http://www.asianparent.com/My-First-Chinese-Words-Set-of-36-books-and-CD.aspx

I have been looking for a real value on books and audio cd set in Chinese Simplified.  I came across this set (see link above), and I am wondering if anyone who had this set could share their opinion of the product.

Thanks!

Are you in the United States?  If yes, check out your local "parents as teachers" group.  Its free and designed for children 0-5 years old.  They often have a bilingual play group where you might meet other Spanish speaking mothers. 

I do not speak any other language besides English, so I understand.  For Chinese, you might check out your local Chinese Cultural Center.  They usually offer Chinese learning classes once a week and generally offer it to the public as well for a small fee.  Our center offers a class for around $100 for a semster (12 weeks).   I am teaching myself to speak Spanish and Chinese, and there are plenty of free resources out there.

For children, check out SALSA videos.  They are free and there are 42 episodes.  www.gpb.org/salsa  My kids love them.

Hope that helps. 

I would have to say after exploring the site that my favorite section is the science and nature section.  The books are a nice basic beginning to science.  I am a fan of this site! 

[learntoread]

I thought I would share this great promo code (it worked for me and many others).   Go to http://mightybookjr.com/ and choose the single house subscription and enter this promo code: learntoread .   You do not have to enter any credit card information either.  I am exploring it now.  There are english and spanish flash cards with audio too.  The books don't apear to be written in Spanish, but you can hear the audio translation in Spanish.  So not a great Spanish resource for me, but there is still lots to explore.  coloring, writing, etc.  Let me know what you think!

The more you expose yourself to the language the better you will pick it up.  Someone shared this website else where that I am addicted to, and it is helping me pick up Mandarin much faster.  I love the way it teaches Chinese Characters!  http://www.memrise.com/home/ 

On a scale from 1-10, I rate this site as a nine for a free resource.  It helps to reinforce your learning by sending you reminders to "water your garden" or "harvest" the words you are learning.  Its very easy to use and free.  You can choose from multiple languages.  Spanish and Mandarin are our two secondary languages that we focus on besides English, so this is one of the resources I use to improve and develop my vocabulary in these languages.   

I am looking into the Smart Tiger DVDs which aren't badly priced, and since I am looking for a blu-ray player anyway, I am just going to make sure I pick up a multi-regional one which you need to play these videos. 

Does anyone have links to Smart Tiger on the Chinese Youtube?  I was looking for more complete episodes.  I only found one on youtube that was 8 minutes long, and I am complete sold on it.  It reminds of the repetitiveness that SALSA videos have. 

I think many people get caught up on the fancy word "manipulatives."  The thing is anything can be used as a manipulative, and with children its best to use something they like or very familiar with.   For example, both my son and daughter love cars.  They have tons, so they make for great manipulatives.  We count them all day long.   A calendar can be used as a manipulative.  My son counts the days of the month all day long.  Its his favorite thing to count right now.  My daughter she just prefers counting her jumps.   For subtraction and addition objects like cars, candy, marshmallows (anything yummy works but sometimes can be distracting ) and fruit, all work well in teaching math concepts.   

Sometimes we think we need to buy fancy systems to get the competitive edge, but math is all around us.  If we take a moment, we can figure out that eating grapes can be a fun way to learn subtractions or adding groups of cars by color can teach addition and reinforce colors and organizing.  The more natural the activity the less stress for you and the more enjoyable for the child. 

To add, even though I don't care for Touch Math's lack of integrity, they do have beautiful and attractive worksheets.  Without buying the whole package, you can download individual worksheets to see which worksheets work for you.  http://www.touchmath.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=WYT.welcome&page=DownloadableProduct

I will say that for a young child (3-5) the idea of using dots or objects inside the number to take an abstract concept into a more concrete one on paper is an excellent and successful tool for many.   Right now, I am creative enough to make my own worksheets applying this concept in a way that appeals to my children's interests.  You can do anything you put your mind to.   You don't have to a specialized education to apply this concept.

There are plenty of free downloadable worksheets for teaching shapes, colors and how to tell time.  There is no reason at all to pay for them. 

These are all good points. I think that video and experience proves how important parental interaction is in any learning process.  Certainly, we all wish we could have a nanny who speaks eight languages for our children's sake, but some of us live below the poverty line.   I use television and software to expose my children to other languages, but I am working hard to learn with them (I am trying to stay ahead).   I use what I am learning and what they are seeing on the videos and applying the concepts to their play time.   

For example, we will play with the dollhouse, and I will use the Spanish words for all the objects inside the doll house.   We count everything from cars to dolls in Spanish.   We name foods and colors while we are playing in their little kitchen.  I ask them questions in Spanish, and the oldest is very good about responding correctly in Spanish.  He is now asking me what certain words are in Spanish...I need a pocket dictionary.

I went to a bilingual play group the other day to find out that no one spoke Spanish to their children their nor planned on teaching their children Spanish.  I was terribly confused by this group.  So I am still working on more social interaction in Spanish.   They do have a Chinese Language School here, so I am really hoping to get my oldest started there soon.  If I was thinking of public schools, I would send my children to the dual-language Spanish/English school...(I am still thinking hard about it, and we will have to see where my Spanish is in two years.)

Thanks for the ideas.  5000 sheets! Wow that is a lot.   Well, I realized later that I already had a solution staring me in the face.   This past Holiday I had bought the kids Crayola Dry Erase Desks, and you can just insert your own worksheets under the plastic cover to be used over and over again. 

It makes it better for learning to tasks that take lots of practice like learning to write numbers, letters and math facts.   I have been making my own worksheets for math lately because I don't want to financially commit to any particular product write now.  I felt good about printed them in color because I was going to use them over and over.   Well, the worksheets were a big hit for my little ones, and they love their dry erase boards. 

I am not a crafty person myself, and I realize the important skills crafts offer to a child.  I just wish there was a more eco-friendly way.  Like you, I have been reusing paper towel rolls, cereal box and things of that nature.   Its all the cutting, gluing, glitter and construction paper that is getting me.  My kids are at that age where it takes them one minutes to complete an art task (well, its completed in their mind).  It almost seems like a waste.  I mean a paper with 30 seconds of scribble, and it just  goes into the trash.  I think maybe a chalkboard is in order.

I am very interested in the Speed reading seminar as well.   I saw that you offer a curriculum in Speed Reading, and you use the speeded speech right?   I have tried for years not to subvocalize, but I can't.  It feels unnatural.   Now that you have explained speeded text, your curriculum makes sense.  I was just wondering if one is familiar with the text you use if that will hinder or help them in using your curriculum (I happen to love "The Hobbit").....sorry if this is off topic.

I also agree with Dr. Jones that too much emphasis is being placed on the right brain, and we shouldn't fear introducing certain ideas and knowledge to our children because they are too left brain.  The brain is highly plastic from birth until death.  One can continue learning and developing the mind, and no matter what someone believes you are always using both sides of the brain all day long no matter what.  I think too often this "fear" is merely being played upon eager and loving parents in order to get them to buy their products right now.   Does your child benefit from all this wonderful activity?  Surely, but if you missed the first six months or the first five years, you didn't miss the boat and neither did your child/children.   Your children aren't destined for stupidity or lifetime of average.   It might be harder work if wait until they are sixteen, but it can still be done if one creates the environment and the desire. 

To get back to "Quantum Speed Reading," Someone (I forgot whom) explained it very well (well, I think it was a post on Shen Li's blog.)   I get the idea of it, but its beyond my own knowledge and resources.   I will tell you that since I have created and used my own photo eye play  (It doesn't appear to be rocket science to put a contrasting picture slides together), I have noticed stronger full color images in my mind when I close my eyes.   I even use Mandala activities using powerpoints.  I like this because after each Mandala I place a black slide after it.  The black side helps you see the after image without closing your eyes.  I find this interesting.   I don't full understand it.  I can find any real data or science behind it.  It seems the "right brain" individuals prefer to keep it "mystical."   I of course being both left and right brained (hahahaha) would like the facts and science.

http://www.readconmigo.org/home

Sign up to get a free Bilingual book (Spanish/English) in the mail every month (might be U.S. only) and check out their online ebooks (all free).  Woot Woot!   

Love the French audio books link!

Here is one a link for Spanish Audio ebooks! http://www.storyplace.org/sp/preschool/preschool.asp?lvl=&themeID=13

http://patternplaymath.com/

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with "right brain math" by Mister Numbers.   

http://youtu.be/98wV6Y-NOAM

wow, I totally forgot the link.         http://pbskids.org/noah/video.html

I stumbled across this Spanish resource today!  I love PBS.  This isn't full immersion, but its basically a cartoon kid who is not fluent in Spanish in a Spanish speaking community.  Its pretty cute and has wonderful games to compliment the short videos.   As always, I love FREE.   

Can you rapid flash using phonics cards with a child turning four?   Has anyone had success with this?  It seems that some encourage you to slow down the flashing if your child is older?    I realize that most ppl started their children very early.   Anyone had success with older children.   I want my child to obtain speed reading abilities, so I am unsure if I should slow down or keep up the rapid flashing.