Re: Words again (was: Heidi's dunkers)

[Guest guest]

>

> >

> I tend to think it is more a deterioration of society.

> L.<

>

> ~~~That's true too, but maybe I'm the only one old enough, (at least in this

group), to be able to remember all the things that got dropped from education.

The elimination of phonetics itself was a big loss. (Sorry, if I'm ruffling

some

teacher's feathers.)

> Carol

>

True, true! I think lots of people never actually learn to read.

I've seen it happen many times, where someone will look at

a word, but what they say has nothing to do with the letters

in the word. It seems that almost everyone is dyslexic these

days. But when did that happen? When I was a kid, people

just learned to read words by means of letters. Now I really

wonder if the methods of teaching cause dyslexia. I know

some experts think so.

I'm teaching my own daughter with the Alpha-Phonics primer.

But I'm also hearing about how her friends are learning to

read in school, and it makes me cringe. They have a list of

words for them to know by sight by the end of the year, and

they're noticing the sounds at the beginnings and ends of

words.

Why don't they just teach them to read words? It's really

quite simple.

Carol, you really need to stop saying things that get me

going! I'm trying to stay off this thread.

Aven

>

>

____________________________________________________________

_____

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

~~~I think they were being dropped about the time I was in grade

school, (which was the 1950s), because the students who came after me

learned the 'new' math and all new methods. I noticed all this, because

I have nieces and nephews who were just a few years younger than me, and

they were instructed with all the new methods. -Carol

-----------

Carol, you might be pleased to know that those of us homeschooling our

children in the classical approach have brought phonics back. Actually,

it has made a comeback in elementary education as of late, I believe.

But then, my kids could read before I ever tried teaching them.

Hyperlexia is common among autistics, btw.

I was instructed in new math a couple of decades after you were in

school. Sets, sets and more sets. Fortunately, I made it through and

came to love mathematics, completing two years of calculus and

differential equations with linear algebra with flying colors. I guess

it's like Yoda from Star Wars fame said, " You must unlearn what you have

learned. "

In this world, I focus mainly on math and science. These skills are

sorely lacking and sorely needed in the public at large. Language has

just changed so much with technology. Now, we do basic writing of

stories, reports, persuasive essays and all of that. I actually give my

children blank pages to fill, which is unheard of in most public schools

these days. No TV screens with bright colors and flashing lights to

numb their brains, I tell you.

Deanna

[Guest guest]

>>> It seems that almost everyone is dyslexic these days. But when did that

happen?<<<

When more and more people ate highly processed foods and stopped getting the

essential fatty acids they need.

http://www.dyslexic.org.uk/aboutdyslexia11.htm

" Many people with dyslexia or related conditions (such as dyspraxia or ADHD)

show signs of being deficient in essential (unsaturated) fatty acids. Deficiency

of these may be due to their replacement by high levels of saturated fats in the

typical modern Western diet, and to the decline in consumption of fish. The

modern high incidence of cardiovascular and other serious diseases has been

linked to this deficiency.

It may also help to cause dyslexic problems because these fatty acids play an

important part in the proper functioning of the brain cells involved in

reading.. If so, the lack of fatty acids in our modern diet could have a

particularly noticeable impact on dyslexics. We are currently researching the

relationship between fatty acids and dyslexia. "

******************

Cheers,

Tas'.

[Guest guest]

>Carol, you might be pleased to know that those of us homeschooling our

children in the classical approach have brought phonics back. Actually,

it has made a comeback in elementary education as of late, I believe.

But then, my kids could read before I ever tried teaching them.

Deanna<

That is really great to hear!

Carol

[Guest guest]

> In a message dated 11/8/04 8:16:04 AM Eastern Standard Time,

> twyllightmoon@y... writes:

>

> > It would be nice if there was a spellchecker built into

> > the posting program. I couldn't see myself cutting and

> > pasting every post I write somewhere else so I could

> > spellcheck it. Personally, I'd rather have people feel free

> > to communicate here without being self-conscious about

> > spelling & grammar.

> ____

>

> ~~~~> Your email client doesn't have a spellchecker?

> Chris

Don't know - I never really looked for one.

Aven

>

> ____

>

> " What can one say of a soul, of a heart, filled with compassion? It is a

> heart which burns with love for every creature: for human beings, birds, and

> animals, for serpents and for demons. The thought of them and the sight of

them

> make the tears of the saint flow. And this immense and intense

compassion,

> which flows from the heart of the saints, makes them unable to bear the

sight of

> the smallest, most insignificant wound in any creature. Thus they pray

> ceaselessly, with tears, even for animals, for enemies of the truth, and for

those

> who do them wrong. "

>

> --Saint Isaac the Syrian

[Guest guest]

It's not just in the classical approach.... We are unschoolers here. My 11

year old is working on teaching the 4 year old phonics right now...he wants

to learn. What's funny is when the 21 month old comes out doing phonetic

sounds! Of course he's learning the letters too! LOL! He'll be SO easy when

he gets to school age! heehee!

L.

>

> >Carol, you might be pleased to know that those of us homeschooling our

>children in the classical approach have brought phonics back. Actually,

>it has made a comeback in elementary education as of late, I believe.

>But then, my kids could read before I ever tried teaching them.

>

>Deanna<

>

>That is really great to hear!

>Carol

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Just a general remark about phonics, learning to read, etc....

Actually, to be honest, I have no idea what " phonics " even refers to

in this thread or in general, but I'm assuming it's some kind of

artificial educational tool relating to reading and pronunciation...

I have absolutely no memory whatsoever of my early learning

experiences, either inside or outside of school, except that I

remember taking turns in class reading a story or something in, say,

1st grade, and that there were different levels of ability, which fed

(stuffed) my ego, a trend which spiralled out of control in ensuing

years. As far as I know or can remember, reading is something that is

just learned spontaneously and subconsciously by exposure to text and

spoken text. The idea of using explicit, conscious systems, like I

presume " phonics " to be, sounds like an absurdity to me, a delusional

preoccupation of overzealous educators. The way the human brain

learns things hasn't yet been successfully systematized to the point

where we can write computer programs to simulate it or write curricula

to explicitly instill it, two tasks which are essentially equivalent.

My best guess about how I personally learned to read is that my

parents read to me while I viewed the source text, a typical

parent-child scenario. I doubt there was any other activity involved

in learning to read, and I know for sure I could read before I ever

stepped foot into a classroom. The fact is that there probably have

always been and continue to be many parents who don't do this, so in

our cultures where an historically unusually high percentage of

children are submitted to formal education, schoolteachers attempt to

compensate with superficial methods wherein they explicitly convey the

patterns of text-sound mappings, a hopelessly complex task that has

largely stumped the best scientific minds to date. My parents were

not especially well-educated or intelligent, more or less average, but

valued human-text interactions to an extent typical of their culture

and the result was successful learning of reading through routine,

unforced activities that I seriously doubt involved any explicit

teaching of text-sound relationships.

Some of the comments in this thread suggest the common error of

thinking language should be taught. It's not that it can't, but that

it rarely needs to be. Any language in any culture is learned

spontaneously and naturally by children without any teaching of any

kind, from mere exposure to language use. The kinds of things being

talked about here, specifically reading, are not part of language, but

rather secondary, artificial appendages to language, on par with any

number of other arbitrary symbol systems people learn for various

reasons at various stages of life. To be clear, *written language*

does not equal *language*. The former is an arbitrary symbol system

some cultures have supplemented their languages with. As such, these

systems are learned differently, and much less naturally, which

justifies special educational activities like reading to children, but

does not inherently justify the kind of explicit teaching of *theories

of these systems*, such as <fill in the blank for your favorite theory

of sound-text mappings geared towards young children>. I don't think

it's necessary to teach reading at all beyond teaching in the sense of

" implementing learning opportunities " , e.g. parent/child joint-reading

sessions. People who attempt to " teach " their kids reading via

analytical systems are just deluding themselves and wasting their and

their kids' time. In cases like Chris' probably was, the kids learned

it via the inscrutable complex ways of the human brain interacting

with an informational domain in unsystematic and subconscious ways,

just like most other things are learned, not via being " taught " . His

distaste for these " attempted being taught " experiences probably

results from their baroque absurdity, superfluity, and displacement of

more valuable activities.

On the matter of " grammar " , that it something properly understood as a

part of language, which, like all parts of language, is automatically

learned without any teaching of any kind, and barring rare

neurological defects or the like, it's essentially impossible to learn

" incorrect " grammar. I think what some of you in this thread are

talking about is learning **theories of grammar**, which do not equal

*grammar* itself, the sorts of half-assed and profoundly flawed

theories typical of schoolteachers, and most conspicuously, theories

of grammars for dialects that 1) don't actually exist outside of the

fantasies of a tiny subculture of pedants, or 2) that are not native

to the students, or 3) conflate language and written language, which,

being deeply separate systems, cannot be said to both have " grammars "

in the same sense.

These are just brief, stream-of-consciousness comments and

unfortunately I don't have the time or interest to really express my

thoughts clearly on these tired topics...

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. --Alan Kay

[Guest guest]

>>>These are just brief, stream-of-consciousness comments and<<<

Define 'brief'.

>>>unfortunately I don't have the time or interest to really express my

thoughts clearly on these tired topics...<<<

So why did you start it?

***

[*note to all the awful people who constantly misspell " lose " that

this is the real word " loose " that is spelled with two " o " s... This

error has been driving me crazy in the past year or two since I

noticed it occurring **constantly** and even from very well-educated

people.... My message to everyone: PLEASE STOP MISSPELLING " lose " !!!I

have not even began to vent on this here!]

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

***

Cheers,

Tas'.

[Guest guest]

You people really make me feel old. I can remember back before

phonetics was the rage!

> When was phonetics eliminated? I know that geography was dropped

before I

> had any classes in that. I enjoy homeschooling my kids because of

all the

> things I get to learn! I can't wait for jr.high! LOL! Of course,

this is one

> of thew reasons I homeschool. I want my children to learn all the

basics,

> not just pass a test.

> L.

>

> > >

> >I tend to think it is more a deterioration of society.

> > L.<

> >

> >~~~That's true too, but maybe I'm the only one old enough, (at

least in

> >this group), to be able to remember all the things that got

dropped from

> >education. The elimination of phonetics itself was a big loss.

(Sorry, if

> >I'm ruffling some teacher's feathers.)

> >Carol

> >

>

> _________________________________________________________________

> Don't just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search!

> http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/

[Guest guest]

----- Original Message -----

From: " Deanna "

> Carol, you might be pleased to know that those of us homeschooling our

> children in the classical approach have brought phonics back.

Yep, yep. When I read to my children, we discuss what words and letters

sound like. I had to laugh yesterday when my oldest tried to spell " house "

and produced the classic " howse " a la Pooh. It led to an interesting

discussion.

Actually,

> it has made a comeback in elementary education as of late, I believe.

> But then, my kids could read before I ever tried teaching them.

> Hyperlexia is common among autistics, btw.

Here, too. Even my 4 yo, who I considered to be language delayed, is

starting to demonstrate word recognition.

> I was instructed in new math a couple of decades after you were in

> school. Sets, sets and more sets. Fortunately, I made it through and

> came to love mathematics, completing two years of calculus and

> differential equations with linear algebra with flying colors. I guess

> it's like Yoda from Star Wars fame said, " You must unlearn what you have

> learned. "

Oh, Gawd! I remember that. Terribly confusing and my parents had *no* clue

as to how to help me. I still suffer from math anxiety. Your words give me

hope!

Looking back, I can see what they were *trying* to do with new math, but I

think that they were trying it on an age group before the appropriate

physical brain maturation.....wasted effort and debilitating, actually.

With my children, we play math games and look for patterns and rhythms in

math. I'd rather they learn the principle behind the process than memorize

the facts.....I figure they can do that later. My favorite math tool are

cuisinaire rods.

> In this world, I focus mainly on math and science. These skills are

> sorely lacking and sorely needed in the public at large. Language has

> just changed so much with technology. Now, we do basic writing of

> stories, reports, persuasive essays and all of that. I actually give my

> children blank pages to fill, which is unheard of in most public schools

> these days. No TV screens with bright colors and flashing lights to

> numb their brains, I tell you.

Well, we use quite a bit of electronic media here, but I'm selective about

our poisons.

--s

[Guest guest]

----- Original Message -----

From: <ChrisMasterjohn@...>

> ~~~~~> No, but your ruffling the feathers of a former first-grader! Ugh,

> phonics was such a waste of time... I should have burned my phonics

workbook.

>

> Chris

The educational philosopher in me says it was the workbook that was the

waste of time, not the phonics.

--s

[Guest guest]

----- Original Message -----

From: " "

> >>> It seems that almost everyone is dyslexic these days. But when did

that happen?<<<

>

> When more and more people ate highly processed foods and stopped getting

the essential fatty acids they need.

>

> http://www.dyslexic.org.uk/aboutdyslexia11.htm

>

> " Many people with dyslexia or related conditions (such as dyspraxia or

ADHD) show signs of being deficient in essential (unsaturated) fatty acids.

<nodding> It is currently becoming popular in Autism Spectrum groups (of

which ADHD is classified) to use CLO supplements as part of the regimen.

I'm afraid it might end up being faddish, like the original Feingold

diet.....

--s, who really needs to buy stock in RxOmega's parent company.

[Guest guest]

----- Original Message -----

From: " Lillig "

> It's not just in the classical approach.... We are unschoolers here. My 11

> year old is working on teaching the 4 year old phonics right now...he

wants

> to learn. What's funny is when the 21 month old comes out doing phonetic

> sounds! Of course he's learning the letters too! LOL! He'll be SO easy

when

> he gets to school age! heehee!

> L.

Been peeking in our windows, ? My youngest isn't really talking yet

and still goes around warbling the tunes to the learning songs the olders

are singing...LOL!

--s

[Guest guest]

------------------

> Looking back, I can see what they were *trying* to do with new math,

> but I think that they were trying it on an age group before the

> appropriate physical brain maturation..... -- s

----------------------

My dad has a tizzy every time he speaks to me of the new math, and how

its creator - some guy, I forget- was some idiot all into teaching the

world can be broken into sets, subsets, intersecting sets, unions, blah,

blah, blah, rant, rant, rant. My father taught college level physics

courses, until retirement, btw.

I have a friend in grad school now. She is planning to teach high

school biology in the public sector. She tells me her educational

experience is all about classroom management, psychology of the

classroom, and other lame-brained ideas that actually take away from the

teaching of a vitally important subject. I think Mike made some very

good points along these lines.

-----------------------

>> No TV screens with bright colors and flashing lights to numb their

brains, I tell you. - Deanna

>

> Well, we use quite a bit of electronic media here, but I'm selective

> about our poisons. -s

--------------------

Yes, well, we have the *educational* software, videos and the like. I

was meaning to comment on their use in the classroom. I feel they are

entertaining and very distracting to learning language and symbol based

learning. They are for after school. The internet has its place for

research and current events. Television is not ever viewed in this

house. I have been personally insulted by the lack of intelligent

programming since 1983, when I gave it up for good. I see, on

occasional visits to places where TVs are blaring, that it has gotten

progressively vile and worthless. No offense is intended to anyone.

It's just my opinion and responsibility as a parent to guide my children

towards proper growth physically, mentally, etc.

Deanna

[Guest guest]

He'll be SO easy when he gets to school age! heehee! - L.

What do you mean WHEN he gets to school age? Isn't every age an age to

learn? An eager learner is fun to engage! , he's learning now.

And we never get too old either... at least not for learning.

Years ago my son's well-meaning preschool teacher instructed me that if

I homeschooled my children, their knowledge base would never exceed

mine. As a young mother these words scared me for awhile. But I got

over it, because this sort of thinking is flawed for at least 2 reasons:

1. Kids can and do learn about many things all by themselves.

2. My ability to learn is still intact, thank you very much. My brain

can actually handle more, the ol' memory bank ain't full yet. I can

continue to convey ideas as well. Thanks be to God.

Deanna

[Guest guest]

,

>>So why did you start it?

Cheers,

Tas'.

<<

~~~Plus, you mentioned " pendants " with their " half-assed and profoundly flawed

theories " - and yet, I believe it was you who pedantically started the whole

issue in the first place, with " lose " and " loose " . :-)

Carol

***

[*note to all the awful people who constantly misspell " lose " that

this is the real word " loose " that is spelled with two " o " s... This

error has been driving me crazy in the past year or two since I

noticed it occurring **constantly** and even from very well-educated

people.... My message to everyone: PLEASE STOP MISSPELLING " lose " !!!I

have not even began to vent on this here!]

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

***

[Guest guest]

>>You people really make me feel old. I can remember back before

phonetics was the rage!<<

~~~Unless, you're over 100 years old, I don't think so! (Bet I'm older than

you, if you think that, because you're probably thinking of the more recent

revival of Phonetics with the advertisements on TV some years ago, for a product

that's based on phonetics......now I can't remember the name of it, but it's

still around, I think.) Phonetics evidently started in 1891 in Finland!

See below.

Carol

a.. 1891: Hugo Pipping was appointed Docent of Phonetics.

a.. 1903: A phonetic laboratory was established. The laboratory got new

equipment, which implies the unofficial establishment of the Department of

Phonetics. The laboratory had early connections with physiology and language

studies, especially with those of Finnish and Saami.

http://www.helsinki.fi/hum/hyfl/history.html

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 11/9/04 1:01:08 AM Eastern Standard Time,

michaelantonparker@... writes:

> The idea of using explicit, conscious systems, like I

> presume " phonics " to be, sounds like an absurdity to me, a delusional

> preoccupation of overzealous educators.

____

~~~~~> Same here. Of course, I'm biased by my own experience-- I started

reading when I was 2, and was writing around 2 1/2 (pretty sloppily!). My

mother

didn't really " teach " me to read, methodically. She just read to me

constantly, and would usually read with her finger under the text she was

reading, so

that if I was looking, I was making an association with the text I saw and the

words she was speaking. Common and easy words like " and " and " it, " etc, she

would ask me in the middle of reading, and when I would get them right

consistently she'd ask me other words. It seems to me that making sound-text

associations within the context of sensible sentences would quite obviously be

vastly

superior to dissociated syllables that have no context to be associated with

whatsoever.

Chris

____

" What can one say of a soul, of a heart, filled with compassion? It is a

heart which burns with love for every creature: for human beings, birds, and

animals, for serpents and for demons. The thought of them and the sight of them

make the tears of the saint flow. And this immense and intense compassion,

which flows from the heart of the saints, makes them unable to bear the sight of

the smallest, most insignificant wound in any creature. Thus they pray

ceaselessly, with tears, even for animals, for enemies of the truth, and for

those

who do them wrong. "

--Saint Isaac the Syrian

[Guest guest]

>Looking back, I can see what they were *trying* to do with new math, but I

>think that they were trying it on an age group before the appropriate

>physical brain maturation.....wasted effort and debilitating, actually.

>With my children, we play math games and look for patterns and rhythms in

>math. I'd rather they learn the principle behind the process than memorize

>the facts.....I figure they can do that later. My favorite math tool are

>cuisinaire rods.

I found an old math text at a garage sale, from MY childhood, and we

are using that. She loves it. Step by step, lots of examples, and both

of us like knowing where we've been and where we are going. We

do games too, but she's always had an issue with the basics and

getting in the habit of writing things down neatly.

Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 11/9/04 8:03:14 AM Eastern Standard Time,

snoakes@... writes:

> The educational philosopher in me says it was the workbook that was the

> waste of time, not the phonics.

____

~~~~~> If you mean phonics is not a waste of time in the sense that we can't

speak without making sounds, I agree. Otherwise, I think " teaching phonics "

is probably counter-productive in the sense that it displaces more valuable

ways of learning to read, is very boring, and causes the retention of traumatic

memories.

Chris

____

" What can one say of a soul, of a heart, filled with compassion? It is a

heart which burns with love for every creature: for human beings, birds, and

animals, for serpents and for demons. The thought of them and the sight of them

make the tears of the saint flow. And this immense and intense compassion,

which flows from the heart of the saints, makes them unable to bear the sight of

the smallest, most insignificant wound in any creature. Thus they pray

ceaselessly, with tears, even for animals, for enemies of the truth, and for

those

who do them wrong. "

--Saint Isaac the Syrian

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 11/9/04 9:46:20 AM Eastern Standard Time, hl@...

writes:

> He'll be SO easy when he gets to school age! heehee! - L.

>

> What do you mean WHEN he gets to school age? Isn't every age an age to

> learn? An eager learner is fun to engage! , he's learning now.

> And we never get too old either... at least not for learning.

____

~~~~~> You know, I'd consider the possibility that he'll be that much more

difficult when he gets to school age, if he goes to school. I was an early

learner of all sorts of things, and public school was nothing other than a

torturous hell for me until I got to eighth grade and made it a point to make

lots of

trouble, which was the only fun I got out of school.

I was put into many " excelling " sections of classes, where me and one or two

others would do work ahead of the class. Unfortunatley, these were usually

much too easy and boring, and it got worse when in third grade I was doing

remedial work even in the excel group, limited either by the capabilities of the

other person in the group or the teachers expectations or whatever. After that,

I was with the rest of the class until sixth grade science. I don't think I

ever learned any math throughout all of elementary school. Unfortunately, I

had maxed out my mother's knowledge of math at around first grade, and neither

the school nor the family offered me the opportunity to learn more until years

later when I'd lost interest in academics for a period.

I wrote a letter to the principal and had a meeting with him in fifth or

sixth grade to raise concerns about the curriculum. He said not to worry and

promised me I'd be put into pre-algebra in seventh grade. I'm so glad he

understood! *rolls eyes*

Chris

____

" What can one say of a soul, of a heart, filled with compassion? It is a

heart which burns with love for every creature: for human beings, birds, and

animals, for serpents and for demons. The thought of them and the sight of them

make the tears of the saint flow. And this immense and intense compassion,

which flows from the heart of the saints, makes them unable to bear the sight of

the smallest, most insignificant wound in any creature. Thus they pray

ceaselessly, with tears, even for animals, for enemies of the truth, and for

those

who do them wrong. "

--Saint Isaac the Syrian

[Guest guest]

Deanna,

Sorry, I must not have been clear. I simply meant when he got to " public

school age " ! (Or possibly an age where I would " formally " introduce " book

learning " to him.) I chose to unschool for those exact reasons. School does

not have a beggining of the year for us, as we " school " every day.

Of course I am modeling the behavior that learning does not stop at any age

either. (Otherwise what would I be doing on this list! LOL)

I am simply impressed with the fact that in a family with multiple children,

the younger children seem to " do " things earlier than " normal " (check the

pediatric charts, not that I agree with them, but it gives an idea of what

to expect other people to expect.) I mean he is only 21 months old, and he

knows his colors, numbers through 10, learning letter names, and phonetic

sounds, and he can recognize his name (because it starts with 'A' he says)

and his brother's name (by the first letter. We often get two of the same

thing and write teir names on them.)

My oldest is going to be 12 in a few weeks, and that is how long I have been

homeschooling! And the day that I stop learning, is the day I die! Life is

full of wonders to be learned about!

L.

>

> He'll be SO easy when he gets to school age! heehee! - L.

>

>What do you mean WHEN he gets to school age? Isn't every age an age to

>learn? An eager learner is fun to engage! , he's learning now.

>And we never get too old either... at least not for learning.

>

>Years ago my son's well-meaning preschool teacher instructed me that if

>I homeschooled my children, their knowledge base would never exceed

>mine. As a young mother these words scared me for awhile. But I got

>over it, because this sort of thinking is flawed for at least 2 reasons:

>

>1. Kids can and do learn about many things all by themselves.

>

>2. My ability to learn is still intact, thank you very much. My brain

>can actually handle more, the ol' memory bank ain't full yet. I can

>continue to convey ideas as well. Thanks be to God.

>

>Deanna

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Too true. Unless you have a child that needs gold stars to show everyone

else...then they come in handy! LOL

L.

>

> > ~~~~~> No, but your ruffling the feathers of a former first-grader!

>Ugh,

> > phonics was such a waste of time... I should have burned my phonics

>workbook.

> >

> > Chris

>

>The educational philosopher in me says it was the workbook that was the

>waste of time, not the phonics.

>

>--s

>

_________________________________________________________________

Get ready for school! Find articles, homework help and more in the Back to

School Guide! http://special.msn.com/network/04backtoschool.armx

[Guest guest]

Hear! Hear! (Do you think typing tutor and Zaboomafoo are poison? -being

sarcastic...)

L.

>

>Well, we use quite a bit of electronic media here, but I'm selective about

>our poisons.

>

>--s

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[Guest guest]

----- Original Message -----

From: " Lillig "

> Hear! Hear! (Do you think typing tutor and Zaboomafoo are poison? -being

> sarcastic...)

> L.

Yeah, we've got Zaboomafoo and a huge file of other edutainment software.

My kids have absorbed an amazing amount of information from just playing.

My oldest has the learning style that the programmers had in mind when they

designed these games.....he will wring every bit of information out of each

one. And my 4 yo will sit endlessly and watch him play or try to wrestle

with programs that are waaay over his head. But it is paying off, since the

oldest is functioning significantly above age/grade and the 4 yo is starting

to do 1st grade math....

Scary.

And I agree that tv media isn't all that it could be, but when I see the

kids watching Life of Mammals, The Magic School Bus, and Blue/Dinosaur

Planet over and over and over and over.....well, it's hard for me to say

" no " to that. I regularly, however, say " no " to Cartoon Network.

--s