Hi! So sorry, it's been a long while since I last posted. I've been getting a lot of requests to share my links for educational materials online, and a number of those requests have come from moms of preschool kids. So to those mommies – you know who you are! - here's the first of many links/websites I have found helpful for my own kids.
Before I get to the first link, there may be some among you who have reservations about computer-aided learning and the internet. I'm not here to tell you that you should or shouldn't, because ultimately, it'll be your choice for your children. What I will tell you is that based on my experience, I've found our PC and the internet to be an indispensable tool for learning. Given the fact that both my husband and I are active members of the information technology (IT) industry, what would you expect? There are concerns/issues regarding PC and internet use which I do believe are valid, so here are a few principles we practice:
Do not leave your children alone with the PC, especially preschool children. For kids who don't know how to use the computer, this would be a no-brainer since they will need you to do things with it. That won't be long, however, because children seem to take to technology like fish to water! When they do learn their way around, don't leave them alone with it. Use time with the computer as bonding time while your child plays educational games, does research, etc. You want your child to bond with you, not with the PC!
Our PC is in the living room of our apartment. While it's also because we don't have much room in our place, a public area in the home is the best place for a PC, so that your kids stay focused on using the PC and the internet for the ways you'd want them to use it. Surf the Net and you will find that this tactic is highly recommended by law enforcers fighting sex crimes over the web, to protect our children. My kids have whined about why we can't locate the PC in the bedroom like most kids they see in movies, but they quit complaining after telling us more than ten times about it. Our standard reply is: first off, we can't afford having one computer per child, and all that implies financially, i.e., electricity, internet access, software, etc. Secondly, even if we did have the money, it seems impractical anyway. Shared computer use amongst siblings will provide LOTS of opportunity for teaching character traits such as contentment, generosity, initiative, etc.
PC use for our young children is between 30 min. to 1 hour. It may be necessary to allow longer periods for older children, especially when they do research. However, we do not allow them to do network gaming. We limit their use of instant messaging or chat (Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, etc.) as well as email. As for blogging...well, that's one I don't have an answer to yet. It's something I'm still researching on as well. But since this post is mainly for mommies of preschoolers, this may not be a hot issue yet, since blogging is really more for teenagers, which includes my eldest! I'll tackle blogging in another post...
Off the top of my head, that's all I can think of for now. Will post the rest, if any, when they do come to mind. You might help me jog my memory by asking questions, if you like.
So for the first set of weblinks, this is for preschool mommies out there teaching math to their babies. Sooner or later, you will encounter having to teach your child to count 1 to 100, and usually, to teach that, you use a chart of numbers from 1 to 100. My son doesn't relish the idea of writing down 100 numbers for a long time, so I used these websites to warm him up to the idea. He loves to play with these free, interactive online games. I do hope you've got a sound card & speakers, which mostly come standard with computers nowadays. I hope you're kids will love these just like mine still do. Here are the links:
http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/count/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/numbertime/games/mend.shtml
Let me just remind you, in my opinion, these games do not replace the pencil & paper activities which I believe our preschoolers need to go through. What I did with my Timmy was use these games with him, then I follow-through with the number chart on paper with pencil. I think these games made him more confident about doing the number chart worksheet. If you're a preschooler's mommy from TMA Homeschool, you'll need to do the number chart worksheets in the AOP LifePacs.
A tip: If you're using dial-up access, these websites will take some time to load. But it'll be worth the wait! And if you're really penny-pinching, once loading is done, you don't need to stay connected to the internet as long as you don't reboot! Till next entry! Enjoy!
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