From Anita
Brainware Week 7 ~
Sorry, it's taken a while for me to get to this.
Susie blew me out of the water Monday when she finally beat that Level 2 Sky Scanning! We were both so excited.
Yesterday she beat level 4 on two more games. There are definitely some positive changes taking place. Her confidence is coming up, and even on a day like today, when she doesn't beat any games, she still walks away with an ok attitude.
Barbara is still very limited on her time. With all the morning shifts she's doing at work, we're not getting the recommended number of days in.
However, Colleen has encouraged us to keep working at the Brainware as much as she can. We will see results, it will just take longer when less time is being dedicated to the work.
The encouragement cards that Colleen sent were AWESOME! That was a nice surprise for the girls.
Guess that's about it for now!
Blessings~
Anita/Susie,
Congratulations to both you and Susie! I know the amount of hard work both of you have been putting into this program. Susie deserves a huge high five and hug! When I coach over the web/phone, this is where I get up and do a silly dance or march for the students. Whoot! Whoot! Way to go Susie! Way to go Mom (Very Important Parent – V.I.P.)!
Blessings,
Colleen
Week 8
As I stated earlier, a "big development" for Week 8 was Barbara completing Level 3 Sky scanning. Her time on here is still pretty limited, and she gets pretty frustrated with what she sees as "lack of progress". I was able to point out to her, that her "total time investment" was probably only about 22-24 hours, whereas her younger sister has probably completed closer to 40 hours.
Yikes! As I write this, I realize I'm nearing the end of week 9 (sorry Colleen, for not being very consistent with my progress update this week). Susie is working on Level 3 sky scanning. It has become very monotonous for the girls to always start with the game they were weakest on. While I realize they need to do these games when they are most alert, I also do not want them to approach Brainware with a "sense of dread". So, I'm trying to switch it up. One day we start on the hardest game for them (like Sky Scanning). The next day, I try to start them on a game where they can find a little more success (or where they're a little bit closer to beating a level).
Susie is still working on Level 4 Tic Tac Toe, Bear Shuffle, and Crocodile Recollection. Within the next week, I will be adding in a "light load" of schoolwork, with the goal of being back to "full time", by mid-August. We are homeschoolers, and I will be looking closely for improvements in her schoolwork, as well as looking for creative ways to integrate some additional "cognitive skills training" into her day. At times she is still so very slow at pulling out or repeating back the information that she just saw on the screen….you'll think she can't remember, but it's as though she's physically having to take a very long journey to the back of her mind to find it, and then bring it back out again.
Barbara is working on level 4 sky scanning and Tic Tac Toe, Level 5 Bear Shuffle and Level 5 Memory mountain. I'm not certain if I mentioned it previously, but I'm using a large 1,000 Base 10 block, (though a good sized pre-schoolers block would work just as well) to demonstrate the rotation of the grid 90 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise. I place my fingers on the block in the position of the x's and then slowly roll the block in the indicated direction….gradually working to where the girls can guess at where my fingers will be when the rotation is completed, then finally taking the block away. It also seems to help to remind the girls that " the center is always the center no matter how it's rotated. With 90 degree rotations, a corner will always end up at the next corner, and the center of a side will always end up at the center of the next side."
My husband commented that Barbara and Susie both seem to have this "button pusher" mentality…like with video games, they hit a number of buttons, until they "accidentally stumble" onto the correct combination to make the character move….but they can't really tell you what they're doing. This has become apparent with some of Barbara's Brainware, especially on Memory Mountain, and rotating the grid. I'm trying to teach her to visualize the movement of one x at a time….but she keeps wanting to hit all three really quick (which causes her to get it wrong most of the time). Almost every time I can get her to slow down and mentally move 1 X at a time she gets the right answer. It's fascinating to see how their minds are processing.
Guess that's about it….I'll try to get on here early next week to give you a wrap-up of week 9.
Blessings,
Anita