Same here Mae Jacob Ka! My 5 and 4 year old (now 6 and 4 yo) slept with me until my new baby (nearly 3 months old) was born. I really made a rod for my own back with that. The only way they stopped was to put the baby in bed with me (in a basinette) and drum home to them how we cant fit, and it's dangerous for bub if they were in there too etc. I had let them sleep in my bed due to being tired and not wanting to have to get up and down all night taking them back to bed. But the good sleep early on really comes at a high price later on.

My daughter failed her first hearing test as a newborn (although for some reason she was marked down as passed)...and from then on she would turn her head to the side when I tried to get her watching any flashcard presentation on any screen (computer/TV). She had recurring colds and was said to have glue ear (even diagnosed by a ear/nose/throat guy and put on the waiting list for grommets. Lucky I didnt pay to get them inserted and went on the public hospital waiting list, as another 2 and a half years passed before she was diagnosed with ACTUAL hearing issues and had no glue ear issues left at all. The glue ear problem MASKED the actual hearing problem!! So now at nearly 4.5 years old she has a decided speech deficit. A very strong lisp that isnt clearing up. Hearing aids with her condition mask her GOOD hearing range (the low range) so it's a damned if you do damned if you dont situation. One thing I do know...hearing aids get lost at kindergarten very easily!

My 4th child (girl) who was a baby when I started on the Brillkids forum said "hello" at 10 weeks (due to mimicking older siblings etc who said that to her a lot. I then discovered that other babies had been recorded on Youtube saying hello at that age too...unfortunately I didnt have a recording of it...my next daughter did not do this and also wasnt interested in watching YBCR or doing Brillkids on the computer. At first she was diagnosed with glue ear..and at 3 and a half was diagnosed with high frequency hearing loss. So lack of speech can be due to glue ear (very common) or even a permanent hearing problem. Not to mention all the wax kids have in their ears...that can only be removed at that age by ear candling. (Try it..it's shocking what comes out!!). O nw have a baby son (11 weeks) who is trying to say words. He's had an extensive hearing test due to the possibly genetic condition and so far all seems good. I definitely see the difference in my daughter who wasnt interested in speaking!

All we can do is do our best...and give ourselves a pat on the back for that regardless of the results...so any improvements are just icing on the cake. There are only so many hours in the day and I know sometimes I feel like I havent achieved what I want to achieve with my children and other areas, but then I think...I'd have to be superhuman to do that. So congrats on what you've achieved!

Lol..I'm behind the times!!

This 6 year old is the youngest contestant ever in a US national Spelling Competition.
She first read by herself at age 2 (Hop on Pop by Dr Seuss) but can now spell unusual (unheard of?) words... which I find is a benefit of early reading Doman style...being able to visualise the shape and look of words...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/hNzVIWmPias&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/hNzVIWmPias&rel=1</a>

Well, I am 7 weeks or so pregnant so will try your suggestions Keith...I'll even give Baby Plus a committed go this time despite it driving me up the wall with it's repetitive drumbeats with baby 4 so gave it a bit of a miss with baby 5 (maybe i can stuff something in my ears to muffle them)....
I like the idea of Dr Suess...I think there are some repetitive easily memorised books out there I would choose (in the Green Eggs and Ham vein)...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/cvc/whirl/index.shtml

It looks free..havent tried it yet...

http://www.ictgames.com/machine.html

This was just uploaded recently....a 4 year old with a dry-erase board drawing things from memory...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/laKm4Y8SFNg&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/laKm4Y8SFNg&rel=1</a>

Does anyone do family Day Care in their own home? Was considering maybe doing this but wondering exactly what is involved and what are the pitfalls.
Does anyone have their children in family day care - what are the good and bad things you see about it?

THis is great! Any chance of doing clips that are just each lesson that can be downloaded and made into educational dvds to put into poor countries...it can be easier to have an audience to a TV or portable dvd player than at a computer in Africa etc...and they can be easily copied and spread around for illiterate adults to watch out in the remote villages along with the children...

Hi,
just wondering who on here with blogs has any topics on Music for little kids on their blogs...and photos of their 0-5 year old kids playing instruments or doing early movement (dancing about with ribbons etc) that I could use for an assignment on this topic for my new course.

Just post the link to the relevant blog.
Or links to other relevant blogs. Thanks.

Early Word Recognition Is Key To Lifelong Reading Skills Says New Study
ScienceDaily (May 12, 2009) — Children’s early reading experience is critical to the development of their lifelong reading skills a new study from the University of Leicester has discovered.

It found that the age at which we learn words is key to understanding how people read later in life.

Basically, the earlier you learn to read words, the better off you'll be later on all through the rest of your life. The earlier, the better.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090506093952.htm

Hi All... just wondering who here has done in studies in the childcare/early childhood education field? Has anyone studied out-of-school--hours care or studied to be a Teacher's Aide/integration Aide?
How about any sort of teaching?
I'm just starting out studying in this field and have a fair few (OK, a LOT) of years ahead of me!!
Be great to make some connections from the world over. Of course, this forum is a wealth of information anyway!

I am having difficulty.. I cant seem to get the azzcardfile to open your sample. I'm interested in preschool through to Grade 6, with particular emphasis on K5.