My DS read his first easy reader (one of the Brill Kids very easy readers) from front to cover last night!!!

Before last night, he would give up after a few sentences. This is the first time he went from beginning to end, I really couldn't be prouder. A few notes (sticking points, interesting observations etc):

1) I worried a lot about what he ought to be demonstrating    Some parents on here will remember me posting about him not liking me reading to him etc. Well what worked with that was changing the books to ones he liked and easing him into a new story by discussing pictures first and talking about the story during play time when there was a connection. Basically it's important to get support/advise from here so you can keep modifying what you do until you get the result you want.

2) For me it was a multi-attack approach My husband almost lost his mind with the resources I kept buying (but hunny it's to make it easier for YOU I would say, so you don't have to look for and print materials!) Sometimes DS would get tired of one thing and I could use something else more. LR, My Montessori House, Youtube, YBCR, Preschool Prep and Reading Bear combined made the biggest impact I think (we used more though! Jolly Phonics is one that DS loved on a personal level I have to say, he would NOT sleep without reading it and singing with the actions for months). But I do feel that this really upped his screen time. And I don't think it was the only way AT ALL, I just didn't have a clue what I was doing and also my DS was full time carer of my son so I needed to make it easy for everybody to keep up with.

3) Somethings took months of repetition and then when he got it, he was flying. E.g we spent months doing first line section of Reading Bear (words with A), ages doing the slow sounding out, before we could move on to fast sounding out, before he could sound out on his own, before he could blend, before he recognised most words I mean I thought it would take a year or more to finish RB at the pace we were going. But E words went much quicker and he seemed to know all the I words (at this point he was asking me to move on  ) I know this is standard from what I've read here, but I found it surprising non the less.

4) DS knew a lot more than he was willing to demonstrate. Again standard. But annoying non the less! I gave up very early trying to 'show off' his skills because he made it very clear that was never gonna happen. But I knew that he knew somethings that he was not prepared to show me just for the asking. The rule of focus on input forget about output i.e. no (or little) testing was important. I think it was really only with Reading Bear that he usually had to sound out, but even then I didn't force it if he didn't want to. I would definitely say I encouraged him even when he resisted, sometimes he just needed sometime to get used t something, but if he persistently refused I would leave the matter. I have to say that I feel a key element to his getting to where we are now is keeping his stress levels low, he is a VERY attached baby (still breastfeeds even) and we use gentle discipline techniques. A stressed brain doesn't function as optimally, so I feel this was really important.

5. Native reading was pretty important in our journey especially running my finger under the words while reading, getting him to read a few words when I was reading to him, reading out road signs, food packets etc. We had flash cards of sight words stuck on a display and generally lying around Books always lying around and handy. We spelt out words during his bath time, LeapFrog fridge magnets that sound out phonics), a Jolly Phonics poster by his chair next to the dining table so he could play with it while or after eating. One thing I would love to have done but didn't get round to was labelling stuff around the house, plan to get round to this eventually for him or 2nd baby whenever we have one! I know it sounds like a lot, but it just became part of our lives, part of parenting him. Quite frankly we don't know any different as DS is our first child, so its just what it took for us to live our parenting philosophy.

6. Moving forward what's next: More reading practice so he can read for longer periods of time, and slowly building his reading levels and comprehension (vocabulary building). We are more focused on math and french now and I want to really establish that as well (maybe Mandarin too). Very important to me is getting his day to have a more consistent rhythm, with time to practice life skills and build academic readiness like using worksheets, number/letter stamps and sitting still! I would also like to be more consistent with bible studies, and finally to take music lessons further than what we do with LMs. But all in all I am pretty confident I can cover our aims.

I have to say that discovering EL has completely changed our family and approach to parenting and I have loved every minute of it. You guys on this forum are AMAZING and I cannot thank you enough for every resource and book recommendation made on here. My DS is never going to be a stereotype. In fact he's not going to be 'ordinary' (as the word is understood) and I am just fine with that. Why have him be ordinary when I can give him the gift of having the skills, talent and work ethic to pursue whatever dreams he has?

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

I would have loved to find an add in my local for an advanced curriculum or even an advanced preschool! Have you considered just focussing on one age group? It might work with EL if you were very clear on your intentions in your advertising. Personally I would have liked an add that said " looking for someone to not just look after your child but REALLY teach them something? Early math, reading, phonics, music and a second language all taught here! I would have payed almost double for that!
The type of parent issue is a big one I think. I love my work but I value my kids education even more...I could be scary to deal with I suppose  But it takes one to know one hey! You are reading this so there for you are one of those parents! ( I actually said that to all the parents who turned up for my parent teacher talk...I said it as a compliment!  )
I say go for it! Advertise exactly what you really want to say. At least you will get the kids you want to have then. If no one calls then just change the approach a bit.
We have loads of rules here to cover for home daycare. LR is actually not aloud to be used as a reading program but provided one of your kids needs vocabulary development ( what kid doesn't?) you can use it for that! I use it in preschool and I can because it has phonics in it AND the kids request it if I forget! Child requests are gold in this industry! Of course that wouldn't stop me and my neighbour using it with our kids in care anyway

Mandabplus3, you have just written the intro line for front page of my website, thank you! I am focusing on 0 - 5 year olds, which is the age range covered by the UK's EYFS. I have actually decided to stay true to EL and tell it like it is. We will have fun but there will be learning as well, I want the parents who get that. I am hoping to have a client portal that can buffer me from having unnecessary contact with parents  I will share each child activities/pic/videos with their parent using this. I figure if I am very structured from the start and clear about how I intend to meet the child and parents' needs there should not be too much slack. Won't be registered till probably Feb now so lots of time to draw up my policies and put operational processes and procedures in place. I want to be VERY professional in my approach, and you never know if all goes well and I get good results, I may be able to share the EL learning model we use here with others and get them to adopt it!

Will put my website link up for feedback when it's all done. Thanks for all the advise and encouragement!

Thanks a lot for the responses!

Waterdreamer - I've been snooping around your blog lately  so I knew you were one of the mom's offering day care services, thanks for your advice. It pretty much fits into the position I was shaping in my head, to mention it but not go too far so as not to scare parents of. I have also considered the challenge of running individualised programmes for 3 different kids (I know the challenge moms with 3 EL kids have - I think most of us agreed that EL had affected how we planned to space out having kids). The UK has an early learning curriculum (EYFS) childminders are legally required to deliver (of course what we do here outstrips that by far) and part of the requirement for that is planning and record keeping for each child. I figure I'd have to do this anyway, so just incorporate EL activities to meet the EYFS targets. It's still gonna be a challenge though. Do you have a website for your childcare business?


TeachingMyToddlers - I love that ad! See that's exactly my dilemma, my sensible head says don't go too far out there, but another part of me just knows that there are some parents out there who value that kind of approach and to just state my position and wait for my target customer. At the end of the day the parent is not going to be 'delighted' with my service if they don't care about EL or even worry about it's potential negative effect. You would totally find the kind of parent you describe, the question is as you state, would it be worth the hassle for you. BTW I completely assumed you would homeschool because you've had such success teaching your little ones, I guess after schooling hasn't slowed Mandabplus3 any, so I see why you leave the option open 


Mummyroo - I called my local family info service the other day and they said there were over 30 childminders within a mile radius of my address and  20 of those had vacancies! Talk about over supply  I am hoping that a carefully packaged offering and early sustained advertising (even before my Ofsted registration is complete) may generate a bit of a waiting list. To be honest the childminder ads I've seen mostly sound the same, it's hard to pick one over another as no real distinguishing points, so I am hoping standing out from the crowd a bit helps rather than hinders. At least my price point will not exceed the top end of what is being charged so I'm asking parents to make a decision on potential outcomes, without paying over the odds. I'll share my progress here so you can see how I get on.

I am preparing to start a home day care business next year and plan to explicitly advertise as an EL centre. Does anyone do this already? I know a few parents here run home daycares and do involve the children in EL activities but how much was this desired by the parents you care for? Did they choose you because of EL or do you down play it for fear that they will be scared of pressurizing their kids?

I plan to express my approach as a combination of attachment parenting, EL and Montessori esp. life skills. I would probably only take a maximum of two full time kids so don't need lots of demand anyway but wanted advise on how explicit you would be in my situation.

Final question is do you think it would it be copyright infringement to have a page of school resources on the website showing products we use e.g. brill kids, YBCR, etc. Would I need t seek permission to do this? I am based in the UK btw.

Really looking forward to sharing all I have and still am learning with other appreciative families!

Very interesting question TheyCan, and no you're not the only one who overthinks the matter. I always thought I wanted a football team size family    but attachment parenting and doing EL with my now 2 year old son has shown me that I can have a real depth of relationship with less children. Like 2 perhaps? To be honest when it comes down to it I think my decision will be most influenced by how much income our family has and how seriously I take that gnawing feeling one gets after most recent baby becomes an independent toddler

@Pokerdad - thank you very much for your helpful addition! I will read those threads again (I am sure I came across them during my time of reading through BK forum posts, but forgot about it). Yes, I remember conversations about Soroban and Anzan, but somehow thought this would be added at a later stage. Will read through and see if it Douglas can handle it during this next EL year (2-3 that is). Number line is good especially as it can be a drawn one not a manipulative. The thing is I'm going to have to learn how to use these things before teaching my DS, good thing I'm starting early . Thanks again.

@Nee1 - I think I actually first read about Wajih and Zohaib from your post! The watched the full documentary on Channel 4. Thanks for your post to reasons for math, because it really does not come naturally for me to assume math superiority (although intellectually I get it and am starting to get it even more). The links to aangeles and TmT I will read through also. Really glad though that it is not a case of one being better than the other, working hard to make him strong at both I can definitely get behind.

@Korrale4kq - I really love the idea of doing math games, we sort of do that now using Marshmellow Math, but like I said math is not my strength so I am learning via the resources we gather as much as Douglas is. Would Mathtacular kit and DVD1 be a good enough start for math games? I know Touch math is prohibitively expensive, do your recommend Rightstart kit over Mathtacular's? It's a lot more expensive and we could buy an abacus or soroban separately? I appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thanks so much for all the advise and links, I feel more confident about setting our agenda for this year!

Thank you so much for your response Robert, I do feel honoured to have you guidance on this (not to add to the hero worship or anything   )

I will do as you recommend. He knows his numbers to 20 and we were working on number value but I won't hesitate now to add maths facts in song and flash card format. I may not have been taught math in a way that left me with a burning passion but he certainly seems to enjoy it, probably from his dad's genes. I hope to remedy my maths issues through homeschooling so I can help Douglas, certainly bearing in mind that it is not always going to be enjoyable for him OR ME should steel my will to ensure he is not in the position I am in now with regards to my feelings about numbers.

Glad you do not necessarily think literature is pointless, just that maths has a higher probability of guaranteeing success in later life which even  I cannot argue with - my lack of enjoying maths led to me qualifying as a secondary school teacher    Although not too long after I knew it was not the right career for me and left to EL and ultimately homeschool my son - that is how traumatised I was by what I saw in schools even Ofsted rated Outstanding ones. I very quickly felt disillusioned with the school system in the UK and even the tools I was given to do the job - and I was trained via the Oxbridge of teacher training institutions in the country. Perhaps it was just me, but like Mandab said I felt I learnt more about educational philosophy from this website than the essays I had to write for my teacher training. The different styles of learning and curricula I was exposed to through my research into early learning and homeschooling made me want to cry at some of the programmes I was required to teach - not to talk of the abilities majority of pupils had after years in education at their final years of secondary school and even sixth form (15years to 18/19 years). It was truly shocking. I am talking about students about to go into university who cannot write grammatically correct structured work.

I feel reading was the  that enabled me to be a good writer, I do not remember being formally taught grammer although given the schools I was in in my indigenous hometown Nigeria, I probably was! But I know my love of reading opened many doors and opportunities for me, so while I am passionate about sharing that with my son, I DEFINITELY want to do better than me with math. So Robert we shall be following your recommendation for math and thank you very much for bravely facing down critics of your methods, so parents like us can benefit from you willingness to tread the less beaten path.

God bless,
Davinia

Got it! I will check that out - it would be helpful to understand this more. I have been following the forum post bout stages in reading and will continue to see if something there sheds some light.

If any one else is able to shed anymore light I would be very grateful.

I have been following this thread since it started and especially closely after you entered the conversation Robert, and I have to admit that I had mixed feelings at the start. I understand that a lot of accelerated kids focus on Math, there was a popular programme in the UK on child prodigies were an Asian family were very clear that it was hard work that earned their sons' achievements, watch them respond to the very negative feedback they received for their sharing their methods - http://www.channel4.com/programmes/child-genius/articles/video-interview-with-wajih-and-zohaibs-parents

I guess I'd always thought literature was better able to provide a well rounded education so I had always planned to use a literature-based homeschool curriculum like Sonlight and use something else for math like Saxon. But I'd never thought I would have a specific maths focus for my son, well one because I really did not like maths myself much in school and thought of myself as a word person not a number person. It's not that I did not do well in it, I was still above average in my class, but I never really felt like I got is or enjoyed it and that has continued until now.

I know maths is important, although I still find myself googliing that phrase for evidence to really sell me on it, but I have never given serious consideration to emphasizing math with my son until after reading this thread. So here is my question for you Robert or Mandabplus3 or anyone who wishes to chime in really - to achieve the things we're talking about here what goals should I set for my two year old son (he's two this Thursday) for us to achieve by 3. Robert I know you started with David at 3.5 yrs and Mandab you started earlier, what would you suggest should be my goals from this year moving forard, even in terms of concentration time, his understanding of work vs play time etc.


Many thanks for all the insight and passion shared on this thread!

Davinia

These are excellent resources Andrea thank you!! Looking forward to trying these out    and will feedback on how we get on!

May I please ask your experience with transitioning from reading individual words to reading sentences? My son doesn't yet talk in full sentences, he's just using 3 sometimes 4 word phrases to communicate. So I am wondering if he doesn't like to read many words because he is developmentally unable to (in terms of mouth muscle) or if it is just a challenge barrier we have to work through? I was thinking of using flash cards to build short sentences?

Thanks again,
Davinia

Thank you andreasro! At least I know I am not the only parent who has experienced this. I'll definitely experiment with home made books on his favourite topics and choose books according to his interest rather than my classical inclinations. Thnks for your advise and encouragement 

I would really appreciate some suggestions of how to increase my sons enjoyment of story time. I probably only get to read him one book at nap and story time. Maybe a few more if he brings it to me or is in the mood. But generally speaking he has his favourite books and if they are short - he might let me read them to him. If they are long he prefers to 'read them' himself i.e discuss the storyline using the pictures. When he wants me to read to him he'll run his finger under the words and hum. I feel like he prefers short toddler books with simple words he knows and a storyline he can follow. If they story is too long he seems to get lost in all the words and will blatantly show his loss of interest. I don't know if this is connected but he reads lots of words on flashcards and if presented independently, but not when they are put together in a sentence/book form. Was thinking of making books for him to grab his interest in being willing to sit for reading time. I do not feel his attention span is generally the problem as we have hour long morning lessons but we do a variety of short activities in that time e.g reading bear, LM, LMs, LR, phonics etc. He knows shapes, colours, numbers etc. Loves learning, just seems hate listening to me reading to him for too long    We are trying to follow Before five in a row, most of the books from it he really loves. Maybe it's my book choices outside of this that are age inappropriate??

Any advise from parents who have big readers and toddlers who love read alouds would be very much appreciated. Oh and my DS is 2 years old this Friday.

Hello Nuria2012,

 Glad to hear there is some improvement with your LO's reactions  

Thought I'd offer a few suggestions that have worked with my DS. I do have to manage overloading him as well, I tended to be over enthusiatic and left him feeling pressurised and things weren't fun any more. Here's what I learned to STOP doing under loud dramatic protest! :

1. Do not insist on choosing his dvds - he'll take it out if he's bored anyway! Offer him a choice of DVDs and let him watch what he wants. If he's driving me mad with one in particular I leave that till evening. I suggest dvds to him but don't force, i sometimes will say either this dvd or go play if I am trying to interest him in sth new. But he's generally good at picking the dvds he needs to fill his own knowledge gaps or entertainment needs.

2. Do not correct him all the time and when i do i try to be polite and quickly move on. E.g "yes that does look like a 7 but i think it's a 1" For ages he insisted on calling the diamond shape "hot" he'd obviously seen something somewhere that made a connection for him. I didn't correct him alot on this but left preschool prep dvd to do that over time. Same with LR correcting his confusion over donkey and horse! Constantly correcting  is as frustrating and rude for them as it is for us if a friend or boss at work were doing the same.

3. Do not turn everygame he is playing into a learning opportunity. Whatever he's doing with foam numbers flashcard or the phonics flip chart thingy is not my business unless he calls me over or comes to show me    I found interjecting to show him the 'correct' way often had him chuck the things all over and wail in protest.

4. Outdoors time everyday regardless of weather. Well i try! We play physical games indoors and he has recently started enjoying a few play dates, he loves being social and busy, so I help him be so.

5. Do not insist on activities or books or flash cards if he pushes my hand away. Rather, I have EL centres around our home, our living room is basically his classroom, so whatever he chooses to do on his own (and he has plenty alone time now at 2 (in two weeks) where i leave him in the living room with music or a dvd on and he comes and goes frm me as he wants. Flash cards are stuck on the wall and left lying around for him to play with. Really my job is providing variety and interesting intellectual food for him to feast on at his own pace!

I read I think from John Holt that children are often reminded of their own powerlessness and that can feel humiliating for them. This touched me deeply and I saw my son's tantrums and upsets differently in light of that. So I do what I can to ensure he feels empowered by EL and make sure it does not become yet one more thing in his world he has not control over, that leaves him feeling overwhelmed and disempowered.

Hope something in there helps! 

Oh yes I think high school would probably kill my joy of teaching.
I find my room a bit restrictive at times but I am the final say there for the 4 year olds so tough to the naysayers
 I taught 18 3-4 year olds today to decode CVC words. This was our first attempt at it so it was group work and I saw evidence of 8 kids who " got it" and were successfully decoding words already! I can't believe how easy it was and i can't believe it isn't done in every kindy!
Yesterday I taught them to read their colour words ( whole words method) and 90% could read those words this morning. We now sing all our nursery rhymes by following the words.
 This whole week we have been learning counting and numeral recognition to 30. Honestly I think in one week with these little sponges I have covered what some teachers manage in a whole year at age 6. I spent the afternoon making more flash cards for them. I have ordered an electronic white board so I can use them in digital format ( LR and LMusic) and save on printing. Then I can sneak in some real EL. 
We have preschool prep stuff and LOVE it! My own son has successfully transferred his preschool prep learning to his reading (so I will use them in Kindy too.) they are so attractive to children.
Enjoy your new lifestyle

Thank you Mandabplus3    You really are doing well to teach them so much in such a short time. As others have said well done you for bring your own resources to the classroom, and getting in IWB for the Brillkids software is brilliant! It really would be great to see it if you can get permission from parents to film and share. We're just getting into Preschool Prep but very excited to see it consolidate somethings we already have a foundation in, like shapes and colours. Bless your ongoing efforts!!

Responses!!! 

@ Korrale4kq: Hard work is right!  (some might say nagging ). Looking forward to increasing our reading time to nearer what you're doing, an hour of reading a day seems a distant but good goal for us! I got the Montessori House DVDs on recommendation from TmT I think, precisely to introduce blending at the time he was starting to get a grasp of phonic sounds because I wanted him to understand what you did with the sounds, and how that could help him figure a word out. I was doubtful at first because the graphics seemed soooo simple, but by gosh he loves it (asks for it by telling me 'hello helllloooo'). And it seems to have served the intended purpose. So when we're doing YBCR flashcards and he calls 'Book' 'Kick' or vice versa, I sound out for him and ask him to sound out the letters and figure it out rather than guess. MH DVDs definitely helped us start blending. We also got the printable books which he really loves and definitely helps to reinforce how blending works, like the dvd, it introduces the individual sounds, then blends them into words as a funny story is told. But if James is reading so well already (15mins outloud is a lot of stamina) I don't know how much value this will add for him, but I would certainly recommend it as an introductory level to blending.

@ Kerileanne99: I 100% agree. It seemed like such a waste that I was doing all this research and had all this information which often gets lost in translation anyway. Like, I just couldn't get DH to agree to exclusively speak french to our son, it took a bit of 'work' to get him to consistently use letter sounds instead of names with DS. That said, I do feel a bit nervous that after all my nagging I can deliver as well as DH ultimately has. Not that it's a competition or anything  but you know ... I do bang on about the right techniques rather a lot  Just glad that this decision feels right for all of us.

@ TmT: I watch your videos on youtube and take your recommendation VERY seriously  It's difficult getting a lot of EL stuff in the UK, but I just got the Ultimate Preschool Prep pack from Zulilly this very week, on your recommendation - really looking forward to using the readers (I saw your DD and DH reading so well with them on Youtube!). I will definitely be needing some advise on how to implement some of the strategies you've used with LMs, I don't know if I'm very good at crafts but am looking forward to finding out trying to make some of the scale/chord learning materials in your post about teaching with LMs. Well done you for being so organised about the learning of your babies

@ Mandabplus3: Wow! How lucky you get to take your kids to work and use your EL skills and knowledge too. This is something I think is very important to DH and I now, that we try to make career choices that allow us to be together with kids more often than not. I taught high school kids in very challenging schools in the UK, teaching in primary and lower years is considered the creme de la creme of the teaching profession especially in terms of how rewarding it can be. I found I lost my joy in my job. I DON'T think all this EL and homeschooling reading helped either  I just saw how different learning could be and started to find the school environment very toxic and their curriculums and attitudes mind numbingly narrow (not just for the kids but for us teaching staff too). In the end I knew I didn't want to be part of that anymore. But early years and primary is a completely different story as I'm sure you've found. Maybe after I've been home for a while like yourself I may feel drawn to teaching again. But for now, I'm definitely excited to build on my DH hard work. We're actually doing handover induction training for me at the moment 

I have been skulking around reading for months, I have a favourite folder full of starred posts I come back to often and am making my way through a lot of the book recommendations. So grateful for the free links and just the knowledge I've found on this forum, I've learnt as much about education, teaching and learning from the references given here as I did from my initial teacher training. God bless you guys for that. And bless KL for bringing likeminded parents together, because in the 'real' world what we're doing really is going against the grain and often discouraged with lots of fearmongering to boot.