Christmas Activities Set

Exciting Christmas activities for ages 3-6. This set includes: Christmas Stencil Cards (FC), Christmas Story Jigsaw, Christmas Fairy Things, Christmas Jigsaw Book, and Christmas Fairy Cooking. Click HERE to purchase.

THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY SALE

Spark a child’s imagination, creativity, and love

of reading with gifts from Usborne Books!

Click HERE to check out this awesome sale.

Sale runs Friday (11/23),1 a.m. CST through Monday (11/26) 9 p.m. CST.

Spin & Match for Beginning Readers

These interactive books are a fun way for the beginning reader to develop comprehension skills. The self-correcting feature makes them ideal for the unschooling method of learning.

Click here for a flash demonstration.

Books available from Usborne are Tell Me a Story, Kings, Cookies, & Quackers, and Fun on the Farm. Click on a title to learn more or to purchase.




P.S. Don't forget to enter my monthly drawing for $50 in free books!!!

Two Satisfied Customers - Gracie and Jacob

Dana, who commented on the Your Baby Can Read Program post below, sent me pictures of her little cutie pies going through one of the DVD's. (Dana is one of my customers and cyber-friend from the DCF Ladies Blogring . Check out her blog.)

Your Baby Can Read

Yes, it's true!

Your Baby Can Read is a program developed by Dr. Robert C. Titzer. According to Dr. Titzer:

There is a natural window of opportunity for learning language where it is easier to learn language at a higher level. Reading is the most important skill a child learns. Reading helps children succeed in school and in life. The earlier a child is taught to read, the better the child reads – even when you control for IQ and socio-economic status. This effect does not go away after a few years. In longitudinal studies children who were taught to read earlier stayed ahead of their same-IQ, same socio-economic status peers who were taught later. The children who were taught later never caught up to their peers.

According to a national panel of reading specialists and early childhood educators, most of our nation's reading problems could be eliminated if we started teaching reading earlier and if we did a combination of phonics and whole language (instead of only one or the other).

The window of opportunity for learning language begins to close by age four. We know that it is easier to learn language skills at a high level earlier in life and increasing difficult to learn at a high level as we get older. About 90% of the brain is developed by age 5, then we begin to teach reading. Maybe the correct question is “Why would we wait to teach reading when the most natural time to learn language is during the infant and toddler years?”

This program uses the multi-sensory and interactive approach. Parents watch the videos (or DVD's) with the child, so it's not some lock-and-load type thing where the parent deposits the child in front of the television and then goes off to do the laundry. The parent watches and participates along with the child.

Some of you may have seen or heard in the news that many so-called baby genius programs have been found to be ineffective, even harmful. YBCR is glaringly absent from those lists because it does work and it is beneficial to the child in so many ways.

YBCR is gaining popularity with homeschoolers because it works and because it helps to spark the child's brain development and ability to learn across the board.


Click here to read FAQ's.

Click here to read Testimonials.

Click here to see YBCR in the news.

Click here to see babies reading.

Click here to Purchase YBCR.


Email me at ybcr@domestexec.com for a free DVD.

My nephew .....

spent 5 months fighting for his life in the hospital. He was born with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis. Sick as he was, he needed stimulation --- visual, tactile, auditory. This book of bedtime stories was one of his favorite Usborne books during that time. He's an active two-year old now, already an unschooler, and he still loves his "Duck" books.

Check out the selection of bedtime stories at my website: Little Book of Bedtime Stories, Stories for Bedtime, Bedtime Stories Set, Usborne Story Box, Bedtime Rhymes, and many more.

What Duck?

The little yellow duck is the mascot of Usborne Books at Home, (the American division of Usborne Publishing). Duck was the creation and signature of illustrator extraordinaire Stephen Cartright. His illustrations have delighted children all over the world for 27 years. Sadly, Stephen died in 2004, the victim of a series of strokes.

The purpose of this blog is to share with unschoolers (and homeschoolers) a resource that fits our lifestyle and our chosen method of educating our kids. That resource is Usborne Books at Home. Usborne Books at Home was part of our home libary long before I decided to become a consultant. Years before. In fact, my youngest was 14 when I started my Usborne business. I had thought about it several times through the years, but when the grandkids started coming along I figured it was high time. So, here I am.

I hope not to bore you with dry descriptions or advertising hype. I just want to share these wonderful books with fellow unschoolers (and homeschoolers) and show you how they can enrich and educate without stress, without force. The children in my family hang on to these books like old friends.

To illustrate their benefits, I'll use the word D-U-C-K:

D = double-page spread. The books contain complete scenes or thoughts on the pages opened in front of the child. They don't have to turn the page to finish a thought or see what happens next. All the present action is contained on that double-page spread.

U = unlimited activity. There are things to do, make, think about, find, and discover.

C = colorful illustrations. The illustrations are intriguing, often humorous. They draw the child in and hold their interest.

K = knowledge in bitesized chunks. Children don't have to read pages of dense text to get to the point. Each chunk is a stand-alone piece of information that the child can digest at his own pace. If he's called away, he can easily pick up where he left off....not in the middle of an idea or explanation.

There is much more that I can say about these books, but that's all for now. My following posts will concern descriptions of series and individual books, fun stuff to make and do, creative ways to use the books, and introductions to resources in which we hold distributor rights like Your Baby Can Read, Learning Palette, and Learning Wrap-ups.

Genny

P.S. I invite comments, questions, and discussion.