thanks for the link!!  Great to see an Aussie site

WOW - Pupsiek - the effort you have put into your child's nursery is amazing.  The b&w stimulation pictures look fantastic.  Love the face frieze.  Will definitely download them!!  Thank-you so much for sharing what you can do to a nursery to help stimulate your infant.

Fascinating.  Unfortunately Nature is a confounding factor with Nurture!  If Glen Doman and other proponents of early teaching are correct - then Nurture is the main determinant of intelligence

I agree with the sentiments that the Suzuki method may suit very young children who can't read.  However having played in orchestras as a child in primary school with other kids who learned the Suzuki method - there were difficulties with notes.  At 4.5 yo traditional methods would be fine for your son.  The  is to link your son up with a music teacher who he will get along with and enjoy lessons with.  I know I gave up violin as my teacher left my local area - I was placed with a very good teacher (whose daughter was a child prodigy and is doing quite well as a soloist) who I didn't like when I was in my teens (too strict and classes weren't fun).  However I continued on with piano and enjoyed it til finishing school.

The website isn't working at hte moment     How's your daughter finding the classes?

Thank-you for the welcome!

Twinergy - I am having difficulty believing that a child's instrument which is quite well priced is in tune!  I presume you've checked it with your tuning forks?

Thanks for the help!

I would suggest only letting your baby read the books under your supervision.  Have toddler sitting on your lap and read to them while you hold the book in front of baby.  They can touch the pages but you will have better control at preventing them tearing pages and throwing the book.

Keep pens/pencils/writing instruments away from your reading area to avoid scribbling.

I've read a little about stimulation of infant vision with black and white shapes.  The downloadable cards by brillkids look really good.

How do you know when your child can see the cards or is responding to the stimulation?  When do you then switch them over to words?

Sleeping Direction
We spend the most amount of time in one spot every day in our bed, so the sleeping direction is very important. The goal is to align the child's bed so that the top or crown of the head is pointed towards one of their good compass directions .  If your child's bed is pointed in one of their negative compass directions, it can throw their life out of balance.  They won't be feeling as well as they should and they may express this with negative behavior. They may have trouble sleeping, difficulty accomplishing things, and can even have problems with others treating them badly or "bullying" them.  Pointing their bed in their "wisdom" direction can help your child get better grades and improve their attitude about school.  The "marriage and family harmony" direction will help decrease fighting and arguing in the household and help your child sleep better. Be sure to use a compass to determine actual compass directions in your home.  (Related article: Positive Sleeping Directions for Couples)

How do you determine the negative compass direction??

Furniture Placement:
The bed should have its headboard against a solid wall. Make sure there is room to walk around each side of the bed - don't push one side up against the wall. Avoid placing the bed under a window or directly in line with the door.  Standing in the doorway, if you can toss a ball straight ahead and hit the bed, energy flowing into the room will also hit the bed and this is not good for the child.  What's behind your bed?

Does this apply to babies too?

I like the free flashcards for baby sign language on signplanet.

http://www.bilby.net/sign/SignMain.asp - appears to be the Aus commercial side of signplanet - lots books/cards/resources you can buy!

The brillkids forum looks like a very interesting forum.  I am looking forward to reading and learning more about teaching young children!