In his Math program, Doman introduces the problem solving segment fairly early. I, on the other hand, didn’t give him any problems to solve until about three days ago. On day one, I asked him to give me the answer to three random equations (stuff like 23+13, 48-22, etc.). After each question, I would show him two consecutive dot cards and ask him to point to the correct answer. He got them all right. On day two, I gave him three more Math problems. He got them all right, again. On day three, I gave him yet another three more Math problems and he answered them all correctly.

That’s nine Math problems -- all answered correctly. The probability of it being a fluke is very low -- it’s 1 in 512 chances, or 0.2%. Can babies really learn Math? Yes, they can. I know I’ve been writing about early childhood education and Doman teaching programs for a while but I have to confess that part of me had doubts about whether I could teach Gareth to recognise the dot cards.  I am a little relieved to see that my efforts have not been in vain.

I have no video evidence nor do I intend to make any because I feel the presence of a camera adds pressure for Gareth to perform.  I made the mistake of applying that pressure on Gavin and only succeeded in putting him off a lot of things so now I’m careful not to make the same mistakes with Gareth.  You will just have to take my word for it that he can do Math.  The only reason I am recording this is so that other parents who wondered as I did whether Doman’s Math program is worth while or just a big waste of time, might be inspired to keep going with it.

There is a parent on youtube who did record her child’s progress, which you can see below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBP3sMo4gtQ

The ability to perceive quantities is said to be present up until about 3 years of age.  The Doman staff I purchased the Math Kit from recommend the Math program only for children age 3 years and below.  Despite that, I tried doing the program with Gavin anyway since he was already 3 years old by the time I got my hands on the kit.  Sadly, Gavin is still unable to perceive quantities and must physically count things.

I do think there is some individual variation, so even if your child has already turned 3, you may still want to give the program a go because I have read about one mother who successfully taught her child to recognise quantities from age 3 onwards.  Unfortunately, it didn’t work with Gavin.  So it looks like we’re going to have to figure out another Math program that will work for him.  There are currently two programs we’re looking at -- SEE’s method (thanks to FZ for sharing it with me) and the Japanese Abacus Anzan method.  I’ll be writing more about both methods soon so stay tuned.

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Gavin was always very good with books.  He could turn the pages gently and he almost never tore the pages, except for a few incidents.  As much as I would like to pat myself on the back for a job well-done in educating him how to treat books with respect, I am beginning to think that there is a certain element of nature involved – especially after observing Gareth in action.

There is often so much reference to the importance of nurture and how it influences the growth and development of a child that it is easy to overlook the parts affected by nature.  For as much as nurture can affect a child, there are still certain inherent characteristics influenced by nature that cannot be changed.

Here’s an example:

Gavin spends most of his time with me and a very limited amount of time with Daddy because Daddy is often busy with work.  Yet, all his mannerisms and even the gait of his run is exactly like his father’s.  If nurture was the only thing in effect, he should be moving and walking exactly like me.

How have my children’s individuality affected my approach with their education and development?

When Gavin was younger, it had always been my intention to home school him until he was old enough to attend Primary School.  The plan changed after I become pregnant with Gareth and I reluctantly agreed to send him to pre-school.  Although he was initially unhappy about having to go to school, I soon came to realise that he was a lot more open to taking instruction from his teachers compared to me.  He was more enabled at school, whereas at home, he would often insist he could not do it.

Another thing I have discovered is that while my Montessori cupboards and posters worked well for Gavin, they are not working out at all with Gareth.  To date, he has torn three posters and pulled two posters off the walls.  I have had to shift the books to a higher shelf because he keeps pulling them off the shelves and crushing the pages.  Admittedly, Gareth is still quite young so there is still hope.

I spoke to a friend about the contrasting personalities between siblings – how can two children be so different in personality despite having the same upbringing?  My theory is that children need to be noticed by their parents.  If they are too similar to their siblings, they are easily overlooked.  This may not be intentional on the parents’ part, but unlike an only child who has his parents full attention, a second or third child must compete with other siblings for attention, therefore subsequent siblings need to be different in order to command their parents’ notice.  I think this is especially evident with identical twins who are identical in all outward appearances.  Sharing identical genetic make-up, you would think that they should be similar in character and yet they rarely are.

Do you have more than one child?  How similar or dissimilar are their personalities?

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Getting Gavin to practice writing has always been difficult.  The times when he does comply, I’ve noticed that he doesn’t necessarily write the strokes correctly.  He has already formed a bad habit with that and I have been trying to correct it.  Since getting him to practice writing is difficult to begin with, getting him to practice writing even more numbers and letters is like trying to get a rock to bleed.

So I decided to make our own textured alphabets…

What you will need:

• Alphabet and number outlines – I used the ones from BrillKids (you can click the links to take you to the download page)
• Glitter glue – I used Crayola Glitter Glue
• Cardboard backing to make cards, or staples to make a book

How to Make Textured Alphabets and Numbers

1. Print out the outlines.

2. “Write” in the letters and numbers using the glitter glue pens.

3. Leave to dry.

4. Mount the sheets on cardboard or staple them together to make a writing practice book.

Note: Make sure that the strokes on the letter and number outlines you use are marked so your child knows the proper order for writing each letter and number.

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This is a scene where Raymond Babbitt correctly states the number of toothpicks on the floor with a single glance (this is exactly what Doman achieved with his Math program for babies when they are able to perceive the number of random red dots on a card):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqbXPfaN_VM

There is another scene where Tom Cruise, playing Charlie Babbitt, takes Raymond to see a psychiatrist.  The psychiatrist is testing Raymond’s abilities and asks him to perform complex mental calculations which he does so with ease.  When asked to take away fifty cents from a dollar, Raymond answers “seventy cents”.  I thought this scene was an excellent depiction of what the right brain can do and what its limitations are without the left brain to guide it.

This is why right brain education is not just focused on developing the right brain but also in developing the communication between the left and right brains.  Simply having an excellent right brain is insufficient.  We need to have good communication between the right and left brains to help our children maximise their potentials.

If you have never watched Rain Man, I suggested you go watch it.  It was interesting to note that there are a lot of similarities between Raymond’s behaviour and the behaviour we often see in young children.  For instance, a lot of questions they asked Raymond often ended up with “I don’t know”.  Have you ever asked your toddler what he did at school and he would answer “I don’t know”?  That’s the right brain talking.  Wennie from TweedleWink mentioned that when I spoke to her some time back and I realise it was very true with Gavin.  My FIL would always ask what he did at school and Gavin would say, “Nothing.”

FIL: What did you learn at school?
Gavin: Nothing.
FIL: What did you eat at school?
Gavin: Nothing.
FIL: What did you do at school?
Gavin: Nothing.

I also thought it was interesting to discover that Raymond Babbitt was modeled after a man name Kim Peek, who is the real Rain Main.  If you’re interested, I have included some videos about Kim Peek below:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkMPtZJQKYU

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0lVdxXTANA

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJjAbs-3kc8

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Auufbu_ZdDI

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRPxMDj33S4

www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1aA5osvYgY

According to Shichida, every child has the ability to tap into these amazing right brain functions.  As educators, what we need to do is help them open the door to these abilities.

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From the very beginning, I have always believed that education should be more than just academics.  Rather than simply being good at school and doing well in exams, I think it is far more important to be street smart.  In fact, I’ve harped on about this for so long that it probably seems at odds with my recent obsession with right brain education in young children.  Well, here’s the thing – right brain education is more than academics.  I’ve written about it before but I guess the fact that we’re talking about education in babies probably sounds about as competitive as any parent can get.

I’d like to correct that misconception.  Although the main reason I started digging deeper into right brain education was because I thought it would be helpful to my children to be able to speed read, have a photographic memory, perform complex mathematical calculations in their heads, and achieve a host of other amazing abilities, I have come to realise that there is so much more to right brain education than that.  Done correctly, right brain education can help children succeed not only in academics, but in sports, music, social development and life.

Helping a child develop his right brain potential is about raising a child to become the best that he can be.  Shichida believed that there are no inferior brains, only brains that have not been developed properly so that they can achieve their full potential.  Right brain education philosophy is that at the heart of every child is an Einstein, a Mozart, an Edison waiting to break free and create the next great invention.   It is our responsibility as parents and educators to help them become that driving force that will change the world.

I have also said that education is more than simply rote learning.  A good education is one that will teach my sons to think creatively – outside the box.  Doesn’t that conflict with right brain education?  Although some of the activities in right brain education appear to be some highspeed information gathering session, these activities are simply a means to an end.  Just as pumping iron in the gym helps your body build muscle, right brain activities helps the right brain build creative power.  The end in mind is not just to raise a child who can get good grades at school, but to nurture a child to become a person who will help make the world a better place.  It is a lofty goal but I think a worthy one.

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Jill Stamm states that there are three things a baby needs to be bright and happy: attention, bonding and communication.  For the science behind why, I highly recommend reading the book “Bright from the Start“.

For parents like me, who feel clueless when it comes to engaging a baby and knowing what things to do, say and games to play, these are the things you can do to provide your baby attention (from Bright from the Start):

For babies 0 to 6 months:

• Frequent face to face time from about 10-12 inches away.
• Speak with exaggerated facial expressions and mouth movements.
• Make direct eye contact and maintain eye contact.
• Use rattle or other object for tracking across midline and re-engaging your baby’s eye contact continuously on the object.
• Point out objects.
• Label objects and actions throughout the day.
• Use parentese (the sing song voice that adults instinctively adopt with babies) to engage your baby’s auditory attention.
• Initiate deliberate interaction time when your baby is awake.
• Change/rotate toys or bright objects for novelty.
• Use objects and toys with high contrast colours (red, yellow, black and white) and high contrast patterns, such as stripes or checks, to attract your baby’s attention.  Gradually add other strong colours such as blue and green.
• Place mobiles and toys ten to twelve inches from your baby’s face.
• Make faces at your baby and watch him imitate (e.g. sticking out your tongue).

From 6 to 18 months – much of these activities are covered above, but here are the differences:

• From 6-9 months, use parenthese to engage your baby, then transition to child-directed speech in a conversational tone and speed.
• Say the cue word “watch” when you want your baby to observe your action.  Make sure your baby is focused before beginning the action.  This starts the “routine” of a cue for attention.
• After gaining your baby’s attention, use a quiet voice or silence when demonstrating a specific action to engage your baby’s attention to that action.
• Introduce only one variable at a time, maintaining the other variables at a constant so that your baby can concentrate on that one variable.  For example, sort objects by colour only – make sure that the shape and size are all the same and only vary the colour.
• By about 16-18 months, introduce a place mat as a “prop” to encourage your baby to focus attention on where the activity will be (if I recall correctly, this is similar to Montessori activities).
• Keep your baby out of a carrier seat when not necessary so that he can follow your eye gaze.

Here are specific activities that you can do with your baby to help develop his attention:

1. Use contrasts to attract your child’s attention:

• Introduce picture books with bold, simple and clear images (like Maisy books) as opposed to books with complex and busy drawings (for example, Beatrix Potter’s pastel Peter Rabbit).
• Talk in a whisper to attract your baby’s attention – he may just stay still long enough for you to get through a diaper change during the wriggly stage (it’s got to be done before he starts fussing, though, or he won’t be able to hear you).

2. Introduce sizes to attract your child’s attention:

• Provide toys of different sizes, e.g. stacking rings, stacking cups, stacking blocks.  Another interesting toy with size variations are the nested dolls (be careful never to leave your baby unattended with these as the smaller dolls can be a choking hazard).  A safer alternative might be the Fisher Price Stack and Roll Cups.
• Very large or very small stuffed animals and books can also attract attention.

3. Novelty is another attention grabber:

• Swap, rotate, move around your baby’s toys so that what he expects to see in one place is now in another.
• Move the pictures around your house.
• Talk a walk and point out new and familiar objects.
• Introduce new foods and new people.

4. Attract your baby’s attention with incongruity:

• Place a sock where it doesn’t belong, e.g. on Daddy’s head.
• Introduce a new food by putting it in the middle of lots of things that match, e.g. a carrot stick in the middle of the broccoli.

5. Use emotion to your advantage:

• Be aware when your baby is sleepy or hungry as he will not be interested in playing (and therefore learning) at these times.
• Introduce a new activity by making positive associations, e.g. teaching your toddler to brush his teeth by demonstrating it using his favourite teddy bear.

6. Employ personal significance – baby’s love the sound of their name (we all do):

• Change the name of the main character in the story to your child’s name.
• In larger families, have a special designated area that belongs to your child.

7. Games to play that activate your baby’s “mirror neurons” (it was found that watching an activity being done causes as many neurons to fire off as actually performing the action):

• Peekaboo! – I’m sure most people are familiar with this game, but in case you aren’t the idea is to hide your face behind an object and say “peeka -” then drop the object as you say “boo!”.
• “Open wide” – This one comes instinctively.  We tend to open our mouths when feeding baby to show him what we want him to do.
• “Wave bye bye” whenever you leave or someone leaves.
• Sit and read – for younger babies, you can make up stories with cloth books, or just talk about the pictures (perhaps this is why Gavin loves books – I used to pretend to read him stories about a busy bee from a cloth book without words; I would also read aloud my parenting books to him when he was a baby).

8. Share attention with these activities:

• Point and label objects as you go about your day.
• Point out words as you read.
• Point out sounds that you hear.

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There are a lot of criticisms about teaching young children and I understand many of the good intentions behind them.  Now I would like to address some of the arguments that I have heard:

• they’re only children, let them enjoy their childhood;
• what’s the purpose of teaching a child to rote learn information if the child doesn’t understand the material;
• learning how to memorise information does not teach a child to think – we want children who are capable of thinking, not parroting.

I will answer these arguments from the point of view of right brain education (I’ll call it right brain education since that is the term we are all most familiar with).

Firstly, they’re only children, they should be enjoying their childhood.  I completely agree with this sentiment, which is why I believe right brain education is the way to go.  The conflict lies in the fact that we associate learning with stress and pressure.  The reason why we make this connection is because much of the schooling systems we have been through are left brain oriented.  The left brain learns best under stress, so what we remember is that learning was not fun at all, it was stressful.

Right brain education, on the other hand, is about educating a child with love in a fun and stress-free environment.  The fundamental principle is that a child who feels stressed is unable to access the right brain.  Therefore, a child who is learning through right brain methods is having fun and enjoying childhood.  Many right brain activities are played as games.  If a child does not enjoy the game, we stop.

What is the purpose of teaching a child to rote learn?  I think the question might be due to the fact that right brain education involves the use of flashcards.  The children are taught a lot of complex information, like the Periodic Table, which are information they don’t really understand.  The purpose of flashcards is to train the image function of the right brain rather than for rote learning.  The flashing of images in rapid succession helps to develop the image function.  Although, that said, since the right brain has the capability for recalling information via photographic memory, the child inevitably learns these complex subjects as well.

Learning how to memorise information does not help a child learn to think.  Indeed, Shichida agrees that information that is memorised with the left brain is pure rote learning – which is the way most of us memorise information.  However, that which is absorbed by the right brain inspires imagination and creativity.  With right brain education, we are not teaching children to memorise information that they can parrot back, we are helping them learn to absorb information rapidly so that they may use it creatively in the way that geniuses in our history have used information to change the world.

As I said in my earlier post about left brain/right brain and whole brain education – it is important not only to use the right brain well, but to be able to use the left and right brain cohesively – as a smoothly functioning unit.  Being able to use the right brain excellently – that is what Savants do.  Being able to use the left brain excellently – that is what many ordinary people do.  Being able to use the right and left brains excellently – that is what geniuses do.  As educators, it is our responsibility to help our children maximise their poentials.  Within each child is the potential for genius.  With whole brain education, we can raise children with the ability to utilise that potential and make a difference to the future.

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Tell Me About Time4Learning?

Time4Learning is one such program. Covering a broad range of subjects, Time4Learning is a great way to expose your child to science, math, art, reading, and social studies.  Materials are presented through a variety of multimedia activities – videos, online books, puzzles, activities, and games.  The program comes with lesson plans and a reporting system for parents to keep track of what their child has done.  The curriculum covers Pre-K to Grade 8 and you can advance your child is you feel the material is too easy.  There is also a parent’s community and forum where you can speak to other parents to get help on homeschooling and other education matters.

Membership costs $19.95 a month for the first child and $14.95 a month for each subsequent child.

What’s in Time4Learning?

We received a free trial for a month to test run the program and this is what we found…

I enrolled Gavin and he received access to Pre-K Level 1 and 2.  As you can see from the screen shots below, there are quite a number of subjects covered.

Pre-K Level 1:

Subjects: school supplies, alphabet, colours, shapes, rhymes, numbers, weather, on the farm, food, at the zoo, feelings, vehicles, tools, on the playground, sports, the human body, space fruit, the human face, and garden.

Pre-K Level 2:

Subjects: At the library, insects, colour mixing, seasons, playing outside, more letters, healthy habits, yourself, more numbers, out to sea, more rhymes, staying fit, manners, pets, days of the week, time, making music, measuring, nature, money, and in your neighbourhood.

Under each subject, there are a variety of activities you can do – watch a video, read a book, colour, do a puzzle, or play a game.

Once your child has completed all the activities within a subject, the picture is denoted with a red tick.  You will be able to review this in the parents’ reports section.

There is also a “playground” that your child can go to for “recess”.  The playground gives your child access to specific, approved children’s websites on the internet to play games.  The list is quite extensive as you can see from the screenshot below:

There is an option for you to set a limit your child’s “play” time.  Once that time has expired, your child has to go back to “class”.  Although, looking at some of the activities in the playground, I’d be pretty happy for Gavin to stay there for a while, too.

How was Our Experience with the Program?

I introduced Gavin to the program one afternoon after school and let him wander around on his own after showing him how it worked.  I peeked over his shoulder a few times but left him largely to his own resources for much of the time while I tended to his brother.  Most of the activities in Pre-K Level 1 were too easy for him, but I couldn’t convince him to go to Pre-K Level 2.  Since it was supposed to be an activity to occupy him while I bathed, fed and put his brother to sleep, I didn’t make too much of a deal out of it.  He was enjoying himself and the program was reinforcing the stuff he already knew.

Gavin was pretty enthusiastic about the program for the first few days.  After that, he seemed to get bored with it.  The problem was not that he ran out of things to do.  It was more like he ran out of things he wanted to do.  There were still plenty of activities he had not done but he just didn’t want to do them.  He would go back to the same activities over and over so naturally he tired of them fairly quickly.  In the early, however, it was very effective for keeping Gavin busy while I did other things.

What’s the Verdict?

There were a few glitches with the program.  I’m not sure whether they were to do with us or whether it was a maintenance problem but some of the activities would not run properly – they simply failed to load.

I also found that the parenting reports didn’t have much information on how well your child did with the activities.  All it shows is what your child did, what date he tried them and whether the activity was completed or not.  There is no information on what he did right and what he needed more help with (unless there’s something I’m missing here). The help file seems to indicate that you could find out more information about your child’s progress but the images weren’t the same as the reports I got.  I’m not sure what happened there…

Aside from these minor issues, I thought it was a pretty good program.  I cannot comment about it as a homeschool program since I haven’t really had a chance to look at the program in depth or seen the higher levels.  From what little I have seen, I think it is promising to be used as a compliment to other homeschooling activities.  As with all things, its suitability depends on each individual child – what works for one child does not necessarily work for all children.  I would recommend giving it a trial as it is a fun and educational activity to occupy a child.  I know I would have had a ball with a program like this as a child.

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Introducing Thomas and Friends right brain educational materials…

1. ESP Games – Where are Thomas and his friends?

I hide a character from the Island of Sodor behind one of four famous landmarks.  Then I ask Gavin to tell me which landmark the engine is hiding behind.  This activity is also great for teaching him about famous landmarks around the world.

2.  Mandala

Since Gavin’s crazy about trains, I use pictures of trains instead of Mandala patterns.  Although he doesn’t mind doing the Mandala books that I bought for him, I find that the pictures of trains seem to inspire him more.

3. Linking Memory

Linking memory has never been much of a problem for Gavin because he loves stories.  He has been able to remember up to 46 cards using the set of 1000 linking cards that I am compiling.  I also play random linking memory with him, making up new stories and using more cards each time.

4. Memory Grid

With the memory grid, we use engines.  Admittedly, this gives him an edge which means we have to use a bigger grid…

5.  Quantity Recognition

I usually use Smarties for this activity, but then there are only so many Smarties I can use without giving Gavin an OD on Smarties (since the idea is to let him eat the Smarties).  I found this to be a better way to play this activity – guess the number of engines.

6. Imaging

It used to be magic carpet rides.  These days, we take flying trains to the magical Island of Sodor.  It’s a little like a ride on the Hogwart’s express – at least in my mind it is, I’m not sure what Gavin sees in his.  I steal a little out of Thomas and the Magic Railroad and talk about the conductor sprinkling his magic gold dust onto the railway tracks so that the engines can fly to the Island of Sodor.  Gavin loves this story and is often asking me to take him to the Island of Sodor.

The key to the right brain is fun and it is easy to make any right brain activity fun if you know what motivates your child.  And if you get it really right, he’ll be begging you for more.  It used to be me asking Gavin whether he wanted to play [insert right brain activity].  These days, Gavin is the one asking me to let him play his new “Thomas game”…

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This is our experience…

Although Gavin has been learning to read using a variety of mediums, I have always used quite a bit of flashcards with him.  He has been able to recognise the words he has learned in restaurant menus, newspapers, and sign boards.  The only difficulty he has is usually with curly fonts, such as cursive handwriting.  He has also begun to read books on his own.  Words he is unfamiliar with he will either by-pass or make a guess.

Recently, I was using the messenger on Skype.  Gavin came up to me and crawled into my lap as I was typing.  The exchange was completely silent because I have no speaker on my desktop.  Shortly after I typed “I didn’t sleep much last night”, Gavin asked, “Mummy, how come you didn’t sleep much last night?”

Although Gavin can read, I often find that the awareness that he can read often prompts friends and family to test him.  They will ask him to spell a word or read random words that they point to and find that he is unable to comply.  These are the problem with such situations:

• The ability to read a word is not the same as being able to spell a word.  I believe that this is especially the case when the child has learned to read the word using the whole word method.  That said, Gavin has also recognised words that I spell out to hubby in an attempt to communicate words I do not want Gavin to understand.  It looks like the days of spelling words to avoid Gavin’s understanding is soon coming to an end.
• Being able to read some words does not mean he can read any and every word you point out.  Gavin is learning to read using the whole word method and he is also learning phonics.  Currently, he reads mainly using the whole word method.  Although he knows the sounds of letters using phonics, he isn’t quite able to put a whole word together using phonics alone because he can recognise the starting sounds but not the sounds of letters in the middle of the word.
• Asking a child if he can read or spell puts him on the spot.  He may choose to comply or he may play dumb simply because he dislikes being tested.  I have seen Gavin pretend that he cannot read words that I know he can read.  I have since learned not to press him when he does so.

Children know a lot more than we give them credit for.  Just because they choose not to answer our questions, or even to answer them incorrectly, does not mean they don’t know or that they do not understand.

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