Hey! I've been doing LOTS of research about this whole "teaching young children math"... and was trying to determine... does my 2 year old NEED to know more than counting? He can count to twenty, and count physical objects, in groupings, up to 8, but I started feel inadequate, as I read more and more about "babies doing math". It sounded like a LOT of work... work my 2 year old would probably enjoy, but not "LOVE" to do. With several posts entitled "When should I teach my baby math"... it seemed absurd and unnecessary, but still... alluring. Then, I found this most interesting article.

If you're thinking of "Teaching you baby Math"... and putting in ALL the time and ALL the effort, to give your child a "leg up", I'd take a few minutes and read this, prior to diving in.

http://grhomeschooling.blogspot.com/2008/11/math-mystery.html

-Meg, Mother of Dexter, 2

Hi! I agree-- earlier the better, and you've GOT to be inventive... I think gradual introduction and repetition are really the key. My son is 2 1/2, and at 20 mos was when he finally mastered "reading" 1-9 (by sight) and then immediately started counting objects up to 8... We actually did the alphabet and numbers at the same time, and that worked wonderfully. It was just another character to him, so I think that helped. Later we started teaching that numbers and letters are different.

My FAVORITE learning tool for the alphabet AND numbers, were like $3 at Toys R us! They are FOAM LETTERS that you can bring in the bath tub! Which is great... because I was getting SO sick of "splash mommy" being the only game he played in the bath. We started slowly... about 3 letters at a time, then introduced more and more, and like I said, integrated numbers at the same time! It was fun to hide them in the bubbles and pull them out and yell "OH HI 'A'!!"... he thought that was a gas.

Hope you can take something small from this that helps! Good Luck!

[he's a TODDLER!!!]

Hi! My name is Meg, and I am new to Brillkids... I actually came across it by total accident, so that was pretty serendipitous, I hope! My son is 2 1/2, almost, and he can read all of his letters (uppercase... working on lowercase), and recognize Numbers 1-9, I haven't really tested him on anything higher, so I'm not sure, on top of 13 colors (basics), and like 8 shapes? So I think thus far, we are doing fairly well, definitely ahead of the curve among our friends, but I don't really care about that, I just want to do what I can to further his abilities... because he LOVES learning.

 I really have no clue where to start! We tried YBCR when he was really little (5 - 7 mos), and he was doing quite well, but then there were some things that turned our household upside down... ya know, life happened, so we stopped. We are recently started back up... but he's not interested. It was somewhat heart-wrenching, but I realized what the biggest problem was: he's a TODDLER!!! LoL! He got used to things having more "action" and much more fast paced. He doesn't watch a lot of TV, but when we do, it's Thomas the Tank Engine, SuperWhy, Dinosaur Train, Word World, and that's about it. YBCR is just NOT as interesting for someone that is at a "GO GO GO!" phase, and is much more into imaginary play... ALL DAY LONG... (makes for a VERY long day for Mommy, and Mommy's back & knees)!

That was long winded, but in case you skimmed: 2 1/2 yr old boy, has an uncanny knack for absorbing information the first time & retaining it, but finds Your Baby Can Read agonizingly slow... very into more fast paced & able to evolve into "creative play"... any ideas?

Thanks so much everyone!
-Meg (26) & Dexter (2.5)!