My baby CAN read too!! We have been doing the YBCR program as well since she was 3 months or so and she LOVES it, she actually demands her reading time. I noticed when she was about 19 months old that every time she saw the written word NO she would say to me 'no', then about 20 months old she was playing with the flash cards that come with the book and she was reading them without looking at the pictures. Then I tested her with the same 6 words I heard her reading in books, I read aloud the book with my finger on the bottom of the word and when we got to the words I knew she recognized I would stop and asked her 'what does it say?' and she would read them to me!!
My husband didn't believe me at first and when he saw her he was so happy and proud, and after that her vocabulary has been adding up to her reading words.

Funny thing she does not talk that much because I speak to her in spanish so she is building her vocabulary in both languages, but I am not worry because her pronunciation in both languages is perfect!

This is my blog about our Suzuki progress with my 6 year old boy. It is very recent, but I would like to get other Suzuki parents interested in starting a conversation on strategies to keep up the motivation of practicing at home.

http://suzukiingaapassionforparenting.blogspot.com/

Great! That is actually the most important thing in the beginning, that the child loves and feels comfortable with the instrument. You started quite early in the program, we were told that 3 years old is the earliest they teach the kids. Your daughter must be ahead with milestones as, especially with violin, requires a LOT of hand-eye coordination.

I hope we can keep in touch!

Hello Reei,

Thanks for the note! I have checked your blog and the blog you suggested. My blog is pretty recent so I have a couple of posts but lots of ideas that I would like to share with other fellow Suzuki parents or parents who are considering to enroll their children in the program. I think that a parents perspective is always helpful.
I hope you find my blog interesting. How long have you been practicing with your daughter?, what is your experience so far with the Suzuki program? I would love to hear your opinion on this!

Thanks!
FlashMom11

Hi Everyone!

I just started to blog about our journey with the Suzuki method, we have been taking lessons for 3 years now. I would like to hear from other Suzuki parents, and if you have a blog let me know, I would love to check it out.

http://suzukiingaapassionforparenting.blogspot.com/

Thanks!!

Would like to help too! let me know what's needed.

To kizudo,

I can see why the Suzuki teachers would not take a kid younger than 3 years old:

The Suzuki method starts teaching kids to play an instrument, not general music but a formal instrument. The size of the child then it is very important since they have to be able to hold properly or sit properly in front of such instrument.

If you do violin:

- The instrument is very fragile and even a 3 year old is not very coordinated, the 1/32 violins are still pricey, if it breaks or if the bow breaks, to replace it can be frustrating for any parent. Besides, size in this instrument matters because the child needs to be able to have an arm long enough to reach the 'neck' of the violin and hold the strings, also the child needs to be able to hold the violin with his neck and learn to not let go.

- There is a lot of hand eye coordination required specifically for this instrument, both hands do 2 different things all the time. Even for 3 years old it takes a while to hear them playing something like the 'twinkles'.

The classes usually are a one on one, so they can be pricey as well, and since they do not push the kid to perform at an specific level, if your child takes his time learning, the process might seem long for some parents until you see some fruits.

if you play piano:

-Same thing, the child needs to be able to reach the keynotes with both hands. Now they have very nice benches that go up and down.

-This instrument is much more kid friendly than violin, is hard to break , no need for a lot of fine motor skills in the beginning, however they will be acquired. And as a parent, you will not have the same amount of stress while practicing at home since this is very important for teaching your child at home, it reflects much better and faster in the fruits or progress of your child. Teaching at home needs to be a happy experience.

We did for a year both instruments, and a lot of parents I know with 3 year olds switched to piano because of the reasons I gave above.
I am not a musician, but I am learning as well, and I had to take a semester in violin so I can understand better how my child feels with the instrument and how to approach him better, I loved violin but believe me it is not an easy instrument .

I still would like him to go back to violin at some point, maybe in a year, but for now he is doing well at piano.

If you want to introduce your child to general music concepts I know there is Kindermusic for babies, etc. I am not familiar with that system, never attended a class, but I know you can start those as early as babies.

I am sticking to the Suzuki method and teaching my baby girl the same way.

HTH and sorry for the long email!

Hi,

I think learning music is like learning another language with the benefit that it seems to improve math skills as well. Also it has a layer of learning how to express emotions using it as an outlet.

Anyhow, I enrolled my son in the Suzuki program when he was 3, he is 5 now, and started with violin and piano, but we are down to only piano for now. I love the method, and my 5 month old daughter gets the benefits as well as she is exposed to the class and practice at home.

Since he was a baby I exposed him to classical music, took him to concerts for kids or watch videos in youtube. Also we always had toy instruments so he could be familiar with different sounds etc.

I am from Mexico, so fluent in spanish and english. Would love to help as I'm currently working on raising my 2 kids trilingual.

Let me know 

My son, who just turned 5, does not like writing either, he especially does not like to write with pencils since he has to apply some pressure to it. He rather write with the magnetic doodle pad and with markers.
I practiced everyday with him since he was 4 years old on a "writers notebook" where I would write the words (his name, mom, dad, simple letters, etc) with a yellow marker and he only needed to follow the yellow lines to practice how to write.
He was never excited to do it, we did stickers charts as well but that was not enough motivation. I bribed him as well with small treats but that did not hold his interest long enough, for example, he will never ask to do the writing activities.
I bought for him an art easel but it was not interesting for him, I got him sidewalk chalk and same story.
So I quit asking him to practice writing.

One day his dad came to the table with a big roll of paper and a bunch of markers, he unrolled the paper on the table and told him "we will write a story together" and then my son was so excited that he actually would spend hors drawing and writing the story with his dad, and he requested to do the activity again several times.

Thanks for the links! Does anyone know where can I find some flags of the countries around the world flashcards? I have been looking for those without luck.

Thanks!

Hi!

I actually have a question regarding using the GD dots cards. Is it true that most babies won't retain the skill of perceiving the right number of dots in each card beyond age 3?
What do you know about this?
I just started teaching these cards to my 3 month old, and when I read this online I wondered "what's the point then?"

Please advise, or share your experience. 

Thanks a lot!

For what I've read LR seems much more complete, however it is not compatible with Macs (which is why we didn't buy it). I just ordered YBCR, it is much more affordable than LR, plus you might be able to even buy it from craigslist used and save more money.
If you can afford LR and have a PC at home then invest in that program.

I have not received my YBCR yet, but I'm excited about it! hopefully I won't be disappointed.

Good luck!

We only have iMacs at home and recently acquired and iPad for our kids as well, so would love to have an application for that if posible. Thanks!

Thanks Xia!

That is one Genius maker, but there is another Genius Maker program, I believe a series of DVDs, like YBCR. Please see link below:

http://inhometutoringhi.com/GeniusBaby/index.htm

Does anyone have any feedback on this product?

Thanks in advance!