Hi Tamsyn,

Just bought the download.  Thanks for creating this product, I think it will be very helpful!!  Congrats!!

The Soft Mozart definitely looks interesting. 

I had what you had Tamsyn, I had memorized the first note of my audition piece in school and could find my notes relative to that pitch. 
Obtaining perfect pitch for my kids is not a priority with me either.  You can be an excellent performer without it. 

I do show Little Musician to my girls, and they love it.  I'm intrigued by the possibility that they could develop perfect pitch at a young age just by showing the program.  It's very little effort to do so. 

The only reason I'd make developing perfect pitch a priority is if I wanted a professional musical career for my kids, or the possibility of a musical career, it would definitely make it easier for them.  I noticed that the conductors and composers in school all seemed to have perfect pitch, not every musician had it however.

Brainy Baby 123s:

http://www.amazon.com/Brainy-Baby-123s/dp/B000063UYP

Brainy Baby Shapes and Colors:

http://www.amazon.com/Brainy-Baby-Shapes-Moira-Stott/dp/B000063UYM

I'm not sure about the other DVDs in the Brainy Baby series.  But after I saw signs of my girls reading, I showed these to them.  They learned their ABCs, 123s, and Shapes and Colors, no problem. 

That is a very good point.  Those little magnets are particularly dangerous, your child could land in the ER if swallowed.  Also those radio button batteries you often find in toys.  Our pediatrician specifically mentioned these two items.

The Brainy Baby Dvds work!  We used ABC's and 123's and Shapes and Colors.  Absolutely recommend. 

arvi,

You can use the Kumon books to get an idea of what the worksheets would look like:

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Simple-Addition-Kumon-Workbooks/dp/1933241004/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348804990&sr=1-1&keywords=kumon+simple+addition

http://www.amazon.com/Grade-Addition-Kumon-Math-Workbooks/dp/1933241497

http://www.amazon.com/Grade-Addition-Kumon-Math-Workbooks/dp/1933241519

But these are very abbreviated versions of what you would actually receive in the center.  There is alot of repetition of worksheets when actually taking the course.  You could laminate the workbook sheets to reuse for practice using dry erase markers, or put them in sheet protectors.  But pencil use is ideal. 

Here is a site I found that would allow you to generate worksheets: 
http://themathworksheetsite.com/

Jones Geniuses has their own worksheets that you can print out as well. 

I hope this helps!

So my daughter is now 4 1/2 now.  A couple of months ago she was accelerated out of the Junior Kumon into regular Kumon, and is now doing plus 6 addition.  She is breezing through it to the amazement of the center instructor.  This is because I finally tried the Jones Geniuses Matrix Math system, which I actually intended for my 2 year old.  The Matrix Math system is great, can't say enough good things about it.  We always start our math sessions with the Matrix Math subtraction worksheets, and I think it really helps with her addition.  We modified the dot placement slightly though because she was very insistent on placing the dots a certain way, so we compromised and settled on a dot placement that made sense to both us.   

I had tried using number lines to teach addition previously, the floor mat and the desk tape version, but those only helped doing up to plus 3 addition. 

Not sure if she is ready for it, but just purchased the Jones Geniuses Math 3 Facts Master for when we are ready to start multiplication, which will be at least a couple of months from now. 

Lori,

Great to hear that your daughter's ability and your efforts are being recognized! That's very encouraging.  What else are they working on at the moment? Many of the surrounding towns have half day, but our town has full day kindergarten as well.   

Raz-kids looks like a great website, LDSMom, I'm definitely intrigued. I just got a subscription to Dreambox, my daughter is really enjoying it. 

Hi Lori,

My child will be starting public kindergarten, not this year, but the following year.  I am also nervous about the outcome.  Because of the early teaching that I've done, my child is advanced as well.  From what I've heard, the public school system is resistent to accommodating children with advanced skills, it's really up to the parent to advocate for their child.  I'm not looking forward to having to deal with administration if I feel that my child is not being challenged enough.  But I have yet to see...

That said, I have "gifted" siblings and friends who have done very well in the public school system, and they were accommodated in their high school years.  In the end, it is really up to the parent to focus attention on and provide what their child needs academically etc., no matter what school they attend.

Good luck to you daughter!  Would be interested in hearing about her adventure!!

Sonya,

I trained in Suzuki violin in the early years, starting at 5 years old.  It gave me a jump start, and then continued in later years with a private teacher who used his own method.  When I went to conservatory, we were required to learn sight singing solfege and piano, which I hadn't done before.  When I decide to start teaching my kids, I'd definitely start sight singing and piano as soon as I thought they were capable of learning them.

Good luck to your son, he's doing great!!

TmT,

Had a Melissa and Doug abacus lying around, did exactly as you suggested.  It's a great teaching tool, very glad I did it. 

Thanks!!

DadDude,

We love Reading Bear! And your Fleschcards too for that matter.  It works just fine on IE in Windows 7. 

My comment is also up on Quora. 

Thank you!

Kerileanne99,

The amount of math (and everything else) you do with your child is amazing and inspiring! Thanks for your many wonderful ideas!  Did buy the RightStart Math Card Games Kit (with the place value cards) according to your recommendation.  Also will buy the hundred pocket chart to teach my child skip counting (she can already do 2's, 5's and 10's, but thinking of doing the other numbers to set her up for multiplication).  And would like to get some of those games you've mentioned. 

Here are some websites you and your child might enjoy to practice basic math facts, not sure if you've seen them yet:

http://www.fun4thebrain.com/addition.html

http://hoodamath.com/

They were mentioned to me by parents of grade school kids, and they're free!

Mandabplus3,

I suppose unlike the flute, tape isn't used to adjust pitch on a violin.  So I would say changing pitch isn't normally an argument against using tape on the fingerboard in the beginning stages.

One of the first steps of learning to play the violin is mainly kinesthetic, I believe.  The tapes are like "training wheels" for the beginner student to learn how to place the hands, where to put the fingers.  Once the student has memorized finger placement and has solidified the hand frame, the tapes come off. 

My very first violin was made out of a margarine box with a ruler attached to it with masking tape and a dowel for a bow, to practice stance and how to hold the violin and bow.

There were also tape markers on the bow, half bow for shorter notes, whole bow for longer notes. 

I listened to the Suzuki pieces on recordings and then played them by ear, with the markers as guides.   

As a mature musician, I later "rediscovered" that really the best way to improve my intonation was to record myself playing scales, lots and lots of scales. That sort of practice really provided a solid foundation for learning performance pieces. 

As far as perfect pitch is concerned, I can memorize a pitch and hunt around from there, but absolute pitch seems pretty unattainable for
me as an adult.  I agree that it may be possible for children to attain it, however.  My kids have already amazed me when learning how to read at the age of 1 (thanks to Dr. Titzer, Little Reader, and don't forget DadDude's Fleschcards), so who knows what else they are capable of if I start early enough? 

Actually, I do have a background in violin, started when I was 5 years old with the Suzuki method.  Just recently purchased the Little Musician per TmT's recommendation (my kids love it!), intrigued with the idea that a child could develop perfect pitch.  I have relative pitch, not perfect pitch, but never studied solfege or piano until I went to conservatory. 

When I began learning the violin, I had strips of colored tape adhered across the fingerboard under the strings as a guide.  So on the A string, open A, B, C#, D, E, for instance.

I looked up finger position guides for violin, found this on the internet:

http://www.sharmusic.com/Shop-Shar/Accessories/Studio/Teaching-Aids/Don-t-Fret-Position-Indicator-for-Violin.axd

http://www.fretlessfingerguides.com/

Never tried them before.  They might be difficult to position on the violin (see review), but worth a look.