I discovered early learning/Doman when my first child was almost a year old. I was fascinated by it and started teaching my daughter. She LOVED it. She mostly loved the reading, but she also enjoyed the physical program, math, and Spanish as a second language. My implementation was very imperfect and we had better success in some areas than others. I spent lots of time learning new ways to teach my daughter, and then taught her.

When my daughter turned 3 years old, I had a son. I followed, imperfectly, the Doman How to Make Your Baby Smarter program for the first 10 months of my son's life. At 10 months the boy could run, and ever since it has been difficult to teach him anything. I have tried many things (but perhaps not enough). He just won't watch anything reading related - no DVD, no LR, no flashcard, no readeez, no sparkabilities. He will read about 1-2 books before bed, and that is it. He is not interested, and I am out of motivation. I haven't tried everything, but I am just out of energy to figure out what next to try with him.

I feel guilty. It seems I gave (and still give) my daughter a lot of opportunities to learn. At age 5 she is reading about a grade 3-4 level. She has a limited knowledge of Spanish (and we are an English only household), and she continues to be interested in learning Math. I continue to be able to teach her and find new development activities for her that she LOVES and soaks up.

However, I am at a loss for my now 2 year old son. He is happy. He is energetic. He loves to play with a stick and ball and trucks all day. I struggle to find active games that incorporate math or reading. He is very active, but he won't brachiate, and swimming in winter is impossible here. I know every day is wasting away, time is of the essence, and yet, weeks go by and I do nothing. In my mind, my daughter should be an obvious motivator - she successfully learned to read by age 3, and continues to improve every day. Why can't I teach my son?

Anyone else struggling to teach their second child? Am I just burnt out?

Are there any plans to bring back the 'donate' option?

I have generated over 15,000 points. I would like to save a few for myself to buy new files when needed, but I just can't image using all of them. What should I do with them? If I donate them, how do I figure out who/what is worthy? Thanks in advance.

I also am looking for Cyle 2, days 10-54. Where can I find them? Or what do they contain so I can make them myself? Thanks.

Kimba,
That seems like a similar attitude to my oldest daughter (5 years old in a few weeks). Whenever I even suggest we do any Math, she says No, too hard, Can't be done, and generally throws a temper tantrum and won't do it. It was impossible to do any math with her. I just walked away and gave up. I reminded myself that Doman always says Stop before they are ready. Well, she wasn't ready and I stopped before I even started. I just put it away. We did other things, played games, puzzles, played outside, read, etc. If I even mentioned a number or started to count, she would start with the attitude. I tried to just enjoy other activities and forget about the math.

During our math hiatus, I thought about the situation. I think part of the problem was that I wasn't enjoying it, I wasn't happy/excited/pleasant enough about the math teaching. I was treating math like a lesson, and not like a fun game. I think another piece of her attitude was that I was pushing her a little, I was reaching for math skills that were beyond her comfort level, yes she could DO them but they were a challenge for her. I haven't figured out all the pieces to her attitude yet, but I also think another part of the problem is that reading comes so easy to her that she isn't use to the NOT getting something instantly.

This has all added up to me really backing off and letting my daughter set the pace with Math (or at least that is what I am trying to do). I have slowly started to reintroduce some basic math, really basic numbers and counting in some fun games. When she smiles and starts to play along, I am excited to see it. Only when she requests math games do we play them. I am trying to be content with the idea that she needs to be spend more time at this basic level of math. That it is more important that she enjoy math and do a basic level, then move onto a harder level and dislike math.

I can't say we are making any progress in math, but my daughter is at least now saying, I like math instead of No, Can't, Etc.

Not sure that helps you, but hopefully your daughter's attitude will pass soon.

In response to a question of it is possible to breastfeed for 4 years? Yes. My sister breastfed her youngest child till she was 6. I also found this interesting slideshow on the history of breastfeeding.
http://thebabybond.com/NaturalWeaningAgeUPDATED.pdf

 I ordered mine on Saturday Nov. 24 and was too early for the deal! Thx for the info, perhaps next time I will have the patience to wait

I have an app called bitsboard. It was free a few days ago. My 2 year old seems to enjoy it, although maybe not as much as LR. My 4 year old is loving the new languages on it.

How many points do you need to acquire a semester? Can we still donate points directly to other members?

EL did change my spacing idea. I thought I would have 2-3-4 kids back to back to back. Then I started teaching my daughter and loved it and didn't want to interrupt it for another baby. So, I waited until she was reading to get pregnant, and then I had still had another 9 months to teach her before the baby arrived. My kids are exactly 3 years and 1 minute apart. I agree with Linzy, my daughter was reasonably self-sufficient when the baby arrived. She could already read, count, dress herself, use the potty, and generally entertain herself.

3 years for me was nice spacing between the first 2. I am looking at having a third but my son isn't yet reading, so I keep waiting.....I want to see him reading at least a few words and then I know I have 9 months to build on that before the focus gets shifted to a new baby. My son is currently 23 months so assuming his reading starts in the next few months (and I am hopeful!) again the spacing for my next kid will be about 3 years.

And I don't think you are the only one out there over thinking these types of ideas. With some many unknown ideas and pros and cons, it is tough to figure out the best decision at any given time. Good Luck with yours.

I think my comments in your blog worked. I would love to win the book. I admit that I am struggling to keep up the early learning. Maybe a new book would motivate me?

I usually notice a change in behavior. My son might go from sitting to running randomly, or sometimes from running around to standing silently. It sounds subtle, but I add the timing into it and I can catch about 75% this way. My son pees about every 3 hours, but use to pee about every hour. My daughter peed every 8 minutes in the morning but then almost not for the rest of the day. My son also stands a certain way that is a cue. My daughter used to look down. Hopefully your child will start cueing in someway soon.

I like it. I would love a website the also provided easy information on Spanish books, info such as if it does have English, size of the font, # of words/ sentences per page, style of illustrations, and a sample picture of the inside would be very helpful.

How long should semester 2 take to install? It downloaded fast, but it has been 4 hours and it is only 30% installed. Is this normal? Note I didn't install semester 1 and don't wish to as we are past it. I have the 32g iPad and am using wi-fi.

I do mixed sessions all the time.  I flash 5 cards and I randomly choose from reading cards, math cards, and EK cards (although I have fewer of these).  It seems to be working for the reading, but I'm not sure about the math.

I also do LM and LR (and now LMs) back to back.  That is, I do one set of LR, the switch to one set of LM, and then one set of LMs. If my Son is still interested I will do another set of something I randomly choose.

This way makes it much more difficult to figure out retiring cards, but I just kinda guess if a card has been shown 5 times (sometime it might only get 4 and others maybe 7, but I am at least trying).

I just struggle to keep organized, so basically I have given up. It is chaotic, but at least my children are getting opportunities.  I had tried to stay organized, or not flash until I was organized, and I found I wasn't flashing cards at all, I was spending all my time organizing and none teaching.  It works for me, but I do commend those families with organization.