We have been without a DVD player for some time. Lots of computers, but no TV, and a projector that can be a pain to set up. They don't include them in any of the new laptops. I tried buying a separate DVD player, but the sound was terrible. In the end, we decided that the sound on my laptop was pretty decent and bought a DVD player that plugs in to my laptop. Finally, the convenience I needed to actually watch DVDs again.
These are the ones I especially wanted to see again. We love Sparkabilities, Baby Signing Time, Preschool Prep Meet the Sight Words, and TweedleWink. We also used Little Reader from BrillKids and MonkiSee, which are sadly no longer available. But the videos from this company are by far the best videos in our collection. And they're available digitally now! We just already have them on DVD. There is a lot of confusion about what they are in the Reddit threads, so here is a break-down. Unsponsored, unaffiliated. I'm sharing in part because I know some of my friends are beginning their homeschooling journey. Some have funding to figure out how to spend, and I love this company so much and recommend them. It's also great for babies and we are very grateful we spent our actual money on them when our children were very tiny.
FIRST-- the "Your Baby Can Learn" series. This used to be the "Your Baby Can Read", but a stupid lawsuit made them change it. I could tell you stories, but I'd be digressing, so I mention it here because the fact that they had to change the name is what has caused so much confusion about their other products. These videos are patterened after the Doman method, and they are really well done. In fact, they were what brought a huge breakthrough with my oldest son Peter. I had done all sorts of flashcards and games with him, but we made slow progress. I tried a phonetic approach, but I know now he was too young for that. He's my only kid who wasn't reading by age 2. My guinea pig as I figured it all out. But all of my kids have progressed better with a little bit of screen time to help out. In fact, his infant brother is the one who read the earliest, and I credit the fact that I was so diligent with the viewing schedule, eager to get my oldest reading. He was along for the ride.
That's just the way it is, which is why I'm not opposed to moderate high quality screen time, even for babies. This ain't Cocomelon! We've been watching the second volume this week, and my 17-month-old is loving it so much, and really has embraced the vocabulary. Last night he was kicking around balls, all excited as he said "kick, kick, kick!" As we were going to bed, he kept making funny sounds with his tongue, then saying "tongue!" and giggling. He has seen the flashcards and read the books, but it's the videos that got him excited about it. Even if these videos didn't help me teach my babies to read, I would love them for how they have boosted their vocabularies. They aren't passive, they invite action and participation. It's so sweet to see my little one pointing, learning to nod his head "yes", and other things like that. We get up and do the actions for "head, shoulders, knees and toes" when the song pops up. For a baby, I touch them as we sing along. It's great material, and it really does give results if you follow the schedule. It comes with interactive books and flashcards, so it's not just screen time.
A note on these videos- there was an original release featuring Alenka, Dr. Titzer’s daughter. Then they redid the videos and with a fun musical backdrop and better graphics. They featured a boy named Graham- that’s the version we originally bought. Now they have the original and the new versions together on the same DVD because they realized that having a little variety helps break the monotony when you are showing these videos to your baby every day. I have this version too and was happy to get more books since we had torn and abused our old ones. They reached out and sent it to me in exchange for a review after seeing my old blog posts. My love for this company isn't new, just renewed.
SECOND -- The "Your Child Can Read" series. This is a fantastic next step, and not a bad place to start for an older child. There is a nice mix of whole words and phonetic parings. Words like "blow, slow, mow, crow" are shown together. For a baby, vocabulary is learned slowly. The first 50 words especially. They're a huge milestone! But as they grow older, they are ready to learn many new words, and they can learn them quickly and remember them, even months later. This fact is reflected in how words are presented in this series. There might be 100 new words in a video, and not every word gets a nice little video demonstrating what it means.
But these videos go beyond basic reading. There are speed reading exercises, which is something you don't see very often in reading programs. We are actually reading a speed reading book with the older kids, and some of the exercises we are reading about are just a part of the videos. And they present it in a really fun, colorful way and call it "reading games". It's interactive. (Tweedlewink also has some great speed reading exercises in their videos.)
The truth is, I feel that some reading programs actually slow a child's reading down with all of the weird symbols they introduce as a crutch and always encouraging them to slowly sound out a word. It's a good exercise now and again, perhaps, but to be doing that all of the time isn't necessarily beneficial. Maybe I'm just spoiled because we never had to, and I remember hating to sound words out when I was little. Happy to have found another way to learn to read that was much easier for us. Ultimately, kids need to learn the language patterns- that's the goal. These videos are great for that. They have some really fun songs too, like the "ow, ow, ow" song that shows songs that rhyme with how now brown cow, and also slow, crow, mow.
THIRD -- the "Your Baby/Child Can Discover", which is the one I'm linking to. They are my favorite in the series. Reading is still integrated into the videos, but there's so much more that is taught in these videos. Science. Music! Oh, I love the music sections that introduce pitch, rhythm, and melody. They demonstrate the sounds on multiple instruments, and show the notes on a staff as they play. It's great stuff. Math!! They go beyond counting to 10 and simple addition and subtraction. They show a plane, points, sides, and faces. They don't just teach rectangles and squares, they teach kites, trapazoids, rhombi, and parallelograms. Then there’s a cool song about them all. I think watching the math portions certainly played a small part in helping my “Math Boy” be wired for math from a young age, though I think all of my kids are good at math. Going from these videos to Mathtacular and Mathantics really gave them a solid foundation, in addition to manipulative play away from the screens. They really make it visual and engaging for little ones. Art! Benji their puppet takes you “Beyond your basic colors, your reds, your greens, your blues. There are so many others, there’s lots of hues for you to choose.” The videos teach prepositions, logic, and patterns. And they do it in a great way that is age appropriate and engaging for the kids. Kindness is encouraged, sharing is demonstrated. Vocabulary is boosted with words like “optimist” and “pessimist”. There are poetry sections. It’s fast paced, and never stays on any topic for too long, which is just what tiny children need. Bite sized nuggets. The “Discover” DVDs are my favorite educational videos in our entire collection because they’re just so well done and I think they really helped my kids when they were little. Plus, watching them this week, they have been excited. “OH!! I remember her, she was my favorite!” “THIS song came from this video? I loved it and have missed it.”
Here is a link to their "Discover" package.
It looks like the packages have changed a bit since I purchased. Now the “Discover” kit isn’t available on its own, but comes with digital access to all of the other videos, including other languages, and a private consultation with Dr. Titzer, which is pretty generous of him at that price point. When I bought, it was available alone, but we bought everything anyway, and spent more than it would cost today to get everything we bought. You get all the videos and could buy the books and flashcards separate. It’s a pretty good deal, I think. Again, I’m not affiliated with the company, nor is this post sponsored. I just really love the series, and have had amazing results with my kids. It’s been wonderful to renew that love and watch the videos again with our baby. I’m not at all surprised that we are, again, getting results. It’s not a chore to get him to watch, in fact, he requests it. He’ll sit down in front of my computer and say “Baby DVD! DVD! Read!” So we know he loves it.
Two thumbs up and five stars from me! This is a great company that really understands how children learn and have made great efforts to create programming that will teach them as much as possible in as short a time as possible and still be engaging and fun to watch. All of the videos encourage interaction and not just passive watching. All of the videos are rich in content and will boost your children’s vocabulary. All of them have been very valuable for our children’s early homeschooling, and I’m so glad we had them available, and that I can use them again with our baby.