Very nice.

You're never to young for Montessori!

But it is harder to find infant ideas and philosophy.

When my youngest was around 5 months (we practiced Montessori philosophy with her, but had not yet hopped on the early learning bandwagon), she had a few pallets around the house where I sat her on to observe the family and play.  Sometimes on her back and sometimes on her tummy.  She had toys (usually simple balls, or household objects) I put just out of reach to encourage her mobility.  She also had plenty of time in a sling (which isn't found in Montessori books, but I think it's a great way to show baby adult life and encourage lots of talking).

When she could sit up well, around 6 months, we got her a weaning table and chair.  That is where she ate her first foods (always self feeding in a clear glass bowl with tiny metal spoon, or little pieces to pick up and eat).  We also used a small open glass cup (shot glass size). We had fairly durable glass, but had a few breakages.  It may sound scary, but it never was.  I'm glad we went glass with both kids.  It taught them that things are breakable and must be handled with care.  She stayed at her weaning table for meals until she was able to climb into a (svan) youth chair and sit at the family table.  She still uses her weaning table for lots of activities and snacks, even though we had to upgrade her chair for a two year old.

We also use a Montessori floor bed, which can be started at birth, or anytime after.  You just have to have a completely baby safe room for this.

Sort of Montessori-related, we also started putting her on a full-size baby bjorn potty when she started sitting up.  I just took her whenever I went, no pressure and I didn't try to track her signals (eventually I did notice her poop ones). But hearing water or another peeing, often had her peeing too.  It was so low pressure and something we absolutely were thankful we had done. She was potty trained really early and fairly effortlessly.  The book Montessori from the Start suggests starting potting training between 12-18 months, and we followed those suggestions at that time but with our early potty experience, it was a breeze.

Have fun!

Still not what you want, but I just choose all the categories involved. It's less clicking.

My 2 year old isn't too discriminatory, but my 5 year old is more so.

Some things he will watch:

-Preschool prep DVDs (we have all of them...but he knows this content already, just as an example of the quality he enjoys)
-MathTacular
-Bill Nye the Science Guy
-Sparkabilities (again, not learning anything, but a style he'll enjoy)
-Sid the Science Kid

What he doesn't enjoy-

-rock n learn



I'm interested in getting some more DVDs for him, he's very tired after school and I'd love to just have that be watch an educational show time.  But I'm hoping I can get some recommendations first.


I've been looking at the kid2020 sight words and math series.

I'm interested in most any math DVDs that are kid-friendly, but beyond just counting and number recognition. Any reccommendations?

Both of my children are on the older side for their (eventual) grades.  I have been fortunate so far with the school we chose (it's Montessori).

I'm not really sure what you are asking with "how we handle separation"? Do you want to know if they attend pre-school (or toddler programs) or how they adjust to them or something else? 

My oldest started at 3.5 (for his first year of two years of preschool before kindergarten).  He didn't adjust well at first, but I believe that to be his temperament more than anything.  I believe he would have benefitted from attending the toddler program.

"How do preschool programs effect home learning"?  For us, it's been a wonderful compliment.  I also find myself actually doing more during school days then during breaks because it forces us to be in more of a structure.

Not all preschools are equal, so you'll have to see if there is one that will compliment your family's style.

I have so far chosen to not want my children to be put ahead of the state's age brackets.  I have personal reasons for not wanting early graduates.  With that said, if we had to, one grade skip wouldn't bother me since it would really only place them a few months younger than the youngest in that grade.  I'd be more likely to pull them and homeschool if the school could not accommodate them while leaving them with similarly aged children.  But, we plan to send them to Montessori school until high school, so it's unlikely for that to happen.  And, my reasons are more personally significant than scientific.

Thanks for sharing.

I wish the women you were debating with answered your question that posed why it mattered where the motivation came from.  I am also curious to hear the answer.

That's a question I struggled with, especially at first, when becoming a "convert"  of early learning.  It's an argument I hear over and over, but it's always as an understood premise--the child wanted to, so it was acceptable.  I would agree that painful drill isn't good for a small (or big) child, but is a joyful learning experience initiated by someone other than the child harmful; if so, why?

This assumption isn't usually held in other areas of a child's life.  We as parents (well, most of us) initiate all types of activities for our children from mealtimes, self-care, nap and bedtimes, games we choose, books we choose, etc.  In my opinion the question shouldn't be "who initiated it", but rather, "is the child a willing participant"?  My hypothesis is that those that hold fast to the belief that the child must initiate certain types of learning at certain ages automatically equate the parent-initiated activity to one a child is not a willing participant of.

From what I've read of that thread, I think that's the crux of the issue.  I would really love to understand more from all sides of this argument.

I'd like some new ideas.  I want to be more focused and productive with math.

My daughter is 25 months, and right now we are doing (not all in day, but these are the things I have done with her, some are displayed on her work shelves for her to choose to do whenever.  She favors reading right now.):

-Little Math (intermittently, only when she's receptive)
-Counting on a ten bead abacus (it only goes to 50 though), I haven't decided if I should get a slavonic abacus or focus soley on soroban for the future
-Counting on the soroban or I'll ask her to show me a number (she can do 1-4), we've only just started
-Counting iPad apps
-I'll put a number of small objects in a bowl and ask her how many (she can do 1-3, sometimes 4) without counting
-Matching cards (printed, laminated cards from more.starfall) they have various representations of the numbers (tally marks, dice, numerals, objects, etc.)
-Counting or color on a hundreds board chart (she can only count to about 14 reliably, than it might be "18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 22, 20-11", etc.
-Play with montessori colored counting rods (we use these as cuisenaire rods and they are the same dimensions, but in montessori bead colors since she will be attending a montessori school). We mostly just notice patterns or that you can pick a rod and find two other rods that add up to that one and talk about the language of math "half", "add", "subtract", but I don't feel like she's learned a lot from this. I'm just getting her comfortable and engaged so that we can use Miquon Orange in the future (I have just started Miquon with my 5 year old and we sometimes do it all together, but my 2 year old probably isn't getting a ton out of it).
-Kumon My Book of Numbers 1-30 (we are going slow, since this book is geared for 3 and up, and she doesn't yet have the fine motor skill to finish the book, she does like it and any handwriting though)
-Kumon Write and Wipe Numbers 11-30 (because I loaned out and never got back 1-10), we match up beans or other little objects (vase filler, goldfish crackers, etc.) on the little dots as we count and then she'll trace and erase and trace and erase, etc. the numeral (she loves to write).
-Brillkids number writing (laminated, and she useds a wet erase pen and little spray bottle of water and small wipe to rinse and repeat)
-LeapFrog Math Videos
-Montessori House Big and Fun Math
-Number Beats writing numerals (she just watches and I give her blank paper and a pen, I don't really go over it more with her.  She attempts to write, but really cannot do any on her own besides 1's and 0's, and I don't really expect her to.)
-more.starfall play in the math area (includes numerals 1-20, 25, 50, 100; and games and songs for all 4 operations)
-random play with blocks or cars where we get a number and add or subtract or count (I probably don't do this enough)
-random youtube videos, count to 100 mostly
-the intro video for touchmath kindergarten software (because she loves it, the demo doesn't work anymore, so we haven't done anymore, but she loves the "bear song")



That feels like a lot now that I've typed it out and I may have forgotten some.  But mostly, it feels unfocused.  I'd like to get more focused somehow, wether that means sticking with one thing more consistently, getting a new thing, a real curriculum (rightstart perhaps?), or something else. 

What are you doing with your 2 year olds (or what did you do at this age?)

Have you told the teachers where she is in reading and math?  Montessori caters very well to differientiated education (or it should, though it could depend on the teacher/school).  Depending on how old your daughter is and how the school is structured, she may not have done any reading yet because she hasn't chosen to. At my son's preschool the two first years (3/4-4/5) don't have any requirements for choosing work other than they must receive a lesson on it first. The kindergarten year (5/6) has specific amounts of certain areas they need to complete over the course of the week.

The whole idea of being bored out if your mind disrupting the class while you are supposed to be learning something you already know shouldn't happen in a well-structured Montessori class. Each child gets a completely individualized education.

It also could be that when she wanders into the language area, she's so far been given something too easy--sandpaper letters or building words with the moveable alphabet. On so far, they just note that she can do these things. This happened to my so (who didn't have early learning, but just got "afterschooled" after the age of 3. Once, his teachers showed me some work where he had correctly spelled a bunch of CVC words given a picture, and they were clearly impressed. But I wasn't--just, I knew he was beyond that. So I told him what he could read at home and they started checking him out with different parts of their curriculum to see where he was. Within a month or so, he started bringing home books to read that we're on his reading level.

Anyway, my point is tell the teachers where she is so they can guide her to appropriate work for her. Montessori is built around the philosophy of working at your own pace, so in theory, it should be great for early learners. The curriculum does start with letter sounds, so if your child is already reading tell the teachers do they can know how far to cast the net. It's been my understanding that the regular montessori school can accommodate up to 3rd grade level (compared with US public schools)--as is.  Not to say, that a willing teacher couldn't accommodate above that, if a need arose.

I've used 3 different phonics curriculums with my 5 year old.  If I had started with the one that we ended up settling on at the beginning, we'd be done by now. 

Totally off topic... just wondering what curriculum you are working on now (looking for all the shortcuts I can find)

The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, but there are some other suggestions in the thread "What order do you teach phonics" thread, but perhaps you already know about (or posted in) that thread.  It looked like there might be some cheaper (free) and/or better resources. I haven't investigated then because I'm happy with what we have now.

I know you're expressing your doubts about the book, but it looks pretty good to me! I wouldn't want my 8 year old going through it this way (of course that won't happen since I won't wait that long), but for a youngling 25 months old it seems perfect, if not advanced.
Little friend, big friend... that's great!

I'm doing it with my 5 year old (5 in december). I don't think my 25 month old is ready, and I do want to start her earlier than I did him and not sure the best way to prepare her for it. She does not yet have one-to-one correspondence reliably past 3 or so. I have moved the beads as I count while she watches with her, but I'm not sure if it isn't too abstract (the 5 bead in particular).

I think I had been unnessarily harsh on the book.  Even as I'm taking in the way they do the bonding more now as I've taken pictures and posted it, I think I really do like it. But I'm very interested to hear if Tom has an opinion, or aangeles since she's already through this part.

PokerDad, since I know you plan to teach soroban to your little one, would you mind sharing any of your ideas or plans? It might help me find a path for my 2 year old and others who are interested as well.

I've thought of making some EK cards up to flash the numbers up to 100 (doman style, I guess), but haven't done it yet--or really even decided if I will or not.

I just wanted to encourage you that it will come.  Signing in daily life is the most important step (and the only one I did with one of kids, and he did well).  Just because he isn't doing them back yet doesn't mean he doesn't know them or won't show more soon.

Is he working on other developmental areas? (like walking)

He's entering a phase where language is about to explode, so my guess is that he'll show you more soon.

How frequently do you add new signs? How many? And do you sign fluently (is that the right word? I mean as you would if you were using it to communicate with someone who is deaf.)?  (I didn't. Mostly because I don't know enough for that, but I think it may have helped him show signs sooner as they stood out more.  Though, they learn less if I show less even if it shows more quickly.)

Others will probably be better able to advise you on the multiple language aspect.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks Tom for your insight!  I'll stop worrying about him getting 7 and 8 then and trust he will in time.  He does count 5, 6, 7.

The book uses number bonds.  It calls number bonds of 5 "little friend" and number bonds of 10 "big friend".

Here, I'll show it:

5



10



That's the text book portion of how it introduces it. What do you think?

Here is his sheet from Aloha:



Here's some shots of the book:







Our abacus (it's all plastic, I'd like to get a better one some day)



An example of one of the pages in the text book I found sillier and asked him if he wanted to skip.



(we just went over the numbers real quick instead)

And wow!!! I'm really impressed with Ella's work!  I can tell you guys are working hard!

Woops, I hit post too soon..

He also loves moving the beads so much and doing actual problems, so I'll probably make him a sheet to do some simple problems I think he could handle.




Also, I remember reading somewhere on RightStart's website about starting before the child starts to rely on counting strategies.  Is this 7/8 thing the type of thing it's trying to avoid?  Would it be a good program for my 2 year old to ease into? Or are there other good ideas for preparing her? (she's 25 months, the age under my name on the left there).