A Strong Recommendation for any time — like right NOW.
If you haven’t signed up for a free trial at BrainPop.com, then I hope you are already a subscriber. There isn’t any other excuse. And now, while you need the kids to have something to do on their days off before the relatives come over to entertain them (and after you have cleaned the house of course), is the best time. Math, Science, Literature, you name it. They get to go on line, and learn stuff. And the “lessons” are really short and very interesting. Seriously, stop reading and go sign up right now. http://www.brainpop.com/store/trial_step1_new.weml
You are 100% right. I would love to see a study of what kids remember after one hour in class vs. one hour with BrainPop on the same subjects.
The results would be embarrassing, which is why the educational establishment has used its political power to resist any significant changes in the way education is delivered because of the computer. Yes, they bring “computers” into the curriculum, but as just another academic subject with the same teacher in front of the same number of children. Look at how rare classroom-type training is in the corporate world after the introducation of Computer Based Training.
For those who worry that their children do not get enough secular knowledge/cultural literacy in yeshiva, let them have BrainPop! Even better, imagine what kind of effectiveness it could have in Israel, where it could teach English at the same time, while supplementing the short school day.