Yes, I agree with Fludo - and I would say that as long as it's child led - meaning your child is the one asking for the cards and then you supervise her or play games with the cards - then I don't think it is testing.  I always let my son take the lead when he asks to play the cards.  Let me clarify - I don't ask him questions about the cards or what they say or to match them or whatever.  If he wants to do those things then I let him and I interact the way he wants me to interact with him and the cards.

Yes!  I let my son play with them especially if he gets excited after a set and wants to see them again on his own terms.  Of course I do it with supervision - no bending, tearing, throwing around. But sure, I let him get them all over the floor.  He'll sit with  a big pile of them all around him.  He'll stare at them and read them to himself or to me or ask me, "Mommy, what does this one say?"  When he's satisfied I put them up again out of his reach.  That will usually satisfy him for a few more days until he gets excited about another set.  Also I leave the retired cards in a place where he can get at them and he looks at them as he will - but not usually too often - he gets more excited over the new cards.

I think this is great and I see no problem with it and it is something that a powerpoint or computer presentation can't facilitate.  Just think about it like a good book - you want to look at it again and again.  I'm guessing that's what your daughter wants to do and when the novelty wears off she won't be grabbing for them anymore.

wow you do all this and work full-time?
karma to you i don't know how you find the time   

    I'm a teacher so I'm on summer break - and I live in Alaska where it's sunny almost 24/7 and I have had horrible insomnia- but yes, it took about 3 months to compile.

You all will see that I'm technically challenged - somehow after week 18 I lost my gridlines on my table.  I don't know how to get them to go back on.  It makes it hard to read the add/retire section.  Can anyone help me figure out how to turn them back on?  PM me!!!  Otherwise, when you print it out highlight it for easy readability.

Dear Parents,

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B64onpbVZLdxYjE0OTVkZDctMDg4NS00Y2Y3LWExNWQtNTQ0NzU0M2E3MjQ0&hl=en

The above link is to the schedule that I have been working on with my children.   I wanted to share it with you for your benefit.  I am a full-time working mom and I know how hard it is to find the time to sit down and plan everything out so that I can stay consistent and ahead of my kids.  I want to share this with you as I had only wished someone had done this before me.  So please use and adapt and enjoy!

 I have a son who is turning 3 and has been reading from YBCR since he was 18 months old.  After finishing YBCR we got stuck at the word level and wasn’t able to get to sentences.  I think the big problem on my part was not being able to sit down and plan out a program so that I could stay ahead of him and be consistent. 

I am also a 2nd grade teacher and had the pleasure of working with some intensive needs students this past year.  I found a very remarkable sight reading program for these students. (Edmark)  I realized that if I adapted it for my children it should probably work quite well with the Doman program.  Thus I began to adapt the program to use with my then 2 ½ year old.  He is now reading sentences successfully!  ☺  However, he has difficulty if it is a word he has not seen before.  Therefore, I began to adapt a phonics program and “Doman-ize” it.  It is based on the www.a-zreading.com phonics program. 

I also have a 5 month old who I started out with YBCR at 3 months of age.  I decided to start showing her set 2 (Edmark) and set 3 (phonics) along with her brother.  She may not be ready for this but I strongly believe in input, input and more input.  If she doesn’t get it now she certainly will eventually and the input can’t hurt as long as we do it joyfully and without testing.

Set 1 – is based on the words from Your Baby Can Read.  I show 5 words a day, retire one each day and add a new one.  I show my children the videos based on which words we are working on.  When I finish all of the YBCR words I plan to use Little Reader cards from the deluxe set and their schedule they have set out.  I may also purchase “Your Child Can Read” at some point.  If any parents are able to sit down and list the words shown on those videos, I will happily plan out a schedule and make a flashcard template.

Set 2 – The Edmark-based program.  This starts at week 3 for no special reason except that it took me 3 weeks to get comfortable showing the YBCR – I was also doing Doman Math at the time – and getting all my flashcards ready for this set.  With Edmark the child quickly progresses to sentences and couplets.   According to Edmark,   “Edmark level one teaches 150 basic sight words plus endings (-s, -ed, -ing) taking a non-reader to approximately a 1.0 level.”  If you email me I can give you more details about how Edmark works – but I just adapted the 150 words, couplets, phrases and sentences to use in my Doman program. I am looking forward to making personalized stories with my children and you will see where I planned out where to create a story.  (after about every 10 words or so) Up until now I just didn’t have the time to make the books because I was stuck just getting to the sentence level with the Doman program.  I will share my stories as I get them done and added to this folder.


I also wanted to say that one of the reasons I really wanted to adapt off the Edmark system is that I found it really brain-wracking to try to get to the sentence level.  I don’t think YBCR does an effective job at it and so far I found the LR takes too long to get there.  Doman says that sentences should start after 50 words – however, his book leaves it very much up to the parent to plan the program.  Perhaps I’m not that creative or didn’t have the time to figure it out so this is why I was anxious to adapt the Edmark program to use (which by the way is a scientifically –based program).

Set 3 – The phonics based set starts at week 10 – again only because it took me that long to get it planned out.  Doman advises against using similar words on the same days.  He says that that is confusing to the child.  He also is against teaching Phonics explicitly and wants children to be able to deduce the rules through exposure.  I have various thoughts on this and I’m not sure what the final results may be.  You have to remember that Doman started his program when the whole word method of teaching reading was very popular.  Eventually the field of education went to what we now have which is supposed to be a balanced approach, meaning I teach children to read using BOTH sight reading and phonics.  Some children do better with one over the other.  I think a good reading program needs to include both.  If you want to stick exactly by Doman than I would say don’t use set 3. 

However, I “domanized” my phonics program, meaning I am not teaching my son to “sound out” words but am systematically introducing words from the same word family or with the same phoneme.  Asking a 2 or 3 year old to sound out words may be beyond his/her ability, too left brained, etc.  However, to expose him to those sound sets and allow him to deduce the rules himself seems to  me to go along with the Doman philosophy.

Having strictly done the YBCR cards with my son – I have found that he often confuses words that are similar even if they aren’t shown on the same day.  For ex. ball and bat or any word that starts with “b”.  I think he is now ready to start decoding with some guidance.  I don’t feel that I will have to explicitly teach him the rules so I have “Domanized” the phonics program so that it focuses on one sound at a time, building in phrases and sentences and eventually a decodable story.  I based these on the readinga-z phonics program that I have used with my 2nd graders, but it needed to be adapted for young children.  I have included the words, phrases, and sentences for the Doman part.  Due to copyright laws I didn’t feel I should upload their decodable books but you might like to download the read aloud books and the decodable books from their website. (they do give a free 3-day trial in which you could probably download all that you needed)  I can give you more information if you email me.

Finally I have started to create flashcards.  This was the hardest part for me.  My flashcards are to be printed on either A4 tagboard or cut sentence strips so that the size is 3”x12”.  Doman recommend a font no smaller than 1 ½ inches – 3 inches.   72 size font = 1 inch.  So I have made the letters no smaller than 108- point font (which is 1.5 inches) and the biggest I could fit is 144 -point font which is 2 inches.  I tested it out on my 5- month old daughter and she seems to have no difficulty with the size.  I decided to use chalkboard bold font so that the letter “a” is written similar to the way primary school students learn to print.  This is actually a big deal in the classroom, so I highly recommend chalkboard font.  So basically all you have to do is cut your tagboard or paper into 3x12 inch strips and for some sentences you will have to tape them together.  Right now I have up to week 40 done and will add more as I can. 

My reading schedule is not perfect.  You might find some overlap in words.  I tried to avoid this but wasn’t perfect at it.  I don’t think some repetition will hurt the children at all.  Doman recommends 5 sets a day but 3 is all I can handle right now along with the Math program.  If you find a typo let me know and I’ll try to revise the schedule. 

I can’t wait to see how well my children are reading by the time I get to the end of my schedule.  In my head I am expecting that they will be able to read independently by that point. 

I hope this helps and I hope you enjoy the program.  Use what works for you.  I think the most important thing is the Joy and consistency everything else will fall into place.

Obviously someone could have tried to make and market something along these lines – but I didn’t want to.  I am a bit disenfranchised by the whole money making aspect of early childhood education.  Yes, I would have paid money if I had found a program all laid out for me.  But if you truly believe in the achievement of all children to their highest potential you will want to make it as free to access as possible.  I would however, like to add a survey at some point – whether this program works for you or not – because I would like to see these methods written up in a scientific education journal for the education community as a whole.  So please look for my survey and keep notes of how your children are doing so that I may one day write this all up for the benefit of early childhood education.

And if you haven’t found it already – I have already posted a 32 week Doman Math schedule as well.  Here is the link: https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B64onpbVZLdxYTY0NTEzM2UtN2E0ZC00OWVjLTg5OTctZjJhZGE4MjQwZjA3&hl=en

I look forward to hearing from you and how you like what I have done and what I can do to improve it.

Very Truly yours,
Kristina

If anyone can find the Planet song from Blue's clues - I had it on an itunes podcast but I don't know how to upload it to here.  Anyhow - my son saw that version of the planets song and learned all the planets and a fact about each one from the Blue's Clue song at 12 months.  He could sing the entire song after hearing it 3 times.  He still loves it to this day and we have to watch it about once a week at least. 

I'm working on my schedule now - and it is nearly done.  I can share with you my rough draft if you PM me and I'll put my final draft up sometime next week for everyone.  I have a few more sets to work out.....

Then the hard part for me making the flashcards.

I bought 3 books on teAching math from the Evan Thomas institute.  Wow!  It is a bit overwhelming.  I'm using it as a guide as to what to teach.  I'm going to be calling for help soon I'm sure.
Let's keep in touch with our progress!
The doc

Could you tell me more about the books - the titles and what age child they are for?  Are these books only available to those who have gone to the course?  Have you attended the course?
I would absolutely like to know more.  I think I have a good start with my daughter but was a bit late with my son - who is going to be 3 now.  He's interested when I show his sister the cards he always says, "Mama show me my numbers."  but then when I show him - he loses interest right away - I'm assuming because he can't see the dots.  I'd like to know how to work with children once they are past being able to see the dots if you are a bit late starting.

Yes, please let's keep in touch.

 i was wondering how you would go about flashing what you listed?  any ideas?  i'm going to start with the cartesian plane, as suggested by doman/evan thomas institute, in july/august, but was hoping you might have an idea how to introduce these ideas to a child under 2?
thanks again for all your great suggestions!
the doc

Ha Ha - I have NO idea!  I was actually thinking I better hurry up and contact the Evan Thomas Institute before I get there - as we are nearly done with division after this week and on to all the other stuff......  I'd like to stay with dots for as long as possible but I might have to introduce numbers simply because I will have exhausted what I could figure out on my own.  If you talk to them let me know what they say..... what is the cartesian plane?  Please explain!

I just wanted to share something neat that happened today with the math program.  My daughter is going to be 5 months old this week and we are working on division right now.  One of the equations was 24 divided by 8 equals 3.  My DD is always very responsive and interested and looks at the cards - but when I said 24 divided by 8 equals - she would only stare at my T-shirt.  So I said it again and tried to get her to look at the 3 card -she glanced at it but continued to stare at my t-shirt as if to say "No mommy the answer is on your T-shirt."  So I looked down and noticed my T-shirt has a bunch of flowers on it - so I started to count them.  There are 32 flowers on my T-shirt. I had to use my fingers but then realized that 24 + 8 is 32.  So despite that we are working on division and it's only been 2 days - I thought that was really cool and it didn't seem like coincidence the way she was intently staring at my T-shirt.  Yes, 24 + 8 is 32 - you are right my dear!  :-)

 I've just created this great schedule of words, couplets, phrases, sentences, etc along with 14 stories to go with them.  Now the hard part for me - making the flashcards. 

Right now my DD (only 5 months old) isn't into LR or the computer or even the TV.  (Thank goodness) She loves the real flashcards.  I'm having such a hard time making a template so that I can print out on card stock or even on sentence strips (3" by 24"). 

I'm not very computer Savvy.  Anyhow, I was wondering who has made their own Doman Flashcards - with the sizes he recommends (3 inch words down to 1 1/2 inch for sentences.)  Can someone please share the template with me?

I intend to post my schedule of reading mentioned above along with the flashcard files so other parents can download - I just need to figure out how to make the flashcards.  I can use either Word or Keynote and then upload as PDF.

Thank you!

[Place value]

  what is next?  have you thought about it?
please let me know and thanks again.  karma to you!!
the doc

Hi Doc,

Actually it was DomanMom on her website that created the first set of equations.  When I downloaded hers she had up through the first week of multiplication.  But I didn’t simply copy hers but modeled mine after hers because as I was going through I saw that some of the equations were repeated.  So I went through each of my cards and checked off when I used an equation so I wouldn’t use it twice.  But the credit is due to DomanMom for getting me started.   

Having said that – when I get to equations with numerals – well,  for now I recopied what I did in the previous weeks - but I do intend to go back and redo it so that I have new equations.  I just wanted to get this started and now I’m working on my reading sets schedule BECAUSE we are going to be done with quantity today and so now I will drop down to 3 sets of equations each day and so now I can add more reading sets.  Right?  (up until now I have focused on the math program - I couldn't manage 6 sets of math plus 5 sets of reading 3 times a day)

Other possible topics after equations and numbers are introduced:
(I teach 2nd and 3rd grade math and this summer I am tutoring 5th grade math – I got these topics from the State GLEs. – my theory is that for babies and toddlers I just want to show each topic quickly but not in depth or with any expectations on the child – my main goal is to introduce the topics and the vocabulary of math – showing it’s meaning whenever possible.  If my child can actually do the math as they get older that will be wonderful – but mainly I want them to be exposed and ready for it.  So much of teaching math, believe or not, is not only how to do it but vocabulary.  When you look over the topics below see how many you remember – I bet you remember them but have forgotten the terms to describe them.)

Place value of whole numbers and decimals (standard, expanded and written forms)
Round numbers
Estimation
Money – add and subtract and make change
Time – digital and analog and time elapsed, use a schedule and use a calendar
Graphing – analyze, mean, median and mode, make different types of graphs and tables
Probability
Geometry – lines, angles, circles, polygons, triangles, quadrilaterals, congruence and symmetry
Measurement – customary and metric, length, capacity, weight, and mass
Perimeter, area, and volume, circumference,
Fractions – compare and order, mixed numbers, adding fractions, subtracting fractions, (with fractions and with whole numbers) divisibility, multiples, least common multiples, prime and composite numbers, exponents, prime factors, equivalent fractions, simplest form, multiply and divide fractions with fractions and whole numbers
Decimals – compare and order, add and subtract, multiply and divide (with whole  numbers and decimals)
Algebra – order of operations, integers
Ratio
Percent and how they relate to fractions and decimals

And use lots and lots of word problems either read to them or eventually have them be able to read the word problems.    Also I want to link math to reading, science, and real world problems whenever possible.

I think by age 3 you could start to use the Shiller Math program or possibly Dr. Jones Geniuses.  I have the Shiller Math program but haven’t reviewed Dr. Jones yet.

Any other ideas anyone?

i have one question:  how do you suggest flashing the algebra portion?  make X and Y cards with = cards?  not sure exactly how to go about it.
suggestions?
the doc

That's what Doman recommended in his book.  Make a "Y" card.  And then say out the problem 12xy=60 y=5, example, "Twelve times Y equals sixty.  Y is five."

Hi Kat,

Week1 and Week26 look very similar. I am assuming Week1 is "Introduction to quantity" or "Introduction to dots". I like the way that (while you are introducing new numbers) you are only using the retired numbers in equations. That gets around a big issue I have had with trying to keep my cards organised.

Yes, thank you I'll insert a title before the dots in week one - because yes, week 26 is when I would start to introduce numerals.

How are you finding the schedule with a baby so young? I have been going slowly to as to not overload him, but now I am not so sure. With the exception of the problem solving, do you plan to follow the full schedule?

Yes... and once I got organized I found that I had a lot more time with my little one to actually do the sessions.  I make sure my cards are organized the night before and standing upright in sets next to the diapering areas.  I also have the printout for the week of my schedule hanging on the wall so I can refer to it.  I then do a session at the end of every diapering session unless my daughter is acting cranky, tired or hungry.  The only thing I changed was that I sometimes do 10 quantity cards 3 times instead of 2 sets of 5 - but only if my daughter seems alert and enjoying it.  Now it seems that sometimes she is acting fussy and like she wants a diaper change and as soon as I lay her down on the changing table she starts smiling and laughing and is happy to do a set even though she is dry.  I think she loves the personal attention because it is totally mommy time - as other places I get distracted by her toddler brother who is very demanding.

** Although ... the other night I was going through some equations with Liam (my four month old son). Normally he is happy, but on one he started to get upset. My husband (who had been half-listening to the 'lesson') called out to tell me the equation was wrong (my mental arithmetic is horrible). So ... did I somehow think that the numbers were wrong and hesitate, and then Liam picked up on that hesitation? Or ... did he notice himself that it was wrong?

Let's give Liam the credit here!   You can't be sure but I can see my daughter is figuring things out.  When I changed over from addition to subtraction and then 2 weeks later subtraction to multiplication - her eyebrows furrowed and she frowned the first day or two like she was thinking.  Then it was like a lightbulb came on and she started smiling.  I've hesisitated before too because my fingers didn't grasp the card well or they got out of order.  She always just laid there waiting politely.  The only time she gets upset is when she doesn't want to do a set for whatever reason but now adays she seems to like them more and more.  For the past week I have noticed she is trying to "talk" and either tries to talk after each card which I think is her trying to echo me - or sometimes she does it sooner than me on the answer card - so I think that she might be trying to say the answer - instead of just babbling like an outsider might think.  So I always praise her and say, "Oh that's right dear the answer IS 77!"

You know the first few weeks I was organizing all this I actually dreamed the dot cards.  So if my brain is processing them than I know hers is too since that is what babies do - process tons of info.  

It is so exciting!!!

I'd like to agree with Kat on this too.  I found a big part of the time issue (and I'm a full-time working mom with a toddler and a newborn) was not the sessions but being organized.  Once I got organized I could actually do all the sessions easily.  And the shorter the sessions the longer I held my baby's attention.

So first I got all my equations planned out - I have a link to my math equation schedule in another post which you can download and use if you like.  Then every night before going to bed I would organize which cards I"m going to use and lay them out standing up with dividers between each set. 

I chose to use the diapering area because when I tried to do the cards in other parts of the house I always got interrupted - by my toddler or my husband or the TV was too loud and it was distracting my daughter.... the only private place that no one ever interrupts is the changing area.  Anyhow, I know that even though I'm working everyday - I still change her at least once before I go to work, and once when I get home and several times through the evening.  So I always did a quick set at the end of diapering.

This is now a routine and my daughter really enjoys it.  Now that we've been doing this for about 2 months she starts cooing and smiling and trying to talk when I lay her down on the changing area.  Her little arms and legs start kicking.  I sing her a nursery rhyme or talk to her as much as I can while I am changing her and then at the end I do a quick set.  I have my equations hanging on the wall and so I just check them off at the end.  And it's done!

Sometimes if my daughter was hungry or tired she would start to fuss when I started to show the cards and then I would stop right away.  But she does that less and less now - and actually now I have found times when she has fussed and acted like she needed a diaper change when in fact she was dry - but when I laid her down to check - she stopped fussing and was happy - so I can only guess this is her way of telling me she wants to do a set.     It really is a lot of fun.  So some days don't always work out perfectly and I might only get 2 sets of quantity in or maybe 2 sets of equations.  I figure that it's ok and she won't lack for it - kids get absent from school sometimes and miss info and always get caught up.  So I do my best and try to be consistent and if I can't get it all in in one day that's ok.  The only thing I did do different than Doman suggested was to do 10 dot cards at a time and shuffle them each time so that I showed 3 sets of 10 and then 3 sets of 3 equations - so a total of 6 math sets.  But if I felt that I was losing her attention I would stop.  Oh and I made the math program a priority and slowed down on starting the reading only because I know that there is a time issue with starting the math but not the reading.

Hope this helps!

I have created a 32 week outline with equations of the Doman Math Program. (I got the basic template/idea from DomanMom). It is still an ongoing work in progress.  I would love to share with you - and to get your input so I can update and improve the schedule.  Since I would like to be able to continue to edit the document I am not going to attach it here but would like you to access it through Google Docs.  Please contact me if you notice any errors or have any suggestions.
Kristina

Here is the link: 

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B64onpbVZLdxYTY0NTEzM2UtN2E0ZC00OWVjLTg5OTctZjJhZGE4MjQwZjA3&hl=en