Review of the Month
Get the scoop on one of our favorite resources for tiny tots - the Teach My Toddler series! This kit, available at common distributors like Amazon and Walmart, provides hands-on learning at a stage when kinesthetic learning is universally beneficial. Best of all, there's lots of mom-and-tot bonding time.
Most parents don't set out on their journey, knowing they're going to homeschool. But every mom, at some point, stresses over how to give her children the best possible education.
In our case, we figured the best place to start was -- well, a good head start.
Our oldest daughter was about to turn two when I strolled by the Walmart toy aisle on the hunt for a birthday present. Now if you're like me, you often try to sneak in educational games under the guise of "play time", or nature documentaries in lieu of TV. So I knew I wanted to give her something educational.
Yes, Teach My Toddler was her birthday present. Lame? As a mom, maybe. As a teacher - best choice ever.
In our case, we figured the best place to start was -- well, a good head start.
Our oldest daughter was about to turn two when I strolled by the Walmart toy aisle on the hunt for a birthday present. Now if you're like me, you often try to sneak in educational games under the guise of "play time", or nature documentaries in lieu of TV. So I knew I wanted to give her something educational.
Yes, Teach My Toddler was her birthday present. Lame? As a mom, maybe. As a teacher - best choice ever.
The Teach My Toddler kit is a fully hands-on kit for toddlers as young as 18 months, to learn their colors, shapes, numbers, and alphabet. There are no workbooks, pencils, screens, or schedules. Parents just sit down with their child for 15 minutes a day and "play" with the items in the box. We're talking foam letter puzzles, posters, picture books, and flash cards. It costs just under $30 at either Amazon, Walmart, or the provider's own website.
Wait, 18 months? That's what the manufacturer suggests, but I personally have waited several more months with my kiddos, because they need to have a decent grasp of vocabulary before they begin following complex instructions or singing their ABC's. So it just depends on your child's developmental level. If you have a precocious chatterbug, then 18 months might work well for you.
Wait, 18 months? That's what the manufacturer suggests, but I personally have waited several more months with my kiddos, because they need to have a decent grasp of vocabulary before they begin following complex instructions or singing their ABC's. So it just depends on your child's developmental level. If you have a precocious chatterbug, then 18 months might work well for you.
Our oldest daughter and son have both loved this kit. They would beg for "lessons" so that they could play with the foam puzzles. We would practice matching the puzzle pieces to the posters, look at books together, and play flash cards.
By the time they were three, they knew all their letters and were starting to get bored. So I got the next kit in the series, Teach My Preschooler.
The Teach My Preschooler kit picks right up where the other leaves off. Foam letters act as manipulables in a poster math game. Reading primers and sight words flash cards introduce them to real reading. A magentic drawing board serves as a manuscript writing template. I've pictured my favorite parts, but there's even more items packed into the box than I've shown here.
By the time they were three, they knew all their letters and were starting to get bored. So I got the next kit in the series, Teach My Preschooler.
The Teach My Preschooler kit picks right up where the other leaves off. Foam letters act as manipulables in a poster math game. Reading primers and sight words flash cards introduce them to real reading. A magentic drawing board serves as a manuscript writing template. I've pictured my favorite parts, but there's even more items packed into the box than I've shown here.
This second kit is, in essence, a full preschool curriculum without all the paperwork that tiny tots find tedious. They will practice hand control, learn basic addition, and master phonics concepts. My children devoured this wholeheartedly, and by another year -- at the tender age of four -- we were ready and rearing for kindergarten.
I hear you asking me, "A full preschool curriculum? For thirty bucks?" I will take a step back and admit that there is no science or religious component included in this kit. But while science is nice (and in my opinion, wonderfully fascinating) few institutions include science in preschool developmental benchmarks. These benchmarks typically begin later in kindergarten, with lessons about weather, senses, seasons, life cycles, and the like. But if you want your three-year-old rattling off planet and continent names, Teach My does have you covered in the form of toddler geography and astronomy puzzle kits, sold separately.
Needless to say, with our kiddos reading and counting to 100 by the age of four, I was totally won over on this resource. But, no resource is totally perfect. So ---
I hear you asking me, "A full preschool curriculum? For thirty bucks?" I will take a step back and admit that there is no science or religious component included in this kit. But while science is nice (and in my opinion, wonderfully fascinating) few institutions include science in preschool developmental benchmarks. These benchmarks typically begin later in kindergarten, with lessons about weather, senses, seasons, life cycles, and the like. But if you want your three-year-old rattling off planet and continent names, Teach My does have you covered in the form of toddler geography and astronomy puzzle kits, sold separately.
Needless to say, with our kiddos reading and counting to 100 by the age of four, I was totally won over on this resource. But, no resource is totally perfect. So ---
What did not work well?
While I really have no criticisms of the Teach My Toddler kit, its sequel, Teach My Preschooler, does have a couple of weaknesses.
First, the idea of using a magentic board for manuscript writing is pure genius. No more pads and pads of paper to be scribbled and thrown in the trash when your child isn't looking. But, the magnetic board itself is problematic. The manufacturer chose to go with a cheap board that you must shake and tap to clear. My child would scrawl her letters in about 20 seconds, and then I would spend the next two minutes trying vainly to clear the surface. As you can see from the green board in this picture, ghost letters remained despite my best efforts.
Spending so much time tapping a board quickly became annoying. I ran to Dollar Tree and bought myself a small $1 replacement with a lever that swipes it clean instantly. After that, we loved it.
While I really have no criticisms of the Teach My Toddler kit, its sequel, Teach My Preschooler, does have a couple of weaknesses.
First, the idea of using a magentic board for manuscript writing is pure genius. No more pads and pads of paper to be scribbled and thrown in the trash when your child isn't looking. But, the magnetic board itself is problematic. The manufacturer chose to go with a cheap board that you must shake and tap to clear. My child would scrawl her letters in about 20 seconds, and then I would spend the next two minutes trying vainly to clear the surface. As you can see from the green board in this picture, ghost letters remained despite my best efforts.
Spending so much time tapping a board quickly became annoying. I ran to Dollar Tree and bought myself a small $1 replacement with a lever that swipes it clean instantly. After that, we loved it.
My other critique corresponds more to a teaching preference, rather than a production defect. The book readers begin your child learning basic phonetic words, like cat and hat. Then they introduce words with "magic E". Then sight words. After all that, they jump right into their first story with sentences that use all three word types: "Nate and Kate and Sam and Pam".
My experience with my own children showed me that they could memorize a handful of simple sight words like and and the before they were ready to navigate a complex phonics rule like "magic E". They also didn't want to wait until they had memorized sixty words to begin trying out their new skills. They were excited and wanted to start reading stories right away.
So we intentionally used the first few vocabulary builder books out of order. And I hunted down some other story primers with a slower reading progression, so they could celebrate their accomplishments reading simple phonetic sentences like A cat had a hat.
Takeaway: The Teach My sets are a fun, kinesthetically-rich learning tool that can boost your toddler to an accelerated development in reading and math. It's also extremely affordable if being used as a pre-K curriculum. Just be sure to buy your own swiping magnet board, and get a couple super-simple readers to supplement the language component.
At Connie's Corner, we're walking this journey together! If I see an outstanding resource, I'll feature it here for you. And since my reviews are unpaid, you can be sure they're 100% honest.
My experience with my own children showed me that they could memorize a handful of simple sight words like and and the before they were ready to navigate a complex phonics rule like "magic E". They also didn't want to wait until they had memorized sixty words to begin trying out their new skills. They were excited and wanted to start reading stories right away.
So we intentionally used the first few vocabulary builder books out of order. And I hunted down some other story primers with a slower reading progression, so they could celebrate their accomplishments reading simple phonetic sentences like A cat had a hat.
Takeaway: The Teach My sets are a fun, kinesthetically-rich learning tool that can boost your toddler to an accelerated development in reading and math. It's also extremely affordable if being used as a pre-K curriculum. Just be sure to buy your own swiping magnet board, and get a couple super-simple readers to supplement the language component.
At Connie's Corner, we're walking this journey together! If I see an outstanding resource, I'll feature it here for you. And since my reviews are unpaid, you can be sure they're 100% honest.
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