Hi Kaysha,

Pm me your email address so that I can send you my templates and icons.
Mostly, I make my own templates for picture backgrounds/icons. They are cartoon type since Tiger prefers them that way.
The grid ones I printed from tot packs (you know, Carisa's) cause they are already the perfect size and oh-so-cute.

Show the template for 6-8 secs, then present the empty background for the child to place the icons/items.
Most importantly, make a big fuss if he gets it all right. "Good effort" "Wow, you remembered!" "You tried so hard, that's great"

I also use the Ipad for matching card games. No mess and so much faster than using physical cards. We are using 24 cards at the moment. I just start tapping and naming the cards from the upper right hand side. I do it really fast, probably about 1/3 of a sec for each card. If he remembered the pairing card's location, he will tap it. Going really fast will help with focusing, esp when we are out and about. The last time we did this in public, the lady next to us dropped her jaw  She probably never heard about this forum.

Like Mandaplus suggested, we also use the brainbox cards. I flash for 6 secs and then ask simple questions like how many birds were there? What colour was the umbrella? You can use any picture books or magazines.
Mandala are great too but Tiger is just getting the hang of it.

Learnersinbloom, excellent blog!

I link up to tot school too but i usually check out the tots of the same age for inspirations. Will be following yours

Here's mine: http://www.littletigergrowingup.blogspot.com/

Kiwimum, my LO seemed completely off the chart.

I have always thought that the debate on teaching phonics or whole word first was a little redundant. This is based on my personal experience. I started off by teaching my LO whole words with YBCR and the Brillkids. With Brillkids, he liked the multisensory segments but it was just okay....Then I realised that he seemed to like the phonics part the end of each lesson best.  He was about 12 months at that point. So, I put the whole word plan on hold and focused on phonics, which was what he wanted. Boy, did he loved it

I noticed was he never had a problem differentiating 'd' from 'b' because the letter sounds distinguished them so clearly for him. Also, I introduced both Upper and lowercase at the same time. At two, whenever I show him a new word, he sounds it out phonetically first, albeit not always right since we haven't gotten to blends/ phenomes.

Lately, he is showing interest in whole words again, so we are climbing aboard the whole word train again will Brillkids as well as the Ladybird series.

Btw, he has always been more like Twin One from Korrale's babysitting history.

I have to agree with all the NEVER comments. Besides being a dangerous piece of equipment, it is actually more detrimental than beneficial in terms of your child's gross motor development. Their legs may not be strong enough to support their weight yet and you will be teaching the child to depend on a piece of equipment to do the walking/supporting for them. Why walk when I can just scoot around?  They will walk eventually at their own accord but do seek help if the child is not walking by 18 months.

I have one!

His dad and I are both VERY extrovert. 

I have always thought he was an introvert until he stated showing (or rather I started noticing) that he displayed signs of physical discomfort as well such as asking to cut his clothes tags, disliking his socks, tugging at his diapers (especially after a sweaty play session). He disliked swaddling as a baby and was most dificult to care for in the initial stages. Thinking back, it must have been his sensitivity to his experience as a newborn.

Now, before we go anywhere crowded, I will tell him beforehand, explaining the place, people, loud music, etc. I also have to tell adults to refrain from carrying or hugging him, which may come across as rather rude in the Chinese culture but what the heck....better than a yelling toddler.

Usually, he would just tree-hug my legs until he feels better 

As long as strangers don't approach him, he is pretty much alright. He scored a 13 on the Aron questionairre as well. Others criterias/questions were not applicable to his age (23 months). So I will just have to wait and see.

I am with Seastar. This argument can go on forever 

Anyways, since I am not expert on early reading, I am just going to share my experience with Natacion.

We started LR and LM when Lil Tiger was 9 months old. Initially it was "Woohoo! SO fun". Then a few months down the line, he found mobility and our daily lessons were erratic to say the least.

At about one year, he found his bossy voice and started to decline lessons with an affirmative "NO!" to Little Reader but "YES" to Little Math. So, after a year of Little reader and Little Math, we are still at lesson 70 perhaps? 

It's even worse with physical cards. He detest Doman style wordings (red words on plain cards) but enjoys pictures/words ones.

Now that he is almost 2, he has been asking for LR every night but not LM. He wasn't very interested in reading picture books until recently.
So, we are making progress, finally. I'm not that fussy about making an early reader but I would like him to enjoy learning. So, we do a lot of other activities like reading with puppets (LOVE), singing, phonics play and stuff. I rarely test him but I know he reads simple words, mostly nouns like cat, bag, red, etc.

He knows all his alphabets (upper & lower) and his phonics without any specific teaching, simply because he loves them. Also, he counts everything simply because he loves to count. Now, he ask for book reading nightly :0  So, my point is instill the love of learning first and the reading will come. Don't give up even though they may seem distant at first. Give them your trust and time.

That's wonderful...I am reading Bright From the Start by Jill Stamm and your story solidfies the fact that the brain has the exceptional ability to grow and develop beyond what we preciously thought.

Well done Mommy! Your deserve a pat on the back and much more 

Excellent idea Kerileanne99. I felt giddy with happiness just reading about it. Must be Geography.      

My LO still a little too young to appreciate the postcards but I wouldn't mind sending out postcards from Malaysia with greetings in Malay, Chinese, English and Tamil. Maybe I'll get some Iban friends to put in some words too.

Hopefully someone would remember a couple of years down the line. Maybe the Brillkid gang can make it an official event 

Hi Sophia Suit,

Welcome! I am Malaysian Chinese too. Welcome to the forum

This is a really interesting thread. Thank you for all the information.

Dear Fiz, I am directing the questions to you because I am from Malaysia too. I have been looking for Scichida books in English and I am wondering is you have seen it on any online stores or any of the major bookstores you mentioned?

Right brain practise is a pain in the butt now that he is so assertive and his own boss. How did you do it when your daughter was around the same age?

My son is almost 21 months and we have been using the tuning forks regularly (home practise) for about 6 months now. He hums after the forks but he is not able to tell me the notes yet.  Music class is in the pipeline when I feel he is ready and yes, I think solfege is the way to go.

 

Hi Seastar,

Sounds like you are doing a great job already

I have a 20 month old boy and we have been doing this (EL) for a while now. He is also in the 'moon phase' right now 

My LO has a thing for math. We have only recently made progress in his speech and reading...

Our schedules are pretty much along the same line but I am doing some Montessori stuff, art and crafts as well...

If you need some ideas, just browse my blog (my siggy)  and the list of the mama blogs I have listed at the right hand corner for more ideas.

Cheers

Thanks a lot for doing this! I love to read  and learn from mommy (or daddy) blogs too.

I hope others would place their address here too to make the search a little easier

I keep a blog to record our learning process and mostly we do a lot of tot schooling (montessori-based), crafty-messy stuff, maths, brillkids, flashcards, right brain, etc..basically a mish mash of stuff...

Of course, the blog is also to keep track of my LO's development and for his reading later

http://littletigergrowingup.blogspot.com/

Thanks again!

Wow! Aaangeles, your daughter is definitely a gifted one. I don't think an average 7 year old can even read that well in native English. You guys are true inspiration to parents who doubted early learning or meeting little bumps along the way.

Keep the videos coming! I really enjoyed watching them, especially when she skipped a page and said "Sorry".  !  She is adorable and truly a gem.

Hi ladies,

Love the facebook idea. A place to share ideas and thoughts. Maybe you can call it the Official Malaysian KiasuMom FB page  .
There are lots of mommies in Malaysia doing some kinda early learning programme but not everyone has the time to blog or post in forums.
Would love to meet up and have a cuppa or arrange playdates

Hi

I was starting to think I was alone..haha...

My boy's only slightly younger, June 2010