I’ve been thinking about a program for my 12 month old baby. I’d like to choose a sort of “curriculum” for the coming year or so. Actually, I read hundreds of posts about different products and that made me quite overwhelmed, so Moms and Dads… I need your help :rolleyes:
This is what we’ve been using/doing for the past 8 months:
1- LR English + Chinese (the latter is for 1 month)
2- LR / YBCR downloaded / customized files: Arabic + French + German + Spanish
3- LM
4- EK: LR library
5- Just started Reading Bear of DadDude :biggrin:
Now, I would like to introduce more variety. So I am thinking of the following:
1- Little Pim in the diffrent languages we are studying (that’s gonna be $$ to get all those )
2- Baby Signing Time: I’ve been signing with him since birth but he just signs back when I ask him to, never to express himself. Will these DVD’s make a difference?
3- Now, the dilemma: right brain stimulation… For this, there is LR & LM, but are they good enough? Would I just add Memory Magic (for affirmations, photographic memory and eye tracking) or should I get the famous Tweedlewink which is quite costly?
5- Any other DVD / program that you think is worth it.
Your opinion and suggestions are very appreciated.
@ Maquenzie: Thanks a lot for our input. Can you tell me which signing time DVD is really what I need to communicate with my baby? Should I get “Baby Signing Time” or " Signing Time, vol.1 S. 1: First Words" My objective is to be able to understand my baby’s needs and to use ASL to connect the different languages we are speaking. Concerning “Preschool prep co”, I haven’t heard of these DVD’s before. Karma to you! But aren’t they more left brain than right brain? I may leave it for a bit later when he will be less RB.
@ Latreia: EK is for Encyclopedic Knowledge. There are tons of files in LR library. To know more about it, there is a special board on the forum. You can also check Glenn Doman book: “How to teach your baby encyclopedic knowledge”.
Just dropping by to give my 2 cents worth. Isn’t it so overwhelming when you are deciding what you want to do? I think most of the parents here were in the same shoe before. I know I was.
The best advise I can give you is Youtube. Download samples of the videos that you are interested in and try it on your child.
I have YBCR, LR, LM, LC. That’s all. My LO prefers music and dancing more. I limit his screen time to the minimum and no cartoons at all.
We do lots of other stuff, so there is no need for TV. If you are interested, you can read about my schedule on my blog. It’s too long for me to type it out here.
Sorry for the late reply. My son’s been sick so I haven’t had a chance to get to the computer.
Here are my thoughts for what it’s worth…
We have Baby Signing Time and Signing Time - entire series. Loved them both and think they are great even for older children who can already speak and don’t need to sign because the songs and hand actions are really fun so it doubles as a musical program. That said, you don’t necessarily have to get Signing Time series for this. There are lots of free resources online that you can use. If you’re deciding between Signing Time and Baby Signing Time, then I think BST is better for your 1 year old because it is more engaging. However, ST series is bigger and covers more vocab. Teaching your child sign language is good even if they don’t use it to communicate because it can act as a second language as far as brain development is concerned (just in case you don’t have a second language to teach - sign language is also a lot easier to learn). (I wrote about on my blog here - http://www.figur8.net/resources/sign-language/ if you’re interested.)
Regarding Right Brain Stimulation, for a 1 year old, I don’t really think Memory Magic will be as useful. You can use the program yourself and let your child watch, but your child won’t really be able to participate. At this age, TweedleWink is definitely better. As you said, TW is costly so you can try their sample lesson that is on youtube to see how your child responds to if you are considering it.
Alternatively, I recall a thread on this forum from some other parents creating a series of “poor man’s tweedlewink” that you can try.
For Right Brain stimulation for babies, the main activities are - reading lots and lots of books with expression, and flash cards - as many as you can. The recommendation for flash cards is 100-150 picture cards a day, repeat for 4 days, then on to a new set. Flash quickly - at least 1 card a second. There’s guide here on my blog for children:
Sorry to hear your baby is sick, I hope he is getting better by now.
A HUGE thank you for your reply. It helped me a lot narrowing down my choices. I would go for BST as I showed my son few previews and he immediately jumped on my lap to watch them! However, he turned away when I showed him Tweedlewink. Mybe because of the voice and the musical backgound which are too “alpha”. I think it’s rather boring than relaxing for him. He is used to LM & LR with the cheerful voices.
Well…this is not the products review board but I would like to quickly comment on Tweedlewink: After reading posts on your blog, the free downloadable book on their website and tons of threads on Brillkids, I think it’s a nice program. By nice, I mean it is not that excellent to be priced that high. Plus, the Tweedlewink marketing texts sound too mystical and kinda “new-agy” for me. After reading their book, I felt a certain lack of professionalism (like the way Doman books are for example). Plus, they are always dragging you to buy their DVDs or their online courses. This simply putt me off even if their program is quite comprehensive and has a high educational value… Hence, I’ll just show my baby EK, visual eye tracking, perfect pitch and photo eye play from BK library, added to LR, LM and lots of hugs (which I do all the time). That should save me around $500 (shipping and taxes included).
If anyone from Tweedlewink is reading this post: Is it possible to make downloadable videos to cut off the prices and to change the way the product is marketed?
Please Shen, if you have any comments, I would be interested to read them. Thanks again for your time and advice. Karmaaaa!
Thanks for your help. Your blog is full of Montessori activities, it’s like a tailored inspirational source for me as your son is just 3 months older than mine
BTW, I don’t let my son watch cartoon, we don’t even have a TV
)
