Am I tooting my own horn by telling you {again} how awesome these bead counters are! Probably! I've had a bead counter off and on for my 7-year-old. These last two weeks have been awesome practicing weeks for her because of this bead counter. She has started the Bach Double and we have been listening to it over and over for at least a month in the car on the way to school. Each week her teacher assigns her four or five HARD spots in this piece. I help her the first few times and she is on her own. Every day she has me flip the bead counter and does every section ten times. I'm telling you - this little girl will learn Bach Double in lightning speed. I bet she'll have it memorized before she turns eight (seriously - $100 bucks right now.)
I think she is so successful at learning the violin so fast because we have been doing repetitions on every piece since she started the violin. I took her teacher very seriously from the start when she said play a spot 50 times per day. I'll tell you - we did it 50 TIMES every day. It probably wasn't until the end of Book 3 when we had SO much to practice that I would be a little lenient on the overs-and-overs. But I believe that she now has a brain that can do overs-and-overs so easily.
So, if you want a tad of advice. DO THE REPETITIONS! It's hard at first but then it becomes habit. It's the only way to really learn a piece well. Professionals do it! Nobody is ever too good to play the hard spots over and over!
I love the feeling after a happy practice. We are able to go the full length of practice without having a melt-down I give my daughter a hug and ask if she likes playing the violin. She always says yes! Here is a chart to help have THREE weeks of happy practicing. This is great for someone who likes to draw. 
I was thinking yesterday about how I'm trying to give advice about practicing on this blog and yet I really don't have the amount of experience as so many moms out there. I have one child doing violin and piano and that's it. My son was doing piano but we had to quit (but I'll talk about that later.) However, I feel that if I chronicle my ups and downs perhaps someone can get some inspiration, advice, or even comfort knowing that practicing with a child is hard. 
Am I tooting my own horn by telling you {again} how awesome these bead counters are! Probably! I've had a bead counter off and on for my 7-year-old. These last two weeks have been awesome practicing weeks for her because of this bead counter. She has started the Bach Double and we have been listening to it over and over for at least a month in the car on the way to school. Each week her teacher assigns her four or five HARD spots in this piece. I help her the first few times and she is on her own. Every day she has me flip the bead counter and does every section ten times. I'm telling you - this little girl will learn Bach Double in lightning speed. I bet she'll have it memorized before she turns eight (seriously - $100 bucks right now.)
