I'm happy to hear about the flashcards with the color arrangement that I prefer .

I would have waited to order them together if I had known they were coming out soon. Any estimated time of arrival for Rock Bassey and Rhythmo?

I was all over her site when my son was born three years ago. It's wonderful and well-organized. Much of that stuff I had only seen on the internet (I live in the midwest), but now I'm starting to see patterns for slings in mainstream pattern books like McCall's. Not that I don't prefer free, and honestly, the patterns aren't necessary once you understand the instructions, but it's nice to see that the concepts are catching on.

One of the tricky things about making baby carriers to to select a suitable fabric. Too light, and you jeopardize your baby with not enough support. Too heavy and the sling is too hot, or doesn't give enough to make the baby comfortable. My child hated the sling I made him--it didn't stretch or give, and he could never get into a comfortable position, and was hot besides.

I finally used a long yardage of fabric that is gauzy, but tough enough to make a MOBY type wrap. He was okay with that, but when I vacuumed with him on my back, I didn't realize that he was leaning around me to see better, and I whacked him on the head as I went through a doorway. Poor little one!

So be careful, as head injuries are not conducive to early learning. (Although I learned to be more careful.)

Our refrigerator has both upper and lowercase, but I wanted the lowercase more, because the vast majority of what we read are in lowercase.

We bought Leapfrog's Word Whammer, which at the time came with the upper case letters only, and I bought the lower case set separately. However, the new version of the product comes with the lower case, and the Fridge Phonics still comes with upper case, so if you buy both products, you get both sets. Both of these are sold widely in the US, and also on Amazon.

I also have fridge magnets that have common endings of words, like "un," "ook," "ight," "ould," etc. so my child could easily and quickly substitute letters to make rhymes and get the idea of some nonphonetic spellings. Those I made by putting plain contact paper over the flat printable magnets that people give you as promotions and writing in permanent ink. My contact paper was almond, so it blends into the fridge almost too well--they don't catch his eye as much, so he's not as quick to grab them, but he's starting to use them more.

Music is for enhancing our lives. Stimulating our brains is a nice by-product, but it's not the main reason for listening.

Classical music has a huge variety of sound qualities, from the strings to the winds to the horns to the percussion. It has melody, harmony, and counterpoint. It can be soothing or rousing or disturbing.

Salsa has complexity of rhythm and makes us want to dance. It has it's own history and culture.

My son likes classical (Fantasia music, Mommy) sometimes, but it doesn't get him excited. He likes his KinderMusic CD's, flammenco guitar, 70's disco, and the Blu Man Group. 

Like anything else, it depends on the individual.

My friend homeschools her children and they are engaging, charming children who have a ton of friends in their neighborhood, church, and homeschooling group. Their birthday parties are actually probably a fire hazard because of the overcrowding! In addition, since most of the homeschooled kids are "ahead" academically, their abundance of knowledge isn't treated as freakish, but rather more of the norm.

In my work, I had a chance to talk to many children of many backgrounds. The homeschooled ones were generally very well-adjusted, conversant, and confident of their values, more so than their peers.

Having said that, I'm pretty convinced that I don't have the patience to homeschool my own, but I admire anyone that does it well.

This is a very interesting thread. I am relieved to hear about so many early learners doing well socially and emotionally later in life, but not fully reassured, as I know there is some selection bias in anecdotal evidence. Naturally, when our children do well, we will be anxious to share their stories, but if our children become withdrawn, bored with school, or plant bombs, we may not be quick to advertise them on You Tube.

I suppose that even a meta-analysis of multiple multi-center trials yielding results and a conclusion with a very small probability of error would still not necessarily predict what was going to happen to one's own particular child, as each child is unique (as each parent).

I suppose the key is to listen to one's child's signals about what he/she is ready to learn and not to overstep those bounds, but also be ready when the opportunity is there.

In late response to KL's question if there was any standard color association with the keys, my guess would be no, since I've seen different teaching systems using colors, and they seem to be proprietary and random (so you have to buy their system and tools and be loyal, I guess).

My suggestion would be to follow the standard spectrum, since it mimics what notes do--progress up a spectrum. Also, it conveniently has seven colors. I noticed in the preview of Trebellina, they teach CDE up the first 3 colors of the spectrum, and include a spectrum in their logo. I haven't received my copy yet, but I am hoping they follow the pattern for the rest of the notes.

I know if I stickered the keys in any other order besides the spectrum, my child would want to reorder them. Actually, he would probably do it himself while I was cooking or otherwise distracted.

I would actually hesitate to buy into a system that didn't use the spectrum because it wouldn't make sense to me logically, and seven randomly arranged and chosen colors on my keyboard would look visually chaotic to me.

I considered printing my own stickers off my laptop, but have been too lazy to do so, and also I'd like to try teaching my child without the stickers first. However, if I had done so, I might have made the lower notes darker and the higher notes lighter (adding more black or white in the palette so that C could be maroon or pink) That to me would have made sense to preserve the color, but make a distinction between the octaves. I would have kept the middle C and the octave above it the most saturated octave, as it is the one most frequently played and sung.

Thank you for all your responses, especially for the very thoughtful analysis from DadDude.

Referring to another thread that I think you originally posted, I am from Missouri in reality, as well as in spirit. I, too, like to see empiric evidence in the form of well-designed, reproducible studies that action a leads to consequence b, but unfortuately, the nature of learning and the fostering of a creative, intelligent, and well-adjusted mind have way too many variables to control. It's not as if we can inject a randomly selected sample genetically similar litter of Chinese hamsters with early education, and let the other hamsters run on the wheel, and see which of them seem happier and more successful in their own hamster way.

I am concerned that I will let my personal agenda--what I think is important to learn--will dictate what I make the greatest effort to teach, not my child's personal interest. My child loves music, so I'll spend hours trying to find the best way to introduce it, and he'll find it boring, because he's moved on to other pressing curiosities--what happens when I throw the yoga ball off the balcony? The interest in things is so fleeting, it's hard to seize upon a teachable moment and come up with a worthwhile and toddler friendly lesson on the spur of the moment.

I don't think there's anything wrong with being a geek, as I am one myself, as are most of my friends. I rather expect my child to be one, as well, but you never can tell, since his father isn't nearly as geeky.

I suppose I am worried that:
1. My child will start equating his academic achievement with his self-worth.
2. I will be upset when the younger child next door, who has been fed a steady diet of McDonald's and the Teletubbies will whip my kid in the spelling bee.
3. My child will decide he hates learning, and I have to wonder if it was in spite of the early start, or because of it.
4. My child will do brilliantly in school and choose to be a neurosurgeon not because he really likes neurosurgery all that much, but because he didn't know what else to be, and it seemed a waste of a brilliant academic career otherwise.

I know we all love our kids and want what is best for them. But do you ever wonder if all this emphasis on early learning achievement is more for our own satisfaction and pride than to promote the future happiness of our children?

I know that when I was young, I thought that my mother pushed me in piano because she wanted to show off my abilities in front of others. I knew my mother loved me and was dedicated to my education. But even now, having my own son, I actually think that encouraging to reach milestones early may be more about me and my sense of competitiveness than because I think he needs it to "succeed."

I see that my son is bright. I am sure he will be able to learn and do well academically whether or not I teach him a few years early. I would like to say that early teaching is because I know he enjoys it, but the truth is that he would rather be watching TV like the other preschoolers.

Maybe I'm just not as pureminded as most other parents, but I can see how fostering early academic achievement in our kids might become more of a vicarious competition than encouraging a child to love learning.

We read 2 before nap, and 2 before bedtime, usually 1-2 for each potty break, so it usually ends up around 7-10.

Yikes! Four years old is considered "old" now! Say it ain't so!

I do remember that the first time my music teacher tested me for perfect pitch, I didn't pass, but I don't remember how young I was. I also don't know how old I was when she found I did have perfect pitch. I don't know if I just understood the testing better, or if I had acquired it along the way, or if I was just paying attention better.

Those are great sites! Thanks for sharing!

I would think a digital piano with weighted keys is fine for a beginner, but it shouldn't be the primary instrument for someone who plans to be a serious pianist. It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't play, but the way a piano sounds is different not just by the force one uses to control volume, but also one's touch to control tone. Having said that, digital pianos have come a really long way since I was a student, and even my piano teacher bought one to have for two piano duets. And the fact that they don't go slowly out of tune is a plus.

I think you might get one and if one became very serious or showed talent/aptitude, make the bigger investment in a real piano later. I have two pianos in my living room which both belonged to my family when I was young. It comes in handy for duets, but also for demonstration, and also so my little one can bang away at the same time I do without competing.

I would suggest not using tuning forks, as their pitch varies with temperature, according to my piano tuner. He uses an electric gizmo instead. I have a couple of tuning forks (for medical tests), and I tend to agree with him.