Nope!  Just a member of the forum (and a huge fan of BrillKids.)  If I was official anything I would have a butterfly thingy 
and then I would not have been allowed to say anything bad, but you had it coming, I think you were being a little bit offensive too.

It is possible that your question was not answered because it was as ridiculous as this thread. 
(That, and the other reason could possibly be that our very much loved and admired, small BrillKids team were busy finishing Spanish curriculum especially for ME, so in the end it's all about priorities.)

Out of hundreds of Little Math icons, one set (which you can delete) contains junk food.  I don't get what the problem is here?

There's one reasoning surrounding healthy eating that says we SHOULD allow our children to explore unhealthy foods and teach them to eat in moderation.  Controlling our impulses is a skill that takes practice.  The theory goes on to say that never exposing them will never give them the opportunity to fine tune these impulses and self discipline in healthy eating, therefor putting them at risk of over eating as adults when they are no longer having all their meals supervised by you.  I know there's many ways of teaching your children about healthy eating which will not necessarily include allowing them to eat junk food ever, but if you are so stressed about it that you don't even want your children to see a mini image of junk food then you've got me curious about how you would teach them what's wrong then? 

Is it possible that you've downloaded the ones marked as 0 (paid) at any time?

I'm taking a wild guess, but maybe it's because your username and your upload's author names don't match. 

I don't really know how this premium stuff works either, the rules were thought up before my time and I don't think it's as strict anymore, but I've noticed that often when you have a series of categories, like you did a bunch of nursery rhymes, then only one or two in the series get's marked as premium.  When you think about it, somebody downloading them will probably download the entire set and then it seems a bit unfair to pay for each one?? Maybe, but I've wondered about it too.

Lovely collection you've made, thank you very much for sharing all your hard work!

I just watched a full episode of TweedleWink (picked lesson 24 thinking it should be average of the 48 lessons) and I know LR very well, so I'm going to try this tough comparison again:

Firstly, Little Reader (LR) is an application that allows you to import and create lessons and material, whereas TweedleWink (TW) is a DVD series.

1.  All the BrillKids products, including Little Reader, keeps track of what lessons have been done, something that a DVD based series can't do.  In addition, LittleReader will also keep track for any number of individual learners using the program.

2.  TW consists of 48 unique lessons and it's up to the user to rotate and review these lessons.  LR Official Courses (like English Semester 1&2) consists of 260 lessons in which material gets reviewed and rotated and the user only needs to play the next lesson without having to repeat or plan it out.  LR's lessons gradually introduces new material as old material is reviewed.

3.  LR displays content in a random fashion, the order of words (or slides), the color and font of words are random.  Each vocabulary slide has 5 images, images get rotated and 1 image is displayed for each viewing of that slide.  None of these features are possible with TW.

4.  TW features that are absent in LR and other BrillKids products:  Alpha relaxation music throughout a lesson, Affirmations, Photo-eye-play, Visual Tracking, Speed Reading and Encyclopedic Knowledge.
- The Alpha music is a lovely feature!  It makes the entire lesson more attractive.  This can't be replicated in LR in any way.
- 3 exact same Affirmations are played at the beginning and end of each lesson, these are feel good phrases and I think the familiarity helps set the mood for the kids.  (It could be recreated in LR or just simply kept in mind when doing any type of lesson with your child, you can say these affirmations yourself.)
- TW's photo-eye-play is combined with their poetry section, it has many benefits for memory and visual development.  Although this is not included in official BrillKids courses, it has been recreated by users and can be found in the LittleReader library.
- Visual Tracking is a right brain eye exercise, it can easily be recreated in LR.
- TW's Speedreading can also be recreated in LR and is similar to LR's 21 stories.
-TW includes EK in the form of flashcards on topics:  Art, Science and Cultures.  This includes 1440 flashcards and 200 full length facts.  Although LR's user created content is not as professionally done as the official material or that of TW, the library contains at least 10x the amount of flash cards.  Our community created Little Reader Country Course alone consists of 800+ EK facts with multiple matching images and more.

5.  Features included in LR which are absent in TW:  Games, Multistory, Word Split, Videos and Customize-ability.
- LR includes games in each lesson, the user is prompted to choose the correct word or picture.
- In multistory, words and matching pictures are displayed and the application waits for a mouse click before continuing, this allows for interaction and discussion about what is seen, while using a DVD, one would have to press pause/play to get the same effect.  Thus LR encourages parent-child interaction, something we sometimes forget about when watching a DVD together.  This pause also encourages the child to try and read the text by himself, or try and repeat the words that are spoken.
- For all LR words, syllables are displayed in different colors, for example "hamster" TW also uses text highlighting to help point out similarities in phonics or to show what sentence is being read in the Speed Reading section, but words aren't split in the LR fashion.
- About 200 of the LR words are attached to video files.  These are very short clips, but very entertaining for the little ones.  TW might be a video series, but it does not include any motion video clips other than the Visual Tracking (which is a 2D image that moves around on the screen.)
- Little Reader's true strength lies in it's customize-ability.  Don't like a section? Change it or delete it.  You can change or add images, videos, recordings, slides, whole categories or even create an entire course from scratch!  You can swap things around or just delete or replace a section of an existing course.  A very common step users take is to translate the English course into a local language, I did this for 2 local languages for which I can't find any such early learning matereals in those languages.  Possibilities are endless!  I love LR so much, I've actually cut DVD series up and imported them into LR for the sake of keeping track of when to watch a new lesson and when to review.

6. Phonics:  Both LR and TW have very similar approaches. Both use word building (or sounding out) and pattern phonics.

7. Whole Words:  LR includes over 2400 unique words, 600 of them (I consider them Vocabulary words) has 5 images each and words are used in full sentences to aid language learning.  TW has about 2500 words, 2000 of them "vocabulary boosters" which are attached to 1 image each.  Both programs include sight words within their word sets.

8.  Whole Language:  Both products use stories and rhymes.  TW uses a systematic speedreading practice, "The dog."; "The dog sits next to his master."; "The dog sits next to his master.  His tongue is sticking out because the weather is hot!"

9. Math:  Absent in Little Reader, TW has a basic Doman math program, dots 1 - 100, skip counting, adding, subtracting etc.  Little Math has very similar curriculum as the TW math section, but again Little Math has random display, placement and uses a variety of pictures, with many of the same features discussed under LR.  Home made dot cards can be found in the LR Library.

10. Music:  LR has no music.  TW has a "Perfect Pitch" section that only teaches note sounds, what the sheet music notes look like, where to find these notes on the piano, and relative pitch.  Little Musician has all this and lots and lots more features, including features discussed under LR.

11. Lifetime:  I would say TW has about a 5 minutes x 8 repeats x 48 lessons = 60 hours.  If you watch 8 lessons a week, you'll be finished in a year's time, after which you'd typically abandon the product or reuse with younger siblings.   LR has 260 lessons (2 sessions each) x 10 minutes = about 40 hours.  One could easily do 1 or 2 LR sessions every weekday or about 10 sessions a week and also finish within a year, but after that you can continue using your LR for years to come.  I've been using mine for more than 2 years and I can see myself still using it for at least the next 3 to 4 years (and that's counting only 1 little boy.)

12. Price: TW 12 DVD's (48 lessons) - $408;   LR Basic - $149,   Little Reader Basic + Math + Music  -  $470

In conclusion:  TweadleWink is a "all in one" toddler education package, it's no mess no fuss, press play and walk away.  TweadleWink is a stronger program when compared to LittleReader English Sem1&2 content, but the LR application has a lot more potential than the TW DVD series.  (Then again, very few LR users make use of all this wonderful functionality.)  When compared to the complete BrillKids series, TweadleWink is no match, especially when counting the content that is available in the library. 

Very useful information, thank you Drjuliadc!

[correlation between EL and things like emotional IQ, ability to concentrate and even possibly some correlation with the stubbornness of a child.]

Thanks for the tip Drjuliadc!  How did you discover he had low magnesium (I hope I don't have to do blood tests!)

I find this post wonderful and very inspiring.  In general I'm against IQ testing (especially for the under 5's) but in this case I totally agree with what you chose to do Kimba!  Good for you and congratulations!  I can only imagine how proud you must feel of your little one, and off course you should feel proud of yourself too!

Your experience also makes me wonder about my own.  My boy has been receiving lots of EL stimulation even from before his birth (although we've only joined BK when he was 1 year old.)  I also feel that he's "smart" but then what mom does not think that of her children?  So, I'm in no position to say he's above average or anything like that.  Where my case is similar to yours is that my boy can also get very emotional very fast!  The only thing he can really focus on for an hour or longer is reading and engaging in conversation, for any other activities, he looses focus easily (well, he's only 3, but I feel his ability to focus is worse than other 3 year olds.  Before his 3rd birthday, things use to frustrate him very easily, so he use to be a very slow learner (when it comes to physical things like dressing, eating, building, writing, working a device or even age appropriate toys)  but fortunately he's learned to control his frustration levels just enough to get sufficient practice in all sorts of areas and I'm thanking my lucky stars because he's catching up nicely!  As a toddler, he would never follow instructions, but now that he's older it's getting easier and easier to negotiate and he'll sometimes do what I ask just for the sake of being nice, but he's still not very big on being bossed.

I've been accused in the past of letting his "normal" developmental areas lag because I'm doing all the "school" stuff, and I've also been blamed for his short temper because (as it seems to the anti-EL world) all this learning stuff builds up a lot of frustration for our early learners!*  I will hate to admit that any of this is true, but your story makes me wonder about the correlation between EL and things like emotional IQ, ability to concentrate and even possibly some correlation with the stubbornness of a child.  I'm not thinking that the general early learner has below average abilities in any particular area, which is often what is suggested when people say EL is bad for kids. (Almost like saying you can't have your bread buttered on both sides.)  I'm thinking in terms of some abilities developing faster than others, which cause internal conflict!  Then maybe the world (including us EL-parents) just don't understand early learners well enough, since they are a bit different from the rest of the population after all.

*I think anyone on this forum will agree that EL in a loving relaxed environment is not at all frustrating or stressful for a child and most of us go through a lot of trouble to ensure a balanced development, never to be compromised for EL.  My boy has always had sufficient opportunity and encouragement to develop himself and he does, he just tends to fall behind and catch up later on certain things (but then there's areas where he'll be way ahead too sometimes.)  I also feel that his personality plays a much bigger role than my influence (or that of EL.)


One last note in my long and random post, I've also got a theory about EL kids and stubbornness, which will not necessarily apply to all.  One general unwritten rule about EL is that any activity is optional to the child, and for many of us, there's lots and lots of these optional activities in our daily lives.  Maybe some kids learn that they are always in charge of their activities.  

I'm following this thread with great interest!  I would love to hear other's thoughts and experiences.

Thank you for posting Kimba!  And please do an update about how things are going somewhere down the line.

We're in Jo'burg (in Alberton but we'll be moving West in a couple of months, to Weltevrenden Park.)   

For ideas to make it more fun, you can clap or jump on each word!  or repeat the words in a funny voice.  Set the text and background colors to random, include more font types and set the font to random.

Something to keep in mind is that older versions of LR didn't have sight words or pattern phonics and kids still learned to read from the program.

You can use the "Meet the sight words" videos instead, or once your little one is recognizing words, you can custom create short phrases with the sight words, as in "the cat" or "cat and dog", you can easily re-use the BK media images for these slides or find new images on the net.

Then, I just want to add, I know how it's like when your little one is not into some learning activity and sometimes there's just nothing you can do about it but except it and focus on the things that he does like.

For me, the easiest and most rewarding route is to follow my son's lead.  You shouldn't care if he's learning, it's like letting him play outside, you just do it because you know it's good for him.

Where are you from?  Groenewald is a very common surname where I am from (South Africa)

No, I'm Afrikaans (a language that originated from Dutch), my husband is English, so both our home languages are Germanic.

I didn't realize that you and your husband speak to each other in English, meaning that there's been lots of exposure for your little girl.  I also assumed that you are fluent in German.  Not that it changes my original message, it's just interesting to hear from other families' situations and how the kids respond to that.  

I mainly speak Afrikaans to my boy, but in situations like, when we're reading an English book, visiting English friends or watching an English program, then I've always spoken only in English.  In Afrikaans, he can freely talk about everyday things, but he will not be able to talk about EL stuff, like naming his organs and telling what their functions are etc.  Then in English, he can talk about all kinds of academical subjects, but his language is a bit poor, he makes mistakes changing tenses etc.

(as for other languages that I'm teaching, he hardly says a word, so I always envy people who manage to teach languages that they don't speak themselves, but he does show some signs of understanding)

I'll bet she knows the difference between German and English very well, I don't think she's confused at all, it's just that her German is a lot stronger than her English.

I would say, continue giving her opportunity to use English (without expecting it or forcing it in any way) it might take 6 months to a year before she starts talking English back to you.

It's not a problem at all, the way I understand it, the first steps in language acquisition is understanding the language, but using the language come at a later stage.  You'll aid her in giving her instructions in English (almost like a Simon says game), so she can respond without having to answer.   Also, continue the conversation in English even when she's using German, but don't pretend to not understand her, tell her she's wrong or otherwise force her to use English, I'm a strong believer in letting her find her way at her own pace and time.

I would guess that she probably does not mix Vietnamese and German because she acquired these languages in equal strength and at the same time, whereas her English exposure has been less and therefore not on the same level. 

In my case, my boy does have difficulty with similar words in his 2 primary languages, like "the" and "die", he's always just used his own version "de" in both languages.  I can imagine you might have such issues later on when your little is speaking English well, she'll still mix words like German "hand" and English "hand", because they are so close, but continuing with quality language exposure (as you have obviously done thus far) will sort all those little things out in time.

Well done and good luck!   

No, the Little Reader versions for delux and basic are the exact same application.

I did an inquiry to find out the price for one downloadable copy of his book (without the chess set,) he said it's $125.

I found this Chess at 3 webpage (http://www.chessat3.com/our-curriculum.php) a couple of days ago and I'm so impressed.  We did the first lesson (it's free) and had so much fun!

Has anybody used this to teach chess for to their under 3's?  I want to encourage anybody who would like to start teaching chess to try their free lesson: http://www.chessat3.com/assets/files/ChessAtThree_Lesson1.pdf

Here is the youtube video link about the program:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/6VPBbk6ofVM&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/6VPBbk6ofVM&rel=1</a>

Thank you very much for the compliments! 

Little Reader makes me enthusiastic about group projects like this, not only is it a fantastic learning tool, but the app is also perfect for collaboration.  Different members can work on the same slides and categories at the same time and their efforts can be combined on import, meaning members don't have to wait on each other to continue working.

Personally, I've used LR to teach my little one tons and tons of things over the last 2 years and I can't imagine our lives without it.  Thank you for such a wonderful learning app KL, it's truly the work of genius.

 

Hi DuNa

Step 1:  Find the button that says "Override OFF" in the right-bottom corner of your LR Window (the little light/dot should now be green and the button says "Override ON"

Step 2:  Click on the gears icon which brings up the "Edit Override Settings" Window, then click on the Advanced tab.

Set 3:  The left-hand panel (WORD SLIDE) has an item called "Font size", click that red dot button (which should now be green) and select your preferred size from the dropdown list.  Remember to save.

Hope this helps