Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Funducate Educational Curriculum for the Home: Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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My mom used to have lots of workbooks for me when I was in preschool and kindergarten. I remember working at an advanced level, doing second grade workbooks when I was maybe 5. I’m not telling you this to try to brag on my childhood self, but rather to show that most children can perform and learn beyond what you might expect of them if given the right tools and encouragement. Kids are little sponges, and they will soak up what is around them, whether it be amazing educational information or just junk on tv. Either way, they are paying close attention.

I’ve been on the lookout for some supplemental early childhood curriculum that I can have at home and use with Darah in the afternoon time between her nap and when her dad gets home from work. There are MANY resources out there, but I was drawn to a company that has won the Parent Tested Parent Approved Award, which I know is tough to earn!

Allow me to introduce to you Funducate, a company run by a husband and wife team, is focused on improving literacy in America through not only reading, but also singing and art. I am a big fan of approaching learning from many different angles, so this style really appealed to me! We’ve been working through lots of great products all about the ABCs. We have a wonderful coloring book that has a page for each letter. Darah is really enjoying that. But my favorite item is the My ABC Journal, which is spiral-bound and contains all those same great coloring pages along with pages to practice writing each letter! Darah is a bit young for the writing aspect, but I’ll be so glad to have this on hand when she is ready. I will likely photocopy these pages so that Darah can practice multiple times. I like that they show both upper-case and lower-case letters for practice and that the lines for practicing are wide. This is such a great resource, and it is easy to take on road trips, too!

Buy it!: Funducate has a variety of great resources that encourage literacy in many fun ways. The My ABC Coloring Book is a great buy at $5.50 and the My ABC Journal is well worth its reasonable $12.50 price tag. Be sure to check out their resources that help prepare kids for learning cursive, too!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a Funducate My ABC Journal and My ABC Coloring Book (ARV $18).

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BrillKids Little Reader Learning System Review: Getting Darah to Read (Again!)

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I don’t think I ever mentioned it here, but last Christmas, my parents got Darah the dvds and flash cards that are constantly being advertised on tv to teach babies to read. My mom happened to score the entire set from someone who had purchased it from her grandkids, and the parents weren’t interested in using it. So everything was still in its original packaging, but mom got it for a really good buy!

To tell you the truth, I wasn’t super excited about the system, either. It all sounded like more of a parlor trick than something of substance that would stay with Darah forever and truly give her the ability to read. What I also didn’t like about the system was that you were supposed to let your baby watch the same 20-30 minute DVD every day, twice a day. That was more tv than we liked Darah to watch at that time (by a long shot).

But, we decided to give it a try. Darah did enjoy the videos for a while, and lo and behold, it wasn’t too long before she started reading the words on her flashcards. Even though I still didn’t feel confident about how much she had actually learned (versus memorized), even I had to admit that it was pretty cool to see a 17 month old read the word, “chimpanzee.”

But after about 3 months, Darah had been through all of the DVDs (MANY, many times) and she stopped wanting to watch them. She was bored with them. And she started resisting reading her flashcards. I think the work just got too repetitive and old to her. It probably won’t surprise you to hear that her “reading” skills started to decline, as well. Without those daily video drill sessions, she couldn’t remember as many of those words, anymore. She can still read many of them, but not nearly as many as she could when she was watching her videos, and she doesn’t seem to have nearly as much fun reading now.

So, we’ve been in a reading slump. I’ve wanted to keep moving forward with her on reading, but I haven’t known what to try. Then I learned about BrillKids, another company that has worked hard to develop a system for teaching reading skills very early. Their products are more expensive than what you find on the tv commercials, but after seeing their first semester of english reading for myself, I understand why. BrillKids is actually computer software, as opposed to a DVD. You have the option of buying just the software, or you can buy a deluxe reader kit that also contains flash cards and storybooks and other helpful resources. While the $250 price tag for the kit is tough to swallow, the sheer volume of material you receive really does blow the competition out of the water. I have just been reviewing the software alone, and what really impresses me is that a semester has roughly 6 months of lessons (meant to be taught 5 days each week). Each lesson is different! You are meant to give the lesson to your child 1-2 times, and then you move on to the next lesson. Yes, of course you will see many of the same words, but I love that they switch up their presentation so that children are not simply memorizing.

Another thing I love about BrillKids early reader software is that parents need to be involved. With the dvds, there was really no role for me in helping Darah. You just pop it in and push play. All I could help with was the flash cards. With this system, an adult is needed to click through the lesson, and you go at the speed you desire, so you can stop and have conversations about the words you are learning, you can manually use the arrows to point to the different letters in the words, and you can help make the experience much more fun. I can tell you that Darah absolutely LOVES having mommy involved with her lessons. At this age, it just feels like an extra-special treat for a parent to sit with a child and read, and I love to encourage that. BrillKids allows me to be part of the learning in a way that I just couldn’t with the other system.

If the price tag for the year’s worth of material is just more than you can handle, BrillKids does offer the software download for $150 for a semester. That might be a good way to start to check it out and make sure you like it. I can tell you after trying it for just a few weeks with Darah, I feel much more excited about the BrillKids approach to teaching reading, and I think that boredom is not going to be a problem moving forward, since the lessons always change!

Also, don’t miss the BrillKids offer of a free trial! You can score 9 days of content to check out on your computer, and you can keep it for 14 days while you decide if you want to make the investment. You’ve got nothing to lose but your fears! Definitely check it out.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. This post contains affiliate links. 

ChildUp Counting Flash Cards Review and GIVEAWAY!!

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I think most every parent works with their baby and toddler on learning ABCs and counting from 1-10. But beyond recognizing the numbers, are you doing any work on teaching math fundamentals? I think its a common perception that a young one’s brain isn’t meant to understand concepts like addition and subtraction, at least not until they reach kindergarten, so why worry about anything beyond counting?

NOT TRUE, my friends! Our little ones are totally able to grasp these concepts, and we have an excellent opportunity to get them comfortable with math from a very early age. We have been reviewing some fantastic flash cards from ChildUp that are designed to do just that.

We reviewed the Teach Your Child to Count to 10 series, as well as the Teach Your Child to Count to 20 series (which teaches 10-20). They are AWESOME and unlike any other counting flash cards I have ever seen. Here are some of the features you will find in these particular flash cards:

•    Includes 48 Child’s Cards to learn to count while discovering four different series of 10 popular animals.
•    Includes 16 Parent’s Cards presenting the 1st and 2nd parts of the ChildUp Early Learning Method, with practical early learning and parenting advice.
◦    Helps parents to teach:
▪    Numbers from 0 to 10; 10-20
▪    Numbers as quantities and symbols
▪    The first steps of addition
◦    Helps develop the child’s:
▪    Math and logic skills
▪    Learning an

d cognitive skills
▪    Listening and memory skills
▪    Attention and concentration skills
▪    Language and social skills
I think it is easier to see how these cards really stand out from the crowd by taking a look at them.

I think the fact that they use different animals when coming up with the number is so clever, as that helps a child understand addition, and not to just think of a number as something abstract.

We have been very pleased with these cards, and Darah really seems to enjoy playing with them, as well. I highly recommend them to any parent of a child who hasn’t yet started kindergarten. This really is work you can do with them now; there’s no need to wait! Each set of cards retails for $9.99. While you are checking out the cards, be sure to peruse the rest of the site, as they have lots of fantastic articles and resources about early childhood learning.

Finally, don’t miss out on the iCount to 10 App that is available for the iPhone or the iPad. We’ve checked this out, too, and I think it is a FANTASTIC use of $1.99! I love the fact that this app offers more detailed information for the child about the various animals that are part of the virtual flash cards. That will draw in any child who loves animals (and what child doesn’t?!).

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reading is going to win the following:
1. one pack of Teach Your Child to Count to 10 – Math & Logic #1 cards
2. one pack of Teach Your Child to Count to 20 – Math & Logic #2 cards
3. iCount-to-10 app code
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