i just have to share this.

on wed, i left for the airport as i was flying to my hometown to visit my parents. when we reached our destination my sister was late to pick us up so we sat on some benches. someone left a pamphlet saying "do you have insurance you can trust?"

he started playing with it so i jokingly said "hey what does that say?"
he said " you and can and have"

i was silent but i wanted to scream. i havent taught him sight words. we just did them in phrases and stories.

and while we were here at my moms my son emptied one of her kitchen cupboards. he played in there during the course of the day so we left him but at 9:30, way past his bedtime, we were done in the kitchen so my mom told him to pack everything away. we started clearing up the table and didnt notice my son for a bit. i look were he was playing and the floor was clean. we didnt believe he packed everything away and when i opened the cupboard everything was just crammed in so we knew for sure he did it. he has never done that before and there were so many items,
i was so proud!

it was wonderful to get that off my chest. who else would appreciate the airport incident but you guys. i couldnt tell my sister or anyone else what happened coz im not sure they would believe me!!!

apart from reading and maths i try to do alot of play. things like playing with toys together. that gets their imagination going. my son took a spoon from the cupboard and was feeding his toy man. he then told the toy "not finished" and after a few spoons more "finished".
thats what i ttell him when he hasnt finished his food.

things like playing with a doll and feeding and caring for it. i also do alot of problem solving games.

for babies you can hide a toy under a cloth with part of it showing and get them to find it. as they get older hide it under 1 of 2 face towels and let him try n find. when they are say 18 months start placing 3 items for getting dressed. say a pants a shirt and a cup. ask them to show you what we can wear. give them a saucer cup and spoon and let them figure out how to use it. hide away toys in the cupboard while your child watches and ask him to open the cupboard and bring you a red cup or car.

i like alot of stuff that makes him cross the midline. i hold his arms up and say up forward sidewards down cross your midline cross your midline and do appropriate actions.

we walk alot as well. most of the play we do comes naturally with the situation. like bath time, he puts his clothes in the washing. he has been doing it since he could walk.

i went to our local grocery store to get some stuff and as i was coming out this lady stops me. she first complements my dress and then talks about kids. she noticed the way i interact with my son. so we are talking in the parking lot.

 she tells me that kids can do so much and that they can read. at that moment i just knew she was a doman mom. dont ask me how. so i told her cautiously that i am using the doman method (she seemed out of touch as she her son is 31 so i knew she wouldnt know whats brillkids.) she said that she used it on her son as well.

so i asked her well how did he turn out? i was so excited. she said that her son is a doctor of mathematics. he went to cambridge.

she was a school teacher but she wanted to homeschool her son but after some critisim she decided to put him in school and after a month she homeschooled till he was 10.

it was such a surreal experience and she said dont give up and to persevere.

thanx KL.

i have a much better understanding now.
rigidity in a program does take away that all important joy factor.

i understand why one cant compare doman shedule to LM schedule. because they are 2 different mediums. i think i can let go and trust the LM curriculum completely. i guess the ease and effeciency of LM makes me wonder if i am doing things right. i suddenly have so much free time. the flash card days were trying times!

its so nice to have all my concerns answered!!

hi there.

i need some help with little maths. is it okay to have 2 maths sessions a day? i like it because it doesnt become tedious teaching wise and its not boring. i like the number patterns as well because it teaches our kids that numbers are related and have patterns.

each session has a few folders under which does things like number quantity etc. do i show all in one go or do i space it out in the day? so far i am showing all in 1 go as my son is paying attention. so we do LM twice a day.

LM is different from the doman method. is it a better way schedule wise or should i incorporate my old method which was using LM doman style.

should i supplement LM with some equation sessions as extra.
any help would be appreciated.

you know i never thought about long term goals.

alot of people say that you need to visualise the end result and see it clearly.

im getting out my diary!!!

you potty trained at 2 weeks! that is amazing. how did you do that? how did you know? what made you do that? that is def amazing!!!

interesting.

my MIL and i have an interesting relationship too. i am married 6 years now. at first we would clash. i use to get annoyed. she had ideas about kids which were different from mine. i want an independant child who will learn to appreciate being self reliant hence all the teaching etc.. she wants to spoil a child.

i then analysed the situation.i want my child to have things i didnt and be things that i never was. i want the best for him and want him to have all the knowledge in the world. its a gift that cant get taken away. i want that because i am the parent

my MIL however has lost her husband and all her children are grown and married. she has 2 grandchildren. her relationship was an emotional one with my son. she then wanted to spoil him. we also live 5 hours apart so she tried to be included in his life whenever and in whatevver way she could. even if that meant questioning my parenting style. it was just her way. her grand children are all she has. there is just nothing else.

now we are really good friends and i love her like my own mum. i think the tension gave us both the opportunity to understand each other. now she phones frequently to find out how our schooling is going. we chat for hours sometimes.

i think its important for young people to remember that it is very difficult to break a mind pattern or way of life in an older person and we shouldnt try to. their life is their choice and when you find yourself being questioned by one always remember that you can politely listen but you dont have to follow the advice or get upset. it usually stems from a deep love for their granchildren and its better to have your grandchild loved then not loved. they were parents too once upon a time and are just trying to share.

now that i understand her situation and were she comes from we are able to connect.

i think that it is important for us parents to remember our selves in the process of teaching.
teaching our child is so joyful and we are so passionate but one day these kids are going to grow up. we are going to need something else for our selves as well. be it our jobs, hobbies or something otherwise we may become the annoying mother in law.

hi there.

 just to share my experience.

one day my son was being his usual self exploring this and that. he soon became frustrated with his toy and threw it away. i tried to help him with his frustration which was difficult as i was on a very tight schedule at that time. he then got upset again and i helped him again. he then started screaming and crying and broke his toy in the process. i got upset and for the first time ever i hit his tiny hands. he looked at me so shocked.

i felt so bad. he still forgave me like he always does for all my mummy mishaps.
i lost my cool and if that happened on any other day at any other time i probably wouldnt have done that.

children need boundaries but i guess we need to figure the situation out like many have said. when i get upset about anything i really give it a thought. is it the situation or is it me just having a bad day. if its my son i firmly say "enough" and that seems to make him realise that he has crossed the boundary. if its me i give myself space. if he needs attention then i help him out.

i realise though that each childs personality is different. each environment is different. a first child would be different compared to the second. an extended family environment may make it difficult to control what your child learns from whom. a child that goes to a creche or playschool may behave differently according to his/her experiences.

sometimes its difficult to control ones reaction to a situation. moms can drop the ball and yell. it happens. whats great is that we can learn from it and try to be a better mom tomorrow.

when i look back i just cant remember any naughty moments.
with time we forget.

i like words on left because i like to read the sentence and then look at the picture. i prefer the page with writing to have nothing else and to be on a white background.

hi there.

im from South Africa johannesburg. looks like theres a few of us!
i hope you guys are enjoying the football!

age :                          2 years and 1 month
favourite books:            baby einstein cats birds dogs, the 3 bears.
favourite indoor activities: aligning toys, running around my dining room table, playing with                fridge magnets, loves his cars. loves writing
favourite outdoor activities: exploring, running, playing on activity gym.
favourite field trips:            the zoo.
own activities :                  i use food items like lentils for pouring, jelly for texture, rice etc.

i had a vbac with my first baby. very dramatic. i had an epidural and i had many stitches. the stitches however just didnt heal and i had to have an op done as they got septic.

i cant wait to fall pregnant again but im not sure what my 2nd birth will be. my husband was pretty traumatised as our son was born with forceps. he wants the next one to be a ceasar. 
i think that i was just unlucky with my first. i was in labour at 2 in the morning. Sa'ad  was born at 5:47am. my doctor just made it to deliver. the nurse was half asleep. my mom was 5 hours away so i think the lack of support led to that outcome.

wonder what the next one will be like. started taking preconception vitamins and hoping for the best

hi there brillkids team

forgive my impatience as i am toooo excited about maths curriculum.
when will it be released?

hi there.

regarding the new price i think its pretty much what something like this should cost.
i bought a developmental program called practica a year ago.
it basically has games to stimulate all areas of your childs life like physical, emotional, curiosity and more. about 12 areas.

i had paid R6500 rands for this program. it comes with a toy box full of toys. it doesnt even compare to LR. divide R6500 by say 8. it works out to 800 and something dollars.
i use that product but not everyday like LR.

world books. not sure if you guys know them but they make encyclopedia sets and a set of books called child craft. the early world of learning set was like R3500 and the child craft say R4900. the encyclopedia set was R13500.

i havent seen tweedlewink but i can still say LR is a better investment towards your childs education.