I am reading this book right now, you might try to borrow it from the library or buy it, and it might sparkle you with lots of ideas about what to teach your kids.  The book's name is

Montessori Read & Write : A Parents' Guide to Literacy for Children by Lynne Lawrence
ISBN 0-09-186351-1

Hope it helps!

One suggestion: Try your local library & see if they got the book.  You might not even need to buy it. You might borrow it from the library.  It's the same as the other two books.  See what you can get from the library & the chance is you can browse through them and decide on which one to buy if you really want to own the book.

3 months old needs his 5 senses to be stimulated.  Let him see black & white color pictures. Let him listen to music, songs and rhymes. Let him smell fruits and lotions.  Let him touch different textures of objects, toys and fabric.  Read to him a lot.  Talk to him a lot. Smile and play with him a lot.

Try Google images. They might have clock templates.

Don't feel discouraged! I 've been a teacher all my life and every child is different. Although you found some children here can read very well, I believe there are lots more who don't do very well at some point in their lives.  However, it dosn't mean they learnt nothing even if they don't show you results.  It's just that they are not ready to share or they're not in the mood of sharing.  Just be patient and know that a farmer takes a few months to harvest.  Learning is a process and it takes time.  You've been doing a lot and take time to enjoy the process, the result will amaze you one day!

Don't worry, once your child get used to the environment, she'll pick up Cantonese very soon. It's because she is surrounded by children who speak Cantonese. She will learn it in a few months time. The only thing is, you don't want her to be afraid of Cantonese. If she has no negative feeling about the language, she'll learn it through her peers. One suggestion is, you can plan some play dates with her best Chinese friend ( who speaks Cantonese, of course ).  This way, her only choice is to speak Cantonese!

Hi, mummies & daddies from HK,

I'm glad that so many parents are interested in early childhood education.  I studied  Education and some early childhood education courses about thirty years ago.  I've been a teacher in Chinese International School and Discovery Bay International school for a total of 12 years.  Now I teach babies English from 4 months to 8 years old. 

I came across this forum a few years ago and I loved it because I found parents in this forum are really dedicated mummies and daddies who wish to teach their children the joy of reading.

Since I had much experience with very young children, I find that every child is unique.  The more I play and read with children, the more I find both benefit them a lot. To the working mummies, 1 tips is that don't feel guilty about not teaching enough, make the most of your time with your children.  The quality time you spend with your children, no matter it's play or reading, would benefit your children.

I just read Dr. Sally Ward's Baby Talk, it tells you what to do from birth to 4 years old.  It tells you to spend time with your baby half an hour a day.  I think undivided attention to your baby is so very important to your baby's brain growth and emotional stability.  One thing I learnt from these years of teaching experience is that a child who is emotionally stable has so much more energy to learn.  A child who is well loved by mummy and daddy or a caring adult, no matter she is a nanny, or a grandma, usually learns with good attention span and
excels in whatever he or she is learning.

One way of getting ideas on how to teach your own child is that you can browse on other mummies' blogs and watch the videos and pictures.   That sparkles you with so many possibilities that you have never thought of.

I'm glad that today I find so many mummies and daddies from Hong Kong.
Wish you all find the joy in teaching your children!

Why not try it after the kindergarten interviews, then you don't have to worry. By the way, children are able to sort out what language to respond to if you are consistent.  I am a teacher and I've taught a lot of mixed children who would respond to their parents and grandparents in different dialects, eg. daddy in English, mummy in Cantonese and grandma in her special dialect.   I think you find it the same with your daughter.  Don't worry!

I use Letterland CD Rom " Living ABC " and a lot of children like it.  It got stories, songs and activities.  The disadvantage of this CD Rom is that it only teaches the alphabet sounds but it has a whole bunch of vocabulary related to each initial sound.  Don't buy the other CD Rom that that teaches digraphs for it is not as interesting and the children don't like it that much.

Search for "The Letter Sounds Song" from Youtube Video, it is good, too.

Hope it helps!

Mable

Hi, Anastasiya,

The difference between drilling and game is that :  the first is boring and the second one is fun.  At first you won't see result because your little boy doesn't know the word yet. However, if you have fun with the games, like yesterday I was playing with a 2 years old, she refused to learn the colour words and then I said, that's say bye-bye to each one of them, and successfully I led her into looking at the words.  Although she still wouldn't know it immediately, I believe with different varieties  in my games, one day she'll learn the words.  I've already introduce colour words with her about one year ago.  However, she doesn't like words much, and she doesn't like flash cards much, she loves learning English with me because I didn't force her.  Do not give up, even one of my 2 and a half year old boy took about 4 to 5 months to give me results.  Keep working but make it fun and attune to your child's interest.

Concentrate on the process but not the end product and one day you'll find that your little boy will surprise you.

My little ones see me only once a week or twice a week and sometimes we skip lessons and still I can see results.  I was like you before I bought Little Reader.  Even after I bought Little Reader, not all of my kids follow the program everytime.  However, they love having lessons with me because I make it fun for them. The key to your lessons should be fun and you 'll enjoy the time you spend with your little boy and he'll enjoy the time he spend with you.

Have fun and don't give up too soon!

Cheers,
Mable

Thanks, Mother of Faith!

This is a great website!

I really appreciate your sharing!

Cheers,
Mable

Hi, Anatastaiya,

Yes, Linzy's right, you'll have to teach him lots of sight words like the , a , this , what......,
at least 50- 200 common sight words.  Besides Sight words DVDs, you have to play lots of games or make individualized photo picture words, like " I am Happy."  " This is my cat."  ...,tailor made to his interest, so to get him enjoy his reading game sessions.

Keep up your good work and you'll see him read someday.  Keep trying!

I took about half a year before I really see result. Of course, I meet the child once a week only.

Have Fun!

Cheers, Mable

Hi, Anastasyia,

You can play lots of word games like matching, matching toys with words, eg.  toy animals with animals flash cards, toy fruits and vegetables with fruits and vegetables flash cards,
or pictures with actions (verbs ) like smile, cry, climb.... with matching words.  Other games may be word / picture puzzles or you can buy some ready made puzzles or card games from book stores or toy shops ( depends on which country you live in ).  Make it very simple & fun and I'm sure your child will like it.  Make sure you let your child leads the way and you'll find it more successful.  Tailor the words to your child's interest and you'll soon get his attention better than you choose and decide the words from your choice.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,
Mable

Hi, Anastasiya,

You have to play lots of word games with your child besides reading with him.
Repitition is also key to learning.  They need lots of repitition to learn.  I recommend the website www.earlylearningathome.com for you.  Agnes is a very professional child care teacher as well as a very loving mum.  You'll get lots of ideas from her videos.

Mable

Dear KL,

I couldn't send this forum to my friend Sonia using "Send this Topic".
Would you please send this to her as she would like to know more about Little Reader.
Her email is [REMOVED].

Please don't post this publicly as I don't know whether she'll like to expose her email or not.
I hope you can reply me stating whether you've sent this to her or not.

Thanks!

Mable