Language and Thinking for Young Children

First chapter in & I can already tell that I will love this book! May not be for everyone, but is great for those like me who don't have experience w/ children aside from their own. While I'm sure there are lots of moms who instinctively know how to "grow" language in their children, be it intrinsically or thanks to their own upbringing - that's not me. I'll be honest & say that I don't always know how to relate to my preschoolers.Also, we all fall into a rut & get complacent when it comes to interacting with & teaching our children...this is a great tool to keep it fresh & keep you on track.Love it & highly recommend!

This is typical Ruth Beechick, Uses real life situations and teacher-child interaction to teach beginning language arts concepts. If that is your preference for your young child, you will probably like this book. If you prefer thorough text book instruction, you probably will not. The book has good ideas for a very low price!

I bought this book as it was recommended as part of Sonlight's Language Arts program for first grade. I am extremely disappointed with this book. It might be a good book for preschoolers, but I found nothing of any use in the book for my first grader. Not sure why Sonlight (who normally offers material that I consider a little advanced for the recommended age) would suggest this book as part of a curriculum for 6,7&8 year olds. In addition, many parts of the book are extremely dated and virtually useless.

Book in very good condition. Only down fall was the time it took for me to get product. Wish I would have ordered book sooner so when school started I would've had it.

My book came just as described - like new! It looked liked it had never even been read. Love it.Haven't started implementing the book yet - but the material looks very simple but exciting. It is helpful to have expert advice on how to coach my kids at home.

I gave this book 3 stars because it is average. It isn't a rotten resource, but it isn't one of the best I've seen either.I suppose if you aren't planning on homeschooling and are looking for ideas on how to help get your pre-schooler ready to learn in school and want to maximize what little time you may be able to spend with your child, this book would be good for you. If you homeschool, you may find this book a ho-hum resource.It is redundant considering what we have already been learning as part of a well-rounded curriculum in our homeschool. The book suggests things most homeschool families already do-- they already read stories together, try to memorize worthwhile poems, talk WITH children (not AT), cook together, shop together, look for opportunities to learn together, etc.The activities this book suggests that WOULDN'T be routine family activities for a homeschool family WOULD be covered in homeschool/preschool during readiness games, lessons and workbooks, pre-school math, etc. They would also be more thoroughly done in that medium, with less work on behalf of the parent-teacher.One last note: I found the stories at the beginning a little too rough to share with my pre-schooler. I feel some fables/stories will never be worthwhile to share with that age, no matter how long they have been around. (How do you read a story ending with most of the characters having their head snapped off by a fox to a 3.5 year old? I know I don't want to be up with a child having nightmares, and don't want to see the child acting it out in make believe play, so why bother with those things when there are so many other wonderful stories available?)I will be returning this book, knowing I'm not going to take the time to dig it out and flip through it for the handful of ideas that may be useful to our homeschool.I think for people who are just making the switch to homeschooling or want ideas for things to do with their young children, this book will do just fine. For people who are looking for a real curriculum (as this book claims to be for the younger set), remember you get what you pay for, and 8$ for a year's curriculum probably will not be what you are hoping it will be. You will find a better bang for your buck with other sources.

About us- we are homeschooling a 1st grade child and a pre-k child.The good:There are a lot of ideas in this book for activities with your young children. I especially liked the manners section!It is easy to read and followThe bad:Some of it is outdated- such as calling the operator when you accidentally dial a wrong number.The thing that bothered me the most was that some of the stories were a little disturbing. For instance, there was one that had a fox snapping the heads off of other animals. Another one talked about having a rope to start hanging the butcher. An easy fix is to just make sure you read the stories yourself to make sure they are suitable for your child, but I don't think this is appropriate material for a book geared towards kinder and primary children.As one of the other reviewers stated (and sorry for stealing your review!) this isn't as helpful for those that are homeschooling as a lot of this material is already built into a homeschool setting.I bounced back and forth between rating this as 2 or 3 stars, but I finally settled on 3 because you can definitely get some good ideas from this book, though it could be much better.