Hello Everyone,
Oh my goodness, this site is the most wonderful place. I found it about two months ago thanks to DadDude’s manifesto on teaching his baby to read. Here goes, my BK story and my plan for teaching my boy.
My boy just turned 9mo. Our early learning adventure started at 4months. I decided there was no way to go back to my very fast paced job, I would stay full time at home with my boy (for now). Around that same time I realized that my boy was cranky… then it occurred to me “I think he is bored?!”. So I started researching how to play with my son and ended up on some occupational therapy websites. Eventually I stumbled across DadDude’s “Teach your Toddler to Read” book on Amazon. I’m so glad he published it there, because I doubt I ever would found it otherwise. Immediately following reading that article I ordered the full YBCR kit, and bookmarked the BrillKids website.
About two months ago (my son was ~7 months at this point) I finally got back to the BK website and started surfing around. I noticed there was a forum for math and thought to myself “whaaaaaat, math too?”. lol. Needless to say I’ve now read through a huge chunk of the brillkids website and the quality of the discussions, the passion parents have for teaching their kids, it’s totally inspiring.
I’m putting together an early learning plan for my boy, but it’s so hard to decide with so many options out there! My son is loving everything - so far, so good!
Here is my plan so far!
YBCR - started when my boy was ~7months, doing 1/2 a dvd per day instead of the recommended 2x per day.
LM - started when my boy was ~8months, doing the recommended daily plan. He LOVES it. He flaps his little arms whenever I turn it on, so cute! lol
LR - started today! So far loves it.
LMu - I did a trial a while back, but didn’t order it because my son didn’t like classical music excerpts and wasn’t very engaged in the clapping. Now I’m thinking I’ll add it as he did really like the solfege bits, and skip the other parts. We can always repeat the program when he’s older, I’m sure the clapping will get very exciting for him in a few months time.
German - this is my husbands native language. We’ve decided to do OPOL - one parent, one language. I have no formal materials other then my husband talking to my boy. Have heard good things about LIttle Pim, but am concerned about introducing too many left brain activities at this stage. Will be looking through the items users posted here on BK for german language. So sad that LR isn’t available in German.
Mandarin - going to add this in the very near future vis a vis LR. Also, there is a mandarin immersion school 2 blocks from my home, so thinking about hiring a native speaking teenager to come by for an hour before school and play with my son a few days a week. That would be so awesome! And I could do yoga in the next room!!! Win for both. lol
Tweedlewink - would like to add this as well. Please see my post in the secondhand forum. I’m trying to get my hands on a secondhand copy, so if you are reading this and you have one, please PM me! I’d like to buy it stat. I’ve read that a lot of kids don’t like TW, so would like to start sooner then later and also would like to get secondhand so if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t hurt my pocketbook too bad. My other option would be just to buy the first dvd solo on the TW website…
And that’s the plan for now! Sounds like a lot, but will be continually adjusting to my son’s preferences. I wanted to add signing time/baby signing time as well, but the videos are so long, I just don’t think its a priority.
I’ve read a few books, prior to finding out about EL I read:
Nobody Ever Told Me or My Mother That - Everything from Bottles and Breathing to Healthy Speech Development - by Diane Bahr: It’s an incredibly detailed narrative of all the changes your baby goes through in their first five or so years of life in order to learn how to eat, breathe, etc… Tons of detailed exercises on how to facilitate each step. It wouldn’t be at the top of my list as a regular EL parent, but you have a child with DS, or if your child is having difficulties in any of these areas, would totally recommend it.
Young at Art - by Susan Striker. This woman is hilarious. He basically says that letting your child color in a picture of Santa Clause is a kin to killing his creativity for life. She is so harsh! But I really enjoyed this book. I’ve noticed some threads on BK about teaching your child the arts, but haven’t researched it yet. Will read some more on this topic that put this book in the broader perspective.
Post Finding out about EL I’ve read:
Doman: How to teach your baby to read, how to teach your baby math, and the one on raising a physically superior child. Two months ago, I didn’t like flashcards, but now I realize two things 1) my boy likes them, 2) despite all the warnings against it, at the beginning I definitely went too slow and repeated too much. I liked his physical ideas, but there’s no way we can fit a brachiation ladder in my apartment. Also, since I didn’t start with this exercise when my son was a small baby, I’m not sure how to adapt it to get him started. I am teaching my boy to swim (this was always in the plan, even pre EL) but am just doing regular swim classes.
Native Reading - Robert Titzer: got some good ideas about how to incorporate word games into everyday play. Nothing earth shattering here, but some fun ideas.
The Nurture Assumption - by Judith Rich Harris: Really raised my awareness at how much influence peers have. Important considerations for raising an EL child who might not as easily fit in with his peers. The thesis is to be taken with a grain of salt (here at BK we all know how much influence parents DO have). lol
That’s it! So many things on my reading list, when will I find the time? I’ll post my planned reading list below, if anyone has any comments or anything to add, please let me know.
This post is well long enough. Looking forward to being an active member of this forum, learning more from you all and sharing my son’s progress along the way.
Evelyn
Reading list:
Montessori (actual books TBD, I’m looking for best “games” and toys to play with my son
Talking from Infancy - by William Fowler: Soooo expensive as it’s out of print, but so intriguing! Need to find out from PokerDad if its still worth my time given my sons age.
Growing up with Three Languages: Xiao Lei Wang
Hold on to your kids - by Gordon Neufeld: Looks like the antithesis to nurture assumption
The dumbest generation - Mark Bauerlein
Go Diaper Free - Andrea Olsen (but I think it’s too late for EC by now, and maybe better things to focus on. It kills me now though every time I see my little guy pooping his diaper, maybe I can just do EC when he is obviously about to poop? Arrrrggghh, another thing I need to read up on, no time!!!)
Ok, very long post. Ending now.