This was a great reminder that stimulation is so fundamental, again, thanks for the post! Karma

Thanks, PokerDad. And yes, you are very right, early stimulation is very fundamental.
 
The lady presenter said that growth of white matter in our children’s brains depends on environmental factors such as the number of words the child hears, the diversity of words heard, the complexity of sentences heard, and how much the baby is read to. This corresponds exactly with what I read in a very highly cited piece of research titled ‘Meaningful Differences in the Lives of American Children’ by Hart and Risley.

I first learnt about the book 'Meaningful Differences' from Jim Trelease  (the read-aloud guru), on his website http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/rah-ch1-pg3.html. PLEASE READ THAT WEBPAGE CAREFULLY. It is an excerpt from chapter 1 of Trelease’s  best-selling book- The Read Aloud Handbook. Trelease marks the book Meaningful Differences as 'Top Secret'.

Trelease also says:
``If I could select any piece of research that all parents would be exposed to, Meaningful Differences would be the one. And that's feasible. The authors took their 268-page book and condensed it into a six-page article for American Educator (Spring, 2003), the journal of the American Federation of Teachers, which may be freely reproduced by schools.’’

If possible, get the book ‘Meaningful Differences’ via interlibrary loan. The book is one of the most cited researches on early childhood literacy. I have read the book, learnt a lot, and changed my parenting practices accordingly. Then get Trelease ‘Read-Aloud Handbook’.  First read the book’s excerpts on the website I gave above, and then get the whole book from your local library.

The major point I got from Trelease’s book was that by reading aloud, you expose the child to more complex vocabulary than if you were talking all day long. Yes, talk is very good for babies, but reading aloud to babies fills in the gaps and introduces the child to rarer words than are found in our daily vocabularies. And you don’t always have to buy the books you’ll read aloud to the baby,  you can get them FREE from your local library.

Here is the link to the six-page summary of the Hart-Risley research (which Trelease mentioned) published in American Educator : http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/spring2003/TheEarlyCatastrophe.pdf.

PLEASE READ IT. On Google Scholar, this six-page article by Hart and Risley has been cited 225 times by other researchers, so it must be quite influential.

Wonderful - thank you!

You're welcome, queriquita.

Amazing!

Thanks for sharing.

Here is a free book if you sign up on 101 Ways to Save Money on Homeschooling http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/101-ways-to-save.html

Dear Mother of faith,

Thank you so much for sharing. I have found the ebook very useful and have even sent a thank you email to the author. Thank you once again for sharing.

Best regards,
nee1

Researchers Betty Hart, Ph.D., and Todd R. Risley, Ph.D., conducted nearly 10 years of research to learn why some children perform better than others in school; they published their findings in the book Meaningful Differences. According to the book, the answer is words. The quantity of talk and interactions that parents had with their child, explained Hart and Risley, predicted a child’s IQ and vocabulary size more so than any other variable, including parents’ education or socioeconomic status.

Hi Melodym37,

Your posts show you are a very good grandmother that wishes to do the very best for her grandchild. I like that.

I first learnt about the book ‘Meaningful Differences’ by Hart and Risley, from Jim Trelease  (the read-aloud guru), on his website http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/rah-ch1-pg3.html. PLEASE READ THAT WEBPAGE CAREFULLY. It is an excerpt from chapter 1 of Trelease’s  best-selling book- The Read Aloud Handbook. Trelease marks the book Meaningful Differences as 'Top Secret'.

Trelease also says:
``If I could select any piece of research that all parents would be exposed to, Meaningful Differences would be the one. And that's feasible. The authors took their 268-page book and condensed it into a six-page article for American Educator (Spring, 2003), the journal of the American Federation of Teachers, which may be freely reproduced by schools.’’

If possible, get the book ‘Meaningful Differences’ via interlibrary loan. The book is one of the most cited researches on early childhood literacy. I have read the book, learnt a lot, and changed my parenting practices accordingly. Then get Trelease ‘Read-Aloud Handbook’.  First read the book’s excerpts on the website I gave above, and then get the whole book from your local library.

The major point I got from Trelease’s book was that by reading aloud, you expose the child to more complex vocabulary than if you were talking all day long. Yes, talk is very good for babies, and I talk a lot to mine, but reading aloud fills in the gaps and introduces the child to rarer words than are found in our daily vocabularies. And you don’t always have to buy the books you’ll read aloud to your grandson, get them FREE from your local library.

Here is the link to the six-page summary of the Hart-Risley research (which Trelease mentioned) published in American Educator : http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/spring2003/TheEarlyCatastrophe.pdf.

PLEASE READ IT. On Google Scholar, this six-page article by Hart and Risley has been cited 225 times by other researchers, so it must be quite influential.

Hi Ayesha,

Many thanks for sharing. Very inspiring.

We also have a similar case in UK where an 8 year old, Zoihab Ahmed, was the youngest to score A* grades at A level maths. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/7941327.stm
and

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/4979604/Nine-year-old-becomes-youngest-ever-to-pass-A-level-maths-with-Grade-A.html

Alongside his brother, they became the youngest kids to get A* grades at A level maths . See http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1164614/Britains-cleverest-family-They-got-maths-A-levels-primary-school--thanks-hours-study-night-75p-Dad.html. (Note, this reporter appears biased against early learning, so read with discernment).

And the parents keep insisting that it was not due to genes, but diligence and interest.
Watch an interview AND read the testimonial from the boys' parents at http://www.channel4.com/programmes/child-genius/articles/video-interview-with-wajih-and-zohaibs-parents. INSPIRING!

Hurray!

You are very welcome, Dr Gentry. I'm so pleased to have you join the Brillkids Team. I have found your book 'Raising Confident Readers-From Baby to Age 7' very, very useful in teaching my child. Thank you so much for that great book.

Further, I have read all your articles on early learning on Psychology Today and have found them extremely useful. Thank you so much for those great insights. It is rare to find an expert who believes that babies can be taught to read.

I highly recommend Dr Gentry's book and articles to all Brillkids members. Very good stuff.

A huge thank you to KL for bringing Dr Gentry on board. Very much appreciated.

Thank you so much for your very complete explanation. Very much appreciated. I've just downloaded the free curriculum and will get the Core book.

Thank you once again.

Dear @mother of faith and @fma001, thank you so much for your insights.

@mother of faith, I ordered the 'Well Trained Mind' yesterday. Will see how good it is when it arrives in the post. And thank you so much for your advice.

@fma001, I thought of buying the relevant Core Series - What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know. However, @DadDude said it was US-centric (I stay in the UK). Besides @DadDude mentioned that Rupp's book was rigorous (which is what I want), and that he was not very impressed with the Core Series texts he bought. Besides, I have read the amazon.com reviews that complain that the Core Series books are just too basic for homeschoolers. Hence, I decided to go for Rupp's book rather the Core Series texts.

I buy every curriculum book I need (because these books are rarely found in local libraries in the UK), hence I want to go for few best rather than lots. I've already ordered the 'Well Trained Mind' and 'Home Learning Year by Year' by Rupp.

Do you think I still need ' What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know'?

Dear @Tanikit, @Daddude, @sonya_post, and @fma001,

Thank you so much for your very useful advice. I have taken everything on board.

I have just ordered 'Home Learning' by Rupp suggested by @DadDude, I will request from my local library the encyclopedias suggested by @fma001, and I have checked up the excellent internet resources suggested by @sonya_post, @Tanikit, and @linzy.

Thank you so, so much. I am extremely grateful.

Best regards,
nee1

Hi PokerDad,

I teach my baby phonics using the powerpoint version of  DadDude's Fleschcards. 2 wonderful members of this great forum have converted those cards into powerpoint files.

See  the files of  'annisis' at http://forum.brillkids.com/downloads/?sa=myfiles;u=38125;pg=2 and http://forum.brillkids.com/downloads/?sa=myfiles;u=38125;pg=1. Check her files with 'Flesch' in its title.
 
Another member 'GloriaD' has done a similar thing. See http://forum.brillkids.com/downloads/?sa=myfiles;u=4872. See her files with 'phonics' in its title.

Dear @linzy, @Tanikit, @sonya_post, and @DadDude,

Thank you so much for taking time to answer my question, your excellent answers,  and the list of suggested resources. I am extremely grateful.


QUESTION:

Thank you so much to @DadDude for the list of recommended books. That is exactly what I was looking for: a catalogue of things to teach the child year by year. I've also read about the Core Knowledge Series 'What your X grader needs to know'. My question is:

1) Is Rebecca Rupp's 'Home Learning Year by Year' better and more rigorous than  'What Your X Grader Needs To Know'? I need a rigorous (but realistic) curriculum as I want the child to learn a lot. Is Rupp's book good value for money? Is there a better book or resource?

2) If yes to question 1, her book is a bit dated (published in 2000)? Does it matter that it was published in 2000? Do you have a suggestion for a more up to date rigorous curriculum?

3. I stay in the UK, hence several subjects like history, etc., taught in US and found in Rupp's book may not apply here. Apart from courses like history, do you think her curriculum will apply to the UK?

Thank you so much.

Dear all,

I am very new to homeschooling and have been wondering about the best homeschooling curriculum. What I need is something that equates a bit of what the public school system does plus some more.

Is 'The Well Trained Mind' the best curriculum for homeschooling? (I have read the rave reviews on Amazon.com). Are there any other better resources?  What curriculum did you find most effective?

Suggestions from experienced homeschooling parents are very highly welcome. Thank you so much.

@Frukc,
Thanks for the insight on Doman and technology.

@stargirl396,
Thanks for your explanation of the differences between the two books.

The boy had already graduated from University of Houston with 2 degrees: http://www.uh.edu/news-events/stories/2011articles/May2011/051011YoungOld.php


I first learnt about him from his dad's comments on a 1 star review of Flesch's  'Why Johnny can't read' on Amazon.com.

Check for the commentator named 'Robert K. Levy' on:
http://www.amazon.com/review/RPOCVT0UTXR29/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0060913401&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=#wasThisHelpful
and
http://www.amazon.com/review/RPOCVT0UTXR29/ref=cm_cd_pg_pg2?ie=UTF8&cdForum=Fx2K0I6AZ42NZW7&cdPage=2&asin=0060913401&store=books&cdThread=Tx1JY29E3JSC0J4#wasThisHelpful


So, he is doing well!