Home activities in infant/toddler programs

[Donna Metler]

I'm looking at adding an infant/toddler and parent music/physical activity
program at my school next year as an option for parents. This would be
(hopefully) grant funded so there would be little or no cost to parents. The
goal is to give our (inner city, often very young) parents a chance to learn
how to support their child's development and to provide a way to connect
these parents with services in the community if they need them before their
children enter school.

The two curricula I'm looking at for this are both very similar as to what
they do as far as child development. and parent education. However, one
requires the purchase of home materials, with the idea that the parent will
use these at home with their child. The other does not. The difference in
cost between having the materials and not is significant-about $150/year per
child for materials alone, so if I'm going to go to the effort of finding
funding to pay for it, I want to make sure the parents want them and will
use them.

If you've enrolled your child in classes like this, and they had activities
to do at home, did you actually use them? Did you find it worth the money
the activity kits cost?

--
Donna DeVore Metler
Orff Music Specialist/Band/Choir
Mother to Angel Brian Anthony 1/1/2002, 22 weeks, severe PE/HELLP
And Allison Joy, 11/26/04 (35 weeks, PIH, Pre-term labor)

[Ericka Kammerer]

Donna Metler wrote:

> I'm looking at adding an infant/toddler and parent music/physical activity
> program at my school next year as an option for parents. This would be
> (hopefully) grant funded so there would be little or no cost to parents. The
> goal is to give our (inner city, often very young) parents a chance to learn
> how to support their child's development and to provide a way to connect
> these parents with services in the community if they need them before their
> children enter school.
>
> The two curricula I'm looking at for this are both very similar as to what
> they do as far as child development. and parent education. However, one
> requires the purchase of home materials, with the idea that the parent will
> use these at home with their child. The other does not. The difference in
> cost between having the materials and not is significant-about $150/year per
> child for materials alone, so if I'm going to go to the effort of finding
> funding to pay for it, I want to make sure the parents want them and will
> use them.
>
> If you've enrolled your child in classes like this, and they had activities
> to do at home, did you actually use them? Did you find it worth the money
> the activity kits cost?

Honestly, my hunch is that it can be particularly
challenging to do this with the kind of population you have.
If you're talking about low income families, many are stressed
to the max just putting food on the table and a roof over their
heads, and it can be a challenge to find time for yet another
thing to do. On the other hand, if there's no transfer to home,
you're not getting the benefit you'd like out of the program.
Is there any way that you could do the one that doesn't require
the home materials (thus enabling you to server more children
with the funds you have), but then offer suggestions and support
for doing some things at home? Maybe you could discuss how to
do some things with common household items, or maybe families
who were available could come to the school at times to use
a shared pool of materials, or maybe there could be a lending
library of materials? That way, parents who were willing and
able to do some things at home would be able to without
incurring the expense of equipping every home with all the
materials.

Best wishes,
Ericka

[Mary W.]

Donna Metler wrote:

> I'm looking at adding an infant/toddler and parent music/physical activity
> program at my school next year as an option for parents. This would be
> (hopefully) grant funded so there would be little or no cost to parents. The
> goal is to give our (inner city, often very young) parents a chance to learn
> how to support their child's development and to provide a way to connect
> these parents with services in the community if they need them before their
> children enter school.
>
> The two curricula I'm looking at for this are both very similar as to what
> they do as far as child development. and parent education. However, one
> requires the purchase of home materials, with the idea that the parent will
> use these at home with their child. The other does not. The difference in
> cost between having the materials and not is significant-about $150/year per
> child for materials alone, so if I'm going to go to the effort of finding
> funding to pay for it, I want to make sure the parents want them and will
> use them.
>
> If you've enrolled your child in classes like this, and they had activities
> to do at home, did you actually use them? Did you find it worth the money
> the activity kits cost?
>

We've got our older daughter (almost 4 years) in a musikgarten class.
It's got picture cards and a CD for home materials. We listen to the
CD all the time (mostly in the car) and I think it really helps her
get involved in the class - to be familiar with the music before
class, it engages her a bit more during class. We haven't used the
cards at all, but we do really like the CD.

Her teacher also comes to my girls' daycare and does an infant
class which our younger daughter is in (she's only 8 months).
We don't have materials for that class, but I do notice that
DD2 really seems to pay attention when I sing songs from her
class. It kind of surprises me since they only have class
once a week.

The other materials that they use during DD1's class
(and DD2's for that matter) are shakers,drums, scarves etc.
When we play the CD at home, we improvise, using things
we have around the house as drums/shakers/scarves to mimic
the activity they did with the song at class.

Both girls really seem to enjoy the class, I think it'd be
great if you could offer it Donna.

Mary W.

[Nikki]

Donna Metler wrote:
> I'm looking at adding an infant/toddler and parent music/physical
> activity program at my school next year as an option for parents.
> This would be (hopefully) grant funded so there would be little or no
> cost to parents. The goal is to give our (inner city, often very
> young) parents a chance to learn how to support their child's
> development and to provide a way to connect these parents with
> services in the community if they need them before their children
> enter school.

Sounds wonderful!!

> The two curricula I'm looking at for this are both very similar as to
> what they do as far as child development. and parent education.
> However, one requires the purchase of home materials, with the idea
> that the parent will use these at home with their child. The other
> does not.

I'd go with the one that does not. Follow through with specific
equipment/structure very difficult for me and I imagine even more so with
the population you hope to reach. In my limited (and different but similar
;-) experience there is actually *more* follow through if they integrate
some of the ideas presented into their every day lives here and there rather
then thinking the only way is to use specific equipment in a structured way.
Structured home activities is very hard for lots of people but putting to
use a nugget they spontaneously remembered from the program is not. Plus
the equipment *will* get lost, damaged, strewn about - especially if there
are older kids - and then there is a feeling that nothing can happen with
out it.

--
Nikki

[toto]

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 07:49:21 -0600, "Donna Metler"
> wrote:

>The two curricula I'm looking at for this are both very similar as to what
>they do as far as child development. and parent education. However, one
>requires the purchase of home materials, with the idea that the parent will
>use these at home with their child. The other does not. The difference in
>cost between having the materials and not is significant-about $150/year per
>child for materials alone, so if I'm going to go to the effort of finding
>funding to pay for it, I want to make sure the parents want them and will
>use them.

I would look at the materials and see if there were not ways to
support the same activity with homemade instruments or recycled
materials that all parents have available.

I don't see that you *must* have expensive materials to support
child development.

It certainly seems to me that music would be a way to reach both
parents and children. But, can you use the music of the parental
culture at least in the beginning to open them up to a wider
experience of other music?


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits