What is the age suggestion for Professor Harold's video flashcards?  I tried to find a sample video of them but I wasn't successful.  Could you describe a typical video, please.  Would it be good for a 7 month baby?

I found a brachiation ladder on kijiji Calgary!!  I was just about to post a Wanted ad and I decided to do one last search for monkey bar.  Amazing how life works - someone was selling one made to Doman Specs in the Physical book.  Now I have to plan a trip to Calgary to pick it up,  I am very happy.  I plan on putting it in my garage with rubber mats and carpet underneath it.

Are there any Math DVDs out there?

I do sit with my baby to watch LM and I am very interactive.  However, sometimes it is nice to get a few seconds to make dinner or clean the high chair.  I haven't been using the TV or computer at all with my baby, but maybe if I had a Math type DVD I could plug it in and get something (anything!) cleaned.

I agree with wolfwind.  A few minutes a day to do dots isn't that much work, but I also feel that it is not nearly enough for a baby/toddler to truly understand math.

If I feel that teaching Math is like Teaching Reading, then I have to go by the example of how I taught my daughter to read.  I started with Doman flashcards to teach her to read and then did a combination of almost every reading type of activity or game I liked.  Over the space of 12 months we did Doman, YBCR, LR, Readeez, Starfall, ABC Boardgames, sensory tubs with letters and words, labeling items around the house,word matching games, tracing/colouring, and many more.  Then we also read at 50 books a day, many with my finger following under the words.  I would estimate that we would spend about 3-4 hours every day do something related to reading.  Those 3-4 hours were obviously broken into many little games during a day but they added up and she couldn't get enough of it.  Even at 4 hours it was me who was saying no more books, no more reading.  I started when she was 1 year and at 2 she could read.  Just after 12 months I scaled back the activities a lot, I was pregnant and tired.  The result, at 3 1/2 she is reading at about a lexile of 600 (that translates to about a grade 3 level).  Reading is her favourite activity and she spends over an hour every day reading to herself.  To her a library is better than a candy store.

So, it was actually me that posted the request for math activities.    I am struggling with coming up with as many ideas to do math as I did reading.  I am also struggling with time as now I have 2 kids instead of 1.  I am teaching my 7 month old son Math, my daughter is also getting some of this, but my son is my focus.  I wish for him to KNOW math.  My plan was to spend from birth to 12 months teaching him Math and then add reading at 12 months.

Reading was very worth it, and I think Math will be very worth it too.

I am looking for suggestions of what type of 'Math Games' I can play with my 7 month old son.

I just finished the first part of Doman's Math program (Quantity 1-100, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).  I will continue with more equations, but I also wanted to start playing some math games.  We use LM on the computer and it keeps his interest for a very limited time frame (10 seconds or less).  I need activities we can play together.  I have been struggling because of course he keeps chewing on everything.  He really loves to chew paper, so anything with paper is out.  Is it just too early to be trying games?  Or am I just too sleep deprived to be creative?  In either case if you have any suggestions I would love to read them.

In case you wanted to add a few stats about the Canadian Literacy Rates, here are a few links:

http://www.ccl-cca.ca/CCL/Home/index.html - This site has the raw data for the literacy assessments done in 2009.  The assessment was done by province and reading level.

http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/education/adult-literacy-rate-high-skills.aspx.  This site has compiled data on Canada's literacy rate in comparison to 17 other countries.

Kizudo, PM if you want a Canadian to bounce ideas around, I would love to help.

Kizudo, Wow.  This is exciting!  I am happy to hear your librarian is willing to bring the books in for you - I know the SK library system has almost all the ones you listed - and I think Manitoba can request from other provinces.  I think having the books on display will help the parents.  I like all the suggestions so far.  No one has suggested perhaps a small demo of LR or PowerPoint Flash Cards.  I know that the few parents who have considered or read a Doman book have never completed the Make Your Own Flashcard project - I think seeing the flashcards on the computer helps parents understand that flashcards are doable.  It doesn't need to be as time consuming as the Doman Books make it out to be. 

I love that KL has a basic PowerPoint outline.  That will help.  I am going to request a copy of that and then see if I have any suggestions based on the presentation. 

Again, I am so excited for you.  I can't wait to hear the results from the presentation.  Perhaps you can speak in Regina and Saskatoon next?

Kijiji - awesome idea waterdreamer.  I use kijiji all the time to buy stuff but never for a wanted to buy.  Good idea, I think I might try that out.  Saskatoon is the closest Home Depot and also the closet kijiji but I am travel frequently.  We just upgraded our very small car to a truck, so transporting it would be easy.  Karma to you.

For a hanging bar I changed the lower bar in my daughter's closet to a smaller dowel (I used a broom handle).  She couldn't reach it a 2 years old and I had to help.  Now at 3.5 years she goes into her closet to hang on her own.  My DH is reasonable handy, but he is never home, so this was a solution I could implement myself with stuff I had around the house.  I am now using it with my 6 month old son and he loves it.  I liked this solution and it worked for me.

I had tried using a metal bunk bed for the monkey bars.  The top bunk has round metals bars that were closely spaced and small enough around for a child's hand.  I thought it would be ideal, but it didn't really work for 2 reasons.  First, when my dd was smaller I needed to help her/spot her and that was awkward to do because of the bottom bunk, there just wasn't enough room for me to feel confident holding her.  Then, when she was older and needed less help from me, she was already too tall to fit between the bunks.  She could stand on the bottom bunk and then wouldn't brachiate properly.  Perhaps if you found a bunk bed that the bottom bunk could be removed without affecting the stability of the structure it would work better.  Unfortunately that wasn't the case with my bunk bed and I gave that up.  And since then....I have not figured out a good solution.

I thought might put something up in our heated garage and cover the cement floor with some rubber mats and carpet that would be safe enough.  But Canada must be similar to the u.k.  as there really isn't any free standing monkey bars for a reasonable price.  So, for now, I am still at the give up stage.  Hoping someone here has an easy inexpensive solution.

A quick Hello to all the Canadian's celebrating today.

Have you tried Doman's Teach your Baby To Swim?  I also like the uswim.com website.  I use a combination of 123 under and Name, Ready, Go to submerge my kids.  I use the bathtub.  I crawl into the tub with my kids and work on the submersion and floating front and back in the bathtub.  My daughter at 3 1/2 loves to 'swim' in the bathtub.  She has learned to do front floats in the tub.  We go to a pool about once every 2 weeks and work on transferring the skills to a big pool, but the bathtub is a success.  The tub is a standard tub and it is a little small, but I find my daughter feels safe and secure and would rather try a new move in the bathtub before trying it in the pool. 

I had been trying to get my daughter to submerge her face/head in the water at a swimming pool but she refused.  This went on for months.  Then I had my new baby, and started doing the Doman Swim program in the bathtub.  Well, my daughter was was now 3 started watching me swim with her baby brother in the tub and decided she wanted to do that as well.  So, she crawled into the bathtub with me and put her face in the water.  After months of fighting her at the pool, the bathtub worked.  She learned to do front floats in the tub, and the slowly, very slowly, I can now get her to submerge her face at the pool.  We have now been working on dive rings in the bathtub.  Seems a little silly, but she pretends to dive and then puts her face in the water to get the ring.  Slowly I will transfer this to the pool (I hope).  I tried sitting outside of the tub, but it didn't work as well.  It works much better with me in the tub with her.  It is a little cramped, but the results have been reasonable and enjoyable vs the struggle at the pool.

Good Luck.

I will third the Kellymom website.  I also like Jack Newman http://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/index.php.  Although for stress and milk production I would say the best thing would be to crawl into bed at night with your baby beside you and nurse all night long as much and as often as you can.  Hope your stress levels off soon.

Relax, your child is doing amazing, and will do even better if the atmosphere is fun and enjoyable.  Stress will delay the right brain.  I would not say you are not having success, one never knows what is happening inside that brain and she just hasn't shown you yet.  I think there are lots of people on brillkids that have a variety of delays and slower results, so you really shouldn't think that other people have had more success than you.  It isn't about comparison, it is enjoying your children and giving them opportunities to be exposed to words and math.  It sounds like you are giving your children many opportunities, keep doing that perhaps with some more variety and your child will get it.  The magic is within your child and she will show you she can read when she is ready.  Guessing at words is very common, and remember that Doman style is to show them many (2000+) words, but for them to only learn some of them, not all of them. 
Keep up the impressive schedule - I think you are a wonderful parent.

Thanks for the support, sister, karma to you.

Oh, you guys are wonderful, just wonderful.  Thank you so much for all your kind words and ideas.  It really has helped to make me feel less lonely. 

Kizudo, I know you and waterdreamer meet often, but I didn't realize there was another brillkid parent.  You are getting a reasonable following over in Manitoba.  Thank you  Kizudo for the offer to join your group - I would love to - but that heritage farmland is a difficult thing to move!   I love the farm, but I would also love to live in a more progressive or at least understanding community.

Anyone else read or have the link to article to which lelask is referring?