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Early Learning — Another Step Mothers
coming to Stelle in the early years were introduced
to a revolutionary concept. “You will be your child’s teacher; not only that,
you can teach most of what is currently covered in elementary school before
your child is six years old!” After initial thoughts of.
“I’m not prepared,” or “I’m not sure I can,” the mothers gathered themselves
some hooks and a few tips from mothers already doing it, then tackled the job
with a sense of exhilaration. Using workbooks, encyclopedias and textbooks,
they found that, yes, they could teach their three- and four-year-olds to
read and write, add and subtract. In response to the mothers’ needs for more
support and more information, the Early Learning Council was
created four years ago. Since that time, many ideas have
been tested and improvements made in the teaching and learning
process. Prowess has been steady as parents informed each other of new
research and more effective methods coming to light
in the field of early childhood education. The most
recent phase of growth began in June, 1979, when two
mothers attended a week-long seminar at the Better Baby Institute, part of
the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, located in They told
us, “We heard a six-year-old play a Vivaldi violin concerto. Several four-
and five-year-olds gave us a gymnastics demonstration
which included an original floor routine. Thirteen-month-old twins
were able to pick out pictures of famous American women when their mother
said the names. Children can read before they can talk. How do we know? We
saw them point or creep over to the correct word or sentence when their
mother asked a question. We saw a three-year-old doing complex addition,
subtraction and division equations. The children also run a mile or two every
day.” Nothing is so important to civilization as the proper rearing of the
succeeding generation. The easy
adaptability of children will be used to condition
the first generation arising in the community for the way of life as it is to
be lived in the Dr. White, The Ultimate Frontier A current
of excitement passed through Stelle. Mothers were stopped
on the street and asked, “What’s this I hear about the Better Baby Institute?
It sounds great!” The mothers responded by saying, “What’s great is that
we’ve known all along young children could do these amazing things! The
Institutes can provide us with new information and methods
which will help us be more effective. After
hearing the report of the June seminar, Stelle’s board of trustees authorized
an investment in the future. Funds were made
available so that all the mothers of children under two could attend the next
course given by the Better Baby Institute. In September a group of mothers,
fathers, nursing babies, caretakers for the babies, and two women interested
in the program embarked for “How to
Multiply Your Baby’s Intelligence” is a course designed specifically for
parents by the staff of the Institutes. The body of information they provide
is based on several premises which have long been
part of the educational attitude here. 1) Mothers and fathers are the child’s
best teachers. 2) Small children have a burning desire to learn. 3) Small
children can learn anything, and both parents and child will experience great
joy in the process. Information that was new to Stelle parents centered around the Institutes’ research and proof that brain
development and growth can be rapidly accelerated. The method for achieving
this is to provide the baby with single, clear facts about anything in the physical
world. These pieces of information which the Institute
calls “bits of intelligence” are presented in an orderly, very rapid
manner so that in the course of a child’s day he has received many particles of
visual, auditory, and tactile information. These sensory experiences
accelerate the rate of mental and physical growth in the baby. The fields which a mother and child can explore in this way
are unlimited. A sample day for any child—newborn through
age six—might include the following: music
— learning perfect pitch, reading musical notation, hearing the music of
great composers; mathematics — numerical
quantities and mathematic equations; reading
— single words, phrases and sentences in books which mothers make for their
children based on their reading vocabulary; physical development — creeping, running, brachiating, swimming, vestibular
exercises which develop balance and orientation in spaces; foreign language — reading and
speaking it; and other subjects, such as great works of art, ornithology,
geographical land forms, symbols for the chemical elements—all represented as
“bits of intelligence.” Each of these individual learning sessions
would be short—anywhere from fifteen seconds to ten minutes out of respect
for the amazing speed in which very young children assimilate information. Most
Stelle mothers have added the Better Baby Institute methods to their
repertoire of teaching skills. Here are some of their comments. HOW IS
YOUR HUSBAND INVOLVED IN THIS PROCESS? ·
He is my mainstay, encouraging and appreciating my
efforts. He built physical-development equipment for our son’s bedroom as a
birthday present for him and is involved with the music and bit-making ·
He’s the
bit-maker of the family—when he’s home he follows the program. ·
He’s involved
directly by showing bits, making physical-development equipment, and by
helping me organize my program. ·
He’s as
involved as I am, He shows bits, makes bits, and finances them. He gives me
encouragement, helps me clean the house, and is a great idea-generator. ·
Mostly he is a resource person and an audience for
our son who wants to share what he knows. ·
He supports me emotionally and is very understanding
of all my big plans. WHAT GENERAL THOUGHTS DO YOU HAVE ABOUT THE SEMINAR AND YOUR
APPLICATION OF THE BETTER BABY INSTITUTE PRINCIPLES? · It was one of the most exciting weeks of my
life. We learned things that can uplift cultures. · My child can learn anything! He does not
have to be held back by my limitations. · It’s made my job
of teaching and mothering much more interesting and fun It helped satisfy a
need in me of wanting to do more. · Go to the Better Baby Institute! The people
there do such a terrific job of explaining why your child should be given
these opportunities It’s the child’s birthright and should be part of the
normal process of education · It’s so easy and
so much fun! The key to the whole thing is enjoyment—no matter what you are
doing HOW HAS
THE BETTER BABY INSTITUTE EXPERIENCE CHANGED THE SHAPE OF YOUR DAY AND THE
WAY YOU STRUCTURE YOUR TIME? · Everything ties in now. I used to think of
learning as an isolated event with a specific time and place I spend more
time at home now because many of my teaching aids are there. The planned
teaching times are more of a constant, sprinkled throughout the day. · I used to wonder, would I be bored with a
child? What could I do to stimulate her? We have a routine now which pleases
us both · I give less attention to housework, more to
thinking and planning. I observe more—reading the signs she’s
giving so I can help her go as fast as she wants. · I am more organized
in my teaching. Since my day is built around
teaching, my thoughts are constantly moving toward ideas of new things to
teach. · Although I stay up later at night preparing
materials, I’m spending my time with my children in
better ways. SINCE
STARTING THIS PROGRAM, WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN IN YOUR CHILD THAT HAS EXCITED YOU THE MOST? · Two accomplishments stand out. My son was
swimming at 17 months. I taught him by using a book recommended at the BBL
The other is in the area of mathematics—he is able to give the correct answer
to three-part addition equations; for example, I show him 12 + 7 + 32 = and
from a choice of three different numbers, he picks out the correct answer… 51. · It is a fact that this method works. I
showed my daughter (age three) a category of ‘bits’ on the work of Leonardo
da Vinci. Several months later we were in a store
where I was shopping for some postcards. She noticed what I had in my hand and
called out, ‘I want to see the da Vinci!’ I had not told her what I was
looking at. She recognized and remembered from her previous experience.
Another time I was preparing some ‘bits’ for the Parent Resource Center when
she unexpectedly picked one up and said with clear delight, ‘The Virgin of
the Rocks.’ She was correct · Some time after my two-year-old son had
seen bits on Michelangelo’s sculptures, a friend
brought a book into the house and set it on the couch. My son walked over to
the book and said, ‘Michelangelo.’ I’m not sure whether he was reading the
word ‘Michelangelo’ on the cover or remembering who the sculptor was by
seeing the photograph of the ‘David’ which was also on the book jacket. · My son, age 16 months, has begun to read
musical notation. I will hold him while I strike one note on the xylophone.
On the floor are three different cards, each with a note in the treble clef
After I play the note on the xylophone, 1 ask him to pick up the note he has
just heard, which he does, giving it to me with great pleasure showing in his
eyes. · A conservative estimate of my two-year-old’s reading vocabulary would be 500 words. · My five-year-old knows the periodic table,
all the Presidents and First Ladies, and all the bones in the human body. My
four-year-old read two pre-primers yesterday and we have just started
learning gymnastics. * * * This phase of our evolutionary process is well under
way. We believe it will prove of major significance in the history of
Stelle’s early-learning program. Then, again, it could be a miniscule, though
important, part to an unimaginable future in learning. Who knows? Bit by bit
we shall see. |
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