Ayesha, I have heard about Kumon and I am going to put my daughter in Kumon for the summer. She will enter 1st grade in August this year. Basically, I had started her on Doman Math, and she loves math, i can see that she understands concepts taught in class faster than kids her age. Even though I had not completed Doman Math, I know that DM helped her have a strong foundation. Kumon is a lot of repetition, the concepts are taught once and then the child is encouraged to be independent, thinking her/his way through problems. The teacher will intervene only if necessary. So you see how the child is encouraged to think on her own. The best part is they work at home, so we are involved in it wholly too and the child can keep advancing well above his/her level. The sky is the limit! P.S. YouTube has so many videos of children doing Kumon worksheets.

This topic is very interesting and I have thought about it, since I, like others cannot homeschool, I would love to pursue my career, but at the same time give the education to my children and teach them apart from their public school education. I think we need to strike a balance , especially when talking about parents who send their children to public schools, Agreed, it might not do too good for them, but what about their social skills when you are teaching them at home? The world outside also teaches them a lot..we just need to be careful of being obsessed about flashing encyclopedic knowledge everytime all the time...Children need to be children too and it is right to save them from emotional problems later on. I still love my children, follow ENglish and Math and extra bits of knowledge, they go to public schools, doing very well and we are all happy..I think ultimately it's the parents who need to rethink what they need for their children. Goodluck to all of you! Great topic..

Oh I forgot to mention Lappy, the mod mom, who is always answering questions too!

Welcome Denise! We hope you will enjoy this site as much as we do. You will have fun teaching your child manyany things. The founders of this site are always around in the forums to answer questions. I don't know how KL has time to answer all the questions on this forum, but she does and does it well! And then we are always here too, so feelfree to drop a line..you will be amazed at the response you get...

Yes..did you all watch Obama's speech about education reforms this morning? There was so much optimism in his words and it all boils down to our children's education, it was so exciting and wonderful to hear him say all those things that should have been said a few years ago. It is how India has become what it is today, it is beacuse of that dream that parents have for their kids, to be better than what they were. To give you a persepective, in 2007 alone, there were about 450,000 engineers that graduated out of colleges in India alone, whereas annually the U.S. and U.K. only graduate around 60,000 and 25,000 engineers, respectively. That is a startling number, as to the level of education we have in India right now. And then when we think of higher education, we always dream of coming to the US, where education is much sought after and we complete higher levels of education here. I too, am completing my Masters now, even though I have two kids and am a very busy mom. I quit work last year to concentrate on my studies, not just to complete it with mediocre scores, but to complete it with a good GPA. FInally I will be graduating in May with hopefully a 3.7 GPA. So I love Obama for all the changes he wants to see in America!

Hi Trinity and others, I am an Asian, Indian and in our country, like other Asian countries too, there is so much emphasis on child education right from the beginning. The first few years , upto 2 yrs are mostly for fun, but then they start school at 3 yrs and unlike here, where there is more play at school, kids in India are already adding and doing math, repetition is very much encouraged through homework, even in English. The words are written over and over, along with math and a solid foundation is give at the elementary school level. The belief is that once a good foundation is set, then the rest will all fall in place, ofcourse with constant reiteration that children need to perform their best at studies and nothing else. Sports is rarely enouraged though physical activity is important for brain functioning, dating is out of the question..house work is mostly left to adults and children do nothing but come home, spend some time playing and quickly get into books again. I would not say it was fun, it is exhausting when you are constantly sent to extra tuition after school, tuition during summer etc, but I think it is well worth it, as most Indians all get into graduate school and into doctorate levels. Parents instill in their children that they only way to a good future is through working hard and becoming a doctor or engineer.
I think Obama gets this as I have heard him say it in his speech, that we (the people) needed to instill this into our children, that it is necessary for America's future.

HI and Welcome to this amazing forum..you are a busy mom and you will love getting busier now..please look at all the free downloads put in by other moms, also I put in my very first one..please rate it according to your liking..thanks! and Welcome again!
http://forum.brillkids.com/free-downloads-flash-cards-slideshows-and-infant-stimulation-cards/us-coins/new/#new

Hi Everyone, I just added a .ppt abour US coins, this is my first and please rate it based on your liking. I would love to get feedback as I would love to make more of these power points...let me know! Thanks!!

This is a great idea and one that will  help this country once again be on the top. The babies are the future and they will accomplish more than what we can. I have always wondered if a home centre opened for kids that learn in Doman would be a good idea? I don't know ..what do you all think? Ofcourse it would have to be a smaller group at first..something like the Montessori program..but do you think it is achievable..and if so, do you think the concept will live on?

This is really useful for us moms to understand why we need to teach our babies math. But my question is , if we were to stop teaching them for a few months and come back to it, do you think they(as babies) would still be able to start off from where they stopped? Mine is 10 months now and I have stopped for two months. When I do start back, I am hoping she will remember everything I taught her before...since what we read from here, does it sound like we should not be worried of them losing the information we taught?

Wow, you are all great, I was always intrigued by why moms took up to homeschool. I agree the public schools are not that challenging, plus the private is out of reach. But I have tried to strike a balance where my daughter, 5 yrs gets the best of both worlds. She gets to learn at her public school which takes care of social interaction and some learning, but when she comes home and especially on weekends, I try to incorporate extra learning. I have understood that this is what she enjoys, I could not do homeschooling all week like you guys. So goodluck to you all and I hope you find your perfect teaching routine! I am sure you love the Little Reader and math just like I do to give that extra oomph in your teaching. During summer, I have more plans for her, Kumon is one and I am hoping I can make it enjoybale for her!

Thanks Gabriel's mom

My daugter has been going for Suzuki piano sine she was 3 and a half. This early introduction to music has made her a confident young girl at the piano , now at 5 yrs. Its the same belief as introducing numbers and alpahabets at an early age. She is encouraged to listen to the Kataoki music cd over and over, while playing, sleeping, in the car, so that she is familiar with a piece of music before her teacher introduces it to her. Most often, she takes not more than a few days, three maximum to learn a piece on the piano, with both hands. Then there is the group lessons with the other kids and end of semester performace. She is not afraid of the stage and she is a natural. Here is a site that tells you more about it. We are in Memphis, TN , USA and Suzuki is a popular teaching of Piano here.
Studies show that it also develops the children's brain and they are more adapt at learning math at a quick pace, understanding concepts easily. I already see that in her when some new math concept is introduced to her. While other kids struggle, she has no problem whatsoever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_method

Karma to you, that does look great. My five yr old goes for Suzuki piano and had started at 3 and a half. They still have not started her on notes, and this will be good to introduce it to her. She listens and plays at amazing speed.

Hi, is anyone using this program from Memphis, TN?? Love to hear from you..