So out of interest (as someone gradually getting long-sighted with age) - PokerDad can doing close work delay the development of long-sightedness i.e. does it work the other way round?

Is this something about the Mindset mentality as well - i.e. understanding that intelligence or ability in a particular area is dependent not just on natural ability but on effort?

I'm hoping that by encouraging my kids to regularly carry out tasks that are challenging for them and to enjoy the challenge and understand the satisfaction of practicing something until you really "get it" that they will naturally develop an understanding of the need and benefits of working hard towards a goal, whether this be physical or other types of effort.  For example, my 5-year old finds piano practice quite frustrating at times but she gets a real sense of pride after working hard at a particular piece and then realising she can actually play it.  She often lectures me about the need to practice to get good at things

I did quite a lot of extreme physical sports at uni (mountaineering and rock climbing) as a means of learning how far I could push myself and succeed.  There is a fair amount of torture about ascending to a 6000m altitude Andean mountain peak!!!  It was very motivating but largely because it was a goal I had set for myself rather than being forced on my by someone else.

Haha our school is probably about the same distance drive away!!  Although we do try to walk where possible to get a bit of exercise thrown in.

I have a strict whining / complaining / procrastinating / tantruming about work policy.  All activities that she wants to do must be earned (e.g. to watch a programme of her choice or to play with a particular game or occasionally a particular food treat).  This means being co-operative, concentrating, trying hard, listening, being polite, not whinging etc during the afterschool work time.  I also talk this expectation through in advance several times beforehand ("what are we going to do when we get home?  What kind of behaviour do we need to show during this...?") This REALLY helps us. 

I can strongly recommend the books Calmer Happier Easier Parenting and Calmer Easier Happier Homework for improving behaviour around homework / afterschooling. 

My daughter is in UK reception (aged just turned 5) and we do:
Mornings - 15-30 mins maths on the iPad before school whilst im brushing her hair and getting her brother up and dressed (currently doing Dreambox, Splash math grade 1 and various abacus apps on weekdays, and coding / mazes / logical thinking apps at weekends).

Afterschool - 2 days a week I work a long day so she does a gymnastics class and multi-skills (various ball skills) on these days.

The other days we do around 30 minutes once we get home from school (after a snack!).  This covers different topics spread across the week including: All About Spelling, Bond Verbal Reasoning and English papers, reading non-fiction (currently reading about the human body), Bond Non-verbal reasoning papers, and will soon restart FLL and story smarts ).  We are focusing on writing at the moment as this is quite a long way behind her reading skills, and  might write a paragraph about a particular topic or a summary of a book she has read recently.   We don't manage this every day - if she has a play-date for example then we would not do this.  But we would also do something similar at the weekend after lunch.

Finally we do 20-30 minutes piano (soft mozart) around 4-5 days a week usually around 6.15pm after dinner.

We don't spend much time in the car so don't do a lot of audio learning!

Sorry for being a bit slow!
I can't remember exactly how much it was to get RS shipped to the UK but I can remember that it was painfully expensive!  I have been taxed on several items via customs (and you have to pay a customs fee too) which is also very painful.  It has basically put me off buying anything that needs shipping from overseas.  Now I buy downloads or from UK stores (e.g. I found a UK shop selling All About Spelling and there is one carrying all the Singapore Math books). 
In all honesty, E did not really love Rightstart.  We plodded on through most of level A but it wasn't a great fit.  I will try again when my youngest turns 3 and see if he likes it better.  With E, I'm using a lot of apps and online math learning tools for both ease of use (as we are afterschooling rather than homeschooling) and to save shipping fees.

I think this is a really important point to raise and I do agree.  I wish I'd made the point myself some years back! We are a mixed race Afro-Caribbean / white UK family and I did notice the lack of diversity as you mention. I had to add a lot of images but it was time consuming.

Loving the country course though - thanks to mamaofwill and the team :-) !!

Welcome Lund!
I am another Brillkids mum from the UK!
There are a few of us lurking around :-)
I've been using all the Brillkids products since my now nearly 5 year old daughter was about a year. I also have a 2.5 year old son.  We have also used many other approaches to reading such as starfall, phonics based powepoints and some ipad apps. E also took a loooong time to demonstrate her reading ability but is now in reception year at school and has been recently assessed as able to read and is going into year 2 for her guided reading group.
For maths we are largely using the iPad to teach both kids maths (also us using it for soroban for the older one) and it seems to be working well for now. There are some fantastic threads with ideas about maths for 2 year olds. It's really worth doing a search for that.  Numicon is a uk product to consider although we never managed to make it from bring a fun puzzle into a maths curriculum.

We love all the Beethoven's Wig CDs - there are five different CDs now.  They have classical pieces with funny lyrics and then repeated without the singing.  Those are my all time favourite kids music CDs.

Joytunes makes apps to teach piano and recorder.  We haven't used them yet but they do look very good http://www.joytunes.com/

And there is the Trebellina DVD which my 2 year old absolutely loves http://www.trebellina.com/

I'd love to hear from others.  I would love something else alongside Little Musician (which we have and love) to continue teaching singing / perfect pitch

Hi, I think you could probably use either Piano Wizard or Soft Mozart to supplement your piano lessons.  I teach my kids with Soft Mozart using the sideways presentation but there are multiple different views within the program, both with and without the note stickers.  I teach myself using a standard black and white grand staff in Soft Mozart (presentation 5 or 6) and I also use standard music books without the computer.  I think both SM and PW are flexible and allow a lot of independence for the child which is great and sounds like just what you need.  My 4 year old will hopefully start lessons at school in September and we will continue using SM at home alongside this.

Thank you Keri - very helpful and informative as always!

And thanks also Skylark - we love music for learning 

We are steadily working on addition facts and getting there with the help of a range of apps.  So, now I'm looking ahead and wanting to start gathering materials and planning for teaching multiplication facts.  What has everyone used successfully (or not)?  I'd love to hear a range of different resources that suit different kids!

Thank you 

Thought I would bump this thread to see how everyone is getting along towards the end of the year?!
I'm pleased to look at our targets and find that we are well on track or even ahead in some areas. Some goals have changed - for example we are not currently using rightstart and have opted for mainly "app maths" instead. But I feel the progress in this is very positive. I must revisit the rightstart curriculum A to make sure nothing has been missed. Reading, French and music are also progressing well. Phew!

For maths we also like
Moose Maths
Know Abacus - for the Soroban - this is a really amazing app for us that will last the long-term. They have just updated to include multi-digit numbers and multiplication.

All the preschool prep apps are great (we prefer the interactive game to the flashcards)
We also like Bob books and other similar apps by the same developer
hooked on phonics
There are lots of great math apps such as Eurotalk 3-5 and their counting app
I also like finger count and Montessori numbers
Teach me toddler is also good

I'd like to be involved! I would probably need to participate in a written discussion rather than Skype though.
Either yahoo group or Facebook page?

Jane_dmitrova that sounds awesome! I'd be happy to contribute or perhaps exchange for some other resources that we could share with you?