Innertalk

12th Jun 2011

If you believe in subconscious mind programming, Innertalk can be a good choice. There are a few titles suitable for young children including the following:

Using Both Halves Of The Brain

Genius Power

Creative Writing

Developing Compassion

I Can: Building A Child’s Esteem

Respect And Good Manners

The above are all our favorite ones.

The concept of subconscious mind programming is quite straight forward. The hidden positive messages embedded into the CDs are channeled into the right brain hemisphere during the subconscious state of the brain when the left brain hemisphere’s defense mechanism is not active as the left brain only hears background music from the CDs.

We have been using the above titles since many years ago and still constantly use them. In my opinion, I think they work, although I cannot prove it. If you are interested, my suggestion is to try out by starting with one or two titles. In Klang Valley, you can find these in most Popular book stores.

More details:

http://www.eldontaylor.com/

http://www.innertalk.com.my/

http://www.innertalk.com/

In my recent visit to the Australia-Malaysia Gifted Education Forum 2011, I had the opportunity to chat in person with Dr Louis Downs, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Counselor Education, California State University. I asked him whether he himself heard of and believe in subconscious mind programming. He said he doesn’t deny the effectiveness of this and believe they are credible. He said we can even make these CDs ourselves without buying one. Nevertheless, as professional, he will not promote or market the products himself.

MIQ

12th Jun 2011

MIQ, a good educational game for kids, mostly IQ related sets. You can find these in most Popular book stores. In my visit to the Australia-Malaysia Gifted Education Forum 2011 recently, there was a demo for participants to try out themselves the UKM1 test, which is the first screening test for entrance into the PERMATAPintar programme. I took the test myself and one set of the questions are quite similar to the logic in MIQ, not 100% similar, but close. They were primarily the pattern identification and matching ones.

One advice though, get one or two sets if you are interested as usually the sales person will try to convince you to buy a few sets, and they are not cheap.

More details on similar product:

http://www.brainet.com.my/new%20WEB%20concept/AMIQ/AMIQ-intro_eng.html

National Geographic Map Collection

2nd June 2011

If you are looking for poster size maps collection for educational purposes e.g. to hang on the wall of your kids’ room, National Geographic Map Collection is a good choice. Most of the maps contain a handful of fine details and facts related to the topic. Moreover, all the maps are very appealing to the young minds.

If your kids like space and astronomy like mine, there is even a “Space & The Planets” series which include The Solar System, The Milky Way, The Universe, Mars Revealed, Earth’s Moon, Star Map of the Heavens and etc.

More details:

http://www.ngmapcollection.com/

http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/maps/print-collection-index.html

http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/maps/print-collection/planets-celestial-family.html

Celestia

11th May 2011

Today I will introduce another awesome space and astronomy related application, Celestia. The following is an extract from Wikipedia.

Celestia is a 3D astronomy program created by Chris Laurel. The program is based on the Hipparcos Catalogue (HIP) and allows users to travel through an extensive universe, modeled after reality, at any speed, in any direction and at any time in history. Celestia displays and interacts with objects ranging in scale from small spacecraft to entire galaxies in three dimensions using OpenGL, from perspectives which would not be possible from a classic planetarium or other ground based display. NASA and ESA have used Celestia in their educational and outreach programs, as well as for interfacing to trajectory analysis software. Celestia is available for Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows. Released under the GNU General Public License, Celestia is free software.

So, don’t wait, get one for the kids to explore from  http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

My kids enjoy learning the Universe using this application. It gives them the feeling of they are on a virtual space travel through the Universe!

Electronic Dictionary

5th May 2011

We bought an electronic dictionary for the kids. My daughter who loves reading make use of this gadget very often and we are glad to see this investment was a right decision.

If your kids love reading, I would strongly recommend to get one for them. They will pick up new vocabulary very fast as the gadget is very convenience to use compared to the conventional thick and heavy dictionary, not to mention the very small fine print of the contents.

If you plan to get one, I would recommend Besta as this is the most popular product in the local market, with good and reliable support network and after sales service. Moreover, the dictionaries are complete and up to date. Forget other brands!

You can obtain the Besta range of electronic dictionaries from most Popular book store. Nevertheless, my suggestion is you obtain when there is a promotion or discount, which most school will organize road show twice a year, after the mid year and final year exam prior to school holiday. Ask the kids, teachers or school.

More details:

http://www.besta.com/

http://besta.my/

Stellarium

2nd May 2011

There is an awesome application which functions as a star chart and constellation map of the sky. It is Stellarium and the exciting part is it is a free open source planetarium for your computer, which means it is free to download, install and use. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with your naked eyes, binocular or telescope. Its GUI (Graphical User Interface) is very attractive and precise.

My kids have been using this application and it has helped them learn a lot of the night sky. You may get your copy here.

http://www.stellarium.org/

By the way, if you have an iPhone, Stellarium is also available on this platform and it does not lose its PC counterpart’s richness in the GUI. The iPhone version:

If you have any feedback or queries, don’t hesitate to write me a comment, I will try my best to help.