I think Omnipedia's advice is brilliant to get him enthusiastic about your choice.  And yes, kids forget language very easily just like they learn it very easily.  So, that would be my biggest concern about choosing Chinese.  I know lots of people who grew up in Spanish speaking homes and are no longer very proficient in Spanish.  Once they started going to school they spent most of their day in English then started talking to their siblings in English too.  But, I can understand it would be hard to pass up the opportunity to add a third language as different as Chinese.

Wow.  Where did you get the checkered vinyl?  Looks great.  I need to get ours made if I am going to do it.  Seems like I still have a lot of time, but I know it will go by fast.  What is a good lightweight wood to use? 

I remember a story in Doman's book about a woman who brought her track to the hospital, so I guess you can put the baby on it right away. 

Thanks so much everyone.  Beautifully explained.  I am reading a book called "Mastery" and one of its themes is about finding your calling so that you have the drive and motivation to put in the hours of practice it takes to become a master.  This is what I like about homeschooling for my son.  I can make sure he gets a good education, he can have some input to that so that it isn't forced, and in his free time (which will be a lot more than if I sent him to school) he can devote himself to whatever passions he has.  To borrow from the other thread, I think that is how you get a painter like the girl in the Kramarik family.

Hi elmo0209,
There are some files created by LR users in the Library section in Spanish.
This may be the file NPLight used:
http://library.brillkids.com/download.php?cid=1&tid=&lid=20&fid=5618

Congratulations NPLight, that's wonderful.   

I love your stories Wolfwind.  That is just the sort of thing that will capture my son's interest.  I am thinking about trying this method in addition to using DadDude's flash cards, which is what we are doing right now.  Karma to you!

I do think it sounds wonderful.  I just have a question.  I haven't read anything on these families or this method beyond this thread.  Maybe someone can answer.  How is it that the child is doing what they want to?  Seems like they are doing the work that the parent is giving them.

And it would result in high achieving people, because well who does anything unless they really want to?

One of the daughters was quoted here to say something similar and it made me wonder.  Thanks!

Hi Baby_jude,

I have been in your shoes and have found a couple of things that have worked for us.  First, you might consider taking a break for a week or two before trying these suggestions so that it is a fresh new game for your baby when you start again.

Since she likes the pictures it might be as simple as showing her the picture first and then the word.  I found my son wasn't at all interested in the words either.  If I showed him the word first it was as if he said oh no not this again and completely tuned the rest out.  Instead, I started by showing him a picture, talking to him about the details of the picture, and possibly making up a story or something else entertaining ( like if it was a dog making the dog bark and run) after all this I would quickly flip the card around and say "and this says___". Then we'd quickly move on to the next one.

I also used toys and hid them under bowls with the toys name written on the bowl.  He seemed to like that game and learned fast from it.  You can also get one of her favorite toys to do the reading.  Finally, having a distraction free zone is very helpful.  We did a lot in my son's highchair and I also took the suggestion from somebody here to keep flash cards by his car seat.  We  do a few words when I put him in and take him out.  He seems to like it.

Good luck!

First, it is wonderful that you are doing this.  So, thank you.

I have a few comments.

60cm for the flash cards is in my experience/opinion way to big.  That is probably the size Doman recommends, right?  I followed his instructions and the cards were very cumbersome to deal with.  I think YBCR flash cards are at least half that size and seem to be effective.  My 2 year old reads cards that are about 8 centimeters long and does fine.  I realize he is not a baby anymore, but I still think 60 cm is just too big.

LEARNING PROCESS OF INFANTS

* The Session Itself
...
3. After preparing the child, the mother presents a flash card to the child for 2 seconds and then hides it. After a few minutes she presents the same card again and so on. In presenting this card she should pronounce what is written, and also show the drawing that represents the word.

Here you might consider adding "...for no longer than 2 seconds..." as it really should be brief to not bore the child and this is a hard thing to understand when first starting out. 

Also in my experience, my son was totally uninterested in the cards until I started showing the picture first, talking to him about the picture and then showing him the word briefly.  I am not saying this should be a standard procedure but maybe a suggestion for something to try if the child seems uninterested. 

Those are all the comments I have.   

Good luck! 

Thank you so much for all your replies.  I think I would like to try preschool with him if we can get a little bit more money.  My DH is going to interview for a new position so we'll see.  I am not going to stress over it though if we can't.  Today I felt actually a little human again as I am nearing the end of the first trimester so hopefully I'll start having more energy to do some extra activities. 

I have also been terrified of getting the flu while pregnant.  I opted not to get a flu shot for myself or my son.  So that is another reason we have been staying a bit more at home lately.  Supposedly this is the peak flu month where I live so I'll probably have more courage to get out a bit more soon!

I actually organize an Early Learning Playgroup so he has some experience in "circle time".  But, it is a lot different than preschool as we do a lot of things I already do with him at home (reading, math, etc.) and it is not as often as preschool would be.  I also lead most of the groups so he doesn't have the chance to practice listening to another adult.  I can see that he enjoys participating with the other kids though. 

He is not as shy as I was and I know my experience as a child contributes to my fears for him.  He sometimes seems to be the shyest kid in a playgroup.  On some days he just wants to cling to me.  But, other days he is off playing happily.  He says hi to our neighbors when we take walks and one even commented to me how social he is so I guess he is doing okay so far.

I did read in a book recently, possibly "The Emotional Life of your Brain" ???  how shyness is not as genetic/predetermined as was previously thought and that a large part of it has to do with early experiences so I definitely want to do what I can to help my son bloom socially.  I tend to think forcing independence on him before he is ready would do more harm than good though.  There is a preschool program here where moms stay (in the background) at school with the kid until the kid is ready to stay by himself.  So I'll probably try something like that if we get the opportunity.

Thanks again for all your help.

My son is 2 years 4 months and I have no plans to send him to preschool anytime soon.  Where we live it is very expensive.  We are making a huge sacrifice just for me to stay home with him.  Still, all his friends go to preschool and I sometimes feel guilty that we are not giving this to him.  I do plan to homeschool him too so the other part of me doesn't know why I should send him to preschool if I am not even going to send him to school.

I worry mostly about the social experiences he is missing out on.  He can be shy.  I was terribly shy as a kid so I don't want him to suffer like I did.  He does swimming lessons twice a week and goes to play groups once or twice a week.  He doesn't really have the chance to interact with kids at all during swimming lessons so I can't count that as a social experience.  So really he is around kids once maybe twice a week.

As far as other stuff goes I sometimes feel like we don't do a lot of developmental stuff either.  I talk to him/read to him a lot and I am teaching him to read.  We go to the park occasionally.  I don't even get out the play dough very often because I always think dog hair is going to get in it.  Uuck!  I am pregnant and exhausted so if I can make dinner every night I tend to consider it a successful day.

I just wonder how do you think your child has benefited from going to preschool and if you didn't send them what things did you do instead?  Thanks for listening!

I read this article online which basically summed up what I have been telling myself on the subject:  http://playborhood.com/2011/01/is_preschool_important_for_all_kids/

I am in the same situation as you.  I am teaching my son a second language that I speak but that is not my native language.  I really want to encourage you that it is not at all hard and doesn't require you to do anything special other than speak to your child in the languages you want her to learn.  You have such an advantage that you speak English.  You really can teach her yourself and you will have so much better results this way than buying any products or taking her to any special classes.  It doesn't matter if your accent is not perfect.  For me it was a trade off between fluency and a perfect accent.  I cannot give him a perfect accent but I can give him fluency which I decided is more important in the end.  The key to learning language is exposure, exposure, exposure.  Because you speak English you can give her that. 

I put myself on a schedule because I wanted to be sure my son was being exposed somewhat equally to both languages.  I speak 3 days a week to my son in English (native language) and 4 days a week in Spanish (my second language).  When we are with friends we speak English so it turns out to be about equal.  I did not do "one parent, one language" even though my husband is a native Spanish speaker.  I knew he would not get enough exposure to Spanish to really learn to speak it because he is with my husband very little compared to the time he is with me.

My son competently speaks both English and Spanish and I am so happy that I have done it this way. My Spanish speaking neighbors love talking to him in Spanish and are amazed by him.  If I had relied on someone else to teach him or if I had done videos he would definitely not speak as well as he does. 

I talk to a lot of people who speak two languages and are not sure how to teach their children.  I think the hardest part is getting over the fear that you don't speak the language well enough.  I totally get it because I had that fear too.  But, once I did I was so glad.

Good luck.  Let us know how it goes!

We're in!  We didn't do this last year.  I was sure would never keep track and we read all the time.  Things have gotten hectic and we are reading less so this is good accountability for me.  It is a good practice for me to get a bit more organized too.

Lesak, I am in a similar situation as you in that I am teaching my son a foreign language that is not my native language.  It is a priority for me for him to learn that language, but I still read to him in both languages.  I have read that when a child learns his first language well it is easier for them to learn other languages.  So especially since Spanish books are not as easy to come by (our other language) I definitely read to him in both English and Spanish.  It won't hurt his Spanish to hear English and it is possible that it will help.  You can always read all the books you can in English first and then if you still have time read books in your native language.  I can't see how that would harm anything.   

It may or may not relate to kids who do early learning but one of the things gifted children have a problem with is relating to their peers.  This is one of my biggest concerns for my son since having a strong social network is very important to a person's happiness.  I tend to think early learning won't very much effect his ability to make friends, but if there is anything I am concerned about it is that.

I remember it hurt for about a month and mostly during the initial latch and then it would be quite okay during the rest of the feeding.  I do remember it being uncomfortable but that passes so quickly it is so worth it.  It is such a beautiful thing.  And as others have said it is soooo convenient in the middle of the night.  I don't think my baby would have tolerated waiting for me to mix and heat up a bottle in the middle of the night.  I don't think I could have handled it either.

It's good advice to read up or get advice from somebody who knows on proper technique.  I think part of why it hurt for so long for me was because I was letting him feed with an improper latch and that gave me sores.   So even after we figured it out it still hurt for a few more weeks.

The most important time in determining your milk supply is the first few days.  So if you are considering breastfeeding try to at least make it through the first little bit without supplementing. 

Here is a book that I think may help you deal with the stress/anxiety/physical discomfort a lot.  It is called Mindful Birthing. 

http://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Birthing-Training-Childbirth-Beyond/dp/006196395X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356757876&sr=1-1&keywords=mindful+birthing

It's based on a class Mindfulness for Child Birth and Parenting where they teach mindfulness meditation to help you deal with stress and discomforts of pregnancy, giving birth, and everything else that comes next. I am newly pregnant too and I am using it this time around. 

Wow!  Thanks!  I almost included asking for book recommendations in my question.  You must have read my mind!  I found a lot of these books at the library. We'll definitely check them out.