http://homepage.mac.com/montessoriworld/mwei/Course1/VideoCourse1/The_Course.html

Karma to you Maquenzie, this link is absolutely fantastic!!!!!!!!!!

Karma to you Chiraz, it's a tough lesson for me - cos I always make excuses why I can't talk in my non-native language to my daughter. Thanks!

Hi Joha, If you google soft dice, then hundreds of stores come up who sell them for aorund $4.

I live in darkest Africa (South Africa) and they didn't have any available here and the shipping would be too expensive from overseas so my mom-in-law made them. It's great if they have a bell inside, cos it makes it more exciting to throw. The more noise the merrier 

I will most certainly send you a pic of the beads. I am at work, so when I go home ill take a pic and post it.
In addition to the beads, I also purchased Montessori beads which are smaller and threaded through metal. and then there are individual beads too. These are montessori beads (attached). You basically count individual beads up to 10, then show them that the bead bars are the same size as the individual beads, and then count in tens, build things with it, etc. I am not great at explaining, so if you still don't understand ill gladly explain again.

Hi

EXACTLY the same thing happened to me! My daughter is now 22 months, and she started saying no to LM at around 20 months. She still loves LR though.

We do the following alternative maths activities:
- Doman flashcards - so we learn to count and do addition and subraction etc with the dot cards i've created
- we use an abacus
- we have created a string of 10 beads per string, 500 in total - similar to the montessori method. I count the beads, and then do various maths acitvities with the beads
- i've created an A3 sized piece of paper with           +                  =        ;              -             =         
and then I put beads / beans down and move the beads over to show her how it physically works when you add or subtract
- we made huge dice (in the USA you get them for $4 each with a bell in each one). We throw it on the floor, and shout out the number. Then throw the second dice and shout out the number and then add them together.

I really think the thing is to diversify your maths lessons so that they don't get bored - and to see what works for your little one. I was really nervous that my daughter hated Maths, but when I started doing all these different techniques with her, she has a new-found love for Maths.

YAY! and good luck!

Holding my breath in excitement.....

Hi

I use ppt to create them, and then print them out and laminate them.

I must say that I am rather worried (and maybe unnecessarily so) that I am going to create the opposite of what I want - a paranoid colicy baby? Would you come out all frazzled if you listened to tick tick tick tick one second at a time for so many weeks?

I am also really curious as I have just purchased one.

I do have the following questions though, which did not seem to be answered on the forum.

Firstly, I am worried that the tick tick tick will drive me MADDDDDDD!!!
Secondly, I am concerned about the repitition. When I purhcased the belt, I actually thought that it was a series of patterns which varied which stimulated the baby to have fun and also to "work out the patterns"
eg pattern one: slow slow fast fast fast
then slow fast slow slow slow
etc and so on

but it's just this ANNOYING TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK!!!!?????

Hi

I bought one off eBay relatively cheaply. Perhaps you could also look there?

Thanks for the insight everyone!

I plan to teach Italian and French. I do speak both languages, but they are not my home langauges and therefore I don't speak it everyday to her

I was wondering if anyone has successfully taught their child a foreign language without actually talking to them all the time?

I wanted to tech my child Italian (and French) but I don't speak it at home. Any tips / suggestions on how to teach her without speaking it all the time?

I have read many times that it's bad to let your children, especially under the age of two watch TV.

My daughter loves TW and Little Pim, but lately I have stopped her watching Little Pim. She can watch for an hour at a time, and when I want to switch it off, she starts to perform. She did the same with Barney and I cut that one early on.

I wondered whether she is actually learning or just enjoying the concept of vegging in front of the TV - albeit that it's supposed to be educational. I thought that we should take her off TV for a while and let her learn her languages thorugh other means such as CD's in the background whilst she is playing, flashcards, talking to her when I can etc

Any opinions or thoughts on this?

I have used the tuning forks and absolutely l love them! But if you can't afford them, then that's another story. They will last a lifetime, and your kids can use them even when they are older.

Hi Reei,

Tuning forks are the best way of teaching them perfect pitch, but are a little pricey. Something else which keeps its tune such as the glockenspiel is also good.

Have a look at the rightbrainkids website. It talks about perfect pitch