Hi,
My name is Narelle and I have a 4 month old son (almost 5 months) named Ethan. We are from Australia and I have been using various methods to teach my son since he was born. He has been watching the YBCR DVDs since he was 6 weeks old (he now gets very excited and giggles when he hears the intro music) and I have just started some of the Doman methods with him. Most recently we have started the math program and I am very interested to see if there will be any results. My husband thinks I am a bit crazy to believe that he can process a random set of dots in 1 second. I am interested in teaching Ethan encyclopedic knowledge also.
We read books and look at flash cards every day and I have started some of the exersises in Doman’s “How to teach your baby to be physically superb”. Has anyone else tried the physically superb program? I find it a bit hard to follow perfectly. It is against the use of baby devices that limit the child’s opportunity for free movement. I really do need to use a pram to take my baby out walking (although when we reach the destination or see something interesting, I take him out to have a look and talk about it). I also put him in a rocker so I can take a shower if I don’t get a chance to do so when he is sleeping. I also sit him in his rocker to watch the YBCR DVDs as he seems to enjoy watching them like this (he will not stay still if I hold him on my lap). The book makes me feel really bad for doing so. I also don’t really have the money or space for all the different types of equipment that the book suggests.
I also play word association games with Ethan which he really enjoys. Has anyone read “Talking from Infancy” by William Fowler? We do this by looking at words and then looking at different examples of the word (eg. picture of elephant, photo of elephant, a stuffed elephant, and elephant figurine and saying “this is an elephant” each time). We also take little excersions around the house and outdoors to look at different things and talk about them. The Fowler book also recommends dressing up and role playing.
We go swimming about 3 times a week and Ethan just loves it (although I have not read the Doman book about teaching babies to swim). We also go to Gymbaroo once a week which is great fun.
I think the Little Reader program is a wonderful resource and I am so glad that I came across it. I am only just beginning to explore its capabilities. It is also nice to have a forum where techniques and findings can be discussed with people who don’t think you are crazy.
A big thank-you to DomanMom. Your blog is very interesting and the resources you have provided have saved a lot of work. It makes it easier to get to the fun bit and spend time with your child. Regardless of what information Ethan retains, I believe that he just enjoys spending time with me and having my attention which I think is the most important thing in his eyes. I am enjoying evry moment that I have with Ethan as I unfortunately will have to return to full time work in May next year.
