Where Does One Begin?

[zoebird]

so, i'm new to this--where or how does one begin?

obviously, i've been 'teaching' my baby from the beginning in one way or another. . .but i'd like "prepackaged" games to do with him. I'm not really into making a bunch of things myself.

but how do i begin? where did you begin? and where can i get these things?

[Tanikit]

I guess that depends on what you are interested in teaching your baby.

From what you say, I would probably advise YBCR DVDs to show your child as then you do not have to make any materials and can teach your child to read. At 3 months of age you can also start reading to your child, you should be doing tummy time with him/her to encourage crawling.

Try also looking at product reviews on here to see what types of programmes sell "prepackaged games" that you can play. Welcome to the forums and hope you can have fun teaching your child.

[texaslady22]

There are many things you can do with an infant:

-Teach math (true math-including division and addition)
-Teach foreign languages
-Teach reading
-Teach encyclopedic knowledge
-Teach physical skills (physically superb - including gymnastics, swimming, yoga, etc)

YOU have to decide what you want to start with. Me, personally--if I had a 3 mo. old baby, I'd start with math, foreign language, and reading.

If you don't like to make cards and activities, download Little Reader and start showing words that way. Read lots of books together. And Little Reader also helps you to teach math.

Buy TweedleWink for math, too.

[TABS]

Hi Zoebird,

How I wish I had known what I know now, when my son was three months old!!!  No matter we do what we can.  Although to be honest I had a bit of a traumatic birth and baby blues, and don't think I was up to much until my son was about four months old!  How was it for you?

I think starting with the infant stimulation cards in the free download section would be good to start with - get used to using Little Reader and see what you prefer, this or flash cards and then make a plan.  What words you would like your child to learn first?  Perhaps it would be family or names of things.  There are few lovely downloads on baby sign which you might like to try.  Then the math dots.  From what I remember I had thought that it was four months that you started with all this - perhaps the extra few weeks till then will be sufficient for you to get organised.

Will be watching out to see what you decide.  Have fun.

TABS

[zoebird]

of course, we already do a lot of things, but i'm leery of using something that "requires" a tv or computer because we are very much on the go and do not watch a lot of TV.

i want some form of flash cards or program similar to YBCR without the tv/computer component so that they're easy to carry and can be used by anyone any at any time.

starting this sunday, hawk will spend an average of 1.25 hrs/day with a "sitter" of some sort. while he will likely nap during this time (between 9:30 and 11 each day is when he tends to nap), he will also have some great time being alert and interested in conversation, reading, or playing in some way.

he's a very physical child, and the sitters are comfortable with this and already support him in this way. they also converse with him, and some also read to him. this just gives another opportunity for another kind of interaction.

i would prefer not to use dvds and such, but i would if i had to to help with the program. it would just have to be once in the afternoon or such.

i think reading and math games would be a fun place to start.

[zoebird]

oh, and, our birth was awesome.

we had a peaceful, unassisted homebirth. it was a pleasurable, ecstatic birth. it was beautiful through-and-through and i think exactly what both of us required!

we are very blessed!

[DomanMom]

zoebird, are you asking where you can find ready-made sets of flashcards, such as word cards, math dots, and encyclopedic knowledge cards? Or are you asking where you can find "games", like board games? I see your baby is just three months old so I'm assuming you're talking about flashcards. As for where you can buy suitable cards for a tiny baby, the pickings are slim and the prices are high, which is why most parents make their own.

The IAHP sells ready-made word, math, and encyclopedic knowledge cards as well as infant stimulation cards (bold, black and white images), but they are somewhat expensive, the set of 100 math dots is about $60 and the encyclopedic knowledge cards are $20 for ten cards. Also, they have less than 20 sets of encyclopedic knowledge cards which wouldn't last you very long at the rate tiny kids learn. You can also buy a set of word cards but they too are somewhat expensive and don't come with that many words, I think there are 50 which you could easily go through in a month or even a week.

So, unfortunately there isn't much "prepackaged" materials out there for small babies, except in video form, which you have said you don't prefer using. However there is a lot of things you can easily make yourself that doesn't take a lot of time. For example, if you have a good printer, you can print out some of the flashcards available for download on this website. All you need is a little thick paper (card stock) and you can print out pictures of animals, shapes, objects, etc. You can print out word cards to teach reading and dot cards to teach math. They are pretty easy and inexpensive to make yourself and it doesn't take a lot of time.

Do you have any more questions about where to get started? There are a lot of great articles and posts on these forums, but if you have anything specific that you want to ask feel free to do so! Happy learning!

[zoebird]

well, call me odd but i consider cards to be games. LOL i plan to use them like a game rather and as an 'academic track.' i mean, to an extent, i don't care if hawk reads or does math as a baby. . .i just want to do something with him that both of us would enjoy.

one of my clients just gave me his used printer because it no longer photocopies or scans, so we will soon  be able to download different cards.

but, because we're following the continuum concept, he is usually being held all day. in fact, he is being held as i type this one-handed. he is also nursing right now. LOL

anyway, that's not a lot of time to print things, though i suppose i could learn to do that one-handed too. LOL! i'm not sure that i can cut one-handed though.  .  .

but, in talking to my husband, we're going to start with YBCR (videos and all) and go from there since they include books and flash cards, and then i can see what works for us.

[DomanMom]

well, call me odd but i consider cards to be games. LOL i plan to use them like a game rather and as an 'academic track.' i mean, to an extent, i don't care if hawk reads or does math as a baby. . .i just want to do something with him that both of us would enjoy.

Oh no, I don't think that's odd at all! We consider all learning to be a game, Hunter thinks all of his bits are games!

I'm glad you found something you can use, hope it all works out for you guys!

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