BTW Korral - You've lost your memory because you gave birth. It's true. Brain cells leach from your skull with every delivery. Some claim that you can recover and they grow back right around the time you hit menopause. At which time, your cells flow directly out of your ears while you sleep. You die before those can be replaced. 

i 2nd that

OK, now I have to also make a disclaimer. The Brain Gym that I am familiar with is really not completely "the Brain Gym" books and exercises. I am familiar with NILD; http://www.nild.net/  and very similar to that is Dianne Craft: http://www.diannecraft.org/   

Anyway, one of the things I wanted to mention, merely for "oh that is interesting" purposes, is my former chiropractor. He was very good and but I thought he also spent a lot of time in the "fever swamps" if you will. He would have me stand palms up and place different bottles of pills on them and watch them move or see if they moved in my hands at all. I would try not to laugh when he did this. His explanation was basically the same as yours as far as energy and current. Anyway, he asked me if I'd had sun stroke after one of these episodes. And I had had sun stroke about 7 years prior to this event. Then he said very calmly and seriously, "I think it effected your brain." I about fell over from laughter. And he was right. It had. All from little bottles of pills on your hands.......

Tamsyn, you explanation does make some sense.  I haven't purchased the TW products as I did think it was enough different from what we are already doing. Maybe I am very wrong.

[The following is a reply from Tamsyn to my question about the legitimacy of mid-brain activation:]

The following is a reply from Tamsyn to my question about the legitimacy of mid-brain activation:


I've been struggling with the philosophy behind mid-brain too.  Not because I ever doubted that it was real, but because my earlier research into it always led me into magick (with a k), and that's a forbidden territory to me because of my faith.  I'm really grateful for the insights from Ruwan.  He is definitely not a magician, he has a very scientific approach to it, so I've ventured to study it again.

It has to do with using a sense we don't fully utilize.  Some call it the third eye, but it stems from the pineal gland in the brain.  The pineal gland has many rods and cones just like the eye, which has puzzled scientists because there is no light there.  The pineal gland interprets electricity.  We are electric beings with currents.  I have enough experience with muscle testing, reflexology, and energy work to understand this.  I also believe that we are spririts in a physical body.  Call it a spirit or call it an aura, kirlian photography is picking up something.  I'm sending this message from a small tablet which will wirelessly send my message all over the world instantly.  It's not magic.  So if there is a part of the brain that is designed to interpret electricity, why should it be so strange that my brain is more powerful than the man-made device in front of me?

Not only are living things electric, but every thing has an electric energy.  I was going to link to a post on the TweedleWink Facebook page on Aug 31st where they talk about it, but they took it down.  I did post an excerpt so I do have this;

Quote
The right brain is photographic and receives images through visual and "other" pathways. This is very common with children and adults whose right brain pathways are sensitive and open.

Everything has a frequency. Each word has a vibration and sends energetic, electrical information outward--forming a color/shape in space as well as a feeling. Students who are blind or those with "second sight" depend on their frequency intake in order to receive these currents to learn more about the world around them. It's simply another sense... commonly referred to as the "sixth sense."

One of my early- learning friends who isn't active here is my partner in trying to figure is out.  Raymond has been so helpful.  She went to the mid-brain activation center in California (www.midbrain.com).  She assures me that it's real.  They were so surprised to have a white person show interest.  As we have gathered bits and pieces about what they do, we realized that a lot of it is the same as what they do in the Wink program, so we are taking that very seriously.  ( my package is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday!). Things like photo eye play, photographic memory, and most importantly, getting into that deep relaxation mode known as the alpha state.  At the midbrain center, Ashly discovered that the first day they mostly listen to music.  As I have become more aware of that, I can actually say that I've had an experience with this.  I woke up in the middle of the night in this state and noticed that there was light of some kind in my eyes.  This has happened before, but I usually ignore it and wake up.  This time I tried to maintain it and focus on it.  To my surprise, the distinct shape of the floral patterns on my sheets came into view.  I got excited and woke up more and the image was gone.  I can't replicate it or call that ability at will, but I have had two other experiences with it as well.  I don't think this ability is limited to children.  I also know that my ability to remember and even control my dreams may have helped, and my diet doesn't need to be changed to detox my pineal gland.  That's why many adults struggle to activate it, I think.  Children haven't been as exposed to toxins that clog it up.

I know it sounds kind of crazy, but then again, ten years ago the idea of teaching babies to read sounded crazy to me.  Here I am doing it.  It's time for the next step.

By the way, my husband read my post and said he doesn't think "magic bullet" is the right word.  It's more like a greased bullet that goes faster, or a better gun to do the job.  We don't want to take shortcuts as much as find the best way to get it done.  Right now we are playing a lot of math games to develop that part of the brain, but we are holding off on drilling multiplication memory.  Instead we are focusing on the ability to memorize things quickly and easily.  We are memorizing fun picture sequences with silly stories.  Soon enough memorizing math facts will be easier for him because we have built up the neural paths for memory.  I have heard that mid-brain activation doesn't make you smarter, it simply upgrades your brain.  I like that terminology.  No shortcuts, just faster transportation.

That's what I'm hoping for anyway.  I'm still a newbie with very little experience with it.

Part of this thread has gone completely off topic.   I am going to start a new thread on mid-brain activation....


Tanikit, as a 2nd generation ELer, what do you see is the biggest difference between yourself and say the peers you grew up with? Do you think that is because of EL or perhaps because of your mother?

.

Manda,

Not sure how long we'll be using ReadingEggs, but my little man, well, you know how cooperative he is. I had three, maybe four, really good weeks of cooperation from him. We are back at very little. My husband said he must be MY child. and he is probably right. 

Anyway, we took the test, the newness was too exciting to pass up. I am shocked at how much he actually knows. I would place him at the beginning to middle of 1st grade. Even if we do nothing else. it was worth it just to find out what the kid knows.

Education Hacker: yes, I like saying that. It rolls off the tongue much easier than say "I'm in the Early Learning Closet".

There are somethings, however, I don't think should be hacked. Well, again, this depends on  your goals. So for us, the great books is one of them. I am also starting to think that math is another. All I can do is skirt around the edges of what is starting to formulate in my brain...... I just finished a certification course in Vedic Mathematics. I am now certified to teach. Woot, woot. I took the course to determine if it was something I wanted to incorporate into our Jump Program, if it could supplement Jones Genius or even if it was worth fooling with at all. There is a lot of controversy surrounding it regarding legitimacy. It is worth fooling with and something I plan on incorporating into our math program. Now, I am not so interested in accelerating my kids (meaning mine and the daycare kids) through the early years of math. I think i want them to spend a lot of time playing with numbers and getting to know them and their personality and how they work. Jump does very good job of this and Saxon is sort of good at it (for the record, there is a lot I like about Saxon in the early years). I think RS is probably very good at, from what I've read. I am more inclined to slow down and play LOTS of games, spend time on the abacus, playing with 10 frame cards, dominoes, and dice. After that, I'll be more ready to push them quicker.

My experience with Smart Moves/Brain Gym is connected to a friend who had an adopted child with RAD. We use many of the exercises with Miss C. I should be using them with all the kids but haven't. I went to a conference where they showed before/after brain scans....truly amazing. 

So Tamysn, I want to know why you think mid-brain activation is for real. It borders on the "hoogiboogli" and "fever swamp" territory to me. I am not saying it is not for real, but I have a hard time believing that a child can flip the pages of a book and have it speak to them. I want it to be true. Philip is too young to for the testing. So, I've checked it out and read reviews on Amazon for this kind of thing. I'm still stuck at fever swamp.

Mrs. O - I'm with you. For us, this is a quality of life issue. What does it mean to live "the good life"? For me it is all tied up in the pursuit of "the good, the true and the beautiful". Or if you prefer Mortimer Alder's - Six Great Ideas: Truth, Goodness, Beauty, Liberty, Equality, Justice : Ideas We Judge By, Ideas We Act on

I think we will find a group of people much like everyone else but with a higher overall intelligence. Giving them more choices in life and endless dinner party invitations.

 

So Amanda, I went looking for a review of Reading Eggs and in the process came across this coupon code to give you an extra 3 weeks on top of the 2 week trial So I entered that one instead of yours. It didn't seem to take, so I thought it was old. Then I entered yours and it still said 14 days left in your free trial. Well, then I refreshed and now I have 65 days free. So, if anyone wants the extra code for a total of 65 free days: UKB24MBT

Mrs. Obedih, you are not on a tangent at all. And there is much about unschooling that is appealing - within limits. You are right that this is a good conversation to be having. And knowing your kid and what is appealing to that child is very important. Most children, with decent and loving parents, survive all kinds of mistakes their parents make. And not only do they survive they thrive. But it is always better not to be making the mistakes.

Since I, by nature, like to give large chunks to a child and demand that they chew on them - mostly because I didn't realize they were chunks, I need programs that guide me. Details are not my thing, so naturally I get stuck there. My 17 year old survived his homeschool education more or less intact. My daycare kids are doing well because I can go to the computer and turn it on, left click and right click and use the arrow keys. Well, maybe a little more, but only because I had lots of instruction along the way. It is helpful for me to know what to look for in a good program because I cannot break it down myself. I can manipulate, change and modify once I get the concept, but to come up with it on my own - not happening.

As far as the genius children of BK parents, we won't know for another 15 years or so. And what difference it will all make, we won't know that either for quite some time. These are still very young kids. You will have to follow them to adulthood to see if it makes a difference. And then you will have to find a way to measure what that "difference" might be. Almost every thread on this forum must be taken in the context of what your desired goal are...

The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good- natured, she thought: still it had VERY long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.

`Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. `Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and she went on. `Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'

`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.

`I don't much care where--' said Alice.

`Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.

`--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.

`Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.'

If you have no idea where you are heading and what you want to accomplish then none of this really matters and you are really just punching at the wind. Charlotte Mason only makes sense in a certain context. Same with accelerated learning, or even early learning. If you have no idea of your destination then you will certainly feel like your head is spinning. When I read about what parents are doing - as far as science and other subjects go - protons and neutrons - etc. I find it interesting but I'm not about to change what I am doing to teach my kids about those things. My goals are different. My son has no idea what protons or neutrons are or much more than the very very basics of anatomy. He likes maps but has no idea about Africa or China or about salty seas. He can spot squirrel tracks in the snow, and tell you what kinds of clouds are in the sky. He can tell you about the temperature outside and identify squash beetles and whiteflies on eggplants. This is not saying that anyone who teaches about protons is wrong.

There is a thread on here with Robert Levy and accelerated math. I follow the thread, but I'm not sucked in and don't comment. Robert Levy's goals for his son are not the goals I have for mine. His path will not get me to my desired destination. But he has certainly done a fine job of raising his son and he did get to his destination. If his goals happen to be the same as yours - well I'd go talk to him because he knows how to get it done.

So yes, these kinds of conversations need to exist - mostly so we can all figure out what the heck we are trying to do.

The spiral approach works for many kids. You will get no argument there from me. And we all agree what there needs to be lots of review. No one is suggesting that you shouldn't do lots of review. Nor am I using my obvious bias against Saxon as that program caused so many problems for us. There are objective studies we can look at. It's true there is not a one size fits all either.....but I do think that the programs that work have a lot in common.

Doman math may indeed be a parental issue. But I can't make the program work if I can't use it. Not even LR works for all kids. But then you can certainly take Daddudes plan - which is really just a different application of the same principles and techniques of Doman - and go that route. I think we are probably a ways from making an effectual Doman Style EL math program that will work with most children.

Nee,

I just finished reading your link to the blog post. And she does a very good job of describing what I would call the difference between neo-classicists and what was considered a classical education long ago. The idea of the gymnasium and the university come from Greek ideas about education. A full explanation in the original context can be found by reading "A History of Education in Antiquity" http://www.amazon.com/History-Education-Antiquity-Wisconsin-Classics/dp/0299088146/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362096390&sr=8-1&keywords=education+in+antiquity. Worthy of reading but painful.
This proves even more my feeling that Charlotte Mason is more classical than most of the current classical movement.

Wolfwind - it seems like most programs do what I described - assuming they are making connections to the world they live in - however, they do not. There are subtle distinctions that programs tinker with and some major ones as well. Current whole language for 6 year olds without a phonics base. New Math which introduces abstract thinking and all kinds of other "junk" into the curriculum which is a dismal failure. I will even mention Saxon Math here - but not to start a fight but to define the distinctions as I clearly see them now - after using Jump and having used Saxon. Jump does exactly what I described above. The jump fellow had to rely on all sorts of research to determine how to teach what 400 years ago we just knew. They teach new skills in the smallest possible increment and add new steps only when the child has mastered the previous. Saxon uses a spiral approach. This means that concepts are given and we hope the child gets them; if not we are going to spiral back around to it again and perhaps then the child will get it.  Saxon works for some kids, but I don't think you can even say that it works for most kids. And if you go to the What Works Clearinghouse, kids who use the Saxon Algebra 1 text actually are hurt by it rather than helped. I also liked MEP for many reasons, but after using Jump and liking it so much, I can see MANY flaws in that program also. Nee mentioned long ago that she didn't know how any child would gain math mastery using it. I was supplementing a lot using it. It doesn't fit the criteria of a good program either. But some kids will do fine with it. Many are doing fine, but as Hellene says - the gifted get it and the rest of the children are left with a large standard deviation........that shouldn't be acceptable.

 

I don't have a lot of good answers exactly as this sort of thing is new to me right now. But as Hellene and I were talking she mentioned somethings that got me thinking:

1. Soft Mozart and Jump Math both break things down to the smallest bites. Soft Mozart isn't quite as small as Jump Math, but it can be easily modified to make that happen.Also, both assume mastery of certain things before moving on. Jump is incremental and works to mastery before introducing a new concept. The heavy use of manipulatives in Jump and the screen in Soft Mozart help a child make concrete connections to real things.

2. Brillkids basically does the same thing with reading and music. Only because we are working with a babies, we place words in front of them associated with  all the things a child already knows. We grow by repetition and small increments to couplets and phrases then sentences then paragraphs. There is the ease of going back to pick up what the child isn't getting and then moving ahead. I also think that the problem with Doman Math and why it doesn't work as well as reading does is that there is no real way for a child to make sense of the abstract concepts of math. There is no way to integrate it into their lives. It works fine for a lot of people, but I think those kids are what the Jump math creator would say are gifted and at the right of the bell curve. Or as Hellene says, the ones who make it through bad music lessons are the ones who are naturally gifted in music.

I suspect that all bad methods will work for some children. But because a child can use it and learn does not mean a child is getting the most that he/she could if given a good program. I am going to give the Didactica Magna a quick read over the weekend and I can answer this fully.

Nee,

I foudn it interesting that Charlotte Mason is not a phonics only person. Her approach is more a combination of sight/phonics. Very short lessons and lots of memorizing of word families.

I was just having a conversation with Hellene Hiner, creator of Soft Mozart. We covered the topics of Jump math, music education, bell curves and Latin. I found what she had to say very interesting as we talked about the method of educating children. Her contention is that every program that works is essentially the same. Every program that doesn't work - they are all different. She mentioned John Amos Comenius, who is her educational hero, and he just so happens to be my Latin language hero. His books are the first books we use to teach Latin.

Jump math works because it follows a certain model. Soft Mozart follows the same model, so does Doman, Brillkids, and a bunch of other programs we all love so well. It isn't revolutionary. But, I thought I'd post this bit from Wikipedia and tell you that while the rest of the world is trying hard to figure out what to do to fix the educational problem, over here, we are just following in the old paths of people who've come before us.

The third aspect of his educational influence was that on the subject matter and method of education, exerted through a series of textbooks of an entirely new nature. The first-published of these was the Janua Linguarum Reserata (The Gate of Tongues Unlocked), issued in 1631. This was followed later by a more elementary text, the Vestibulum, and a more advanced one, the Atrium, and other texts. In 1657 the Orbis Sensualium Pictus was published, probably the most renowned and most widely circulated of school textbooks. It was also the first successful application of illustrations to the work of teaching, though not, as often stated, the first illustrated book for children.[11]

These texts were all based on the same fundamental ideas: (1) learning foreign languages through the vernacular; (2) obtaining ideas through objects rather than words; (3) starting with objects most familiar to the child to introduce him to both the new language and the more remote world of objects: (4) giving the child a comprehensive knowledge of his environment, physical and social, as well as instruction in religious, moral, and classical subjects; (5) making this acquisition of a compendium of knowledge a pleasure rather than a task; and (6) making instruction universal. While the formulation of many of these ideas is open to criticism from more recent points of view, and while the naturalistic conception of education is one based on crude analogies, the importance of the Comenian influence in education has been recognized since the middle of the nineteenth century. The educational writings of Comenius comprise more than forty titles. In 1892 the three-hundredth anniversary of Comenius was very generally celebrated by educators, and at that time the Comenian Society for the study and publication of his works was formed.[11]

Now off to find his books on education.


EDIT: Here is a link to the Didactica Magna in English. Warning: The guy was a Moravian Bishop. http://core.roehampton.ac.uk/digital/froarc/comgre/