OK, the first two orders of business! Firstly an apology for being so slack this week! What a busy time it is leading up to Christmas! And it isn't even December yet. But I will be better this week I assure you! And secondly, welcome to our seventh follower, Annisis, great to have you here! I also appreciate all the lovely comments we've been receiving from Soumya, it's very special to have someone interested in what you're doing!
So, what HAVE we been doing this week? Well there were only 2 or 3 days when we completely achieved our list of goals, but there were lots of other adventures to be had this week. Over the weekend we went swimming with Daddy and BC did a wonderful job! Mummy and Daddy were very naughty and did one more immersion than we should have. For the first time, BC came up spluttering and coughing and was NOT a happy camper. So Mummy and Daddy learnt a big lesson that day, VERY IMPORTANT to stop while you're still having fun and not to push it!
On Monday we achieved all our goals and went shopping with BC's Great Grandma, Tuesday was library time (tinies time) and lunch out with the Mother's Group, Wednesday was the day Mummy worked so BC spent the day with his grandmother, Thursday was swimming again, Friday was Gymbaroo and then we come to this weekend!
One exciting event this week was the arrival of Baby Signing Time on the post! Yay, this was the first time I got to watch any BST and I was thoroughly impressed! I absolutely loved it and have already learnt so many signs! BC loves to see the children come on and demonstrate the signs, he gets so excited. I also made lots more encyclopedic flash cards this week, we now have dinosaurs, Australian mammals, Birds of Prey and wild animals. I am also working on fruits and vegetables with Points of Interest (POI). We don't need the POI's now but I don't fancy laminating everything once and then having to re-do it all once he is old enough for POI's.
I am waiting (somewhat) patiently for the BrillKids discount system to come into effect and then I'm going to buy the entire Little Reader and Little Math system and will hopefully be able to use this as part of our encyclopedic knowledge program (along with using it for reading and math!). I am also planning to use flash cards and other things we can buy for our encyclopedic knowledge (and reading and maths too) programs as I just don't think it is possible or necessary for me to make that many bits! Well hopefully not anyway, but we will do what we have to do!
BC is doing so well with his routines these days, although he is often not taking the last nap of the day but we aren't stressing about this. He is eating a very wide variety of fruits and vegetables now and I am planning on introducing meat into his purees when he is 6 months.
I think that is all for now! This week is another busy one as I am working two days and have another product launch seminar to attend. We are looking forward to mother's group, swimming and Gymbaroo this week too. And next week it is December and we can put the tree up!! Looking forward to that too! I promise to write again very soon!
Showing posts with label Early Learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Early Learning. Show all posts
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
The materials we are using
Welcome to our newest follower, Soumya, great to have you here! As you were interested to know what we have purchased and are using with BC, I thought I'd share it for everyone to read.
First of all we purchased and are using all 7 of the Doman books. We are doing the reading and maths program at the moment, and are also introducing the encyclopedic knowledge program. We are doing lots of vestibular activities as suggested in the physical book and are swimming as well. I need to properly read the encyclopedic knowledge and physical superiority books and this is on my (very long) to-do list. We built a crawling track too but didn't quite follow the instructions and in the end ours is a bit wide but is still doing the job nicely!
I have made my own words, math and encyclopedic knowledge cards. For the words, I just typed up words on a landscape set page in Microsoft Word and made the fonts as large as possible where the word was all on one line. I put two words to a page, printed and laminated them and then cut them in half with a guillotine. For the math dots we used A4 pages and printed and laminated them. I have done the same thing with the encyclopedic knowledge cards of which I've done wild animals already and have made but not printed water animals, pets, farm animals, birds, dogs and reptiles. I also purchased a few cheap calenders at the $2 shop which I will pull apart and laminate the pictures. I'm looking forward to the January sales when the calenders will all be marked down to 50% off and I can get some more expensive ones to laminate and use as encyclopedic knowledge. I've seen some great ones on art, music, landmarks, countries and animals.
We purchased the entire tweedlewink package of DVD's and we are currently trying to show BC one lesson per day. We also have the trebellina music DVD and just got Your Baby Can Read. I am also waiting for my delivery of the Baby Signing Time DVD's. We are currently signing to BC using signs I learnt on Baby Einstein See and Sign and those I've learnt off the many ASL iPhone apps I downloaded.
We also do swimming, gymbaroo and both myself and my husband do lots of activities with BC to stimulate his vestibular system. We try to talk lots to him, read lots of stories and take him on 'adventures' such as walks, trips to the park, outings with the mother's groups and even just a quick trip to the shops!
I hope this helps and answers some questions!
First of all we purchased and are using all 7 of the Doman books. We are doing the reading and maths program at the moment, and are also introducing the encyclopedic knowledge program. We are doing lots of vestibular activities as suggested in the physical book and are swimming as well. I need to properly read the encyclopedic knowledge and physical superiority books and this is on my (very long) to-do list. We built a crawling track too but didn't quite follow the instructions and in the end ours is a bit wide but is still doing the job nicely!
I have made my own words, math and encyclopedic knowledge cards. For the words, I just typed up words on a landscape set page in Microsoft Word and made the fonts as large as possible where the word was all on one line. I put two words to a page, printed and laminated them and then cut them in half with a guillotine. For the math dots we used A4 pages and printed and laminated them. I have done the same thing with the encyclopedic knowledge cards of which I've done wild animals already and have made but not printed water animals, pets, farm animals, birds, dogs and reptiles. I also purchased a few cheap calenders at the $2 shop which I will pull apart and laminate the pictures. I'm looking forward to the January sales when the calenders will all be marked down to 50% off and I can get some more expensive ones to laminate and use as encyclopedic knowledge. I've seen some great ones on art, music, landmarks, countries and animals.
We purchased the entire tweedlewink package of DVD's and we are currently trying to show BC one lesson per day. We also have the trebellina music DVD and just got Your Baby Can Read. I am also waiting for my delivery of the Baby Signing Time DVD's. We are currently signing to BC using signs I learnt on Baby Einstein See and Sign and those I've learnt off the many ASL iPhone apps I downloaded.
We also do swimming, gymbaroo and both myself and my husband do lots of activities with BC to stimulate his vestibular system. We try to talk lots to him, read lots of stories and take him on 'adventures' such as walks, trips to the park, outings with the mother's groups and even just a quick trip to the shops!
I hope this helps and answers some questions!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
BrillKids website and forum
I have mentioned it a few times but I should really introduce properly, this AMAZING early learning (and everything else related to raising children) forum full of a wealth of excellent information and brilliant people. I guess the name does describe it well!
BrillKids is an excellent website and forum that I visit on a daily basis and am learning so much from. The forum is by far my favourite part but they have so many other great resources to help you on your early learning journey. They also have excellent products for teaching reading, math and encyclopedic knowledge to name a few. A music program is also on its way.
From their website; 'We strongly believe in the importance of early learning and believe that we, as parents, can do a great deal to help our children fulfill their innate potential, while also ensuring that the learning process remains fun for both parent and child.'
The forum covers EVERYTHING you can possible imagine regarding learning, parenting, pregnancy and more. I highly recommend you join us in this amazing community. By being involved in the BrillKids Forum, you not only have the opportunity to bounce ideas off other parents, you also get to earn points just for contributing that you can redeem for discount coupons from many excellent early learning companies, or for files for your Little Reader and Little Math programs. There are hundreds of free files for members to download as well that you can use to teach your children.
The points system was a great bonus for me as we were looking to buy some Baby Signing Time DVD's and the Tweedlewink DVD's and I was able to 'spend' some of my points to buy discount coupons for these products. Every little bit helps!
I know this sounds like an ad but this is my opinion only and I have definitely not been asked to say any of this! The forum has been an excellent resource for us and of course, best of all, it is FREE!
If you are interested, check out the forum's website at http://www.brillkids.com/ra.php?46994. By using this special link, and by using the coupon code BKAFF46994 (just cut and paste it when you sign up), you will get a bonus 500 points just for becoming a member through my recommendation, and you will get 2000 bonus loyalty points if you choose to make a purchase from the BrillKids Online Store (you have to use the coupon here too if you want the 2000 bonus points). Don't forget, membership to this awesome website is free!
Wow, this really does read like an ad but I can't say enough how valuable this resource is!
Check it out and feel free to look me up there under AussieMumofOne.
BrillKids is an excellent website and forum that I visit on a daily basis and am learning so much from. The forum is by far my favourite part but they have so many other great resources to help you on your early learning journey. They also have excellent products for teaching reading, math and encyclopedic knowledge to name a few. A music program is also on its way.
From their website; 'We strongly believe in the importance of early learning and believe that we, as parents, can do a great deal to help our children fulfill their innate potential, while also ensuring that the learning process remains fun for both parent and child.'
The forum covers EVERYTHING you can possible imagine regarding learning, parenting, pregnancy and more. I highly recommend you join us in this amazing community. By being involved in the BrillKids Forum, you not only have the opportunity to bounce ideas off other parents, you also get to earn points just for contributing that you can redeem for discount coupons from many excellent early learning companies, or for files for your Little Reader and Little Math programs. There are hundreds of free files for members to download as well that you can use to teach your children.
The points system was a great bonus for me as we were looking to buy some Baby Signing Time DVD's and the Tweedlewink DVD's and I was able to 'spend' some of my points to buy discount coupons for these products. Every little bit helps!
I know this sounds like an ad but this is my opinion only and I have definitely not been asked to say any of this! The forum has been an excellent resource for us and of course, best of all, it is FREE!
If you are interested, check out the forum's website at http://www.brillkids.com/ra.php?46994. By using this special link, and by using the coupon code BKAFF46994 (just cut and paste it when you sign up), you will get a bonus 500 points just for becoming a member through my recommendation, and you will get 2000 bonus loyalty points if you choose to make a purchase from the BrillKids Online Store (you have to use the coupon here too if you want the 2000 bonus points). Don't forget, membership to this awesome website is free!
Wow, this really does read like an ad but I can't say enough how valuable this resource is!
Check it out and feel free to look me up there under AussieMumofOne.
My goals for this week
We are only just getting started and already I feel so behind! My plan is to sit down this week and convert an old whiteboard we have into a daily goals chart for things we'd like to accomplish each day with BC. At the moment I'm having trouble finding the time to sit down and write out the list of things we'd like to accomplish, let along actually accomplish them! Not good. Definitely not good. So my goal for the next few days (which are busy enough!) is to set the list up and then to start achieving these goals. So far the list reads 'show 5 sets of 5 word cards 3x per day'........................................ And that is as far as I've gotten. Oh dear!
So while I am out of the house babysitting a friends children (while my bub sleeps at home with Daddy), I shall try and finish writing out my list! That is, in between writing on my blog and writing lots on the parenting forums I'm a part of! Oh and trying to get some sleep as it's nearly 11pm here and we have a big day at the Museum tomorrow! I'd also really like to finish reading the 'How to Give Your Child Encyclopedic Knowledge' book too! We have finished the 'How to Teach Your Child Math' book as well and will therefore be able to add this to our daily goals. We have been sporadically doing the reading and maths programs for some time now but I want to add more structure to this (for my sake) and need to do a better job of updating the words and numbers so as not to bore BC. We do lots of vestibular exercises with BC daily but I'd also like to add a bit more structure to this through our goals chart, just to make sure we are covering all bases.
Hopefully we will get the program more organised in the coming days, that is, in between the museum, a family birthday dinner, dentist appointment, mother's group, a full day of work for mummy, a seminar, swimming and gymbaroo.... Wish me luck!
So while I am out of the house babysitting a friends children (while my bub sleeps at home with Daddy), I shall try and finish writing out my list! That is, in between writing on my blog and writing lots on the parenting forums I'm a part of! Oh and trying to get some sleep as it's nearly 11pm here and we have a big day at the Museum tomorrow! I'd also really like to finish reading the 'How to Give Your Child Encyclopedic Knowledge' book too! We have finished the 'How to Teach Your Child Math' book as well and will therefore be able to add this to our daily goals. We have been sporadically doing the reading and maths programs for some time now but I want to add more structure to this (for my sake) and need to do a better job of updating the words and numbers so as not to bore BC. We do lots of vestibular exercises with BC daily but I'd also like to add a bit more structure to this through our goals chart, just to make sure we are covering all bases.
Hopefully we will get the program more organised in the coming days, that is, in between the museum, a family birthday dinner, dentist appointment, mother's group, a full day of work for mummy, a seminar, swimming and gymbaroo.... Wish me luck!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Our Doman Program
We are modelling our learning approach on the Doman Program so I thought it would be wise to include a summary of the Doman program for you all!
Glenn Doman Summary from Brill Kids website;
Glenn Doman is a physical therapist and a pioneer in the field of child brain development. In 1955 he founded The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP), a non-profit organisation providing teaching programs and books designed to improve and accelerate the mental and physical development of normal as well as brain-damaged children.
The IAHP was originally set up to develop the capabilities of brain-damaged children through intense programs of mental and physical stimulation. Starting from the 1960s, the IAHP began offering courses aimed at accelerating the development of normal children. Methods taught on these courses drew on many of the techniques used to help brain-damaged children. Doman’s books include How To Teach Your Baby To Read (1964), How To Teach Your Baby Math (1979) and How To Teach Your Baby To Be Physically Superb (1988). Doman’s daughter Janet (director of the IAHP) and son Douglas (vice director) have also contributed to the literature. In 2006 Janet coauthored (with Glenn) How Smart Is Your Baby?: Develop And Nurture Your Newborn’s Full Potential, while Douglas authored How To Teach Your Baby To Swim: From Birth To Age Six.
The Domans’ books are available from the IAHP’s Gentle Revolution Press. On the IAHP website, Glenn Doman explains that the objective of his “gentle revolution” is “to give all parents the knowledge required to make highly intelligent, extremely capable, and delightful children, and, by so doing, to make a highly humane, sane and decent world.”
So what does this mean for us? Well from reading the books (Yes, we have all 7 of them!), we have learnt that tiny children are capable of FAR MORE than we give them credit for. Traditionally we sit around and wait for them to accomplish goals rather than encouraging them to explore, experiment and learn new things. We want BC to ENJOY learning, because learning new things is FUN! What makes learning painful is the way in which we test children, suggesting that we don't believe that they know it, and we want them to PROVE it.
My husband and I both have a love of learning new things and we hope to instill this in BC. EVERYTHING a tiny child does is learning, whether it is playing with Mummy and Daddy, playing with his toys, playing on his own, going for a walk, going to the shops or reading stories and looking at flash cards. It is all learning and all fun. Proof that little children can learn to read and recognise words is evident in simple everyday examples such as a little one getting excited when pulling into the McDonalds car park or wanting the box of cereal with the Wiggles on the front. They learn these things (from TV and experience?) and then apply them to real life.
Anyway, I'm sure I'm not explaining it properly so feel free to check out their website, http://www.iahp.org/ and http://www.gentlerevolution.com.
Glenn Doman Summary from Brill Kids website;
Glenn Doman is a physical therapist and a pioneer in the field of child brain development. In 1955 he founded The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP), a non-profit organisation providing teaching programs and books designed to improve and accelerate the mental and physical development of normal as well as brain-damaged children.
The IAHP was originally set up to develop the capabilities of brain-damaged children through intense programs of mental and physical stimulation. Starting from the 1960s, the IAHP began offering courses aimed at accelerating the development of normal children. Methods taught on these courses drew on many of the techniques used to help brain-damaged children. Doman’s books include How To Teach Your Baby To Read (1964), How To Teach Your Baby Math (1979) and How To Teach Your Baby To Be Physically Superb (1988). Doman’s daughter Janet (director of the IAHP) and son Douglas (vice director) have also contributed to the literature. In 2006 Janet coauthored (with Glenn) How Smart Is Your Baby?: Develop And Nurture Your Newborn’s Full Potential, while Douglas authored How To Teach Your Baby To Swim: From Birth To Age Six.
The Domans’ books are available from the IAHP’s Gentle Revolution Press. On the IAHP website, Glenn Doman explains that the objective of his “gentle revolution” is “to give all parents the knowledge required to make highly intelligent, extremely capable, and delightful children, and, by so doing, to make a highly humane, sane and decent world.”
So what does this mean for us? Well from reading the books (Yes, we have all 7 of them!), we have learnt that tiny children are capable of FAR MORE than we give them credit for. Traditionally we sit around and wait for them to accomplish goals rather than encouraging them to explore, experiment and learn new things. We want BC to ENJOY learning, because learning new things is FUN! What makes learning painful is the way in which we test children, suggesting that we don't believe that they know it, and we want them to PROVE it.
My husband and I both have a love of learning new things and we hope to instill this in BC. EVERYTHING a tiny child does is learning, whether it is playing with Mummy and Daddy, playing with his toys, playing on his own, going for a walk, going to the shops or reading stories and looking at flash cards. It is all learning and all fun. Proof that little children can learn to read and recognise words is evident in simple everyday examples such as a little one getting excited when pulling into the McDonalds car park or wanting the box of cereal with the Wiggles on the front. They learn these things (from TV and experience?) and then apply them to real life.
Anyway, I'm sure I'm not explaining it properly so feel free to check out their website, http://www.iahp.org/ and http://www.gentlerevolution.com.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Sign Language - ASL versus Auslan
We made the decision to teach BC sign language before he was born. As an audiologist, it is my job to support the auditory/verbal mode of communication through devices such as hearing aids and cochlear implants, but in the case of hearing babies, I do believe that it is a fantastic complement to their auditory/verbal communication. Research has shown that hearing babies of deaf parents started to communicate well before the hearing babies of hearing parents as they were learning both speech and sign language. Children have the ability and the intent to communicate long before they can appropriately verbalise their wants and needs in a way that the parents can understand. Therefore the introduction of some basic sign language can bridge the gap between wanting to communicate and being able to vocalise.
We purchased the kit made up by Australian Baby Hands group at an expo here in Melbourne but have only recently started to sign. BC is now 4 1/2 months so it's the perfect time to start. (we've been doing 'milk' for some time now). I've heard so much about the wonderful DVD's available for baby signing on the Brill Kids Forum but haven't seen much for Australian Sign Language (Auslan) but didn't worry. It wasn't until we watched our Baby Einstein See and Sign DVD that I realised how valuable and important this type of media was for BC as he absolutely LOVED it and was laughing and chatting to the people and babies on the TV screen! I also loved it as I learnt so many signs so quickly. More research ensued and I realised there really wasn't much available for Auslan. This helped me make the decision to switch from Auslan to ASL.
I figure that as we are teaching BC sign language purely so he can communicate with us and our family, (none of whom know any signs) that it doesn't really matter if we aren't teaching him the 'native' language. I'm an audiologist and work with hearing impaired people every day but haven't yet come across anyone who communicates through sign language so I feel there is little chance BC will have a need for Auslan specifically at this point. Given the multicultural nature of Australia, there is far more chance that he will come across someone with Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Maltese, Japanese, Italian, Vietnamese, French, Greek, Arabic or Sinhalese than Auslan and I'm certainly not teaching him all of these!
So I have ordered the four Baby Signing Time DVD's from America and am excitedly awaiting their arrival, I've heard great things about them. We have watched the See and Sign DVD twice now and I downloaded 6-7 iPhone apps for ASL . This has all been finalised in the last few days and so far I've learnt the alphabet, numbers 1-10, mummy, daddy, girl, boy, good, bad, up, down, bath, milk, hungry, eat, food, drink, cup, friend, help, blanket, tired, bed, baby, kiss, more, finished, cat, dog and more! So far so good. Now we just have to see how BC goes learning all this!
Today we are heading out with Daddy for a swim! Fun, fun, fun. So far BC loves the water and is happy to splash and play. He doesn't mind if we tip water over his face after first preparing him by tipping it on his arms and head and then saying 1,2,3 and pouring it on his face. He just holds his breath and blinks it away and then smiles! We are also doing quick immersions as set out in 'Your Baby Can Swim' by Douglas Doman. More about Doman later!
We purchased the kit made up by Australian Baby Hands group at an expo here in Melbourne but have only recently started to sign. BC is now 4 1/2 months so it's the perfect time to start. (we've been doing 'milk' for some time now). I've heard so much about the wonderful DVD's available for baby signing on the Brill Kids Forum but haven't seen much for Australian Sign Language (Auslan) but didn't worry. It wasn't until we watched our Baby Einstein See and Sign DVD that I realised how valuable and important this type of media was for BC as he absolutely LOVED it and was laughing and chatting to the people and babies on the TV screen! I also loved it as I learnt so many signs so quickly. More research ensued and I realised there really wasn't much available for Auslan. This helped me make the decision to switch from Auslan to ASL.
I figure that as we are teaching BC sign language purely so he can communicate with us and our family, (none of whom know any signs) that it doesn't really matter if we aren't teaching him the 'native' language. I'm an audiologist and work with hearing impaired people every day but haven't yet come across anyone who communicates through sign language so I feel there is little chance BC will have a need for Auslan specifically at this point. Given the multicultural nature of Australia, there is far more chance that he will come across someone with Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Maltese, Japanese, Italian, Vietnamese, French, Greek, Arabic or Sinhalese than Auslan and I'm certainly not teaching him all of these!
So I have ordered the four Baby Signing Time DVD's from America and am excitedly awaiting their arrival, I've heard great things about them. We have watched the See and Sign DVD twice now and I downloaded 6-7 iPhone apps for ASL . This has all been finalised in the last few days and so far I've learnt the alphabet, numbers 1-10, mummy, daddy, girl, boy, good, bad, up, down, bath, milk, hungry, eat, food, drink, cup, friend, help, blanket, tired, bed, baby, kiss, more, finished, cat, dog and more! So far so good. Now we just have to see how BC goes learning all this!
Today we are heading out with Daddy for a swim! Fun, fun, fun. So far BC loves the water and is happy to splash and play. He doesn't mind if we tip water over his face after first preparing him by tipping it on his arms and head and then saying 1,2,3 and pouring it on his face. He just holds his breath and blinks it away and then smiles! We are also doing quick immersions as set out in 'Your Baby Can Swim' by Douglas Doman. More about Doman later!
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