Definitely jeans. The dress standard for women in my husband's worship service is skirts or dresses, and everytime I wear them I feel pouty  . Perhaps I'm a bit old to feel pouty, but I get the feeling nonetheless. Perhaps a result of unfortunate Sunday mornings in my childhood spent in the cryer room, itching uncomfortably in tulle dresses, wishing I could be gallavanting around the backyard in shorts. 

In order to keep them engaged- I will ask alot of questions and talk about visualizations in the course of doing the poses. Like, for a tree pose, "what kind of a tree are you- where do you live- do you grow any fruit? I'm a mango tree near a tropical beach- I feel the warm sun on my branches, and breathe in the salty sea air." Its not meditative yoga, per se, until the very end, when we rest on our backs and stretch into a starfish position. I'm sure it would not be easy to do it continuously, pose to pose, for the whole time. Like I said, we'll do a sequence of a few poses, and then do some wiggling and dancing, and then continue. I try to avoid poses that require an extensive amount of balance or where they could potentially fall or get hurt. Sometimes I will move over and adjust their poses, but sometimes I'll say something to the effect of "Okay, can you strreeeeeetch your arms up higher? Can you reeeeach for the sun? " or in warrior poses "Can you beeeend a little more and show how you are a powerful warrior? Can you make a warrior face, but keep your arms and legs still? Warriors can be powerful without hurting others. " Kids LOVE opportunities to make faces.

I highly suggest a book (published by a local Utah author- not sure how widely it's distributed) called "Create a Yoga Practice for Kids" by Yael Calhoun and Matthew R. Calhoun, published by Sunstone Press.

I teach basic yoga positions in my preschool/daycare, and it is really fun. I bought some inexpensive mats (about $10 each), but I usually only have 2 preschoolers at a time doing yoga- the rest of the children are under 2. I place the littlest ones in playyards that face us so that they can see what we are doing and move around safely. If there is only one little one, I'll let him crawl around us as we do the poses- he likes to crawl under my legs, which the kids think is very funny. I play Glen Velez's "Rhythm of the Chakras 2", which has some wonderful drumming and percussive music. I feel the sounds vibrate in certain chakras while we listen to each track- very cool!

As far as what positions we do- I just try to do two or three successive poses before wiggling and moving around a bit so that the kids have fun. We start with some breath exercises, and do most of these poses on any given week:

http://www.yogacards.com/images-4/sun-salutations-l.jpg
http://www.yogacards.com/images-4/asana-card9a-L.jpg
http://www.humanecology.com.au/Images/asanas.jpg

My kids love the locust pose (aka the Superman pose) seen on the bottom left here:
http://www.yogacards.com/images-4/asana-card5-L.jpg


We also pretend to be animals, and we'll try to imitate world animal dances we see on YouTube during "breaks" between yoga poses. Youtube search "Tiger dance" and you'll see what I mean. Usually yoga time is goes about 15-20 minutes, and I do it daily in the midafternoon.

Cassidy- thank you for this! I think it's especially important for young ones to see what all of these older technologies and products look like, as they have nearly disappeared from their experience (at least in the United States). Sadly- when they lack understanding about these items, it makes it far more difficult to understand older and classical literature. Life in the 1700s or 1800s may sound completely foreign to them, and once they are in middle and high school, many experience a disconnect with literatary classics because too much doesn't make any sense to them. As as teacher, I see so much value in fairy tales, folk tales, and fables, or collections like "Little House on the Prairie", especially because they give glimpses into the lives and practices of other times- which in turn will open conceptual doors for students when learning history, literature, etc and make it "real". 

Thank you thank you!

Hafam- thank you for your helpful breakdown of the Doman math approach   .  I'm reading about the Shichida method, and it bears some resemblance to the Singapore Math program, which I have worked with. Singapore Math, like Shichida and Doman, focuses more seeing numbers in space, as dots, groups, etc, and builds on the operations (addition, subtraction, etc) as conceptual number stories. Singapore math is very good about grouping numbers, like base 10, to help students process equations in a more simplified manner (ie. 36 + 23 is really 36+ 20 + 3 or 30+20+6+3).  I really like the introduction of numbers in the Doman approach, as it seems I was the other end as an educator, trying to re-introduce number concepts to students that had never really understood what numbers and operations represent. The learning process is much smoother for students that can conceptualize what word problems really are- real world number stories, since often times as a tutor I had to teach them how to  "read" math problems and identify key words and phrases that indicated what operations were needed. However, more complex math became next to impossible for some because they lacked the foundation of problem-solving experience. The "equation sessions" sound like a great way to start from an early age!

One area where I think teacher spelling has become a critical issue is in substitute and bilingual education, especially in low-income urban areas. I taught first grade in the South Bronx (New York City), and was allowed one "prep" period per day. I cannot tell you the number of times I cringed as I watched the prep class (literally, a 45 minute "filler" class period of fluff and coloring pages) teachers write things like "hollyday" and "oxigyn" on the board. This was not, however, unique to only bilingual teachers, though I think that bilingual educators need to be truly bilingual. There were plenty of native-English-speaking teachers who had similar spelling issues. I became convinced that so many educational challenges that children face in low-income areas (vernacular language, spelling and grammatical struggles) are further complicated by less-qualified and emergency-credentialed teachers.

Often times I found it was preferable to lose the prep period, use the prep teacher as a teaching assistant for small group reading, and teach my own lesson. It would take more time to ultimately undo the damage long-term from taking the prep instead of just teaching during that time.

Yes, I see that tax-payer dollars shouldn't go to underqualified teachers. But- it's hard to lure qualified teachers to the areas that really need them, and the teachers that come out of low-income areas are often lured to better paying teaching positions elsewhere.

Hi Shaden!

I just thought I'd add- I really like the "Baby Signing Time" and "Signing Time" DVDs because they both instruct in ASL and show the words on the screen in context. Example: "Garden", they will show the word, the ASL sign (numerous times) and several videos of gardens, children in gardens, gardening, etc. I really like Signing Time. There is not as much overt repetition of the words as YBCR, but the songs are very catchy and the children begin recognizing the words because they learn the songs and start to make the association. I am not a fan of showing too much TV to kids, but I wholeheartedly love our Signing Time "time" each morning, since we all participate- signing, singing, and reading.

Along these lines, a sing-along DVD may also be a good pick, if the text doesn't go too fast. I know my kids are pretty hooked on Disney tunes, and once they know the songs, they can follow the text on screen and once again, make the associations with the words on-screen and the lyrics. I don't presently have any, but I have used these in the past, also because they are great for phonemic awareness (rhyming patterns, etc)

Hope that helps!

Dear Shaden,

There are a number of assessments available for use with very early childhood learners. I worked as a private educational consultant in New York City, and there is substantial use of some of these types of assessments when screening applicants to the private nursery schools and kindergartens in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. I simply caution you to be sure that you are always approaching these types of assessments with the intent to further foster the joy of learning in your little one, as I have seen too many parents approach very young children with unreasonable expectations and pressures to "perform" on these. However, given that you are on this site, I suspect this won't be an issue for you 

Here is a link to a publication by the Pennsylvania Early Learning Task Force. If you skip to the end of the document, you will see a matrix with the names of several assessments, as well as what age ranges they are developmentally appropriate for. http://www.pde.state.pa.us/early_childhood/lib/early_childhood/Early_Childhood_Assessment_For_Children_From_Birth_to_Age_%E2%80%A6.pdf

Also- in NYC private schools, they use the ERB assessments (ECAA/CPAA/CPLA). For more information about these assessments, check out http://www.erbtest.org

I know that in Manhattan there are people who work as full-time educational consultants, working with parents to assess their child's skills and areas for further growth- this is more or less what I did there, even with young children (ages 2-5). It may seem strange to some, but for parents that were not able to stay home and teach their own children, they sought out consultants to assess their children and foster fun learning activities with the children prior to/while in Jr. PreK/PreK.

I hope this helps! Feel free to message me if you have other questions!

Hi Brillkids families and educators!

My name is Ariadna, and I'm a mom to a mischievous and delightful 12 month old boy named Gabriel. I am a native Spanish speaker (mom is Mexican), and I grew up in Florida. I graduated from Princeton University undergrad (Go Tigers!) as a cultural anthropology major and Fordham Grad School of Education (Childhood Education). I taught bilingual early childhood students in New York City as a Teach for America Corps member, and went on to privately tutor students throughout the city. After getting married, my DH and I moved out to Utah, where I directed a series of tutoring centers K-8 and taught PreK and Kindergarten in one of our centers. After having my little guy, I opened HipKids Holistic Preschool and Daycare from my home.

After spending several years in public and private education, I wanted to design a program that I felt incorporated methodologies I really support. I enjoy the books and programs designed by Glenn Doman (Gentle Revolution), Robert Titzer, Rudolf Steiner, Teaching Tolerance, and Seigfried Englemann, to name a few. I've tried to create a program that incorporates their methods. I also teach Spanish and American Sign Language to my students by incorporating those languages in our routines and using a hodepodge of books, letter activities, songs, and poems that I grew up with, along with Signing Time and Baby Signing Time DVDs. I'm hoping to transition to an immersion environment, where my kids and I can exclusively communicate in ASL/Spanish at certain points of the day.  The ages I teach are 11 months- nearly 4 years.

As a educator in a home environment, I've been trying to recreate all the great things my parents offered me as a child. I was fortunate to be spoken and read to in multiple languages (English/Spanish/French), I had many opportunities to engage the world around me, and was fortunate to be in magnet programs that fostered a love for learning and an exposure to world culture (Gifted, MEGSSS, International Baccalaureate). I've been trying to look at my own education in reverse to then in turn offer such opportunities to my own son and students.

As a total sidenote- I love local organic foods, and serve vegetarian and vegan meals and snacks to my students. I'd love to hear from other folks doing the same with their kids! Also, I'm a Reiki Master, and I do energywork/energy healing with my kids. Would also love to hear from folks who have tried that with their little ones!

I love all this site has to offer and I look forward to hearing from folks on the forums! Also- I'm searching for some slideshows in Russian (with pronunciation) for a new student of mine, if you know of any! 

Hi Rose- I have a small holistic preschool/daycare, and I've been very very happy with the Signing Time and Baby Signing Time DVDs. I've tried a few other programs, but Signing Time is by far the most popular with my students. I started them with my own son when he was about 6 months old, and he regularly signs to me now at 12 months. The 2 and 3-year-olds in my program LOVE Signing Time, given the catchy songs and great visuals. Even my husband has learned some basic ASL by sticking around when I've been playing the DVDs.

If you are interested in a DVD for yourself to learn a good deal of ASL vocabulary, I recommend Living Language's "Getting Started in Signing" (Dr. Elaine Costello). I have used their DVDs and books to catch up on signs my students ask me about.

As earlier posters mentioned- programs like these are best for learning basic vocabulary in ASL. If you want your child to sign more fluently, often times there are Signing Time playgroups (including internationally), or even schools for the deaf where you might find opportunities to join playgroups with deaf families.