Category: Education
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Manifesto of Very Early Education (version 1)
I have been “pre-homeschooling” my two boys, H. (almost five years) and E. (seven months). It has been an interesting journey. I have picked a few very general principles, which I thought it might help me–and perhaps other parents in similar situations–to write down. You might call this my credo, or manifesto. Feedback and pointers…
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My response to the CFCC’s FTC complaint about YBCR
[All: here is my letter in support of Robert Titzer and Your Baby Can, in response to this scurrilous complaint by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. I encourage you to send the FTC similar responses, citing your own personal experience and, if you have it, linking your videos of your child reading at an…
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Update on WatchKnow Reader progress (April)
We are hip-deep in the initial building phase of the project. We’ve got a demo going (nothing suitable for public consumption yet though) and made a lot of adjustments to the plan. The whole plan of making an elaborate, complete demo turned out to be well justified; basically, it has turned out to be very…
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Chapter books H. and I read
Here is our list (by request), recently updated. This includes only chapter books and a few others, excluding picture books, most science books, and little-kid storybooks, regardless how thick. I also didn’t include books (except two?) that we didn’t finish. We started and made excellent progress on quite a few more, but for different reasons gave…
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“The Greatest Art and Music”–together
Well, it might not be the greatest, but you’ll recognize a lot of standard paintings and classical music. I’ve matched them up and these will be used as “interludes” among the slides in the upcoming WatchKnow Reader app. I had altogether too much fun making these. Suitable for viewing by children (or that’s my intention).…
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Update about the Boys – February 2011
It’s been a couple months since I updated this blog about what I’m doing with the boys, so here goes–subject by subject. The general method I’ve followed with H.’s education is unchanged: I read to him at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we usually do something educational after breakfast and after his nap (around 3:30 or…
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Kid-friendly paintings for Reader “interludes”?
UPDATE: there are a few example “interludes” now here and here. To provide brief “breaks” in the WatchKnow Reader presentations, I’m going to display random artworks & music for a short period. I’m developing a list of the artworks. Here is what I have so far. Any requests? Obviously, I’m including only very famous paintings.…
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Draft for comment: early reading survey
The almost complete lack of specific research about very early reading methods has long been bemoaned by those of us interested in the topic. For many, simply seeing other children, or our own, reading at a surprisingly early age has been enough to convince us that it is possible, and many are willing to accept…
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A common error of school lessons, or, why I’m homeschooling
Here is one reason why I’m homeschooling, and why I would probably never send my children to a school–even most private schools. I was looking over some instructional material recently (something I do often these days). It was a sample curriculum for teachers, explaining how, in one lesson, they should teach Kindergartners the principle that we say…
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WatchKnow’s new FREE app
WatchKnow has finally released its iApp. Not that I am biased or anything (I did design it), but I think it is one of the best educational apps in the app store. More details anon.