The singleton pattern he presents is pretty common and pretty powerful. It is a self-invoking module. It allows you to use the module pattern (very solid js pattern) and probably has less code than your method.

Also, javascript has closures, use them. this._private is a hacky java-esque way of doing things. return {public_methods...} is a solid way of working towards the strengths of the language and doing proper js encapsulation.

As for the prototype pattern, there are a million ways you can do that. Best to learn the fundamentals so you can use whatever works best based on the situation.

edit: I should add that one of the reasons I like JS patterns is that there are multiple correct ways to implement them based on the situation. There are many wrong ways too, of course :) but it is a very flexible language.