Once I asked to my blog friends, at which age they started to read. I was very surprised that average of those who responded was at 4.
Here is the poll, it is in Latvian, the last row is "don't remember".
http://klab.lv/users/kihelkonna/137911.html

My blog friends are between 20 and 45, and they are rather intelligent and successful persons.
Among these 5 which read at 3, there are 2 Phd's, 2 very clever persons (in terms of phylosophy and literacy) but without particular professional success, and one person I don't know.
Among these who learned at 4, all the persons I know are very clever and interesting (because I choose to read their blogs), and also very successful professionally. The same I can say also about persons which started to read at 5; I don't see big difference but may be these "at 3" are more tended to research.

I think, "reading at 3"  means also other early learning.

Sveikas, man loti gribetos papļāpāt par kartītēm un prezentācijām, kuras mēs gatavojam un rādām.
Piemēram, manai sīcei vislabāk patīk krāsas, tauriņi un pingvīni. Tos viņa ik pa laikam pati paprasa. Vēl viņai patīk dzīvnieki ar skaņām, bet tos viņa pati neprasa, tikai priecājas, ja uzlieku.
Man liekas, tās krāsas un tauriņi viņai patīk tāpēc, ka tur ir lietas ar līdzīgu formu un atšķirīgu izkrāsojumu
Tapec ceru, ka viņai patiks karogi, jo tiem arī forma vienāda vakar viņa bija tiešām priecīga tos skatīties.

Tad vēl, viņa reiz paskatījās uz lapsu attēlā, kam klāt bija rakstīts "fox", un teica "fox". Es gandrīz nokritu no krēsla. Izrādās, viņa pamana arī angļu valodu fonā.

ko vislabprātāk skatās jūsējie? Ko jūs vispār viņiem rādāt?

vakar palūdzu lielajā forumā, lai mums uztaisa atsevišķu sadaļu augšuplādēšanai. citādi mēs galīgi iejuksim tais citās valodās. mēs esam laikam trešie lielākie internacionālajos slaidšovos, aiz ķīniešiem un arābiem

Hi, this is how our perfect toy looks like



http://s440.photobucket.com/albums/qq125/kihelkonna/?action=view&current=Zaniite.jpg

Dear administrators,
we Latvians upload our powerpoint presentations in Foreign -> others.
Now there are already 11 (of 16) Latvian presentations and they start to mix up with other languages.

Could you please make a separate download site for us? And move our presentations here?
If you can not understand what happens here - all the presentations prepared by Frukc, amelisam and Iveta are in Latvian

Thanking in advance.

when my doughter was in this age, she liked to touch toys. I gave her not only solid but also soft toys. We had rabit and mouse, washable and with rough surface. (natural materials.) I think, soft toys are very good because they have small elastic details; baby can touch, bend and move their ears, tail, legs. Also the rough and uneven surface helps to feel senses. In opposite with hard toys - baby can only hold and move them, nothing else.

At 6 months, she was able to pick up little objects with her thumb and forefinger. In average, it happens at 12 months. This skill is necessary for the speech. Now my doughter is speaking very well, and I think this it is because of these soft toys.

Iveta, tā ir tava prezentācija par bitēm iekš angliskā? malacis
forši, ka vēl kāda no mūsējām ķērusies pie punktu vākšanas

oi, nu pamanīju, ka iekš otheriem arī esi pacentusies, ievācu!

man vispār tāda problēma, es kukaiņus un pingvīnus esmu sataisījusi 2 valodās, un tagad nu nezinu, vai varu abās arī aploudot! bet ja tev sanāca, tad es arī!

es vispār jēdzu kaut ko taisīt tikai par dzīvniekiem un augiem, jo tāda ir mana profesija. tieši ilgojos, ka kāds uztaisītu par karogiem! Ja pamanīji, tad angliskajās prezentācijās arī karogi ir stipri nepilnīgi; man liekas, ja Tu tur ieliktu, turklāt sadalot atsevišķi pa pasaules daļām, tad būtu liela piekrišana

Hi,
we have a program which show pictures, for example animals, show their names and also tell them in English. Here I can not change anything, I can just tell the same name in Latvian.
And I was very surprised when I was showing to my doughter a ppt file from brillkids, there was fox, both picture and name, and my child (18 months) suddenly said "fox" in English.

So, I hope to take this in a relaxed way. If I show a picture and say its name in Latvian, and at the same it is said also in English, somewhere in the background, may be it will give some benefit.  

When we tested Little math, the same happened. I named numerals in Latvian, and at the same time they were named in English. Because at the beginning I did not know how to switch the sound off, and later my doughter demanded that sound.

And I think, for foreign languages the spoken language is a priority. Writing can be tought later because there is no accent in writing

can there be any harm? when my doughter was 2 - 8 months old, I used to watch Russian serials (I am Latvian) while she was sleeping on me. I wonder if here can be any consequences? 

My doughter crawled from 8 to 15 months. Together, 7 months of crawling.
She was late crawler because I did not put her enough on her belly (because she was womiting too much). I don't know why, but she was also a late walker, she started at 1 year and almost 4 months. 
Now she is talking very well, counting to 10 and naming colours. She has long attention span with books and words. But I think that toys (promoting manual competence) are responsible for the rapid development of her speech.

Kimba15, may be your brother had oxygen defficiency?

Hi Tanikit,

Concerning success, I think it is something like this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs


I think, boring is not a problem. When I was bored I entertained myself with writing small poems. Laziness might be a problem.

But everyone here talks only about the school. Like the life ends with the last exam.
Early readers are very good at school - because learning is what they have learned to do. After school, they need another features. Ability to make decisions, to take responsibility, initiative, to to confess mistakes etc. Do you teach your children for that?

I think, early eduaction comes with several risks.

1. Extended attachment. Close attachment with mother is necessary in early years but later people need to separate emotionally. Othervice your child will be dependent on you, without iniciative and without creativity.
Extended attachment may result in alkohol dependance etc.
Avoiding socialization, homeschooling can create this risk.
Imagine family where 40 year old son is living on pension of his 70 year old mother, drinking, beating her. Early readers are among them.

I don't say that it will happen but we must take it in account.


2. Many mothers here are expecting that their children will be the best at school. It seems that their expectations and plans end with the show where their children are better than others.
Sometimes some mothers feel a temptation to show to others how bright is their child. If they do it too often, the child
- feels te expectations which he/she can not fulfill;
- is upset when after some years he is as clever as other children are;
- is being demonstrated to others like an ape at circus.

I know several families where one of several children is early reader and he is also the looser of the family. Probably, because wrong activities of mother.

I don't say that it will happen but we must keep these things in mind.

lady-sofi,
vai esi bijusi šeit
http://www.rightbrainkids.com/store/free/free_blackandwhite.pdf

My brother learned to read with flashcards, age 4. Now he is 43.
I learned with ordinary method at 5.

We both are rather talented in literature, music and nature sciences. He was more bright. He wrote poems and stories which were published. His music teachers were surprised that he can read notes all the line together, not single notes.
He did not finish the university (I did), now he works ordinary job as computer repairer.

We had rather unhappy childhood. Our parents did something like "un-attachment parenting", my mother was too sick to take care properly etc.

It would be a long story on how wrong our childhood was. I am sure that psychological aspects are 10000 times more important than encyclopedic knowledge. With my doughter, the safe attachment is the priority, and teaching is just an entertainment.

Very often, happy and self-confident people are more successful than clever people. You know, clever people make suicide sometimes.

Mūsu varētu būt ap 10, spriežot pēc lejuplādēm. Un cāļa diskusijā meitenes pieminēja, ka ir jau gatavas prezentācijas ar valstu karogiem, pilsētu ģerboņiem un daudz ko citu. Hm, būtu forši, ja tās mātes arī te ietusētu! Es pati grasos uzlikt vēl 2 prezentācijas (ir gatavas)  un uztaisīt par kokiem un vēl kaut ko no dzīvās dabas.

Sveikas!
Jāiemēģina jaunā sadaļa, kamēr silta!
No Baltijas mēs laikam te esam pirmās!

iekopēju savu iepazīšanos.
es esmu iesācēja, sāku pirms pāris mēnešiem, rādu pašuzrakstītus vārdus poverpointā, mazliet arī sarkanās bumbiņas (kopš dažām dienām gan rādu programmu no šejienes), paštaisītus un no šejienes novilktus poverpointus. daru to apmēram reizi dienā, bet diezgan ilgi, jo sīce visu laiku prasa vēl. vislabāk viņai patīk tauriņi un krāsiņas.

manējai atkal vislabāk patīk tauriņi un krāsiņas. bet klau, ejam uz to jauno vietu, ko KL mums uztaisīja! Tūlīt iešu un kaut ko ierakstīšu