Want to share experiences in your child's early education? [AWARDED!]

[jezze_y]

Hi there,

Since there are not takers yet, I'm starting this topic. 

I'm Jezze Yong and staying in Puchong, Selangor. I'm a working mom with a 23 months old DD. My DD started LR and LM about 2 months ago and she's also attending Heguru classes in KL for about 4 months now. I have to say the programs are really good and I could see that she enjoys them. Sometimes she will surprise me by saying aloud a word or two flashed on the screen. Or name an object that she sees although I've only shown her a few times on flash cards. And she loves to be read storybooks (lots and lots of them) before going to sleep. Would love to meet up mommies (or daddies) who are into similar early education programs to share experiences and exchange ideas.

[sunshinebaby]

Hi jezze,

Thanks for starting the topic. I stay in KL and am a SAHM. My son is a VERY active 24-months-old and we have been using LR and LM for the past year. Well, I must admit that I have slacked a little for the past few months :p

My son can recognise written words from about 15 months. He would do the action of 'clap', 'wave' or bang the table for 'table'. Now he can recognise more and more words. It's really pretty amazing how fast they learn, and I am so proud of him. This came from a combination of YBCR and flashcards and LR. However he is still behind in verbal skills - started saying a word or two about 18 months. Maybe because he is a boy? Maybe because he is 3 months premature, I don't know. I did become less worried when he started trying to say a few words for the past couple of month :p He recognises and say his alphabets and phonics and can read/count 1-20. But I wouldn't say he can 'count' properly yet, bcos he can sometimes point to the same item twice when counting, say 5 blocks.

Do you attend any enrichment classes in KL? Would love to share and compare notes with other moms who are interested in early education too.

Sunshinebaby

 

[jezze_y]

Wow.. amazing that your son can read at 15 months!! When did you started teaching him? I only started with my DD at about 17 months so it's been only 4 months and she's reaching 2 years old next month. That's about the same time I started sending her to Heguru classes at Midvalley. Which one does your son attend?

[ShenLi]

Hi Jezze and Sunshine,

I'm in KL and also a SAHM.  I have two sons - one is turning 4 in January and the other is 11 months (but Jezze may already know that since she's read my blog )  I started these programs late with my older boy but we used to play a lot and see a lot of things together where I would just explain to him what was going on... for instance, I would show him the coffee beans in Starbucks and tell him how they roast them then let him smell the beans, we would go to the butterfly farm, Science Center, etc.  I also started reading to him when he was very young - all sorts of books.  We also did Signing Time and he was crazy about Thomas and Friends so I used that to my advantage to teach him alphabets, numbers and colours. 

I only started the reading program after he turned two.  I was not particularly consistent because he didn't like flashcards.  I scared him off because I went too slowly and showed the same thing too many times.  Back then I didn't understand how quickly a child's mind absorbs things and he just grew too bored with the stuff I was showing him.  We also did the TweedleWink DVDs which he enjoyed for a while.

I persisted with other things - YBCR, reading books (which he absolutely loves!), letter games.  Early this year I started sending him to Heguru.  These days he can read whole books on his own and spend time in his reading corner on his own reading to himself.  He can do basic Math but I can see he doesn't enjoy it as much as he loves Math.  I also try to encourage art and music for right brain creativity.

My baby started the Doman program when he was 3 months.  He can do Math but I have not seen what he can read.  Perhaps it's time to start playing some word games to see how much he's learned...  He attends TweedleWink (started when he was 5 months).  His physical development is slightly advance.  I also do home practice right brain stuff with the boys - more with my baby than with the older boy though because my older boy is quite determined about what he wants to do.

I'd love to meet up with other Mums, too...

[evilkitten]

hi i am new to this LR and LM, my son is 15 months old and i have been doing doman program with him for the last 4 months, he is just not interested in words but he LURVE pictures. He absorbs Doman EK cards like sponge but till today shows no interest in words. i am sending him to tweedle wink and he seems to enjoy it for a while until recently when he seems to participate less. i dont know why.

i am looking for new things to teach him and would like to meet up some of the great mommies in K.L:) who are doing such wonderful jobs.

where can i find heguru in K.L mommies?

[ShenLi]

Heguru is in Midvalley Boulevard - the office blocks in between The Gardens and Megamall.  Directions from The Gardens:

Go to the ground floor and take the exit leading to Megamall.  Walk past the fountain and turn right at the Mamak store.  Look up and you should see an orange sign "Heguru".  Enter the foyer and take the lift to level 3.

What day does your son attend TW classes?

The right brain is an image brain and enjoys pictures which is why your son absorbs the images like a sponge.  With the words, are you flashing fast enough?  If he doesn't like it, give it a break and come back to it at a later time. 

[jezze_y]

Hmmm.. the last time I went to TW to check out the courses, one of the teachers was very nice to show me around the place and gave me a preview of the class. I remembered she told me TW kids are not encouraged to watch TV because if the kids are used to exciting programs on the TV, they may not find TW lesson interesting. I'm not sure how true is that because at that time my DD is already a fan of Little Einstein and Mickey Mouse.

I tried showing her one of the TW lesson and she looked for a while but walked away before the lesson ended. I showed her YBCR and she also didn't respond that well. Maybe what the teacher said is true. But LR works well for her, maybe because it's not really TV but it's from laptop??

My DD is pretty 'notty' in Heguru class because she just can't sit still. Sensei always know her as the most 'active' one. But later I learned that I need to talk to her everyday and explain that she need to sit down and pay attention to the class and join all the activities. I've even tried the 5 min suggestion (from Shichida), where you can talk to the baby the first 5 mins after the child has just fallen asleep. And it worked! She is now paying attention in class more and join in all the activities. Sensei was also very impressed. One of the mommy I met in Heguru who used to send her kid to Shichida also told me the 5 min suggestion worked very well on her kids.

Oh yeah, she doesn't like words flash either. But is ok if I flash the word and then the picture.

[sunshinebaby]

Wow, ShenLi and Jezze, well done. I tried to make my own flashcards....but after doing A-Z, I got lazy and gave up and flashed the YBCR word cards. And subsequently used LR. ShenLi, I hope like your son, my boy will be able to read whole books on his own when he is older too.

My son attended Shichida since 9 months old. Hmm.. i really can't remember when he started on YBCR and Tweedlewink DVD. Time passes by so fast! Maybe a little earlier. He took to Tweedlewink DVDs quite well and probably had a crush on Aleka from YBCR - haha! I didn't let him watch cartoons or TV other than these and Baby Signing Time. Then later, we added Little Pim, Trebellina and Wink to Learn. Only this month, as his 2 years old 'birthday treat' (I'm so mean *evil grin* ), I started subscribing to Astro Cartoon package. He is still not keen yet though. 

I attended a trial class at Heguru before I got a spot with Shichida. Liked the musical appreciation session a lot and the EK flashcards, but prefer Shichida's bigger classroom. Heguru's class room was a little to claustrophobic for me and my super active boy. 'We' had no room to run around without disrupting the rest of the class too much. In Shichida, he has the back of the class to run around in. However, Shichida flashes silly things sometimes... like cartoon charactors or local bank logos (??!). Only recently, my son started becoming more interested in Shichida's finger training activities and enjoys the games and could sit down almost through the entire hour. Ooooo Jezze-Y...maybe I should also try the 5 min suggestion to calm him down too.

We also attended a Tweedlewink trial class. Enjoyed all the multi sensory session, but since we already have the DVDs, I thought we save some $$. Recently, started him on a Julia Gabriel Preschool playgroup. It has different activities compared to Shichida/Heguru-type of classes.

I haven't properly started to flash EK cards (except through LR). Can you share how you do it? Do you flash a card (say, Mozort's portrait) and read out a sentence pertaining to Mozart? Do you prepare your own cards? 

[efmumsgirl]

hi.. i'm farah.. my bb is 15 months old.. now he can recognise almost more than 80 words.. the latest words are table, cabinet, black, white, donkey.. i'm so proud of my son.. i'm started bought the LR+LM when he's 6 months old but i'll started with YBCR when he's 3 months old.. now.. i'm so happy when he become a genius baby.. 

[sunshinebaby]

Hi Farah, welcome aboard. 

Oh, I'm sure we are happy whether or not our child is a genius or not, as long as they are healthy and happy (and grow up to become a good, kind person). I tell myself that I am doing this to give my baby the best possible start that I am able to, and as long as my child finds it fun. I do not want to create a stressful environment at home or to pressure the baby into learning.

I do find that being in this brillkids community gives me lots of resources on early education as well as on how to bring up a happy and well-balanced child.

 

[ShenLi]

Totally agree, Sunshinebaby!  Pressuring babies to learn will only have the opposite effect anyway.

I tried the 5 min suggestion with my older boy - sigh... didn't really work, but maybe it'll work better for my younger boy... 

I also find the Heguru classes too small.  That's the reason why I send my younger son to TweedleWink - more space for him, more relaxed and I think the program is more suited to his personality.

I have done Doman EK Cards.  This is their reco:

Flash four cards and say the names.  E.g. it might be the names of four paintings.  Then flash the four cards again but this time say one piece of information about each, e.g. was painted by Picasso.

[jezze_y]

So glad to see so many mommies sharing in this thread. It sure is encouraging   Yeah, agree not on pressuring our babies. We are just trying to give them a good head start in learning and make learning fun in any possible way.

Shen-Li, yeah, I'm one of your blog's followers and keep up the good job. It has helped me to get started on RB training initially. It's great to hear your older son able to read on his own. How you do get him to read on his own? Do you prepare books with just the sentence in one page, and then the picture in the next? Or just get the normal children's book from MPH will do?

Sunshinebaby, oh, finally meet a Shichida mommy online, I always wondered what is the diff between Heguru and Shichida? Looks like Heguru also flashes silly things like Japanese cartoons and companies logo. In fact I just saw these last Sat  But I guess the purpose is just to flash it fast in large quantity to activate the RB, not so much on the importance of the info? Just my guess. I'm still trying to figure out what each activity does in Heguru as there is no proper guide for parents. So I have to go around digging for more info. Hmmm.. what do you think of the ESP training? I can't help but to think it's a mere guessing activity for my girl although sometimes she gets them right.

As for EK, I'm also just starting on it. I download what's available in brillkids forum and add some painters from those I remember from Heguru.Just the name of the painting as the picture comes up. I might try the Doman way later.

[ShenLi]

Thanks Jezze.  I'm glad you find my blog helpful.  I am like you - didn't really understand why they do the things they do in Heguru but I wanted to understand so I bought Shichida's books to read.  In one of his books, he said with flash cards it is quantity that is important (not so much quality) which is probably why we get some silly flashcards in class.  The right brain is an image brain therefore it needs lots and lots of images to stimulate it.  Think of the brain as a muscle and the flash cards are like exercise to strengthen the brain.

The problem with ESP training for older children is that they have already been influenced by a lot of things so naturally they start to guess.  My son is guessing, too.  Did you notice that for one of the questions sensei will ask the child to touch the card with the "left" hand?  This is because the left hand is controlled by the right brain.

My older son is reading books from MPH.  He also read the Doman book - but these are difficult to find where there is only words on one page and picture on the next.  Janet Doman published another book which I also saw in MPH - "Nose is not Toes".  But if you want your child to be exposed to lots of books, you either have to work very hard to make your own or to use the regular books in the bookshop where the format is not so ideal.  Initially, my son only wants to look at the pictures.  Then he started making up the story himself.  These were phases that he went through before he finally got to reading.  He doesn't always read - he still enjoys just flipping through the book.  He was highly motivated by Thomas and Friends - he loves that.  Recently he started to take to Dr Seuss books which I'm encouraging. 

Regarding EK - starting with just names of paintings is fine.  Follow your child's lead.  Sometimes they stop paying attention when you read out the "bits of information".  Flashing the cards with just the names holds their attention for longer.  If you group your flashcards together, you can still teach bit of intelligence because they know that all these cards belong to the same group - e.g. all paintings by Da Vinci, etc. 

[sunshinebaby]

With Art, apart from Tweedlewink and LR downloads, I am currently using this baby book set to expose him to artists and their paintings:

http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Masters-Boxed-Julie-Merberg/dp/081185518X

He has been enjoying Monet so far, and likes reading it.

I have no time yet to prepare or print out the EK flashcards.

Btw, i've recently just received my Volume 7,8 and 9 of Tweedlewink dvds! Yay.. am glad he is still as excited to watch it. Watched DVD 7 and I have one complaint, though. I don't like it that they use a dressed-up teddy bear to teach various occupations, instead of real people/ real photos. Anyway, the rest is great.

Wondering if any of you purchased LR Chinese? What do you think - Simplified v Traditional? I am thinking of getting it for my boy, but cannot decide between these two. I can't speak or write mandarin, and i think our Malaysian school system uses Simplified. Any ideas?

Gotta run.



 

[nellie]

Hi Mommies...! 

You can call me nellie I'm a SAHM, 28, a mother of tonight-just-turned-out 14mo daughter and I'm in Kajang and I love to know mommies around my area. I'm quite new with LR & LM and SOO not advanced in teaching babies like all mommies here. I dont even know we can send them to classes. I thought playgroups are for 3yo and up    I'm a bit dissapointed at myself not to gain as much knowledge as possible when I had a lot of time during pregnancy. All I searched and studied was about pregnancy, which hospital should I go, what post natal service should I get, what not to eat what to eat more. I even made the wrong flashcards. I thought I'll have time to read about potty training, teaching babies, solid food, blah blah..all for later but I'm so wrong! They grow up so fast I can't even catch my breath.

Anyway, I was using the free downloads (hihi) since she was 2mo or so but not in a systematic kind of way. Finally bought the lovely system precisely 3 months ago and been using them consistently ( :P ). beside that I read to her everyday and do flashcards from baby einteins and random flashcards. Favourite cartoons for now is Minuscules. As for DVDs, she enjoys baby einteins series and talking hands (for signing). That is the only DVD I have for signing as I kinda lost on how to teach Sign Language to her. She only knows to sign 'milk','eat','bath','drink','sleep','kiss','tree'. She recognizes her eyes, nose and stuff and the first time she said a word and meant it was when she was 11m.

As for reading, I haven't try the output of the LR & LM yet. On the 10th (tomorrow) it'll be 3 months since I started the proggramme. Should I be expecting something...? Should I put on mute and let her read on her own? I only do it twice a day, is it really enough..?

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