Here you can find Kathleen's responses to some of the most frequently asked questions about Funtime products. We would love to answer any other questions you may have: Simply contact us through email or regular mail, and we'll do our best to help you with the information you need!

Music, by definition, encompasses  rhyme, rhythm, beat and tune....so when  the brain processes these factors, the combination causes other basic functions to come into play...such as emotion, perception, memory and even language! Music engages the senses...the whole body as well as the brain!!!  Scientists believe that music set up the brain for higher levels of thinking...which is why scientists are often inordinately fond of music!!

2.  I hear that your music is different. What is different about it?

Music from Funtime Learning teaches what the child has to learn anyway....

 THE FACTS ARE IN THE SONG!!! 

LEARN THE SONG AND YOU HAVE LEARNED THE CONCEPT!!! 

So when you teach a Funtime Learning song, you are giving the child a tool to draw on any time of the day or night....It is easier for them....as they don't have to study....just learn a song!!!  The facts are there for ready recall....

It is easier for you because you don't have to hammer facts in....

All you have to do is say..."What does the song say...?"

The answer is usually..."Oh yeah."

And the child is off to the next question.

3.  We are under such pressure to qualify each child for the event of the testing situation, how can I justify spending time on music? My principal thinks music is fluff and we've even had the full-time music position cut from our district funding!!!

I know...and this is a great misunderstanding. If you were only teaching "Here's DO...Find SO..." perhaps  then  you could NOT justify it...but even if you were just singing a song that is simply about the flowers in spring, you would be elevating the mood level of your classroom....setting up the children's brains for ready recall and for learning whatever it is that you will teach next. 

Michael Ballam, Ph.D of Music at Utah State University tells the story of how he was in the 5th grade and his teacher had come under scrutiny for having the highest math test scores every year for years.  The 'powers that be' felt that she must be cheating...so they sent in a spy to observe during the testing....to see what she did....

Michael Ballam said, "What we did was, we SANG!!!  About everything.....all the time!!!  If someone had a  problem, we sang. If someone had good news, we sang.  We sang about everything!!"

20 minutes into the test, the teacher got up, went to the front of the room and starting singing 'There's a Long, Long Trail A-winding' and 'Keep the Home Fires Burning'.  The class joined in and after 3 minutes the teacher sat down and they continued with the test.

Once again, her scores were the highest in the district.

AND THOSE SONGS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH MATH!!!

How much better could her scores have been had the words to a song been,

Similar in math, means the same.

Similar in math mean the same shape.

Bigger or smaller or shorter or taller

Yes, similar means the same thing in math.

But exactly the same size and shape is congruent

When one's on top of the other you can't tell they're 2 of them

etc.

Then if they came to a problem on similar and congruent, they would have NO trouble at all remembering which was which....as the ANSWER TO THE PROBLEM WAS IN THEIR HEADS FOR READY RECALL!!!

Funtime Learning has 37 math songs on more than 37 concepts, as some songs, as in the one just demonstrated, covers more than one concept.  We invite you to check us out....by turning to the music section and listening to the quality of the songs we have to offer!

4.  Why is music more effective than, say, poetry?

Music builds pathways in the brain.  Facts, emotions and sensations travel along those pathways and people have come out of comas, learned to talk again, etc. all on the wings of music. 

A study done a long time ago in St. Alphonsus Hospital in Boise, Idaho  proved that brain-damaged people learn easier when the information was put in a complex rhythm and melody.   A little girl named Sara had survived being under cold river water for 15 minutes but doctors feared for her learning capacity.... When asked to repeat the sentence, 'Long, long ago on a cold winter's morn, little Lord Jesus was born....' she could only repeat 4 words... but when the phrase was given a complex rhythm and melody, Sara was able to sing back every syllable, note and beat!!!  Singing the music  forced Sara's brain to use more pathways and connections at once.....and because they were used in tandem, all the connections were stronger. 

"Music filters in at an almost unconscious level and you don't have to focus on it hard" says Dr. Siebert who conducted the study. 

Simply said, the brain is programmed to remember things in a tune.

5. Can you give me an idea of what you mean when you say the facts are in the song?  Aren't all songs full of facts?

Well, will you do a little experiment for me? I think I can show you better than tell you....

I am sure that we all have heard how many steps there are in the Washington Monument ....and how old Abraham Lincoln was when he took office, but unless we really have an interest in  remembering those facts, those kinds of things really don't stay in our minds long....

But suppose we put those facts in a song that you know...? Row, Row, Row Your Boat, for instance....or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star...?

To Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star:

A. Lincoln at 51

Was America 's favorite son

Born in 1809, true....

(By) 1865 we knew...        (By has to be said quickly!)

He'd got us out of a fix...

But death took him at 56.

To Row,Row, Row Your Boat, put these words"

Washington 's Monument

Stands so straight and tall

555  5 and 1/8 inches

(Five hundred fifty five, five and one eighth inches has 12 syllables, as does Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily....Just fit it in!!)

We can climb it all.

898

Steps up to the top

Once we start, we are determined to keep it up  (12 syllables)

We will never stop!

Now sing that for a day or  two, two or three times and you will always be able to recall those facts...

See how easy learning can be? 

6.  Why the emphasis on fun?  Isn't learning a serious business?

 It certainly is....but we have a deep need, as humans, for joy. We seek for it everywhere....and the joy of learning is one of the greatest joys in life. It ennobles, uplifts, encourages all who partake of it....

No one gets up and says,"I am going to seek to be bored today."

No.  We say, "Somehow, I am going to enjoy this day!"

We do things we enjoy doing...We do what interests us!!!  A classroom where the emphasis is on positive outcomes and where the information given will be stored on pathways for easy access and ready recall.... will benefit all students...so that when the time of testing arrives, the information will be securely locked in place in the child's mind....in a song......

For example, how about Row, Row, Row your boat?

The child will be calm...knowing that the strain of forgetfulness is gone.....and the information he/she needs will come forth at will.

And in the meantime, the child will have enjoyed the journey.

So how about it? 

Can't we all now go have a FUNTIME LEARNING!!!?????