Early Learning Roadmap

Parenting and Education (Other) General Parenting
1

Hi All

I am thinking of putting together a timeline/roadmap (can’t think of another word) for early-learning for babies/toddlers etc. from birth till about 3 years of age (to start off with and expand further to later ages). I find that there’s so many useful resources/suggestions etc. on this forum that I think I need a lot of it in one place so that I can utilise appropriately for my daughter and perhaps it will be handy for others.

for e.g. I introduced flashcards to my daughter from 3 months of age and started LR, LM at 6 months, LMS at 6.5 months. She’s nearly 8 months now and we are now watching videos on youtube to help her with language development.

I have noticed people are introducing abacus maths, softmozart for learning as well other activities for physical development such as bracchiation ladder. It would be great to get some ideas from those experienced on this forum to put such a roadmap together.

Many thanks
BT

2

I like your idea of making a “roadmap” for early learning babies and toddlers but the problem your going to come across is that there is no right way or wrong way to go and every parent on here is taking a slightly different path to each other.
I think its a good idea to make your own roadmap/plan for your own child and be flexible enough along the road to adjust and go in a different direction when your child shows certain interests.

Our path so far started like this
3m Your Baby Can Read
5m Started using Baby Sign Language
11m Little Reader
1yr Math dots, Physical development
1.5yr Little Music
18-21m Start doing more Phonics, Science, spelling, maths on top of everything else

My roadmap/plan from here is to
Bring in Rightstart maths in a few months time
Introduce more of a Montessori structure to learning

3

Thanks kiwimum. You are correct, there’s no right or wrong way, but just thought it would be a useful reference for me (and perhaps others) which people can then tailor as it works for them.

4

In my case, that’s what I did -

3 months - just showing one word per page baby books
6 months - started LR and YBCR (LO preferred YBCR so we stopped with LR for a while)
10 months - re-started LR (and now he prefers LR over YBCR)
12 months - Wink to learn Chinese series/ Dino language DVDs.
18 months - Little Math/ Sparkability DVDs (he loved sparkability but don’t really like Little Math)
22 months - Little Musician
23 months - Tweedle Wink (but I think I should have started these sooner, but I was waiting to get those second hand!)

Results -
10 months - Recognising a few words from YBCR by following actions but we were not 100% sure then
15 months - definitely recognising at least 50 words each in english/swedish/chinese but won’t read out all of them, mainly gesture or demonstrate by action.
19 months - starting to read out words, including ones he’s never seen before e.g. Vaseline.
21 months - can count to 50 in all three languages, recite ABCs in English and Swedish.
22/3 months - reading most LR books, simple story books e.g. Maisy series, Night Garden series etc. simple chinese books and swedish books.
Now (24 months) - seems to want to start to spell words although I never explicitly taught him that.

5

Forgot to mention we started signing class with him from 6 months and watched “sing and sign” DVDs at home and he never signed until the past few weeks, months after he can actually talk! He loved the music though.

6

For us (girl and boy, twins) it has been,

12 months: Little Reader (English), Little Math, self-made power point presentations for Spanish (mother tongue)
16 months: Little Musician, encyclopedic knowlege (shapes, monuments, planets, etc.)

Currently at 17 months, they are sightreading lots of words in Spanish, some less in English but knowing the vocabulary, knowing Spanish alphabet, numbers from 0 to 10, counting to four-five, reading and singing chords and notes in Little Musician, 2D and 3D shapes, dozens of animal names, etc… And that’s it more or less. Now I’m turning to phonics in Spanish (thank you TeachingMyToddler for the alphabet song, a great success!!) and plan to begin with Soft Mozart this summer, when they’re 2 yo.

But I’m in constant learning and re-planning with the ideas that I get from this forum! :yes:

7

This is what I have done:

  • 1.5 years old; Introducing Doman and Little Reader.
  • 1.8 years old; introducing phonics and letter sounds
  • 2 years old; started blending
  • 2.1 years old; Started Little Math. I wish I could turn back the hand of time! I should have started Little Math earlier. It was such a challenge to teach a 2 years old flash Math cards. He was not into it. We were struggling but managed to finish the curriculum. 8)
  • 3 year old; More into Phonic based reading
  • 4 years old; Marshmallow Math

Now, we are looking for long distance or online homeschool curriculum to supplement his full time school.
The topic I am struggling with is Math. I am all over the place. I tried Right Start but he did not like it at all!

8

Our experience:

0m: Portuguese and English as main languages and a little bit of German from some part of the family
3m: we started to do activities from the book Slow and Steady Get Me Ready
4m: Sign Language and some Leapfrog Videos like Phonics Farm
5m: he started attending a full-time school / day care (we had no option since me and my wife work all day)
6m: We started reading and pointing words on books
1.5y: just know I see that there are some regular programs for Maths, Reading and Music, so I’m starting now.

Before that, I always used to teach maths counting steps, things, etc.
For music I had nothing serious beside of singing. We also had him to watch our Choir trainning from 2m to 9 months.

By the way, this topic is a great idea! :smiley:

9

For me the roadmap has differed for both my children - my second child joined in with the oldest child for nearly everything from a much younger age than I would have done those things with my first, but her direct teaching has been less simply due to time constraints and the fact that I am teaching two.

Before 6 months with both of them we worked on gross and fine motor skills, read to them and showed them the world
Eldest started LR at 8 months and younger at 6 months
Started flashcards with both around 1 year - eldest showed she could read the words within a week of starting
From 1-2 years lots of flashcards, I did Domain dots with my eldest for Maths, but have left it with my youngest, introduced phonetic alphabet and some blending, taught left to right up and down for reading
2-3 - read LOTS of stories to the eldest gradually increasing the length of stories she could listen to and then moving to chapter books, the youngest is also starting to read books (she’s 24 months old now) but in a different way to which the eldest did it - I read the books with her with the flashcards, started blending with the eldest
3-4 Lots of unit studies, preschool crafts, reading to her, she started reading books and we read together every day with her reading a sentence and then me reading one, taught sentence structure and pauses when coming to a full stop, increased counting ability and started basic addition and subtraction through hands on manipulatives and story sums.
4-5 Moved on to a kindergarten curriculum, taught handwriting without lines, Horizons K and Singapore 1a Maths, continued out loud reading daily - some for fluency and some to move up in grade levels, started teaching spelling, unit studies and reading many books for content subjects, used literature to teach Geography, started SOTW1
5+ - So far we have done spelling, started creative writing, Horizons 1 and Singapore 1b, reading at about a grade 4 level, BFSU, SOTW1. She is in a difficult position as by most American standards she would still be in PreK. Here where we live she would have started the equivalent of Kindergarten this January.

10

And what about after kindergarten?

What do you guys have in mind for keeping a high quality education?

11

Our roadmap…

Birth+
We followed a modified Doman program.
Lots of soft and loud sounds, lights on lights off stuff.
Grasp strengthening.
Baby wearing a lot.

3 months+
I always put him down on his tummy or standing.
Lots of babywearing.
And lots of opportunity to crawl and cruise.

6 months+
Sign language.
He started using a push walker.
Developed his pincer grasp by picking up Cheerios.

9 months+
Gave lots of opportunity to walk and trot various terrain, up hill and downhill.
He was doing shape sorters, ring stackers, cups and many Montessori inspired fine motor activities.

12 months+
Sensory play, puzzles, Montessori fine motor things.
We started trotting up to a mile per session several times a week.
Introduced balance bike at 15 months.
I did minor phonics work. I only ever introduced letters by their sounds. Never by name. And mostly only used lower case.
Started reading to him more because he didn’t hate it and run away anymore.
Color and shape recognition and matching.
Easy puzzles.

18 months+
He started speech therapy for speech regression.
Started first screen time with Baby Signing Time. But still infrequently.
Helped me a lot around the house and became quite independent. Cleaning up spills. Taking bowl to sink.

20 months+
First real screen time with apps.
Preschool University apps
Watched meet the sightwords 1. And then meet the sightwords 2 and 3 via apps. He knew all those sight words by about 22 months.
Taught him to subtitize to 5.
Acted out many classic nursery stories.
Taught tumbling, forward rolls and log rolls.
Completely potty trained.

24 months+
Started teaching addition and subtraction with manipulatives and a few concepts.
Introduced a variety of apps such as Bob Books, Euromath, Montessori Numbers, Teach Me Kindergarten.
Started reading Preschool Prep sight word books.
Dabbled in RightStart Math.
Balancing Beam.

30 months+
Taught James to count to 20, forwards and backwards.
Skip count by 10s
Completed Pre-K math standards and started on Kindergarten Math.
Read a lot. About 30 minutes a day for James and about an hour a day for me. We mostly stuck to levelled readers.
Started a drawing and writing journal (rather James dictated)
Graduated speech therapy.
Trapeze bar for hanging, swinging and flipping.
Used a child swing as opposed to an infant/toddler swing.
Swam underwater for 10-15ft.

We let up on his tv ban, (with the exception of Mighty Machines) He started watching tweedlewink, YBCD, YCCD, Peter Weatherall and much more, but still sparingly and only educational stuff. .
Little Muscian
Reading Bear

36 months+
James is flying through Kindergarten level math and some grade 1.
Working on a Montessori sensory program.
Has a DRA reading level of 16, which is upper first grade. He moved from a complete sight word reader to a balanced reader who can sound out words.
Draws basic shapes, a few numbers and a few letters.
Can discuss science topics such as Matter, Gravity, Earth’s Orbit, Seasons… And much more. We use BFSU as a science spine. But supplement a lot.
Knows where he lives, knows where Australia is. Knows several presidents. And he knows more about vehicles, trains, diggers etc than I ever will know. We use What Your ____grader needs to know as a general knowledge spine.
He has good manners.
Tells the time on an analogue clock.
Can pedal a bike with training wheels. Do straddle rolls. Backward rolls and bridges with spotting.
Identify musical concepts such as dynamics, pitch, tempo play Mary Had a Little Lamb on keyboard.
We also take advantage of the wonders of YouTube Videos for learning. We cover science, math, reading, calendar time, weather and so much more this way.

In the near future… (36-42months)
Improve reading.
Work on writing.
Spelling.
Character Building, virtues and executive function.
Master all math drills and money.
Do gymnastics, dance, swimming.
Continue with music.

Wow! This was long… But as you can see. I didn’t do too much in the way of reading and math until James was almost 2. And I beleive be is thriving.

12

Found this in a search and find it EXTREMELY helpful. Bump!

So far…

3 months - LR, LMath and Little Music, Doman “How Smart is Your Baby” balance exercises & reflex stuff
4 months - Little Chinese and YBCR (occasionally), signing with words
6 months - Sparkabilities App, Chinese stories/songs on youtube, Little Spanish Trial (need to buy soon), Speekee (occasionally),

13

My elder DD was due to start grade 1 in January this year. She is homeschooled - we went to a private school as the public schools here are really bad and asked what they would do with a child (then 4) who could read and was expected to be more advanced by the time she started grade R (kindergarten) - they said she would remain in her age classes and could get extra work - this would never have worked - my child is very very busy - she likes to play - she never learnt anything in a formal manner and to expect her to sit and be bored all day and then do extra work in the afternoon would have driven her mad.

I do now follow a slightly more traditional curriculum although simply at an advanced level - we use multiple Math curricula to make sure that she works both deeply as well as drilling the math facts - we do a LOT of word problems and logic puzzles. We are still working mostly on the 3Rs (she still reads aloud to me daily so that I can check her pronunciation and also make sure that she is fluent as the difficulty rises - but also so that I can insist she reads more advanced works which she may never pick up by herself - simply because there is not a pretty picture on the front of the book) Spelling, writing, grammar etc are just more advanced than for the normal grade level.

We use and will continue to use BFSU for science - I really like this curriculum as it allows for rabbit trails and I can use whatever books or videos I want to but still cover the topics that need covering. We use SOTW (2 this year) and add to that whatever fits in also - I will have to look further as history is not my favourite subject and it still needs to be taught - at the same time, history is also about now and we do talk about international news and let her read child friendly news articles - she gets into things she shouldn’t every now and then and then we have to explain things in a child friendly manner that perhaps I would have preferred to wait to cover. Geography we use various resources and again try to link it to all the other subjects - I do want her to have a good overview of how the world fits together.

I have however not thought into high school or beyond. I need to make sure now that she has a good education - can read anything and can get the information she needs, knows how the world works and that things change often, knows how to acquire new information in multiple ways (not JUST the internet either) and that she can think and express opinions, communicate well with people - orally and in a written form, but also that she cares about other people and that she knows she lives in a community no matter how far removed that community sometimes can feel. After that I need her to know that there are ways of getting what you want or need - that you need to know what it is you want though - that high school itself falls in that category - what is it you want out of high school/college/university/adult life and are you on a path that will make that possible. This is a tall ask for a 12-13 year old so I will teach that she needs all the time to keep as many options open as possible and this includes when it comes to education.

14

am agree with BTBVEN what he said was there’s no right or wrong way, but just thought it would be a useful reference for me (and perhaps others) which people can then tailor as it works for them.

15

Was just wondering how you would advise starting the doman physical stuff at three months? I have the book and meant to start at birth but reflux issues and the hectic life of having two kids under two got in the way and now baby is 11 weeks and we still havent started. I wasnt sure how to go about starting him now he is no longer a newborn and I’d love to hear what you did.

16

Jakob’s roadmap

Birth to 1.5 years old
I spent times researching and reading and choosing the right products to teach him.

1.5 years - 3 years old
Little Reader and Little Math, phonics, and blending and Marshmallow Math,and hundreds board.

3-4 years old - took
We took a long break and learned small things here and there. Jakob was not interested in EL.

4-5 years old.
Continued with Hundred board, Jump Math, Phonics, and several workbooks from different publishers. ( I was trying to find my way back to EL)

Now - Back on track with EL.
For Math, We use Dreambox, Hundred Board, and Jump Math 1.1. I just signed him up for UCMAS class. Jakob can do simple additions and subtraction using Hundreds Chart (he told me he saw it in his head) He can subitize up to 100 using the Right Start Abacus (though not 100% accurate) and count by 2,5,10 up to 100.

For Reading, we use Reading A-Z, and Raz Kids. he is at level K which is early Grade 2.

Writing: Writing A-Z…I have just started and not really see any progress.

For Spelling , we use All About Spelling. He is still at level 1, can recognize all basic phonograms , both sounds and through dictation. He can segment words, and can tell which word when hearing segmentation. We use Drooling Dragon App for hearing practice.

For Science, looking into BrainpopJR but most likely will leave it to his teacher at school. Lol

This is quite long too. :slight_smile: