I started with YBCR in February 09 and my son was 13 months. I really like it. We usually watch one or two dvd's in the morning during breakfast. I wasn't really sure it was working (since his hands and mouth are busy eating), but when I have the same words on LR or he sees the word eg. elephant, tiger etc in another book he growls like a tiger, or trumpets like an elephant. My son has definately started bringing more books to me to read to him during the day since YBCR. I think he understands that the words on the dvd are the same in his books and it really excites him when he comes to a word he recognises. I think it is truely worth the money. Laminted flashcards which I only do periodically every few days I printed from YBCR files in LR. The flashcards provided in the YBCR pack I've put away for now as my son likes trying to rip them up. I'm going to borrow my mums laminator again before I bring them back, or they wont last another month. ;O)

One thing I do regularly in my house is home made chicken nuggets. You just cut chicken breast into big cubes, you get a bowl of mayonnaise and a bowl of breadcrumbs (spices added if you wish). Then give the chicken a quick rotate in the mayonnaise to coat it then into the breadcrumbs. Wack them onto a greased oven tray and put in the oven for an hour at about 180oC. Beautiful tender chicken nuggets all kids will eat!!! I will never buy nuggets again after making these. This receipe is from a cook book called 4 Ingredients. There are two versions available an no receipe has, you guessed it, more than 4 ingredients in it to make. Pumpkin and Fetta quiche is another favourite and vegetarian lasagne (although I add more than 4 vegies). The great thing I recon is once you've made something from the book it is in your memory, cause it's so easy to remember only four things. I got the book online at www.4ingredients.com.au

Hi, I was after a little advice on going back to work.

I might have the opportunity to either go back 9am-5pm on a 5 day fortnight (Mon & Tues one week and Mon, Tues & Weds the next), OR 10am-4pm every Mon, Tues and Weds. I'm unsure what would be best for my son and future kids in terms of making the most quality time together. If anyone has an opinion on this I would love to hear it. Thanks

Hi Fellow Aussies,
As promised here is my review on the Hands up and Sing DVD (Nursery rhymes). We've had it on for a few days now and I think it is pretty good. My 14 month old isn't quite as interested as he is in the YBCR but he's very interested in the songs he already knows from the YBCR dvd's such as Twinkle Twinkle and Old MacDonald. There are two hearing presenters which are really good, personable and easy to follow. There is also one deaf presenter who although is nice to have for the deaf community, she obviously doesn't know the rhymes and misses her cues. She is really hard to follow for me, so my son has no hope. It's a shame. She only does two songs by herself out of about 17 so its not too bad.

Although it's only nursery rhymes it's really easy to pick up words you could use in every day language. They has simplified the actions and slowed down the songs so it's relatively easy to start picking up the Auslan actions. My son is starting to try and do a little something with his hands when its on so I think he's picking up the point of the dvd. I do think that the $39 price tag is too much. I would price it easily at $24.95 maybe even $29 but not almost $40. Maybe if you have a friend that will go halves with you and share it, it would be worth it. I'm thinking of sharing it with my playgroup, I think all the kids would benefit from it.

"To Train up a Child". Is this a religious book? The front cover on Amazon looks like it's Armish is that right?

This has been great, thank you so much each of you. (Karma to all). I hadn't thought about all those different senarios. I think I'll give it some more thought and do a bit more homework. Thanks again.

I love what you wrote LDSMom, yep I feel I could be doing more too. But everything my son does I try to look at as learning something. When my son feeds our dog his own food he's had to learn patience. He used to thrust food into her face and she'd just back off, so he's learnt to just hold out his hand still and she'll gently take it from him. Today we went to the local park for the playground equipment which I could look at as 'just playing' but I thought about it as balance and co-ordination. Even sleeping you could think of as recharging their batteries for the next lesson on LR or even the opportunity for their imagination to expand as they might dream about the characters in the book you read them before their nap.

Hi Aussies (and possibly relevant for other countries),

I am an English speaking Australian with parents that both migrated from England, I married a fifth generation Australian, so unfortunately we have no ties to a native language of any other country. I learnt Japanese at high school for five years and struggled every step of the way. One teacher said even a monkey could get 25% in a multiple choice test, but I managed to get only 15%!!! I have a Japanese friend today that I see regularly, but I can only speak about 8 words to her. (Good thing she's fluent in English). My point is, learning a second language when you hit high school is not something that I wanted my kids to do. But which language to choose, when English is the only one in our lives?

Although my son is only 14 months, I decided to ring around schools in my area and see if any taught a second language and which language it was. It turned out my closest public primary school teaches Italian from Kindergarten to year 6. Other schools within a 5-10 km radias either don't teach a second language or Greek & Arabic was sometimes taught to those kids who parents speak it only. So my kids wouldn't qualify. Therefore with so many languages to choose from and no ties to any of them in particular I now have somewhere to start. Italian it is. Just thought there might be a couple of parents wondering how to choose another language if English is all you know.

I'm working on one right now. I think I'm about half way through. There are a couple in Power Point (PPT) but I wasn't really interested in those. I'll upload as soon as I'm finished.

I have done this. My son annoyingly hits and punches every key he can when in front of the computer (especially the Esc key, of course). I've found having relaxation music on in the background has him lean back into my chest and let me just click the mouse on different playlists. I only get about 5 or 6 minutes out of him at a time, but its such a nicer experience for both of us.

The only thing I really schedule is YBCR during breakfast. My son sits on his chair and points to the blank tv. Late afternoon we usually watch another dvd of some sort. Flashcards and books are just picked up (mostly by my son) during the day and he goes over to the computer periodically pointing at the screen for LR. (Haven't started LM yet). He gets a book or YBCR book before each nap during the day. Not really a stringent schedule but incorporating all the education products I can throughout the days activities.

I too really want the answer to this question.

http://www.bilby.net/sign/SignMain.asp - appears to be the Aus commercial side of signplanet - lots books/cards/resources you can buy!

Hi, after much deliberation I have just bought the 'Hands up and Sing' dvd and 'My first signs' childrens book from this website. It also looks as though I'll get a discount as a nsw playgroup member. Hands up and Sign is a nursery rhymes dvd with animation and a young lady signing at the front of the screen. There are 17 songs apparently slowed down so the child will catch the signing on screen. Anyway I wanted to teach my son a bit of sign language and have asked extensively other parents about the actions that go with nursery rhymes. (Hardly anyone knows them). So hoping this will kill two birds with one stone. If you are interested I'll let you know my opinion once they arrive and we watch them.

Can I also add that some of words I think are a little too long for a baby, such as rhinoceros. In my opinion either shorten it to rhino or pick another animal. (I even had to type it twice to remember how to spell it)

My son has liked YBCR from day one and is still glued to it everyday. It is the only thing we watch on tv. Firstly as I'm Australian a couple of things are a little off, such as Chimpanzee is pronounced very weird for us. It seemed to be pronouced chim-panz-ee where as in aust it is chimp-an-zee. Then the dvd says diaper whereas it is a nappy in Aust. They changed the word in the books and flashcards but not the dvd. Colors is also spelt incorrectly for aust we spell it colours. So I think they should just stay away from words that are called something totally different in another country (diaper/nappy) and maybe the different spellings too.

What really works well is the timing of the songs. They seem to come on the moment he is starting to lose attention. Then he's totally refocussed for the next section. The music at the start is fabulous, my son is hooked the minute it starts.

Oh, and the Word Games at the end I wish were part of the menu to select rather than just automatically play.