As a parent you will always get unsolicited advice. People like to throw in their two cents because they don't have the time/patience or desire to do stuff like that with their children. Plus there are those that don't have the ability to think outside of the box. Just because it says that in a book doesn't mean its necessarily true.

Just take it for what it was and move on. As long as both of you are enjoying learning how to read then keep moving on and enjoy! 

I will say even though I didn't learn about early reading until much later on. My youngest does very well with her school work. Teaching her isn't the effort it was with my older three children. She loves to read and loves to learn. So phooey on those who say it hurts them. It does not.

Ugh, not another ABC Leap Frog video. They already have the Letter Factory. Which actually the first three vidoes have been the best in the series.
My daughters learned to read with the Letter Factory, Talking Words Factory and Talking Words Factory 2, and some math with the Math Circus. Other then that the rest of their series really has been a HUGE flop. Which has been really disappointing.
If you want to teach them their letters and sounds , find the Letter Factory by Leap Frog.
I did see this video at our video rental store and was hoping it was maybe a dvd that taught reading words, rather than learning letters and sounds. One of their newest videos already does that, the Back to School one.

Awesome! We got our 13 yr old and Ipod Touch and I'll be downloading it just to try it out. To be honest I want to keep the Ipod for myself! LOL 

Not sure what that's about. But have you looked into maybe something like Right Start Math? http://rightstartmath.com/
 I haven't used it though I'd love to be able to afford it.
Numicon does look pretty neat though but , again , the price.
For my youngest I've used Touch Math and she's done great with that. She is 5 and doing 1st grade math , using Christian Light math and she's flying right through it. 

Absolutely it can work. My youngest was much older though I will admit at being 4 yrs old when I first learned that little babies could actually learn to read. Sigh. But even so she learned with the Your Baby Can Read in less than 2 months, then we've continued on with Brillkids. She is 5 now but is reading really well. So much better than her three older sisters ever did at this age. I know it had took me much longer to get my other girls up and reading when I started teaching them around 4.5/5yrs of age. But the key to it all is consistency. If your not then your not going to see much if your not, or its going to take much, much longer.

I can say though that my 5 yr old now picks up stuff much quicker than her older sisters have as well. We didn't use Little Math, but she seems to be picking up math quite easily too.

Of course all results will vary , there are some children who don't learn to read using this method, and that's okay. All children are different and what works for one child maynot work for the next. But the nice part is there are many nice programs out there that you can try such as:
Hooked on Phonics , Reading Bear , Preschool Prep, Leap Frog  etc that you'll be bound to find what interests him and works.

Good luck 

Thought I'd let everyone know that I am holding a Giveaway as well.
http://thereedfamily-blog.blogspot.com/2011/09/brillkids-little-reader-review-and.html
Good luck everyone!

Let me tell you. You will love to be a teacher to your child.
I never intended to homeschool. I didn't even know what homeschooling was until my oldest child was 4 yrs old. I came upon it on a website. I had never known anyone that was homeschooled let alone heard the word homeschooling. 
But my oldest daughter was very bright. That I knew at the age of 3. She was in daycare and reading the names of the kids' cubbies. The teacher would have her put the papers in their cubbies . She already knew how to count, and was starting to read, and has an awesome memory.

Anyways when I first learned about it my husband wasn't so sure. I had to show the research and we decided to give it a try and in the 8yrs of homeschooling so far. I don't regret ever doing it. I have learned so much from teaching my children its all been worth it.
There is so much out there offered to homeschoolers that I feel that honestly parents who have the opportunity should at least give it a try. There is traditional homeschooling where you chose the curriculum and use whatever style of curriculum you chose that fits your idea of teaching. There is textbook style learning(school at home), classical learning, eclectic( or relaxed), Montessori, Waldorf, Unit Study , Charolette Mason, to name a few styles.
My suggestion is to read up about as much as you can. You can purchase books , or you can google  just about anything and read about homeschooling online. Even though I've been homeschooling for 8yrs I'm still learning all of the time.
Learn your state's laws about homeschooling. Some states require very little of you , and some require a lot. Since your child is young now is a good time to learn.
Find a co op in your area. If you have one , join. These groups are so helpful in helping you understand your state's law. Learning about different curriculums and learning styles, and helping you get that adult interaction and your child friends.
If you don't put a search out for other homeschoolers in your area, through churches, or other community activities  ( the YMCA's sometimes do homeschooling activities as well as gymnastic centers and even librarians get to know many of them :>)

You will learn just as we all have. Just think many of us do not have teaching degrees at all. Some of those parents who were past teachers say that their teaching degree sometimes was a hinderance rather than a help. Because your teaching less children, so no crowd control, your learning about your child's individual learning style and so forth. Some felt it has helped. Either way your still going to be at the same learning curve as many of us without degrees. But somehow and someway you will learn how to make it work for your family. You will if it is something you WANT to do. Just like anything in life.

Also remember its not set in stone. I think some people get nervous about it because they think that if they start homeschooling that they have to do it for the rest of their child's natural school life. Not so at all. Should you feel its not for you, that its not working for your child, or you chose to go back to work or whatever the reason. They CAN go to school. LOL

My daughters attended private school last year. They did just fine. They adapted fine , they learn just fine and the school loved them because they are such good kids.  This year I'm back to homeschooling my oldest and youngest. My oldest because the school dropped the 7th and 8th grade due to lack of enrollment in those grade levels. And my youngest because she has to many health issues right now to go back.
My two middles are attending one more year of school and will be back for next year. Not because the school is bad. Not so at all, its a fine little school. But just because homeschooling worked so well for us. But I always know that if things aren't working out , that my daughters can always attend, well at least to the 6th grade. We have one public high school in our area, and its NOT a good school at all so high school for my girls is NOT an option as long as we live in this area.

Once you get going you may find that you enjoy homeschooling just as much as you did teaching. You can use that same energy and creativity to teach your child. Homeschooling , if you can and are able to , is one of the best gifts you can give your child today. Times are changing and peer pressure , bullying and so forth are just to great these days.
Remember to take a deep breath. Sit down and write the pros and cons of homeschooling, or sending to school. See which you have more of. Then take it from there.  I'm sure you were just as nervous when you first became a teacher and taught on the very first day of school. Im sure. I can't imagine that you didn't have those thoughts of " Will I be a good teacher? " " Will my students learn from me?" , " Will I get through the day in one piece?" We've all been there, and the great thing about the internet is that we can all look , search , and turn to each other when we need to.
 

My daughter is now 5 but we started when she was 4 with Little Reader and she is doing great. She doesn't have Down's syndrome but I do know there are a few moms here who have children with DS.
I also use Little Reader with my 7yr old to help with her reading and she really likes it and its has helped as well. Not sure if she just wants to do what little sis is doing or what? LOL 
I say give it a go. Its worth trying that's for sure.

It sounds like a great toy but I wouldn't teach them to learn to tell time that way.
The best way I've found with my girls is to first to teach them to count by 5's.
You can make up little games, sings songs, find some skip counting CD's ( if creativity isn't something that comes naturally to you), Once they understand how to count by 5's. Then, and only then will they understand how to learn to tell time. 
I would get a Judy clock and teach time that way. Practice everyday by moving the hands and counting by 5's.
http://www.rainbowresource.com/searchspring.php?q=Judy+clock+

Also know that you can purchase individual worksheets at the Touch Math website. You don't have to purchase the whole program. I would start with the Advanced PreK. Just scroll down to the bottom. It looks now that Touch Math has downloaded their "older" version ( it looks to be the same stuff I have in my PreK manual) that has the lesson plans along with it too!  And you can download it a  little at a time. I would go that route if money is tight. I'm actually surprised to see they have this along with K and 1st on their website. Actually I'm thrilled because my daughter loves touch math and I was a bit worried how I would get their K program for her. But now that I found this I'll get it this way.

http://www.touchmath.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=WYT.welcome&page=DLCPrimary

Touch Math.
The full program is mighty expensive. But you can purchase the downloadable sheets that correspond to the program. OR sometimes you can find it very inexpensively on Ebay(where I got my preschool set). 
This is an excellent program to start with a preschooler.
My girls still enjoy Touch Math.

There is also Jones Genius. I've never used it , or have really seen much of it. But it looks similar to Touch Math as well. Many families here use it with their young children.

If you don't mind using a math program from a Christian publisher , also Rod and Staff Preschool Series may work well too.
Their book Counting with Numbers and Inside and OUtside focus a lot on math. But honestly each of the workbooks focus on a little bit of math as well. She may be able to count to 20, but can she write her numbers? That's why I recommend you start with the Counting with Numbers book. http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com/list/Rod_and_Staff_Preschool/ 
Its a very gentle program for young children.

Anyways , these are the programs I recommend for preschool aged children.

Wow!  This is coming along nicely. I can't wait to give this a try with my daughter. I'm thinking she'll really enjoy this.

Wow, Charliah, how I wish we had you here in our neck of the woods in the US. LOL
What an excellent program you have.

Yes, its tough. We have one Suzuki music teacher in our area ( violin) and she will only go as young as age 7. How frustrating because I have a 5yr old that so wants to play the violin its not funny.
But with that said when I asked the teacher had her reason. Of course it was a parent that ruined it for others. She had a parent that had extremely high expectations. She had a 5yr old student and the father really pressured the child in a way that was not condusive with Suzuki teaching. So in the end it has ruined it for the rest of the parents.  I know that I would not get the same results with my 5yr old that I would with my 8 or 11 yr old.
I've been tempted to teach my daughter anyways since with Suzuki teaching you, the parent , learn the instrument  too. Not just the children because you are the teacher too. The instructor teaches you, then teaches the child, then you are the teacher to your child at home. 

We haven't started with lessons because I can't afford them right now. I sure wish I could because I love music and I love to play instruments. But I thought I would throw that out there. Or it could be because of tolerance. Some people don't have the patience to teach little ones. And its good that they know that instead of telling  you they will because it would set up for a very poor learning experience.

At your son't age I would try out things like Kinderbach , and the Piano Wizard ( assuming you want to teach piano) to get him aquainted with music. He's still pretty young and they really need to have a long attention span to learn music. But once he's ready for Suzuki I would definitely get him signed up.

I agree. Don't feel discouraged or demoralized. The one thing you need to do is take a  deep breath and let it all out. All children are different that's for sure. I have four daughters and each of them have performed at different tasks in their lives in different ways.
It sounds like your daughter doesn't like to perform. LOL My girls are the same way when their grandparents like to 'quiz' them on their multiplication tables. Ugh. They would say " I don't know." but they knew. 

I have read many stories on here with parents who get frustrated and then just one day their child starts reading!  So its not at all unusual. I think some children just soak things up first and when they are ready to shine, they do.
My 3rd daughter was this way with speaking. She didn't speak until she was 4.5 years of age. Why? I don't know. She was my quiet one ( still is) but she soaked up everything around her. Then one day she started talking and everything she observed while she was quiet she used. She taught herself to swim ( just by watching her big sisters swim), at the age of 3 she was potty trained in 3 days. She is now 8yrs old and is my only one that has had 2nd honors in school. She is very smart.  So really, when your daughter is ready to share and shine. She will.  Just keep at it.  Keep showing her the things she likes. It will help her in the long run. She will eventually switch and start watching something different. Give her , her time to retain the things she wants. If she's willing to watch the same thing over and over. Then let her for now.

Know that your doing more with your daughter than most parents do. I didn't know about early reading until I had my last child and she was 4yrs old!  I knew no one that had an early reader, well except for one parent, but she said her son just learned to read while watching his sister so I attributed it to high IQ , something 'my girls" didn't have because they never showed any interest like that at an early age. I never knew you could teach them to read like this. So I came into this very late into the game.
All the children here have started at different times in their lives and different results will vary that's for sure.

I've also seen that some children are more auditory than visual. For those children I believe phonics works well. At 2.5  you could try it and see. But if not I wouldn't push it to much. Phonics even for an older child can be difficult , unless they are an auditory learner. But you can  try.

Just hang in there and no in time your daughter will amaze you in her own time. Just keep doing what your doing.