[the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby]

Recently with Hunter, I have been teaching him scripture memorization in three ways. The first one is teaching individual verses "bit-style". That is, I write verses on index cards and read him five of them in the same way I teach bits - simply reading it aloud quickly and properly labeling it. For example, saying "Proverbs 1:7. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction" and then saying "Proverbs 1:8. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother", etc.

The second way I teach them is by reading though whole chapters. For example, reading through the entire first chapter of Proverbs once or twice a day. I actually have a tape that I play for him once a day while he plays, and again while he naps. This tape has a recording of me reading through the entire book of Proverbs.

I prefer teaching him whole chapters and books rather than me picking out individual, secluded verses that I deem the "most important". I would like whole chapter memorization to be a habit for him throughout his life. It is very easy for little children to memorize whole passages if they have enough exposure to them. When I think about all the brain space he has available to him, I think the most important and useful things that space can be used for is scripture.

The third thing I do is to simply read aloud a few chapters from the Bible each day after breakfast and after lunch. I will simply read it when I'm done with my food, before we clear the table. I read three chapters at each meal which takes about ten minutes. At that rate, we read through the entire Bible twice each year. He's not specifically memorizing what we read, but he is getting a lot of exposure to the scriptures and becoming familiar with it by reading through it that often. By the time he is 13 (ten years from now) we will have read through the Bible twenty times.

You can use this method for your two-year-old, simply reading individual verses or whole chapters aloud once or twice a day, but don't leave out the baby! Although she may not understand a lot of it, she probably understands a lot more than you think! My theory instead of waiting until you think they can understand, read to them so SO THAT they will understand. That is how we handle talking to our children, right? We don't wait until our baby knows English before we start speaking to them - we speak to them from the minute they're born SO THAT they will learn to understand it. Remember what Jesus said that "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." And also, "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby" There's a lot even your baby can get out of it, and even if she does not fully understand the words and concepts, she can still appreciate the beautiful language, is growing her brain, and most importantly is developing a love of the word of God.

"...from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 1 Timothy 3:15

No, I have never used a consistent orientation and Doman recommends against that. When I first began this method with my son I wondered about that, whether he was truly recognizing the actual quantity or he had just memorized a pattern. But very soon I found out that he really was recognizing the quantity, as I not only had been changing the orientation but had actually been using totally different cards. I have used about a half dozen different sets of cards over the months, from the square ones that I made with red label stickers to powerpoint slide shows (which used a different pattern every time it was shown) to stamped handmade cards to rectangular black ones I printed out on the computer. Using different patterns has never bothered him the slightest, so I know that he is not simply memorizing the pattern on a card because he knows "96" no matter how the dots are arranged.

As for the studies that demonstrate that babies cannot subitize numbers beyond the number three, it may be true that the babies failed these scientists' tests but that doesn't exactly prove that babies cannot understand numbers. I think a big problem with a lot of research that is done on young children is that they are more out to measure what children are doing rather than what they are capable of doing.

For instance, we have probably all heard of the famous test that Piaget performed on preschoolers, which supposedly proved that they were void of a sense of what we call number conservation. Piaget showed a young child two rows of objects and asked him if one row had more, or if they both had the same amount. The child said they were both equal, but then when Piaget took one row and spread the objects further apart (in front of the child), when the question was asked again the child then said that the row that was spread further apart had more. Piaget then concluded that children do not develop "number conservation" until they are seven years old.

Although many studies now prove this experiment to be a poor measurement of three- and four-year-olds' mathematical abilities, and that children really do have a developed sense of number conservation long before age seven (or even three) it is an example of how scientific experiments can be used to demonstrate things that may not be entirely accurate. I recently read of how this same "number conservation" experiment was repeated on two- to four-year-olds, except this time they used M&M candies rather than marbles. Even the two-year-olds consistently chose the bottom row (which had six M&Ms close together) rather than the top row (which had four M&Ms spread far apart). The child certainly understood which one had more, all he needed was a little motivation (more candy for him!).

If we did a study of the reading abilities of your average one-year-olds, we could certainly conclude that most one-year-olds cannot read and most kids do not read until the age of five or six. But that does not prove that one-year-olds cannot read, simply that most don't. All in all, young babies may not be able to pass that particular scientist's test but that doesn't mean that they can't understand math, perhaps, as in the experiment with Piaget, it was the test that was lacking, not the babies.

If you are talking to him consistently I wouldn't be too concerned. My nephew Anthony, who just turned two, didn't start talking until he was about 20 months old. He said a few words here and there, but not as much as we would have liked. We were a bit concerned, not a lot, just a little, but now we can't get him to stop! He talks very well and many people comment on how good he talks for a two-year-old.

My son had the same "breakthrough" type experience with talking, except he had his speaking-burst at about 15 months old. I remember when the "breakthrough" first started he would be saying one or two new words every day, and I wrote down each one of them for his baby book. However, by the time he was 16 months old he was saying so many new words a day that I couldn't even try to keep track of them. Anthony had the exact same thing, except his breakthrough started when he was 20 months old. The point is that all kids are different - maybe your little guy will start speaking next month, maybe not till he turns two! It doesn't make him any more or less intelligent, just different.

The best thing you can do to encourage him to talk and to give him a firm foundation of understanding the meanings of words is to talk to him non-stop. There is a thread discussing the product "LENA" which is basically a little machine the size of a deck of cards that you're supposed to attach to your baby to see how many words they're hearing each day. The ideal amount of words a child should be hearing between the ages of birth and 3 years is about 20,000 - 30,000 a day. The product "LENA" costs several hundred dollars but in this post we talk about why you don't need an expensive word-counting-machine to give your baby an optimal language development environment and can keep track of how much you talk to your baby without this pricey equipment. The link is here: http://forum.brillkids.com/general-discussion-b5/lena-enhance-language-development/msg5693/#msg5693

So, in short, as long as you're talking and interacting with your toddler and encouraging him to talk you have no reason for concern, all kids are simply different. Encouraging him to talk is as simple as if, for example, he wants his cup that is on the counter do not allow him to simply whine and point at it - instead ask him "Do you want your CUP? Say CUP!" and encourage him at least attempt to speak instead of allowing him to point or whine. Hope this helps!

I have also made some word cards with matching things that are tactile such as bubble wrap, sand paper, felt etc... He is seeing new words, but also gets to feel things which he really seems to enjoy during this stage of his development.   

That's a great idea for little ones! Thanks for sharing!

Bravo, linzy! These are excellent POIs with very interesting and useful facts! Karma to you! 

Yes, texaslady is right, and Doman talks a lot about that. Once a baby learns how to crawl that will generally be his driving passion, and he will be so busy he won't have much time for cards. You can try just showing them to him while he's temporarily confined (like texaslady said, during mealtime or bath time, or when he's in his car seat, etc.) or you can also try showing him just one or two cards at a time. You may try putting his cards away for a couple days or even a week or more and then bring them back out again. Putting them temporarily away, and then bringing them out for very, very brief sessions later on, may revive his interest.

In the thread "maths equations" I posted Doman's recommendations for teaching a 7-12 month old. It might be very helpful to you. The link is here: http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-math/maths-equations/msg6357/#msg6357

And above all, as before mentioned, keep in mind that this is just a phase of his development. Remember that he will NOT be 7 months old forever, and children change SO much in such a short amount of time. Just think about how different he is now from three months ago, or even one month ago. The same will be true in one and six months from now, he will be a totally different child!

At this point in his life physical mobility takes the all-important role. Just think that in just 12 months children go from a sedentary, immobile baby at six months old to a walking, running, and jumping little boy at 18 months old! That is a LOT of work! So just go with it, support him in his new development, and find out what works for this new child of yours whether it's putting the cards away for a while, only showing one or two at a time, or finding new ways to get him interested.

[It is not a subject that we ever attempted to keep secret. They learned about it at the same rate that they learned how a car works or about the sun and moon. We always had animals and were very forth-right about the mama dog being in heat and “Wish those boy dogs would go home.” Although, we always enjoyed a new batch of pups or kittens, and we tried to see the babies being born. I remember getting a book at the library and learning (with my children) that a female dog can carry pups from three different males at one time, so the pups can come out looking like poodles, hounds, and chows. We went looking in the library for this information because we had a litter of puppies that appeared to be from three different male dogs. When life is lived naturally, the natural part of life is understood naturally. Many people on our mailing list that have animals are smiling as they read this. They think the city-slickers are funny in making this an issue. As for how to, or when to, talk to a child who is raised in the city and has not observed animals, I don't know; you figure it out and write me so I can pass on the info.]

Are you referring to discussing reproduction with your child? Or are there also other topics in this area you are worried about discussing?

I always thought that parents never discussed reproduction with their children until the child hit puberty, but I remember reading a little excerpt from an article on the website nogreaterjoy.org that really changed my thinking on the matter. A lady asked when was the proper time to discuss reproduction with your child and their answer was:

It is not a subject that we ever attempted to keep secret. They learned about it at the same rate that they learned how a car works or about the sun and moon. We always had animals and were very forth-right about the mama dog being in heat and “Wish those boy dogs would go home.” Although, we always enjoyed a new batch of pups or kittens, and we tried to see the babies being born. I remember getting a book at the library and learning (with my children) that a female dog can carry pups from three different males at one time, so the pups can come out looking like poodles, hounds, and chows. We went looking in the library for this information because we had a litter of puppies that appeared to be from three different male dogs. When life is lived naturally, the natural part of life is understood naturally. Many people on our mailing list that have animals are smiling as they read this. They think the city-slickers are funny in making this an issue. As for how to, or when to, talk to a child who is raised in the city and has not observed animals, I don't know; you figure it out and write me so I can pass on the info.

I don't live with animals (at least not with animals that are reproducing) but I plan on exposing Hunter to these types of things from a young age, just as I am exposing him to things about art, history, science, and math. He already understands quite a bit of this. That's just my take on it though, is there anything else specific that you were looking for?

This topic has been moved to Teaching Your Child - Other Topics.

http://forum.brillkids.com/index.php?topic=2382.0

When my mom was a little girl, her dad was REALLY big on Santa Claus. One year when she was in 3rd grade (so 8 or 9 years old!) a discussion came up on the playground at school about how Santa wasn't real, and my mom defended Santa, telling off all the other kids and saying how her dad says he's real and he would never lie to her. When she got home, she asked about it and her parents, assuming she was old enough to hear the truth, told her the reality. To say the least, she was crushed and humiliated, not only because her parents had been lying to her all these years and that the whole meaning of Christmas (to her at least) was all fake, but that she had made a fool of herself in front of all the other kids. So growing up, my family never played the whole Santa thing.

For us, as a compromise with Hunter's paternal Grandma (who is really big on Santa) we talk about Santa and say how he's a fun thing to pretend, and also talk about who Santa was (St. Nicholas). This year Hunter has learned about him a lot, like when he lived (A.D. 300's) and how he was a dedicated Christian (he was actually imprisoned once for his refusal to deny the name of Christ) and how he was known for his generosity (like with the story of the dowry down the chimney). With these things in mind, he learned why St. Nicholas has become a symbol of generosity and giving and why gift-giving and laying out stockings and such are a fun way to pretend and remind us of the generosity and Christ-like love this man showed. However we do tend to capitalize on the fact that the main reason why we give gifts is in remembrance of what God did for us, giving us the greatest gift of all, his only begotten son. That's our main focus during this season, Santa is just a little extra on the side.

So, he knows that Santa is not "real" (i.e. that he does not literally fly in a sled and does not literally put gifts in our living room) but at the same time, he's not going to go around telling little kids (or his Grandma) that Santa is a phony. To him, Santa is a fun game we play to remind us of a good man who lived long ago. When someone asks him about Santa he will simply think they're in on the game. We don't focus on Santa much because I would rather be concentrating on the true reason for the season, but at least his Grandma is happy and he's having a little fun playing a game and learning some history in the meantime.

I have a hard time justifying flat-out lying to him, that is, if my child ever asked me "Is Santa real?" (as Hunter did a few months ago) telling him "Sure he is!" Some people even keep telling their kids this even after they're old enough to ask such questions as "How does he get to all the children in the world in one night?" or "How does he live in the North Pole if it's so cold?" or "How does he get into houses that don't have chimneys?" I think that playing Santa is one thing, but to continue creating a bigger and bigger lie as the children grow older and inquire about it can be, to say the least, damaging once they figure out what has been going on the whole time. I strongly believe that parents should never lie to their kids, even if it's "just for fun" - the children often don't view it as fun, and it can destroy their confidence. But of course, each parent has to decide for themselves how they will or will not celebrate this tradition, we should just be sure we're deciding for ourselves rather than simply doing something because it's the way it's always been done.

Hungary
Turkey
Malta
Bangladesh
Estonia

[raspberry]

kiwi, mango, papaya, raspberry, pomegranate, starfruit, Watermelon, coconut, apple, Guava, orange, grapes, rumbutan, blueberry, persimmon, rumberrys, blackberry, banana, jackfruit, pear, strawberry, persimmon, sweetsop (also called sugar-apple or atis), gooseberry, bannana, peach, lemon, plum, orange, lychee, cranberry, avocado, tomato, cherry, pineapple, lime, lumicell, apricot, plum, honey dew,cantaloupe, raspberry, mangosteen,chestnut, dates, tangerine, sugarcane, pomegranet,almonds, cacao, nectarine, dragon fruit, strawberry, apricot, chiku, rasberry, mexican apple, Granny Smith apple, albicocca

  ... I think we need to check what others have wrote to see if it is already on the list.  But other than that keep up the great list! 

......boysenberry,

[I'm just outside Chicago]

No fair! I'm just outside Chicago and we've had weather in the teen's lately, we're under 3 inches of snow at the moment. It has been snowing here since mid-November!

With all the effort, energy, and heart I put into Hunter's cards, they're going to be around for a while! I plan to use them with my future children and pass them onto the next generation.

Most "flashcards" aren't aren't all that meaningful but the bits that I make are made to be around for a while, using beautiful, high-quality pictures and laminating each one, and accompanying each one with hard-researched information. I've spent so many hours of time and dollars of money pouring into each set and hope they will be around for many generations. I think our bits are our most valuable and sentimental heirlooms!

It is somewhat of an inconvenience, though, that people are so attached to the cards they've spent so many hours creating, because it's all but impossible to find someone selling Doman materials. And I know there's got to be tons of parents out there who have done the Doman programs (as the books have sold over a million copies and hundreds have attended their course). However some people do sell theirs so it's always worth a try!

Yes!  I am also interested in the "correct" way to point.  Can you elaborate?

Chispa, a great post on word-pointing was discussed in the Native Reading thread:

http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-to-read/native-reading/msg7506/#msg7506

[When this is done this list will be great for teaching encyclopedic knowledge bits of fruits around the world! If anyone has an special fruit from their country be sure to add it to this list!]

kiwi, mango, papaya, raspberry, pomegranate