How to start - we have a 2 month old. Specially foreign languages?

[AnotherBookWorm]

Hello!

we have a 2 month old and we are trying to adapt Doman's program (How smart is your baby) but it requires A LOT of time!! And at this age she spends most of her time nursing as you can imagine.

I have an older child, we started her with Early Learning at the age of 1,5 years, and with some effort (and your help!!) she learnt to read at 2,5 and started writing at 3,5. We used Little Reader in several languages, but foreign language and math didn't work out too well with her (maybe at her age it was "too late?").

So I would really appreciate your ideas for our 2 month old: what to do, WHEN (??) to start... I'd really like to teach her at least one foreign language, not only reading. And maybe math too.

Thank you all!! 

[Aeirbubbles]

Not to worry! It's never too late to teach a child! It's just easier and faster the sooner one starts. The fact that she is still an early reader will help her tremendously in learning and you can still do foreign language and math.  For Math, I would recommend Marshmallow Math (amazon) at first.  Marshmallow Math is kind of like a hands on Dot Cards. It teaches quantities and introduces addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division sneakily through fun. It does a bit more as well.  Right Start Math and Saxon are also really good.  I have heard somewhere that someone actually started their newborn infant on Math with black dot cards.  Of course I cant find the source now but it might be possible to teach your baby now.  Babies from birth can automatically start identifying patterns and the math cards are actually patterns.                                                                                                                                                                                               The reason why foreign language probably didn't stick is because there needs to be more to back up that language (at least 2- 5 hours worth per day). Brillkids is a wonderful program but it only covers a few minutes a day.  I would definitely get foreign language books and audio books, immersive music (I would treat this part similar to kindermusik style), and print plenty of free flashcards from the Brillkids library.  It's good to have plenty of hands on material such as flashcards. It's best to read through out the day whenever you can ( we even read during meals and its really a great idea if your toddler is active).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Let me know what language(s) you are trying to teach and I can send you some really great sources that moms on the forum have helped me to find.  Most of the toddlers that have read in multiple languages on here have been exposed to hrs and hrs of fun with the language each day and some do not do tv unless it helps with foreign language.  

[SunilPriya]

Hie Aierbubbles .....
 I too started teaching my son foreign language (Spanish) with the help of LR and its 2 months now i have started and he can identify and know everything tought till today. He is 15 n half months now also I m thinking to start  with another foreign language(French or German) in parallel.
I will be pleased if i get some help from stuff u have.
Thanx!!!
 

[Aeirbubbles]

Hello SunilPriya!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Congratulations on teaching your son Spanish!  German is not one of the languages I am teaching but I am teaching French and have quite a bit of resources.  IF you plan on doing German and French, there should be plenty of German resources to help you because its so well known. I was able to find Korean and Japanese resources though resources are scarce.   Anyways,  I always suggest taking advantage of Brillkids free flashcard library and print out hands on flashcards.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      French Resources:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Petit Ours Brun (books on amazon/ free videos on youtube)                                                                                                                                                                              T'Choupi (books on amazon/ free videos on youtube)                                                                                                                                                                                        Berlitz Kids: French (audio books on amazon/ also available in German and Spanish)                                                                                                                                         Baby's First Words in French CD                                                                                                              http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003MY7RCA/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=32A0KIA9CXMUI&coliid=I3KY4MKSVIP21O                                     Your Baby Can Learn  (now offers several languages including French and is coming out with German) Has books and flashcards that are really nice!       French Playground (cd from amazon )                                                                                                                                                                                                              Whistlefritz ( cds and dvds in French and Spanish on amazon)  I never bought the DvDs so I dont know how good they are and you can sample the songs before buying.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          http://frenglishlearning.com/readers/                                                                                                                                                                                                               http://www.enchantedlearning.com/books/french/                                                                                                                                                                                      http://winktolearn.com/collections/european-languages/French                                                                                                                                                                  http://winktolearn.com/collections/european-languages/German                                        

[Aeirbubbles]

Sorry about the list.  It seems my keyboard is broken.   Also, Little Pim and DinoLingo are good for exposure but do not really teach reading skills.

[Just_Mark]

What would be a good suggestion for language earning age 3 years old?  My daughter loves Dora and I would like to introduce her to language learning away from the television.

[Aeirbubbles]

Hello Just_Mark,  I would suggest doing everything above.   Expose the language through music (kindermusik style at home which is fun and interactive and I would keep it at 15 minute sessions through out the day), books, audio books, and word and phonetic flashcards (start with  flashcard sessions during meals and then introduce when you can). This is recommended for ALL ages in learning a language. Babies and toddlers will require less effort to teach and will learn quickly. Later you can sign up for free language exchange for extra exposure or use italki.com for free language exchange with foreigners (maybe around age 8 or 9?).  Read to her as much as you can even if you think she isn't listening to you.  Read to her while she plays, read to her using her favorite toy if she has one, at bath time,  in the car, when your on trips, and even during holidays and weekends.   Its great that she likes Dora but I would not suggest that cartoon for learning Spanish since it relies too much on English and only exposes a few Spanish words. If you are trying to get away from tv exposure that will do wonders seeing as children thrive the most on interaction. TV can be introduced again after she learns how to read and speak phrases in Spanish. Whether you wait or not with tv, I would suggest looking into immersive Spanish such as disney. Disney Jr has tons of immersive Spanish on youtube, such as La Casa de Mickey Mouse, that you can check out. I would make sure exposure through tv is timed. Its awesome how excited toddlers get when they realize they understand what they are watching. Kindermusik should focus on about 5 repetitive songs at a time for a week or two or before she gets bored. You can use scarves/play silks to twirl around, laundry baskets to scoot her in, music shakers, clapping, etc while doing kindermusik sessions and this will help her fall in love with the language.  It will probably be a bit crazy to change her schedule that fits at first but it becomes routine after a few weeks and you will notice how she will not want to watch tv as well. Learning is definitely fulfilling even to little ones.  

[Just_Mark]

Thank you Aeirbubbles for your suggestions.  Will definitely give it a try.

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