A lot of us don't have our ECE's and we're doing great. I have practical experience, not book learning experience. That's why I approach everything with safety first and experiment with whatever will work for the group depending on the ages. I love having the older children because it is gratifying when they know the answers for the flashcards and really appreciate the stories and puppets, etc. But they appreciate it because I started doing all of this when they were babies here.

Repetition does work, even though we don't know they are soaking up all the songs and stories and games, all of a sudden one day they start singing or answering the questions and every child is different. All children start to blossom at a different age. I have a 23 month old boy who just started doing all the hand movements and half the words to about half of my circle songs and I almost fell over!