Thursday, September 8, 2011

Jones' Geniuses

An American specialist in accelerated learning, Doctor Jones has developed methods for teaching Reading, Maths and Spanish. His first 'test subjects' were 20 inner-city 2nd-graders whose home language was Spanish and who were woefully behind in English and Maths. By the end of the year, their average reading age was a little below 4th grade and several went on to beat MENSA PhDs using calculators in a Maths test - using mental arithmetic. Hence the name Jones' Geniuses.

I found out about Jones' Geniuses on the Brillkids forum, where several parents were discussing the merits of using his early learning package with their young children. After much thought and speaking online to Dr Jones at an online seminar, I bought it.

Threshold to Reading is the language side of the kit. Here Dr Jones introduces a very thorough and complete breakdown of phonics (did you know there are 15 vowel sounds in English?!) and, most importantly, how to teach it! There are a set of fantastic animal-based flashcards, a reading book, parent's dvd and a guide on how to use Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Once Nicholas has mastered his letter sounds, it should be a matter of 3-4 months to get him reading to a 3rd grade level. Or so Dr Jones says!


I am not expecting anything so drastic - I will be happy if Nikki is sounding out simple words by his 4th birthday. I am simply not one to wait until the schools say he can learn to read and would rather he have the one-on-one attention and affection he will have in learning with me. Besides, we spend barely 15 minutes a day on all our reading games, and that includes the computer time!

The Matrix Math kit covers everything from learning numerals to addition and subtraction. I am very taken by the simple method of putting the quantity inside the numeral. So far, we are only on stage one of the program - counting forwards and backwards to 20 and placing dots. We can't really progress until Nikki has mastered this, and can understand 'bigger' and 'smaller'.

Again, there is no pressure. By starting now, Nikki has three or four years to master the numbers and letters and still be ahead of his peers. I don't want to force him to learn, and only ever do these games when he wants to - he happens to love counting (perhaps because I allow him to bang the wall when we use the number line) and enjoys counting various objects on and off our Matrix dot flashcards.


I probably come across as a crazy pushy mother, but Nicholas is one headstrong child and if he doesn't enjoy something he is quick to tell me. Usually it is him demanding his 'lessons' and me trying to distract him with toys so that I can finish the washing-up or ironing.


1 comment:

  1. I purchased Jones Geniuses lower math level. I didn't get that yet, but I hope it will work with my baby!! Good luck with reading program and hope to see some post in your blog about it!
    Marta

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