I’m reading a book written by a Belgian mom who taught her 4 children many things…Her name is Cecile B. Loupan. She published two books in the 80s and 90s (they are not available in English)
The latest one is called (my translation “Alll children are gifted- A guide to enhance your child’s natural abilities.”
She was unsuccesful with the Doman flascard method (children were looking away) so here is what she did to introduce them to reading.
Recommended ages are from 18 months. Below is an approximate translation:
The first word to offer your child is her name. You can put it in her bed and have a look at it mornings and nights.
The first-words-board: Tape a large white carboard on the wall and whenever your child has a new word/sentence, write down the word with your child and review others.
Double-up the word by writing them on individual flashcards, and hand her over her word while saying ‘This is the word xx, I wonder if we can find it on the wall…’ and look it up.
In the child’s absence (in order for her to be really surprised) tape a dozen or so words in his room, the word lamp taped on the lamp, the word bed on the bed etc… and ‘tour’ the room with her. If she’s older, write the cards in her presence and ask her to help you tape them.
The word of the day. (This is my favorite tip as it’s easy to introduce in a wake up/bed routine) Chose a special place, at eye-level for the child (such as a little drawer) and every day, leave the word of the day. ‘Today, the word is…’ It can be taped or leaning against a vase etc. (I’m doing this twice a day)
For children who are talking:
When your child does a drawing, ask him to suggest a title and write it down.
If you have an eraser board, leave it near the high chair/table and tell your child what they are having to eat. Individual words; chicken, rice, apple etc Ask your child to circle her favorite food.
(that’s a great one!) Regularly, ask the child to check the mail box where she’ll find a letter (written by yourself…) Start simply with a few words “Hi Ella!” and once your child is really excited to collect her mail everyday, you can write long sentences.
the shopping list: write it down with the child looking and at the shops, show them how to cross out the items…
Hope this helps… I’ll try to write down some more tips when I have time!
Thank you for sharing, great tips!! I like them…when I am going grocery shopping I have my 2 years old more involved, she puts the vegeatbles in the bag ,we count them, we said the name, the color…she loves it!!she feels like a big girl helping mommy.
Wow, I really like the ‘mail box’ one, I think kids would enjoy that one because, they love surprises and waking up to see what’s in the mail box. Will try that one with my nephew, at least it will give him something to look forward to… and maybe add a Thomas The Tank Engine sticker or a toy or something to give him more of an incentive.
I started doing the mailbox two days ago…with words in chinese, we everyday after breakfast take her to the mailbox, she opens it and see an envelope with her name, she smiles and gest so excited, open it and reads the word and then hang it up in the refrigerator and try to say it thru the day!! she gets really excited!! It was a great idea…i love it.
Those tips a re really brilliant. I love the idea about the erase board. I think it is also great to remember that not all kids respond to the Doman method and that even little babies may learn differently and that there is not a one size fits all approach.
great tips hypatia… I too find erase board very useful. my son loves it .
we play a lot of games on it … like matching the pictures with words (3 at a time) or with the numbers… I use erase board to explain him a few things like how does a plant grow or how does the rain come… he finds these kind of explanations more interesting…
we have been following LR from a few days so to refresh the words which are been done a few days back I randomly write a few words on erase board or on paper & then keep them at different places & ask him to find the word. and to my surprise he picks up the right word most of the time…
this is his favorite game.
children learn a variety of ways they learn best when it is fun and filled with play. Play is a childs way of learning. When teaching you have to be excited about what ever you are teaching. when I work with my son I try to make the lessons related to his favorite thing. When we were learning our colors he loved thomas the train we used the trains to teach him his colors. When we learned our body parts we would sing songs.
Very nice ideas. Thank you for posting. With my boys, I try to make each flash card a car. It goes round and round or on the walls (their eye level) or it sits behid a toy or truck and goes for a ride. Sometimes we make a train. I drag the engine which is the first flash card then we follow with two or three other cards. We also a play peek a boo. Hide them under blankets, wash towels etc. We sometimes play treasure hunt flash cards. Some other ideas are to hide cheerios under the flash cards. My kids love it.
I´d like to thank for this great idea.
Every idea is important to try, so that, people are different and of course, learn differently. I´m also used to do with my daughter 3y9m the following:
I bought a white board to her and every day she writes, draw, and read the words I write to her. For me, it is much easier than to make the flashcards. She is just learning words and I´m starting to introduce phrases. We play we are in the school. She loves it.
I used to have menu cards for each of our meals but it, frankly, got too time consuming to always go digging up the cards…or to make new ones when my toddler was cranky for food. I’m going to use the whiteboard activity today! And I’ll try the mailbox idea, too. I think I’ll just do it every few days and when Daddy comes home with the mail he can deliver a special envelope to our son! (Another good way to have daddy involved!)
Thank u for sharing the ideas.Whenever I go out I show the things around and make him to touch and feel,like tree,flower,sand,bush,grass etc.I go shopping with the baby and he enjoys to learn about the vegetables,fruits etc.he can identify some vegetables and fruits in the shop.
Thank you for posting these tips. I can’t wait to try some especially the mailbox idea. I think Colin will be most excited if he thinks he is getting mail everyday. I am sure this will inspire him to learn to read. I think Colin’s lack of interest in learning to read is he sees nor reason for him to learn. I think the mail idea is a great idea to inspire him.
“Alll children are gifted- A guide to enhance your child’s natural abilities.”
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