My oldest son who was the catalyst into me making educational videos for little ones is now six years old. When he was about 12 months old, I made my first home movie for him on my PC. It was primitive and simplistic, but he liked it. For me, it was little more than a tool to help pre-occupy him while I cat-napped. You see, I was working at night and was getting very little sleep. So, if I could find something that would pre-occupy him for even 20 minutes, I was in heaven!

I had looked at what was already on TV, and while many of the shows for tots are great, I didn't feel like they were what I was looking for. Yes, I admit that I clearly was looking to use video as a babysitter, but I wanted the best video-babysitter I could find. So, I made videos of me reciting the ABC, numbers and what were essentially "video flash cards" for vocabulary words. Mind you, he wasn't even talking, yet.

By the time he was 18 months old, he knew his ABCs and 123s.

Re-read that if you need to. That was huge.


We didn't put him in public school until he was old enough for the 1st grade. We just skipped kindergarten (he knew all that stuff and then some by the time he was 3.) Last night, we had a sort of open house with his teacher to see how he was doing and what they were learning. She covered tons of stuff they're learning, and it was a real eye-opener for me. One thing she said that caught my attention was that by the end of the 1st grade, they would have to be able to read at "level D."

Uh... I had to ask what that meant. So, I was directed to examples of what a "level D" book was. After reading it and sharing it with my son, I had to contain my smugness. This wasn't even close to challenging him, and it's what he's supposed to be working up to! I'm not saying my son is gifted or that I'm a super-dad or anything, but just that this experience underscores the fact that spending a little extra time focusing on educating your kids BEFORE they're school age goes a very long way. My kid is reading at a level well above where he's "supposed to be," is above where he's "supposed to be" in math as well as other subjects. This is not only going to pay dividends for him via direct academic strengths, but also through making school something more fun and less stressful.

Don't wait until you think your kid is "ready" to start learning. If your is old enough to track movement with his/her eyes, your kid is old enough for you to start teaching them how to read. Avoid shows like Curious George or Pokoyo. They don't need all that flash. Just find videos online that are simple and straightforward. The simpler, the better, in my opinion. Sit down with them in front of those videos and make "TV" something you do together for fun and education.

God Bless!

Here are my "eductional videos" in Youtube playlist form.  Enjoy!

Roopull's Giggling Brains

New Video... "Home Repair"

I promise to get back to the educational stuff, but since I had a repair to do, I thought I'd do a little "how to" video.

I hope someone finds it useful!

Back To School!

Well, for us, it's not actually "back to school."

Since we'd done a lot of "home school" type of stuff with our oldest son beginning when he wasn't even able to talk, he's a little ahead of the crowd.  Putting him in kindergarten to learn the numbers while we'd already started teaching him multiplication seemed silly.  So, we kept him out until 1st grade...  this year!

He's doing fine, and while he knows most of the material, they are covering some things we didn't.  Hopefully he won't get too bored too soon!  With this being a pretty big event for him, a lot of attention has been focused on hiim.  While we have attempted to not let it get out of hand, our other son has made it quite clear that he feels a little left out.

Our schedules have changed since our oldest was that age, so we don't have as much time to focus on education as we did,  However, it's still a high priority!  Seeing his big brother going to school to LEARN and READ has not gone unnoticed by this little tot.  He has actually asked myself and his mother to teach him to read so he can go to school like his brother (imagine what a wonderful world it would be if all kids could read by the time they went to school!)  He already knows all of the letters and the sounds they make, but until now, he hasn't exhibited his brother's zeal for learning.  Perhaps we can put his jealousy to his advantage!

Last night, after he repeated his request to learn to read, I put him in front of one of the sight words videos I'd made for his brother.  Actually, we watched four of them!  He sat in my lap, bolt upright, and soaked it up like a sponge.  Later, his mom read to him from the Bible and then a bedtime story.

I hope you can find some quiet little way to encourage your little ones to WANT to read!  Don't leave it up to the schools to do all of the teaching.  The difference between a mediocre student and an excellent one is often the involvement of the parents!

Here's one of my kindergarten sight words video I have on Youtube.
Try setting your little ones down in front of it in full screen mode and reading the words as they come across the screen.  Before long, they'll be reading the words to you!  If you combine these with early reader books with stories composed exclusively of these words, the results can be amazing!



Good luck and feel free to share any thoughts you have!

My Friend's Bike

In my last post, I detailed my purchase of a bike from Bikesdirect.com. I also mentioned that a friend had ordered a bike from there on my recommendation, and that I'd be the one putting it together. Well, the bike has come, I put it together, and he's given it at least one test ride. It came looking about the same way mine came... crammed in a box & looking like anything but a bike!

Once put together, though, it was a gorgeous bike! I was almost a little jealous of it. I'm not a fan of "flat bar" bikes, but this one sure is handsome! It even has carbon-fiber forks... mine has Chromoloy.

Here's something I want to point out.  That's not a Mercier sticker or label of any kind.  It's painted on, and all of the graphics appear to be beneath a clear-coat.  These are gorgeous bikes!

It's pretty cool to see how my newfound enthusiasm for cycling has sparked interest in others.  The guy who bought this bike needed an adapter for the Presta Valves it came with, so I swung buy and gave him one (they were two for $1.50 at Academy Sports.)  While there, I re-tuned his daughter's bike which was in sad shape. It's an old Roadmaster, and every cable was just kinda' hanging there so loose they weren't doing anything.  After a few minutes of tuning, however, she was pedaling around like it was new!

A different friend asked if she could borrow a bike to ride while her grand daughter was visiting.  Since my new bike is actually too large for her, I lent her my old Schwinn.  I told her that, if she thought she'd use it, she could just have it.

A couple of days later, knowing she probably wouldn't accept my offer, I extended the offer to her via her husband. He confessed that he actually wanted to try out the bike & maybe take up riding, himself!  Now, my old Schwinn is in sad shape.  It's over 30 years old, after all!  So, hopefully, they'll enjoy it enough to prompt them to buy a bike or two from BikesDirect.com, too!  I wonder if they have a referral program!!!


I'm recovering from pneumonia, so I haven't put any miles on my bike in weeks.  I find myself just staring at it, though... like a kid staring at his toys from Santa on Christmas morning waiting desperately for his parents to wake up so he can dig in!



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These lovely pics were taken with this guy's little brother.
These are great sturdy little cameras that are super easy to use.
Many of my videos were made with this...