I'm raffling 3 x 25% off Little Math coupons for anyone who is interested...

http://figur8.net/baby/2013/11/04/encouraging-early-numeracy-with-brillkids-little-math-discount-coupons/

Some of you maybe familiar with a series of Math apps called "Splash Math"... Recently, they launched an online version for families who don't have tablets. We were invited to write a review and they are giving away a free year's membership. There is also a 30% off discount for a limited time so do drop by and check it out...

http://figur8.net/baby/2013/10/29/introducing-splash-math-online-plus-giveaway-and-promotion/

Thanks!

I'm offering little reader discount coupons on my blog for anyone who is interested... Not many takers at the moment so your chances are good! :-)

http://figur8.net/baby/2013/10/19/celebrating-early-literacy-with-brillkids-little-reader-discount-coupons/

Reminds me of that chapter in Nurture Shock on the "lost hour".

Sleep studies performed on children are revealing that a single lost hour of sleep a night can reduce academic performance, affect emotional stability, and increase the incidence of medical conditions such as obesity and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). They found that a single lost hour of sleep could result in 6th grade children performing at the level of a 4th grader.

http://figur8.net/baby/2009/10/26/nurture-shock-chapter-2-the-lost-hour/

We recently got my son an e-reader because I got tired of carting books around and my son was getting through books so quickly my hubby was complaining about our book expenses (don't have good libraries here either). If you've got an e-reader and are looking for classics for kids, there is an excellent collection of 225 books for $49.95 (you can choose Kindle format or ePub):

http://www.yesterdaysclassics.com/o/hsf.php

If you're looking for an e-reader, you can check out our experiences with the Kobo Touch and Sony PRS-T2 here:

http://www.figur8.net/e-book-readers-sony-prs-t2-versus-kobo-touch-versus-ipad/

I know most people get a kindle but kindle doesn't sell books to this part of the world :-( and most of my collection is in ePub so I wanted a e-reader that supported the format I had, which Kindle doesn't.

Hi Neptune,

It may be to early at this point. Kids are all different and some will show progress earlier and others later. For my two boys it was also very different but both are reading well now. My oldest is 6 years old and he devours Enid Blyton books because she's one of his favourite authors right now. My youngest is 3 years and he reads short books and likes to read the words on signs and posters.

I learned my lesson the hard way with my eldest son. When he was 5 months old, I started signing with him. I stopped after a month when he did not sign back. I thought he was "too young". When he was nearly a 1 year old, he signed "fish" and pointed to some fish in a pond. Even though we had not been signing for nearly 6 months!

So my philosophy now is, just do it (as Nike says) and expect nothing. Your child will surprise you when you least expect it. :-) Good luck!

Hi Nicki,

Some kids have phases. This might not be her math phase. My sons were the same. Older son never really liked numbers but loved reading and anything related to alphabets. My younger son was the reverse. He started off loving Little Math more than Little Reader. After a while, he started to like LR more than LM. At another time Little Musician was his favourite. There were periods when he didn't want one or the other and I would just take the opportunity to focus on the one the likes and let him decide whether he wants to do the others. If he didn't, I'd just leave it out. I found that as long as I made sure not to force it, he would eventually find a time when he would want to do it.

You can try supplementing with other number games that might get her interested in numbers and hold off Little Math for a while. Once she decides that numbers are fun, she will get excited about Little Math.

Hope that helps!
Shen-Li.

EL17 - Sorry for the late reply. I used to make up my own stories for my son while he closed his eyes and imagined the images to my story. It could be at bedtime or just some quiet time during the day. As far as I recall, the important part of imaging is to engage all the senses. Don't just talk about things your child should see, but what you can taste, smell, feel and hear.

For example...

Today, we are sitting in a forest. There is a waterfall nearby and the water is crashing down upon the rocks with a sound like thunder. The air smells crisp and clear. We go over to the water and taste the icy cold mountain water.... and so on.

Another thing you can do, if you don't want to come up with your own scenarios is to play audio stories. Learn Out Loud has a lot you can download - some are free.

http://kids.learnoutloud.com/

I hope that helps!

Oh yes, I had the same problem initially as TMT, too - oversupply. I also made the same mistake of pumping to relieve the pressure. Felt like I had rocks in there. I was told you can place a cabbage leaf over your breast (http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mother/engorgement/).

We were lucky over here with formula samples. The hospital I was at had a breastfeeding policy so they weren't allowed to give out samples or even feed our babies formula unless we'd signed a form to show that we OK'd it. The Ministry of Health here promotes breastfeeding so even the formula promoters at the supermarkets have to leave me alone if I tell them I breastfeed. They're not allowed to push their products to breastfeeding mothers.

I did have overbearing relatives who said I should keep a tin of formula on hand "just in case". I was so scared that they would sabotage me and feed my baby formula while I was sleeping that I forbade the hubby from buying a tin. I got rid of all the bottles we were given, too, just to make it that much harder. Yes, I was very determined to breastfeed and very paranoid about sabotage (because it happened to a number of other mothers I knew).

Also, KellyMom was my main "goto" site for information on breastfeeding. Anything I wasn't sure about (e.g. what meds are okay to take, problems with mastitis, etc.) It's awesome! Check it out here:

http://kellymom.com/

I completely agree with Tamsyn, Humbler, and TMT. It does hurt at the start but I reckon that's because our nipples aren't used to the friction from our baby's tongue. It takes a while for the skin to toughen up and then it doesn't hurt any more. Like TMT, I also thought I was doing something wrong because it hurt. Luckily, I had a friend who went through it all before me and her encouragement was what kept me going. She said, and I quote, "Just tell yourself everyday: 'Just one more day'." Before you know it, you'll be breastfeeding like a pro.

If you find you can't tolerate the pain, I also recommend what Humbler said - use the nipple shield. It really helped me as well. The other thing I used was Bepanthen ointment. It can be used as a diaper cream or for applying to sore/cracked nipples. I would apply a little on after every feed. It's formulated for this purpose so you don't have to wipe it off before your baby nurses again.

I nursed my elder boy all the way through my second pregnancy so when I started nursing my second child, I didn't have any pain the second time around. My cousin who stopped, said she felt the pain again at the start but it goes away pretty quick after.

The thing is to make sure you have a proper latch (you can get the lactation consultant to check) so you know it isn't hurting because of incorrect attachment. After that, it's just a matter of time before the pain goes away. Hang in there. It's really really worth it. I find it easier to bf because I don't have to get up at night to fiddle with milk bottles and making sure the temperature is right. I even fall asleep while I'm nursing (we co-sleep). Sometimes it's so automatic, I'll wake up to find my son suckling and I don't remember waking up to nurse him.

I also do NOT recommend alternating - as in one day bf and one day formula. The way breastfeeding works is that the milk is produced on demand. If your baby doesn't suckle, your body makes less milk. This is the biggest mistake of a lot of mothers here - they think they do not have enough milk and then they supplement with formula thinking that it just takes time for their breastmilk to come in but they don't realise that they are sabotaging their milk supply in the process.

What I also recommend is having a strong support - people who fully support your decision to breastfeed. It's a tough time, especially the first time around. You don't need people criticising you or telling you why you should formula feed. Tell your hubby to deal with these people (get rid of them) and surround yourself only with those who support you. The hardest part I experienced was having an overbearing relative breathing down my neck and making unhelpful comments like, "Oh, he's so angry because he can't get any milk." And this is all while I'm struggling to get my baby to latch on properly. Also make sure your hubby is fully on board. With all the naysayers around us, even my hubby was a bit uncertain at times.

So hang in there. It really, really is worth it.

MamaOfWill - I'm going to reiterate what the others have said. Some kids like the "testing" games and others don't. Sometimes even the same child can go through phases of enjoying it and then not wanting to play the games any more.

Then you have kids like my older son - who answers initially and after a while looks at you like you're treating him like a circus performer. My mother was so proud of his "abilities" that she would often ask him test questions just to see what he could do. Once I caught him rolling his eyes at a test question she gave him so I quickly intervened.

Seriously, these are signs that indicate you should back off on the "testing". My second son also refused to answer for the longest time so I just focused on input without asking him anything. Now he's come out of his shell and he's volunteering a lot more. He reads random words off billboards and signs when we're out and about.

You know he can do it so just relax and concentrate on input.

Oh yeah, there is also another reason... children love being read to so they might not want to show you how much they can read so that you continue to read to them. That's what my elder son would do. Even though he can read by himself, he would still rather have me read to him. He would pretend he couldn't do a lot of things so that I would help him. It's just his way of getting attention.

I didn't realize there were going to be so many wonderful changes to LR with the new update.  I was on day 138 in the English curriculum before the update, and I was wondering should I start over with day one of first semester since there are some obvious differences.  Or should I just continue from the day we were on before the update?

Yeah, we loved the new changes so much that I went back and started all over and continued the lessons back to back with where we were up to... My son already knows the old content but he still enjoys going through the material again.

For those who have UK English content, the v3 update for this is not yet available, but you can still use your old content in LR v3.

Any idea when UK v3 will be out? We are still using the beta curriculum.

I kept a list of audio book sites that I came across here:

http://figur8.net/baby/2010/09/15/the-value-of-reading-out-loud/

Oops, forgot to add, I moved my linking memory flash cards here:

http://www.figur8.net/linking-memory-flash-cards/

Sorry, I have not updated the page for a while because we got some physical cards from a friend and I just shuffle and play as if I'm reading tarot cards :-p

duyhoa83 - Yup. TMT is right. Right Brain Kids recommend starting linking memory later because they believe it encourages bridging of the left brain and ideally you want your child to remain in the right brain phase for as long as possible. Generally once language kicks in, the transition starts. That's what I understand anyway.

Shichida and Heguru - two other right brain education schools - however, practice linking memory right away. The idea behind linking memory is to create a crazy story that is so wild and impossible that it becomes memorable. The story is used to help you remember a list of items. I have noticed linking memory practiced in different ways. Some use the same cards and the same story over and over and gradually extend the story. I prefer the Heguru method of using a random story with random cards.

Using picture cards of all kinds of things, you make up a story that connects all the cards. Then cover the cards and see if your child can remember all the pictures. The general recommendation is to start with 3 cards and gradually increase the number of cards if your child finds it too easy. You can do it a few ways

- lay out the cards and then turn them over or cover them then get your child to tell them to you following the story you created.
- lay out the cards and then turn them over or cover them then ask your child to find the card with picture "X", for example.

You want to be able to stretch your child's memory until he or she is able to remember 40-50 cards at a go. According to the testimonials in Shichida's books, the teachers found that once a child could remember up to 40-50 cards at a go, something amazing happened and they developed the ability to remember everything at a glance without having to make up the stories to go along with it.