IAHP - Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential - Glen Doman's institute.

Don't know about the Japanese books sorry. I've just been making my own.

Sure did, I think there's a radio button type of check box where you choose your shipping. Choose the one where they say they'll call you with the shipping price. Alternatively just send them an email.

The Glen Doman how to teach to write pdf contains a whole section on teaching to spell before teaching to write. I highly recommend it.

I am definitely keen.

[fear what you don't know]

Stick to your guns. People like to find fault with others and when you do something radically different from the norm the old fear what you don't know kicks in and you get all sorts of reactions.

My son's aunty (my sister in law - I have trouble thinking of her as a sister) dropped by the other day. We see her maybe twice a year. My boy decided at that moment to show everyone he could write (I haven't actually taught him yet, bought the booklet last week but haven't finished preparing the lessons so this is huge he just starts writing ).

So of course her automatic assumption is that I have taught him to do this, that the poor child is experiencing awful lessons full of hand cramps and that I'm trying to create a super baby and am robbing him of his childhood. It was the same when we used cloth nappies, everyone had a bloody opinion.

People don't like change and worse still they can't stand seeing someone doing what they know they can't - that is sacrificing what little free time and money we have to give our children a future full of options.

The sad thing is that my son had a momentous occasion (he wrote the word "cat" by the way) and instead of it being celebrated and encouraged he had to watch the person he was trying to impress go all stony faced and start lecturing and instead of me having that moment with him to relish in his achievement I had to defend my son's rights to do the things that please him.

If people have a go at you about your decisions just remember if it wasn't that it would be what cream you use to prevent nappy rash or what age you put shoes on them or a myriad of other things that "civilized people" can see only one option for because being a sheep and doing what everyone else does is safe.

I think finances are something many adults struggle with. I believe it is because of a lack of understanding of different options and a lack of experience handling. For so many of us the first time we've had to balance the books was as adults with money that we had earned and we had to get it right or the consequences were severe.

I grew up sure I didn't want to work in an office - I had options and I was aware of these options for income but had no real understanding of budgeting, different wages, what was good, what was bad, what it cost to live, how to save, different types of savings, how home loans worked, how investment works and so on and so on.

I knew only the things I had been exposed to and that wasn't much. Despite being very good at maths, finances did not come naturally.

So while my parents told me I could be anything I wanted to be - they didn't show me how. It took me a long time to form good habits and I made some disastrous mistakes along the way.  I want my son to have an understanding of these things - a practical understanding as well as a theoretical understanding so that as an adult he can make informed decisions.

I'm sure our plans will change along the way it is only a rough outline at the moment but I am sure that life will provide many opportunities for him to make these discoveries with my money instead of his....

No not training. That's not the way I educate. I'm talking about real experiences in controlled environments. Learning what money is by using it and making bad decisions and good decisions and experiencing consequences. Like when you go to the reject shop and buy twenty dollars worth of cheap toys because you get lots but you have to replace them every week versus buying one $20 quality toy once a week that lasts. Experience is the best way to learn and if my son has had lots of experience by the time he's ready to start work then he will have the tools in place to make well judged and well informed decisions throughout his adult life.

I believe it is my job to prepare him for his time in the world when he is ready to leave us, I wish to give him the tools and knowledge and experience that will achieve this.

Sorry quite tired and am not really coherent.

good stuff chur chur

It is a strange idea to think that providing only limited experience will wield genius type results.

Albert Einstein didn't just have numbers floating around his house and equations that he was exposed to and suddenly become a genius, he had an Uncle who played mathematical games with him as a toddler and throughout his youth.

Genius requires several things - 1)Potential 2)Tools 3) Experience to tie the two together 4 )the unknown x-factors (that could be as simple as parents (or uncles) who create opportunity outside the square).

So Mozart is born with the potential he is then given the tools and the experiences and a genius is born.

Giftedness is what we are born with our potential so to speak. Talent is what we do with it and the two are very very different things. I hope that in utero and since I have laid down the potential for my son. I now provide the tools and experiences and await to see what he does with them.

We limit ourselves and our potential when we say "good enough". When we have an end goal instead of a never ending story. We don't know what lies in our children's futures or their childrens' future so who are to determine what tools are unnecessary.

Sorry I'm a bit distracted so this argument is poorly constructed - I hope I make sense.

Hey Sam,

It takes only a little imagination to understand the potential of perfect pitch in the hands of a creative mind.

You hear something you can write it, you think something you can write it, you read something you can hear it, you read something you can vocally reproduce it.

Absolute pitch - no limitations, you're not hide bound to traditional instruments but can hear music everywhere, in every sound. Therefore every possible pitch becomes another sound in your musical vocabulary with which you can express yourself and create musical dialogues.

 If the aim is to only have your child be able to reproduce the tones that are pleasing to you you are cutting them off from choosing their own musical path. True creativity comes from expressing yourself musically not expressing yourself musically within these hidebound rules. That is how we stagnate. I think there is definite danger in only training in traditional music or only western music or only contemporary music or only anything. To evolve musically we need the next generations to have two things - the tools, and the imagination to use them.

To carry the language of music with you in your head....a wonderful skill. Combine this with creativity and there are no musical boundaries.

As for the trebellina DVDs I don't know why they'd include someone singing off key - similar experience with YBCR when the little girl singing changes key half through I'm a little teapot. It drives me up the wall.

Having said that if you have never been sad can you truly appreciate happiness? If a child only hears excellent pitch can they appreciate it and value it or even recognize it? I don't believe that all musical experiences should be perfect. It gives no spectrum to the child as a reference point and no appreciation for the work that has gone into the acquisition of the skill nor a visualization of the path and journey to get there.

Sorry to drag on, I just feel that as a whole musical education misses the point.

Well, I don't doubt so much that babies can remember things they experienced in the womb; my doubt is whether such things have much educational value.  I mean, they're very nice and beautiful and lovey-dovey and all that, but that's different from saying they're educational.

If you believe in early education why not education in utero? Is the brain so suddenly different at one month after birth to one month before? Or is that you believe consciousness starts at birth? I'm not sure I understand the reason for the skepticism.

Great book I read while pregnant - Early Intelligence - can't find it at the moment to tell you the author. Any way full description of brain development from conception to five years.

The brain is forming in utero, babies get their first taste of food in utero and what a woman eats in last term is known to affect children's taste in food.

Well before the end of the pregnancy the baby's hearing is developed and they are capable of hearing. This is why they are able to recognise their mother's voice and often their father's when he spoke into the belly. This is learning in utero. Why not try to teach other things as well. We have the ability to give a child more experiences in utero while the brain is developing thus aiding the connections that will form.

While pregnant I continued acrobatic training, I continued working in the band and I continued karate and did my grading while 8 months pregnant.

Did my son learn to be an acrobat, play an instrument or block a punch? No but he has, and always has had, unnaturally good balance, an exceptional sense of direction, his musical abilities and potential are outstanding, he came into the world awake and yearning to learn. I wish I had done more for him now had I been more aware of the potential I truly believe I could have taught him and heightened his learning potential in many areas. It is a regret.

My son has his own account that I started when he was born. It doesn't have a lot in it but I make sure it grows. When he is a little older (I'm thinking we'll start this Christmas) we're going to start teaching him how to shop by giving him a set amount he can spend on toys and helping him choose. I don't intend to be too strict on the price at this point but it's just to introduce the concept. We intend to add financial responsibilities one at a time so he can grasp budgeting.

Eventually he will be totally in control of his money. All lessons - music, sport, languages, whatever - toys, excursions, learning materials etc will be paid for from his account. I will be funding the account so he will be getting what I would be spending anyway but if he goes over and buys too many toys or whatever he will come short and learn consequences. I hope to have him in control of his spendings in a responsible manner by around age 8 (maybe earlier kids always surprise me) at which point I'll start introducing investments etc. Hopefully by the time he's 18 he'll know more than I did and have a solid base to start from. Shouldn't take much as I was clueless.

The ability to decipher between pitches and reproduce pitches is both innate and learned. If we are born with excellent hearing then we have the potential to hear the whole range. But being able to hear the whole range and being able to differentiate between pitches let alone know exactly what frequency has just been played to you or being able to read music and reproduce the note vocally or tune a violin without an electronic tuner etc.

These abilities are learned and like the ability to hear the different sounds in individual languages they become more difficult over time so does training the ear to differentiate between different frequencies. The earlier these different frequencies are attached to the ledger notes they correspond with or the key they press on the piano etc the easier it is for perfect pitch to be achieved.

We can of course learn to pitch later in life but it is a lot of hard, repetitious work. Better to learn it while it's easy.

Tuning forks I think are better for teaching perfect pitch, but I love the sound of a glockenspiel (well a nice one) and it's a lot of fun for a child to be able to hit something and create such a beautiful full ringing tone.

Awesome, thanks!

I definitely like the approach and am going to give it a go.

So unrestrictive compared to traditional maths and more expansive than the right brain math programs. This has genuine potential. It's a shame they're a bit sloppy.