  I’m really not trying to be a super-parent; I’m just trying to feed his insatiable desire to learn.  (Certainly no one accused me on this forum of that, however, my husband hints of it on occasion.  )  I must say that when I read about children my son’s age who know all of the Presidents, for example, I feel VERY far behind considering that my son isn’t really even talking yet and certainly doesn’t know the Presidents.

Regarding reading and EK, I think I’m primarily lacking confidence that what I’ve been doing was/is enough and was/is making a difference.   Probably because after reading a few different Doman books, I never truly felt that I was doing it right or had a true handle on it.  For example, (if you’re still with me and thank you if you are!), what I was doing with PowerPoint, was using presentations I found online and breaking them down into 5 words per day.  I would mix them up and show them 3 different times a day.  Then, after about a week, I would retire the presentation and start a new one.  Subsequently, I would do up to 10 presentations a day. 

So far, I think what I wrote in the previous paragraph is fairly Doman-friendly.  But… as far as retiring one word a day and adding a new one, well, I didn’t do that (or whatever Doman suggests, I’m not sure); it was too confusing for me to do in PowerPoint and keep track of what I was doing.  I also didn’t really have much of a plan (for lack of knowing how to) in choosing which presentations to do.  Hence, I never knew if my son was being shown words in a beneficial sequence.  Had I followed Doman’s book that wouldn’t be an issue, but I simply didn’t have the time, so I have relied on PowerPoint presentations that others created.

Additionally, the comments regarding creating a plan are great. I’ve created several different versions of lesson plans/schedules/curriculums, but although I have a pretty set plan for things like general activities, science, sensorial, art, music, Montessori-inspired activities, etc, again, I don’t really seem to have any rhyme or reason for doing what I do.  I have a giant collection of ideas I’ve found online and make a curriculum from whatever I pick out, but it’s pretty random, because I have no idea what he should actually be learning right now.  What should he be learning now and what “should” he have already mastered?  How would I know?  How do other parents know?

Perhaps other parents may know innately what to teach their kids and when, but I’m not very intuitive when it comes to that, and the more blogs I read about what other parents are doing with their toddlers, in order to try to figure it out, the more I become overwhelmed and frustrated. 

Now that I seem to have pinpointed where I feel I’m lacking the most, (thanks to this forum for inspiring me to write it all down ), any other ideas you have regarding knowing what to do when and what age would be most welcome and extremely appreciated.

Thanks again.

Sharpie

Hello! 

I have a 21 month year old and feel so overwhelmed regarding what I should be doing with him.  I started him on Doman-style flashcards when he was an infant and stopped when he seemed completely uninterested.  From there, I continued with PowerPoint presentations that I had found on Brillkids and classicalmommy.com, etc.  Started doman-style PowerPoint math as well.  Then over the last few months, due to sleep-deprivation, (I have a very poor sleeper for a son), I slowed my efforts down considerably, to precisely nil. 

I feel very disenchanted with myself that my son doesn't know how to read yet and that it seems that we'll be starting from scratch.  He LOVES to learn and feel bad that I don't have any idea what I am doing so that he can progress faster.  Printing flashcards for words and BOI isn't really feasible for me.  I've downloaded the trial Little Reader and am hoping to purchase it which will take care of  the reading aspect of his learning. 

But I'm very overwhelmed regarding what to do with BOI.  Is there a way to do that with PowerPoint presentations?  Some of the early learning blogs that I've seen make me feel incredibly inadequate and I just don't know how/where to begin teaching my little guy about this world.  Locating information to know learn how to plan a curriculum has been very difficult.  There's just so much information available that I have no idea where to start.

I desperately need guidance to know how to move forward, gathering info, presenting it, knowing how long to present it, what I should be teaching a 21-month year old.  I've looked in the free downloads section of Brillkids for BOI and just don't seem to know which one's are BOI and which aren't. 

Ugh, and then there's also math and music. 

Bottom line is, how do I incorporate everything into a lesson plan and know what and when to teach everything? 

Please forgive the gloomy tone, however, any guidance for a very disorganized, confused mommy would be extremely helpful! 

Thank you!