Customer Reviews

Mommy, Teach Me: Preparing Your Preschool Child for a Lifetime of Learning

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I took my son out of pre-school because we were having problems at the school and I wanted to find ways to teach him at home. The thing is, most of the excersises in the book are for 2 year olds. Actually, I wouldn't buy this book if your child is more than 3. Not that it wouldn't help the mother of 4 year olds and give her ideas, but most of the excersises start with the very simple, for 2 year old, and move to the more difficult, for 4 year olds. As the mother of a 5 year old I can only use about one eight of the excersises with my son. Also this book does not cover any excersises for reading. The author covers all that in a companion book. Another thing, the author is very religious and very Christian. I am Christian myself, so I rather like that slant, but a non-Christian mother might find it difficult to deal with, so be forwarned. In the end I liked the message in the book and I think it would be great for a mother with a child of about 2 who wanted to start home schooling or even just wanted to find activities for her little one.

I love how Maria Montessori really recognized the potential of a child in learning. She recognized the absorbent mind at the young ages, and illustrated how there are different sensitive periods of learning. It's easy to recognize how children need the tangible, sensory types of learning at a young age. She really did see the beautiful gifts of a young child, and tried to respect the child.

I am so excited that I found the missing link for me for incorporating Montessori approach in the home for the younger ages. I bought Mommy, Teach Me! and Mommy, Teach Me to Read! Both are slim volumes, packed with encouragement and information, but not intimidating or overwhelming. I would say she's a modern Elizabeth Hainstock, but makes the Montessori in the home even more parent friendly and less intimidating and scientific. The emphasis isn't about making one's own materials, like Hainstock, but more about making it all approachable and doable for mothers in the home.

Mrs. Curtis is a mother of twelve and homeschools her children and does understand the needs of a child and busy SAH moms. She had AMI training and taught Montessori in the classroom. She shares her knowledge and experience with other parents. She recognizes the role of God and our spiritual lives in education.

Mommy, Teach Me! explains your preschooler can thrive at home because "The Best Teacher is Forever"..."The Best Classroom Has No Walls"..."The Best Instruction Doesn't Stop at Noon"...and "The Best Foundation is Love."

This isn't a purist Montessori approach, but a gentle family friendly approach. Mrs. Curtis gently describes how to present to a child, but that presentations aren't just those 3 hour periods, but all day -life -- with the child. I totally recognize that when I teach my children, I'm also learning, probably five times more. I'm learning to be calm, deliberate, patient, gentle, leading but not forceful. I'm learning to be a better parent. Of course I'm a work in progress, but her books do give me encouragement! I'm also learning self-discipline by creating order and to help my sons thrive.

The presentations in this book cover the basic exercises like pouring, using tongs, sequencing, etc. They are recognizable as simple Montessori presentations, but in a friendly home environment, not segregated from family life. She has lots of applicable ideas in shopping trips, laundry, and other daily chores. The other chapters cover Manipulatives, Imaginative Play, Beginning Math, Science, Geography, Fine Arts, and Spiritual Life.

The previous negative reviewer must not have been familiar with any Montessori, because she would have recognized the practical life and simple exercises found in all Montessori classrooms. And ask any child if pouring rice or beans is different than water, and they would say yes! Each skill is built on...you wouldn't want to start with water with a small child who has never done any pouring.

And all these exercises are building up hand motions, eye-hand coordinations, left-to-right movements as building blocks in learning to read and write.

I highly recommend this book and her "Mommy, Teach me to Read!" books to help any parent realize that teaching isn't just a professional's job, and learning happens especially in the home and the family, not in classrooms.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone with young children. It not only discusses the 5 things we should be teaching our preschoolers, but it gives small beginning exercises that we can do with our kids. I went to the dollar store and got most everything I needed. I put together the first exercise and it kept my son busy and focused for hours. I don't think it's intended to keep them busy that long, but I was amazed.

As a teacher, I did not feel offended or defensive at all by the way the book was written. Most likely I will still send my children to preschool, but now I have some great ideas of things I can do at home to help prepare them for school. I'll be buying her other book also.

Buy this book!!!

I had been looking for a "curriculum" for my daughter and I'm so glad I found this book!! It's full of simple excercises and ideas to teach independence and self confidence in learning. And it gives a great insight into how children learn (things that we sometimes take for granted.) The materials required for each excercise are very common items found around the home. No big, expensive kits or toys to be purchased. It's very easy to read and understand. There's no psychology jargon to have to interpret to understand the concepts. I can't wait to read Mommy Teach Me To Read as well!!

Mommy, Teach Me is a quick-to-read little book chock full of practical ideas to instill independence and a foundation for learning in toddlers and preschoolers. Barbara's writing style is personal and comfortable, and her ideas are presented in a way that is easy to implement as she has done, and still is doing, them herself--as a mom of 12! I love the child-centered, Christian approach she includes, as it is hard to find parenting books that are both.

I have always loved kids, and I even love teaching, but I never knew what the heck to do with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. When my oldest was almost two I decided I should probably start learning fast, and this is the book that caught my eye first.
It's helped me so much to have a better understanding of how small children learn, what they need to learn, and how to teach them. The author has a very charming writing style, and her approach is very practical and doable. Highly recommend it.

This book, paired with "Mommy, Teach Me to Read!" is going to become indispensable to me. I'd been overwhelmed at the thought of what to do with my 10-month-old daughter Katherine when she reaches preschool age - what activities will help her learn basic skills. "Mommy, Teach Me!" makes me feel completely equipped to be an excellent preschool teacher for Katherine.

The first part of the book goes through Barbara's history as a mom of 12, Montessori teacher, and homeschool teacher, and also explains a basic philosophy of teaching your children (God made you the perfect teacher for your kids, you can learn how to be a great teacher, your kids learn by observing you so slow down and do things carefully, etc.). The second part of the book has page after page of "work" for your young child to do (calling it "work" helps children understand that learning is an important undertaking, she says). Activities like sorting, pouring, and tweezing help children master fine motor skills and are also the building blocks for later academic pursuits like math and reading. Each activity is fully explained, and many include pictures of children doing them, submitted by readers of Barbara's blog. The instructions tell the supplies you need (mostly basic household items, so you don't have to go buy expensive manipulatives), how to teach your child the activity, what skills it teaches, and how to teach them to clean up afterward. I can't WAIT to start doing these with Katherine.

This book is just great. While some of activities do seem simple, they are designed to help build concentration and independence. The activities are a great " base" to start from and then add in your activities as adapted for your child.

I would not buy this book specifically for the activities but more for the message it holds- that kids can do things and WANT to so we should give them the opportunity. It has a very nurturing message all while promoting independence. Just reading through the first few chapters of the book, I was able to take a step back and look at how I am approaching things with my daughter and then keep the things I feel are working well and adapt things as needed.

I checked this book out from my library and am now buying a copy of it, and "Mommy Teach me to Read" for myself.

I am new to homeschooling and wanted some resources that would be helpful for how to begin the process of teaching our young ones. This book gave many great ideas for preparing preschoolers for more formal schooling using the montessori approach to learning. Would recommend!

Horrible--I would not recommend wasting the time it takes to read this book. I read it front to back because I like to give a book its full due, but it was truly difficult to get through. Unlike the other reviewers, I did not find tons of useful advice and great activities. What I did find was a list of fine motor skills activities that were booooooooooring. As a teacher with 15 years' experience, I know that I can outdo this book's suggestions with one hand tied behind my back. the book also leaves out MOST of the important life skills your preschooler needs to learn. The science section was not too bad, but again, I did not need this book to teach me that growing a bean plant and pressing leaves with my child are worthwhile activities.

The worst aspect of this author's approach is that the activities are for the most part done in a vacuum. Ironically, when discussing silver polishing, she makes the very point that polishing silver at home has a relevance it does not have in a school setting. These wise words are followed by an entire section in which she recommends setting up dozens of activities in the very same sort of vacuum. An example would be pouring rice from one creamer to another. The activity is set up on a tray and kept on a shelf for the child to choose as a learning activity. Now, if one is wise, she will have the child in the kitchen "helping" pour the contents of one thing into another so that the activity does not seem boring and pointless to the child.

The rice pouring activity is EXACTLY like the rest of the activities in this section. Just substitute water for the rice, or change the activity to button or bead sorting, and you have the crux of this book. The book should have been titled, "50 Ways To Increase Your Child's Fine Motor Skills in Preparation For Beginning Writing." This is in NO way a comprehensive look at the various skills and knowledge a preschooler needs.

The book does address several core areas of development important for toddlers and preschoolers, such as developing a sense of order and independence. Her Montessori experience is clear throughout the book, and philosophically, she is on target. However, as stated above, taking the precious gift of being able to teach your child at home, and wasting it by setting up school-like activities, is just nonsensical.

One more word of caution, although this is not necessarily the chief reason for avoiding the book: it offers up a hefty dose of religion on almost every page. The author is a born-again Christian who makes some lofty claims about God's calling her to teach her kids at home. Noting that a mother is the best teacher a child could possibly have (a valid point), she then goes on to lay out a bare bones, watered-down curriculum that reads like a popped Montessori balloon, all the while insisting that God guided her through yard sales and Dollar Stores to find the right materials to work with. No, I'm not kidding.