Progression of introducing new subjects.

[Skylark]

I started my daughter on GD Math 2 weeks ago, when she was just over 3 months, -- she loves it! Thanks to TrinityPapa, who gave some good advice and guidance, and all other posts that I read through! We are on course with that one, using LM.

Of course we also do all kind of activities with her throughout the day, -- books, pictures, colors, explaining everything she sees ( I am baby wearing her a lot, so it gives me an opportunity to include her in different activities and explain them to her, -- she is really alert and loves that. For example, today my husband was baby wearing her, while setting up his studio photography equipment. She was fascinated by flashes, so he start explaining to her how they work and showing her, she looked and listened carefully following him for about 15 minutes! Our guests thought he was crazy doing it with 3.5 months old, but she was genuinely interested.)

I am planning to introduce words flashcards to her, as well as LR presentations, -- English, Russian, Chinese

YBCR

We just got a gift of 3 Baby Signing Time videos, so I am contemplating about those

We play some classical music pieces to her ( she loved those from the time before birth, so we continuing)

Would anyone who started at about the same age ( 3-3.5 months) with Math and Reading, have any suggestion on progression of introducing new subjects or methods of learning to her. Like,

1)   Since I already doing LM, should I wait for a few weeks before starting YBCR or flashcards, or LR/PPP?

2)   Would introducing YBCR and Baby Signing time at around the same time be a bit confusing, since both are video programs with learning words, -- one – for written word, and another for signing. She does not watch any other TV/Videos… Would it be better to start them with a little break in between?

There were some good thoughts on the thread about “Reading or Math, what comes first”, but my question is in regards to all these other programs as well, not just reading... She is very eager to learn, and is asking for it. So I would not want to hold back. But would appreciate, if anyone has some good advice from personal experience.

[jdhanota]

I wanted to start a thread on the benefits of teaching your baby to sign.  I am not familiar with concept and its benefits.  I would however, like to know more about it.

[Skylark]

I wanted to start a thread on the benefits of teaching your baby to sign.  I am not familiar with concept and its benefits.  I would however, like to know more about it.

I looked at the videos and talked with few parents who taught their babies to sign. I am still deciding whether or not it will be beneficial for us personally. So would love to hear other’s opinions as well!

Here are the benefits that I could think of personally:

1)   She would be able to communicate her needs clearer before she is able to speak well enough.
(For example, my daughter uses potty from birth, and she is very clear in communicating her need to do it already; but at the same time, she is getting frustrated sometimes when I do not understand her in some other ways, like when she is hot, and I think that she is tired, etc. If she would know the sign for hot, we can avoid the misunderstanding Of course we figuring it out, but it will be faster…)

2)   It would give her a good start in learning sign language. So in case she will need to use it in the future she will have easier way to do so. (Since some of my colleagues are involved in Deaf Ministry Programs, it might be something that she would benefit from in the future would she choose to be involved in something like that)

3)   Its fun additional activity, - she is eager to learn new things, so a good fun activity can be only a plus

So there are the reasons I could think of for us personally. But I am still deciding on whether or not to actually do the sign learning. So it will be great to hear from others.

Thank you for bringing it up! K to you!

[Tornado]

We have been using ASL with our daughter since she was a couple months old and Signing Times since she was about 7 months.  I absolutely can not say enough about the benefits of signinhg with your baby.  My daughter, now 21 months old, can communicate with well over 100 signs!   
And it gives us such insight into who she is... for instance one morning she walked into the kitchen roaring and then she signed lion.  I asked her if she was pretending to be a lion and she giggled and began to roar some more!  Now she is drawing more and will sign to me what she has drawn.  I would never have known this had it not been for ASL.  Signing Times and ASL has proven to be invaluable to our family!     

[Skylark]

What is the link to ASL? Thank you for your reply, it is very interesting.

[Joha]

Skylark,

I started my daughter on all these programs when she was 3.5 months old. I have been introducing them progresivly, but I didn't do it based on any theory of what was best to introduce first. It was based on what new products I was finding that we thought would be good for her. We didn't really knew about Doman's full method at the beggining, so we started showing her full categories in English. Then we created labels to put up around our home in both English and Spanish (we did English in red, Spanish in black). My daughter loves these! Then we got the first video of BST and YBCR. She started watching these when she was around 4.5 months. She really enjoys watching both videos, as well hr Little Pim Mandarin. I show her BST one day and Little Pim the next day, that way she doesn't watch too much tv.

Since my daughter is only 5 and a half months old, we don't really get any feedback on how much she has learned, as I have said before, at this stage is more an act of faith  I have to said, she doesn't sign yet, but she smiles when we do the sign for milk and she is hungy. You can definetly tell she know what that means. We jjust ordered the rest of the BST videos.

For the ASL website, you can check this threat. People put different website that are very helpful

http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-signing-speaking-foreign-languages/supplement-to-signing-times/

Hope this helps a bit!  

[trinity papa]

Hi Skylark .... your very welcome ..... is that you and your lovely daughter?? Well its pretty small picture, but i am sure she is as lovely and pretty as her mummy.

Although i started at 3mth .... we did quite alot of stuff ....mainly music (classical and perfect pitch training), math, reading english and chinese (including some chinese classics), plenty of reading and funny face expressions, also we did swimming at 5mth (we just started training again since its summer and she isn't afraid of water), we let her crawl from 1.5mth on a mat till she started standing at 9mth, she was flying around using the walker at 5mth. I did not show any videos to her till around 10mth, as i think it may harm her eyesight and may course shortsightedness .... , i show her YBCR, i would also recommend showing signing DVD at around 10 mth as its when they start to get expressive and they have better motor control to sign back and practice signing. But you can do some signs now, by you showing her instead of watching the dvd, so that when she sees you do certain actions she knows what is expected and she may repeat back, for us we use words so when she hears us say the words she knows what's coming next .....

However, i would like to add a few points if you want to do much much more..... becareful of burnt out, focus is on the teaching, although materials are important gathering info and preparing them can be very very tedious becoming too tired to teach in a proper manner, sometimes the materials are not much appreciated and maybe destroyed quite quickly hard to say reserving it for the next child, organising and preparing materials can also sometimes be quite a challange, its best to get your better half involved too, my wife would like to help but she always says she does not understand .... so it's mostly a one-man-show.

ps perhaps you can start doing music perfect pitch training next .... i started it at around 5mth i think ... but you will need proper instruments .... now when i ask my girl where is middle C she will point to the note and says Do.... and then she will on the electronic keyboard and starts pressing the keys .... whenever we go into a piano shop ... she will go crazy ..... dancing and squeking and pressing the piano keyboards ....

[nhockaday]

I wanted to start a thread on the benefits of teaching your baby to sign.  I am not familiar with concept and its benefits.  I would however, like to know more about it.

http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-other-topics/signing-with-your-child/
http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-other-topics/experiences-with-signing/
http://www.brillbaby.com/teach-baby/signing.php

There are several other threads that you can refer to in the signing, speaking languages board.

[Tornado]

Sorry, I should have been more specific.  I am frustrated when people use abbreviations without explaining!  And there I went and did it!!!  ASL stands for American Sign Language.  Others have already directed you to several sites to learn more about ASL so I won't repeat that. 
If you want to teach your child to sign, researching whether a baby signing program uses ASL is important.  Several programs out there simply make up what they call "baby signs." This is not an actual language, rather their own made up hand signals.  Creators of these programs generally believe that ASL is too complicated for babies. 
Baby Signing Times and Signing Times teaches actual ASL, so your child will be learning a second language. It is likely that just as children mispronounce words your baby may "mispronounce" a sign.  And that is okay.  As you sign correctly they will eventually get it right!  For instance my daughter sometimes does the sign for "pig" next to her nose rather than under her chin where it belongs. 
Good luck in your signing... you will not regret the time you invest in teaching ASL.  It only proves to be more helpful for us as my daughter grows!

What is the link to ASL? Thank you for your reply, it is very interesting.

[Skylark]

ps perhaps you can start doing music perfect pitch training next .... i started it at around 5mth i think ... but you will need proper instruments .... no when i ask my girl where is middle C she willpoint to the note and says Do....

That is something I would love to do. She shows signs of loving music, and being  interested in it. Also my husband is musician, he plays guitar and sings ( perfect pitch). I used to play piano, as a child ( finished musical school, but not much of a musician I would say, never was able to play by ear, only read and play music > )

So since you've done it, do you have any tips where to start?

What we already doing:

1) She is listening to some classical pieces/arrangements, while playing in a jumper
2) We sing to her different children songs and play some of those songs while we doing other activities
3) I dance with her to music ( sometimes )
4) Daddy plays classical guitar, alongside with CD Playing, while Evangeline sits in front of him ans watches him picking and changing cords ( she's done that since birth, and actually that was one of the first indications to us that she was ready for early learning, because almost as a newborn, she would sit on my lap in front of Daddy playing and would FOLLOW his fingers for 5- 10 minutes, as long as it would take him to finish the piece...)

But I was wondering if you would have any tips, that you have used for teaching perfect pitch at that age... Should I play notes and cords to her and name them? On guitar is OK, or better on piano? (Right now we do not have the piano yet)

Any other activities along the same lines?

I thought about music training before, and am glad that you have mentioned it, because my husband is happy and eager to pitch in with that aspect of training, if he would have more of an idea how to go about it, apart from singing and playing to her, as she sits and listens.

Thank you so much!

PS Yes, this is us on the picture, me and my little one, she loves her sling

[Skylark]

we did quite alot of stuff ....mainly music (classical and perfect pitch training), math, reading english and chinese (including some chinese classics), plenty of reading and funny face expressions

I hope you dont mind me asking all these questions. Honestly I am making more progress from these discussions, then from anything else. Very inspiring! Also helps me not to be overwhelmed where to start, getting some good starter ideas here...   Thank you! And thank you all who responded.

Here is the question I have about introducing reading ( We already doing some from different children's books, but the questions about how to do it more organised, as right now it is rather sporatic, my husband would love to help, but he wants to see some system to it, some order of how we do it, so even when I am not around he can know what we do and pick up from there...)

Did you read straight from the books or did a simple presentations?

 Children's books or also some classical lit pieces (like poems, etc). I have some children books, but then majority of the ones in Russian are on my computer, since we travel a lot, and I would not be able to carry a huge library with me. Would you read it from computer then?

 Should I help her to follow by pointing where I am reading, or just read with animated face and voice and let her listen, not looking in the book?

Did you read over the same books and stories for a while before introducing  new ones or were you introducing new ones constantly ( I have heard conflicting opinions on that one...)

Approximately, just for my interest, how many books/stories a day you tried reading to her?

Should I let daddy do the reading in English and I would do it in Russian, and then play her a story or drama in Chinese at some point of the day? (To divide languages).

Whe you were reading, would you at some point pull out some new words from the book, and introduce it to her on a flash cards? Or would it be too early and it is better just to let her listen and experience the language as a whole...

I have some dramas ( dramatisations of stories, usually some Russian folk classics, etc.) in mp3 ( they are copies of old children records), would it be a good idea to play those to her once in a while, just to expose her to more language other then just me speaking ( there are no other Russian speakers around, and plenty of English speakers, so I would not do that in English)

I am sure I would have more questions, but these are just the ones I thought of when I read your post...

[kizudo]

Hi Skylark

In your very first message you asked about showing YBCR and signing videos at the same time.  That's what I'm doing - however, I printed out each of the signing words onto huge flashcards.  

I'm using My Baby Can Talk.  They show you the sign then multiple pictures of that item/action.  I like my son to see the action more frequently, so I sit beside the tv and say the word and do the action over and over and over...at least he gets to see it in his peripheral vision.  I put the flashcard over/above/below the changing picture several times.  I've also made my own little slider cards like YBCR for the signing words (envelope cut off at one end with the word on it, posterboard with pictures on it, and clear contact paper to help it be a little more sturdy)...they're not as pretty as YBCR but they do the trick.

[Skylark]

Thank you, Kizudo, great ideas on the flashcards. Do you have a picture of the ready one to get a better idea?

Thank you Tornado and Joha on your input!

I am still contemplating about actually using the BST videos, or perhaps just teaching my baby signs that she would need right away just by showing them to her myself, and then introducing the videos later...

I definetly like the actual idea of teaching her to sign. It is just the video factor I am still contemplating about. Tend to agree with Trinity Papa on that one, about starting the signs right away and introducing the videos a bit later. Will post you on what we will decide to do.

Thank you for all the valuable input!

[nhockaday]

I am still contemplating about actually using the BST videos, or perhaps just teaching my baby signs that she would need right away just by showing them to her myself, and then introducing the videos later...

I definetly like the actual idea of teaching her to sign. It is just the video factor I am still contemplating about. Tend to agree with Trinity Papa on that one, about starting the signs right away and introducing the videos a bit later. Will post you on what we will decide to do.

Thank you for all the valuable input!

I wanted to tell you my signing experience. I started signing with my son when he was 6 months old. I did the basic signs. He recognized several of them, but he never signed them. I had some of the BST videos, but I didn't want him watching anymore videos at the time. Well, by the time he was 1, and he still wasn't signing back, I decided to use the DVDs. He loved them and began to sign immediately. He has learned around 100 signs from the BST and ST videos. I wish I would have started showing them sooner. My advice is start showing the important signs right away, and then at about 6 months or so, let her watch the videos. You don't have to let her watch the whole thing at once. We just watch half of one one night and them the other half the next night. They really work, but I think you can easily introduce some basic signs right now and just wait a few more months before showing the videos. And remember, she may be 10 months or so before she ever signs back, but it will probably be earlier if you start now.

[Skylark]

Thank you, Nikki, for writing your experience and for the advice! I tend to agree with it.

When you say "start showing her important signs now" do you mean us showing it to her, or choosing important signs from the video and showing them to her like that? I was thinking learning a few important signs, and showing her during the day, like potty, hungry, milk, mommy, daddy, happy,....

It is so great we can all exchange ideas and experiences and make informed decisions and plans for our babies educations. I think it is one of the greatest things about Brill Kids, -- avenue to get input, ideas and experiences and flexibility of adapting it to your child individual needs. Awesome!

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