Your Child Reading in Four Weeks? And Make Your Mark on the new Monopoly

Every now and then some interesting items come into my inbox and today I’m taking the time to share them with you. The first is an opportunity for your child to learn to read in a month, and the other is to take part in choosing the street names for the new Monopoly game.

I guess there is a lot of debate about early literacy, whether children should rather have the time to play in preschool or be learning their ABC’s. I do think every child is different and a parent knows their child best; in much the same way that you choose a suitable preschool on the grounds of academics or free play.

Those of you who know me well will remember that I am a Montessori teacher who taught at a school which taught four year olds to read, at least on a phonetic level, and non-phonetics by six year old. We were even teaching them dynamic multiplication, but I guess that’s a post for another day… I think the school I am at now has a better balance of allowing for more play, while also exposing the children to the fundamentals.

There are many programs out there which teach children to read. In a class situation it might take a few months to teach the alphabet and another few months to blend those sounds into words at a 4/5 year old level. Six year olds may progress faster, I could probably get a Grade One kid reading at least phonetically, by the end of a term of four months. I guess six months could be a fairly accurate estimate of how long it may take to read in a normal educational environment.

So I was interested to hear about Adventure Phonics, which claims it can do the trick in four weeks. They work with preschoolers and primary school kids up to Grade 3. In a concentrated program at Spotlite Education Learning Centre in Midrand, they use games and other entertainment to reinforce the educational concepts. It involves a multitude of fun, interactive games and exercises that emphasise skill in spelling, reading and writing.

Spotlite Education is looking for two boys and two girls between the ages of 4 and 7-years-old, who are struggling with English or perhaps cannot even read at all.  The package is worth R1500  and comes highly recommended by speech therapists and is endorsed by The Gauteng Department of Education.

Interested? The closing date is the end of April. Fill in the form here.

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I have very fond memories of playing Monopoly as a child. I think it always seemed to land up that one member of the family would land up with all the houses and hotels and draining the rest of us of our money until the game was over (or was that me? hehe).

Well Monopoly Mzansi is set to be in stores by the end of the year, and you have a chance to influence which streets will feature in the set. You can also share your vote on social media afterwards using the hashtag #votemonopolymzansi.

You know what’s super cool about the Gauteng selection? Two of the items are set to be our blogger meetup places! We are having our #JoziMeetup at the Maboneng Precinct, and for #Blogfest for next year we are looking at Vilakazi Street.  I also love Montecasino, I think it’s a beautiful piece of architecture and we’ve been to the bird garden a few times. The cradle of humankind is the site of human history and the Kruger Park a landmark for animals. It’s a tough decision but I’m counting on you to make it – vote now here!

Voting closes on the 31 March.