Anything and everything - the stairs your child climbs, the food he/she eats, toys, duplos, legos, containers to pour with of different sizes, rulers and anything you can measure with, a clock, wooden blocks, cutlery, anything you can make patterns out of, a shape sorter or set of plastic shapes, a balance scale (these are fun at this age) - but just the kitchen scale can be fun too, puzzles (shape ones as well as normal jigsaw puzzles), a set with printed numerals. That is all I can think of right now, but really - anything can be used as a math manipulative.

Thanks for the help - think we will stick to "I want a baby" since that is what my little one said to Daddy this morning on his way to work. My 5 year old is quite keen to learn all these things too so it'll be a race to see which of the children or their mother gets them learnt first. Its all up to the 2 year old in the end though - .

Yeah I know weird title for a post. Here's the history: when I had my first child I really wanted a second. My DH was out of a job and needed to find a new one. He said we could have another when my first child could say gynaecologist and Nunitari (the name of his cat) correctly. I think she was a little over 2 before she could pronounce them. It took a while longer than that before he got a job and was ready to try again. She was 2 years 9 months before I fell pregnant with my second child.

Now I want a third and he needs time. My second can already say the words I posted above. He is less keen on a third then he was on a second too. So he says the second must learn to speak Japanese and recite the periodic table before I can fall pregnant - don't worry I also still really need to sort out some medical issues which will take months so actually I am slowing this down as much as he is. Nonetheless when given a challenge like this it is in my nature to rise to it.

I told him I would teach her to say: "I want a brother or a sister." in Japanese and that that would be enough (he said speak, not speak fluently). I have started with the periodic table of elements more to see if she can even pronounce them and she does fine reciting after me, but need ideas on getting her to remember so many - she does not yet have the alphabet song down yet though she is close. And how often should we repeat it every day to get it done fast (I do not know it all myself yet) Also any help on how to actually say that in Japanese or anywhere where I can hear the correct pronunciation?

Any help appreciated - I do want this third child, but see this as a bit of a joke and a challenge for those who are wondering. My little one will not mind whether I teach her the months of the years or all the elements so that is not a problem either. I think my husband also wants me to prove that I really do want a third and this is all a part of it.

My DD will be 6 in September and depending which state she might have lived on could have missed the cut off and been in preK this year - however where we live schools run Jan-Dec so she is supposed to be halfway through K now. She is homeschooled as is my now 2 year old. As far as socialisation - she does dance class once a week and gymnastics once a week and we have a Moms and Tots groups for the 2 year old that she also attends (I do not expect her to take part - she can if she wants to as there are some 4 and 5 year olds there, but she can also read to herself or do sticker books if she chooses) and a homeschool group for children age 0-13 - all once a week. She has made friends at the homeschool group that we see for playdates during other times too. She also attends Sunday school on Sunday mornings.

I live in South Africa and the state of our public education is abyssmal and private education is extremely expensive and also not at a wonderful level - well certainly not for what you are paying for it - there are some good, some average and some terrible private schools here  though that applies to our public schools too - its just hard to get a spot in the better ones and you still have to pay about half of what the private schools cost each month then. I choose homeschooling because of answers to questions I had about what they would do with my DD who was already reading at an advanced level and whose math was beyond kindergarten level before she entered kindergarten - they said she would get extra work but have to take part in everything with the rest of the class - my DD is highly active and needs less work and more play and exercise. She would be diagnosed as ADHD in schools in this country and yet if appropriately challenged she does pay attention. So homeschooling it is and she is doing well with it.

Maybe try to get some old xray film or even real xrays (they need to be thrown out at some point but doctors do have to keep them for years), lab coats, you can buy small plastic toys that have a check list of things to be checked by a doctor (really basic stuff - you could always get a clipboard and add pieces of paper with a check list for symptoms or things that need checking - blood pressure, temperature, habitus, sleep, appetite, vomition? etc), a toy or real stethoscope, bottles for pills (preferably non openable for safety - DO NOT put sweets in containers ever and pretend they are medicine), a toy syringe or even a few real syringes - you can play with them with different coloured water and just squirt things or with air to pretend to inject things, a hammer (not sure what it is called but is used for the knee jerk reflex) - you can get toy ones of these, bandages - real or pretend, plasters, you could always make toy ultrasound machines/xray machines/CT and MRI scanners out of boxes for diagnoses and plastic tubing for scopes (for pretend use only - don't let them eat this), pretend surgical instruments (must be blunt!), tongue depressors, a real thermometer that is safe (digital is best).

Then you could also have a sheet for patient monitoring and a discharge sheet with instructions and repeat appointments and perhaps a small present for the patient just for fun.

Thats about all I can think of for now.

I have watched the introductory video on the home page of this site and was very disappointed (the video: every child is a genius). The concept is good, the pictoral representation to teach algebra is a basic concept that should be good, but if their program is anything like their introductory video then I would advise no one to buy the product as there are serious basic mathematical errors in the video - some as basic as drawing the wrong number of elements and some slightly less obvious of switching where a symbol is used so that it means an entirely different thing. Unless they clean up their program one might be better teaching this without the program.

This is a debatable subject - some people think cursive first and some think manuscript first. I think it depends on a number of things - possibly mostly what you plan to do with your child when they get to school age and what those schools will teach. With my first child I only started teaching manuscript letters at 4 years of age and this was the right time for her. My second child has started at 2 and a bit with pencil control and drawing of straight lines and circles - she has better fine motor control than my other daughter.

I think only you can know if your child is ready and also you have to decide which you want to teach first.

Hi, I am also a South African homeschooling mother. I would definitely start with your 18 month old - it has certainly helped my 2 girls - my 5 year old is now reading well and fluently and my 2 year old has started early readers already.

As for your 9 year old: I would join the well trained mind forums: www.welltrainedmind.com and ask in the learning challenges board. There are phonics programmes for dyslexic children. I also believe that you can teach the phonics using a book such as The Ordinary Parents guide to Teaching reading but adapting it - so picking the child's favourite words and then teaching the phonics related to those words - you need to have a good concept of phonics yourself to do this though. I would probably not use an online program to teach a 9 year old who is struggling - you could try progressive phonics however which is possibly more aimed at slightly older children then most of the others ones we might mention here.

You may at some stage need to get your son checked for various issues. Americans mention special opthalmologists that we do not have in this country, but I would still start with a normal one for vision issues - usually there is a problem tracking then. Dyslexic is usually evident from other things that he would be doing while reading or writing.

I have a friend at a homeschool group here who believes in one particular programme that helped her 8 year old read and get to grade level after struggling for years - I will try and get the name of it for you.

Welcome to the boards.

That depends on what the reason for the last C-section was. In many countries they will allow you to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after C-section) if the problem that was present at the first birth is unlikely to repeat itself. These births are more closely monitored and you cannot have an induction - you have to go into labour by yourself without medication. I have a feeling though I am not entirely sure that you may also not be allowed an epidural in case your uterus ruptures - I'd ask about this depending where you have the baby.

When is your C-section scheduled? This should have been discussed with you earlier in your pregnancy so that you had the option of finding another gynae who would agree to try for a VBAC. Personally I think you should go with the C-section but NOT because you definitely need it - only because you are so far and to switch and find someone to help you with one is very stressful so late in the pregnancy. It does not sound like your gynae would be keen to let you try one and since I do not know why you had one in the first place it is almost impossible to recommend anything else.

Nice blog I never knew this had a name - I have always naturally used these methods with my children. I do find however that different children respond differently - when reading to my niece she asks questions herself non-stop through the stories. My DD(5.5) very seldom asks questions but will respond if I ask her one and she has liked since she was tiny to relate books to her own experiences. She will even do this without being questioned on occassion. My youngest DD is not quite verbal enough yet for long discussions, but will give 3-4 word sentences in response to questions asked and is learning slowly to relate things to her own life.

As for telling stories from pictures - we are now doing this as part of a writing curriculum for my 5.5 year old and we always discuss the pictures in a book BEFORE I read the associated page with my 2 year old - partly to find out what she knows and what interests her and also to see if she is expecting something from the words. She is reading beginner readers herself now too, but I still get her to look at the pictures before she starts reading.

I have two children, but have always wanted lots - when I was 11 I said in an unprepared oral at school that I wanted to be a housewife and raise children. The rest of my class except for one girl (who said she wanted to be a boy when she grew up) said they wanted to become veterinarians. Out of that class I am the only veterinarian. When I was young I said I wanted 8 children. I then became diabetic and got a bit older and when I met my husband I told him I wanted three. He said he wanted two. I figured we would sort it out once we had the two as I knew that having children with a type 1 diabetic mother might be tricky. The second pregnancy was awful - we called the ambulance three times because I was in a coma from hypoglycaemia, I nearly crashed the car a couple of time and got lost driving it a few times too. The second pregnancy also ended in a C-section and in this country if I were to have a third it would be an automatic C-section too. On top of that my second child had colic til 3 months and was in NICU for 4 days after birth due to sugar level issues.

So why do I want another one? I love mothering my children. I love homeschooling them. I love being with them. I love teaching them things and watching them grow. I love watching them get more and more independent. I like watching their personalities develop. It is possible that I want another as I was the third of four children - imagine if my mother has stopped at two. DH is the second of three and only wants two - I did try asking him if he would miss his sister if his mother had stopped at two.

My DH needs a medical check if we are to have another one - I think we were pretty lucky there to have the second child. I have made him an appointment and will see what they say. Depending what he tells them it could even end up that we may not be able to have any more children. I am looking into pump therapy which is supposed to make pregnancies much easier for diabetics to handle and will supposedly prevent most of the problems I had last time (it will not prevent all the problems and it will not be perfect, but we at least shouldn't have to have the ambulance out - it may also prevent the problem of having the child in ICU at birth which would make me so much happier) I will apply for this therapy soon and just hope that our medical aid will pay for it as it is really is shockingly expensive otherwise.

After we have done this, I will feel like I have done all I possibly can to make conditions right for a third child. Our house is big enough, we can fit three in a car without buying anything bigger, we are homeschooling, we have clothes so that wouldn't be a huge expense and actually this is not a financial issue with us - we would stretch to three without putting anyone at a huge disadvantage.

BUT my DH wanted two and his initial reasoning was that we should not be adding to the earth's population. I asked him could we adopt and he didn't answer and then later said that a family of four (adults included) was the perfect number. When I really ask though he stresses the medical issues - he says I nearly died last pregnancy and my two children need me. If I could make things right medically though I have no idea if he would agree to another or not. I have suggested a vasectomy but he will not go through with it and states: What if something happened to one of the two now - then he would want another.... which to me still leaves the door open slightly - he's not totally there to say no, but it could be tough getting him to say yes. And my time is running out as I am 34 and have been diabetic very long - I would have to have my tubes tied after a third as three really would be as many pregnancies and children as I could handle.

I grew up reading Ladybird early readers and Enid Blyton and even in the early 1980s I noticed the heavy sexism in these books. I had a twin brother and thought it was highly unfair in the books that girls never did the exciting scary stuff or the more active energetic stuff. I was a tomboy - climbed trees, ran along walls, refused to wear dresses. I became a veterinarian studying at a place where the girls residences had once been for boys and still had urinals in the girls toilets.

I am not a feminist however. I feel in many ways sorry for men as their role in life has in many ways been minimised and many of their roles have been taken over by women. School is much more suited to girls too which sets boys up for failure at a young age. I think that people are individuals and should be allowed to be who they are - but that they must be true to themselves and not take on the ideas of other people - which is hard when you are very young.

What will my daughters be - I hope they will be confident in who they are, do what they choose to do and feel that they can make the choices that they want to make - I want them to be a career women if they want to be, but drop it all to bring up children if that is what they choose and not feel guilty about it. I wan them to know that they deserve respect as all people do - not because they are male or female, but because they are human.

If they like pink, then I want them to feel happy with that colour - if they hate it then I want them to have the choice not to wear it - but as far as colours go I would like them to see the beauty in all the colours in different circumstances, I would rather they can tell someone why they like a particular colour (and also why they are making certain decisions) than feel that they are expected to like something based on their gender.

I want them to know how to protect themselves in a harsh world - when to submit, when to fight and when to run, when to stand up for themselves and when to let something ago without allowing it to damage their self esteem.

Thanks for the link. I recently started notebooking with DD(5.5) - she is very imaginative and likes to be allowed to do her own thing which is why just printing out a whole load of notebooking pages and then letting her choose what she wants to use works for her. Since she is still working on neat handwriting I have found pages that use handwriting lines helpful for her. I am still playing around with it to find out what works for her - sometimes I will just let her write whatever she likes and draw a picture and other times I get her to write on something I am reading to her, still other times I will have a page where she must fill in the blanks and also draw pictures. At the moment notebooking for her is more about writing something than about other subjects, but I suspect I will link it more as she gets better at writing.

My elder DD has recently started this - basically I give her a book that is easier than the one she reads aloud to me (she is also reading a chapter a night to me aloud) and leave her to read it and then since we are homeschooling I may get her to act out some of what she has read or draw a picture about what she has read or if she is happy to then she just tells me what she has read and I might ask some questions.

English (or Langauge Arts) is quite broad and it is hard to find an all encompassing programme for it. There are some curricula that offer a full language arts programme but at age 4 and reading you will be hard pressed to find one that suits your child as many teach basic phonics and reading initially. Most homeschoolers I know do use separate programmes for each aspect - so they will cover phonics and reading with one programme, spelling with another, grammar with yet another and then have a writing programme too. And then there is handwriting to think about too. This explains also why many people do their own.

As far as I know Sonlight and My Father's World have full langauge arts programmes.