If your toddler doesn't seem interested in class, here are the ideas to try

http://www.mummyshomeschool.com/shichid ... aq/#active

Blissedsher:

Please help!! for linking memory , i understand the parent need to read the story rapidly but for the child to rearrange the cards , do they have to be fast too?

It depends on the child's motor skills and preferences. In class, the \"ideal\" is to arrange fast. During home practice, I go with my boy's learning style (audio learner). E.g. he may prefer to read out the sequence of the cards without arranging, and that's fine too.

The eventual goal is to have the child visualise the sequence of the images easily in his mind and read the names out easily. For 4 years old and above, they move on to flash memory, so a story may not be needed to help memorisation. Also, arranging cards are not needed anymore. Just view the flashcards / listen to the story / names and be able to visualise and repeat.

Hihi... just discovered this thread! We're homeschooling using Montessori method, kids are 4 years, 1.5 years, and expecting another at the end of the year. I've completed Karen Tyler's online training programme and am now looking into taking up an elementary course.


Some options I came across:
NAMC: http://www.montessoritraining.net/elementary_program/program_overview.htm
http://keysoftheuniverse.com

@buds: Would be great if you manage to get time to blog! Don't need to blog every day's details, even once every 1-2 weeks will do. Summarise your best tips + share some homemade printables if you wish. Every child's progress is different, so blogging daily isn't essential, and it'll be too taxing on you.

Btw, our homeschooling blog is here:
http://www.MummysHomeschool.com

@pinkiepirate: I haven't logged in here for a long while. Great that your boy's presentation session went well!


To parents looking for review / FAQs on Shichida classes, here's detailed compilation:
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http://www.mummyshomeschool.com/shichida-method-review-faq/

Also a new page to share some of our homemade materials:

http://www.mummyshomeschool.com/resources/shichida-flashcards-home-practice-materials/

Hope you'd find this useful!

Mychildren:

I don't think he is gifted and there should be many children are like that too. Can you all suggest how to motivate them to study at least?

My boy is 3.5 years old, we're homeschooling. Some ideas for motivating a child to learn / practice that may be useful even for older children:

- create a high and positive energy level at home, make learning sound interesting, instead of a chore. Nagging tends to dampen the mood. Encourage, do some singing / dancing / light warm up exercises before homework time, and move to more serious learning

- identify the child's interest and link the learning to those interests. E.g. Child loves Thomas train, illustrate math concepts with trains, wheels, engines, etc.

- be a role model by learning, reading and doing serious work near the child. When the child asks, explain why learning, etc. is important in life. The child will model after the parent. Can set aside time to do this tasks side by side. E.g. Child practises math while parent tallies family expenses for the week. This is a great way to show the relevance of the subject to real life.

- create a conducive learning environment at home. For us, we encourage screen-free activities. Our TV is covered with a huge cloth, rarely turned on, except for watching the recent Olympic games for sports knowledge exposure. No iPad / iPhone, etc. unless I'm unable to prepare hands on learning materials. A big variety of books, puzzles, card games, stationery, Montessori hands on materials displayed on shelves, and rotated on a regular basis. The child helps himself to the materials and develops interest in learning. Tie in the activities to what's covered in books.

Toys are kept separately from more purposeful learning materials. The general idea is finish work then move to outdoor activities / indoor playing. Every day, there's time for work and for play, just need to prioritise.

E.g. When my child is playing and asks me to accompany him, and I'm washing dishes, I'd reply that Mummy needs to finish work then can play. He asks, \"Why?\" I'd paint the scenario where no one washes the dishes and only keeps playing. How? He'd understand the importance of working and learning, before play.

After using these method, my young child is generally self-motivated to learn, do work and practice. In my opinion, this is an important life skill. Hope this helps!

P.S. Btw, I recently started a blog to share our homeschooling journey for 0-6 years old. In case you're interested, it's MummysHomeschool.com.

@venuschan: "Hates mistakes" – That’s the perfectionist trait.


I’d that when younger, I got 96 marks for a primary school test from 1 mistake, I cried badly once I reached home even though my mum was happy with the result.

During kindergarten, I still didn’t really understand the concept of marks and ranking. In primary school, I understood. In every single assessment, I wanted perfect score, especially Math, my favourite subject. This trait made me push myself hard, while I truly enjoy learning as well.

When playing board games with family members at home, I wanted to win – all the time. If I were bankrupt in a game of Monopoly, I cried badly (again!) To my parents’ dismay, they found it hard to convince me that people win and lose.

When slightly older, I began to understand that mistakes are inevitable. Through more life experiences. However, that perfectionist trait still lingers. E.g. for every project paper, I’d do it till wee hours in the morning just to get things "perfect" – the language, formatting, everything. A lot of time spent (or wasted), but doing so makes me feel "settled".

So just got to keep exposing the child to more life experiences that mistakes are inevitable. We keep practicing, try our best, make mistakes, pick up and continue going. E.g. watch the current Olympic games to learn from others’ failures and experiences as well.

It’s good that she identified an ambition for herself. Easier to motivate her when needed. Facing ethical issue? Explain how doctors must be grounded in ethics. Refuse to learn a second language? Explain how doctors need to have good communication skills when interviewing patients (who can come from all over the world). My 3-year old boy has "decided" to be a chef (haha!), so it’s quite easy to direct his motivation around his current ambition.

Fettuccine:

[Moderator's Note: Threads merged.]


Hi all,

I am keen to send my kids to learn at Shichida. Although at their preschool, they are doing spelling, simple dictation, maths, reading, I would like my kids to improve the use of their \"right brain\", just for enrichment

Does anyone have any comments about the results, effectiveness and what exactly are they going to learn about? Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

My boy attended Shichida classes since 14 months old. He loves it and we do home practice every weekday. Using the right brain to learn things at a young age is very effective indeed. That's why we've decided to homeschool through Kindergarten as well, and attend only Shichida once a week, and music class once a week.

Before enrolling for the class, I didn't simply believe its claims. I asked around for testimonials from mums whose children have been with the method for at least a year. And checked online for more testimonials from mums' blogs, especially those who do home practice. The centers usually have a big file of parents' testimonials too.

After enrolling, understanding the method properly and practicing diligently, we're all happy with the method. Even hubby is very supportive because he's amazed at how fast and easily our little boy learns, while being happy, emotionally-sensitive (good EQ) and well-behaved.

The method firstly teaches the parent how to be a good parent, how to show love effectively to the child. Then the child will learn with ease and be well-behaved too.

I simply guided my boy to learn through fun and play using the method, without expecting any results. (If you expect to see results or try to test what the child knows, he'd be put off or frustrated.) His language, memory, singing skills are very good for a 2+ year old, at least in my eyes. My wish is for him to acquire skills for self-directed learning, then formal schooling in future would be easy and enjoyable, leaving him more time to enjoy his passion and do community work, etc. So far, the Shichida Method is bringing us there.

The 3 popular right brain schools in KL (I relocated here):

Shichida (son’s been attending this since 14 months, now almost 3.)
Heguru: from Japan too, very similar to Shichida, many centers in KL
Tweedlewink: started by founders experienced in Montessori method, who learnt about right Braun education and incorporated it into classes

Glenn Doman is one of the pioneers in right brain education too. But mainly through flashcards (English, Math red dots, now Mandarin too). But materials lack update for many years. It also has books on developing physical body and swimming. Yet I find it an incomplete programme.

We’re homeschooling family, practice Shichida Method every weekday.

- Linking Memory: 1-2 years old do 6 cards each time. 2+ year old do more cards. My boy loves this and is good at it, so we’ve been doing 10 cards each time at home, since about 2 year old. He can remember a sequence of 10 items easily.

- Foreign language exposure: through songs and short story. Sometime, hands on activities may introduce foreign language too. Just to develop an ear for foreign language. To really be multi-lingual, need more exposure at home. E.g. Play audio songs, read books etc. My boy is good at Mandarin and English, knows a little bit of Jap from Shichida class, speaks some Malay with helper, and tiny bit of dialect. Most toddlers can do this, with sufficient exposure.

- Senses: The new term is actually Heightened Sensory Perception (HSP), replacing the previous ESP. All babies are born with sharp senses. E.g. Baby knows when mummy enters room, without seeing her. When mummy is upset, baby feels upset too. It’s nothing spiritual. The practices are to help the child retain that strong senses. In baby and young toddler class, it’s often that the children get all or most of the answers correct, because their senses are very strong. At home, when my boy is sufficiently relaxed, he gets the answers mostly right too. He’s also very sensitive to hubby & my emotions. And knows for example when Daddy’s car is back, who Daddy is talking to on the phone, because he’s been practicing his senses: hearing, smell, taste, sight, touch, and telepathy with me.

- Materials: we buy from Shichida when we started. Then buy from bookstores or online stores if I find them in line with the method. (There’re many products riding on the right-brain wave, but may not be effective / beneficial.) I also make materials and flashcards. And exchange flashcards with a close group of like-minded mums.

Home practice: Minimum 15 minutes. We homeschool, so my boy has guided activities for 30min to 1+ hour, depending on his interest for the day.

We do lots of reading in 2 languages, and play audio songs / stories / poems in the background during his free play.

He also gets lots of free and creative play time.

Rei Yan:

hi everyone, does anyone know anyone or place selling the speed reading books and cds used in shichida? TIA!

Not that I know of. Anyway, it's easy to replicate the speed reading practice at home.
- choose an appropriate book (e.g. Picture book with 1-2 lines of words per page for 1-2 year old)
- read once with normal speed
- read once with high speed (twice as fast)

That's it.

In addition, need to do eye training exercises, especially for older children.
I bought a training set at http://shop.ibaby.my/?product-3920.html

s277400:

Ok thanks will let her know. BTW since my kid is too old for you, i tot buying those material use by Shichida to self teach my kid, did you buy any from the school. Or do you have 2nd hand material you bought from the school that you want to sell?

0-3 years old: input phases
3-6 years old: input plus some output phase
From 6-7 years old: output phase, child can practise his skills independently

It's still possible to start right brain training at 7 years old or beyond, just that it'd take much longer to see the effect. Persistence, love and belief in your child's ability are the keys.

Shichida sells flashcards (many are more suitable for young children), linking memory cards (any age can use it) and memory games. To teach the child areas such as imaging, eye training, photographic memory, speed reading, etc, you'd need to understand the Shichida Method well enough. Having materials is insufficient. Also, some of the home practice may not need materials. If you can read Chinese, do get the book 七田真0－6岁育儿法.