The Mom Crowd

The reading program I was working on with Darah is still in pilot mode and it was getting difficult to progress past the point we had made it to. I loved the program, but needed something that was a little more complete. I began a new reading program with Darah a few weeks ago. I wrote an article reviewing Out of the Box reading a while back. The company has now changed and is called eReadingPro. They are one of our newest advertising sponsors. The only problem I had with Out of the Box was the cost. eReadingPro has modified their program to accommodate tightwads like me people who are wanting to try it out first before making the big investment. Well, I am a total believer and believe that it is worth the big investment!

I purchased the eBook Do-it-yourself Reading Program Book 1. I paid through paypal and the program conveniently arrived in my email inbox before my paypal receipt arrived! Talk about fast! I quickly downloaded my eBook and got to reading. I had the advantage of having attended their Out of the Box conference, so I had a basic understanding of the program and how it works. The eBook came with everything you need to know to get started and 178 days worth of lessons. It included pictures for some of the abstract words being taught and illustrations for books later on. I got to work making my flashcards and started the program a few days later. This program is a sight-word based program and is not a phonics program.

So how does it work?

This program is geared toward the visual learner. Children with Down syndrome, autism, dyslexia, and an “overwhelming percentage of the population” are often visual learners. While many parents of children with special needs have embraced this program, they have a series for typical developing children as well. It does take some time to get it all set up, but once you set up the program you are good to go. I should be completely set for 178 days and then I will purchase Book 2. You can purchase the program with the flashcards preprinted. I saved a little money by writing them out myself. I keep the flashcards in order in a basket on my refrigerator and look at my daily schedule of what flashcards to present that day. I then show Darah the flashcards three times a day. As simplistic as it sounds, it works! By presenting these gigantic flashcards in groups of 5 over a cumulative 10 minutes a day, Darah has learned about 13 sight words! We are currently working on learning single words, but we will soon progress to learning to read sentences. The best part of this program is it has improved her speech! When she sees the flashcard with the word on it, she is articulating so much better than she did before. Her little voice is just way too cute when she says “pancake.” I am seeing results MUCH FASTER than with the other program we were doing. It requires much less energy and time on my part as well, and Darah seems to engage very well to this program.

eReadingPro will soon be releasing reading programs for teens/youth, adults who are learning to read, and for children and youth who are learning English as a second language. The whole word approach to learning to read is a very effective method! We are also working on phonics and individual letters. For phonics, I strongly recommend this DVD and this toy!

Now that summer is here, all three boys are home all day, and the weather is nice I have felt the urge to beat the summer doldrums. I don’t want every day to feel the same, day in and day out. I notice that the kids get a look on their faces when they are bored and are looking for something to do. It is easy for me to get caught up in doing the morning chores around the house while they play and not think proactively about fun activities they can do. So, I had an idea to come up with a list of activities so that we can do at least one fun activity every day. I tend to be a planner but I don’t always practice it. I know that I usually feel less stressed when I do have some activities planned and it’s kind of fun to tell the boys in the morning what our fun “thing” is that day.

I thought I’d share my list and I hope that if we all put our brains together that we can help each other out with fun ideas to keep boredom at arms length over the summer. My kids aren’t very crafty so I tried to think of a variety of activities to do. We also live in a very seasonal climate so I want to take advantage of the sunny, warm weather while it lasts!

1. Every Monday- Pack lunches while baby Graham is taking his morning nap and head to the supercool park after he wakes up. Eat lunch at the park and play until it is time to head home for afternoon naps.

2. Go to the YMCA during family swim time and splash around.

3. Bake something fun together. Bread, cupcakes, cookies….

4. Go to a “pick your own” fruit/vegetable farm.

5. On Friday it is daddy come home early day and we go to Raccoon Creek. (A local state park 20 minutes away with a “beach” swim area)

6. Make homemade play dough.

7. Make homemade popsicles (vanilla yogurt+frozen berries blended and frozen=yummy frozen desserts! you can even add things like ground flax seeds for a healthy nutrition boost).

8. Go for a nature walk and collect different specimens of bugs, samples of leaves, sticks, and rocks.

9. Make a family tree with pictures of family members and hang it on a wall.

10. Go to the science museum.

11. Go to the dinosaur museum.

12. Go to the zoo.

13. Make paper boats.

14. Go to story time at the library.

15. Go to the indoor park at the mall and let the kids run around in the air conditioning.

16. Play date, play date, play date!

17. Hit the (age appropriate) summer reading list for your kids and read together.

18. Plan a treasure hunt.

19. Make a mobile to hang in the kids bedrooms. (We recently made a bug mobile by cutting out pictures of bugs from magazines and then tying them to straws with thread. We had to balance it by sliding the bugs across the straws but the boys love it and it is fun to watch it move from the breeze of the ceiling fan.)

20. Build a fort inside the house and play games inside the fort.

21. Find and empty parking lot and do some fun sidewalk chalk drawing.

22. Go to an indoor bounce house.

So, kick the summer doldrums in the pants and go have some fun!

“Yo Gabba Gabba!” is a hip live action children’s show with a techno beat that airs on Nickelodeon. Each episode is focused on a social topic like sharing, love, sleep, or eating. The premise of the show is that DJ Lance Rock carries five dolls in his boom box and when you say the words “Yo Gabba Gabba!” all five characters come to life in their own diorama world. According to a NY Time article, the show’s title is combination of MTV’s “Yo! MTV Raps” and the Ramone’s chant “Gabba gabba hey.”

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Do you remember that scene in the beginning of the movie Parenthood (it came out in 1989 and if you haven’t seen it since you became a parent you totally should because it is really funny) where the Buckmans are driving home from a baseball game and their oldest son is singing, “when you’re sliding into first and you’re feeling something burst, diarrhea, diarrhea…“? It is a very catchy tune and funny, of course. It is one that all kids are sure to love.

But is it funny when your kids come home from school or a friends house and sing it to you? Are you like me–do you secretly hope that your kids will never learn cuss words or say things like, “I’m going to kill you!” or “Mom, can I have a toy gun because so-and-so has this really cool one at their house and I want one too.” (Things my kids have learned from other kids.) What about when your kid learns to hit others because that is what he/she sees other children doing? What do you do when your kids are influenced (by what you see as negative behavior) by other kids? What is the best way to respond?

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A few weeks ago, The Mom Crowd was given some products from “Raggs“, a program now showing on public television.  I was told it was a fun, lively, educational show that pre-school children would love.  So I tried it out on my daughter Lucy.  It didn’t take long for her to find it completely mesmerizing, and within a day, I started hearing the request, “Watch Raggs?” 

Raggs is a rock & roll loving dog, whose friends (Trilby, B. Max, Pido, and Razzles) are in his band.  When they’re not performing for scads of jumping children, they’re hanging out in Raggs’ clubhouse talking about all kinds of topics, like jobs and friendship.  The show is sweet, colorful, and physical.  There are segments that invite the kids to join in on dances and other movements, as well as montage videos of real people, like what you’d see on “Sesame Street”.

Overall, I have not found “Raggs” to be as irritating as other childrens’ shows (which shall remain unnamed).  Lucy loves it and talks about the characters all the time.  She likes her Raggs coloring book and the stickers that came with it.  It won’t be long before I’m sure to hear her singing the familiar Raggs tunes.

Here is a video of the Raggs Kids Club Band singing “What’s the Dealio?” 

You can also check out these links for more information:

Series Overview

Online activities for the kids

How to find Raggs on tv where you live

Have you seen Raggs?  What are your impressions?  Do your kids like it?