[Learn fast, retain and move on]

I spent a lifetime travelling to and from lessons of all sorts and there is nothing, other than my healthy life, that I am more grateful to my parents for.

I was never forced, it was always my choice, one I never questioned.

 I learned - ballet, tap, jazz, acrobatics, clog, contortioning, sports acrobatics and singing. I later, as a teenager, added drums, piano, guitar, drama, swimming, squash and karate. All of this was achieved after school and on weekends and I was a high achiever in all them.

I did well at school too though certainly not because of extra study time at home. I could read before I started school and basic maths, I believe my eldest sister taught me though I don't remember learning so I must have been pretty young.  So I went in ahead and stayed there.

I truly believe that the skills I learned at these extra curricular activities combined with already knowing how to read and do basic sums, were the reason I didn't need a lot of study like other kids. When I went to dancing I was shown steps and had to be able to retain them for the rest of the year while more steps were constantly added. It was the same with all the other disciplines I was studying.

Learn fast, retain and move on was a skill I learned young, through joy and music, and it has helped me achieve many things in my life.

I also read somewhere that you can't lift achievement in one area without raising the others because they're all linked. I think in fact it was Glenn Doman

I hope this is helpful, your child will know how much they can cope with and what they want to be involved in and while they're having fun doing it it will help them to achieve in other areas.

awesome, thanks a heap

Hey Kimba15,

I'm in South Australia too! Just moved here and no absolutely no one and am not keen on talking to strangers about the fact that my two year old can read and do math as I've had negative and uncomfortable experiences with people's reactions in the past.

We live in Second Valley, but are always happy to take a trip places.

Is there someway we can get in contact with each other?

TmS

I found my son likes to see the same things in many ways. He really gets in to seeing a word he knows from YBCR in a book or having me write it or on a different flashcard he also has a tendency to get bored with the same lesson style each time. So I combined everything mixing it up. I know it's not exactly what is suggested but it was the only way to keep it exciting and fresh for him. As a result we have seen fantastic results. I unfortunately only just learned about LM and LR recently but have added them straight into the mix.

Funny thing is I've noticed he prefers LM to the dot cards, but prefers me writing to LR (of course this will all change next week and I'll have to adjust to his new tastes).

So I think that in the end you have to find what your child finds joyous and go with that.
 

The authors, Glenn and Janet Doman, remind parents that quick is best and not to ask the child to repeat the numbers.

Now the fun begins. Simply hold up the 'one card' just beyond his reach and say to him clearly and enthusiastically, "This is one." Show it to him very briefly, no longer than it takes to say it. One second or less. Give your child no more description. There is no need to elaborate.

Hope this helps

-To be honest I only got the Little Reader and Little Maths trials yesterday, my son however, cried and cried when we turned them off, despite having been allowed to do several lessons at once. As a result I can't comment very much on the differences except from my first impressions.

The Your Baby Can Read DVD series has a much more limited vocabulary of words and stops abruptly never moving forward to sentences and books. Being on a DVD it is completely rigid and unchangeable.

The lessons are between 25 and 40 minutes The end of each lesson has a word games section that's supposed to be used once in a while, asking the child to point to one of two words and pointing out rhyming words and stuff.

This was the best part of the DVD, my son used to get really excited about it. There are only five lessons and these are repeated twice a day for a month before moving onto the next lesson. There is a mix of words and songs, all in all it's okay quality and the fifth dvd doesn't introduce anything new as such, but my son loved it and learned from it so I count it as a good investment.

I think the intense repetition created quick results (we noticed obvious word recognition from our son two weeks after starting him), though we didn't really stick to the twice a day for a whole month thing as it would have driven him bonkas. We could always tell when they were starting to bore him and we'd move on then, once he'd done them all we started letting him choose which one he wanted to watch. I also think the word games were useful thing like showing the word 'wet' and replacing the 'w' with a 'p' very visually had to have helped with the phonics understanding, because he liked them so much we let him watch them every time, it was giving him such obvious pleasure that I couldn't turn it off.

Looking back I would have liked to have used YBCR in conjunction with LR and our other homemade games, I think this would make a very strong combination.

I like to let my son lead his day as much as possible. However, I also like to be prepared for where he is going to take me so that I am ready to add to his experience in steps that are beneficial.

For instance if my son's lead takes me to painting today and I know that yesterday he had dipped his crayon into the paint instead of his finger then I figure he is ready for a new element in painting and I add some sponges and rags & paintbrushes into the mix etc. If my son is successfully jumping, then I put a rope on the ground and we have fun jumping over it.

I find that having a list means I can stay on top of his development.When I make a list I start with an end goal that is not so out of reach and make a list of required experiences that give the skills he would first need to gain to achieve this goal.

We are here to guide our children and we shouldn't do so blindly so I think being prepared for the places they will lead us is important but learning shouldn't become overstructured or rigid.

We started with the YBCR  and our son made the inuitive leap in phonetics without help. Not sure why it clicked but one day we were just writing words of things we could see and he read two completely new words, he didn't sound them out, although I guess he must have, but he read two words that I know he had not been exposed to before. He was about 17 months old at the time. We also use the lyric language german dvd and this has the alphabet on it, however, he started reading new words before I ever heard him name a letter.

My understanding of children learning phonics is that they will self teach, much like they do when learning to talk and they work out the grammatical rules for themselves of course the structure of the English language doesn't make this any easier for the little dears.

The important thing is that if you want them to understand that words starting with 'b'  start with the 'buh' sound then they will need to be exposed to multiple words 'b' . I think structuring the words into similar groups would help a child make these connections earlier but the more importantly I think they need to see it happen in many circumstances in order to make that leap of understanding.

Hi,

My son has been allowed to touch, bang, pluck, scrape and whatever a variety of instruments since birth. We have let him play drums, piano, guitar, bass, violin, bongos, marraccas, eggs, recorders, harmonicas some others probably as well as toy instruments. We also expose him to homemade instruments and encourage him to make sounds in a variety of ways.

We have been teaching him to read music through flash cards and by typing notes into a music program soas the midi plays he can follow the cursor and read the music .

He watches technical demonstrations by leading musicians where they give example exercises and also watches creative pieces. He watches any gigs we can take kids to when we are playing and we try to expose him to music from all cultures and styles. Music and Television are run through good sound equipment to ensure he has good quality sound so he can hear more (depth, layers, tone etc).

Our aims have been and continue to be this:

1. Develop an ear for, and feel for, all the different sounds, tones, pitches etc that a variety of instruments can make.
2. Develop creativity so he can be uninhibited in the manner in which these sounds are made. 
3. Develop a rounded musical taste and appreciation of quality playing.
4. Develop pitch and rhythm and the reading of both for multiple instruments.
5. A love of music.

It is our hope that he will self teach to a point with our guidance on the things we know then ask to learn one or more instruments more formally perhaps one day.

My husband is a professional drummer who started training at six, he played accompaniment for the local social dance class every week from when he was eight.

I started training in dance, circus and singing at one (my older sisters learned), at sixteen I taught myself guitar and piano and started composing, I later learned drums and violin. I have worked professionally in just about every entertainment industry and between shows I used to teach anything I knew to anyone who wanted to learn. I have recently written an acrobatics syllabus and have extensive experience in teaching babies, children and young adults of all ages.

I think you should track down a copy of Victor Wooten playing at Bass Day '98. Victor started learning Bass at 2 from his then 10 year old brother, who had taught himself how to play the guitar and was working the bass out from there. Victor is a brilliant technician but is also inspiring in his creativity.

Victor compares music to a language and he relates about his own ability to think "in Music". It was an interesting insight into the positive aspects of learning music so young.

Looking forward to your music programs

Hi,

I think kids can and should learn musical instruments from a young age, remembering that just being allowed to touch a musical instrument is the first step in the learning process.

I used to teach piano, among other entertainment disciplines. I have found with little ones that they can become overwhelmed when they feel there are expectations of doing an exact thing in an exact way - such as these notes in this order using these fingers. It requires so many things for them to think of all at once, and it can cease to be fun so they switch off from it and tune out of the lesson.

There is nothing wrong with him playing the exercise with one finger. He is still getting the benefit of hearing the tune, recalling it in order to play it, listening to the sounds he is producing and getting a feel for the touch of the piano.

I would suggest making a game of it.  See if he can do it with this finger, then this finger instead and so on until he has tried them all, see if he can play it just using two of his fingers, then these two instead etc. He will become more and more aware of his individual fingers through games like these. Once he has more control over his individual fingers he will feel more confident adding the other factors of playing particular notes in particular order with particular fingers and because it will now be easy, he will relish in his achievements.

Remember the piano is an instrument of creative expression and it is just as important to foster the creative impulse as the techniques of fingering and reading, let him have fun and let him guide you in what he wants to learn and just keep laying the foundations.

I hope this helps.

I want to know he can survive, whatever situation he gets in, I want him to have knowledge and skills to draw on...and that something extra that marks the survivor.

Everyday my list gets longer -  but my aim is to make sure he has

- self acceptance
- self respect
- self awareness
- a good understanding of consequences
- the gift of forethought
- mental & physical agility
- ingenuity
- natural science basics (poisonous plants, first aid, survival)
- all terrain competency (dirt, water, rocks, snow, ice, etc) - especially in regards to driving!!
- multiple communication skills
- appreciation of and at least basic skills in creative arts (a spread from fine motor to gross motor arts)
- teamwork (team sports - physical & mental)
- leadership
- self discipline
- self defence
- health & hygeine (cooking & cleaning & all things personal)